SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Driving GT Legends: A Fast Lap at Monza Junior

Simulation Title: GT Legends
Developer: SimBin / 10Tacle Studios
Car Used: Ford GT40
Venue: Monza (pista) Junior
Location: Monza, Italy
Dimensions: 1.49 miles (2.4 Km), 5 turns
Rules: Full Flag Rules
Weather: Sunny, 10 AM, 25°C
Difficulty: Professional
Comments: Deceptively simple, promotes good technical skills
development and close online racing.

Introduction

In February 2006 SimHQ started a ground breaking series of articles focused on helping sim-racers hone their skills and conquer the tracks and cars of their favorite racing simulation titles. The first few articles focused on ISI's rFactor. Today we'll branch out into another popular and challenging simulation, 10Tacle/SimBin's superb GT Legends. It's time to strap yourself into your chair, because we're about to pull out of the pits and onto the Monza Junior circuit whilst driving the legendary Ford GT40.

General Comments

Before we begin dissecting the track and learning some Fast Lap techniques, let's take a few minutes to drink in the scenery and enjoy our hobby with a brief look at the histories behind the track and the car. With the scene thus set, we'll go on to discuss a few general aspects about the car and track — things that will hopefully help us to negotiate quicker laps.

Monza Junior

Ah, Italia! One of the most famous tracks in motorsports history, Italy's Autodromo Nazionale di Monza lies between the picturesque city of Milan to the Southwest, and the Italian Alps to the North. Monza's Grand Prix should be no stranger to most sim-racers: Many sim racers put their first tentative laps in at Monza as they learned how to drive a 1967 F1 car in Papyrus' Grand Prix Legends, or a modern FIA GT car in SimBin's GTR. And for movie buffs, Monza is home to the final, climactic scenes of the classic racing film Grand Prix, available on VHS and soon to be available on DVD (possibly in September 2006).

In its original form, Monza sported high banked turns allowing for incredible racing speeds. Later, pavement decay and ever-increasing car performance forced the closure of the high-banked portion of the track, yet Monza's legacy of high speed racing lives on with its long straights and high speed turns. Modern F1 cars reach speeds of well over 200 mph, despite the addition of several chicanes designed to keep speeds in check and promote overtaking.

Although most people associate Monza with its Grand Prix circuit, there is another, smaller venue tucked into the track that I was totally unaware of until I purchased GTL. That smaller circuit is the Pista, or Junior, circuit. Made for less powerful cars and club races, Monza Junior's short length and straightforward layout are useful to the sim racer as it promotes faster learning of car handling and driver technique, and also makes for a much more interesting and entertaining online racing experience. Drivers may be lured to the Grand Prix track, but Monza Junior offers simpler pleasures that in many ways eclipse the charms of the larger circuit.

A key to success at Monza, be it the Grand Prix or Junior circuit, is to keep your momentum through the turns. If you're hearing lots of tire scrub sounds (especially understeer sounds from the front tires) that's bad, because that noise is usually accompanied by a dramatic and undesirable loss of speed. You can minimize the tire scrub by braking a bit earlier than usual, and getting the car properly balanced at the apex for a faster exit. This track is truly a place where "slower is faster" in the turns.

In a racing simulation, anyone can go fast in a straight line. As a result, setting a faster lap time than your competition will hinge on how you handle the turns. In order to achieve good, consistent lap times, I find that I have to become very aware of what my feet are doing with the pedals. You have to be oh-so-gentle when squeezing on the power or brake so as to not mishandle the car. And there's no room for lazy feet at this track. If you're not braking, you'd best be accelerating. Coasting won't get you a fast time at Monza.

That's a quick look at the track we'll be negotiating. Next we'll turn our attention to the car we'll be driving. And what a car it is!

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