- 1,008
- GTP_Luxy
Hearing Talentless' frustration about not being able to improve his lap times, despite a lot of hard work, got me thinking about the process of hunting down a hot lap.
How does everyone go about getting their final time? What's your process?
I guess I'll describe my process to give a better idea of what I mean.
I usually start on Tuesday morning, by doing a little research and picking a car (if there's a choice, of course). I generally go with whichever car has the lowest weight-to-power ratio, as it's almost always the one that'll win.
The first time I get a chance to drive, I'll give the car some shotgun settings, as a starting point (I use pretty much the same initial settings for every car) and go and run for half an hour and then see what my split times are by looking in the replay theatre. During this initial half hour, I don't watch times and I don't worry about being clean. I just try to get a feel for the track and car.
Then I'll go and check to see how my split times stack up, noting where I could stand to make up time.
Then I'll get starting at trying to reduce my times. I start at the end of the track and work backwards - perfect the last corner, then the second last, etc. Again, I don't worry about overall lap times or being clean, just one corner at a time. By the time I get finished with the first corner on the track, the lap is pretty routine, and consistent, but I don't have a clean, fast lap to submit.
In my next session is when I start to go at maximum attack (I love that phrase
) and start trying to put everything together.
The hardest part of the hot lap, to me, is mental.
I have to stay relaxed, or else I'll **** up for sure. The harder I try, the worse my times get, every time. If the times aren't coming, I have to get up and do something else for an hour until I can relax. My fastest laps always come when I'm not paying particularly close attention, but am not distracted. (Running an enduro, my fastest lap is almost always in the last 5 laps, once my eyes have glazed over
)
I try not to watch the split times (it's so tempting) because if I know I'm on my best lap, it won't be my best lap for long. Same thing with the ghost, I try not to run against my fastest one, because I'll get nervous if I get ahead.
For me, the least fun and least productive session is when I've got a perfect T1, but a pathetic lap, and I keep quitting and restarting halfway through a lap, or losing it on the last turn.
Wow, that was long Anyway, I'm really interested to see how you guys approach it.
How does everyone go about getting their final time? What's your process?
I guess I'll describe my process to give a better idea of what I mean.
I usually start on Tuesday morning, by doing a little research and picking a car (if there's a choice, of course). I generally go with whichever car has the lowest weight-to-power ratio, as it's almost always the one that'll win.
The first time I get a chance to drive, I'll give the car some shotgun settings, as a starting point (I use pretty much the same initial settings for every car) and go and run for half an hour and then see what my split times are by looking in the replay theatre. During this initial half hour, I don't watch times and I don't worry about being clean. I just try to get a feel for the track and car.
Then I'll go and check to see how my split times stack up, noting where I could stand to make up time.
Then I'll get starting at trying to reduce my times. I start at the end of the track and work backwards - perfect the last corner, then the second last, etc. Again, I don't worry about overall lap times or being clean, just one corner at a time. By the time I get finished with the first corner on the track, the lap is pretty routine, and consistent, but I don't have a clean, fast lap to submit.
In my next session is when I start to go at maximum attack (I love that phrase
) and start trying to put everything together.The hardest part of the hot lap, to me, is mental.
I have to stay relaxed, or else I'll **** up for sure. The harder I try, the worse my times get, every time. If the times aren't coming, I have to get up and do something else for an hour until I can relax. My fastest laps always come when I'm not paying particularly close attention, but am not distracted. (Running an enduro, my fastest lap is almost always in the last 5 laps, once my eyes have glazed over
)I try not to watch the split times (it's so tempting) because if I know I'm on my best lap, it won't be my best lap for long. Same thing with the ghost, I try not to run against my fastest one, because I'll get nervous if I get ahead.
For me, the least fun and least productive session is when I've got a perfect T1, but a pathetic lap, and I keep quitting and restarting halfway through a lap, or losing it on the last turn.
Wow, that was long
Anyway, I'm really interested to see how you guys approach it.
