What should a rookie focus on?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Martin Herrman, May 26, 2020.

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What is most important for a rookies next step?

  1. Learn how to setup a car

    30.0%
  2. Find the optimal FOV setting

    10.0%
  3. Learn to drive faster cars

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  4. Learn to driver multiple tracks

    30.0%
  5. Finetune the settings of your steering wheel

    10.0%
  6. Other, ... (please explain)

    30.0%
  7. Use the space available on the track

    40.0%
  8. Evaluate your driving using replay

    50.0%
  9. Avoid muscle tension while driving

    10.0%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. Martin Herrman

    Martin Herrman Registered

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    I don't know why, but last month I got the idea to do something new: simracing!

    Played Microprose GP2 daily when I was a teenager, like gokarts for fun (once a year), spend some years on a motorcycle, and regularly watch Formula 1 races. That is mainly my background related to racing.

    So now I want to get a better driver in rfactor 2! But how? And how do I do so while still keeping fun in my sparse free time? (full job, 2 young kids)

    After installing the game I soon found out that a gamepad didn't work out for me, so I got myself a second hand Logitech G29. Read some forums and decided to follow-up some advise I found: don't use any driving aids, start with an easy car (Renault Clio) and try to be consistent.

    So in a couple of hours I went from crashing every lap to a quite stable 2:06-2:07 on the new Zandvoort circuit and I'm still improving. I'm using the ghost driver to find out where I an improve, this works quite well!

    Next steps are to fix my pedals and chair (has small wheels) to the floor, because currently I can't properly brake. I also ordered a better video card (GTX660 to GTX1060) to get from low to medium quality (running on Linux/Proton).

    As I mentioned, I believe I can still improve, my target is a consistent 2:00. But what comes up next?

    Should I worry about the car setup? Should I improve that FOV? Should I upgrade the car to e.g. a Porsche GT series? Should I learn a different track? Should I work on the settings of the Logitech G29 steering wheel? Should I .. ?

    Thanks for any advise!
     
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  2. McFlex

    McFlex Registered

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    1. Do whatever you like.
    2. Drive, drive, drive.
     
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  3. Martin Herrman

    Martin Herrman Registered

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    Haha, thanks! Last hour I also used replay to evaluate my driving. I noticed that I was not using all the space on the track, so I focussed on that. Next, I noticed that I had too much tension in my muscles, which is really not required! So.. I'm now in the 2:05 range :)
     
  4. nonamenow

    nonamenow Registered

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    Good question. One I wished I had of asked all those years ago. I can only speak from my own experiences. I did the usual rookie thing and immediately jumped in F1, V8 Supercars, GT3's etc. I only ever managed to be mid pack at best (but usually further down) even after a number of years. A few years ago I switched to cars like the Skip Barber and historic open wheelers. Huge improvement on my driving. Then about a year ago I decided I would learn how to use my brakes correctly and now I can battle it out for podiums from time to time. I am good at knowing what the car isn't doing and can adjust the setup to suit. As I stated this is just how things went for me and no doubt you will get better advice from better drivers than I.
     
  5. davehenrie

    davehenrie Registered

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    learn how to get the tires up to temp. It's not the same for every type of car. But getting the tires in their window allows you to focus on the rest of the setup. Most stock rF2 setups tend to give up after about 8 to 10 laps. So plan on saving your tires with more rear pressure and softer rear springs.
     
  6. MarcG

    MarcG Registered

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    Just drive, pick a car and a track and do as many laps as you can, ignore setups (except for adding fuel).

    The first thing is to learn the track, learn braking points, turn in points, apexes and exiting a corner. When you've done X amount of laps then turn your attention to the car, how it drives, what happens with understeer, what happens with oversteer, how the tires react, when they're at working temp how do they compare to cold etc

    When you're satisfied you've learnt enough with both those elements, then move on setups and/or the Same track with a different car.

    Becoming a master of racing takes time, to truly master one car on one track will take hundreds of laps, don't rush it, learn the flow and it will come to you. :)
     
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  7. David O'Reilly

    David O'Reilly Registered

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    Stick with a basic slower car with little or no aero that responds well to leading/trailing throttle. (skippy).
    Slower car gives more time to understand and manipulate the car at the critical moments of transition.
    I don't favour Zandvoort for this excercise as the banking allows weird (well atypical) lines.
    One session at a time work on a focus area (like you I always need to force myself to use full width of road).

    Eg: -Making the track wider
    -Braking (not just points but modulation). Slight trail braking brings the nose in to apex.
    -where to apex (just 1 metre earlier/later makes a massive difference. Start with late apex and move it 1 foot earlier lap by lap.
    -Exit speed, what line works best especially onto fast sections.
    Watch the Skip Barber video "Going Faster" in full at least 3 times.
    -Get on a server with a fast driver and compare the replay. "Replay Office" is brilliant as it over-lays your laps.
     
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  8. Comante

    Comante Registered

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    I would say: try to understand if you are a tintop guy or a open wheeler one.
    In either scenario find a low powered low aero car that you find fun and challenging to drive.
    For oper wheeler Skip Barber and LimeRock Park are all a school need to teach everything you need to know... and in fact is what the real driving school do there. The Skippy is a harsh teacher, and is made to teach a great lesson: weight transfer.
    If you like open wheeler but think the Skippy is too frustrating (it is at the beginning) old F3 cars like Eve and Spark are a lot of fun, especially if you like to oversteer your way around a track. Pretty wooden tires, not much problem of overheating them.
    Select a track that is not too long for your learning, more time you try the same turn again and again, faster you can try all the approaches.
    There is even the karting option: a variety of short track, and not much to tweak cars, so you can focus on learning and make races, all you need is 20 minutes.
    Don't get too frustrated, do what you enjoy, you can dumb down the AI to race with them, it may take longer, but you will still learn, the most important thing to finish and win races is to not make mistakes, pure speed is important only when you are surrounded by talented guys that seldom make any error.
     
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  9. mantasisg

    mantasisg Registered

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    I would say learn how to setup a car basics. Lowest tire pressures almost certainly will work best in rf2 for pace. Don't take too much fuel. Choose good gears. Look at tire app to learn if tire is not out of camber when in turns. Use optimum brake pressures for you not to have too much lock ups. Learn about grip balance between front and rear, in short most simple ways to shift more grip: softening anti roll bar, softening springs, having lower tire pressures, reducing ride height can reduce roll stiffness and shift more load on tires (can mess up the geometry and aero though). Aero for high speed grip and grip balance, but adds drag, generally it is best to have slight understeer at high speed, watch out for it shifting into oversteer. Brake bias affects load distribution, more load means more grip, but you also want not to lock. Differential locking should add stability, but also can make harder to rotate the car and turn the car. More caster will give more steering self aligning and will increase front camber when steering. Faster steering (more wheel turning degrees per steering wheel turning degree) will also be less precise and less comfortable but more "automatic", itiwill make steering heavier and also add more feel of self aligning force. I personally don't like my steering too heavy and too "automatic".
     
    Last edited: May 27, 2020
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