NAC Tips and Tricks

[BobbyDeacs]

Just started a new career on expert mode, all assist off and I did 1.24.2 in Melbourne. Is that good? First time a have all the assist off, so I have to get used to it

It's extremely good. My best Time Trial is 1:19.7 in Mclaren, but that's because I'm really good at TT on this track. If you did that in a race/qualifying it's brilliant and especially for someone getting used to no assists. Keep an eye out for reserve spots in this league. Also space may become available AND I am definitely planning on a 2nd NAC league in a couple of months.

With "equal" cars I normally qualify sub 1:22 on options and Goonie 1:22.5 on primes.

It is really good, honestly, not just saying that "RESPECT!!" 

[mhaustein]

Just started a new career on expert mode, all assist off and I did 1.24.2 in Melbourne. Is that good? First time a have all the assist off, so I have to get used to it

It's extremely good. My best Time Trial is 1:19.7 in Mclaren, but that's because I'm really good at TT on this track. If you did that in a race/qualifying it's brilliant and especially for someone getting used to no assists. Keep an eye out for reserve spots in this league. Also space may become available AND I am definitely planning on a 2nd NAC league in a couple of months.

With "equal" cars I normally qualify sub 1:22 on options and Goonie 1:22.5 on primes.

It is really good, honestly, not just saying that "RESPECT!!" 

Thanks mate, it was in career in the Williams I did in with tyre and fuel sims on, so I'm happy with that result 

I might be racing with you guys some time in the future

[BobbyDeacs]

Just started a new career on expert mode, all assist off and I did 1.24.2 in Melbourne. Is that good? First time a have all the assist off, so I have to get used to it

It's extremely good. My best Time Trial is 1:19.7 in Mclaren, but that's because I'm really good at TT on this track. If you did that in a race/qualifying it's brilliant and especially for someone getting used to no assists. Keep an eye out for reserve spots in this league. Also space may become available AND I am definitely planning on a 2nd NAC league in a couple of months.

With "equal" cars I normally qualify sub 1:22 on options and Goonie 1:22.5 on primes.

It is really good, honestly, not just saying that "RESPECT!!" 

Thanks mate, it was in career in the Williams I did in with tyre and fuel sims on, so I'm happy with that result 

I might be racing with you guys some time in the future

There is definitely a slot available this Tuesday as one of the guys has an A-Level exam next day. Also, any points you gain as a Reserve will be carried forward should a place come up.

[mhaustein]

Just started a new career on expert mode, all assist off and I did 1.24.2 in Melbourne. Is that good? First time a have all the assist off, so I have to get used to it

It's extremely good. My best Time Trial is 1:19.7 in Mclaren, but that's because I'm really good at TT on this track. If you did that in a race/qualifying it's brilliant and especially for someone getting used to no assists. Keep an eye out for reserve spots in this league. Also space may become available AND I am definitely planning on a 2nd NAC league in a couple of months.

With "equal" cars I normally qualify sub 1:22 on options and Goonie 1:22.5 on primes.

It is really good, honestly, not just saying that "RESPECT!!" 

Thanks mate, it was in career in the Williams I did in with tyre and fuel sims on, so I'm happy with that result 

I might be racing with you guys some time in the future

There is definitely a slot available this Tuesday as one of the guys has an A-Level exam next day. Also, any points you gain as a Reserve will be carried forward should a place come up.

Sorry, I can't race on Tuedays because I'm at work until 10pm danish time 

[CX09]

Every tip that has been mentioned here is dead on right nearly 100% of the time.  Ya'll know your stuff.  Two things I would like to add are these:

1. You don't just steer with the wheel but with your throttle.  Throttle control really is the difference between assists and no assists.  If you come into a turn too hot and try to slow down to your correct corner entry speed with your brakes you're going to lock up and miss your apex, at best.  Worst you bury it in the tire wall.  And the slower you are going while executing EMERGENCY braking the more you will understeer.  So down shift a little faster and feather the throttle to induce a little oversteer.  Downshifting a little too fast will cause the rear tires to break adhesion with the track and thus your car will oversteer.  Then control that oversteer with carefully applied throttle.  There is a sweet spot where you can literally hold the wheel in the exact same position but increase or decrease the slip angle (where your car is steering vs where your wheel is pointed) with throttle input.  To a very small degree it somewhat resembles drifting.  But drifting, in the classical sense of using countersteering, is bad in F1.  But every driver knows how to do it and uses it every corner of every lap to some finite degree.

But understand this about steering with throttle.  On corner entry less throttle gives you better turn in.  On corner exit MORE throttle give you better turn in.  It comes down to weight transfer and throttle steering.  You understeer because your front tires don't have enough grip relative to your speed in the turn.  When you let off the throttle the weight transfers forward onto the front tires.  Thus better grip in corner entry.  Now the same holds true on corner exit but that means you are slowing down when you should be speeding up.  But with carefully applied throttle on corner exit you counteract the reduced front tire grip and understeer by over rotating the rear tires and sliding ever so slightly.  Not so much that you spin but just enough to get the back end of the car to move around instead of waiting for the front tires to do all the work.

A good example is the real cars at Monaco.  They set the cars up with a certain amount of instability in the back end so they can rocket through the swimming pool chicanes by intentionally making the rears step out a little.  Sounds scary as stink at that circuit but it works.

Which bring me to my second comment.

2. Using gears to your advantage.  As mentioned by others short shifting is an excellent tool for traction.  But beware!  You had better be on the ball when short shifting and flooring it, especially in the rain, as you will lose traction and over rotate your rears so fast that you'll spin.  Short shifting is a necessary skill, but so is precise throttle control.  If you have a wheel with force feedback it will tell you when you rears are about to let go.  The wheel will feel "light" like there's no load on it.  It happens fast.  And the next thing is you walking back to the paddock all sad faced.  Don't back fully out of the throttle when this starts to happen.  You want to preserve as much speed as possible.  Just back off slightly, give a very quick stab of counter steer to prevent the spin that is about to happen and be ready to get back on it.  If you drive like you expect it to happen most times it won't.  Remember, sacrificing speed for stability is ok but, keeping the speed and controlling the car is better.

But further about gears is the importance of downshifting.  Downshifting slowly and controlled under braking allows for better engine braking on the rears.  Downshifting quickly in a turn allows for better turn in on corner entry.  But you could also spin if you downshift too fast in a turn.  Everything in F1 is a compromise.  Speed vs traction, a little bit of oversteer vs a lot, going fast but not so fast you run your tires off too soon.

OK here's a little pet peeve of mine with bad online qualifiers.  DON'T GO OUT THERE AND TURN LAP AFTER LAP TRYING TO CRANK OUT A BETTER TIME.  You're running your tires off for the first race stint.  And everyone who did one, max two, hotlaps will eat you alive on the first stint.  Get one in the bank and call it good or go in and change tires and do one good lap.  Schumacher didn't win every race from pole you know! You should still have 90%+ on your tires for the start of the race.  Then head back and STAY OFF THE RACING LINE.

Dammit...ok...one more thing.  Use pitstops to pass.  If you're driving clean and you're stuck behind someone and you have a stop coming up in the next five or so laps pit early.  Don't just keep driving up their butt hoping to make a magic pass.  Pit in for fresh tires, turn faster laps and when that car comes in for his stop you will be ahead when he comes out.

I have more but I'm sure you are tired of me dorking about F1 and I need to save a few tricks up my sleeve.

Ps...dammit again...I once heard Lewis talk about driving in the rain.  He said "do everything slower".  Obviously but I think most online racers don't really think about it as much as they should.

OK I'm done...

[BobbyDeacs]

Great in-depth explanation of rear end driving CX09. I learnt this technique about 2 weeks ago and times came down by over a second. You still need a solid rear end setup to regain the traction.

I still struggle with chicanes though, drift in and huge change of direction unsettles the car too much - any tips? I finish up tippy-toeing around the slow bits and that's where I still lose time.

PS:- Glad to see you getting into this so much.

[CX09]

Great in-depth explanation of rear end driving CX09. I learnt this technique about 2 weeks ago and times came down by over a second. You still need a solid rear end setup to regain the traction.

I still struggle with chicanes though, drift in and huge change of direction unsettles the car too much - any tips? I finish up tippy-toeing around the slow bits and that's where I still lose time.
PS:- Glad to see you getting into this so much.

The advantage that real drivers have is sense of motion and peripheral vision to provide them input along with what they feel through the wheel. The best we can get is the force feedback through the wheel. But it can tell you a lot. Assuming you have one I'm sure you've noticed the counter load on the wheel as you're turning. That's just the physics of the car naturally wanting to go straight and the slip angle working against...

Ok my inner engineering nerd is spiraling out of control again.

With chicanes you want to keep as much speed as possible. So when you turn in, at least in my experience, you want a little instability to get the car to turn in faster via the back end stepping out slightly. Then just counter steer the moment before the car wants to swap ends, which should happen right dead center of the chicane. Keep the throttle feathered the whole time and use the curbs to straighten the chicane as much as possible. When you've lost it through enough chicanes you will get a sense of when that instability is about to get out of control and you will correct it just before it happens. Your foot should never be wholey on or off the throttle. Use throttle steering to help control the car. Is it easy? Hell no. But that's why real F1 drivers get paid the big bucks. It's also very useful if you are a left foot braker. If your right foot is dedicated to running throttle and left foot braking then you have faster, more precise control of the car. Sometimes when I over cook a corner and am about to eat it I will work, or pump, back and forth between throttle and brake to recover the car. Small amounts of both along with "feeling" the car through the wheel.

HOWEVER, chicaines are meant to unsettle a fast car. And maybe you aren't losing time by tippy toeing through. Because while you're tippy toeing the idiot in front of you is bombing through and pitching his car into the Wall of Champions as you are giving him a crisp salute for so politely allowing you to pass

I have won many online races not by being the fastest car on track but by being the most consistent car. Have you acquired the "Robot Like Consistency" achievement yet? It's for turning 5 consecutive laps within .25 seconds of each other. Yes be fast like Lewis but also be smooth like Jenson.

But as for car setup for corners and chicaines, I once heard about a comment from Schumacher in regards to how he likes his car. Somewhat unstable. Which makes sense. Moto GP race bikes and all the way to military jet fighters are designed on purpose to be unstable. It makes them react faster. You don't see Airbuses doing snap rolls do you?

Anyway I don't know if I'm helping or just running my fool mouth. We americans love to hear ourselves talk

But here's the most important advice I would give anyone....practice, practice, practice. Skill and proficiency takes work. Which is why your daily practice sessions are a very good thing. But I would also suggest using the Grand Prix mode on short race weekend. That way you can load a setup, turn three hot laps before your tires go off, save the setup with a time stamp, make some adjustments and turn three more on fresh tires. If the time is better save it over the old one with the new time stamp. If not reload the old one and try a different approach. It also helps if you save your stickiest tires for the quali session as that's when the track is fastest. On short race weekend there is only one quali. So throw on your best boots and do five hot laps. Make changes, rinse repeat. And when you run out of fresh tires just restart the session. That way you get the correct sim (not TT) and you can make rapid adjustments and always have fresh tires. Oh and your second lap will always be faster than your first. So just because you beat your previous time on your first lap do another anyway.