Fast times with safe setups

[jamescarruthers]

Hi all,


I am wondering what the fastest times are with safe setups? How many seconds are they from the aggressive setup?


James

 

[Not_Lifting_off]

Open ended question, how good a driver are you?
Easy way to find out in about 20 mins, hotlap drive 5 laps as hard\fast as you are comfortable with each setup, theres your answer.

 

[Metla]

Gold from 1.29 to 1.40

 

[jamescarruthers]

So I guess my question is, an alien who can do the best time with their own special setup - whats their time if they just used a safe setup.

Thanks for the video @Metla

 

[Metla]

He has an earlier video on where "aliens" make up so much time. His vids are great value, and I find him entertaining.

I think if you can drive fast, You can drive fast, But maybe I just got that from his vids.

I drive slow and comparable times with either setup, Sure, at the time I thinking I'm flying, right on the edge of all hell breaking loose, probably breaking records, Pushing that car as far as any man has dared push it.

Then I check comparable lap times and have a chuckle at myself.

 

[EsxPaul]

He has an earlier video on where "aliens" make up so much time. His vids are great value, and I find him entertaining.

I think if you can drive fast, You can drive fast, But maybe I just got that from his vids.

I drive slow and comparable times with either setup, Sure, at the time I thinking I'm flying, right on the edge of all hell breaking loose, probably breaking records, Pushing that car as far as any man has dared push it.

Then I check comparable lap times and have a chuckle at myself.

That sums up my experience exactly and I'm glad to find out I'm not the only person who has had these thoughts. Back before I paid any attention to the laptimes of other drivers, I was convinced that I was wringing every ounce of performance out of the car.

When I discovered I was sometimes 5 seconds per lap slower I was initially very upset with myself but over time I've learnt to chuckle about it like you said.

@jamescarruthers My guess would be that aliens would be somewhere in the range of up to 1 second slower with the default setup vs aggressive. Those guys have an inbuilt talent (plus hard work and dedication to practice) to take any setup and use their skill to work around car deficiencies, going from what I've seen.

 

[Günthar Rowe]

I went 2 sec faster on my fav Spa, that I just couldn’t seem to drive in ACC fast, just from Aris track walk video! And I do lap after lap the same times now too slowly getting even faster.
Drive, drive, and drive some more!

 

[TurboTomato]

I'm not fast by any stretch of the imagination but the only way I started to get quicker was when I did a few things:

• Stick with the same car and learn it (the way it responds, what you can get away with in it, where its strengths and weaknesses are and how to exploit the strengths)
• Start with the safe setup whilst learning a track
• Switch to the aggressive setup when you've learnt the basics of it
• Try to master that setup - they can be very twitchy IMO
• Practice practice practice - for me this has mostly been on public multiplayer servers. There's always quick people around so it's a good yardstick to compare yourself against, especially if they are in the same car
• Realise that the last of the late brakers invariably aren't the quickest by a long way

I still have a lot more to learn though, for instance I've never really delved into playing with the aggressive setup

 

[jamescarruthers]

Thanks all — well this has made me feel better.

I'll stick with the safe setups until I am considerably better then.

I have been sticking to the 911 and Silverstone. The fastest I've been around is a 2:03.5. I know I can go slightly quicker it's just stringing everything together in one lap.

Yesterday I had a go in the Ferrari and found it much more user friendly — I pretty much instantly got a 2:04.5 on my first lap — so wondering if I should switch cars. I have a soft spot for Porsche though.

 

[Schaefe]

Stick to the car which motivates you the most to drive. Sim-Racing is about fun in the end, don't sell your soul to gain a few seconds

 

[BrightCandle]

I think there are about 3 critical stages of learning to go through to start to get quick, racing is highly cerebral so you have to focus on learning the right things at the right stages and I don't think I got much from knowing stage 3 techniques until I got to stage 3. I got stuck in stage 2 for ages because I didn't grok what I was doing wrong and I am now within 1-2 seconds of the best and usually finishing 2-5th so not an alien but now reasonable and I understand the mistakes I am making and where I can get faster.

Stage 1
The learning how to do it stage. This is mostly about starting to get the car to a limit of sorts. You need roughly the right braking points and racing line and a good idea of what the force feedback should feel like and you practice until this becomes a back of the mind activity, you need the ability to chat while racing to an extent, spare brain capacity is required. The techniques here for getting decent braking and coming off it well and gentle onto the accelerator and turning gently and smoothly in all need to become automatic as well as heal/toe and gear changing all just being there and reliable things. If you are still in the "arrrrggghhh stage" where it's consuming your brain then you can't move on yet. Mainly this is about seat time and practice but also studying the lines other people take and where they brake, you won't be able to repeat what they do but it is a good start. This ought to get you within about 5 seconds of the fastest drivers, you'll be doing apparently similar things but you aren't quick. Your traction circles will probably look like a star during this stage and often won't hit the limit of traction for lateral grip.

Stage 2
The 5-2 second the range is then about the limit of the car. Getting the car up to a limit as you brake, turn and accelerate with use of fixed trail braking techniques. It's at this point you really need to sort out your vision, you need to be two seconds or more ahead of the car at all times and so you need to be looking well passed the next thing, the exit before you even reach the apex and then checking how you did as you pass before looking at the exit again. By this point you probably have some idea of what the car feels like at the limit but if not then now is the time to do some drills in a skidpad and get explicit knowledge. Some weaving down the straight to find the limit of adhesion at say 60 mph and noticing when it loses traction and turns less well and what that sounds and feels like. The skidpad can be great for this too at various speeds to see how the car changes on various inputs in feel and direction of travel and catching oversteer and understeer well. You traction circle is going to move to look a bit more like a diamond.

Stage 3
That final 2 seconds is all about balance. When you turned in on the limit what was limiting the car? Was it oversteering, then a little less brake pressure, understeer then a bit more. You can compensate for what the car is doing, you can induce and catch oversteer to rotate the car more or induce understeer to get it back on line. The time is now all in how close to maximising the track you are combined with how well you balanced the car, especially in those critical corners. Plenty of use of the delta to find out what was quicker and being able to repeat what you did fairly well. You move brake points back and forward a metre or two to find the optimal and latest and continuously adjusting how you go around the track to improve the balance of the car at all stages of a corner and you constantly making minor tweaks to how you take a corner as the track evolves and how you practice it to find more traction and time. Now your traction circle is a circle but you actually have more peak traction than the other drivers because your car is better balanced and maximising the traction available.

The aliens have all got to the point of consistency where they are making these minor adjustments in balance and have more grip than you do as a result. You can do that with just about any setup once you understand how to. You might prefer something different, you might even find more time with a better setup but you can adjust the balance of the car with your inputs and they are. They are well past the point of working out how to get around the track and where to brake but instead almost entirely focussed on small improvements in line and balance.

 

[Douglas Aird]

Interesting discussion as I was about to post a question about lap times.

I am just getting back into sim racing and hotlapping or racing the ai.

I know I am a slow driver but I am trying to improve. I have been using Barcelona as a test track recently. My fastest is a 1.49.5 but mostly low 1.50s. As per one of the earlier posts, I feel that I am close to my current limit but I see alien times that are 7 seconds faster. If I push more I make mistakes.

I'd like to progress to online but don't want to completely embarrass myself or trip people up.

So my question is - what would people consider to be a reasonable lap time around Barcelona?

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I am just getting back into sim racing and hotlapping or racing the ai.

Welcome back DA!

 

[jamescarruthers]

Interesting discussion as I was about to post a question about lap times.

I am just getting back into sim racing and hotlapping or racing the ai.

I know I am a slow driver but I am trying to improve. I have been using Barcelona as a test track recently. My fastest is a 1.49.5 but mostly low 1.50s. As per one of the earlier posts, I feel that I am close to my current limit but I see alien times that are 7 seconds faster. If I push more I make mistakes.

I'd like to progress to online but don't want to completely embarrass myself or trip people up.

So my question is - what would people consider to be a reasonable lap time around Barcelona?

I’m in exactly the same boat - would like yo progress to racing online but realise I’m probably a fair way off from that.

 

[Douglas Aird]

Welcome back DA!

Thanks Bram. Do you still do lessons for Premium Members, I missed out the last time?

 

[jamescarruthers]

I’m looking in to some coaching too.

Been in contact with Driver 61.

 

[Metla]

Simple setup video, Well worth a watch imo.

 

[jamescarruthers]

Thanks @Metla for another great video.

Found this; it’s for AMS2 but figure it still counts.

TLDW; a setup might give you half a second, but it’s more about tailoring the car to your own driving style for the sake of consistency - which is what gives you the time.

 

[Metla]

Who thinks this youtuber gets video ideas from discussions here at Racedepartment?

 

[jamescarruthers]

Forgot about setups and stuck with the default safe one this weekend.

Managed to shave off 1 second of my best time around Silverstone. Essentially, steering a lot less and braking a bit sooner rather than later to ensure my corner entry is more stable.

2:02.5 is still a couple of seconds off where I'd like to be, but still.