Where do I start...

[Mark Hughes]

Morning, or afternoon, or evening to you all

Just signed up to Race department, sorted my membership, and thought I would wade right in, but where do I start? I should mention that AC is my only Sim at the moment, I think I have Race07 and its associated steam gubbins, but is that even a thing anymore? Will try anything.

I have a G29 and its associated pedals, all hooked up to a PC with a ultra widescreen monitor. I have been playing in public lobbies, and hot lapping on my own, or trying to, more like moderately warm lapping, but getting there with practice.

I really want to race, race craft it was entertains me, and I tried this in the public lobbies... and it was painful. Admittedly I use helicorsa to help, but I think my race craft is pretty good, I can manage fuel, tyre temps to an extent, usually can't get them warm enough, and I can keep consistent times albeit back end of the mid pack at best pace, and I always leave enough room for other drivers, nothing unpredictable.

All in all, I need help, I am watching tutorials, and videos etc, reading guides, but I struggle to retain all the information, and still practice my lines. Was hoping someone could point me in the direction of clean, no pressure to win racing.

Is there a discord/teamspeak for the less fast people? The one in RD looks really professional, and a bit intimidating

Mark

 

[Mark Hughes]

Perhaps also worth mentioning, that I drive in AC with the game set to Pro, which I believe is no assists except what would be included from the "factory" with the vehicle of choice. I have also been leaning towards the GT2/3 Cars, Huracan GT3, BMW M3 GT2 I think? One of the Ferraris, you get the drift, GT cars are the ones at the moment, trying to limit my pool of cars to one class, to help with consistently learning my lessons, rather than different classes of cars.

 

[Dennis Phelan]

You know that you are welcome in any club racing event regardless of experience or speed. They're just for fun. The social events run by RD are nice and a less intimidating entry might be to one of the driving schools, regardless of whether it's for beginners or advanced. Replays and movies of events are sometimes posted in the event threads after the race, look through them to see(usually) what the faster guys are going through.

See you out there!

 

[Kenny Paton]

Hi Mark, as Dennis says our clubs are for all skill levels, and help is always available on Teamspeak. You will be welcomed with open arms, so don't hesitate.

 

[Tbear]

Morning, or afternoon, or evening to you all

Just signed up to Race department, sorted my membership, and thought I would wade right in, but where do I start? I should mention that AC is my only Sim at the moment, I think I have Race07 and its associated steam gubbins, but is that even a thing anymore? Will try anything.

Mark

Hey Mark,

Could I suggest that you sign up for RaceDepartments Advanced Drivers Academy? These bi-weekly events are not for turning "advanced" drivers into aliens, but for teaching guys like you and me how to go racing here at RD. There are two programs, one for folks in the US time zones found HERE, and one for the Europe Time Zones, found HERE. This is the way I got started racing on RaceDepartment.

Just make sure that you have Team speak and Helicorsa installed. If you have a problem with Team Speak, just ask one of the instructors for help. During the class you will get a lot of information about it.

The racing is AMAZING here ... very friendly and helpful folks ... and having FUN is what its all about.

Hope to see you out there.

 

[Mark Hughes]

You know that you are welcome in any club racing event regardless of experience or speed. They're just for fun. The social events run by RD are nice and a less intimidating entry might be to one of the driving schools, regardless of whether it's for beginners or advanced. Replays and movies of events are sometimes posted in the event threads after the race, look through them to see(usually) what the faster guys are going through.

See you out there!

Sounds like a good shout, the driving schools is that the one spoken about in the Premium Blurb? I am away with work now until the 23rd of May, but will definitely jump in on some of the social events. Might be a good way to pick up some setup tips. I am quite keen to build my own setups, but haven't looked at it a lot, concentrating more on the clean driving and lines atm.

Hi Mark, as Dennis says our clubs are for all skill levels, and help is always available on Teamspeak. You will be welcomed with open arms, so don't hesitate.

Team speak it is then, will visit when I next get the opportunity, is it clear where and what channels to be in? Does anyone use it outside of the scheduled events on the calendar?

Mark

 

[Mark Hughes]

Hey Mark,

Could I suggest that you sign up for RaceDepartments Advanced Drivers Academy? These bi-weekly events are not for turning "advanced" drivers into aliens, but for teaching guys like you and me how to go racing here at RD. There are two programs, one for folks in the US time zones found HERE, and one for the Europe Time Zones, found HERE. This is the way I got started racing on RaceDepartment.

Just make sure that you have Team speak and Helicorsa installed. If you have a problem with Team Speak, just ask one of the instructors for help. During the class you will get a lot of information about it.

The racing is AMAZING here ... very friendly and helpful folks ... and having FUN is what its all about.

Hope to see you out there.

Awesome, do I just sign up in the forums for those events? I don't expect to be alien, far from it, I didn't expect much, but being right at the back of the drivers who finish, hurts a little. I thought I was averagely reasonable, perhaps not.

TeamSpeak is no issue, and I have already been using Helicorsa, lovely bit of work that, does the job just nicely.

Mark

 

[Kek700]

You deserve a medal for surviving public servers. You find racedepartment's a dream.

 

[Tbear]

Awesome, do I just sign up in the forums for those events? I don't expect to be alien, far from it, I didn't expect much, but being right at the back of the drivers who finish, hurts a little. I thought I was averagely reasonable, perhaps not.

TeamSpeak is no issue, and I have already been using Helicorsa, lovely bit of work that, does the job just nicely.

Mark

Yep, just sign on up. Any one of the instructors will be happy to help you out. No problems at all being in the back of the pack ... that's where I am.

HERE is another article, an interview with RD's Advanced Drivers Academy. Give it a look.

Helicorsa is a wonderful thing indeed. Have you seen CrewChief/Spotter? You can download it HERE. It even works during practice sessions. I find it very useful.

I also find Pro Tire HERE and Camber Extravaganza HERE helpful when making setups, but that has nothing to do with you getting started here at RD.

 

[Mark Hughes]

You deserve a medal for surviving public servers. You find racedepartment's a dream.

I just concentrate on getting to the end of the race, and not hitting anyone else, barring the minor excursions to the outer limits of space, seems to go alright. I imagine as I get faster, I will play more with the cars on the current lap, rather than ones that have joined the race late

 

[Mark Hughes]

Helicorsa is a wonderful thing indeed. Have you seen CrewChief/Spotter? You can download it HERE. It even works during practice sessions. I find it very useful.

I also find Pro Tire HERE and Camber Extravaganza HERE helpful when making setups, but that has nothing to do with you getting started here at RD.

I haven't seen either of these two yet, I use the regular tyre app in AC, but I am not convinced its accurate to the game. I dabbled with RS Dash and my iPad, and the tyres on there seem to be green/better temperature there. I just can't get all 4 tires consistently at the same temps, or even all in the operating window at the same time. I try to set my car up so that all 4 pressures are at green when I have settled into a few laps, not sure if this is the right approach. Other than tyre pressure, all I tend to adjust is the differentials, just to make some cars a bit more liveable while I learn more.

 

[RasmusP]

You already got most information. Just join the races, we don't bite
Just read the race thread carefully with every info you need in there. Rules, Server names, Schedule etc.

The events never stay empty so even if you're the first to sign up, don't hesitate, just do it and others will join in!

To the apps:
I can really really recommend Sidekick if you can get along with it. It shows the lap time, fuel level, shifting points, delta. Additional to that you can shuffle through tyre wear, temperature and pressures.
You have quite some settings but most importantly the pressures can get shown as "what you'd need to adjust in the setup to get the perfect pressure". Great tool, compact and optimized to have a smaller fps hit compared to multiple apps, showing the same data.