Hello guys, I've decided to tackle the nordschleife. It's such a beautiful track, but it's a pain in the *** to learn. I'd love to actually be able to do a hotlap without crashing atleast twice. To make things easier, I decided to focus on the downhill half first. Do you guys mind sharing some tips? Also, what car should I drive to start with? Thanks in advance!
Nissan GTR maybe? easy-ish to drive and still fast I learned the ring doing the licence tests in GT4. The auto fail for touching the grass was a great motivator to learn quickly
An F1 car with full wings. It effectively removes nearly half the corners and makes it easier to learn
I've played GT4 and actually broke my disk due to overplaying it, but I never managed to do those nordschleife challenges.. Just tried the GTR, feels easier than a couple of months ago. Enjoyed it! Still crashed twice, so I'm gonna go with the megane for now If that doesn't work out I'll take the clio for a walk
I'm the first to admit that my memory is not the greatest but I was surprised how quick I learnt the track. My first Nords experience was in rF1, using the great looking Nordschleife 2007 2.21 by Team rF-Nordschleife.de I think my ease of memorising Nords comes from it being such a unique track. There are virtually no corners or sections of track repeated or similar and along with the elevation changes any question of 'where am I on this track' or 'what corner is next' is negated after a short time. As has been mentioned, pick a car you find easy to handle, take it slow and steady and don't give up to easily. I'm not a fan of on-screen track maps but the Track Map Plugin could be useful. As I don't use this plugin for the maps I can't say if it works with Nords or is helpful. TrackMap Plugin link: http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/21913-TrackMapPlugin-V0-95-32bit-64bit The rewards for learning this track are being able to driving confidently and hard on one of, if not the, best track experiences and the satisfaction of knowing that 'I learnt Nords'. Good luck!
Thrindil: Best advise i can give you is be patient and don't worry about times and mistakes. Just start on easy, don't push yourself to learn, it will come all together eventually after a week or so. You will starting to feel rhythm of track, mistakes will be reduced and you will learn corners, you even don't know when Is just a matter of training and time. You will se your worries was just something it was produced in your brain.
Back in the days of Grand Prix Legends, there was a "ringtrainer" which allowed you to start driving in different locations so you could learn one sector at a time. Never saw anything like it since, but that helped me learn it. Otherwise you end up learning the first part best and the last part worst.
I divided the track into three sections, I would learn S1 first, go slow in the rest, move on to S2. took me long enough to master it But after racing on it on virtually every platform from arcade to sim for a decade or so the whole track is in my muscle memory and I can't get enough of it. Its a biatch though, allot of people give up on it because they overdrive and crash too much, can be such a pain! But even when you know the track well and are competing vs others seriously I found that going slower/more conservative could make you much faster overall then when you would be on the edge the whole time. Losing time has never been easier then on this track So restraint would be my best advise, make sure you pass that point of no return (i.e starting to have fun and getting hooked) because then it all starts to make sense. I would not compare my times to others either, good times can be way off initially and that only can frustrate, just learn the track first. Setup wise, don't matter much either, there's too many turns, too much going on. so stability would be key in the first few (years?) Not sure on car to use, I've used them all and it makes no difference to me. Its the driving style that matters I guess, going smooth seems particularity important on the Ring. overdrive and it does become the Green Hell very quickly
The best car for the Nords is the Spark F2. The tires have such a nice rubber feeling with my T500RS and the car is very stable under braking. The best way to learn the track is to mod it. It takes some time but it works.
Wish I knew about this during the GPL days!!! The 'Ring was just too difficult for me even in the relatively tame Ferrari with EagleWoman's excellent and drivable set-ups. Getting a sense and feel for flow and character of the sections was the key first step for me (and I've read it is the way the real drivers like Jackie Stewart learned and drove the track). I remember breaking the Ring down into 6 sections, each that drive like different circuits, before working on specific corners that were giving me problems. Without knowing the real names of the sections, let alone the corners, I dubbed them: 1. the twisty beginning; 2. the fast stuff; 3. the twisty downhill run; 4. the fast uphill sweeps; 5. the twisty downhill stuff; and 6. the endless straight. Once I could orient myself within the different sections, I could then process the upcoming corners. Before then, I was lost.
Wish I could help. I'm driving on the Nordschleife since GT4 and I still don't know the track. Take all the above advise and you should be fine.
Thanks for the tips guys! Tried the historics F3, and it's a blast! Gonna try the F2 later today or tomorrow due to lack of time. About memorising the track : I've learned the "twisty beginning" and a corner or two in "the fast stuff". I also know what to do in the first corner after the caroussel and the first corner after the smaller caroussel. Those things are awesome orientation points! Kind of like checkpoints for the brain The rest of the track is still unknown though, there's even this one section where I get the feeling that i've never driven there before, every single time I really enjoy it overall! Can't wait to do my next session
I did a lap with the F2 just now, and I have to say... It's a lot of fun! The F3 certainly is easier because it's slower, but the F2 is more fun so I'm gonna stick with that Also, Tosch, I don't think I've thanked you or DJC for your beautiful work. Here you go, from the bottom of my heart and with a big smile : THANK YOU!
Also learnt the layout in GT4 (100% completed). Learnt to be FAST in GTR Evo and by watching youtube videos of aliens on the Evo version, was amazed that you could go so quick in some places.
