Hi There,

I've been playing for only a short while and have been using the keyboard.
On Blackwood, in the slowest car (think it's XFG) I have been only able to clock up a fastest lap time of around 1 min 38 secs when the winners seem to be clocking up 1:33 or 1:34.

I have since bought a wheel (logitech DFP) and have found my lap times are pretty much the same, if not slower :-(

Can anyone look at the following setups that I have and let me know if any of them are a no-no or if I could be doing anything better.

Automatic gears
Setup from teaminferno site
Wheel turn at 900 degrees

Sorry if anything here is nooby but I am truly a noob at this game!

Thanks :-)
Dave

Use manual gears and you might want to consider using less steering lock. Other than that, practice, practice and more practice.

PS. I almost forgot, practice.

Thanks, I'll switch to manual and change the turning circle.

I'm normally pretty good at driving games and was wondering if there was something in particular I was missing that is losing me so much time.

Oh well, better get back on the track then :-)

You might also want to have a look at the world record replays. By that I don't mean that you should try to copy them 1:1, but looking at them might give you a hint or two where you're losing most time. Other than that there are also the basic and advanced driving guides, and of course as geeman1 said, practice, practice and some more practice.

Regarding steering angles, I think 540° is a pretty comfortable value. Manual gears are also essential, as they give you much more control over the shifts compared to the automatic ones, which at times behave quite strange and slow.

Quote from webdigga :

I'm normally pretty good at driving games and was wondering if there was something in particular I was missing that is losing me so much time.

Hehe, that always makes me chuckle May I ask which driving games you've played?

Definitely turn the steering lock down. About the maximum you can use without having to take your hands off the wheel at full lock is 420, so try that. The DFP just doesn't turn fast enough to make the full rotation useful.

1:38 isn't that bad, honestly. I remember when getting under 1:40 was a milestone. Don't expect to get into the 1:34s any time soon, but regular 1:36s should be your next target, really. That will keep you on the same pace as most "casual" LFSers.

Oh yeah, the #1 rule: Slow in, fast out. Don't try to brake later, instead brake earlier if you have to in order to be on the accelerator sooner on the exit. Concentrate on doing that at every corner and you'll surprise yourself how much faster you go.

Same question, same answers in this thread.

Quote from obsolum :

Hehe, that always makes me chuckle May I ask which driving games you've played?

haha - all the way back from Micropose F1 grand pix on the Amiga to Gran Turismo on the playstation - nothing quite this real tho!

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Definitely turn the steering lock down. About the maximum you can use without having to take your hands off the wheel at full lock is 420, so try that. The DFP just doesn't turn fast enough to make the full rotation useful.

1:38 isn't that bad, honestly. I remember when getting under 1:40 was a milestone. Don't expect to get into the 1:34s any time soon, but regular 1:36s should be your next target, really. That will keep you on the same pace as most "casual" LFSers.

Oh yeah, the #1 rule: Slow in, fast out. Don't try to brake later, instead brake earlier if you have to in order to be on the accelerator sooner on the exit. Concentrate on doing that at every corner and you'll surprise yourself how much faster you go.

Thanks for this - I'll try the wheel at 420, much appreciated!

TBH i find 540 fine, 900 would be a bit excessive...

Could you post a replay?

try one of bob smith's easy race sets. they work like a charm for me.

Quote from Jakg :

TBH i find 540 fine, 900 would be a bit excessive...

You're not using a DFP though, are you?

It also might explain why you can't drive the RWDs.

I use 540 degrees on my G25, what's wrong with that?

You know the part where I said the DFP doesn't turn fast enough to make the higher rotation useful? Can the G25 owners please read that bit again a few times.

Quote from Jakg :

TBH i find 540 fine, 900 would be a bit excessive...

Could you post a replay?

Here is one of my fastest times so far (no laughing pls :-) )

Quote from thisnameistaken :

You know the part where I said the DFP doesn't turn fast enough to make the higher rotation useful? Can the G25 owners please read that bit again a few times.

Bah, missed your post.

Quote from webdigga :

Here is one of my fastest times so far (no laughing pls :-) )

Throttle on too suddenly leaving T1, understeered off the road. Throttle on progressively instead and be careful to only use as much steering angle as you need to (any more and this will promote understeer). This is IMO the hardest corner to get right, you need to balance throttle and steering very well to make the most of it.

Lift in the middle of the chicane - try taking more of the kerb on your right on the entry to make the chicane less of a sharp angle, you shouldn't need to lift off the throttle after T1 until you get to the end of the back straight.

T3: Go out much wider to brake for this turn - you're braking with a few metres of tarmac on your left that you could be using, and you actually approach the inside of the track while braking. Don't turn into the corner until you're done braking, aim for an apex speed around 65mph and floor it as soon as you can see the exit.

Next two corners aren't so bad. With practice you should be able to carry more speed (another 5mph or so) into the first right-hander and this will be a net gain all the way over the hill until you brake again for the next right turn.

Right-hander at the bottom of the hill you take too slow - you're not using all the road on the exit. If you find you don't need to use that green concrete on the exit then you need to go faster until you do!

Last corner: Again not a bad line but you will be able to carry more speed through it with practice.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Throttle on too suddenly leaving T1, understeered off the road. Throttle on progressively instead and be careful to only use as much steering angle as you need to (any more and this will promote understeer). This is IMO the hardest corner to get right, you need to balance throttle and steering very well to make the most of it.

Lift in the middle of the chicane - try taking more of the kerb on your right on the entry to make the chicane less of a sharp angle, you shouldn't need to lift off the throttle after T1 until you get to the end of the back straight.

T3: Go out much wider to brake for this turn - you're braking with a few metres of tarmac on your left that you could be using, and you actually approach the inside of the track while braking. Don't turn into the corner until you're done braking, aim for an apex speed around 65mph and floor it as soon as you can see the exit.

Next two corners aren't so bad. With practice you should be able to carry more speed (another 5mph or so) into the first right-hander and this will be a net gain all the way over the hill until you brake again for the next right turn.

Right-hander at the bottom of the hill you take too slow - you're not using all the road on the exit. If you find you don't need to use that green concrete on the exit then you need to go faster until you do!

Last corner: Again not a bad line but you will be able to carry more speed through it with practice.

Thanks for all the advice - it's much appreciated!!

Just hit a 1:36.73

First time I have ever been in the 1:36's

Thank you everyone for your help!!!!!

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Right-hander at the bottom of the hill you take too slow - you're not using all the road on the exit. If you find you don't need to use that green concrete on the exit then you need to go faster until you do!

I'm at work, can't watch the replay. But in my opinion, aside from T1, this is the hardest corner to do correctly for me. I'm either way too slow, or I push the front end clear out to the green where I'll need to lift a bit.

All other corners should come to you fairly quickly, the are all basically the same (why that right hander after split 2 I have trouble with is beyond me.) You should be able to hit the corners at 65 mph, as Kev said, fairly easily, then eventually move beyond to hitting them at 70-72 mph. I think you definitely need more than 70 mph to get into the 1:33's. Either that, or my T1 is more horrible than I thought.

With the chicane, I don't like to exit T1 clear out on the curb, but more in the middle to middle outside of the track to get a straighter shot past the first chicane corner to the second. [delete]You can lift initially for the left hander in the chicane, but once you get use to it, there is no lifting involved. About right before the apex of that chicane corner is where you would be shifting to 3rd. I haven't lifted there in the XFG since way back in S2 demo release (April 05).[/delete] Oops, I thought Kev said you should lift, which he didn't.

Thanks Mike!

Quote from webdigga :

Just hit a 1:36.73

First time I have ever been in the 1:36's

Thank you everyone for your help!!!!!

Congrats!

You're on the right track. If you can do 1:36 consistently, you're on the right track. The hardest turns to get it right are T4 and T6 (2nd and 3rd chichane).

To better increase the chances of doing 1:35 with practice:
1) enter T1 at 46-48mph
2) enter T3 at 65-68mph
3) reach at least 70mph by the 2nd apex of T4
4) keep you speed at 63-65mph throughout T5
5) enter T6 at 70mph without losing more 2-3mph when you finish the left-hander part of the chichane

After all that you should be able to do at least 1:35:50 (high 1:34 if you push it really hard). If you can reach split 1 under 32:50 and split 2 under 1:07:50, you're on the right track. Reach split 1 under 32 seconds will indicate it's possible to get high 1:34 at the end, but you need to get T4 and T6 right before getting into high 1:34 plus you must be in low 1:07 at split 2.

Hope that helps.

ok, I've just drove the setup you have. It's not really hard to get high 1:34. Drove it for about 10 laps, I can get low 1:35 (consider myself lucky since I can't really drive RHD in real life lol). There's couple laps where I can get high 1:34 but lost too much speed at the last turn. Keep practicing and you'll be ok.

cos you drive a RHD (like me) you can really hammer the kerbs on right hand turns (you wont roll). Also, try and be on the apex for as shorter time as possible and steer as little as possible, e.g at the corner at the end of the straight, stay on the outside rumble strip, clip the inside kerb and use the green thing on the outside. But, be careful at the last corner, that kerb is lethal for RHDs!

EDIT: Also, try and think of the 'time' as an average speed. i.e. try and keep as much speed through the corners as possible

Hey mate trust me we won't laugh at you, you're a good guy and you're asking for help in the right way, we respect that.
I know this combo pretty well so here goes:
It looks like you're trying to brake way too late.. so maybe you can turn some of the NM of braking down to say.... 570 or around there. That way you _have to brake early to make it round the corner smoothly.

In the middle sector you weren't really using enough of the road, it's there so use it! you broke waaayyy too late heading off the back straight - i'm suprized you made it around the corner actually (hehe) so as Kev said, maybe try using more of the kerb on the outside

I also noticed you were using 'Throttle cut', turn that off. You don't need that at all. If you actually need to cut the throttle you can do it yourself by taking your foot off the accel say 50% when the clutch is in and that way it won't wreck your precious engine

Kev also said this too, but I must enforce it - only use as much lock as you need! you will find your times to be much faster when driving smooth. Try to minimize tyre screech or squeal as much as possible - it only heats them up faster and with a low powered car like the gti, it bogs the engine down... it takes forever to get the rev's back up again

hope this helps dude.... see you on S2 soon!