"Daily" Race Discussion [Archive]

[fisheye]

I’ll be on in about 1 hr

I had to bail out on the 3rd race, arthritis locked up my hands for the rest of the day.

 

[Groundfish]

Np

 

[BigSarj]

Today was bittersweet in Race C. I got a win. I was up fifteen seconds over the rest of the field for a lap or two but I almost pulled an Aesop and it got wittled down to eleven seconds.

It should have been two wins but I generally did okay. That was my only podium. I have no idea what to do regarding tire management so the sixth lap on softs gets really sketchy. I lost quite a few positions here and there but it was fun and I even managed to get some DR.

 

[Groundfish]

I secured a victory on the A race. Competition is tough, it’s cutthroat. I’ll be racing a while on A then B.

 

[sturk0167]

Yet another reason to allow custom liveries at race A:
I was leading race A, and got blasted into the wall by a red car. As soon as I got back on the track, I hammered the next red car that pulled alongside me. Wrong guy.
I felt like such a jerk, and quit the race. Sorry, @Groundfish. I hope you won.

 

[KosmoKazi]

Race B in Gr4 at Seaside is it’s usual cage match, but d— it, if it isn’t fun as anything. Every time. Such a fantastic race track. So fun race after race. What seems impossible ends up being an opportunity and it’s just so rewarding to pass people there in addition to taking on the CoD lap after lap. (Which has got the better of me twice so far this week, more than usual, but I guess I’m pressing harder in the MEGA competitive lobbies in the low A / high B ranks.) and with the penalties turned way down, close quarters are the norm... so it’s elbows out in a big way. But the dirty guys seem to be being taken care of my the pack, so it’s actually really good racing most times. I prefer this penalty environment at A rating rooms and above... some contact is inevitable and it’s more fun to push your nose in there... TRY to keep it clean as can be, and enjoy the hard racing.

oh, and if you shove your nose in on me at the kink, such that I have to let you by to avoid going off, even if you didn’t have my b-Piller, no apologies for what happens at the hard right hander that comes next. That really gets me fired up, when people think that’s racing.

 

[Stilva]

I had a much better time racing this evening. Actual clean racing aside from the usual door banging which is fine. Accidentally punted a car after they were trying to avoid an accident in front of them in the esses at Dragon Trail and I got a penalty. I should have swerved to miss them cutting back into the track, but I thought they had enough control to keep it straight and recover. Nope, right into the back of them. I apologized post-race and they were cool with it.

Clean racing and some good 1v1 battles for the next races I did, well for me at least. I just let all the crazies I let past me take each other out and was rewarded with consecutive 6th place finishes from a P9 and P7 start. Nothing spectacular, but fantastic for me after yesterday’s debacle. I’m hoping next week’s Race C is good so I can do that one, I seem to do better in the longer races.

 

[KosmoKazi]

Actually on that topic, anyone have any idea why i shed SO MUCH time through the esses? Same thing happens tome at Maggiorie and to a lesser extent, Yamagiwa. At Seaside i get eaten alive on the left hand entry, I simply CANNOT chuck it in at the same speed my peers can. Even then, as I swerve right then left again I bleed time, maybe 2 to 3 tenths by the end of the sequence even if full throttle.

I’ve found a little later turn in, from as far right as possible, just a glide off of the throttle and MAYBE a slight stab of brakes. Downshift to 111mph, hug that wide curb on entry left, then make sure you can get to WOT early on the apex for a strong run up... especially in a race— where the tow uphill is critical. I am grabbing yards at a time on people in the TT that way, and then able to out brake them at the hard hairpin at the coast.

 

[O604]

This is neat. From the BBC Archives, the first race at Goodwood.

 

[Groundfish]

Yet another reason to allow custom liveries at race A:
I was leading race A, and got blasted into the wall by a red car. As soon as I got back on the track, I hammered the next red car that pulled alongside me. Wrong guy.
I felt like such a jerk, and quit the race. Sorry, @Groundfish. I hope you won.

Uh. :::raises hand::: I caused the issue at the chicane.
My bad.
My bad.
I’ll share it.
My bad. I saw the red car trying to perpetrate evil. Therefore I attempted to eviscerate him from second place however, somehow he managed to hit you as he ghosted into the chicane wall.
My ego wrote a check his body didn’t cash.

 

[MidnightRun85]

Dragon Trail. I can't get my Q time under 1:46 which is killing my Q positions. I've watched loads of track guides and tried all the described braking and turning points but constantly find myself running deep into the hairpin at the bottom of the hill and the final hairpin. Can't quite work out why, when I'm nailing the braking points in all the track guides and on the ghost cars...

Any hints or tips from my lap below would be much appreciated!

 

[baygencos]

I don't like to race with this penalty system but do qt anyways.

1:35.999 at Race A.
I believe i can do 1:35.4xx but can never pass the chicane right and lose half a second.

I watched their replays and all of the top ten qt players abuse the track limits on to the grass at chicane. If i do it i get the penalty!

 

[whiteusagi]

Dragon Trail. I can't get my Q time under 1:46 which is killing my Q positions. I've watched loads of track guides and tried all the described braking and turning points but constantly find myself running deep into the hairpin at the bottom of the hill and the final hairpin. Can't quite work out why, when I'm nailing the braking points in all the track guides and on the ghost cars...

Any hints or tips from my lap below would be much appreciated!

I find that there is always some very slight but non-insignificant delay in replay mode between the replay and the displayed input, particularly with the brake inputs. As such, I think a game capture would more accurately display exactly what you were doing vs. how the car is behaving. That said, from what I could see:
-You can take more speed into the first chicane
-You can use more road on the right side of the road before the entry into the esses in sector 2, thus helping you carry more speed
-Going into the hairpin at the bottom of the hill, it looks like you’re heavy on the brakes, then completely off the brakes as you turn in, significantly reducing weight on the front of the car when it needs it to turn
-Braking (even slightly) for the chicane-of-death is drastically killing your exit speed (if I remember correctly, you should be able to fully exit the chicane at about 210km/h or so). If you aren’t comfortable going flat out then lift, but I can’t recommend braking.

 

[MidnightRun85]

I find that there is always some very slight but non-insignificant delay in replay mode between the replay and the displayed input, particularly with the brake inputs. As such, I think a game capture would more accurately display exactly what you were doing vs. how the car is behaving. That said, from what I could see:
-You can take more speed into the first chicane
-You can use more road on the right side of the road before the entry into the esses in sector 2, thus helping you carry more speed
-Going into the hairpin at the bottom of the hill, it looks like you’re heavy on the brakes, then completely off the brakes as you turn in, significantly reducing weight on the front of the car when it needs it to turn
-Braking (even slightly) for the chicane-of-death is drastically killing your exit speed (if I remember correctly, you should be able to fully exit the chicane at about 210km/h or so). If you aren’t comfortable going flat out then lift, but I can’t recommend braking.

Thanks for the tips!
I find it really heard to carry much more speed into the first chicane, often running over the kerbs heavily and then wide on the exit, but I'll work on this.
I'll try focus on keeping the car wider into the start of the esses. I know this is an area where I'm not very fast.
Balancing throttle/brake is tough on controller. I'll try get more practice with partial throttle/brake (I use the sticks for throttle/brake and steering, so it's a matter of thumb control!).
CoD is my nemesis. I think I'm getting the turning point wrong, which is why I'm dabbing the brakes. I was just lifting but I found I kept running into the wall on the right and ruining my laps much worse than a touch on the brakes. I resorted to a dab on the brakes to settle the car through the chicane, but maybe just need more practice on entry point.
Thanks again!

 

[Redneckchef]

I don't like to race with this penalty system but do qt anyways.

1:35.999 at Race A.
I believe i can do 1:35.4xx but can never pass the chicane right and lose half a second.

I watched their replays and all of the top ten qt players abuse the track limits on to the grass at chicane. If i do it i get the penalty!

I've never seen a penalty for running wide like that at exit on the final chicane, but I also haven't figured out how to keep my speed up while doing that wide line either.

It pays to notice that you couldn't run a next lap after that move. Good for qualifying, but garbage for racing. I'll stick to racing.

 

[Barra333]

I haven't watched any top 10's and hadn't even thought to go off track for time. I'll have to check them out tonight.
Got my time down to a 36.8,but don't know that I'll do many more races this week. It is next to impossible to make a clean pass if the lead car hugs the inside on the two long straights. I lost a win to a bump pass last night and gained a win due to door-door contact which made me feel dirty on replay. I'll try to remember to upload it later to see if you guys think it was harsh but fair or I crossed a line.

 

[BlimeyCable]

CoD is my nemesis. I think I'm getting the turning point wrong, which is why I'm dabbing the brakes. I was just lifting but I found I kept running into the wall on the right and ruining my laps much worse than a touch on the brakes. I resorted to a dab on the brakes to settle the car through the chicane, but maybe just need more practice on entry point.

There are some kerbs on the right hand side, I use the start of the kerbs as my turn in point. I make a small lift and aim to scrape the wall on the left. The car will understeer away from the wall. This took a bit of pactice.

Each time DTS comes up in the dailies I make small improvements. This week in practice, I've made it through the COD without a lift. The car seems more stable with a lift; I didn't improve my time when I took it flat. I've worked on making the lift as small as possible.

 

[GT5Power]

Next week's dailies:

Race A: N200 @ Catalunya | 3 laps | SH
Race B: Gr.4 @ Sardegna C II | 7 laps | RH
Race C: Gr.3 @ Tokyo East Outer Loop | 10 laps | RS/RM | Tyres x9 | Fuel x2

 

[pennanton]

And this is perfectly fine and reasonable. Everyone has different motivation, technique and approach. I can reliably do an entire race with no TCS without losing the car BUT I am more vulnerable to idiots.

I was just noting that this is a combo where there is a very obvious down side to running TCS.

If you're talking about Gr2 its more about understanding how the cars produce their power. They're highly strung 4cyl with like 3bar boost. You've got to keep the revs going if you want good throttle response. For example you can get away with 2nd gear with most group 3s if you want traction out of hairpins. Gr2 gives you nothing until its too late, in this case its sometimes better to wring some revs out by dropping down to first. I've noticed some top guys using a similar technique using the Supra Gr3 which has a similar sort of problem to the Gr2's getting them off the line. That is drop it down to 1st -> quick upshift to 2nd once it touches redline then there's instant grip and heaps of time can be made up.

 

[MidnightRun85]

There are some kerbs on the right hand side, I use the start of the kerbs as my turn in point. I make a small lift and aim to scrape the wall on the left. The car will understeer away from the wall. This took a bit of pactice.

Each time DTS comes up in the dailies I make small improvements. This week in practice, I've made it through the COD without a lift. The car seems more stable with a lift; I didn't improve my time when I took it flat. I've worked on making the lift as small as possible.

I think I'm running too far along the kerbs and that's why I'm needing to dab the brakes...

 

[D_Dragline]

If you're talking about Gr2 its more about understanding how the cars produce their power. They're highly strung 4cyl with like 3bar boost. You've got to keep the revs going if you want good throttle response. For example you can get away with 2nd gear with most group 3s if you want traction out of hairpins. Gr2 gives you nothing until its too late, in this case its sometimes better to wring some revs out by dropping down to first. I've noticed some top guys using a similar technique using the Supra Gr3 which has a similar sort of problem to the Gr2's getting them off the line. That is drop it down to 1st -> quick upshift to 2nd once it touches redline then there's instant grip and heaps of time can be made up.

So I’m intrigued.

In the double left hander at the top of the hill, I’m using throttle control in 3rd through the first turn and then full noise once I know I can hit the apex of the second turn. When I run TCS through this sector I find that full throttle induces some wheel spin and the TCS keeps cutting power.

Are you saying that briefly picking up 2nd with TCS will avoid the TCS cutting in?

 

[pennanton]

I

So I’m intrigued.

In the double left hander at the top of the hill, I’m using throttle control in 3rd through the first turn and then full noise once I know I can hit the apex of the second turn. When I run TCS through this sector I find that full throttle induces some wheel spin and the TCS keeps cutting power.

Are you saying that briefly picking up 2nd with TCS will avoid the TCS cutting in?

You're going to have to jog my memory on which corner you mean. I'm thinking turn 3-4 at the start of the lap? I was more so thinking sector 3 going through that last complex because I can't really think of anywhere else loss of traction would be a problem.

What I would really say is don't use TCS period. TCS cuts power at any sign of slip, let alone wheelspin. And believe it or not some slip is good.

 

[KosmoKazi]

If you're talking about Gr2 its more about understanding how the cars produce their power. They're highly strung 4cyl with like 3bar boost. You've got to keep the revs going if you want good throttle response. For example you can get away with 2nd gear with most group 3s if you want traction out of hairpins. Gr2 gives you nothing until its too late, in this case its sometimes better to wring some revs out by dropping down to first. I've noticed some top guys using a similar technique using the Supra Gr3 which has a similar sort of problem to the Gr2's getting them off the line. That is drop it down to 1st -> quick upshift to 2nd once it touches redline then there's instant grip and heaps of time can be made up.

Good info, good share. Yes, as a highly-boosted turbo engine, with big turbo wheels, it is critical to keep them spinning. I've noticed the game does a nice job modeling turbocharger performance, in these and other cars with significant boosting: there is definite lag and if you keep them pressurized on corners, with some significant trailing throttle in turns, you will have much more torque available on exit, and with the game prioritizing corner exit for overall pace, this is critical. You at least need to learn to bring the throttle on a little earlier on apexes than you might for a naturally aspirated car, to get the boost and power you want in time for a faster exit.

I was actually pretty impressed that the game gets this right... it's noticeable for many of the turbocharged cars, and especially the SF and Gr.2 cars that share the heavily-boosted big 4-cylinders, which is technically accurate in the physics sense. You absolutely have to feed them air, like a tender throwing coal into the steam engine.

And I think TCS off is really critical because the clipping of the throttle input just takes all the back pressure off the turbo compressor... meaning you are really shorting yourself boost when you need it building up.

(EDIT: this is also why I think it helps to hold the throttle down in the Auto-Drive portion of the race, before the start... the turbo is already spooled up the moment the control is turned over to the driver, and the engine is providing full power without delay...)

All that said... I stink at those cars!

 

[BEBOP_Bill]

Completely forgot Goodwood was in this weeks race sets. I love any race at this track and missed out on most of the week. Was able to get on track Yesterday, it was great fun. I'm always oddly quick at this track, going to get as many races in as I can over the next two days. See you all one track. Keep on keeping on.

 

[D_Dragline]

I


You're going to have to jog my memory on which corner you mean. I'm thinking turn 3-4 at the start of the lap? I was more so thinking sector 3 going through that last complex because I can't really think of anywhere else loss of traction would be a problem.

What I would really say is don't use TCS period. TCS cuts power at any sign of slip, let alone wheelspin. And believe it or not some slip is good.

Yes, those are the turns I’m talking about.

I absolutely agree with you on TCS. That was the original point I was making. It is very obviously impeding people’s speed at this combo.

I have not been using it, even though it might seem like I am because I am so much slower than you.

 

[barak181]

Dragon Trail. I can't get my Q time under 1:46 which is killing my Q positions. I've watched loads of track guides and tried all the described braking and turning points but constantly find myself running deep into the hairpin at the bottom of the hill and the final hairpin. Can't quite work out why, when I'm nailing the braking points in all the track guides and on the ghost cars...

Any hints or tips from my lap below would be much appreciated!

You're probably about a half-second faster than me right now but I've watched enough replays on this combo to feel like I have a pretty good eye.

T5 (right hander before the uphill climb to the esses) trail brake a bit more to help rotate the car quicker, which will allow you to get on the throttle sooner. That's probably 1-2 tenths right there.

COD - even that little tap on the brake is costing you. Also, if you can get through without a complete lift off the throttle, it'll help your exit speed. Again, likely another 1-2 tenths by the time you make it to the final corner.

You can probably get on the throttle a hair earlier on the final corner. I don't drive the Viper much so I'm not sure how much understeer that creates but you got a fair amount of track and curb on the exit to still use.

 

[Groundfish]

Re the gr2, and tcs, one advantage of tcs is (goes for gr3 too) you stay in the optimal gear for acceleration not lugging a tall gear..
If you use no tcs but shift up and lug the engine you lose acceleration. Then again tcs will ruin your times if you don’t modulate the throttle, and hold it flat.
If you turn on tcs and run it then save the replay it will show you where your mistakes are at least, then you could work on those areas.
Gr2 has great acceleration. In terms of driving it you wanna take advantage of that by slowing enough to get the car rotated to max so you can then get full throttle as early as possible on exit.
It’s not the same as like a street car where usually you wanna carry speed through and outta turns in a bigger arc because they lack racecar acceleration.
Really on gr2 you wanna get on throttle but only half throttle very very early-this means the engines making good power when you have enough room on the traction circle to accelerate.
In other words I’m talking about taking slow turns more in a v as opposed to a u.
These downforce cars decelerate tremendously fast off throttle too, and like throttle in med speed turns, keeping speed up keeps the car rotating better because downforce.
Last time I ran them they didn’t like dirty air.
If you are getting slowed a LOT with tcs on it’s showing you where your biggest mistakes are imo.
Again re turbo lag, it’s that very early half throttle like your foot is resting on a bubble, and you can hear the engine right when it’s at that instant of maximum power right when you need acceleration.
Overall the idea to me in gr2 is cover minimum distance and take advantage of the power over spending more time cornering covering greater distance at partial throttle. Gotta maximize time at full throttle.
It’s not tcs impeding people, it’s their driving errors.

@MidnightRun85

Ok I only needed to watch your first sector to see a huge problem.
See how coming into turn one you brake
Get on throttle then brake again and then back on throttle all before the first apex? You do the same “double throttle double brake” move turn 4 (the hard right at end of sector 1)
You lose tons of time doing that. It’s not the optimal way to go about it.
Ideally you wanna trail brake turn one then have only one transition from brake to throttle near the apex.
By the same token you wanna not ever “double steer”. entering a turn to apex.
Ideally it’s one flowing motion with steering and trailing off brake to apex then one transition off brake onto throttle smoothly to full and exit.
Just as you don’t wanna double brake coming in you never never wanna lift exiting.
If you hit Seaside correctly it’s pretty much full throttle instantly at every key apex.
On the COD you really wanna hold the steering in a set arc from well before the entry curb on the right.
You wanna use that curb, a slight lift before you come off that curb will turn the car in to the left.
Once it turns in you punch it.
I hope these ideas help you. Fwiw I ran the Ferrari pretty easily at 45.1 while consuming libations last night.
You gotta get rid of the frenetic back and forth brake to throttle double brake blip weirdness pre apex.
It’s waaaaay easier to smoothly flow in and you’ll get better times.
That first sector is very difficult. It’s important entering turn one and getting enough tight to apex on the left to exit flat all the way to turn 4.
Good luck

 

[pennanton]

Yes, those are the turns I’m talking about.

I absolutely agree with you on TCS. That was the original point I was making. It is very obviously impeding people’s speed at this combo.

I have not been using it, even though it might seem like I am because I am so much slower than you.

Ah yeah, TCS is useless through there, there's no real loss of grip. I take the whole thing in 3rd, no wheel spin anywhere. I was in the NSX so I needed to shift down late for stability, so I'm not entirely familiar with how the FR cars would go.

tbh its hard to tell if anyone is using TCS. Latency usually disguises when any ones rear kicks out when they're not using TCS.

Also also, I'm not particularly quick. For some advice, your initial Q time wasn't far off mine which I thought mine was decent until I put proper effort to bring it down. So fundamentally your lap was pretty good. Following you in the race though, I would point out you just need to focus on consistency, I noticed your lines one lap were different to another. In this sort of game there's no point in getting say a hypothetical 1.32 in Q, if your race laps are all over the place. If your best is 1.33 you'll fare better than the 1.32 guy if you hit a 1.33 every lap. I worked out I'm not actually that fast but if I kept consistent and especially played strategy well in FIA I could punch above my weight comfortably.

Re the gr2, and tcs, one advantage of tcs is (goes for gr3 too) you stay in the optimal gear for acceleration not lugging a tall gear..
If you use no tcs but shift up and lug the engine you lose acceleration. Then again tcs will ruin your times if you don’t modulate the throttle, and hold it flat.
If you turn on tcs and run it then save the replay it will show you where your mistakes are at least, then you could work on those areas.
Gr2 has great acceleration. In terms of driving it you wanna take advantage of that by slowing enough to get the car rotated to max so you can then get full throttle as early as possible on exit.
It’s not the same as like a street car where usually you wanna carry speed through and outta turns in a bigger arc because they lack racecar acceleration.
Really on gr2 you wanna get on throttle but only half throttle very very early-this means the engines making good power when you have enough room on the traction circle to accelerate.
In other words I’m talking about taking slow turns more in a v as opposed to a u.
These downforce cars decelerate tremendously fast off throttle too, and like throttle in med speed turns, keeping speed up keeps the car rotating better because downforce.
Last time I ran them they didn’t like dirty air.
If you are getting slowed a LOT with tcs on it’s showing you where your biggest mistakes are imo.
Again re turbo lag, it’s that very early half throttle like your foot is resting on a bubble, and you can hear the engine right when it’s at that instant of maximum power right when you need acceleration.
Overall the idea to me in gr2 is cover minimum distance and take advantage of the power over spending more time cornering covering greater distance at partial throttle. Gotta maximize time at full throttle.
It’s not tcs impeding people, it’s their driving errors.

Good advice, especially the comment about taking turns as a v (or squaring off a corner as they say is supposedly why Lewis is as good as he is). I will say though I do think the way this game simulates wheel spin is a bit iffy compared to other sims though. I think its a bit inconsistent and it leaves me using less throttle because I have no confidence where the limit is compared to other sims. Very binary.

 

[D_Dragline]

Ah yeah, TCS is useless through there, there's no real loss of grip. I take the whole thing in 3rd, no wheel spin anywhere. I was in the NSX so I needed to shift down late for stability, so I'm not entirely familiar with how the FR cars would go.

tbh its hard to tell if anyone is using TCS. Latency usually disguises when any ones rear kicks out when they're not using TCS.

Also also, I'm not particularly quick. For some advice, your initial Q time wasn't far off mine which I thought mine was decent until I put proper effort to bring it down. So fundamentally your lap was pretty good. Following you in the race though, I would point out you just need to focus on consistency, I noticed your lines one lap were different to another. In this sort of game there's no point in getting say a hypothetical 1.32 in Q, if your race laps are all over the place. If your best is 1.33 you'll fare better than the 1.32 guy if you hit a 1.33 every lap. I worked out I'm not actually that fast but if I kept consistent and especially played strategy well in FIA I could punch above my weight comfortably.

This is undoubtedly my weakness in the Group 2 cars. My best is competitive with peers, but I can’t churn 10 consistent laps. I’m particularly bad through BBB and the final sector.

 

[MidnightRun85]

You're probably about a half-second faster than me right now but I've watched enough replays on this combo to feel like I have a pretty good eye.

T5 (right hander before the uphill climb to the esses) trail brake a bit more to help rotate the car quicker, which will allow you to get on the throttle sooner. That's probably 1-2 tenths right there.

COD - even that little tap on the brake is costing you. Also, if you can get through without a complete lift off the throttle, it'll help your exit speed. Again, likely another 1-2 tenths by the time you make it to the final corner.

You can probably get on the throttle a hair earlier on the final corner. I don't drive the Viper much so I'm not sure how much understeer that creates but you got a fair amount of track and curb on the exit to still use.

Thanks, I'll try work on trail braking. Definitely something I'm not great at on the controller! And COD is something I'm going to run over and over to try perfect my line!

What car are you using that's giving you your best times so far?

Ok I only needed to watch your first sector to see a huge problem.
See how coming into turn one you brake
Get on throttle then brake again and then back on throttle all before the first apex? You do the same “double throttle double brake” move turn 4 (the hard right at end of sector 1)
You lose tons of time doing that. It’s not the optimal way to go about it.
Ideally you wanna trail brake turn one then have only one transition from brake to throttle near the apex.
By the same token you wanna not ever “double steer”. entering a turn to apex.
Ideally it’s one flowing motion with steering and trailing off brake to apex then one transition off brake onto throttle smoothly to full and exit.
Just as you don’t wanna double brake coming in you never never wanna lift exiting.
If you hit Seaside correctly it’s pretty much full throttle instantly at every key apex.
On the COD you really wanna hold the steering in a set arc from well before the entry curb on the right.
You wanna use that curb, a slight lift before you come off that curb will turn the car in to the left.
Once it turns in you punch it.
I hope these ideas help you. Fwiw I ran the Ferrari pretty easily at 45.1 while consuming libations last night.
You gotta get rid of the frenetic back and forth brake to throttle double brake blip weirdness pre apex.
It’s waaaaay easier to smoothly flow in and you’ll get better times.
That first sector is very difficult. It’s important entering turn one and getting enough tight to apex on the left to exit flat all the way to turn 4.
Good luck

You're right, I'm not great at being smooth on brake/throttle in this game. I think it might be my controller setup, so I'm going to look at that and see if I can work out a way to be smoother. I think a lot of the time I double-throttle on corner exit is panicking and to avoid running too wide, or throttle in between braking is to correct my turn in being too early for the apex. I'll have another attempt tonight and see how much time I can shave off by focusing on these aspects of my driving style, and trying to nail those brake/turn points.

EDIT: having another look, played at half speed, I notice the throttle blips on down changes - is that normal? I'm definitely not blipping the throttle on down shifts...

Thanks for the advice guys!