Project CARS 2 The Self Improvement Thread :) (2 Viewers)

[UnstopaPaul]

So I was looking through my notes from season 4 (you do all keep notes right?), trying to work out while piece of my learning/discovery to post next. However, I want to flip this for a moment to a topic I am reasonably confident on, sparked by my own experience in Season 4 and various thread comments on progress. I don't come at this with a great experience in racing, it still feels very far away to close the gap between myself and the top guys in split one. I am however well practised in training, having competed at the Commonwealth Games. So here goes a pretty lightweight introduction to...

How to Get Better (at Things). Part 1. Your Goal

1. Work out what you want to achieve.
Seriously. If you don't know what you want to get out of a race/game/training session/life, you are going to massively struggle. How would you even know when you arrived, if you don't know where you are trying to get to?

2. Identify what you are prepared to give up to achieve your goal
So here's the cold hard truth. If your goal is challenging, then you need to sacrifice a lot to reach your goal. If you are not prepared to dedicate the appropriate time and focus to achieving your stated goal, then you need to chose a different goal. The amount of effort you require might be different to that of someone else. We hate to give up things but if you want to do something better than you do now, you need to work out what you are not doing instead.

3. Be realistic in your expectations
If you want to become the world champion...news flash, you probably should have started about 20 years ago (unless you're Mikey). Your goal can be as lofty as you want, but you need to understand how realistic it is to achieve.

4. Come to terms with your choice of goal difficulty and time you are prepared to commit
This is so important. We all chose what to do with 24hrs every day. In almost all cases, when we say "I don't have enough time to...", what we mean is "It is a higher priority for me to spend my time elsewhere...". This is fine and good. You can't be everywhere all the time.

If you think you need to put in X time a week to achieve your goal, but are only able to put in half X, then go back to (1) and have another go. Then be happy with your choice, remembering that you have chosen to prioritise the things that really matter to you.

Congratulations. You have identified your goal, and are mentally prepared to commit to it.


Next time....breaking down your goal into things you can actually manage.

 

[Jamesl91]

you do all keep notes right?

Notes...uhhh no?

 

[FuBii]

Not professional enough to start making physical notes on each corner, split into 5 sections...
I keep mental notes for that session & promptly forget everything by the next day.
My goal is always simple, be the best using a controller, could argue that I've achieved this already. 2nd goal, give you wheel users a hard time. There was a time when I could get within 1.6s of the front runners in split one qualifying. Shame I can't practice as much as I did then haha

 

[Jamesl91]

There was a time when I could get within 1.6s of the front runners in split one qualifying.

ahh those were the days my friend!

 

[UnstopaPaul]

Not professional enough to start making physical notes on each corner, split into 5 sections...
I keep mental notes for that session & promptly forget everything by the next day.
My goal is always simple, be the best using a controller, could argue that I've achieved this already. 2nd goal, give you wheel users a hard time. There was a time when I could get within 1.6s of the front runners in split one qualifying. Shame I can't practice as much as I did then haha

I really don't know how you get as much magic out of the controller as you do. I keep having to remind myself you're using it....

Hopefully everyone realised I was slightly tongue in cheek regarding notes. I do actually however take some track of progress and habits that I tend to have on any specific track, in the hope that when I come back to it my progress will be faster next time.

 

[Mearcat]

The first time I did it on my (now) daily commute into work & back it felt like I was gonna go through the windscreen haha

and can only drive smoothly on the road with my right foot.

Hehe, we have a nickname for that in Highways - The Psycho brake effect.

Its to do with the way your brain is wired from the first lesson you have. Can you remember how many times you made your instructor sick from all the sudden over powered braking, I can.

The left foot in a real car is trained to just press a clutch, which is in a sense "stamped on" where as your right foot has learnt to be smooth and sensitive with the throttle and brake. As Dama said with practice it disappears

In sim racing you can get away with stamping on the brake with your left foot because thats whats needed. But then change to a real car, the brake pedal is softer and smoother but your brain and muscles say "SIM BRAKE PEDAL, STAMP!!!" Its one of the reasons why a lot of loss of control incidents on the highway acually involve automatics.

 

[Darksi]

Hehe, we have a nickname for that in Highways - The Phsyco brake effect.

Its to do with the way your brain is wired from the first lesson you have. Can you remember how many times you made your instructor sick from all the sudden over powered braking, I can.

The left foot in a real car is trained to just press a clutch, which is in a sense "stamped on" where as your right foot has learnt to be smooth and sensitive with the throttle and brake. As Dama said with practice it disappears

In sim racing you can get away with stamping on the brake with your left foot because thats whats needed. But then change to a real car, the brake pedal is softer and smoother but your brain and muscles say "SIM BRAKE PEDAL, STAMP!!!" Its one of the reasons why a lot of loss of control incidents on the highway acually involve automatics.

Hahaha and yes most people who drive an automatic think they should brake with their left foot, where they should still treat the same as a manual and brake with the right.

 

[Jamesl91]

I still brake quite late on the road but it’s still in a safe non stupid way

 

[Invincible]

Hahaha and yes most people who drive an automatic think they should brake with their left foot, where they should still treat the same as a manual and brake with the right.

To me, it's even weirder. I can brake with my left foot in a sim, and I also can in a real car when it has an automatic gearbox.
But as soon as I use a manual gearbox, I completely loose my ability to brake with my left foot without looking like a complete fool.

Applying throttle with my left foot (during long travels, when my right leg got tired) is even worse. It is sort of fine when I can stay at a certain position - but as soon as I have modulate the throttle, it is either on or off, which looks ridiculous.

 

[Mearcat]

HeHe, spot on Si.

On another note, hope this is ok on this thread as it is a self improvement tip, if not I'll shift it to its own:


Mearcats Simple Racing Style Tips

There boring for racing, but safe:

Rolling starts or the “Convoy” situation.

A vehicle Convoy is a long line of vehicles in a formation where they are nose to tail. Exactly the same as a rolling start in RSR, which has 2 convoys side by side.

The key problem with long lines of cars is the differences in braking points.

When starting in a convoy formation, the front of the convoy can brake at the racing brake point (usually the 100m mark) but those behind must brake 1 car sooner as the space in front is already occupied by the vehicle in front. This is then magnified the further down the field you go until the whole convoy is doing the same speed as the lead vehicle.

From the theory, a column of cars nose to tail is considered a line, imagining the cars are joined together, when the front car brakes the rear most car would brake.

In a race each car is a separate unit but the principle is the same. Once the race starts and speeds are increased, approaches to the corners must be considered sooner rather than at the braking point.

Although during a race start, there will be people that get away from “GGG” faster and therefore overtake and compress the convoy, the braking behaviour should still be maintained.

A simple technique for this is actually to lift of the throttle just before the car in front brakes, causing your car to already be slowing when the car in front brakes. This will give you at least ½ a second extra to react if judged correctly.

Warning:
Judgement comes with experience and experience comes from practice. You must practice to obtain this skill as it does not occur naturally (for most).

 

[Mearcat]

Applying throttle with my left foot (during long travels, when my right leg got tired) is even worse. It is sort of fine when I can stay at a certain position - but as soon as I have modulate the throttle, it is either on or off, which looks ridiculous

Perfect example of "Psycho Brake" there

 

[UnstopaPaul]

HeHe, spot on Si.

On another note, hope this is ok on this thread as it is a self improvement tip, if not I'll shift it to its own:


Mearcats Simple Racing Style Tips

There boring for racing, but safe:

Rolling starts or the “Convoy” situation.

A vehicle Convoy is a long line of vehicles in a formation where they are nose to tail. Exactly the same as a rolling start in RSR, which has 2 convoys side by side.

The key problem with long lines of cars is the differences in braking points.

When starting in a convoy formation, the front of the convoy can brake at the racing brake point (usually the 100m mark) but those behind must brake 1 car sooner as the space in front is already occupied by the vehicle in front. This is then magnified the further down the field you go until the whole convoy is doing the same speed as the lead vehicle.

View attachment 3981

From the theory, a column of cars nose to tail is considered a line, imagining the cars are joined together, when the front car brakes the rear most car would brake.

In a race each car is a separate unit but the principle is the same. Once the race starts and speeds are increased, approaches to the corners must be considered sooner rather than at the braking point.

Although during a race start, there will be people that get away from “GGG” faster and therefore overtake and compress the convoy, the braking behaviour should still be maintained.

A simple technique for this is actually to lift of the throttle just before the car in front brakes, causing your car to already be slowing when the car in front brakes. This will give you at least ½ a second extra to react if judged correctly.

Warning:
Judgement comes with experience and experience comes from practice. You must practice to obtain this skill as it does not occur naturally (for most).

THis is pretty much exactly every accident in split 2 first corner. Everyone is looking for the hotlap braking point, not the "what's in front of me" braking point. In normal road driving the safe technique would be called "defensive driving". Basically - look multiple vehicles ahead and anticipate.

 

[Invincible]

THis is pretty much exactly every accident in split 2 first corner. Everyone is looking for the hotlap braking point, not the "what's in front of me" braking point. In normal road driving the safe technique would be called "defensive driving". Basically - look multiple vehicles ahead and anticipate.

That's why I've changed my behavior short after I joined RSR and rather loose 1 or 2 places in the first two or three corners by braking early enough than to crash and loose the race and ruin it for others. Of course this doesn't prevent accidents completely, but I think it helps to reduce them.

 

[Zemke]

@Mearcat and @UnstopaPaul are right on here. In the first race of the season, at Monza, I started in last place but eventually climbed up to 3rd just by getting around accidents that were caused because drivers didn't realize their braking points are different when in a group of cars.

I'm new to sim racing, but I've got many years of experience on real world tracks racing motorcycles. If you're actively racing for position and in close proximity to another racer, the only time you want to brake later than the guy in front of you is when you're going for a pass up the inside on corner entry. Otherwise, if you're committed to staying behind them through the corner, you want to brake either at the same time or, to ensure safety, brake before they do.

I hope I explained that correctly and that it makes sense.

 

[UnstopaPaul]

I wonder could we artificially setup heavy traffic situations. Induction night does it by practicing the start several times. Yet we don't have lots of crashes on induction night. Probably there is less pressure on the result and everyone is extra cautious around the new intake as they don't know what to expect / everyone is on best behaviour.

Personally I tackle this before races by running multiple (that is many more than 1 ) race starts against the AI and putting myself mid pack. It almost does not matter what the difficulty is, but the aim is to cleanly reach the front of the race within a few laps. AI is a bit quirky, but you do learn

• the likely corners for bunching up
• where it's just a terrible idea to pass even 1 on 1
• where its better to back off even when faster and time your arrival at the car ahead to a good passing position (seriously, who wants to catch someone starting the Ss at bathurst? You should want to catch them coming onto the forest elbow)
• what the off line braking points are (sometimes off line is nearly the same point, other times its wildly different)

We're racing in a sim and you have infinite free time on the best tracks in the world. There's little excuse for not knowing where the passing points are (and are not). For that matter, if you don't know every bump and which pieces of kerb /grass you can/cannot safely take on and off line, then it's fair to say that there is "more that can be done".

 

[Mearcat]

I wonder could we artificially setup heavy traffic situations. Induction night does it by practicing the start several times. Yet we don't have lots of crashes on induction night. Probably there is less pressure on the result and everyone is extra cautious around the new intake as they don't know what to expect / everyone is on best behaviour.

Think I have found a session format that may simulate this, in the race school suggestion thread - here

I am also trying to get others to list ideas for subjects that we all could benefit from which could then be worked into a similar format.

 

[UnstopaPaul]

So - it's far too long since I last posted with my newbie discoveries. It seems that each race is a new combo that I've never tried, which is exciting, as there is always a new track to discover multiple seconds of improvement on.

Lesson 4 - Oversteer is a technique to be leveraged, not a mistake to be corrected
So in my first races I was pretty terrible and handling oversteer. I would fight with setup as much as possible to remove any possible oversteer, because (due to being a complete newbie to the world of racing) I assumed that oversteer was a bad characteristic of "flawed" cars, and to be tuned out. A Classic corner that caught be out every time was the last corner of Oulton Park. My back end would come out (oi oi) every time, over the grass grid, and I'd probably end up swooshing across the track again into the right hand barriers.

In retrospect, this was two reasons:

• Poor braking distance understanding and trying to carry too much speed in, resulting in loss of grip. The solution to this has already been mentioned in my "Lesson 2 - If it feels fast it's probably slow".
• Not practising the technique: Thinking back, I became much better at catching the car after the Silverstone wet race in Season 4. There is probably little better for practising catching a slide. Before this I didn't really realise that this was something I needed to practice and use as a technique, I just thought of sliding to be the outcome of "bad driving"

My suggestions for anyone struggling to handle a car that slides more than you want it to

• Realise that oversteer is not always bad
• Watch Driver61's oversteer video
• Run the car you are testing in wet conditions around a short track with limited corners
• Take the formula rookie out (default setups are fine) round brands hatch short, and don't chase lap times, but have some fun throwing it through corners. Deliberately cause and handle the slide until it becomes second nature
• Test if you are correcting the oversteer too late. When you attempt to correct and it just doesn't obey, its possible that you corrected too late. While practicing learn to anticipate the oversteer, and smoothly, but firmly correct that little bit earlier. When I started to realise this was a thing, I also realised...
• Deliberately trigger oversteer to be in control of it, and gain speed. Just the right amount of oversteer feels awesome, and the best laps are generally just on that edge of grip as you feel the car turn based on the accelerator, rather than wheel.
• Use a better force feedback(FFB) setting, such as those provided by Jack Spade. Seriously the default FFB is pretty poor at giving you data compared to these modifications, which are simple to apply. Not only do you get better feedback as you start to loose car grip, but the whole thing generally feels more realistic, and you can actually feel the kerbs properly

As I got better at this (and I have to say increase familiarity with the current car) you learn to anticipate and deliberately trigger oversteer as a technique to be leveraged, rather than a mistake to be corrected. It was a massive mindset change for me

Lesson 5 - Hold the wheel lightly for better feedback
It's funny, but this is the second sport I've done where this is an important concept. In fencing you are taught early to keep a light grip on the handle of your foil, so that you can feel the touch of blades better. It's the same in racing I think. The tighter you grip your wheel, the less you will feel the finer changes in grip levels etc. You risk missing critical information until its far too late. Try holding the wheel as delicately has possible while remaining in control for a full session. Compare it to grabbing the wheel as tightly as possible.

Lesson 6 - Defensive Driving is a thing in racing too
Particularly topical I think right now. I think, like others beginners, I focused my vision far too close to my own car. It's Driver61's pet peeve. As I've racked up the laps, I've learned that its not only important to look towards apexes / corner exits ahead of time, but that its also the most important skill in pack racing.

In my first races I was involved in a significant number of incidents, which I would argue were (mostly) not of my making. Something happened ahead, nothing I could do right? Completely wrong. Assuming you have a UK driving license, you will have been taught to scan ahead on the roads (and pavements) for potential trouble ahead. It's exactly the same in racing, except that we're going over 100MPH and really don't want to slow down for anything. Statistically I was in a lot of accidents, over time, which meant I should be doing something about it. I think I've now significantly improved my average "safety rating", though on any one day I can be as hot headed as the next guy in a $300K race car.

• Look ahead to the cars in front - are they racing for position. If you see someone do something that implies a loss of control, or that might simply spook another driver, consider slowing down slightly (or a lot if you are very close). Your eyes should always be scanning for stuff that can end your race if you are in a pack
• Look to the cars in front of the cars in front. If they are having a "moment", then you need to anticipate a concertina effect is about to happen. If you slow down early, you have lots of options. And yes...you might lose a place to the car behind who didn't slow...but you will still be on track. Humans are rubbish in assessing risk vs reward If you are faster than that car that has got past you, there are almost certainly plenty of opportunities to use your superior skill to get past again later. If you are slower than that car, and desperately hoping to keep him behind you for 30-60 minutes...then this is unlikely to happen anyway.
• Remember that in a pack of cars, "normal" (Time trial) braking points are almost meaningless, you need to brake based on the car in front of you, based on your speed/stopping distance.
• Anticipate your "emergency exit" when coming up to these situations in advance, but be careful if it might be the same plan as 6 other cars. If it is, this probably that time to slow down further and give yourself reaction time

I guess that some will say that this defensive approach doesn't make a champion, but I'm pretty certain it's made a difference to my average position.

 

[The Breeze]

Ergonomics -> found this on virtualracingschool.com link

Didn't get any faster since January on my reference track (Spa Francorchamps) with my reference car (Porsche 911 GT3 R). My lap times got more consistent so there has been some improvement. But faster, no way...
After reading the article on ergonomics, I swapped my desk chair for a lower camping chair and within a couple of days I already was 0.817 seconds faster!
Better response from the wheel, better view, better everything! Went from 52 to position 29 in the time chart and already know I can go much faster. Next step is VR.
My new lower ride setup

 

[Jomba]

What books do you guys recommend? I already have Krumm's book and it's very good, but im looking for more. I found quite a few offers online but in don't know which one's are any good. Im looking for books specifically for sim racing or racing in general.

 

[UnstopaPaul]

What books do you guys recommend? I already have Krumm's book and it's very good, but im looking for more. I found quite a few offers online but in don't know which one's are any good. Im looking for books specifically for sim racing or racing in general.

I believe there is a Skip Barber one mentioned near the top of this thread. I've not heard any others referenced. Honestly I think that there are a lot of great videos that will do a better job than a book. I've been meaning to do this for a while, so I've created a listing of some of the best references from this thread.

General Racing ("Real World")

• Skip Barber's "Going Faster" (old but excellent and thoroughly relevant even today. START HERE)
  
• Driver61 Driver's University (General Racing Guidance and Theory, Plus mostly UK track guides)
• Driving on the Edge (Michael Krumm, actual book!!)
• SAFE Is Fast Youtube channel

Sim Racing /PC2 Specific

• Yorkie065 (Project Cars 2 Specific Guidance, Setups plus more)
• Nighttiger's PC2 Setup Guide
• Setup Guide (Youtube, PC1)
• iRacing Driving School (Youtube series)
• Multiclass Racing (iRacing Guide)