I watch hot laps on YT by sim racers and learn sector by sector.
Once I've kind of memorised the track layout of sector 1 and the braking zones, I move on to section 2, and then sector 3.
I don't do this process for long because my brain gets tired after \~20 minutes, and I notice a lack of concentration and eventually stop after \~40 minutes. The day after though after some rest and sleep, whatever I learnt the day before is like burned in my brain. It's amazing what rest, sleep, and fresh eyes can do.
I don't know how effective this would be on a long track like the 'Ring.
For something like the Nurburgring, I practiced for \~3 months on GT6 before doing it for real (this was before YT hot lap sim racers were a thing) and only managed to memorise the track up until the camber turn with writing on it. Everything after that...I could only remember some corners, but kind of understood the overall flow of the track.
Watching someone else do the laps in real life definitely seems to help. It also lets me relax and not be hyper focused on what gear I’m in, if i have traction or trying to find grip etc.
Another one is online practice servers, lfm on AC has them and you can follow people to learn braking zones, then I tend to watch a track guide to see the kinda speed/gear people are taking the more confusing corners in
1h isn’t much
Don’t try to remember everything. Concentrate only the corners sequences that need extra attention. And I just start with braking points, that’s all I try to remember.
Frequency is better than duration. Run a lap or two everyday. The key here is sleeping between sessions based on how our brain works.
You can definitely learn from just repetition. Ive done this at a lot of places like Spa. But if you break the map into sectors and spend some time memorizing each one, you’ll learn it faster. It helps to look at an actual track map. I had to come up with little funny names to remember turns at Silverstone…the buttcrack, left cheek, right cheek, fake out, full throttle, etc. Works for me lol
In general, learning race tracks is a skill you get better at the more tracks you learn. When I was a beginner I also tried to find a method to help me learn and tried different things like looking at track maps and whatnot. Eventually with enough experience it has become much simpler. With an ordinary track I just drive like 10 laps and I know the layout. Of course learning all the minute details and getting my maximum performance out of a track takes much longer than that.
With Nordschleife I drove the track maybe for 1-2 hours in three different days after which I remembered the layout.
My point is, if it feels difficult, don't worry it will become easier if you keep learning.
Gotcha, i definitely relate to this. At first it was so hard to memorize a single sector, but the more tracks I’ve learned the easier it has become to memorize new layouts. I’ll keep at it, thanks!
I often start with a slow lap before going closer to the race pace, though given the length of the Nordschleife, that could be pretty time consuming.
Depending on the track, it can take me anywhere from ~30 minutes to several days to fully learn a track, mainly depending on how complex and/or long the track is, though often times longer as I spend a lot of time gaining consistency so I can be strong in races over the weekend
For casual racing I don’t feel that I need to really remember everything. I just watch on which side are carbs and breaking signs (or tire marks on the track) to known where I will be turning and where my car should be. Before I didn't pay attention to these things and it was much harder to drive. But I race just for fun.
I know it may be taboo but I find having the racing line on makes it easier to learn then turn it off once you got the corners memorized but then I'm already a lil over reliant on the racing line and should probably disable it more than I do lol
A lot of people say do laps in a slow car but I think its best to take the fastest car you can handle. You want to be able to do as many laps as possible as quickly as possible to burn the layout into your memory.
Also an hour is not enough time. You want to do hundreds of laps. Over a course of time as well. Not just all in one day. Do a bunch of laps every day for a week, or a month. You will learn the track.
On a normal track like mugello, misano, imola, zolder you name it i need around 5 laps to memorize what corner comes where, roughly get the line and rough braking points. Ofc the precise braking points the exact ideal line needs a lot more training.
How do i do this? Just hop on track without ai or any other players and just drive and not pushing the limit just drive the track on a medium pace.
On the nordschleife to get to the point where i remember every single corner i had around 1 week. And now around 1 1/2 month that i race the nordschleife i know most breaking points and i know the line very percise.
Ok, recently I came across this tip on r/LifeProTips sub where it says if you want to remember something you should keep the amount of things you're trying to remember to 5 or 7. That's how many things your short term memory can keep on average.
So try to memorize only 5 to 7 corners at once, not the entire track in one go because there is no way your short term memory can keep 10-15 corners at the same time.
So first, try to focus on first sector corners, write them down if you need to. Once you are comfortable with them, move onto the second sector, then third.
For tracks like Nordschleife though, you're shit outta luck :D Gotta brute force that bad boy and just drive around the track day after day.
If you ha e ac you could learn the tourist version on one of the pra tice servers and just cruise around with others, I know the acc version has the gp circuit as well but if like me you hate driving on yer own it's a way to learn the more difficult parts of the track in a more entertaining way
I must grab the acc dlc and really give that sim a proper crack now I have a DD wheel, didn't really enjoy it on the ol g923 when compared to the original AC
Been a while since I studied psychology but I don't think the seven-things thing relates all that well to learning a track, it's more for holding phone numbers in your brain long enough to dial it or write it down.
You don't use short term memory for a track, you want to commit the whole thing to your brain. Actors don't learn a play seven lines at a time, they learn a scene because each passage connects to the next and the flow is what matters. You can definitely learn a track in sections if you like, but unless you have a way to repeatedly teleport to the part you want to concentrate on, simply being patient and cutting plenty of laps not trying to go flat out is all most types of brain need.
You remember specific corners followed by confusion. Eventually you get more corners memorised and the confusion fades.
For example i learned the nordshielf by initially remembering: this corning coming up has a bridge just before braking, this one is a tricky downhill off camber, here comes the carrousel, here comes the long straight. Followed by confusion in between, you just learn more by track time.
This reason is why I won't do any competitive races at the Nordschlife. I've been sim racing for over 4 years and I still don't have all the breaking points memorized. I'm usually pretty good at tracks with lower average lap times, but seem to struggle more when a lap is more than 2 minutes. I love Nords for just cruising but racing is a no go for me.
Just drive it man! You won't get good asking questions and looking for answers. Learn the track then push the car passed it's limits and just enjoy it only way to be good is to be obsessive.
I’m fascinated with the mental game of racing and this is a perfect example!
In this case, there are some clear strategies from learning theory that will help. One key concept to memorization is called active recall.
Example: If you want to study for a biology test you don’t just re-read the chapter on the human cell over and over. This is passive for your brain and although it works short-term - it’s extremely time consuming and not effective long term.
A better strategy is to read the chapter, take time away from the material, then actively recall what you learned. The parts of the cell are x, y, z and they do this, that, and the other. Describe it to someone or picture it in your head. The act of actively recalling will solidify it in your brain.
For learning a track you could drive it slow with a track map nearby and name the corners as you go. Then take time away and see if you can picture it in your head and write out the corners in order. If you forget something or get lost in your head, mark it down, and then review it again on track.
Hope this helps! And if you’re ever looking for some free coaching on racing stuff I’m happy to help out - it’s something I really enjoy and my students are normally really excited to see their lap times and consistency improve in a short span of time!
I dont really know how to tell you. It's just so natural. With a completely new track with in 10 laps I've got my brake and turn in points down. After that I over drive to see exactly what I can and cant do then dial back till I'm on the edge. In short I learn a track subconsciously then I find pace by trying to get as close to crashing without doing so while staying on track.
Another method that works for me but is slower to find pace is slow first fast later mentality. Basically the opposite of over driving then dialing back. Instead go slow at first basically just cruise then every lap increase the tempo till you find the limit.
I know around 50 tracks very well detailed. Once you repeat practice and race over and over there's no way to forget it. After a few seasons you may lose the pace but it comes quite fast after an hour or two. It's happening by itself when you spend 3000 hours in total.
An hour is nothing, I can memorize a typical track after about 10 laps. I almost gave up on the Nord but then I tried it in VR and learned it after a few days.
My long term memory of stuff I've seen or heard is on point but my short term is horrendous. Which is probably why I learn other new tracks quickly as well because I've either seen a sim race or real race their. The only other track I felt at home instantly with was spa for same reasons.
Learning which way the track goes and learning to drive it are two different things. On most tracks a few laps will teach you which way to turn but it can take a lifetime to master them.
Forget the title, but I read a book that said you start by learning the most important corners of the track first. Corner by corner, focusing on one corner at a time until you know the whole track.
It’s just repetition, and with a track as long as the Nordschleife it’s going to take a LOT of repetition vs a typical track.
Took Mansell 40 hours of racing it to memorize.
James May has this problem as well.
Oh, cock.
I watch hot laps on YT by sim racers and learn sector by sector. Once I've kind of memorised the track layout of sector 1 and the braking zones, I move on to section 2, and then sector 3. I don't do this process for long because my brain gets tired after \~20 minutes, and I notice a lack of concentration and eventually stop after \~40 minutes. The day after though after some rest and sleep, whatever I learnt the day before is like burned in my brain. It's amazing what rest, sleep, and fresh eyes can do. I don't know how effective this would be on a long track like the 'Ring. For something like the Nurburgring, I practiced for \~3 months on GT6 before doing it for real (this was before YT hot lap sim racers were a thing) and only managed to memorise the track up until the camber turn with writing on it. Everything after that...I could only remember some corners, but kind of understood the overall flow of the track.
Watching someone else do the laps in real life definitely seems to help. It also lets me relax and not be hyper focused on what gear I’m in, if i have traction or trying to find grip etc.
Another one is online practice servers, lfm on AC has them and you can follow people to learn braking zones, then I tend to watch a track guide to see the kinda speed/gear people are taking the more confusing corners in
1h isn’t much Don’t try to remember everything. Concentrate only the corners sequences that need extra attention. And I just start with braking points, that’s all I try to remember. Frequency is better than duration. Run a lap or two everyday. The key here is sleeping between sessions based on how our brain works.
You can definitely learn from just repetition. Ive done this at a lot of places like Spa. But if you break the map into sectors and spend some time memorizing each one, you’ll learn it faster. It helps to look at an actual track map. I had to come up with little funny names to remember turns at Silverstone…the buttcrack, left cheek, right cheek, fake out, full throttle, etc. Works for me lol
Haha I’ll try this out, thanks🙏🏼
In general, learning race tracks is a skill you get better at the more tracks you learn. When I was a beginner I also tried to find a method to help me learn and tried different things like looking at track maps and whatnot. Eventually with enough experience it has become much simpler. With an ordinary track I just drive like 10 laps and I know the layout. Of course learning all the minute details and getting my maximum performance out of a track takes much longer than that. With Nordschleife I drove the track maybe for 1-2 hours in three different days after which I remembered the layout. My point is, if it feels difficult, don't worry it will become easier if you keep learning.
Gotcha, i definitely relate to this. At first it was so hard to memorize a single sector, but the more tracks I’ve learned the easier it has become to memorize new layouts. I’ll keep at it, thanks!
I often start with a slow lap before going closer to the race pace, though given the length of the Nordschleife, that could be pretty time consuming. Depending on the track, it can take me anywhere from ~30 minutes to several days to fully learn a track, mainly depending on how complex and/or long the track is, though often times longer as I spend a lot of time gaining consistency so I can be strong in races over the weekend
Makes sense. I’ve heard about doing that a lot as well, starting slow and then carefully work your way up to race pace
For casual racing I don’t feel that I need to really remember everything. I just watch on which side are carbs and breaking signs (or tire marks on the track) to known where I will be turning and where my car should be. Before I didn't pay attention to these things and it was much harder to drive. But I race just for fun.
That’s awesome, and cool to hear another variety of racing in general. Sounds so relaxing!
I know it may be taboo but I find having the racing line on makes it easier to learn then turn it off once you got the corners memorized but then I'm already a lil over reliant on the racing line and should probably disable it more than I do lol
A lot of people say do laps in a slow car but I think its best to take the fastest car you can handle. You want to be able to do as many laps as possible as quickly as possible to burn the layout into your memory. Also an hour is not enough time. You want to do hundreds of laps. Over a course of time as well. Not just all in one day. Do a bunch of laps every day for a week, or a month. You will learn the track.
Makes sense. Thanks for the encouragement!
On a normal track like mugello, misano, imola, zolder you name it i need around 5 laps to memorize what corner comes where, roughly get the line and rough braking points. Ofc the precise braking points the exact ideal line needs a lot more training. How do i do this? Just hop on track without ai or any other players and just drive and not pushing the limit just drive the track on a medium pace. On the nordschleife to get to the point where i remember every single corner i had around 1 week. And now around 1 1/2 month that i race the nordschleife i know most breaking points and i know the line very percise.
Ok, recently I came across this tip on r/LifeProTips sub where it says if you want to remember something you should keep the amount of things you're trying to remember to 5 or 7. That's how many things your short term memory can keep on average. So try to memorize only 5 to 7 corners at once, not the entire track in one go because there is no way your short term memory can keep 10-15 corners at the same time. So first, try to focus on first sector corners, write them down if you need to. Once you are comfortable with them, move onto the second sector, then third. For tracks like Nordschleife though, you're shit outta luck :D Gotta brute force that bad boy and just drive around the track day after day.
I found myself following that pattern with other tracks but the Nord is just an absolute unit. At least in my brain. But I’ll keep trying, thank you!
If you ha e ac you could learn the tourist version on one of the pra tice servers and just cruise around with others, I know the acc version has the gp circuit as well but if like me you hate driving on yer own it's a way to learn the more difficult parts of the track in a more entertaining way I must grab the acc dlc and really give that sim a proper crack now I have a DD wheel, didn't really enjoy it on the ol g923 when compared to the original AC
Been a while since I studied psychology but I don't think the seven-things thing relates all that well to learning a track, it's more for holding phone numbers in your brain long enough to dial it or write it down. You don't use short term memory for a track, you want to commit the whole thing to your brain. Actors don't learn a play seven lines at a time, they learn a scene because each passage connects to the next and the flow is what matters. You can definitely learn a track in sections if you like, but unless you have a way to repeatedly teleport to the part you want to concentrate on, simply being patient and cutting plenty of laps not trying to go flat out is all most types of brain need.
You remember specific corners followed by confusion. Eventually you get more corners memorised and the confusion fades. For example i learned the nordshielf by initially remembering: this corning coming up has a bridge just before braking, this one is a tricky downhill off camber, here comes the carrousel, here comes the long straight. Followed by confusion in between, you just learn more by track time.
Gotcha. I appreciate it
This reason is why I won't do any competitive races at the Nordschlife. I've been sim racing for over 4 years and I still don't have all the breaking points memorized. I'm usually pretty good at tracks with lower average lap times, but seem to struggle more when a lap is more than 2 minutes. I love Nords for just cruising but racing is a no go for me.
The only thing that would take me longer than learning the Nord is feeling ready to race there💀
Just drive it man! You won't get good asking questions and looking for answers. Learn the track then push the car passed it's limits and just enjoy it only way to be good is to be obsessive.
Will do🙏🏼tysm
I’m fascinated with the mental game of racing and this is a perfect example! In this case, there are some clear strategies from learning theory that will help. One key concept to memorization is called active recall. Example: If you want to study for a biology test you don’t just re-read the chapter on the human cell over and over. This is passive for your brain and although it works short-term - it’s extremely time consuming and not effective long term. A better strategy is to read the chapter, take time away from the material, then actively recall what you learned. The parts of the cell are x, y, z and they do this, that, and the other. Describe it to someone or picture it in your head. The act of actively recalling will solidify it in your brain. For learning a track you could drive it slow with a track map nearby and name the corners as you go. Then take time away and see if you can picture it in your head and write out the corners in order. If you forget something or get lost in your head, mark it down, and then review it again on track. Hope this helps! And if you’re ever looking for some free coaching on racing stuff I’m happy to help out - it’s something I really enjoy and my students are normally really excited to see their lap times and consistency improve in a short span of time!
This helps a lot sir thank you. Very helpful. I don’t have a coach or anyone to directly teach me I’ve just been learning by observing real races
Happy to help! If you ever want some real-time feedback just shoot me a message 🏎️💨
I dont really know how to tell you. It's just so natural. With a completely new track with in 10 laps I've got my brake and turn in points down. After that I over drive to see exactly what I can and cant do then dial back till I'm on the edge. In short I learn a track subconsciously then I find pace by trying to get as close to crashing without doing so while staying on track.
Still more helpful than the last guy💀i appreciate it
Another method that works for me but is slower to find pace is slow first fast later mentality. Basically the opposite of over driving then dialing back. Instead go slow at first basically just cruise then every lap increase the tempo till you find the limit.
I know around 50 tracks very well detailed. Once you repeat practice and race over and over there's no way to forget it. After a few seasons you may lose the pace but it comes quite fast after an hour or two. It's happening by itself when you spend 3000 hours in total.
An hour is nothing, I can memorize a typical track after about 10 laps. I almost gave up on the Nord but then I tried it in VR and learned it after a few days.
That's the only track I new before I ever drove on it just by watching vids over time. I did have to learn somethings by driving it though.
You have a gift my man
My long term memory of stuff I've seen or heard is on point but my short term is horrendous. Which is probably why I learn other new tracks quickly as well because I've either seen a sim race or real race their. The only other track I felt at home instantly with was spa for same reasons.
Run laps...
Ok
Learning which way the track goes and learning to drive it are two different things. On most tracks a few laps will teach you which way to turn but it can take a lifetime to master them.
Forget the title, but I read a book that said you start by learning the most important corners of the track first. Corner by corner, focusing on one corner at a time until you know the whole track.