Every time I try driving these its a spinfest. I know they are supposed to teach me to be a better driver, but if that involves beetling around in 2nd gear so I don't spin, I don't get it. I've read all about smooth application of power etc, but they swap ends so readily, I simply get sick of it and drive something more stable. I may be a back marker, but at least I have fun. Skippys aren't fun IMHO. Is it just me?
Did you select the National flavor in the Tuning menu? Regional is harder and I agree it need lot of practice or you spin like hell. better to start with National IMO.
Heel/toe, think weight shift, little corrections, you need to know how to dance with the car to keep it balanced at all times, drive like its meant to be driven. Learn this one and you'll be better with every single car since.
Weird enough: with this car you need to push the throttle when you feel you gonna spin, to get back on track. I read that several times here before I tried as I thought it was kind of ... illogical. But it's really true. Anyway I agree it's kind of hardcore to learn to drive, but when you're used to this car, you can drive any car!
Read the Technique chapter here http://rfactor.net/web/rf2/rf2dl/skip-barber-2000/ It is the key factor in order to have full control of the car.
My beloved father used to say "If you can drive a Fiat 500 (the older crap, rear engine, rwd, no gear sinchro) you can drive anything". So true. Same applies to skippy.
You need to start if very slow in these & really learn when their about to skid out etc,then they become very enjoyable,think we all make the mistake if trying to push to the max way to quickly etc
Skippy is one of my favorite cars. Love racing it at mills metro outer loopa and toban. Heck, I love racing it just about anywhere.
Learn to drive the skip and every other car slots into place, my own driving has improved since I started driving this car and actually "learning" to drive it properly. Forget what you once knew and start from scratch...if you have time!
thuGG, that video is most likely the best freely available video on how to drive a racing car properly on the internet. I've watched it maybe 5 times by now. Now that being said, i also purchased their 300 paged book called "Skip Barber: Going Faster" (yes, same name as the video) and having read that before watching this video i must say that this video is really just a condensed version of the book regarding the core driving technique (not to say that the book isn't worth getting because it really is). And as the many instructors (professional racing drivers in the book) say, racing is not easy and anyone telling you otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about. That being said, there are different levels of individually attained skill based on the amount of time/training they've directly dedicated towards learning these techniques. Since the limit of a cars ability is defined by the laws of physics, there is very little reason why anyone cannot make it towards 95% of the cars limit so long as they practice these techniques to the letter. So never loose hope. Confucius says.... Here's my lap in the national skip barber (probably after 2000+ laps of continual practice): I did exactly as the video specified to get to this point. 1) Find the LINE that offers the LARGEST RADIUS!!! (i focused on only this for a couple of days to get know exactly what this line was -> but you need to watch the video to get the full details on how and why for the next parts, etc). 2) Car control to carry more speed and exit with more speed. (This part is heavily weight shift concious which is affected by the many possible situations you put the car under by the combinations of steering, throttle, brake and shifting inputs. This part once more mastered will also affect part 1 of the line....but again, watch the video for more details on that progression) 3) Braking technique that doesn't disturb the first 2 points. (This part you leave for last because in of two main reasons. Firstly, braking techniques produce the least amount of time improvement vs exit speed onto a straight-away around a corner which gives you the greatest time improvements. Secondly, if your focused on braking as late as possible then you won't be concentrating on how to make the best entrance into a corner and that will ultimately affect your accuracy of the best line and speed going into and corner and then your exiting speed out of a corner. There is so much more i could write on those 3 points but it's pointless as this video is so much better... Again, Confucius says....
