Beginner races

[xnorb]

Heya all!

I wonder, is there something like a beginners club or something alike?
Where newcomers who like to get their foot into simracing can learn without ruining the races for the "big guys" and maybe even other rules apply (like maybe no damage)?

I'm talking about 75% AI difficulty, fearing to touch the setups, <100 hours simracing experience here

Or would the general advise be to just drive against AI until you reach a certain skill level and then advance to multiplayer races?

Thanks in advance, and race on!

 

[Nox]

Hello!

As long as you race cleanly, you're welcome in the RD race clubs. It's not about being fast or winning - here is where anyone can race and have fair racing. When I joined RD I'd had only a few hours sim racing, and it was only after joining the club I realised I was doing things wrong, fighting the wheel, etc.

The club is a good way to get better. There aren't assists unless the real car has them, so you're learning the correct way, and everyone in the club is happy to help you with setups, tips, etc. If you consider each race is 20 minutes or whatever, that's 20 minutes of focussed practice. You'll pick up seconds in time as you go along.

 

[Slalom823]

As long as you are clean and if you do make a mistake and disadvantage another racer you give the position back then why not tryout some fun and casual club races?! As long as you can have fun without always having to win then club races are great fun. Your first few races the goal may just be to finish and get the car successfully to the finish line, or maybe to beat someone else and not be last, or to try and get one nice pass in. The fun of the club races isn't primarily to win but have fun enjoyable racing. So racing with someone of equal speed going back and forth all race fighting for 16th place can be more fun than winning by a large margin but with less challenge. Also like nox said racing with others will almost certainly increase your speed and learning curve at least some. There is a wide range of drivers and some are very fast, just don't be discouraged because there is a faster driver out there. Luckily gsce has some of the best Ai offline racing, but it still isn't the same or as exciting as racing with others! Also I would recommend doing some reading on performance driving. There are a lot of good books on racing and high performance driving and they can help your speed and racing in sims as well as real life. An old but good video is skip barbers going faster and that is on youtube.

 

[xnorb]

Thanks guys for the highly motivating words.

It's not about winning for me - i just want to race against others, feel the thrill of competition and have a good time. I'd be absolutely happy finishing last if i'm able to say that i've done the best i could and wasn't lapped by everybody 3 times in a 5 lap race
(It's just like with my first powerlifting meet - i finished last, but set 2 new personal records and i was as happy and satisfied with myself as i could be *g*)

All assists are off (except auto clutch - but i think due to many wheel setups at home this is a common exception) and i try to avoid contact whenever possible, but as a beginner driving errors and misjudgment tend to happen quite often.
I just don't want to be that guy crashing #1 during lapping because i lose control of my car

I'll get me some excessive V8 and Vee training this weekend and let's see, maybe i'll be running around the paddock club with you already next week

 

[Nox]

The touring cars are relatively easy cars to start with in the club; easy to correct (the Vees are very hard imo, one of the hardest on the game).

 

[xnorb]

Maybe i'm not beating them V8s enough, but so far i feel way more comfortable in them than in the Marcas. Formula Vee is supposed to be difficult, but you don't learn racing by driving in a car that doesn't force you to learn something about physics

 

[Nox]

Oh don't get me wrong, the Vee is a great car to learn with, it forces you to drive it properly

 

[Slalom823]

It's not about winning for me - i just want to race against others, feel the thrill of competition and have a good time.

Oh don't get me wrong, the Vee is a great car to learn with, it forces you to drive it properly

You have the right idea IMO. Also practicing and learning with the Vee could be a great idea and tool to learn, by then for your first races maybe get try with a car that is a little more forgiving or comfortable. Hope to see you out there soon! Also feel free to ask myself, nox or just about anyone else for help or advice and we would gladly help if there is anything we can do. Also you do need to be a premium member to race on computer sims here but that also means you can do the premium driving academy that Bram hosts!

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

@xnorb we will be running a new driver academy session soon for GSC where the focus will be on learning how to drive frontwheeldrive cars. Feel free to join in for an hour of personal driver training.

Quite a few people took part now in these sessions and without an exception after 60 to 90 minutes all of them show a great progression.

 

[xnorb]

I feel like coming home

Thanks so much everybody for the warm welcome and the incredible amount of informations and support you're giving me. Will try to return the favor by being a valuable member of this community and i sure hope to see you guys on the track.

 

[takfar]

Despite playing sims on and off since back in the Microprose GP2 games, it was only last year that I got myself a real steering wheel. While I take great pleasure in just hotlapping in the different cars and experiencing the different handling characteristics and circuits, as well as racing the AI, I'd love to take part on one of those training sessions. I'm not particularly fast however (I tend to race the AI at 85%), and I probably need some education on how to race more cleanly (no harm in hitting the AI, right?).

Right now, tho, I'm completely swamped by work and my schedule is very chaotic, so it'd be hard to actually take part in a racing league. Maybe in two years time, when I'm done with my doctoral thesis...

 

[Slalom823]

@takfar You should try out some club racing when time does permit.

By the way if anyone is on the fence about getting a rd premium membership I cannot recommend it enough! If you are on the fence try out one month and I'm sure you will be hooked.

 

[Slalom823]

Hey guys,
There are several races this week that have potential to be good races to start out with. There are karts on Tuesday. Kart races are good for a couple reasons. They are not very big so it is easier to drive side by side and make clean passes without touching. There are four ten minute races instead of the normal two twenty minute races or the occasional one forty minute race. With the four ten minute races if you make a mistake in one race there are other races. I think Karts can be useful learning vehicles as well even in sims. There are also touring car races on wed and Saturday and those could be good cars to learn in. There will probably be large grids for those, which could be both good and bad since it gives you more opportunity to find someone of similar pace, but may also add pressure with more things going on. There is also a mini race on Thursday. I would suggest find one you have a little interest in, sign up, and run hot laps by yourself for a half hour or more, then at some point run some ai races to be on track with other vehicles.

 

[xnorb]

Currently i'm trying to stand my ground against AI at Cascavel (a super easy to race track) in the V8s. (still wondering if the V8s are what people here refer to as Touring Cars? Or do you mean the Marcas?)
My highest achievement so far was winning a 10 laps race against 80% AI - hopefully today evening i'll be able to run a 90% AI race and see how it turns out, as 80% AI didn't really give me a challenge)

 

[Slalom823]

When people say touring cars they are generally referring to the marcas fwd touring cars.

Edit: You mentioned 75% before, now if you easily won at 80% and are going to be trying 90% that sounds like you are going to right direction.

Also that reminds me sometime you may want to spend some time focusing on one car and track just hotlapping and trying to really trim your time down as much as possible. This won't just help you on that track but will help you with others as you will learn how to squeeze a little more out of the car.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Touring Cars = Marcas
Stock Cars = V8

In this game

 

[xnorb]

So be it!
Then i'll get myself used to the Touring Cars, wrecking some AI and when that works out well enough i hope to see you guys to welcome me to the world of online racing

 

[Slalom823]

Sounds good! Also keep in mind that consistency will play more a role in finishing position than outright lap speed. Yes the top guys will be very fast and quite consistent, but the middle and back of the pack will be a mix of people running decent times and somewhat consistent as well as some guys running quite fast laps but also crashing. Even if someone is 2 seconds faster per lap, if they crash just once (even assuming no vehicle damage) and it costs them 30 seconds then in a twenty minute race they probably aren't catching up. Hope to see you out there soon!
A recent touring car race on RD

 

[Andy_J]

All newcomers are welcome. Join us backmarkers for some rear end action (that sounds rude)
Try your AI setting at 120 and thats about the level of some of the slower aliens here. But the racing is fun and very recommended. Get joined up and join in.