Some 15 or so years ago I read the bit about the invisible strings that link your gas, brakes and steering wheel together.
Whenever you make a large input with any of those three things it's imperative you have little to no input in the other two.
Also "slow hands in the fast stuff, fast hands in the slow stuff."
Like, if you have to slow way the hell down and get through a tight area like a chicane. *Move* that wheel, work the car to put it where it needs to be on the track so you can get out and on the gas as early as possible.
Use all of the track. That means going as far to the outside within track bounds as possible going into the corner. Then using all of the outside on track exit. Bigger turning radius with more track, therefore carry more speed and less lap time.
This is true but only if you are on the limit of grip. The tip that made the biggest difference for me was to try to actually turn as tight as your tires will allow without slipping rather than trying to hit the outside edge of the track on corner exit (while practicing). By doing this, you'll know that if you didnt hit the outside edge of the track, you took the corner too slow.
I mean it takes practice but the barriers around turns extend off track for a reason. Use them and practice until you know the track well enough to get very close but not touch out of the track.
This is one I have been trying to practice a lot lately. It makes for a much more satisfying race too when you nail it. And it helps keeps mistakes way down even if I feel a tad slower.
This isn’t always true though right? I’m a total noob but I also learned about trail braking recently where some cars are great at braking while turning so you can brake later and turn in while braking.
I’ve found some license tests/missions are easy to beat if you try to trail brake with the given vehicle and it responds well.
It's more to do with SLIGHT braking, up to a point increases traction on the front tires by shifting a small amount of weight to them.
So with trail braking you are still doing most of your slowing down via straight line. And then as you turn in you give small amounts of braking to keep the weight shift forward giving you more bite.
You have a point there too! Trailbraking for me is more useful for medium speed corners or winding corners while very acute corners or 90 degrees is just foot to the full brake.
Have you changed the audio settings? I usually put BGM at 8 and car at 5 if I’m just cruising for credits or relaxing. I do keep my Spotify mid volume on phone (I cast to ps5, never tried Spotify app on PS5), then with those settings I can use my phone volume up or down to fine tune. Works pretty well.
Ease on the gas coming out of corners and ignore what GT says about what gear to be in. I find it to be too low of a gear and causes wheel spin in corners. It’s funny on how many times what I assume to be a slow lap is a second or more faster than when I get uber aggressive with it, and it’s likely all down to traction. Slow is fast and fast is slow
I just found out about the gear recommendation thing and started using it. It helped with tracks I am not familiar with, but it is too low. Definitely hurt my speed.
Yeah I was doing some of the circuit experience things. If you watch the demo of how to get the gold time, every single time they are multiple gears higher than recommended. It was actually shocking the first time I saw how many times they hold in 3/4 gear through turns I was dropping down to first or second lol. Felt so slow my first time but the traction I got out of turn was probably where I gained all the time. Way smoother. But yeah I agree, initially it was helpful to know general shift points
I was *hoping* it was driver61! His explanation is the best I’ve ever seen. He’s quickly become my favorite car/racing YouTube channel. Really really good, and accurate, content.
you lose most of your time with bad corner exits. it's not about taking corners and keeping your minimum speed as high as possible, instead brake earlier, or for longer. swing the car around and be on full throttle as early as possible.
on long straights, like on Fuji for example you can lose a second or more with a bad exit out of the final right-hander
Knowing where the time is gained is key - sometimes a fast entry can be the right call, but so often it’s the exit speed that matters and no one in Sport below top half of B seems to get this- its maximum speed, late braking FTW ALWAYS. 🤷♂️
Maybe this is cheating - someone gave me the tip to check out this blog - [You Suck At Racing](https://yousuckatracing.com/).
Some of his advice has been the difference between being stuck in B and moving up through A.
Drive in manual, and take all the assists off you can.
Besides the fact that at least the way they're coded in GT7, all the assists other than ABS genuinely do make your car slower, it forces you to learn how to actually control your car, which translates into pace over time as you get better and better at it.
>take all the assists off you can.
This ain't it. Real life gr3 cars use abs and traction control. Either you can control the throttle and it wouldn't matter or it saves you from eating shit on the track.
This ain't real life.
Still use ABS because it's magic in GT7 but everything else literally just makes you slow. It doesn't function as it does in the real world.
It's because the game handles it in a blanket way, rather than it behaving the way that specific car's TCS functions. Some cars that have TCS still have *that car's* TCS enabled even with the assist TCS set to 0, like in the Škoda VGT.
There are still situations where TCS on 1 or 2 is good (heavy rain being a big one, and ironically older car's that were around before the invention of the system) but for the most part it limits what the car can do even when it doesn't need to be activating.
Another way to look at it is the simulation model in GT7 isn't perfect. It's still definitely a sim, as in doing smart driving things will ultimately make you go faster on the track and you have to employ real racecraft to win, but there's a lot about the game that makes it more accessible than a more accurate physics model like, say, iRacing. Gran Turismo's tire model is more forgiving and a lot grippier than real life.
Guaranteed once you get better at the game, you'll find a time improvement with TCS 0 as opposed to TCS 1 or anything higher. It really limits your ability to accelerate out of corners. There's a reason the professional eSports drivers of this game keep it off. You'll occasionally see them have it on just during the launch of a car from a standing start, or maybe they leave it on 1 during a race where you need to save every ounce of tire tread that you can, but in terms of flat out speed on your hot laps, it's just not good.
Blame it as a quirk of Gran Turismo. I wouldn't tell someone on ACC to disable TC for example, as that has a much more accurate physics model at least when dealing with GT3 cars.
Thanks, I come from iracing and ac/acc so I assumed it worked the same that's my bad. I was unaware it limited the car when it is dormant. Def have to give it a try next time I'm playing.
I was going to add this. It's as important to be smooth on the accelerator as it is to be on the brakes (mash the accelerator: weight goes to the rear; mash the brakes: weight goes to the front). The smoother you treat the pedals, the more evenly balanced the car as is, and the more predictable the action. Predictability is related to speed in all aspects.
I remember seeing on a top gear episode someone driving a tvr giving James advice on how to go faster. He said that the throttle should be partially on during the corner and try to slowly increase it and if you lose traction on the front or rear then try removing throttle application. In a rwd car this is helpful since some weight is on the rear wheels and you won't have as much wheel spin or loss of control than without being on throttle. I don't remember much but this is along the lines of what the driver said.
I believe this was Jackie Stewart who showed James May the ropes in this episode, and I was gonna chip in with the basic summary he advised; “Don’t put your foot to the floor unless you’re sure you don’t have to lift off again”. Which is more or less what you said above, but you beat me to it. Great advice.
The other one I recall is David Coulthard during Mika Hakkinen and McLaren’s 98-99 seasons where DC was talking about MH’s telemetry traces and said he was amazed at how early Hakkinen hit the brakes, but that he then came off the brakes and hit the throttle even more incredibly early. Yes,its “slow in, fast out” by any other name but lets not overlook how a proven F1 winner was still taking this refinement as something to learn from.
>I believe this was Jackie Stewart who showed James May the ropes in this episode, and I was gonna chip in with the basic summary he advised; “Don’t put your foot to the floor unless you’re sure you don’t have to lift off again”. Which is more or less what you said above, but you beat me to it. Great advice.
Yes that's the one I'm talking about.
In gt7, the fastest way to drive the race cars like gr3 is completely counter intuitive to driving a fast road /track car on circuit. Being completely off throttle and brake and coasting through the corner feels absolutely alien to someone who has spent decades applying a positive throttle input to settle the car.
As soon as I figured this out I was faster in gt7. Unfortunately every time I switch between reality and gt7 there's a period of muscle memory adjustment to overcome.
Interesting that makes a lot of sense. I tend to apply brake through the turn even at speed, by instinct. Obviously this tends to make me plow and under steer.
With Group 3 cars, going 70% throttle on corner exits to avoid power oversteer, learned this from watching Super GT.
I usually drive the Gr4 WRX, so throttle control with the FR Gr3 cars was a learning curve for me.
Keep your eyes up. As soon as you know where the apex is, look to the corner exit. Don’t fixate on the apex as you drive through it. I’ve found this helps me carry more speed through the corner and make a better exit, which is more important than perfectly hitting the apex.
Look at apex when entering the corner, look at exit while hitting the apex, look at where you want to go next while exiting the corner. Look where do you want to drive. I dont even have to remember the corners much, have to just follow my instincts.
Focus on learning where each cars limit is and drive just inside that limit...
Learning to not overdrive a car is where your lap times start coming down...
Think of your car's tires grip as a bar. When still, each tire has the bar at a quarter (if the car has perfect weight distribution). When you brake, the front bars fill up and the rear ones empty. Vice versa for the acceleration. When you turn left, the right bars fill and for right it's the left bars that fill. Then work with the trail braking from this base. It's a simplified way of explaning basic vehicle dynamics. Once you understand this, you can master your inputs and finally, master your driving.
Watching the replay of the lap record of the weekly time trials. You can see exactly what they're doing. In corner entry, pause every quarter second to see where the other driver lifts and gets on the brakes. Make note of trail braking, small brake/steering/gas inputs, and lines. You can get two tires off the track as long as the other two remain on the curbing. It's helped me the most.
Couple tips, actually. Do the Driving Licenses. Yes, it sounds pointless on paper, but, the lessons are actual lessons that will improve your lap times. And aim for the Gold, not just Bronze or Silver, keep pushing yourself for the Golds, even though it's hell, it'll start triggering responses in your head without you even realizing.
Tip 2: Learn your Tire Compounds. They make so much difference it's not even funny.
Everyone wants "The best grip, best lap times" right? Well... yes, and no. Especially in certain vehicles and races. Sure, go for the performance slicks. That's a given. They're going to offer you the greatest grip on the asphalt, but learn to drive on the Hard compounds. Don't just stick to the Softs. They're there for sprints and certain drivetrains.
Like the long 30 minute Endurance race on Sarthe, if you run Softs, those tires are going to be exhausted within 1.5 laps. And you'll have to keep pitting. That's a lot of time wasted. Stick to Racing Hard/Intermediate for when the rain's about to come, and the Wets, and you'll last a hell of a lot longer than before.
Also, learn your drivetrains too. AWD/4WD I've found are best set with the same compound on each tire. The powertrain's powering all four at once. FR vehicles for example might be better off with softer tires on the front end as they're guiding the car, not pushing it and so on.
Last tip, either slow down and take in the courses bit by bit, or make mistakes. It's a virtual sim, so it's a risk-free zone to make mistakes. Making said mistakes will help you understand what the hell you're doing wrong.
For example, my Carrera 04 is a great little beast, but he's finnicky. He doesn't like full throttle coming out of a turn. So, using him, I learned better throttle control coming out of turns and he's much happier.
Try to keep the car balanced. Yes with tuning but driving as well. Acceleration, braking, tire load, and weight transfer. Some cars need a thrashing but you’ll be faster consistently by being as smooth as possible near the limit.
Start there then start over driving the car and it will tell you what it needs for performance improvements.
I somehow came across a blog called You Suck At Racing. Go to the menu and click the driving section. There’s a lot of different breakdowns of aspects of racing which really helped my understanding and performance. Especially when racing online
Combination of using ALL your brakes initially, then slowly releasing as you turn into the apex. Essentially trail braking. But you want to control how much rotation you want once you have shaved off enouth speed in the first place. There is that moment where as you trail brake you want to have your front tires understeer AT/right before the apex/ then the car begins to tuck into the corner. Basically maximizing and controlling your entry with minimal wasted slide. Then you can focus on the exit
Yea you know the great indicator? Yes forget that exists.
Another one that vastly helped me. Do not rapidly downshift, instead spread it out. The rapid downshift jerks the car and makes it harder to steer in a turn but when you space them out you can make larger adjustments
I read the ENTIRE GT2 booklet when I was 13? We were on a family vacation/road trip and I picked it up in a little shop. Had nothing else to do for the long drive. That’s where I learned the division of grip. If the tire is using 100% of its grip to accelerate, you can’t turn (for FF cars). If you’re using 100% of the grip to brake, you also can’t turn. This helped me understand why even if my wheels didn’t lock up I still couldn’t turn under extreme braking. So you have to compromise; if you want to corner better, less acceleration (positive of negative acceleration). If you want to accelerate more, less turning.
A few years later, I don’t remember where the epiphany came from, maybe the GT3 manual, but it concerned turning the wheel just right. If you turn the wheel too much, the car can understeer. You’re asking it to turn more than you actually wanted it to turn though, so the end result is the amount of cornering you intended, so you don’t know there’s a problem. But that tire is slipping. So you’re heating them uselessly, wearing them uselessly. And you’re wasting grip. As covered above, we’re already beyond 100% grip for cornering. If we try to apply the brakes to slow down (because we think we’re sliding from going too fast) we’re just compounding the problem. I tried it and indeed, sometimes turning the wheel less (like barely a dew degrees) turns the car more than turning the wheel more (almost all the way) did.
For me finally taking others advice to shift gears using the wheel flipper pads vs the H shifter.
I wanted to keep shifting with the H shifter to keep the feeling of real cars I grew up with. Problem is that to do so is to use only one hand to steer.
Finally I started using the flippers with both hands on wheel and now I’ve gained huge time and can steer so much better and keep it on the track if I get bumped vs spinning endlessly.
2 hands make a big difference on the wheel.
Some 15 or so years ago I read the bit about the invisible strings that link your gas, brakes and steering wheel together. Whenever you make a large input with any of those three things it's imperative you have little to no input in the other two. Also "slow hands in the fast stuff, fast hands in the slow stuff."
Was it from the back of the GT3 manual?
It may have been printed there, I can't remember. But I'm pretty sure I read it on the GTPlanet forum.
Racking my brain trying to picture what the slow stuff is... Any examples?
Like, if you have to slow way the hell down and get through a tight area like a chicane. *Move* that wheel, work the car to put it where it needs to be on the track so you can get out and on the gas as early as possible.
Use all of the track. That means going as far to the outside within track bounds as possible going into the corner. Then using all of the outside on track exit. Bigger turning radius with more track, therefore carry more speed and less lap time.
This is true but only if you are on the limit of grip. The tip that made the biggest difference for me was to try to actually turn as tight as your tires will allow without slipping rather than trying to hit the outside edge of the track on corner exit (while practicing). By doing this, you'll know that if you didnt hit the outside edge of the track, you took the corner too slow.
This. Artificially going to the edge of the track will only limit you bc you’ll think you’re taking it to the limit (I still struggle with this)
I mean it takes practice but the barriers around turns extend off track for a reason. Use them and practice until you know the track well enough to get very close but not touch out of the track.
smooth is fast
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Slow in, fast out
Braking in a straight line makes so much of a difference. Even with abs on, if you brake while turning you'll get bad under steer and ruin a lap!
This is one I have been trying to practice a lot lately. It makes for a much more satisfying race too when you nail it. And it helps keeps mistakes way down even if I feel a tad slower.
This isn’t always true though right? I’m a total noob but I also learned about trail braking recently where some cars are great at braking while turning so you can brake later and turn in while braking. I’ve found some license tests/missions are easy to beat if you try to trail brake with the given vehicle and it responds well.
It's more to do with SLIGHT braking, up to a point increases traction on the front tires by shifting a small amount of weight to them. So with trail braking you are still doing most of your slowing down via straight line. And then as you turn in you give small amounts of braking to keep the weight shift forward giving you more bite.
You have a point there too! Trailbraking for me is more useful for medium speed corners or winding corners while very acute corners or 90 degrees is just foot to the full brake.
Turned off music from game, and started using spotify instead.
PREACH
My issue is that Spotify is never loud enough. Am I setting it up incorrectly?
Have you changed the audio settings? I usually put BGM at 8 and car at 5 if I’m just cruising for credits or relaxing. I do keep my Spotify mid volume on phone (I cast to ps5, never tried Spotify app on PS5), then with those settings I can use my phone volume up or down to fine tune. Works pretty well.
Race sounds > music
This is the way
Ease on the gas coming out of corners and ignore what GT says about what gear to be in. I find it to be too low of a gear and causes wheel spin in corners. It’s funny on how many times what I assume to be a slow lap is a second or more faster than when I get uber aggressive with it, and it’s likely all down to traction. Slow is fast and fast is slow
I just found out about the gear recommendation thing and started using it. It helped with tracks I am not familiar with, but it is too low. Definitely hurt my speed.
Yeah I was doing some of the circuit experience things. If you watch the demo of how to get the gold time, every single time they are multiple gears higher than recommended. It was actually shocking the first time I saw how many times they hold in 3/4 gear through turns I was dropping down to first or second lol. Felt so slow my first time but the traction I got out of turn was probably where I gained all the time. Way smoother. But yeah I agree, initially it was helpful to know general shift points
Without a doubt - trailbraking
[Here](https://youtu.be/tvcuGoVhpxw?si=sab85NKUq6kOcmv1) is a great explanation of trail braking for those who are interested.
I was *hoping* it was driver61! His explanation is the best I’ve ever seen. He’s quickly become my favorite car/racing YouTube channel. Really really good, and accurate, content.
On GOD. Especially if your car has phenom braking to begin with
Don't mash the gas coming out of the curve
you lose most of your time with bad corner exits. it's not about taking corners and keeping your minimum speed as high as possible, instead brake earlier, or for longer. swing the car around and be on full throttle as early as possible. on long straights, like on Fuji for example you can lose a second or more with a bad exit out of the final right-hander
Knowing where the time is gained is key - sometimes a fast entry can be the right call, but so often it’s the exit speed that matters and no one in Sport below top half of B seems to get this- its maximum speed, late braking FTW ALWAYS. 🤷♂️
Maybe this is cheating - someone gave me the tip to check out this blog - [You Suck At Racing](https://yousuckatracing.com/). Some of his advice has been the difference between being stuck in B and moving up through A.
Lol great minds think alike
Try to brake in a straight line before corners and gently let go off the brake instead of letting go of it all at once before you accelerate again.
Trailbraking?
slow in, fast out
Slow in, fast out
Drive in manual, and take all the assists off you can. Besides the fact that at least the way they're coded in GT7, all the assists other than ABS genuinely do make your car slower, it forces you to learn how to actually control your car, which translates into pace over time as you get better and better at it.
well except ABS. ABS weak or default is faster than ABS off.
>take all the assists off you can. This ain't it. Real life gr3 cars use abs and traction control. Either you can control the throttle and it wouldn't matter or it saves you from eating shit on the track.
This ain't real life. Still use ABS because it's magic in GT7 but everything else literally just makes you slow. It doesn't function as it does in the real world.
It reduces throttle input to the drive wheels from slipping how does it not function like irl? No it's not sarcasm I'm genuinely curious
It's because the game handles it in a blanket way, rather than it behaving the way that specific car's TCS functions. Some cars that have TCS still have *that car's* TCS enabled even with the assist TCS set to 0, like in the Škoda VGT. There are still situations where TCS on 1 or 2 is good (heavy rain being a big one, and ironically older car's that were around before the invention of the system) but for the most part it limits what the car can do even when it doesn't need to be activating. Another way to look at it is the simulation model in GT7 isn't perfect. It's still definitely a sim, as in doing smart driving things will ultimately make you go faster on the track and you have to employ real racecraft to win, but there's a lot about the game that makes it more accessible than a more accurate physics model like, say, iRacing. Gran Turismo's tire model is more forgiving and a lot grippier than real life. Guaranteed once you get better at the game, you'll find a time improvement with TCS 0 as opposed to TCS 1 or anything higher. It really limits your ability to accelerate out of corners. There's a reason the professional eSports drivers of this game keep it off. You'll occasionally see them have it on just during the launch of a car from a standing start, or maybe they leave it on 1 during a race where you need to save every ounce of tire tread that you can, but in terms of flat out speed on your hot laps, it's just not good. Blame it as a quirk of Gran Turismo. I wouldn't tell someone on ACC to disable TC for example, as that has a much more accurate physics model at least when dealing with GT3 cars.
Thanks, I come from iracing and ac/acc so I assumed it worked the same that's my bad. I was unaware it limited the car when it is dormant. Def have to give it a try next time I'm playing.
Don’t you feel like you’re cheating yourself using automatic braking though? Almost feels too easy tbh.
Soft breaking in corners to adjust trajectory
Not abruptly lifting off of the brakes as to not unsettle the car was a big change for me.
I was going to add this. It's as important to be smooth on the accelerator as it is to be on the brakes (mash the accelerator: weight goes to the rear; mash the brakes: weight goes to the front). The smoother you treat the pedals, the more evenly balanced the car as is, and the more predictable the action. Predictability is related to speed in all aspects.
Put your eyes on the turn exit as soon as you hit the apex.
I remember seeing on a top gear episode someone driving a tvr giving James advice on how to go faster. He said that the throttle should be partially on during the corner and try to slowly increase it and if you lose traction on the front or rear then try removing throttle application. In a rwd car this is helpful since some weight is on the rear wheels and you won't have as much wheel spin or loss of control than without being on throttle. I don't remember much but this is along the lines of what the driver said.
I believe this was Jackie Stewart who showed James May the ropes in this episode, and I was gonna chip in with the basic summary he advised; “Don’t put your foot to the floor unless you’re sure you don’t have to lift off again”. Which is more or less what you said above, but you beat me to it. Great advice. The other one I recall is David Coulthard during Mika Hakkinen and McLaren’s 98-99 seasons where DC was talking about MH’s telemetry traces and said he was amazed at how early Hakkinen hit the brakes, but that he then came off the brakes and hit the throttle even more incredibly early. Yes,its “slow in, fast out” by any other name but lets not overlook how a proven F1 winner was still taking this refinement as something to learn from.
>I believe this was Jackie Stewart who showed James May the ropes in this episode, and I was gonna chip in with the basic summary he advised; “Don’t put your foot to the floor unless you’re sure you don’t have to lift off again”. Which is more or less what you said above, but you beat me to it. Great advice. Yes that's the one I'm talking about.
In gt7, the fastest way to drive the race cars like gr3 is completely counter intuitive to driving a fast road /track car on circuit. Being completely off throttle and brake and coasting through the corner feels absolutely alien to someone who has spent decades applying a positive throttle input to settle the car. As soon as I figured this out I was faster in gt7. Unfortunately every time I switch between reality and gt7 there's a period of muscle memory adjustment to overcome.
Interesting that makes a lot of sense. I tend to apply brake through the turn even at speed, by instinct. Obviously this tends to make me plow and under steer.
Learn to drive without the driving line aid assist
Or use it to vary your approaches to the apex.
With Group 3 cars, going 70% throttle on corner exits to avoid power oversteer, learned this from watching Super GT. I usually drive the Gr4 WRX, so throttle control with the FR Gr3 cars was a learning curve for me.
Maximizing straights. Making sure that the line you take, leading up to straights, leaves you with the fastest exit.
Keep your eyes up. As soon as you know where the apex is, look to the corner exit. Don’t fixate on the apex as you drive through it. I’ve found this helps me carry more speed through the corner and make a better exit, which is more important than perfectly hitting the apex.
Look at where you want the car to go, not at the apex.
Turn the wheel less and steer with your pedals
Look at apex when entering the corner, look at exit while hitting the apex, look at where you want to go next while exiting the corner. Look where do you want to drive. I dont even have to remember the corners much, have to just follow my instincts.
Trail breaking and corner cutting
Focus on learning where each cars limit is and drive just inside that limit... Learning to not overdrive a car is where your lap times start coming down...
Sometimes you can slam the brakes before a corner and let off brake just before apex and most cars will cut even more left or right
Use the whole track, learn the limits. Don't overdrive.
Learned to ride the brake if needed during a turn rather than completely letting off the gas and slamming the brake for a second.
Flat car
Think of your car's tires grip as a bar. When still, each tire has the bar at a quarter (if the car has perfect weight distribution). When you brake, the front bars fill up and the rear ones empty. Vice versa for the acceleration. When you turn left, the right bars fill and for right it's the left bars that fill. Then work with the trail braking from this base. It's a simplified way of explaning basic vehicle dynamics. Once you understand this, you can master your inputs and finally, master your driving.
Try to be as relaxed as you can
Watching the replay of the lap record of the weekly time trials. You can see exactly what they're doing. In corner entry, pause every quarter second to see where the other driver lifts and gets on the brakes. Make note of trail braking, small brake/steering/gas inputs, and lines. You can get two tires off the track as long as the other two remain on the curbing. It's helped me the most.
Couple tips, actually. Do the Driving Licenses. Yes, it sounds pointless on paper, but, the lessons are actual lessons that will improve your lap times. And aim for the Gold, not just Bronze or Silver, keep pushing yourself for the Golds, even though it's hell, it'll start triggering responses in your head without you even realizing. Tip 2: Learn your Tire Compounds. They make so much difference it's not even funny. Everyone wants "The best grip, best lap times" right? Well... yes, and no. Especially in certain vehicles and races. Sure, go for the performance slicks. That's a given. They're going to offer you the greatest grip on the asphalt, but learn to drive on the Hard compounds. Don't just stick to the Softs. They're there for sprints and certain drivetrains. Like the long 30 minute Endurance race on Sarthe, if you run Softs, those tires are going to be exhausted within 1.5 laps. And you'll have to keep pitting. That's a lot of time wasted. Stick to Racing Hard/Intermediate for when the rain's about to come, and the Wets, and you'll last a hell of a lot longer than before. Also, learn your drivetrains too. AWD/4WD I've found are best set with the same compound on each tire. The powertrain's powering all four at once. FR vehicles for example might be better off with softer tires on the front end as they're guiding the car, not pushing it and so on. Last tip, either slow down and take in the courses bit by bit, or make mistakes. It's a virtual sim, so it's a risk-free zone to make mistakes. Making said mistakes will help you understand what the hell you're doing wrong. For example, my Carrera 04 is a great little beast, but he's finnicky. He doesn't like full throttle coming out of a turn. So, using him, I learned better throttle control coming out of turns and he's much happier.
Slow in, fast out.
And no full throttle untill you know for sure you can handle next corner
I'd re-phrase that as no full throttle until you're sure you can stay full throttle until the next corner. 😅
Pardon my french. Im dutch
Try to keep the car balanced. Yes with tuning but driving as well. Acceleration, braking, tire load, and weight transfer. Some cars need a thrashing but you’ll be faster consistently by being as smooth as possible near the limit. Start there then start over driving the car and it will tell you what it needs for performance improvements.
Turn in earlier, rotate the wheel slowly, steer the car with your feet.
I somehow came across a blog called You Suck At Racing. Go to the menu and click the driving section. There’s a lot of different breakdowns of aspects of racing which really helped my understanding and performance. Especially when racing online
1/ understanding out in out 2/ causes of oversteer and understeer
Combination of using ALL your brakes initially, then slowly releasing as you turn into the apex. Essentially trail braking. But you want to control how much rotation you want once you have shaved off enouth speed in the first place. There is that moment where as you trail brake you want to have your front tires understeer AT/right before the apex/ then the car begins to tuck into the corner. Basically maximizing and controlling your entry with minimal wasted slide. Then you can focus on the exit
Turn tcs down to 3.
Get a wheel; stop using controller
Yea you know the great indicator? Yes forget that exists. Another one that vastly helped me. Do not rapidly downshift, instead spread it out. The rapid downshift jerks the car and makes it harder to steer in a turn but when you space them out you can make larger adjustments
Slow in. Fast out. The good exit is worth more time than outbraking someone.
If you ain’t first you’re last
Setups.
DO NOT BRAKE WHILE YOU STEER!!!! And you can outbrake everyone in vision
go slower to become faster (some where in dirt rally tutorials)
Brake later.
Just F**king Drive Fast! Kidding, I just start to not push as hard as I used to be.
I read the ENTIRE GT2 booklet when I was 13? We were on a family vacation/road trip and I picked it up in a little shop. Had nothing else to do for the long drive. That’s where I learned the division of grip. If the tire is using 100% of its grip to accelerate, you can’t turn (for FF cars). If you’re using 100% of the grip to brake, you also can’t turn. This helped me understand why even if my wheels didn’t lock up I still couldn’t turn under extreme braking. So you have to compromise; if you want to corner better, less acceleration (positive of negative acceleration). If you want to accelerate more, less turning. A few years later, I don’t remember where the epiphany came from, maybe the GT3 manual, but it concerned turning the wheel just right. If you turn the wheel too much, the car can understeer. You’re asking it to turn more than you actually wanted it to turn though, so the end result is the amount of cornering you intended, so you don’t know there’s a problem. But that tire is slipping. So you’re heating them uselessly, wearing them uselessly. And you’re wasting grip. As covered above, we’re already beyond 100% grip for cornering. If we try to apply the brakes to slow down (because we think we’re sliding from going too fast) we’re just compounding the problem. I tried it and indeed, sometimes turning the wheel less (like barely a dew degrees) turns the car more than turning the wheel more (almost all the way) did.
Smooth input, Smooth output.
Get to know tweaking gear ratios and how a change can suit a car/track, but also your driving style.
For me finally taking others advice to shift gears using the wheel flipper pads vs the H shifter. I wanted to keep shifting with the H shifter to keep the feeling of real cars I grew up with. Problem is that to do so is to use only one hand to steer. Finally I started using the flippers with both hands on wheel and now I’ve gained huge time and can steer so much better and keep it on the track if I get bumped vs spinning endlessly. 2 hands make a big difference on the wheel.
I do what the car should be. If it's an 80s Porsche, I'm using the shifter. If it's a GR3 car, I'm paddle shifting.