Daily Races top 10 times out of reach

[Matt Tandy]

Hello,

This is my first post so please be kind. I am really struggling to get anywhere near the top ten times on any of the daily races. On today's Nurburgring (a track that I really enjoy/know) I cant even get within 3 seconds of the top times. I am using the same car and as settings are locked we must be running the same setup.

I have posted my video below of my fastest lap and that is when I do a perfect lap. I normally run in the 2min 00 mark. I don't expect to be able to match the top 10 times but surely with the same car and setup I should be able to get within 1 second.

From watching my video can you see anywhere I am losing all this time?



Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to watch my lap and comment.

Thanks

Matt

 

[jimbo197]

Yes there is lots of time to be gained. A lot of your opening corners you seem to execute as independent turns then straighten out, not using all the track, not flowing them together and not carrying as much speed as you can. Turn assists off to help you getting a better feel for speed of car, but it will slow you down to begin with. Turn on cone markers and the blue pins aid (no shame in doing so) and look in to the distance which will help you start thinking beyond the corner you are currently in and think about how you're going to hook it up with the next. Good luck.

 

[ststav01]

Are you using a wheel or controller?

 

[danthespam]

The ghost is the most useful weapon when lapping the track on your own, try different lines and braking points for each corner and see how and where you gain time. Realistically the top 10 times are very, very quick and many of us will never get that fast but no harm in trying. I’ve been playing gt since day one and I think I’m pretty fast but I would lose them after the first corner. Getting on the power earlier and using all of the track is ideal, smooth driving helps. Finding a balance where you push hard out of every corner whilst keeping the car under control and maximise your speed. There is no substitute for practise and time on track.

 

[Matt Tandy]

@jimbo197 thanks for your feedback. I will give that a go. I struggle with the racing line in turns 3/4 and always seem to run wide. It is annoying you cant see ghost laps of the top 10 drivers!

I am using a G29 wheel.

 

[ststav01]

Another good tip would be to try finding the replay of some of those top 10 players and compare their sector times to yours. It is usually easier to concentrate on your weak points on sectors rather than the overall track.

One of my weak points is the throttle response in corners but I use ds4. So my main issue in losing time is the exit speed. It might seem that exiting a corner 1-2 km/h faster is nothing but if you stack this to 4-5 corners it will really make the difference because you take this speed to the next corner, so I would recommend you paying attention to this as well

 

[BusyPunk]

As a related point how much difference does turning off assists make?

I drive predominantly Dragon Trail and, like OP, cannot get within 3-4 seconds of the fastest times. I do use TCS on 2.

I have tried running TCS at 1 or 0 but struggled. before I go through the learning curve is it likely to result in an improvement of several seconds?

 

[bone_tone]

I'd love to be within 3 seconds of the top 10 times! I'm usually 5 or 6 seconds adrift (depending on length of track).....

 

[Matt Tandy]

Where would I find the videos of the top times?

I have tried with all assist's off but find I am not as consistent as with some of them on. I also run with abs on because I find without it the cars do not stop. I am not sure if this is down to the brake pedal on the G29.

 

[SCCAdeanRX-7]

There's a guy called Z28 that streams and upload videos to YouTube. He has been doing individual videos on each course and how to drive them faster. I'd look those up. He is usually in the top 20 in terms of time.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Hello,

This is my first post so please be kind. I am really struggling to get anywhere near the top ten times on any of the daily races. On today's Nurburgring (a track that I really enjoy/know) I cant even get within 3 seconds of the top times. I am using the same car and as settings are locked we must be running the same setup.

I have posted my video below of my fastest lap and that is when I do a perfect lap. I normally run in the 2min 00 mark. I don't expect to be able to match the top 10 times but surely with the same car and setup I should be able to get within 1 second.

Although a worthwhile goal, getting within 1 second of top ten times is not realistic for 99.9% of us. I'd suggest going to YT and finding some videos of the top times to see what lines and braking points they are using. While there is a lot of variation in driving style among those that are several seconds off the pace, you'll find that those at the very top look very similar to each other on their fast laps.

 

[danthespam]

As a related point how much difference does turning off assists make?

I drive predominantly Dragon Trail and, like OP, cannot get within 3-4 seconds of the fastest times. I do use TCS on 2.

I have tried running TCS at 1 or 0 but struggled. before I go through the learning curve is it likely to result in an improvement of several seconds?

As far as I knew you could always get faster times with no aids at all but I think recently there’s been a trend of experimenting with various aids producing faster times... Watched a replay recently of some really super quick guys, the poster had a bit of trouble in turn 1 when he’d forgotten he’d turned tcs off!

 

[RotorHed]

Seemed to me like you’re braking too late - you missed a lot of the key apexes.

 

[wdreamsmaycome]

@jimbo197 It is annoying you cant see ghost laps of the top 10 drivers!

that was something Driveclub did really well, it was great to always have the ghost of the fastest time available for all the various challenges... I am usually 1-1.5 seconds behind the top 10 and it'd be nice to see the corners I am losing time in!

Something else that's useful is at the end of your practice session if you look at the bottom you can see your "ideal best time" taking your fastest 3 sector times across all your laps, this should also give you an idea if you are leaving time on the table, as it often happens that your fastest lap doesn't necessarily have all the fastest sectors...

This said I miss grand prix legends on PC where thanks to the replay editor you could see exactly what you were doing wrong comparing your lines and telemetry to the record lap times...

 

[zzz_pt]

You're not using the whole track width, compromising your speed through corners and straights.

Corner 2: you could enter more on the outside (right) and keep a wider line on the exit (green tarmac).
Corner 6: you could use the curb on the outside left and push the throttle a bit earlier.
Corner 7: Enter from the left curb and keep an inside line
Corner 8 and 9 (Schumacher SS): put 2 wheels on the right side curb and push to the left at full throttle. You lift off and that means you will lose speed on the straight.
Corner 10: same as before, you don't go to the right before taking the corner (use the green part if you can) and the inside curb on the apex. Also, you should probably be a gear lower for higher corner exit speed into the right hander.
Chicane: You can cut it on both the left and right a bit more and push the throttle a bit earlier.
Last corner: You went a bit wide.

Overall, of course, TCS is dragging you a bit on every corner, especially slow speed ones, which are many on this track. But even with TCS you can improve your time by at least 1 second.

 

[Matt Tandy]

Thank you all for your feedback. I will try the wider lines into the corners.

I had a look at my ideal best time and that is a 1:59:4 so I can get faster.

I will turn of tcs and try the feedback above and let you know how I get on.

 

[SW__10]

I wish we had the same info about the top ten like we had in GT6.
What controller method, aids used etc, and could download their ghost or/and lap vid.
Was always good to compare and learn. Hopefully all that will get added later.

I’m currently sitting in 10th spot at Nurb GP for Euro region. My lap replay is shared.
Just click on any person in the top ten, select their profile and check out their gallery for
any shared content.

 

[Stotty]

The fast guys aren't called aliens for nothing.

 

[rono_thomas]

Just a heads up, just did the nations cup (not a one make but may as well be) beetle race. One of the top 10 guys was in my race, my potential lap time was to be a tenth behind him but the beetle is twitchy and I’d always make a mistake somewhere, anyhow, I’ve saved the replay from the race so I thought I’d have a look, I quallied 10th for my race, my best time would have got me third, so I thought I'd have loads to analyse to see where I could improve.

@Jfrod was in my race, and it was only jfrod and myself that was running with no aids. I was a little shocked that the top 10 qualifiers were not only running TC but also counter steer.

So lesson for today dont be afraid to use aids. 👎

 

[Matt Tandy]

Thanks for sharing your lap.

I have got my time down to a 1:59:390 with an ideal best time of 1:58:615. Don’t think I will be able to get any faster than that!

 

[stevenhiggster]

Watching faster guys replays helps no end. I used to think I was pretty quick then I watched some faster guys nordschleife laps and realised I was braking in so many places that I didn't need to be. I honestly shaved at least 10 seconds off my lap times just by watching one guys video!
It would be nice if it was like GT5 and 6 where we could download the top guys replays.
You can practice and practice as much as you want but if you're doing it wrong in the first place you're just practicing doing it wrong!
Watch on board laps from real world motorsports helps too, watching Hamiltons pole lap from suzuka helped me shave a second or two off my lap times.

 

[danthespam]

Just a heads up, just did the nations cup (not a one make but may as well be) beetle race. One of the top 10 guys was in my race, my potential lap time was to be a tenth behind him but the beetle is twitchy and I’d always make a mistake somewhere, anyhow, I’ve saved the replay from the race so I thought I’d have a look, I quallied 10th for my race, my best time would have got me third, so I thought I'd have loads to analyse to see where I could improve.

@Jfrod was in my race, and it was only jfrod and myself that was running with no aids. I was a little shocked that the top 10 qualifiers were not only running TC but also counter steer.

So lesson for today dont be afraid to use aids. 👎

It was a surprise for me as well to see many of the top guys using aids... Would think the top events would have them locked off... no offence to anyone using them but I’d kinda feel a bit fraudulent not using them now. Feels like a backward step.

 

[GTPoet]

It's humbling to find out just how much better other drivers are in racing games. Trying to figure out the nuances of the tracks and the finesse and technique required to get fast times is a frustrating, yet deep and rewarding experience for me.

Having a wheel probably makes a difference. I can't afford one, but in the past I used wheels and it made a difference then. These guys have also spent a lot of time to get good.

But you also have to give credit to the natural ability that some of these guys have. It's pretty amazing really.