Tips to get more poles?

[MIE1992]

I feels like whenever I get into a daily race, the guy on pole is pretty close to being in the top 10 times, while I usually end up around mid-field. Do you think it would be better in general if at least one of the daily races had qualifying more akin to the championship events? I.e. you have around 10 minutes to qualify right before the race, and you don't get all day/week to qualify.

 

[ARTAsean]

you don't get all week to qualify.

In my opinion this was totally offset by the region split, and then some. Since they separated NA/SA I get many more poles than before, even before the switch to weekly races occurred.

That being said, since the player pool is so small now, even if you're as low as D/A its likely you'll have an A+ guy on pole. Which is just unfortunate for everyone - the top split get almost no DR for the race, and bottom split has zero chance of even a top 5 finish.

So since the matchmaking is making pole sitter usually a para-Alien, this is a tough cookie. The obvious answer is to intentionally lower your SR so you're matched with slower players. Not that I condone this type of behavior, but who am I to be the arbiter of such a thing? Especially if all you care about is getting the 65 pole trophy.

I did check out your KudosPrime and your qualifying is kind of all over the place. But you do have the skill to be top 200 in your region which is actually very good. I think if you put more effort into qualifying and getting top 100/150, along with picking a better time of day to race, you should get more poles.

 

[VeeDoubleU]

You are more likely to be in a less competitive lobby if you aren't at 90+ SR, and hence unlikely matched with A+ drivers for example

And secondly, do better qualifying laps

 

[Shottah072]

I wouldn't mind a short qualy session before the race to determine grid. But to be honest i dont think it would change the grid that much. The naturally fast guys and the guys that practiced all week/day are still gonna be up front consistently.

 

[deviln3]

Watch the top 10 replay, to see where they are making the most time. See where they start braking before a turn, notice the top speed they get on a straight, which gear they use. Try to emulate their racing line.

It won't get you in to the top 10, but it will give you a fighting chance during the race. You'll notice that after doing a couple of races, you'll start setting faster lap times than your pole time, now its time to go back and set a new pole time.

Keep it smooth under braking/turning, maximize exist speed.

 

[Majorwolf72]

Be patient, learn, analyze, exchange views and hints with the community or within a team. I‘m driving A LOT and I‘m still quite far from Top10 times. Maybe in a year or so I‘ll be closer. But alien times often come with alien talent, too, something you have or haven‘t and can hardly be acquired through building experience.

Quali in every single daily would be over the top IMHO. On the other hand it would be a nice prep for the FIA races, building experience.

 

[oper8or]

Aside from the obvious of getting a faster qualifying time, try racing at different times of the day & night to sneak into pole positions when the ultra-fast drivers are offline.

 

[ststav01]

While watching and analyzing the top 10 times is a good way, I think that many guys do not have enough time to do so, simply because you have 1-2 hours per day to play and you would prefer to actually "play" rather than watch carefully how the best guys are driving - this is one of the biggest flaws of the so called daily, but actually weekly, races - the more time you have to play - the higher the chance to have a better qualifying. The only fix I see here is to bring back the daily races or implement FIA-like qualifying before each race - this will definitely make the things more interesting IMO.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

Just practice and watch the top guys' replays. Rinse and repeat. Also experiment with racing at different times of day to find out when the weakest drivers are on (though this might be difficult now with some regions lacking drivers so everyone from A to D gets lumped together). If you find a particular combo that suits you well, farm that combo before the week ends. You're not gonna be on pole every race, but you will get better with time. Rome wasn't build in a day.

Personally from all the Achievements and Trophies, the hardest I find is the 15 consecutive clean race one. It's practically impossible to get unless you actively grind for it and sandbag in last place. The 91 wins trophy is second hardest. Fastest lap is next and pole is last.

 

[MIE1992]

Personally from all the Achievements and Trophies, the hardest I find is the 15 consecutive clean race one. It's practically impossible to get unless you actively grind for it and sandbag in last place. The 91 wins trophy is second hardest. Fastest lap is next and pole is last.

IMO the achievements are just nice bonuses to me, for obtaining extra Mi and XP. I'm comparatively more interested in the trophies.

 

[stpatty]

There are three options, which I will list in decreasing order of difficulty and honour:

1. Be faster. You've improved steadily in the time you've played the game, and your DR right now is about comparable to my average. I don't know when you started playing the game, but I've played it a lot more than you so I have more experience. Getting better at circuits and more comfortable in certain cars is just a case of practice, and as stated above, watching people who are faster than you and trying to copy them is the best advice anyone can give you. Watch the top 10 times and copy their lines, braking points, gear changes, everything. Be patient, and it will come.

Even if you qualify 2nd or 3rd and you're sure you can't get anything else out of the car, follow the people in front of you as best as you can. See where they're quicker than you, and try and improve those sections.

2. Play on Mondays. At the start of the week, people are still, mostly, learning the races. If you spend a solid block of 5+ hours on the Monday going straight between races and qualifying, you'll see results. You can combine this with looking at the events page on kudosprime to see next week's events and get some extra practice in to give you an advantage. If you see a circuit you like or a car class you like, play it a lot. I got ~30 poles and ~40 wins in a week where Race A was 3 laps of Yamagiwa in a Honda Beat. I had the 91st best qualifying time in Europe.

3. Cheat. Deliberately drive dirtily to get your ratings down to D/E and farm poles/wins against weaker drivers. On occasion you might get a weekly race where contact can be frequent and incidental where it's harder to get a clean rating anyway - see Tokyo South, or this week's Blue Moon Bay.

Option 3 is obviously terrible and you shouldn't do it. I also can't speak for the playerbase in North America, so I don't know how varied the races are in terms of DR or the driving styles of the various players.

 

[Majorwolf72]

I also can't speak for the playerbase in North America, so I don't know how varied the races are in terms of DR or the driving styles of the various players.

Having a European main and a North American second account I can add a forth option:

4. If you are not from the North America region, open a second account and race there to practice for your home region. The average player in the North America region is BY FAR not as good as in e.g. the EMEA region. It‘s a convenient way to gain experience and not getting frustrated, because even when you struggle with a certain course or a certain race, you most likely won’t be last.

I don’t write this to get into anyone‘s face. It‘s my experience. Even on my worst day I can still thrive in the North America races or FIA cups. Why the difference in quality is so high is anyone’s guess. But it‘s a fact. Mind you, I‘m saying „on average“. There are just as stellar player there as in the other regions, it‘s just that the overall level of expertise is a lot lower.

 

[K3Tuning]

Work on making faster qualifying laps

Just Playing but it is true.

 

[kilesa4568]

'I think you need to press the accelerator a bit harder'

Sorry. 'Unreal advice.'

For clarity:

 

[O604]

 

[TetsuKobura]

One thing I did back when the GTS Finals ended was whenever KudosPrime showed what the next weekly race C would be (Gr.X @ Le Mans), I went into a testing lobby and did race runs with the car. Then, when I was really confident in my speed I went to the time trial on Monday and did ~20 minutes of qualifying. Managed a top 10 time for nearly 24 hours before having to up my pace two more times.

 

[Rexracer702]

As far as I can see, poles are a lot of luck. SR doesn't really matter, but being in a lower DR room with any given Q time will give you a better chance at pole. That being said, I've had pole, and immediately following that race I ended up 9th in the same race. Once you get above a B rating in DR, poles are gonna be tougher since only faster drivers get the higher rating. That same Q time that gets you 10th in a B room might get you pole in a C or D room. I don't see SR having any effect on poles since even the slowest drivers can get to SR-S by driving clean.

 

[ShiftingGears]

I feels like whenever I get into a daily race, the guy on pole is pretty close to being in the top 10 times, while I usually end up around mid-field. Do you think it would be better in general if at least one of the daily races had qualifying more akin to the championship events? I.e. you have around 10 minutes to qualify right before the race, and you don't get all day/week to qualify.

I don't particularly enjoy qualifying, for a week's races I'll typically put in about 3 laps qualifying at most, and then pick the rest up in the race. The joy is in the race. As long as its a track you can pass at then pole isnt everything (I have 180 poles vs 330 wins, for reference). Remember that pole position or fastest lap is not the end goal, the win is.