Yeah, I thought about that. The crowded track makes it a bit harder to be consistent. But I choose to record a race because I'm typically faster during a race than when hotlapping by myself. I learn more and improve more in races than just solo practice.
On teh other hand, its much more difficult to be consistent and get the repetition.
True, but to tell you the truth, I first read this in a "how to sim race" guide way back in the beginnings of Papyrus' Indycar Racing 2 and Nascar 1 and 2. That was back in 1995/96 and I didn't start riding until 2002 .
I'll have to hunt for some of those guides I have. They are quite old, but still relate. I know I have them saved somewhere.
LOL I actually pulled out my old IndyCar Racing 1 manual the other day for the section on car setups!
Oh and as tough as it can be sometimes, don't watch other people spin off/run wide/crash in either LFS or real-life racing, as it can be quite easy to follow them
Try doing some hotlapping with Kegetys ghost car mod. That will let you run back to back comparisons against yourself. You'll quickly see where you're losing time and what lines are the fastest. If you want a real challenge get a quick lap from a friend, convert it to a ghost, then race against that. Just make sure you're racing against a real lap, not a WR lap or a "qualifying" lap since those often have strange tire choices, uber-camber setups, etc. You won't be able to consistently lap and have a prayer of keeping up.
Looking at your laps, I have some ideas. Most of them have been mentioned here, so I hope to add more clarity or priority to them. I will start many a sentence with "You're doing this wrong...". Don't take it personally. My intention is to be perfectly impersonal. Factual. Ask anyone who's worked with me on track. I gobble up the "I did this wrong" factoids. Just my style, sorry if it offends.
Use the whole track. (I still have trouble with this one, been working on it forever.) Hit your clipping points. Entry, apex, exit. Clip, clip, clip. It gives you larger turning radii, therefore more speed. Your last two laps were starting to get real comfortable. Track camber is usually steepest at the apex. If you can tuck down in there, you can carry more speed and throttle up earlier.
Whatever headspace you were in on the last two laps, get there earlier. Count sheep. Do practice laps at Silverstone in a BMW M3 in your imagination. Try to remember if you left the stove on... Get out of the tight space. It makes you look too closely in front of you and makes your movements stiff.
Look very, very far in front of you. If you are looking 6 feet in front of you, the only things you will see are those that are closer than 6 feet. At 100mph 6 feet equates to... uh... lessee... not very many seconds. That's your reaction time, not very many seconds. Should something come up, like a brake marker, turn in point, apex, exit point, other car... etc. you have exactly "not very many" seconds to react. Yer toast. It might be easier to think in terms of how many seconds to look up the road. Look 4 seconds ahead of your position... time scaled to speed, of course.
Don't steer too much or too little unless you mean to. If you can add more steering lock and the car turns, you aren't going fast enough. If you add more steering lock and the car understeers, you are using too much lock. (Except in the case where you would exit the track with less lock, then you are going too fast or have the wrong line.) Push Your outside hand towards the apex. Note the O'Clock position. In each given turn, on a given line, at a given speed, the perfect amount of lock will be a certain O'Clock position. (Such as 11:00 or 1:15.) That is a good way to guess how much to steer at turn in each time around. If you get off line, miss a marker, or whatever, your brain will do the math very quickly and adjust by 15 minutes or an hour. It really works. When releasing the car from the corner, push with the new outside hand. Steer right with the left hand, left with the right.
Turning the steering wheel is exactly like stepping on the brakes. Don't turn it unless it benifits you. Release the steering in a continuous motion with additive throttle. Make throttle up and steering release one move in your mind.
Be very smooth on the throttle, steer, and brakes. Every movement is progressive. Start with a little, add more slowly and then more quickly. Someone watching you will think you are making quick movements. But you know that you are "squeezing" the triggers. Step on the gas like your familiy jewels are underneath the pedal. Gently, slowly, with the slightest noticable movements. That same motion is how you lift off the brake. Off the brake real easy, deeper into the turn, closer to the apex. As you are letting off the brake, match the movement with the throttle pedal going the other way. Trading one for the other, gracefully. Again, one motion in your mind.
Rotate. Rotate the car with the throttle. Like you do on the left hand part of the chicane, or the right hander in the "S" after the right hander at the end of the straight. Some corners are faster if you are spinning out, but in control. Sometimes it feels like you should lift. Like keeping your foot down is not a good idea. But it is. Kyoto National is a track where you need to keep it down and spin (throttle rotation) the car around almost every corner. Rotating is an exercise in using imperceptable throttle movements. It's kinda tricky to learn, but I've seen you do it. Imagine a certain imaginary turn... If you go 85, no problem. If you go 90, big problems, pushing off track and such. If you go 95, no problem because you're flat and the car is rotating. Gearing is key. Just using RaceS and setting the aero and gearing only for each track will get you a long, long way.
Don't slow too much for corners. What speed do you take the right after the straight at? 93? Don't slow to 85 at entry. Slow to 90. Remember to trade throttle for brakes.
Yes. Do let the car go where it wants to. Once you set your steering, do the rest with the throttle, if at all possible. The more you steer and fidget with the pedals, the more time you lose. Remember to release the steering progressively, throttling at the same time. Less resistance, let the car run it's line out.
Use a neutral setup. If you get in late you can lift and let the car rotate under trailing throttle. If you get in early you can rotate the car under throttle up to exit quicker.
It's all about exit speed. Use whatever it takes to get the best speed off of corners.
Try this setup. Most people who try it are blown away. It is very grippy and neutral. I use less lock than most. Turn the steering lock up to what you normally use.
People say I am very consistent. It's interesting that we are on Blackwood. I really struggle with it. Normally my lap times would span 3/10ths through the whole performance. But this track kills me. GOOD. I hope to show that using the techniques I've described above, you can turn lap after lap by letting the car go, steering with the throttle, and using progressive movements. Such as I did. Please note that my line is all over the place. I miss markers more regularly than I hit them. Yet my times are still somewhat consistent. That because I keep my foot down, look ahead, and let the car go where it will. I use whatever I have at hand, to make the car get through a bad line. Note my use of understeer as braking.
Later on we can talk about drifting. (Trad.) Where you steer right at the armco at the inside of a turn on a street course, dead collision course, but you are going so fast you just slide by it with one inch to spare....
PS I am always astonished to see what a Clean Racer Stoney is. Love his work.
[edit] I just wanted to add, that all of these things including letting the car go where it wants really helps in traffic consistency. (Just so long as you don't "let" the car go into another car.)
its called "Analyze For Speed" although if you want really snazzy stats then try "F1 Perf View", both are available at http://www.liveforspeed.net/?page=analysers plus it has the instructions
I got on Blackwood last night (on Redline again) and immediately dropped 2 seconds off my time without any setup changes.
I only did I race because my network crapped out briefly. So, I jumped on Blackwood on my machine, solo, and did some laps. And sucked it up. I know a few of you have advised doing solo laps to improve, but I just can't seem to get into the groove without someone to chase or someone chasing me. illepall
If you find a set you like, keep it and just modify the cambers to suit the course and the brakes (For tracks like as club as the end part needs decent brakes)
I used to initially think that setup was the most important thing and without the WR set you could never beat it. But now it's a whole lot simpler, find a set I like and stick with it, I have 1 LX4 set and it has got me wr's from South city 2 rev to As grant touring without modding a thing.
Wr's mean practicly nothing though, they are good for when you are bored and league events where they use a hotlap rank thing for qualifying. Also quite nice to see your name up their sometimes.
A good way to get fast at tracks quickly is watch the wr, see what speeds he holds in the corners and if you can acheive that and a good exit you are laughing.
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illepall