I'm having consistency issues. I often find that I can be fairly fast and consistent (based on my personal driving history) one day, when everything just "clicks", but slow, inconsistant and spinning out the next day (same car/track/setup). It's like I'm on a "driving block" or something

Does anyone else experience this or have any ideas how to get over it quickly?

There are all kinds of things which need to come together at the right time in order for you to get faster- focus, determination, staying calm under pressure etc. Not to mention any number of possible outside external factors.

Sometimes you're just not in the right 'place' and your times will reflect that.

Consistency will also improve with generally increased experience.

check your tyre temperatures.

To me it sounds a lot like you are driving by feel, instead of judging corners by brake markers and corner exits/entries. On one day it all clicks because you maybe drive behind someone who "knows the line" and you just replicate it. On another day you have no driver to watch on so you drive by feel, maybe braking a bit too late, going around corners on wrong line or just missing apexes and corner exits totally.

Driving by feel can produce some seriously fast single lap times on rare occasion but mostly it just kills your consistency.

If I was you I'd check my braking markers and corner entries and exits and put more effort on improving things slowly instead of trying to nail it on the first laps. Granted, there are people who can go insanely fast after just few laps, people who are naturally fast. (These people also have unnatural perversions, sick minds and generally die from bullets from angry husbends' semiautomatics). Not being naturally fast (not saying you aren't ) doesn't mean automatic fail or loss - it merely indicates that you need to go through some extra effort to match their speed.

Simply put, having brake markers and all that will greatly improve your consistency but you need to be aware that those braking points and never fixed. Hot/cold tyres, slipstream, fuel amount always randomizes things a bit. And you should always try to get those last tenths by moving your braking points and altering your line - but this needs to be done very carefully. I'd say a car length is good base unit for momving braking markers.

All this braking markers and all is even more important when you are just starting out with LFS. Once you learn to do it right the rest comes more easily. And learning off bad habbits can be downright difficult.

I am having same problems sometimes, there have been some days, where I can't drive at all! Braking is weird, turning ... spinning out all the time, everything feels just weird, like haven't driven that combo before (whatever combo you have driven already). Next day it's all right again and I'm going my own speed again as usually.

Quote from Hyperactive :

people who are naturally fast. (These people also have unnatural perversions, sick minds and generally die from bullets from angry husbends' semiautomatics

For some reason I fit into all of those categories; besides the dying part...I'm not insanley fast though ^-^

Quote from MijnWraak :

For some reason I fit into all of those categories; besides the dying part...I'm not insanley fast though ^-^

Well, you're not dead yet

you have days that differ your pace? I can go for food and come back and either be a total dimwit or gain time like mad.

Seeing your millage at LFS World, I would say that you need more experience - what you are speaking of can also occur with experienced drivers, but for now you would be best off by just driving, and do it in somewhat controlled manner (as Hyperactive writes - use markers).

There is one single, and IMO good tip I can give you though: Rape the car - toss it around, finish races even when damaged. You'll learn about the LFS physics and how the car behaves faster that way.

Quote from Hyperactive :

To me it sounds a lot like you are driving by feel, instead of judging corners by brake markers and corner exits/entries. On one day it all clicks because you maybe drive behind someone who "knows the line" and you just replicate it. On another day you have no driver to watch on so you drive by feel, maybe braking a bit too late, going around corners on wrong line or just missing apexes and corner exits totally.

Driving by feel can produce some seriously fast single lap times on rare occasion but mostly it just kills your consistency.

If I was you I'd check my braking markers and corner entries and exits and put more effort on improving things slowly instead of trying to nail it on the first laps. Granted, there are people who can go insanely fast after just few laps, people who are naturally fast. (These people also have unnatural perversions, sick minds and generally die from bullets from angry husbends' semiautomatics). Not being naturally fast (not saying you aren't ) doesn't mean automatic fail or loss - it merely indicates that you need to go through some extra effort to match their speed.

Simply put, having brake markers and all that will greatly improve your consistency but you need to be aware that those braking points and never fixed. Hot/cold tyres, slipstream, fuel amount always randomizes things a bit. And you should always try to get those last tenths by moving your braking points and altering your line - but this needs to be done very carefully. I'd say a car length is good base unit for momving braking markers.

All this braking markers and all is even more important when you are just starting out with LFS. Once you learn to do it right the rest comes more easily. And learning off bad habbits can be downright difficult.

Hyperactive - thanks for an insightful reply. This inconsistency happens even in hotlapping mode, i.e. one day I'm driving well all by myself, and another day it all goes awry.

I try to brake, turn, accelerate at the same points, but of course, getting it just a bit wrong can be disastrous. Maybe my reaction times and/or focus are just not very good on the "bad" days...man, it starts to sound like I'm on a period :spyoda:

What exactly do you mean by brake markers? I'm using the distance markers (colored), kerb locations, tyre stacks etc. as reference points. Am I missing something else?

Quote from r4ptor :

Seeing your millage at LFS World, I would say that you need more experience - what you are speaking of can also occur with experienced drivers, but for now you would be best off by just driving, and do it in somewhat controlled manner (as Hyperactive writes - use markers).

There is one single, and IMO good tip I can give you though: Rape the car - toss it around, finish races even when damaged. You'll learn about the LFS physics and how the car behaves faster that way.

Thanks r4ptor. I agree about needing more practice, although LFSW milage isn't very representative. I've clocked a lot more miles in the past year in demo mode, and I've been lapping alot offline the past few weeks. I guess I'm familiar with the general physics, but I'm still learning the physics of the FZR (should come in handy when I buy that GT3 in 20 years from now )

I would say concentration is the most important thing for myself when trying to be consistent.
I'm not entirely sure how I increase my focus but I do know that a few beers does not help ;-)

Believe it or not, it might be.. biological.

Humans have moments of peak awareness, tuned to the height the sun is in the sky - that is, according to one's internal clock.

Just as its not a good idea to go for a competitive drive just after lunch (youll get that after-lunch-sleepiness), there are other times in the day when your reflexes and coordination are at an all-time high.


If you are aware of it, you'll find some times of day when you seem to always do better, react faster and more accurately.

Of course, this is just a "modifier" - then main problem usually is lack of concentration, lack of caffeine, etc... all of the above, really.

Another advice is: Warm-up. do something that will pump your reflexes up. Like go play some hyperfast shooter for a few mins before going to LFS (something like Quake3 - where you dont get the option to slow down for a moment). When you get to LFS, youll be so used to having to think uber-fast, it will seem sloooow.
OR drive in LFS a car thats a lot faster than the one you are gonna go drive in - to get ready to drive the FOX, I usually do the same combo in the FO8/BF1 -then driving the fox feels like driving in slo-mo

Relax more and dont think about improving lap times, then consistancy will come with relaxation.


(imo anyway)

I'd agree with all of the above. I too get this, days where I'm just on it, (like you a relative thing ), and others when I just can't drive for toffee. I think it's down to two things:


a) Concentration/Focus
b) Biology - as stigpt alludes to.


Concentration/Focus -
There are all sorts of things that can affect your concentration and focus, so many things can distract. Being quick is about being in the zone, where the rest of the world just fades away and everything is tuned in to driving. The track just seems to flow and you do most stuff unconciously.

Biology -
There are simply just times of the day and days where you're body just isn't capable of the same levels of concentration and focus. All sorts of things affect it: Time, how much sleep you've had, when did you last eat and what did you eat, (carbs feed the brain - low blood sugar levels are very bad for concentration), and all sorts of other things contribute to being able to focus on what's in front of you.

Of course learning braking points, corner entries etc etc are all important, but if you're conciously having to think about this as you drive you're not going to be the quickest you can be. It's when it all becomes instinctive that you set your best times, and this requires being in the zone. I actually disagree with hyperactive to an extent. The best drivers do drive by feel, they just know from experience when/where to brake, how to enter the corner etc. They're not conciously thinking about it when they do it, they just do it.

From what I've learned, (I'm 27, done (mostly sim)racing since early teens, and always been interested in the technical aspects of racing and racecraft.) a good way of getting a right frame of mind almost every time for me, is to go particularly SLOW when exiting pits and on your outlap in qualify ( = take it easy, let others go by, heat your tires a bit, stick it in 6th gear and enjoy the scenery) or first lap(s) of racing.
This helps make it more real (it's good to pretend it's real, this will also encourage you not to spin and die) for you, and when going slow first gives you good appreciation and feel for the actual speed of the car when you do pick up the pace comming laps and how fast you're actually going.

Go SLOWER then you think you can, brake earlier and longer, pick up the power earlier (and gently) and get your lines right under power and go SMOOTH. Take it nice and easy, within 5 laps you're probably going faster this way then you would be when you're pushing hard. (This is the biggest thing I learned about racing, now racing is almost effortless for me and I'm going much faster and consistent then in my teens where I would push with bloodshot eyes and tunnelvision.)

Quote from gezmoor :

I actually disagree with hyperactive to an extent. The best drivers do drive by feel, they just know from experience when/where to brake, how to enter the corner etc. They're not conciously thinking about it when they do it, they just do it.

I agree. Whilst i don't count myself as one of 'the best' drivers I'm no slouch when I'm on form.
I don't think about anything really, I'm certainly never concentrating on braking markers, what speed I'm doing or any other distractions
I'm entirely focussed on how the car is handling and keeping it on the edge of traction.
When teammates ask how i did this or what gear I'm taking that in i often have to really think about what i did and analyse it to answer them as I'm not really aware of what I'm doing at the time.

The one thing I've noticed (as gezmoor has already noted) is my form is very dependent on what I've eaten and when. If I've eaten a load of crap (or not eaten much at all) then my concentration is shot and I'm completely inconsistent (last night was a prime example... lap times all over the place, one race I'm overheating my fronts, next race I'm ripping up the rears)

An hour after a bowl of pasta and a couple of coffees is prime time for me. Diet plays a huge part in proper concentration.

Do "the best" drivers really drive that much by learning brake-points by heart? Maybe for some i-want-the-hotlap-for-this-combo I could imagine that. Personelly I always drive by feeling but then Iam not very fast.
At least in stragety games (C&C, Starcraft Broodwar, TA etc) playing by feel works quite good for me, I never remember any buildorders or unitprizes.

I think when driving this way, learning a new track is much easier.
Or you just suck at all tracks, like I currently do

Feelings can't be trusted - one day you may be more sensitive than the next day - I used to drive by feel, and if a turn didn't feel fast, I would think I took it wrong - I had to relearn pretty much everything, and later started to "see" what I learned.

Sometime feeling can be really tricky. Thats when you are actually going slower, but feel like doing much faster speed

Having a good sex before race usually helps improve the consistency

No! Sex makes you slower, from personal experience!

What personal experience? You have never had sex with me so you cannot tell.

Ok, sex makes ME slower. I didn't mean sex with you though. Sex in general.

Forget about doing a fast lap, think line and smoothness, the emphasis being on the later you will know when you get it right as you will get a pb

BTW the best laps always "feel" slow