With ISI due to release its G6 stock car and ovals I have very little experience with this style of racing both in the sim world and in the real world and I feel very underprepared. I am excited to learn and face a new challenge. I am sure there are a few of us out there in the same boat. I would be interested by anyone in the know what are important areas to focus on, either in setup & data, driving style, race management etc.. Hopefully this will help a few of out which may lead to better competition for you guys in the future. I have done a little oval racing however it only amounts to <5% compared to flat track open wheel racing and I haven’t really invested the energy it requires to get somewhat ok at it. I guess until now. Cheers in advance
That's something what i would be really interested in as well. I started out simracing with NR2003 but i was never really good at that So i would be interested in giving oval racing another go.
It is important to focus on the left side turns. If you have that you've almost won. Nah just joking, I've zero clue about this kind of racing too. When I read those rules posted it just confuses me even more lol.
I've started simracing with a wheel at iracing and the oval section as i got the most fun out of it. I cannot tell you anything about setups or data just some simple tips. Oval racing for me is like the first lap of a road circuit but all the time. You always race in traffic with cars in front of you and side by side in some situations 3 to 4 wide depends hugely on the track. You should focus on holding your line in a corner and get some experience on the handling of the car. And you have to focus on just 2 to 4 turns. Try to keep it smooth like with the skippy and you will get good results out of it. Racing strategies are a bit diffrent and i always tried to get my tires goin as long as i could. The biggest factor for me in strategy is the yellow flag. You have to make the right decisions in the right place and i think its something that comes with experience. Sometimes you gonna run out of fuel and you have just 5 laps left to get to the pits before you gonna run out, you go to the pits get refueled maybe fresh tires and back on the track when the caution happens. In Iracing your car got repaired as soon as you entered your pitspot, wheel change or refuel and car repairs startet automatically so you were able to get your car almost fully repaired when you exit the pits just in front of the pace car and drove back to the pits as fast as you could. I don't know how its gonna work for rf2 but we will see. But that was also an option to repair your car through several cautions during a race. On superspeedway tracks which are longer than 1,5 miles most of the better guys in my rating section teamed up together and bumpdrafted eachother. So the car in the back pushed the car in the front along the whole track till it gets to hot and they swap positions. So its easy to get away from the field but its also quite dangerous as you see that just a little impact in the corner gets the front car to spin. On shorter tracks you just try to get to the inside of your opponent in front of you and force him to take the outside line.
Everyone thinks this style of racing is easy, just keep your foot down right, well in ten laps your on your way to the wall. and if it stays green your the next yellow flag.. so its important to work on your setup and it should start out on the lose side and it will tighten up after a few laps. And in this style racing the fastest car does not always win the check-flag. Oh green flag pit stops they are fun and everyone has a different lift off the gas point to enter the Pitts and the amount of time it takes to drive into your pit box and back on the track time wise it could be 1.4 sec to 3.4 sec diff and at racing speeds that's a lot of ground to make up.. and if it is a full length race you will have to make more than one stop X1.4sec X3.4sec = X number of stops = your going the wrong way... and you get busted for speeding, now you have to come back through the Pitts and your laps d/n now.. And they say this is easy lol I think the people who win this type of racing are more aware of there car and what it drives like. and can make the right adjustments to fix there problem on the fly are the ones who make it look easy.
this should work very well for what you want........... http://www.racelinecentral.com/RacingSetupGuide.html
Hectari, ErnieDaOage, ACSmall & Coops thank you that is some very interesting & insightful information you have provided. I will read more in depth over the weekend. Thanks for sharing and I am sure others like me appreciate the help.
At least someone thought it was funny. I didn't realise turning left at the end of the straight was such serious business.
It's also important to keep in mind that oval racing is more about rhythm. You don't usually jump on the brake, release it, turn and gas it, as you do on road courses. Even on short tracks like Martinsville, where you brake hard, the roll through the corner is important. Sometimes is tricky managing to keep a mininum constant speed through the corner until you can get fullo throttle again. That's also very important for not brushing your tires (and not hitting the wall on the exit). In this video, you can see a little bit of the technique. Actually, if you look for NASCAR qualifying videos until last year (when they were used to show pedal telemetry) you will understand much better what I said throughout all different kind of tracks.
I have absolutely no idea about oval racing and the few experiences with this showed me the wall is very dangerous, in particular if this comes closer with each round. However, when I see all the rules the motivation leaves me, that is too much for me. I want to have fun no torture, but I'm sure people who understand it, have the time and energy will love it.
My advice is be patient and specially aware. For example if you're doing a 100 lap race of Indy in the new stock car, I wouldn't worry too much about sticking on the arse of the leader. Chances are there will be a caution, different strategies and such. My primary goal when oval racing is to be in touch with the leaders with 10-15 to go or at least on the lead lap. That's when my racing really starts. Its all too easy to over defend or over drive when its really not needed bringing out a caution and ending your race early. Oval racing tends to bring cars a lot closer together, in terms of space, than road racing. Like on Iracing its not uncommon to drive door to door with someone for laps on end. Just be relaxed, hold a predictable line and if the chap gets the better of you, don't sweat it. The next caution will put you right back with him.
In regards to oval racing, I used to think just like most of the posters here; This oval racing has to be the most simplistic form of racing out there. Boy was I wrong! Not until I started racing ovals in iRacing did I see the error of my thinking. What Hectari posted about oval racing is right about the experience. These are the hardest cars to drive and get the setup right. When you do figure out the right setup and the best race line, you share with only the best racers the secret to winning the race. Each track requires hours (I do mean hours) of setup time. Each racer guards their setups. Sharing oval setups is a taboo. Some racers even sneak into practice sessions to listen to what adjustments are being made. The best teams use TS to keep out the eavesdroppers. In the GEN6 world, they take this racing very serious. It does take on a real world experience seeing how teams prepare for the NiS (NASCAR iRacing Series) They parallel the NASCAR racing schedule and a professional sim license is waiting for the top 20 racers at the end of the NiS season. I'm not sure but I think a lot of these racers have get paid by sponsers with the sponser's logo on the racer's car. I've read where after a race, a racer will thank their sponser just like they do on the TV. Edit: iRacing hasn't the physics rF2 does so creating setups may or may not be easier. I know rF2 will give the oval cars the physics that iRacing just are unable to give.
You are probably right, but I'd say it will be a lot closer than you imagine. I'm not sure if iRacing uses the Gen6 car (I'd bet money they do, just not sure) but they have years and years of experience working directly with NASCAR to get the data, and they have always been the kings of oval racing. Even before iRacing. However, where rFactor 2 will blow the doors off iR is the real-road. In real oval racing, picking your line is super important. There isn't just one 'racing line' on the track like on road courses...depending on setups, some cars might drive high to keep speed, whereas others will hug the inside of the corner. This dynamic changes throughout the race as well...as cars tighten up, they'll gain the ability to drive high or low, and pick up major positions. During practice and qualifying, most drivers won't want to risk going up high--you could hit the wall--so there won't be much rubber there at the start of the race. During the race, you'll need to start passing, and you do that by risking the high side. As more drivers do this, the better the grip becomes, so you start getting more passing and more intense battles towards the end of the race. But--who is gonna be the one to take that risk to begin with? It's this type of dynamic that really makes ovals shine. You have to be constantly aware of the abilities of your car, and pick the lane you're fastest in, but sometimes you're gonna have to make a big move inside or up high and risk it all-- you can't just out-brake your opponent into the corner and expect to win. The ambient temperature can also play a role in grip levels, with cooler temps increasing grip (at night) while higher temps (mid-day) make the track slippery all over. I don't know if ISI will implement track temperature like that, but even if not the real-road might make stock cars in rF2 the best in the business. I can't wait. edit: Someone mentioned bump-drafting a few posts above. With the Gen6 cars, the aerodynamics were changed to limit the effects of bump drafting. The '2-car tandem' doesn't apply anymore, so you'll be racing in huge packs of cars at super-speedways rather than picking a buddy to help you out. At least, that's how it should be. ISI could easily make bump drafting effective just with a couple wrong numbers.
