Hey guys!

So I've been struggling with the GT2 class cars in the server for a while now, I just can't seem to keep the same pace as others, and was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to drive them or something?

For example, today on the first turn at Aston, I was watching someone fly though it at 107mph, and I was only able to manage about 100 to 104mph and if I push any quicker its good bye tarmac and hello gravel. Anyone shed some light on how they became quick with these cars?

Skill and setup.

I know setup plays a big part, and I know I can be fast because I am in the lower class car, so what you are saying is that its just down to practice?

Practice

Practice, practice... practice practice, practice, practice practice....? Practice practice practice practice practice, practice practice.
Practice, practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice!
Practice, practice?
Practice.

Love,
Practice.


On the other hand, set is also very important so make sure you use the best of them. But don't forget to practice!

drive line, braking points, practice , good luck, that's all

&

And never forget about SMOTHNESS. U loose time and speed ofc if not. Oh and u need to practice, practice, practice.

Skill isnt that important but lines is, without it u loose traction and hit grass or smth like it.
ps; dont over push it, pace will come.

Yes lines are important. However lines are not all equal, depends on the car and how it is set-up. Thing is, when everybody shares like one set with everybody else, chances are everyone is just ploughing along much the same line. That's more like hotlapping because it distracts from the fact that in multi-class racing, bad things can happen that throw you off the line. What then happens to drivers that aren't used to "feel" the car and just barely mange to "stay on the proven line" - Well, they eventually will show how fast one can run out of skill, then.

I'm including myself in this tale. Had a really bad start on one of the races at Aston, today - had to evade two major pile-ups in p2 AND p3, directly after one antother. Because the field was still compact and I had no option to go around some cars I had to slow down, eventually coming to a dead stop twice. And much to my amusement STALLED my engine both times.

It culminated in the slow cars catching up with me, one fellow even entitled himself to shout stuff over the chat-box like "don't park in the middle of the track"

Since I didn't suffer from a wrecked car, just a stalled engine, I decided to see it through, of course. After all these things do happen in (very, very amateur-ish) racing. They are called "racing incidents". Real good racers know how to deal with them.

My advice to you is: Learn to feel the weight of the car first, then wander about your pace. GT2s need a little work on the gearing to make up for the asthmatic (down-tuned) engine plus they are handicapped by the otherwise very-functional aero on the strait. But their wide wheels will have a hard time heating up at times plus are very wide. A little hard to get to know their balance when you didn't experience the raw beast first or only learned that "one line" well.

Don't get too hung-up on the 'painted' racing-line. It's just a general suggestion, nothing absolute.

AND PLEASE: don't just push the "lesser cars" out of your way, once you are up to speed. Respect the rules of multi-class racing and embrace its awesomeness when done right!

good tip there.

Well, this doesn't come as certain. Simply, there are cars that better suit you and your driving style than the others.
Also, there are 3 GT cars and there's a big difference among them too. You might find to be competitive in one of them, while sucking in the rest, so it doesn't just come as it is.

True. I consider myself competitive while driving the FX2 on many tracks, but when it comes to XR2 I blow hard. Currently test driving the FZ2 offline, because It would be dangerous to go online with it. When I'll be able to match my FX2 times with it, I'll start using it on cargame aswell.

At the end, its all about practice.

Amen !

It might sound over the top, but feeling the force feedback.

Obviously you need to have basic knowledge of race lines, gearing at the corners, braking markers, maybe even some acceleration markers and maybe even some more markers depending on kind of driver you are.

Once you have that, take notice of more details in force-feedback, feel the tires thru it. It might be one of rare ways to drive the limit, not over it. Find ways to push specific parts of the corner or the track for optimal lap as your senses develop. Probably the best way to do that is to take a race or two out of the garage in free air and feel the track.

Don't be afraid to explore, still ensure it's safe. Don't be afraid to pull back and save yourself from the crashing out. It's way better then going back to pit and doing the half of the track over again. Just look how stupid it's when Grosjean crashes on his own and then crashes double more in traffic. Take some champions like say Alonso for your role models and learn from them. Then when you have other cars around you, it will be a little bit more direct and simpler for you and you might even be able to start developing race strategies. You need to drive yours and your cars limit in those corners, not of the car ahead of you which is there for quite an obvious reason if you're not on reverse grid order. Live to fight another day.

Believe me when I tell you, you might not be quick enough to follow him or overtake him that race, but you will find a way in future. You'll discover that you can push your limit further because you were patient when you were on the edge and you saw ways forward instead of seeing yourself crash. It's just one of the ways or methods you can take to your practice and driver development

Yeah, good advices from NIKI
I'll add just one more thing: practice offline, it'll do you 10 times more good to learn the car and the track than while racing. Do it for half an hour (for example) every day until you reach the level when you feel comfortable and happy.

By driving alone you will be 100% concentrated on how the car behaves, while there is a lot of distraction if you do it online.

As all guys above said, mainly practice is the key. But there are few basic things you should stick to.
1.Never push the car over its limits.
2.Don't outbrake yourself, because in most situations it will cost you exit speed. Better do - Slow in, fast out.

Also you need to find your turn-in point.
Leave it too late and you'll miss the apex, too soon and you'll have to tighten your line mid corner. Get this right and you'll have set yourself up for a good line. Remember that the apex may be further round the turn than you can see, so make sure you learn the track and the apex points before driving in anger.

Getting the exit right is one of the main things.
Once you have hit the apex you should be able to reduce the steering lock and increase the throttle.

-Carrying speed in the corner
-Minimising the severity of the turn
-Getting the power on early

There are few lines which you can take in a corner. Won't put much description, as you can clearly see it here:
This is the classic pass.
Pros of the classic / traditional line:

Smooths out corners in the most efficient way
Maintains momentum (especially useful for low powered cars)
Maximises fuel economy
Reduces the chances of understeer or oversteer
Preserves the life of tyres





Now I'll show you the late apex. If the corner leads onto a straight it can be better to take a late apex, straighten the car out early and get the power on for a high speed exit. The amount of grip available is the factor which determines how late you can brake and apex.
Pros of the modern racing line:
Increases the chances of a fast lap in a powerful car
Allows the power to be applied earlier
Maximises the use of any straights following the corner
Allows late braking
Useful for overtaking on a corner



As you know, LFS is full with twisty corners - 1 after another. So you should really think about the next corner. In short:


In a track like AS7 or SO4 and etc there are hairpins. And sometimes you can win your laptime there or either loose it.



So basically this is the key to success. Try to do it like this, and once you get it all in one - you will see the result in your laptimes.

But krkriv, would you recommend any website for tips and trics?

drivingfast.net I don't know why pictures are bugging like that. And I can't edit my post to fix'em

Aha okay

It'd be cool if you let us know how's it going Shikari. How you cope with them slick tires and greater level of downforce with a bit of our tips now. We'd be delighted to hear you progress.

Ohi, was actually going to come on the other day an post how I was getting on, but I may have gotten slightly distracted. I've already managed to knock a second of my PB on both West hill revers and Backwood! But still have plenty of work to do!

Thanks for all the the help!

Keep it up.

Was on to day, for some reason I seem to struggle with the FZR sliding out mid turn, anyone got any ideas why this could be?

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Epic

So many good tips here that i can't really add anything constructive, just get familiar with the car and find limits of the setup and yourself

Good luck practicing!

I'll give you a hint: I think it is called "vehicle concept". Like "How many doors should the car have, how long overall, where do we put the engine. How much horsepower do we need, how heavy it is it going to be, do we go N/A (naturally aspirated) - big displacement - (==heavy-engine), or do you go low-cylinder-count - forced-induction. Two-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive? What size of tires go with that, what type of suspension - what configuration makes the car?

If you think about the above, the easy answser to that question is: FZR looks like a 'souped-up' "Porsche". And by that I can only refer to what started as a souped-up VW-Beatle in the first place: a "911" in layman's terms.

And now for my second hint: Be sensible about the rear tires !! When they start overheating, your whole drive is toast. In other words: DON'T slide it to death. Make use of that static weight-distribution by not over-driving the rear end but learn to utilize it sensibly.

Key is: "Slow-in Fast-out", however stupid this might sound to you right now, regarding the FZR is one of the fastest rides in the whole universe of LFS. Another thing: It's the only high-displacement N/A-engined car out of all GTRs. You don't have to grab the lowest gear when negotiating a corner, just to get some acceleration out of it. It's perfectly fine giving you sufficient oomph from about ~4000 revs.


Good luck!

Lots of driving and a setup that you make for yourself that fits your driving style for that track.
Also wings play a role in how fast you will be able to cut some corners like that crazy Aston jump chicane that I guess you mean. That one is around 160-165km/h.

If you mean the long fast T3 of Aston, that one is 180km/h at least in XR2.

Better setup won't give you magic grip but will allow you to have calmer or less calm car depending on what you need. Usually racing setups are unstable to be fast. So you need skill and practice to keep them on track.

Sometimes people ask for setup but even when they get their hands on a setup that goes 4s faster than their lap time, they still do not improve or kill themselves in T1.


I disagree with Drben, you need to give FZ cars revs like any other car. FZ brakes a lot by engine so keep it under gas. It breaks insanely a lot so use that. FZ2 is usually fastest on R2/3 combo although you can run R2/2 as well. Sliding cars is not a good practice as it will wear = heat your tires. You need to watch the temps the whole race. Basically you only drive as fast as the tire temperatures allow you.

If you're frying the fronts on FZ you need to move more weight to the rear by dampers.