I've recently started playing online races. Thought I practice well and qualify for daily races and today I drove manufacture race and nations race both twice. Not once did I manage to end up on the place I've qualified to.
Always the same story, stay out of trouble first corners as much as possible and gain some positions. Then get rammed from behind or by somebody who spun and deliberately hitting me shortly after rejoining. This always seems to result in me spinning, crashing and then not managing to get away. How does everybody get away so quickly after crashing? Is there a way to get the car back on track? Anyhow, my rating has been Sr S for a long time, I've only done a few races here and there before and getting S was not hard. Ive not achieved any good results so Dr D is the best I have.
Unfortunately though, these races today have lowered me to Sr A which was even more of a disaster because these guys push you around even more and in the end it seems I get the penalties more than the ones crashing me.
What can a newbie do to get good racing and slowly ckimb the ranks without depending on luck with not getting slammed?
To get reset more quickly, drive away from the track and/or keep your wheels locked in the opposite direction while braking fully. The worse you are angled toward the track, the quicker the game will reset you.
Always drive with radar and keep half an eye on the rear view mirror to avoid what's coming from behind while keeping a safe distance to what is happening in front.
Don't get in between 2 battling cars. Don't overtake when the 2 cars in front are too close for your car to fit in between.
Trying to out brake is always a risky move leading to penalties. The car in front usually turns in on you, makes contact, then goes off and you get a penalty. Instead focus on getting a better corner exit to overtake or get fully alongside before the braking zone of the next corner. Make your position known by staying close to the other car. Not too close to make contact, but close enough so the other car see they can't simply take the corner as if you're not there.
To avoid hitting an early braker, position your car a bit to the inside of the one you're following as if you are getting ready to out brake them. This can either have them brake early and you get alongside for an overtake, they can can brake late expecting a dive bomb and go wide giving you an easy pass or they brake on time and you can carefully move back to the outside (if no one behind) and take the corner in the best way. Do no brake late, rather brake early and go for slow in fast out. What often happens is that the car in front wants to block you by swerving in the braking zone (illegal but GTS doesn't care) Since getting in their slipstream compromises your braking distance you will hit them if you started braking at your normal qualifying brake point.
With this penalty system it's safer to be on the outside / closest to the edge. Penalties are triggered when a car goes off. If you don't want penalties, be the one that has the most risk of going off. Most people realize this and will be more careful not to bump you off. And if you do get bumped off, they'll get the penalty.
It takes a lot of experience reading other people's behavior and intention. It takes a lot of patience to do well in sport mode. Starting from the back (not qualifying) can be easier since you only have to focus on what happens in front for the first bit. However the backfield is often more messy.
Don't expect to win often or at all. The game seems easy at first entering as DR.E SR.B, but as soon as you hit SR.S winning will be very rare due to how matchmaking works. Yet those SR.S races are cleaner simply by having the field spread out more quickly. The races are short so any position gained is a small victory in itself. Focus on those, not on finish position.
Always race for fun. DR is nothing but a matchmaking tool. It's not a level up system or experience points and is very much influenced by the type of race, time of day, day of the week, your experience of the track, and simply who you are matched with. Focus on SR instead, drive clean and try to avoid those not driving clean. It's always better to let a dive bomb through (and watch them fly off a couple corners later if not straight away) then get hit and end up next to the track with possibly a penalty.
Lobby racing entirely depends on whether you know the people you are racing with. A broken penalty system is still better than no penalty system. Racing with randoms in lobbies you can expect a lot more bad behavior and or not ever seeing anyone on track due to the huge skill difference / differently tuned cars etc.
Can this "system" be any more stupid? Who the 🤬 programs this? You're actually the one who almost got taken out and you get 4 seconds for it. That's just brilliant. 
