I am posting these basic tips for anyone new to the game or just wants to be a cleaner racer.
If all you are interested in is finishing first at any price, no mater how or who you wreck, please exit this thread.
This is not the best, worst or only way to race, this is how I try to race clean.
If you disagree with any of this, please feel free to post how you do it, it might help someone, but i will not get into
a pissing contest with you.
I am doing this because not all wrecks in multiplayer are the troll’s fault. I have seen many people get in wrecks not on
purpose, but because in my opinion they did not understand or follow good racecraft. This is intended mainly for them.
Hope it helps.
1:assists-There is much debate as to the validity of assists in a racing simulator. It is my experience that if you are new to
a racing game, use all the assists you need to learn. As you get better, these assists will actualy slow you down to the point
that you will not go any faster till you turn one or all of them off. Until you learn car controll and the track, leave them
on, focus on clean driving. And if you dont mind being slower, you dont have to turn any off.
2:the car-Find a car you like AND STAY WITH IT. All cars drive different and as such how you drive them changes as well.
Braking points, how it handles at different speed and when you can get back in the gas on corner exit is something you need to
know and not guess at when racing. It needs to be instinct, and you cant learn that if you change cars every race. If you just
cant stay in one car, at least try to pick a drive train to stick with, i.e. rear wheel drive.
3:tuneing-This is not easy to explain, its more of trial and error. Its better to try other peoples tune to start out, but if
you want to try to tune, baby steps. Move ONE thing at a time in SMALL increments, then take it out on the track for a few
laps. Dont expect one adjustment to fix your car, it is a long and laborous process that will test the limits of your patience.
But when you do get a tune right, its golden. Every driver has a different style, so there is no ‘one size fits all’ tune. One thing
that is a given is when you hear tire squal. Tires have only so much grip, that grip has to be split in everything you do.
If you are using 50% of the grip braking, that means you only have 50% grip to turn. Tire squall means you are trying to use
more than 100% grip. Personaly,I start by adjusting the brakes, get the tune the way i want, then adjust the brakes again last.
I find the braking distince in the tool tip to be acurate and adjust to the shortest braking distance, provided it dosnt upset
the car when i actually use the brakes.
ptg baby cow has this to add and it is a great suggestion.
I agree with this once you know how each part of the tuning menus affects the car. I suggest if you do not know what each one does. Drive a car in stock form (preferably something with all adjust adjustable parts by default like a gt car) and then slam each slider to each direction to feel the differences doing this all one at a time. If this doesnt show you how each setting effects handling than i dont know what to tell you.
4:Hotlaps-Use rivals to gauge where you need to work. Watch were your rival is beating you and try a different line. Think of lines
as if you are bowling, too far to one side and you dont hit the front pin, or worse hit the gutter. a perfect line uses all the
track and hits the apex (center of the corner) with as much speed as posible. After the apex your main goal is getting on
the gas as fast as posible with your wheels straight. This will give you the best exit speed without spinning your tires.
Rivals is also where you want to learn lane racing.
5:Lane racing-Think of the track as a 4-6 lane highway. While hot laping you want to use the best line posible, but that line
will go thru multiple lanes. To race clean means you can pass someone and be passed while staying in your lane, not the preferred
line. I use rivals to practice passing and to find how far i can push the car and still maintain my lane. I cannot stress enuff
how important it is to clean racing learning this is. On a side note, the car setup i use to hotlap is not the setup i use to
race. My hotlap setup is as close to out of controll i can get it and make a clean lap. My race setup is much more conservitve and
easy to drive.
6:Multiplayer racing-This is it, your time to prove you can race clean. Start by using the best handleing most grip settup you have.
This will ensure you have the best odds of avoiding others that are not trying to race as clean as you. When the green flag drops,
hold your line. Unless the guy in front of you dosnt go or is driving a prius, stay in your lane as best you can. Let the high
speed guys go by, you wont catch them untill the corner anyway. As you get close to the first corner I always keep a little behind
(about 1 car length or less) the car in front of me, that way if he stops before i expect him to i have room to react.
This wont keep you from getting rear ended, but there is nothing you can do about those behind you.
Keep this distance from the guy in front of you for about half a lap, unless you get a chance to pass clean ,i.e. he goes off
track. After that I will start to press him. Stay as close to his bumper that you can, pull out to pass when you exit a corner,
enter a corner as close to side by side as you can and back off at the last second. All these things will keep the pressure on him
without hitting them. At all times keep car control.
7:Race your race-If there is 24 cars on the track, all 24 want to win. Only one can place 1st, one second and so on. Basic common
sense right? Not that i have seen. Race with cars that are about the same speed as you. If the guy behind you just made up 5 seconds
in a corner, let him go by. He is obviously faster than you. Just hold your line, let him pass, then try and keep up with him. Who
knows, you might learn how and where he is faster. If he is just in a faster car, still let him by, you will pass him in the next corner.
8:Why you race-If you have read this far, chances are winning is not enuff for you. I would rather race for 23 place side by side with
someone for 2 laps than beat 23 cars by 2 laps. To me that is racing. That shows car controll. If this is the mindset you have going
into multiplayer, you wont rage quit after the first corner. Have fun. This is a game after all. No one is clean 100% of the time. All
of us have made mistakes.
9:Rubbing-This is another of the controversial topics. In my opinion rubbin’ is racing. If rubbin’ causes the other driver to loose control,
then it is no longer rubbin’. If the other driver looses control you have just wrecked him. I pull over and let them pass.
10:Regaining car control-It happens to everyone. You will loose control wether its your fault or not. When it happens you need to instantly
think of one thing and one thing only. Car controll. Dont worry about loosing positions, where you are on the track or keeping momentum. None of
that matters if you dont have controll of your car. Practice turning into a skid, feathering the throtle and trailing the brakes
and you will soon get a feel of how to regain controll without overdriving the car and making it worse. Once you are back in controll, stay in your
lane. Your loss of control has slowed you down and givin the driver behind you an oportunity to pass. Let them. If you try to block at this point you
will only cause a wreck. Also, if you are off track, try not to come back on the track at a 90 degree angle to the track. Not only is that the worst
angle to get back up to speed, but you also endanger everyone still on the racing surface. Try to get parrallel to the track and slowly
merge back on staying as far to that side as you can.
Sorry for the poor spelling and grammer, I just dont care.
Troll if you want, I care even less about that.