You tube videos

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by davehenrie, Apr 25, 2021.

  1. davehenrie

    davehenrie Registered

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    I rarely seem to benefit from watching online racing videos because I don't understand how fast drivers achieve the performance they do. (it is a failing of mine for decades) But last week I was watching a youtube vid comparing the La Ferrari, with the Porsche 918 & Mclaren P1. They drove at Portimao. I've always enjoyed that track but seemed to loose huge chunks of time navigating the last left hander before the track slowly bends back to the main straight. watching the cars clipping the same apex time after time made me realize I wasn't even looking at that spot but further up the road. The end result was a poor exit and an even worse entrance to the right-hand sweeper.
    Got me thinking...how do perception limited drivers like myself identify trouble spots and THEN learn lessons that extend beyond any single corner?
     
  2. green serpent

    green serpent Registered

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    I'm not going to lie I don't fully understand the question, but I think a comprehensive answer to it would very long!

    I'll add my 2 cents from my own personal experience. All I know is that I can do a heck of a lot of laps and I always think I've got the optimal line (and it's usually somewhat close), but then I look at a lap guide on youtube (either real life or sim), and there's always little things that I didn't think of. Most corners I usually get pretty close, but it can be minor differences that make a huge difference.

    The latest example would be the first chicane at Portland, I was dive bombing the first corner and braking as late as humanly possible, whereas I believe it's better to compromise the entry so you can better straight line the next corner to flatten the chassis sooner and get the power down early for the next straight. Obviously I was aware of the concept and I do that all the time for corners before a straight, but it just didn't click on that corner until after watching a track guide.

    I think maybe the only way is to try your best to be fast on a track, then once you've somewhat reached the point of diminishing returns, then check in with a track guide or watch the lines of real life/sim drivers and how they take each corner.

    It also matters what kind of car they are driving and what their driving style is compared to yours. For example if you are lapping a Formula Ford, look up various videos on how to drive one, because it's different than say a gt3. Ultimately you might just not be good at a certain type of car and you need to find what clicks for you.
     
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  3. mantasisg

    mantasisg Registered

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    What does it mean to be "perception limited" ?

    P.S. As much as I know it is way better to be able to look far ahead when you are driving, unless you are doing slalom around potholes and manholes.
     
  4. davehenrie

    davehenrie Registered

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    Perception limited means I'm missing something. I know about apex's, braking zones, trail braking etc. But my very best lap at any track is usually because I made a mistake that, luckily. worked to my benefit. If I brake as late as others...whoosh right on past the corner. If I get on the gas as early as others, off I go. In the old days of GPL, users like Eagle Woman would say NEVER worry about setups til you can run an entire tank of fuel and every lap is within a tenth or so. I've never been that guy. I watched those freaking pros last year run Monaco and slide every lap around the pool and most of them had maybe weeks on a sim. I enjoy racing, love competing, but I've never sniffed a lap that guys routinely put out over and over. That's my definition of Perception Limited.
     
  5. Dave^

    Dave^ Registered

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    Who are you comparing yourself against and how?

    I’m a hotlapper, recently found it really useful to see split times in realtime. (For current lap, last lap, and best sector. (ETA - oh and theoretical best lap too))

    Try the links in my signature for comparable times, URD automatically uploads basic telemetry, so you can see where you’re slower compared to other drivers.

    I’m struggling with Imola in the GT3s, I’m miles off, I’ve done loads of laps in each of the cars. It “feels” fast, but it just isn’t!
     
  6. mantasisg

    mantasisg Registered

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    Interesting. Perhaps you are on the point, or maybe not. I never had improved pace thanks to mistake, or maybe I did, but because of my perception I never thought of it as a mistake. I can usually repeat those "mistakes" afterwards though. I am not very fast, but fast. I rarely use braking markers, at least not consciously, and still do rather well. Also have that feeling of being few kph faster or slower. I guess thats some kind of perception stuff. I can also handle the cars over the limits relatively well, not sure how much that has to do with perception, but even being able to guess and anticipate helps a lot as well as simply understanding the mechanical reasons why car does things that it does. Once you have proper control of the car, you free up a lot of mental capacity on improving trajectories and navigating around traffic, chasing cars closely, doing overtakes, defending and so on...
     
  7. mantasisg

    mantasisg Registered

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    I just remembered one interesting thing regarding perception.

    Once a friend of mine had an interesting observation that playing racing games improved his perception of time. Through the years I kept on remembering that observation as proofs of that were constantly popping up. I myself found myself guessing the laptimes rather accurately even without looking at delta or realtime laptime in general. I saw pro drivers being able to instantly tell how much time they loose if they make a mistake. I think perception of time might go together with perception of speed.
     
  8. green serpent

    green serpent Registered

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    I was thinking about making a video about this, though most of it would be going over territory I think most here would know about already. Tell, me this, do you ever actually feel like you are so immersed that you are physically inside the game? What I'm saying is, do you become immersed but you still struggle with perception even when immersed? Or are you not becoming immersed in the first place? Because if you don't feel like you are actually there and are "ahead of the car", and you are only responding to what is happening on screen, I would say work on setting things up to improve immersion. Such as bigger screen/closer to the screen/very stable wheel support/somewhat correct driving position/better ffb etc. You should feel like you're in a car. This is my opinion though, I'm sure many are very fast without ever feeling like they are driving an actual car.
     
  9. mantasisg

    mantasisg Registered

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    I think for that matter the word "perception" is way better than "immersion". Bigger screen and optimal FOV are exactly responsible for perception of space and speed. Immersion fit better in when talking about realism, but to perform and compete realism is not that important - a perfect example is GTS being chosen for Olympics e-Sports, or bunch of really wrong physics cars in simracing rF2 included. This being said, getting un-immersed might help to be fast in simracing, as heard from pro drivers - once they stop driving like they would in real life, and learn about "exploits" aka unrealistic bits of physics, then they can go faster and get closer to pro sirmacers.
     
  10. Dave^

    Dave^ Registered

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    Ross Bentley writes/talks a lot about mental imagery, imagining yourself driving a lap and being able to time yourself mentally, then going out on track and hitting that laptime, but not being able to better it!

    The human mind/body is a strange beast!
     
  11. davehenrie

    davehenrie Registered

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    I've seen that with pro drivers. The team will radio he needs to hit a certain lap time and poof! They start churning out lap after lap on that pace.
     

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