Anybody have any "crash course" advice on learning MT? Would be highly appreciated.
I can see it now... Jester across the line in ...WTF ...1st gear?
I am sure there is lots of good advice you will get from fellow S.N.A.I.L.s. I always suggest the following when trying to get to grips with a new tracks or trying to get used to driving without aids etc. I think it might help in the transition from Auto to Manual.
A few suggestions for anyone trying to ween your self off of the aids in the game (automatic transmission, tractions control, racing line etc). This is a modification of a technique that Sir Jackie Stewart uses to teach people to drive faster. Before you start this exercise you can always run a few laps with everything set as you would normally to get an idea of your lap time. If you do that you can compare it to your time at the end of this exercise. I hope that you will see a real improvement. But the key here is not absolute lap time but taking full control of the car yourself. With practice your lap times will improve.
First you need to choose a car and a track. I would suggest using a front engined rear wheel drive car for this. Nothing to powerful so something like a Honda S2000 works well. Second put some hard tires on it. So in S.N.A.I.L. we would run the S2000 with Sports Hard tires so for this exercise run it with Comfort Soft.
Now choose a track. It does not have to be one you are familiar with but choose one that has a good variety of turns. Make sure grip is set to real and tire wear is on.
This should take about 10 laps to get a good feel for the car and track and how it is to either manually shift or to run without aids. For the first 5 laps do the following
Lap one - use only first gear
Lap two - use first and second gear only
Lap three - use first, second and third only
Lap four - use first, second, third and fourth only
Lap five - use all gears necessary
It is very important during these 5 laps to resist the urge to change up to a higher gear than indicated. The goal is to learn the track and what gears you should be in for each corner. Chances are the first lap you will be able to take flat out. On some tracks you may need to brake a bit for a turn or two but most of the time you will be flat out. If you can try not to just bounce of the rev limiter. Try to modulate the throttle so that you are holding the RPM's just below the redline/cutout. This will help to teach you god throttle control. The key on this lap is to focus on following the racing line (the real one not the artificial one the game can show you).
After that first lap start using 2nd gear. At this point you should see a real drop in your lap time. You should also have a good idea of any turn that you will need to slow down for. This lap will probably have a few shifts for you to perform but the main thing will be to continue to follow the racing line and work on a few of the braking points.
Now at the start of lap 3 you can use 3rd gear. So at this point you should be expecting a similar drop in lap time. Well you may find out that does not happen. Why? Well suddenly you are traveling much faster into the slower turns which means you have to adjust your braking points, perform shifts and modulate the throttle more. You may be a bit faster and if so that is good. If you are slower it means you just need another lap in those gears. Once you are truly faster (hopefully at the start of lap 4) you can start using 4th.
Again at this point you may find that you go slower. This is a good indication that you are not paying attention to your braking. Make sure you brake early and get in the right gear for the corner. By this lap you should know which gear you should be in for every turn on the track. Once your lap time is faster start using all the gears.
Some tracks you may not even need 5th gear so from here simply run 5-6 laps. The goal is not to go off track, not hit any walls and not spin. If that means braking early then brake early. Gradually you will get more comfortable with the track, the car and the controls and slowly you should be able to improve your time.
After 10 laps take a break. Get up stretch your legs. When you come back swap to the normal tires S.N.A.I.L. would use on the car (Sports Hard for an S2000) and run few laps on the track. Hopefully you will feel more confident with the car, track and controls and be setting constantly faster laps than before the exercise.
I hope this helps and it is a technique I still use to learn a new track.
Care for a test run???
The tires should follow standard S.N.A.I.L. tire policy at the bottom of the first post.
