Skill levels and expectations
I thought I'd set out what we'd like to see from you guys (besides great close racing!)
Novice / Rookie
If you can get some practice in before each event that would be great! Even 10 laps with race fuel will give you a better understanding of what your car might feel like and how hard you can push.
If after practice and qualifying you feel that some of the faster guys will lap you - don't sweat it! Keep an eye on the mfd (set the page to relative not overall) and you'll see who's coming up behind you and how quickly they are catching. Our advice is usually stick to the racing line and let the faster guys get by but if you get an opportunity to move over safely and lift when you are blue flagged (on a long straight for example) then you can do that no problem.
During practice don't concentrate on fast runs with quali fuel levels. Put race fuel in and get a feel for the conditions and get those all important tyre pressures in the window. Make a note of the practice track temp, this will give you an understanding of what pressure changes are needed, if any, for the race. Generally take out -1psi for each 1 or 2 degrees of track temp increase. Reverse for drops in temp.
Experienced/Pro/
As always we encourage all skill levels to join our events. Being experienced we're relying on you to use that experience to know when to give extra room, when to wait to pass a back marker etc
We also really appreciate any help / input you can give to less experienced drivers on the forums.
These ACC races are all about getting regular drivers each week and building up a real community feel. I know we'd all love to win but you'll enjoy a good battle where you finish behind the car in front a lot more than a battle that ends up in the gravel
Good advice Chris.
I am relatively new to sim racing, call me a pandemic adopter. I've always dabbled in driving games but never raced online before RD. My experience for what it is worth for anybody newer.
Practice is king. Little and often works for me. 30 or 40 min stints builds the muscle memory, learns braking markers etc.. Run a tank of fuel down, don't perpetually hotlap and reset to get the ultimate time.
Don't mess with setup until you are consistent in the car. Tyre pressures, aero, arbs, ride height are mostly what I change but if you are not consistent you cannot best judge the results. I can assure you in the early races you will benefit far more from practicing than you will fiddling with setups.
Stick to a single car for a while. I don't chop and change them for tracks, learn to use one car well (unless you like variety of course) but unless you are also driving them fully on the limit the differences will not be that beneficial to your overall race performance. Some cars are stronger on certain tracks but it doesn't mean you will be by swapping.
Ignore laptimes of other drivers. With a grid of 10 or more I have not had a race yet where I was not competing with somebody back or front of the field. We are here for the racing not to set laptimes.
I started at the back and got lapped by most in my first few months. I never quit the race, I just tried to follow those lapping me and watched what they did. 45 mins is a long time and you will even often pick up places as people go off first few laps.
Be patient when looking to overtake, sometimes a weakness in the car in front gives you only one shot a lap unless they make a mistake. If you miss it wait and line it up again, it can take many laps even if you are much quicker, don't compensate with a dive of frustration. Sometimes you get stuck behind slower cars if you lose position, that's racing.
Be aware of others around you, not just the radar but where are they in their stint. Is it a blue flag and they are in a fight, are they pushing for a pole lap and you are warming up on the outlap and know you are significantly slower. It's courteous to others racing with you.
The complexity of car control and driving coaching is for professional YouTubers not me but my top tips would be..
Try not to lose momentum and be full on the throttle as early as possible out of corners. If you have to coast through a corner before you can fully apply the throttle then brake later. That's a rough approach with caveats of course but it's what I focus on when trying to knock time off.
All my opinion of course but having only recently started and progressed myself I though it might help.
