How many hours a day should I practice to eventually become "pro"?

Forza Motorsport Legacy Motorsport FM7 Discussion
1

Now, I know this seems like a very silly question, and maybe it is, but please read the entire post and tell me what you think. Thanks.

So, I’m pushing 30. My reflexes are dwindling, my hands are starting to shake more than they used to. I will never actually become a professional (nor do I care to).

However, I’d like to become as good as I possibly can.

I have no life and am lucky enough to be able to play video games all day long if I like to. (I still “work” I guess you could say, but 95% of it is passive income)

Now, of course, the answer may seem like “Oh, dude, just play 16 hours non-stop, duurr? Isn’t that obvious?” But, I don’t believe that. After about 3-4 hours you start to enter auto-pilot mode where you’re basically learning nothing.

So…let’s break it down here. Instead of just “pro” since I will never be that, let’s break it down to “Good”, “Very Good”, “Exceptional”

Would you say 3 hours a day for “Good”, 6 hours a day for “Very Good”, and 9 hours a day for “Exceptional”? (Of course, 3 hours a day for 20 years would make me a LOT better than 9 hours a day for 1 year, so let’s say equal days per category.

I do like to play other video games, so maybe the 9 hours a day thing isn’t for me, 6 is possible though since I absolutely fell in LOVE with this game after getting it 3 weeks ago. My plan is to play for about 90min to 2 hours, then take a 30-60min break, (This is for the 3ish hour session), rinse repeat for 6 hour, same for 9.

What do you guys think of this?

And like I said before, I know this may sound like a silly question, but there is a science behind it.

Maybe if I’m lucky, someone on these forums has a Master’s Degree or PhD in Cognitive Psychology. =)

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I could practice 24 hours a day and not become pro. Some come by it naturally, others have to work at it to varying degrees.

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3

They say that it takes an average of 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill to the extent that your abilities allow.

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4

This. But also if your serious about becoming a pro then treat it as a job, which means to play at least 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. And not just oh I’m gonna mess around for a while, but practice and honing the craft of being a professional race car driver. The focus should be on being able to reproduce the same lap over and over again, knowing how much you can push, and how close you can get to your ultimate pace without making mistakes.

5

Problem is, with the game in it’s current state & the track limits upcoming. Learning the areas where you can cut & extend would be pretty much useless now as by the time you’ve learnt them all, the limits may be in effect deeming what you’ve learnt useless.

But, essentially the points are still valid. Practice as much as you can to be as consistently fast as you can, I personally wouldn’t say there’s a number you can place on it as there’s so many cars to learn, tuning to your preferences & learning all the tracks, configurations of each track & how much you can take advantage of cutting & extending and still remain on a clean lap.

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The point isn’t about speed it’s about being able to do the same thing lap after lap after lap after lap after lap after lap. Track limits don’t matter when you have ten consecutive laps that are all within a tenth of each other because you have an understanding of the car and how it’s working. Once you have that how the game determines track limits is arbitrary because you have the knowledge to stay within that limit.

7

It takes a long time. If you have prior experience, it takes less.

One reason I moved away from hardcore sims was this. Not willing to put in the time to learn a more serious hobby.

There are a few key points you need to consider:

  1. How comfortable do you feel with repetition? Are you the type who gets bored easily?
  2. How do you react to failure? How strong is your resolve to keep getting better?
  3. How good is your eye for spotting mistakes and learning from them?
  4. How humble are you to ask for help if you’re stuck?
  5. Are you willing to disregard preferences and/or discrepancies between game and real world to run better strategies?
  6. How important do you feel getting good as this game is to you?

If your goal is to reach the limit of your skills, then do it by steps.

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Man, great response. Funny thing is though I would’ve never considered asking myself any of those things and it surprises me when I thought about it and came to the conclusion that it would seem I can check 1 through 5 off the list with confidence.

As for number 6 though? I either failed miserably or passed with flying colors…

It’s not “important” to me that I get good in the sense that it would help me advance through life so in that aspect, 0/10 importance.

But considering how much and how fast I fell in love with this game, I’d say it’s about a 9/10 importance at the moment. Though, I’m in the honeymoon phase. Once that dwindles down it’d probably be a 6 or 7/10 but…hopefully by that time I can call myself “good” at Forza. =)

I’ve heard of the 10,000 hours thing before too (not sure how accurate that is, it obviously would depend on which skill we’re talking about) but hey, 10,000 hours at 98% of skills and you’re going to be good at it. At 8 hours a day every day, that’s just short of 3 and a half years of practice…which I can say right now I’m not going to reach with Forza hehe. (Or maybe I will? Just not in 8 hour days, and by the time Forza 15 is out=p)

Aside from that, I could’ve have asked for any better responses guys, I can’t imagine someone answering such a vague question any better than it was just answered. But hey, fire away if you wish.

Much love !

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Everybody learns at different rates and some might never get extremely good. How you spend that time is just as important, if not more so than how much time you spend.

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The biggest factor: Where are you now? In your regular playing, are you already a top 10% driver, a top 5% driver? If not, that hill to climb might be insurmountable. It’s like saying how much practice does it take to make the NBA and compete against LeBron James? I could practice this game every day for the rest of my life and not be as skilled as the best players in the game and pro driver in real life. I play this game for fun.

-k

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11

Time spent is relative to progress made.

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I recommend watching the video about this topic from Empty Box “Ineffective Practice is Ineffective, So Stop. (Sim Racing Tips)”

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I was also going to bring up this video.

Many hours of practice can be good, but many hours of focused practice will be much more beneficial.

Also, a knowledge of racing physics and car dynamics will do you well as it can help you understand more about how your car behaves and how you can get the most out of it. There are many resources on the field but I recommend the book below. Read through the 30 or so pages on Driving Techniques and try to apply some of that knowledge to your gameplay:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwH6utNespVnREdvSHRERDdnc2s/edit?pli=1

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Some people are just more skilled at Forza Motorsport 7 than others. But that is no problem, we can only be the best we can be. “Real” racers don’t just go race a track and end up at the top of the heap. Practice, learn, listen and watch replays on the Leaderboards for the top drivers.

There also are several really good tutorials, such as the one from Raceboy77: https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/forza-7-tips-guide IF you’re really into the racing, and want to improve, start slow with the lower class cars which don’t have big engines and high speeds. Take your time, try the tracks and different configurations. Beside “driving” there is Tuning, too, which is an art by itself.

The game has a content update on Tuesday, July 10, and you need to “study” and learn what the changes will be, and do the homework. Watch videos (Tuesday will be a big day for that!) and stream presentations, check out the Week In Review (News - Forza) for the latest updates, and the thread here: https://forums.forza.net/turn10_postst99214_News--livestreams--alerts--and-Calendar-for-FM7.aspx

We are all beginners with whatever version of Forza Motorsport we first discovered. Some of us enjoy the game just for the thrill of racing and really are only so-so in the competition area, As others have said, spend the time and you will improve.

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I would just say to play for as long as you are having fun. Personally I (and I think most people) struggle more with basic racing line, braking points, and race craft a lot more than car control.

For example with the community bounty hunter events I can easily be in the top 5% and have even managed a couple 1% times. But without a ghost to chase and a driving line I am a lot less consistent and usually at least 5 seconds slower per lap. My biggest issues are breaking points and cornering speed, for the most part I know what line to take for a fast lap, but just lack the skills to consistanttly take that line at optimal speed. Generally I am slower at corners at the end of a long straight, where braking zones are more critical. So tracks like road America I am worse at than tracks like Brands Hatch.

I have no idea how much time I have in forza, but I have been playing since fm2 and play regularly.

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I have a Bachelor’s in Nursing and currently work in rehabilitation… I’m 25, 30 is nothing… if Tom Brady can play past 40, or Zlatan Ibrahimovic, you want racing proof… check out this article here 10 of the Oldest NASCAR Drivers (Updated 2023) - Oldest.org there is no reason someone even younger couldn’t do something they set their mind too. It is not only physical, think about the mental… you need a sharp mind, if you think you are going to fail, you’re gonna fail, if you think its because of your joints/pain/this or that in this area, guess where your pain is gonna end up… Play the game, eat healthy, stay hydrated, exercise… treat your mind right and you will do right by your body.

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My suggestions for getting better are;

Start with rivals. Put a lap in for a control and then download a rival about a second faster than you. Keep doing that until you feel comfortable with a track. Notice where they brake, where they turn in and where they accelerate.

Second, play single player on at least the middle length races. This should give you enough time to make it to the first few places. Once you start getting easy wins raise your difficulty. Don’t worry about fast tracks like Sebring, road America or le Sarthe. The Ai cheats on these.

Third, don’t start with R class race cars. Until you get the feel of it use C and B class cars. These will allow you to use minimal assists. You will get much quicker with abs, TCS and stability off. And use at least a manual gearbox.

Finally, find a local league to race in. Private lobbies almost always have better racing standards, as well as a social aspect. Most will have set championships to race in and all the ones I have been a part of have been great with drivers with lower skill levels. If you are in Aus or NZ send me a DM.

PS. Have fun. This is the most important part.you paid money for a game to enjoy, so don’t push yourself so hard that enjoyment disappears.

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look at any professional sports league, the best players there are putting in close to 90 hours a week between practice, studying their opponents, working on technique, etc… that is some serious time, they also have coaches that teach them the right technique and the most efficient way to practice. in forza we don’t have anything close to that kind of system and until we do being a pro is completely up to each individual figuring it out on their own.

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10,000 hours I read in an F1 mag.

so 1 h per day =27.38 years
2h per day =13.69 years
3h per day =9.12 years
4h per day =6.8446 years
5h per day = 5.47 years
10h per day =2.74 years
15h per day = 1.825 years

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To give you guys an idea of where I am at the moment, which I should’ve posted, I play with all the “normal” assists off generally, over 95% of the time these are my assists:

Braking Line: On (No full racing line)
ABS: Off
Steering: Normal
TCS: Off
Stability Control: Off
Shifting: Manual w/ Clutch
Damage: Cosmetic
Rewinds: On
Friction Assist: Off

The only thing I’ll turn on here is TCS if I’m in some car that I REALLY can’t handle (I try to avoid these cars actually (unless I’m in “R”+ class and some “S” class cars), no way I’m getting better like that). If I can only “kinda” handle it, I’ll keep it off and try to get better at it until I’ve mastered the control of that specific car.

Right now I’m at the point where I don’t even have 2/3rds of the maps memorized, and I only know maybe 2 or 3 by name. I already beat the single player Forza Cup (Not the elite one) so at the moment I’m going through each circuit in free play one by one until I’ve memorized the entire “full” circuit (so that I never have to look at the mini-map), and have achieved a position in the top 500 on the “Americas” leaderboards. I am doing this in alphabetical order and right now I’m on Indianapolis.

I am doing this in the A class and I’ve promised myself to not move up from “A” class until I’ve finished the goal stated above on every single circuit.

Something very odd though…On every circuit that I’ve memorized so far using my method stated above, I am in the top 5% on the leaderboards. I even am top 1% on more than a couple of them. This makes absolutely no sense to me. I’ve been playing the game for a little over 3 weeks. There is absolutely NO way I am already a top 5%+ player; not a chance. After I finished the single player Forza Cup, I started playing multiplayer and since then I have raced maybe 40 to 50 times and have not once come in 1st place. I’ve come in 3rd maybe 3 or 4 times, and 2nd one time (most of the time I get drilled into the tire wall on the first corner and come in 6th or less). So…I don’t know what’s going on there, but there usually is at least 1 super good player in each lobby that I have zero chance of catching if they’ve dodged the lap 1 carnage.

But anyway…that’s where I stand and that’s my plan. =)