SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Feature: Sim Racing Tips - Getting the Most Out of Your Virtual Racing Hobby

I've had members convey their frustration with racing sims to me, often in vivid terms. Many get the feeling that their virtual car is doing something that it shouldn't, given the control inputs they've made. Or that the car isn't conveying its true status through the PC. Often their comments while racing consist of statements and emotions like:

"Huh?"

"Why did my tail break loose? I wasn't pushing that hard at all!"

"Why is this car so unstable?"

Of course, one of the biggest things happening here is a lack of understanding of how the racing sim's physics engine is trying to convey sensation of the forces acting on the car. Much of that is learned through practice, and repetition, and exposure. With racing sims you have to wreck some to get a feel for the physics model. In real life, you've already done a lot of "wrecking" to learn real life's physics "model" — you did it as an infant, and as a child (and luckily you're still alive). But now that you're in the "matrix" world of a particular sim, you have to come to grips with a new physics model, and a new way of sensing the forces in play.

The solution to this problem is simple — practice! I personally spend the vast majority of my off-line driving time just doing practice sessions, working on consistency. Inconsistent lap times simply mean you aren't, well, consistent in car placement. One of the nice things about hard-core racing sims is that even practice sessions are extremely demanding, fun and challenging. Just working on your consistency, and concentrating on the task at hand is a great form of entertainment.

Some people chalk up their troubles with racing sims to a lack of proper feedback about what the car is doing. While the lack of tactile cues in PC sims is an issue, its not the primary obstacle in turning fast, consistent laps in a racing sim. Most of the cues you need are there — visual, sound, force feedback. Enough to drive quickly and consistently. What's missing is the proper practice mindset, and lots of practice to adapt to the sensory inputs available. To deal with the PC's feedback regarding car control, you must tune your responses to what is there, and there's inputs aplenty as you gain experience and expand your awareness of how the PC is communicating with you.

As was said earlier, we have to continually fight the sense that in practice, every lap must be a personal best hot lap. That's not what's needed to get good at a track. The key is to find a line that works, then get good at hitting your marks and driving that line over and over and over again. Only then will speed come, and more importantly, the ability to go quickly, run many laps without a hiccup, no wrecks and finish the race.

Let's talk about consistency and why that's important. When racing GTR online, I often found that I wasn't the fastest on the track. Poor setups made sure of that. But through proper practice techniques I discovered that relative to many other drivers, I could drive quickly and very consistently, being mindful of the sounds my tires were making (they can also indicate how fast they are getting worn out). What I found was that, as the old saying goes, to win races you must first finish the race. I could gain podiums or wins online simply by not wrecking or spinning out.

But practicing to become consistent and aware of all the cues your PC is giving you isn't easy. To this day I often find myself in frustrating practice sessions where I try to "push it," only to spin and wreck again and again. I have to step away from the wheel, calm down, and tell myself "your goal is to just string together 4 or 5 laps w/out wrecking or spinning out." I go slower at first, but usually by the end of those sessions I have set a new PB, or otherwise improved my driving technique.

So if you're feeling frustrated with your sim racing, just remember that you're not the first, nor the last. Many have "felt your pain" and I've been there myself — frequently. Strangely, that's one of the things that keeps me coming back to hardcore racing sims. It's the challenge they pose, and the rewards they offer. In a way they are much more demanding of one's concentration and precision than flight sims. In flight sims there are times during certain portions of any given mission where you can leave control of the aircraft to the autopilot. In racing sims, that never happens, you always have to maintain a high level of awareness and concentration. The thing you have to focus on is consistency. Once you can place your car in the same exact spot on the track, and hit the same braking, turn in, and accel points lap after lap, only then will the quickness come.

Conclusion

As you can see, re-tuning your mind to interpret the cues and become comfortable with the physics model is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome when learning a new racing sim. In our final installment of this series, we'll look at how to use the replay feature in racing sims, and how to adjust your driving style when racing so you can make it to the finish line.

Part I - Optimizing the Hardware is here.
Part II - Optimizing the Controls is here.
Part IV - Learning to Race is here.

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