I was looking at another thread and got to thinking about what makes good racers. Here's my take:

Three things need to be mastered in order to win all of the races you participate in. Sadly, only a very few drivers are almost perfect in all three.

1) Line. This constitutes the area on the track your car needs to be to obtain a good time. Other factors include brake points and throttle up points. The perfect line will ultimately get you the best lap time possible, all else being equal.

2)Consitancy. It makes no difference if the race is five laps, or the race is 30 laps. Being consistant over the whole race will generaly net you a good finishing position. To acheive consitancy, two things must be obtained. Excelent car control and a somewhat stable setup.

3)Race craft. The ability to race in a group of cars and weed your way to the front of that group without causing any incidents. Good race craft is admired by all.


Now that you know the three things I consider equaly important to winning a race, please rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 (decimals can be used) in each of the catagories. Be honest. And in order to obtain some semblance of honesty, other racers are allowed to critique other's self rating, but only after they have given an honest rating of themselves. Also, don't critique someone who you've only raced against a few times.

My ratings:

Line: 5
Consitancy: 9
Racecraft: 8

Overall: 7.3

Line: 7
Consitancy: 7
Racecraft: 4

Overall: 6.000

I think I'm pretty good in passing people but I don't think I'm good enough to defend my positions, all doors and windows open: pass me, pass me! And I have a bad day in racing in 9/10 of days But I'm learning - let's give that an 8!

What about 4) Power sliding showing-off boastability?

Line: I dunno, not perfect but certainly not bad. I think it's tough to rate one's self. Once I've watched a WR replay: 7
Consistency: Well that depends on how much I'm pushing. During a 5 lapper I'm likely to come off, but on long races I just settle into the groove and see where I finish (not that I drive slow, but only 100% instead of 110). If I've practised enough: 8
Racecraft: I try, but it will never work without co-operation unless the track is particularly wide. 8

Overall: 7.7

Line: 5
Consistency: 8
Racecraft: 6
Overall: ~6.5

I just need to work on my line really. I can't do a lot about racecraft, as I frequently experience lag, which just makes close racing nigh-on impossible!

Line: 7.5
Consistency: 5.5 (but rapidly improving, at the slight expense of outright pace in races at the moment)
Racecraft: 9
Pace: 7 (recent drop from 7.5, due to concentrating on consistency rather than pb's)

Overall (with 4 categories): 7.25.

Meh, I'm all sad now, cos I feel much more competative that 7.25 sounds. Obviously I spin far too much at the moment desperately trying to go faster!

Line: 3
Consistency: 2
Racecraft: 2

Overall 2.33

1. I'm usually all around the track. It takes many many laps before you can notice some sort of lines in my driving. 3

2. Consistantly slow. But sometimes REALLY slow. 5

3. This is probably the only thing I consider myself good at. If by Racecraft you mean avoiding accidents, too. I take it really seriously not to collide anyone because of my mistakes. The result, I brake reaally soon, and I keep a fair distance to every direction. I also try to overtake cleanly, but I'm so slow that I never get to overtake. 8

5,33333

I guess I was a bit too critical....

Since others are giving explenations as to why they rated themselves the way they do (which is an excelent addition to the topic), allow to do the same.


I think I run an above abverage line most of the time. However, I run far more poor lines than I do really good lines. Therefor, my lines are generaly average. Constancy is one of my strong points I feel. In 100 races, I only have slef inflicted offs that cause more than two or three seconds time maybe handfull of times out of 500 laps. When I mess up, it's hardly ever worth noticing, almost always costs me far less than a second. Racecraft. I sometimes have a hard time getting around guys I havn't raced a bunch with, or guys who have simmilar lap times to me. Sometimes I'm not aggressive enough on the pass. I feel that I defend my position almost perfectly though.

Line: 7.5 - I am able to get a lot out of a car and get within a second of the world record quite quickly, however getting the last bit out is not so easy.
Consistency: 5.5 - I struggle to keep my concentration during long races if I am not surrounded by other racers.
Racecraft: 7 - I think I know how to overtake and be overtaken during a race while avoiding an incident. If I am familliar with the person I am racing's driving style we generally get quite a good race going.

Overall: 6.67

There's always luck factor involved in any race, hardware issues (wheel, pedals, fps, etc.), pit strategy (Endurance League), it's definitely not just 3 things which define a winner IMO...

I usually have most trouble with consistancy though.

Line: 5
My line don't differ much from the good ones... I just sometimes get too far outside and have to slow down to get into the line again... And I seem to drive way too slow...

Consistency: 7
Most times I stick to my line and my times are pretty much the same (within one second)... Unless I miss the braking point again...

Racecraft: 5
I try to stay away from others to not hit them... Sometimes it's just inevitable... But I tend to get very nervous when someone is just behind me and waiting to pass me...

Overall: 5.8

What should I say? Got my license just last month, maybe it gets better...

Quote from Rumiko :

There's always luck factor involved in any race, hardware issues (wheel, pedals, fps, etc.), pit strategy (Endurance League), it's definitely not just 3 things which define a winner IMO...

I usually have most trouble with consistancy though.

Yeah, but the three most important things that you can control are those. It sucks when some newbie pits out right in front of you then proceeds to block your attemted pass down the back straight, but there's little one can do about it. Think of this excersize as one in which you and ten guys you feel comfortable racing with are on a closed server. Guys you know aren't going to do something stupid, like drafting you down the back straight on BL1, then ten feet before you get to the brake zone, they swerve over in front of you, leaving only inches between your front bumper and thier back bumper, and then throw the anchor out, causing you to tap their rear end which causes you to go a little out of control, then you lose four seconds on the pack of five cars you've been racing with for three laps in a five lap race. All that of course means that you don't finish in a respectable position and the replay isn't as good as it could have been and then after you lightly chastise the guy for doing it, he backtalks you like it's your fault he decided to do something stupid.

You know Rumiko, it's been over a year and I'm still a little bitter. Can you tell?

Line: 6.5
Consitancy: 7
Racecraft: 8

Overall: 7.2

Line: 4
Consitancy: 7
Racecraft: 9

Overall: 6.666

at best i'd say thats true of consistancy and maybe a bit more for line depending on experience with a car/track :P

Off topic, but you people seem very inconsistent in spelling "consistency"

Line: 6
Consistency: 6
Racecraft: 8

I can't get my acceleration points correct most of the time, so that's a -ve..

Can get good laps, sometimes 5 back to back but under pressure for several laps my consistency crumbles

I think I'm quite capable of driving in a pack, T1 is never a problem really and I'm a fair but intelligent (or am I?) driver :P

Quote from Batterypark :

Off topic, but you people seem very inconsistent in spelling "consistency"

copy+paste FTW!

I don't get the "line" part, and the "speed" category is kinda missing .

Speed/Line or whateva "5"
Consistency "1"
Racecraft "3"
--------------------------
Overall "3"

Line: dictated by the driver in front or behind
Consistency: All over the shop
Race craft: I use mirrors all the time and act accordingly.
Spelling: very bad

john

A high consistency rating isn't much use if your "line" rating is poor, not that, as Renku suggests, the right line is much use if you're still 5 seconds off the pace.

Renku's far too modest btw

I suggest replacing the first two categories with "Average Pace", and "Ultimate/Potential Pace" (this being how fast you are when you've done what you considered to be a really good lap), with the wr pace being the benchmark.

i think how fast you adapt to a certain track/car is important, some guys take say 200 laps to get a decent time, where as sinbads can turn up, and get a good time on their 2nd lap.

Line: 6
Consitancy: 6
Racecraft: 9

Overall: 7

Looks about right to me... I seem to be able to get to the front of the pack pretty quickly, and am generally a good (if rather aggressive) overtaker. Not the most consistent sometimes, but other times I can be.

A good point by Will there... I think I apply more to quick learner side - I can do a car/track and get a good time very quickly (but it then takes a lot more laps to lower the time significantly )

Hmmm, nit pick my own driving.

Line: 3-4
Depends how well I know the track, a track I play a lot I'm pretty good at, a new track to me, I usally take around 10 laps to find my feet.
Consistency: 3-5
When I'm racing for a PB, or trying to keep up with someone way faster then me, I usally put out one or two good laps, then push too hard, and fly off. When I just try to follow the race line I do much better. Like some rally guy said (I forget who, he drives a subbie.) "If you try and drive fast, you will not go fast, being smooth and clean will make you fast."
Just a shame I can never follow what people say very well.
Race craft: 1
I can usally pass pretty well, but if anyone is behind me I never know what to do, so I usally fly off the track somewhere as I can't take pressure very well, and I hate trying to double guess where someone is going.
Overall: 3.

Oh yeah :P

Quote from _Rob_ :

Not the most consistent sometimes, but other times I can be.

Haha good one!