So, How Do I Know What Lap Time is a Good Lap Time?

Hi all,

I am a newbie, bought the game two days ago and having a blast. All is well. However, since I have no reference points to compare lap times, I can't be sure if I am doing decent lap times. This is not about checking the leaderboard to see if I am in the top ten or anything, I just want to know if I am actually doing a decent job at all.

So, what makes you think "hmm I think this should be a good time" and what makes you say "I am sure this time can be improved a lot, I am doing something wrong."? I have been driving Nissan GT500 in Silverstone and generally running anywhere between 2:00 to 2:01 lap times. I have checked YouTube but none shows the lap times or some are definitely driving on stock car set ups so there is no reason to take those times as reference points.

Any answer is appreciated. Thanks a lot for sparing your time and have a good day

 

You could try doing a single player session with the AI difficulty set to 100%.
You may get disheartened though.

Apart from that, find a league that suits your tastes and learn from the experienced members.
I found from my 10 years of experience that leagues are the best way to enjoy rF.

 

Thanks for the answer. I am intimidated by the leagues to be honest. I'd probably ruin the fun for everyone at this state so I'd try to learn better first. Will try racing against the AI and see how it works out.

 

I think everyone is a bit intimidated the first time playing multiplayer.
The good thing with a league is you can join practice sessions with other members to gain confidence and get "training" before doing any races.
My first race I was shitting myself, didn't ruin any ones race and I was hooked. Still not very fast though, solid mid pack driver.

 

That's a good idea honestly. I am constantly checking the e-leagues section of the forums but am really scared but this practice session could be a really practical way to getting into the competition without causing any trouble to anybody

 

Get CrewChief spotter. Voice telling you EVERYTHING. Pit guy that will talk to you. Its already in the sim but this one will tell you when you do good/bad in sectors and tell you how much faster the others on the track compared to you and much much more. We have a delta mod but atm i dont think it works due to DX11 being updated.

Link: https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/crew-chief-v4-5-with-rfactor-2-support.54421/

Read instructions carefully. Its easy to miss a step. Its not complicated at all, but just a few steps where it can be easy to miss one. Oh it also mention you by name. If your name is Adam then its already in. Pretty cool huh, hehe.

 

I keep putting off trying Crew Chief, the way the new UI is taking longer than I hoped it may be time to try CC.

 

@BluesAdam It depends on how much rubber you've got. Myself on Silverstone after a bit over 1h of driving alone worth of rubber I'm clocking 1:51s with 100L and soft tires and mostly default setup which I find to be very driveable with minor tweaks to gear ratios and what else... hmm, the rest is stock I think with minor adjustments to ride heights (And I mean minor, few mm worth of change) and brake bias a bit more forward.

My advice is always the same no matter who I talk to, newbie, a pro struggling to find pace.. Just put max fuel and lap, don't force it, don't force your driving, just let it flow. If you know the basics of car dynamics, your brain will start to make those little steps further and further with each lap. For some it takes 20 laps for some 200. It doesn't matter how long will it take for you as long as it happens and you enjoy improving yourself.

 

Oh how true! Amazing how many times a lap that feels slow will be your new PB.
Remember, slow in...fast out and smooth inputs.
You don't see pro's late braking that much it causes the brakes to lock up when they're in the groove.
Actually it all becomes very robotic-like sometimes especially if you don't have a car examining your exhaust pipe.

 

@Ronnie you are right about not forcing it I guess. A clean mind can progress better. I can almost hear the corners talking to me, like telling me if I'm too fast or too slow; or the car's grip telling me if I should stop pressing the accelerator any further because it might spin. Listening to the road and the vehicle is definitely more helpful than just trying harder and harder.

I will definitely try your advice. Full fuel and do as many laps as I can. Right now my aim is to go below 2 minutes mark if possible. You people have been really helpful and thank you for all the advice.

Edit: Successfully installed Crew Chief with voice recognition. Will give it a try tomorrow. I'm pretty excited

 

multiplayer

 

Indeed. This is the reason i personally dont use tire apps or a lot of other apps that give me info i wouldnt know in reality because i want to feel it and adapt. Drive pure and base it all on the feelz.

You know what i fell in love with in rF2 when i bought it and tested it for the first time? It was Beligum '66 and Historic EVE Formula. It blew me away completely... It was so intense (still is!) where i had to work so much to stay on the road, and the awesome thing with those old cars is how much you have to learn to predict their reactions when going fast since they are very ALIVE, lol. Suspension swinging you left/rigth/up/down, torque twisting the car to go into the nearest wall, and getting into the flow of the car and follow its very active behavior is so satisfying. They are not cars with down force and stiff suspension but the complete opposite and on Belgium '66 (old Spa) the uneven tarmac plus the wild nature of the car give you a crazy workout and a lot of HOLY CRAP(!) moments. It was the most alive and rewarding sim experience ive had plus the AI that i saw for the first time when i did that drive made me forget if it was SP or if i was in MP haha.

Have fun testing CrewChief out! You'll love it.

 

As others said, depends on how rubbered in track is.. You could add 10ai.. accelerate time to rubber in track, then turn some, you will notice much more grip.

Join some leugues and just roll into their server.. most have players on doing practice at some point and/or just ask for tips have fun, test setups.. most are very friendly.

As others said, add some AI at 90% or 100%.. and try to match them for pace.. Id start with 85% or so and work your way up.. Build confidence.. Dont understimate setup changes either..

 

Lots of good advice here. Surely leagues are the place were you can easily find tutoring and learning. The first rule to live happily in a league is to be able to not crash into other, and learn how do be lapped, because it will happen regularly. So, if you can then end races withour crashing, you will start learning. At some point they will stop lapping you, then you will start ending ahead of people that crash their car, then you will start overtaking someone. Eventually you will end winning races.. but it's a long road to the top.

 

And don't forget the pressure, at the beginning of a multiplayer "carreer" is probably the worst thing, even if you are one of the fastest driver! I will never forget my beginning on GTR2: "hey, i'm 3rd and it's the last lap!" BOOM crashed, happened too many times
When you start to handle the pressure, you will start to have tons of fun, no matter the final position.

@BluesAdam about the 1st question, try to find a league with a public server and LiveRacers page linked, like this, so you can drive and compare your laps with other drivers.

 

Ahh the pressure........... simracing is a very tiring experience. You need to train to make long races just to be able to stay concentrated for so long. Making times, laps, not making driving mistake is only part of the equation. You can really feel when you lose focus, you start making errors and more errors you do , more you will make if you don't recover your focus, everything can upset you : a crash ahead of you, a faster driver approaching in your mirrors.. It's not suprising that race drivers are so in love with their passion.

 

Join a league and get your ass whooped by an alien and find out it's not a good laptime

 

Krusti beat me to it.
You can go to liveracers and see what times others are doing, without having to join a server if you dont want to.
Also, like many have said, the rubber factor is very important. Sometimes I put the realroad timescale up to 15x with 20ai and fast forward through a half hour and save the realroad. Now you have a "race rubber" track all to yourself to get the ultimate practice.
Sometimes, depending on the mod/track I find 100% to be too slow. Ive even downloaded a couple of mods that didnt have a snowballs chance in hell of keeping up with me at 120% skill and 0% limiter, and I am by no means the best driver out there.
Cheers, and have fun.
rocket

 

I had exactly the same reaction to old Spa (also in the Eve) when I logged on that first day back in 2011. It just thrilled me right down to my socks and I spent a lot of my time thereafter at Spa (before my PC melted down and I drifted away from all of it).

Kinda hoping for a repeat experience sometime later tonight when I get it all fired up again.

 

Quite true, this. Which is what makes endurance racing the challenge that it often is.

The longest single stint I ever ran was 5h 15m during a "1970 Watkins Glen 6 Hour" race over at HSC. I had just enough time to get up and out for one "personal pitstop" while refueling and putting tires on the car. And that only worked because I happened to have a bathroom about two feet from the edge of my projector screen.

My arms were just dead for three or four days after that one, and I think I lost about twelve pounds (in sweat) during the course of that race. When I finally leveraged myself up and out again after the checker there was a puddle about five inches deep where I had been sitting...and my butt was waterlogged for a fair while afterward too.

Just one example of how "immersive" sim-racing really CAN be at times. Sometimes for hours and hours...and hours....