When Matt said it was possible to save the fronts (old thread), I tried it out and that worked. However, it did slow me down about a second or so, I would basically listen for tire noise and stay below that. I'm always willing to learn and I'm sure I could practice a lot more. The issue I had was the more I pushed the more I would tend to enter a corner faster thus getting into exactly what I was trying not to do.
For me a sim is fun but also a tool so I'm 100% for improving my technique. I'm not trying to make it sound like I don't want to change my approach. It is just odd that I can drive the snot out of the F2 or FR35 while getting balanced tire wear and at the limit behavior feels very natural. All the detail about the tires are coming through the wheel. The GTs, for me anyway, require a more steady hand if I want to preserve the tires. If I drive them purely by feel I overdrive into almost every corner. I'll continue to work on slow in and fast out and see if I can get closer to my PBs.
That all said, thanks for the hard work. rF2 has come very far since driver 85 and it keeps getting better. I'm looking forward to the Speed 8. I know it has a long way to go but will be worth it.
Cheers.
Couple things:
I don't "stay below" the tire noise in the GT cars. If you really do that, to the point that you aren't hearing any tire noise, then you'll be under-driving them. Part of the art, if you will, is finding that sweet spot where you're using all of the tire's grip, which means you will be very (very) slightly sliding but not excessively so. Being able to tell what that point is, and being able to do it consistently, is a big part of the game. Keeping the car balanced and using all four tires as equally as possible is the rest of it.
Is that true to life? I can't tell you for certain but it seems right given my experience. Most people would immediately say, well you don't drive a real car by the sound of the tires, but in the cars I've raced you actually kind of do. Or at least the tire noise will tell you a lot.
The only car (not kart) I've ever driven in real life at full-on racing speed is the Skippy. I didn't do a lot of races but I managed some 1:01's at the old (bumpy) Lime Rock Park. That was a good two seconds off track record pace but still 3+ seconds faster than Milka Duno. (True story, she was in my race group one weekend.
)
The Skippy slides around a lot though, and the tires make a lot of noise because they're fully grooved. But to go quickly certainly involved playing within this "zone" I'm talking about, where you're sliding a bit but not too much. Too much and you're slow, not enough and you're slow. The difference with something like the Skip is that you're sliding a lot more than you would be in a GT car on slicks. So in the GT car that zone is going to be smaller and harder to stay within. That said, the Skippy will teach you all you need to know about balance.
But to get back to what you said, it isn't odd at all that you can "drive the snot" out of the F2 or FR3.5 and get more balanced wear. They're light and rear-engined, and they're designed from the ground up to have the snot driven out of them.
GT cars, even if they're purpose-built race cars, are based on something that's road-going, and the regulations usually require that the cars retain some of that DNA. This in effect compromises them as racecars when compared to something like a formula car or Le Mans Prototype.
I can't easily find you a reference for it but I've often read comments from F1 drivers about the difference between driving something like a GT car or a road car versus a formula car, and it's usually something along the lines of being able to "wring the neck" of the formula car. That's why they are, IMO, deservedly considered the pinnacle of the sport. They demand the most from the driver, and they're very hard work by comparison.
When I see people say the Camaro in rF2 is hard work I just think, well you're doing it wrong then. The car has such limited performance that it's relatively easy to get the most out of it. Relatively. Meaning relative to the FR3.5, which is really insane to draw the maximum from. I did a race in it this past weekend that was just 30 minutes at Mid-Ohio and I was sweating at the end. That usually doesn't happen.
Anyway, kind of rambling, but hopefully some of it's interesting.
It's just that when I read some of your comments my immediate reaction is, "well yes, that sounds right." For instance when you say, "The GT's, for me anyway, require a more steady hand...". It just sounds so much like things I've heard rl drivers say over the years.
