INTRODUCTION
This is a little bit late but in response to the racecraft tutorial people have been talking about.
I plan on making short videos of demonstration of racecraft for the combos each week. These demonstration passes will mostly be passes that require some thought into it more than just overwhelming your opponent with sheer speed from corner exit to corner entry such as the dominating skills a D1 driver would have over a D8 driver.
I do hope I can generate these posts consistently each week but that depends on whether I see a great pass done and also the time I am able to spend on making these posts, but I do plan on doing at least 1 or 2 per new combo each week if possible. It will get more organized as it goes on.
The format of the video will be a simple replay of the pass such as the one you will see below.
PLEASE READ THE TEXT BEFORE WATCHING THE VIDEO in order to get the full picture of the thought process leading up to the pass.
The objective of these posts is to help some folks see the way I analyze the combo, the opponent and hopefully inspire them to do the same in future combos to promote better wheel to wheel and side by side action as opposed to clicking super fast laps. Meaning driving techniques to go faster will not be much discussed here. (
we have the yellow room for that I believe)
NOW LET'S GET TO THE MAIN COURSE
3000GT Grand Valley Raceway Combo
Analysis:
I haven't done much laps prior to the race below but I already saw that it will be a combo that promotes tight, packed driving due to the lack of acceleration power in the car, the rather grippy Sports Medium tires in contrast to the power of the car, the car being slightly understeery and the lengthy straights. That also means that passing will be difficult as having more skill will only give you less than half a second advantage.
The result would be it's hard to get alongside into the braking zone or you will need a late lunge into an early apex only to be able to get alongside coming out of the corner which is very dangerous to begin with.
The first half of the video demonstrates how equal the cars are and time lost is time lost as demonstrated in the 2nd gear hairpin into the first tunnel when I tried to late apex but ended up losing a bit more time.
hooker4 did a great job withstanding the pressure as we have been nose to tail for a lap or 2 plus a little bit of fender rubbing.
The Move:
As we approached the final tunnel for the last time, in order to get into a position to attack I need to be alongside going into a corner, AND on the right(correct) side. Facing a determined hooker4 I feinted to the inside and showed my nose right before we start braking.
Of course there is no way I can outbrake hooker, the intent of showing my nose and staying on the inside line was to break his concentration at the moment he needed to hit the brakes and also to make it look like I am going to make a desperate move.
This is what they call forcing an error out of your opponent.
In reality, I just drove as if he wasn't there, focusing on making the apex and not overshoot it. That way if hooker4 didn't outbrake himself and decides to cut back into the apex I won't be squished because he is still fully ahead of me. But the tactic worked or he misjudged the speed himself (would be nice if you could clarify and tell us from your point of view on this @
hooker4 ) I was able to get alongside him going into the next corner.
I actually made a slight mistake and ran a little bit wide as you will see on the tight left hander, but the key point here is staying alongside hooker4 and go straight for the apex curb. that way you have the initiative and most of the time able to get on the throttle slightly earlier that the car on the outside line.
Finally going into the final corner, as it is a fairly fast corner, the car on the outside line will definitely scrub a bit more speed trying to hold his line and because his turn in point is dictated by the turn in point of the car on the inside line, even thought the winning margin isn't huge but it is
JOB DONE.
If you were able to bear with that long post, congratulations.
Now enjoy the motion pictures as it unfolds.
Feedbacks are welcomed, hope at least some of you will find this helpful. I will try and make it shorter next time.
