Project CARS 2 The Self Improvement Thread :) (1 Viewer)

[Jomba]

The sources you provided are very good, but i'm looking for something to read at the beach. Krumm's book was meant for that, but i already read it

Here are some books i found at amazon :
- Drive to Win: Essential Guide to Race Driving
- Prepare to Win: The Nuts and Bolts Guide to Professional Race Car Preparation
- Tune to Win: The art and science of race car development and tuning
- The Art and Science of Grand Prix Driving
- Jackie Stewart's Principles of Performance Driving
- How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Formula 1 Designer
- Competition Driving
- Ultimate Speed Secrets: The Complete Guide to High-Performance and Race Driving

I was just wondering if anyone read some of those and what your opinion is.

 

[Invincible]

I would recommend "Fahrdynamik in Perfektion" by Wolfgang Weber but as I just saw, the book is only available in German, which would most likely make it useless to you.

Ultimate Speed Secrets: The Complete Guide to High-Performance and Race Driving

I've read that one too and it's pretty good. The guy who wrote it is less of a race driver himself, but a racing instructor. So he knows how to teach racecraft.

 

[Martijn de Ronde]

Hi,
Ive got a problem with my project cars2 mercedes gt3 setup. (or atrleast i think the problem is there) when driving in assetto corsa with the same car same circuit (nurburgring gp) its going quit well but when i drive in pc2 and taking the same line trough the corners and downshift i just spin? while i never had this with ac? (and yes im totally new to pc2)

 

[Taorminator]

Hi,
Ive got a problem with my project cars2 mercedes gt3 setup. (or atrleast i think the problem is there) when driving in assetto corsa with the same car same circuit (nurburgring gp) its going quit well but when i drive in pc2 and taking the same line trough the corners and downshift i just spin? while i never had this with ac? (and yes im totally new to pc2)

Mmmh I'm not very familiar with AC but keep in mind that AC and Pcars2 have different physics models so the same line might not be possible in another sim... If you spin on downshift there are not 1000 things to do :
- downshifting later especially for low gears ratios, make sure you do this in a straight line
- before touching the setup make sure your driving style isn't the problem. Inputs (brake release, turn in) done in an abrupt way can unsettle the car
- moving your brake bias front a little
- decreasing coast ramp angles in the LSD (adding more lock thus stability with engine brake)
- make sure your aero plateform is stable (amount of downforce and bias front/rear)

As a general advice, look for where the grip is instead of just thinking (I need to to take that line with this gear to go fast)

That's all I can say with the info you provided

 

[Martijn de Ronde]

Mmmh I'm not very familiar with AC but keep in mind that AC and Pcars2 have different physics models so the same line might not be possible in another sim... If you spin on downshift there are not 1000 things to do :
- downshifting later especially for low gears ratios, make sure you do this in a straight line
- before touching the setup make sure your driving style isn't the problem. Inputs (brake release, turn in) done in an abrupt way can unsettle the car
- moving your brake bias front a little
- decreasing coast ramp angles in the LSD (adding more lock thus stability with engine brake)
- make sure your aero plateform is stable (amount of downforce and bias front/rear)

As a general advice, look for where the grip is instead of just thinking (I need to to take that line with this gear to go fast)

That's all I can say with the info you provided

ok nice ima try this thanks mate!

 

[Taorminator]

ok nice ima try this thanks mate!

Good luck

If you need an advice I might be on TS later so feel free to jump in and we'll sort this out together

 

[UnstopaPaul]

I'd certainly recommend Nighttigers guide to setup - and looking at the section on braking first to ensure you have a good balance. If you are spinning on entry/downshift, then you are almost certainly coming in too fast. Changing setup can help this, but its best to first get smooth laps, then start on the changes.

 

[UnstopaPaul]

Well, this seems like the perfect time to reflect on a year of trying to improve. I started this thread on the 23rd Jan last year, with 97hrs of Project Cars 2 behind me (and no other racing experience). My very first race with RSR was on the 18th Jan, and a year later on the 19th Jan I completed the 24hrs of Daytona, an idea I would have laughed at then. So what have I learned from Daytona, this year and what do I think my next steps are?

24hrs of Daytona (Learning from an Endurance Race)

1. Setting objectives was really important
I've posted before in this thread that having realistic objectives is key not only to improving, but to having a realistic level of satisfaction in what you achieve with the time you dedicate. I came up with the following goals for Daytona

• My primary goal was to finish the race: This was my first ever endurance test. My previous experience was one 2hr race, and that didn't go so well. I would be doing three 2h15m stints within 24hrs. Seeing our car reach the finish line felt challenging enough, and anything else would be a bonus.
• Don't Crash: The best thing I could do for my team mates was to not lose 6 minutes in the pits over something silly.
• Run consistent lap times within range of the pack: Through early testing (once I got a half decent setup) I was happy that I was capable of decent lap times in the DP, even being faster than my team mates at first, though I expected them to catch and surpass me by the race.
• Keep the incident count low: Other than not conceding seconds per lap, the other thing I could do for my team was not to run up and expensive incident bill, limiting their ability to push the car late on

Overall I'm pretty happy with how I stacked up against these goals. We finished (and really well too, thanks to some awesome lapping from my team mates)
In the race itself I did in fact have a crash. I only had 15 incidents over 5h15 of driving, something I'm pretty proud of, given I'm aware that I'm not a "perfect performance" person. On reflection the goal should have said "don't have a silly crash". In the event, while I definitely should have avoided the turn one spin, there was at least a reasonable pressure of multiple cars around me, and perhaps a little too much chatter. Hence my second piece of learning

2. Talk to your teammates before the race about how you like to communicate
Sadly, I already knew this before the race, but failed to talk about it. Everyone has a different way to prepare for an event, and a different mindset when they're in the middle of the event. I experienced this for years in fencing competitions, and team driving is no different.

Some people like to prepare every facet ahead of time (myself), and are unsettled by last minute changes. Others are far more comfortable with winging it. In the race, some are happy, or even seem to excel while chatting (Iceman), others like myself need absolute focus to stay in the zone, only preferring very formal, terse updates. If you don't know how your teammates interact, you risk providing too little, too much, or the wrong style of communication. Everyone is different, so make sure you have that conversation upfront. You will get a much better team experience from it

3. Practice the "Never happens" situations
The ancient Greek philosopher, Archilochus said “We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training”.

Being towed, understanding how important or not optional repairs are, coasting/fuel saving, early transfer of drivers due to a crash, working out what to do when the car behind is catching with 1 hour left (and who should decide). All these were situations that came up in this race, and were new to me. When these occur it can be extremely unsettling and put you well out of your groove. On reflection, in this case, I could have achieved a lot by simply running a lot more iRacing races that included pitstops. My iRacing experience was really pretty minimal, though rigorous respect for Safety Rating has actually genuinely improved my driving safety (though possibly at a minor loss in pushing lap times)

4. Endurance Races are great for race craft / Laptime in endurance is not about empty tracks / Watch your team mates to accelerate learning
This is not something I was expecting to get out of this race. However, it turns out that when you run 3 long races, and in-between you watch your faster, more experienced team mates meeting the same challenges (literally the same cars on the same corners sometimes), you can learn an awful lot about race craft. I was particularly fortunate to be getting a master class from @Puffpirat , @fab. ICEMAN and @t0daY . All 3 experienced at scything through traffic.

This was particularly helped by our car (Daytona Prototype) being effectively matched by GTE cars in the corners. The DP is significantly faster in a straight line, but its braking and handling seem comparible to the GTE. I was able to watch at corners where I would struggle to pass with a (slightly) faster car and would back out for safety. Watching how my team mates would push that little bit longer and safely force an inside line, or instead avoid killing their speed trying to pass on an inside line, but rather clearly line up for the next straight where the pass would be both clear and complete, was very enlightening. In my later stints I was even able to put some of this into practice. I genuinely feel that by the end of my second stint and third stint I was starting to apply some of this.

5 Physical preparation is important
I had a good supply of flapjack, chocolates, isotonic drinks available. I ran several complete stints to get a feel for being in the car for long periods of time (though I actually never raced for 2hr 15 while practicing). I actually found one of the most important things I did was to consider when I would and would not drink liquids. The instinct is to ensure that you are fully hydrated - to provide your best focus, but this tends to lead to,um, a lot of "pressure" in the later stages of a stint, particularly when there is adrenaline at play. My only other "endurance" race (A 2hr RSR race at Road America) hinted that I'd need to plan carefully. In the end I decided that a) I would have no caffeine on the day of the race at all, b) I would stop consuming liquids at least 2 hours before each stint (in the end it was more like 3-4). This seemed to work, though naturally it affects your focus over time. I think this is something that you just have to train for, along with driving tired.

6. Just Do It
I could pick out other minor things, but my final point is that simply by taking part in a single 24hr race, I've removed my fear of endurance racing. When you do two stints within 24hrs that are both longer than the longest previous race you'd evere done before, it changes your perception of what you can achieve. Certainly, I'm no longer daunted by the prospect of a 6 or 12 hour race - as neither of these would even require an abnormal sleep pattern, and I now know I can plan for a 2.25hr stint. So, give yourself a month to prepare if you need to, but find a team with the same objectives as you, put your practice in, talk over how you each work best and commit to being in it together. It's a great experience.

So...what's next for improvement?
Well, I think my next steps are really about starting to "push the envelope". I've proved in the past that I can be reasonably fast or that I can be safe. As people have observed after Season 5, I'm a lot faster in qualilfying than in the race itself. I need to start to combine both speed and safety. In my head this plus the tactics for passing a car is a fair definition for race craft.

I was excited by the fact that I saw a way to actually learn how to pass more cleanly during Daytona, I want to develop this further and I'm trying to work out how. I think its also time to get the elbows out a bit more when racing. I tend to feel bullied and concede places to drivers that (over the course of a race) are actually slower than me. Is this going to lead to some mistakes and possibly the odd stewards enquiry? Perhaps. If I can work out a more controlled environment for doing this I will (iRacing has infinite races I can practice in without upsetting my RSR friends). Either way building my confidence to push it harder in a race situation is next. To do that I'll need to look at each race for its learning, not as an opportunity to score points.

 

[The Breeze]

If you are not sure if you are still improving or not... go back to your reference car and track and you will find out soon.
Last couple of weeks I climbed from position 44 , to 14, to 8, to 2nd... 2 days ago this would have been a world record!
Seems that, after about 750 hrs of sim racing in total, I finally make a mental and physical connection with my Logitech G29

 

[CatchAGlimpse]

If you are not sure if you are still improving or not... go back to your reference car and track and you will find out soon.
Last couple of weeks I climbed from position 44 , to 14, to 8, to 2nd... 2 days ago this would have been a world record!
Seems that, after about 750 hrs of sim racing in total, I finally make a mental and physical connection with my Logitech G29

View attachment 7283

Great work @The Breeze - the guy in 1st has loads of lap records so that is something to be proud of! - https://pcars.13ms.de/#/users/76561197994528025

 

[FuBii]

Try the BAC Mono TT's

 

[The Breeze]

Great work @The Breeze - the guy in 1st has loads of lap records so that is something to be proud of! - https://pcars.13ms.de/#/users/76561197994528025

Well that's quite a list ... maybe we should start a special thread on that... break all his records
I'll first focus on make the RSR... RSR again

 

[UnstopaPaul]

I've found something similar by coming back to the Clio Cup car and realising that I've improved more than I might have realised. Without having raced a FWD car in nearly a year I still find my intuitive grasp of the car's motion to be improved. it's a great feeling. Sadly my old Clio Cup TT entries were all pre the major tyres update, so benchmarking is sadly impossible.

Sometimes its simply good to reflect on the fact that you have improved in real terms and that is enjoyable in itself.