Do You Prefer Practicing Alone or With Friends?

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Do you prefer practicing in groups or alone?


  • Total voters
    339
Improving your driving in sim racing can be hard. Much like in real motorsport, nothing can substitute seat time, and practice is the key word that keeps getting mentioned whenever beginners ask how they can get better behind the virtual wheel. There is no universal way of doing this, however, as there are different preferences regarding company during practice sessions.

With team-based endurance races being among the most popular forms of events in sim racing today, taking to the track together to figure out a setup, techniques and certain lines for the car you are going to be racing should be a given. Drivers are going to spend up to 24 hours together for endurance events, after all - but practicing with teammates or friends can have its benefits for sprint races as well.

Upsides & Downsides of Team Practice​

Different minds can think of different solutions or advice on how to overcome problems with the car or setup. The collective experiences of a group of drivers usually helps those that are not as experienced or slower than the rest to become quicker, which in turn helps team efforts - or make for tighter competition in leagues or other sprint events. Additionally, it can be just plain fun to chat with friends or friendly drivers during practice.

Of course, this can also mean a downside: Some drivers can concentrate better when there is nothing in the background to distract them. The engine noise and occasional Crew Chief message is enough for them, so they may prefer practicing at least without being in a voice chat. Others might prefer to have the track to themselves and practice alone for that reason, enabling them to learn the ins and outs of a track better.

Your Thoughts​

As with many things in sim racing, this question comes down to preference, so we want to know what you think: Do you like having friends and other racers on the track with you when you practice or are you more of a solitary type when it comes to these sessions? Let us know in the poll and share you opinion in the comments below!
About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

The notion of online gaming friends (for an adult, at least) - that's both pathetically, embarrassingly tragic and funny. But obvs a German wouldn't be able to see it that way.
 
Both. For big races I like to have some time with the team to exange data, compare lines and setups. Then I also like to have some time on my own, more focused on what I am doing
 
I usually practice and prepare alone, but sometimes it will be useful to practice with friends in the same team or league. The problem is to get an agreed time over multiple time zones. It's already a challenge just to schedule a championship and get everybody to participate in every event. We are not all full-time simmers and YouTubers. There is life outside of sim racing for "normal" people with a job and/or family ... I think. I'm retired and there is not such a thing as a fixed schedule. It is like tonight I'm racing, tomorrow I'm going on an unscheduled 4-day road trip, then 3 weeks of nothing on the calendar other than grocery shopping early on Wednesday mornings, and maybe a massage every second Thursday afternoon, etc, etc.
 
Premium
Most of the time I just get the track, the car and hit the server. Practice is on there all of the time and its only more enjoyable if someone joins the fun.
 
I race AI only and do prefer games where they are present in both practice and qualifying - never thought of them as 'friends' before but... yeah, with my boyos!
 
I would say learning track alone, but once you have learned the track, online you really learn the lines that maybe you never saw before. Always find faster drivers, and you will be very surprised that there was a tenth here and a tenth there.
 
Last edited:
I never race against real people anymore. AI only or just hot laps.

You get to a point of "do I want to enjoy myself or rage and get upset because some 20 something kid thought there was enough room to try and pass me"
I have not enjoyed racing against other humans since the days of the Papyrus "Hawaii Project."
 

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Yannik Haustein
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