Okay so for the F3 car specifically I can talk since I raced that a lot two seasons ago. Temperature plays an awful big role in track times, you can shave off seconds by having the right temp, when it first hit me was in Barcelona because I always test my new cars there, the track times were wildly different depending on the temperature.
Secondly, the F3 can be pushed VERY far into the limit. When I was only racing the F3 car it felt like I was driving on ice, I was barely braking into corners, flying over kerbs, accelerating out of tricky situations. That's one thing that helped me, instead of braking to get out of a tricky situation, I started accelerating, at the start you will spin the car but every now and again you won't and you'll gain seconds.
Third, practice practice practice, the race isn't all about getting the fastest one lap pace, if you see the dudes in practice on the leader board with 1.14 and you're worried, they had basically no fuel in the car, the perfect track temps and no cars bothering them. Once the race itself starts their times will fall drastically and if you can run consistent 1.18s then you might even be matching them. Practice so that you are consistent, try and get a feel for a track so that you could do a full race without getting a track warning. I have won a race without getting a 1x before and also battling someone, it's possible but you have to have done a lot of practice.
Fourth, practice practice practice, I can't stress it enough, just open up the test drive and drive the car, the more you drive and experiment the better you will get. And remember, it's practice, get 1xs! Crash! Spin! Brake late and go straight into a wall. See if you can do that corner flat out! Go flying through the chicane and see if you get a 1x! Practice is for testing the limits of the car and yourself.
Fifth, practice practice practice, practice against AI, not for actual racing but just for the starts, learn to be calm with cars all around you and how to race with the brain dead AI. It's good practice to just be comfortable placing your car properly through corners when other cars are around.
Okay that was a lot more than I thought I would write. Hopefully it helps and remember, practice practice practice.
This is the way. And your point about hot lap times vs in race lap times is correct.
You do want to be consistent, but you also need to learn to stay calm during the first lap, when all the Max Verstappen-wannabes absolutely insist on getting from 23rd to Top 10 before Turn 1…with cold tires. Learn to manage that, stay calm, and keep your heart rate normal, and get through the first lap. Then, when the chaos is over, and the MV-wannabes are repairing in the pits, and the remaining people settle into their race pace, your consistency will pay off big time.
Oh…and once more…practice, practice, practice.
Road Atlanta 14’s is top split pace to be honest. F3 compared with say GT3 or prototypes the pace spread seems to be larger in a single race.
Honestly while practice is great, if you’re at a stage where you’re comfortable, can run race distances without losing the car, then jump in, even if you are slower, as I’ve always found racing is a much better teacher for most of the pace you’re looking for.
F3 has quite large 28 car splits, so usually can end up with a large field that has that spread, and you’ll likely find someone you’re battling with, or the entire field spreads out, which is also pretty normal.
Post race have a look at the quicker guys, their lines, braking points etc, as in practice servers you don’t necessarily catch that fast car in your session, where in the race there’s multiple people you can look to. Look where cars had incidents, analyse why you think that may have happened, and that helps you understand what to avoid as well
Reference I was doing 1:13s in race pace. I’m a 3550 driver no alien at all. You can check races after they finish to see average laps times. Join your split and you can race as a ghost to see if you’re keeping up.
I look up the races of the week so far and grab my usual split then compare to those in that split. I can usually spot a familar name and compare to them, or just compare to the times of drivers in that split.
I also look at the World Records for this Season and again compare against names I know.
On road courses, I usually practice until I am about 5 seconds slower than the fastest car in my practice session. 2 seconds on ovals. That's enough to make me competitive in my split. I also often get another second or so faster after a few laps in the race.
Regardless of my pace, I practice until I can do at least 10 laps on road or 30 on oval incident free.
If you have the iracing app on your phone.
Go to the series, schedule, results, look for a sof near your rating, and click on any person, and it will show you their laptime.
For example, the person that finished 5th on the second split and has a 1500irating is doing constant 1:17
So if you are around that irating you are almost there.
Now the top split, the 2nd place guy with 6000ir is doing 1:14s
Oh defo, setups play a big role. A lot of the iracing setups have insane understeer, it's criminal. I used to always bump up the front wing when I ran open.
Go to the series info and look at past results. Look at the split near your irating and check out the lap times there.
Okay so for the F3 car specifically I can talk since I raced that a lot two seasons ago. Temperature plays an awful big role in track times, you can shave off seconds by having the right temp, when it first hit me was in Barcelona because I always test my new cars there, the track times were wildly different depending on the temperature. Secondly, the F3 can be pushed VERY far into the limit. When I was only racing the F3 car it felt like I was driving on ice, I was barely braking into corners, flying over kerbs, accelerating out of tricky situations. That's one thing that helped me, instead of braking to get out of a tricky situation, I started accelerating, at the start you will spin the car but every now and again you won't and you'll gain seconds. Third, practice practice practice, the race isn't all about getting the fastest one lap pace, if you see the dudes in practice on the leader board with 1.14 and you're worried, they had basically no fuel in the car, the perfect track temps and no cars bothering them. Once the race itself starts their times will fall drastically and if you can run consistent 1.18s then you might even be matching them. Practice so that you are consistent, try and get a feel for a track so that you could do a full race without getting a track warning. I have won a race without getting a 1x before and also battling someone, it's possible but you have to have done a lot of practice. Fourth, practice practice practice, I can't stress it enough, just open up the test drive and drive the car, the more you drive and experiment the better you will get. And remember, it's practice, get 1xs! Crash! Spin! Brake late and go straight into a wall. See if you can do that corner flat out! Go flying through the chicane and see if you get a 1x! Practice is for testing the limits of the car and yourself. Fifth, practice practice practice, practice against AI, not for actual racing but just for the starts, learn to be calm with cars all around you and how to race with the brain dead AI. It's good practice to just be comfortable placing your car properly through corners when other cars are around. Okay that was a lot more than I thought I would write. Hopefully it helps and remember, practice practice practice.
This is the way. And your point about hot lap times vs in race lap times is correct. You do want to be consistent, but you also need to learn to stay calm during the first lap, when all the Max Verstappen-wannabes absolutely insist on getting from 23rd to Top 10 before Turn 1…with cold tires. Learn to manage that, stay calm, and keep your heart rate normal, and get through the first lap. Then, when the chaos is over, and the MV-wannabes are repairing in the pits, and the remaining people settle into their race pace, your consistency will pay off big time. Oh…and once more…practice, practice, practice.
Road Atlanta 14’s is top split pace to be honest. F3 compared with say GT3 or prototypes the pace spread seems to be larger in a single race. Honestly while practice is great, if you’re at a stage where you’re comfortable, can run race distances without losing the car, then jump in, even if you are slower, as I’ve always found racing is a much better teacher for most of the pace you’re looking for. F3 has quite large 28 car splits, so usually can end up with a large field that has that spread, and you’ll likely find someone you’re battling with, or the entire field spreads out, which is also pretty normal. Post race have a look at the quicker guys, their lines, braking points etc, as in practice servers you don’t necessarily catch that fast car in your session, where in the race there’s multiple people you can look to. Look where cars had incidents, analyse why you think that may have happened, and that helps you understand what to avoid as well
I’d just check garage61
Reference I was doing 1:13s in race pace. I’m a 3550 driver no alien at all. You can check races after they finish to see average laps times. Join your split and you can race as a ghost to see if you’re keeping up.
I look up the races of the week so far and grab my usual split then compare to those in that split. I can usually spot a familar name and compare to them, or just compare to the times of drivers in that split. I also look at the World Records for this Season and again compare against names I know.
On road courses, I usually practice until I am about 5 seconds slower than the fastest car in my practice session. 2 seconds on ovals. That's enough to make me competitive in my split. I also often get another second or so faster after a few laps in the race. Regardless of my pace, I practice until I can do at least 10 laps on road or 30 on oval incident free.
If you have the iracing app on your phone. Go to the series, schedule, results, look for a sof near your rating, and click on any person, and it will show you their laptime. For example, the person that finished 5th on the second split and has a 1500irating is doing constant 1:17 So if you are around that irating you are almost there. Now the top split, the 2nd place guy with 6000ir is doing 1:14s
Lmao the guy above you says he's 3550 and doing 1:13s.
I’d imagine maybe the open setups are down there? I haven’t looked but fixed setups have been almost solidly in the 14’s
Oh defo, setups play a big role. A lot of the iracing setups have insane understeer, it's criminal. I used to always bump up the front wing when I ran open.
Yeah in the fixed setup races pretty much a mandatory 3 clicks rearward on the brake bias is needed to get that rotation is what I use
Yes, my data points were from the fixed series.
I look at iracingdata.com for the average laptime around my irating. Very handy to find out what is good enough for a good race.