Ive been driving on the demo servers and Ive hit a bit of a wall. I used to do drifting in the turbo demo car but now thats not avaliable anymore Ive turned to the FBM. The thing is Ive hit a wall in my laptimes, on the Blackwood normal circuit I am mostly in the 1:20's and Ive only once done a sub 1:20 (1:19:73 to be exact) but I notice theres quite a few drivers doing 1:14's. Hasnt stopped me doing alright in races (quite a few high finishes and a win just because I didnt crash or spin once) but its getting frustrating relying on other ppls mistakes to get me up the pack.

Im using a joypad so steering isnt that precise and throttle and brake are either on or off (plus it pulls left all the time coz I cant figure out how to give the controller a deadzone).

Im thinking its a mixture of setup and driving thats holding me back Im just hoping someone had a similar experience and figured out what they were doing wrong. The gap is over 5 seconds to the good racers I just wanna bring that down a bit, any advice at all would help.

Pracitce and pracitce, press 4 to get the racing line on, it might help you a bit.

I might be wrong but Im pretty sure Im driving the right line.

post a replay or something so we can see you driving

Quote from henrypuspurs :

Ive been driving on the demo servers and Ive hit a bit of a wall. I used to do drifting in the turbo demo car but now thats not avaliable anymore Ive turned to the FBM. The thing is Ive hit a wall in my laptimes, on the Blackwood normal circuit I am mostly in the 1:20's and Ive only once done a sub 1:20 (1:19:73 to be exact) but I notice theres quite a few drivers doing 1:14's. Hasnt stopped me doing alright in races (quite a few high finishes and a win just because I didnt crash or spin once) but its getting frustrating relying on other ppls mistakes to get me up the pack.

Im using a joypad so steering isnt that precise and throttle and brake are either on or off (plus it pulls left all the time coz I cant figure out how to give the controller a deadzone).

Im thinking its a mixture of setup and driving thats holding me back Im just hoping someone had a similar experience and figured out what they were doing wrong. The gap is over 5 seconds to the good racers I just wanna bring that down a bit, any advice at all would help.

PM me and we could hook up on our private server for some tuition if you like?

Be warned tho, I aint that fast. Mid 14's my best.

ps - in the options/controller tab there is an option to have or to remove deadzones.

Quote from henrypuspurs :

I might be wrong but Im pretty sure Im driving the right line.

than thats your problem, if you drive like the racing line tells you you dont get good laptimes. all you need is a good setup and some dare to give some more gas and get your own, better line

I dunno if a replay file just needs the one file to work but heres one... if I need to post something else for it to work do tell me.

The first lap I tried a couple of new lines through the chicane and around the pit entry. Second lap was a very good lap by my standard so thats the one that realy needs improving on, third was slightly bellow average, few mistakes.

Quote from henrypuspurs :

Im using a joypad so steering isnt that precise and throttle and brake are either on or off (plus it pulls left all the time coz I cant figure out how to give the controller a deadzone).

I think you answered your own question there..... I don't think it's possible to be competative with a joypad.... this is not some playstation arcade game.

What you need is a steering wheel... and then practise practise practise.

good luck.

Quote from henrypuspurs :

I dunno if a replay file just needs the one file to work but heres one... if I need to post something else for it to work do tell me.

The first lap I tried a couple of new lines through the chicane and around the pit entry. Second lap was a very good lap by my standard so thats the one that realy needs improving on, third was slightly bellow average, few mistakes.

A gamepad may not be an ideal controller, but after watching the replay I think you have plenty of air in your laptime.

At first you need to focus on your basic driving lines. And general smoothness. XFG may be a better car for this kind of practise, but I can't see why FBM wouldn't do fine also.

You start to turn into turners from the middle of the track, when it should be done from the outest possible position. That makes your line much sharper than the ideal line and you end up turning too much. <-- What a tenous link to our next problem, smoothness. I know that it's hard to make small adjustments on your pad, but full steering lock is not the way to drive around corners. You should aim for only the smallest steering inputs. When I have to turn my 720 degree wheel over 90 degrees, usually something has gone wrong.

I think that this driving line and smoothness thing is easier to get a hang on if you start slower and gradually increase speed when you feel comfortable. And remember that when you think you go slow enough, slow down a little bit more

Also, this is a good read if it's any news for you: http://www.rosedikart.com/basic_driving_techniques.htm

Hope it helps!

I'll keep that in mind, and thanks for taking the time to watch the replay I realy appreciate it.

Though I have found part of the problem and fixed it, I asked one of the guys doing 1.14's for this setup and after some minor changes (more rear wing, during fast corners its hard to apply a precise amount of opposite lock when your stick travel is about 1cm) I knocked 2 seconds clean off my regular time. I think I can get another few fractions off from further tweaking and the rest is as you say... practice.

I think what realy helped was the sharper turn in, as I said I reduced the oversteer at high speed with more wing but I realy love the turn in you get with this new setup, and all it asks is that I feather the throttle a bit more, though once you get up to speed that rear wing comes into play again. It also rides the kerbs a lot better, which means the first chicane is a lot easier.

Anyway, gonna have to get back to my driving.