Tips to make you faster

[Greboth 2,721]

Following @Mikepjbell posting in the summer league thread about not knowing where he's losing time to myself and Kiwi.  I thought I'd start a thread where we can discuss and compare laps to try and improve everyone's lap times.

 

I figure this can take one of 3 forms,

1. A lap guide.  I've done a couple of these in the past but basically talking through one of my fast laps, where I'm braking, references I'm using for braking or turning in etc.  If you want one of these just say which track and car class (or specific car) and I shall get try to get it done asap or;

 

2. Drop me a message and we can hop on a server together and compare laps in real time.

 

3. Which I think would probably be most useful is if you post a video of a lap and I'll do a lap in the same car so we could compare and see if there's any specific corner or corners you're losing time.

 

Some general tips to get this thread started;

• Consider the racing line - I think we all know about taking the racing line of taking the widest entry into a corner, clipping the apex on the inside and then running as wide as possible on the exit.  However most corners shouldn't be taken on their own and it's worth considering how your line out of a corner will effect the next one.  If it's a corner on to a straight you want to focus on your exit to get the best run down the straight.  However to get the best line through the final corner, you might have to compromise your line through the last but one corner.  This compromise will lose you time through the corner but overall you'll gain back more time with the better run on to the straight.
• Try to be smooth - this is easier said than done and even more so when using a controller.  However any sudden braking (more so coming off the brakes than on), steering input or throttle input can upset the balance of the car causing understeer or oversteer both of which will cost you time.
• Understand tyre grip - I'm not going to bore you with the full details but the general principle is good to understand.  A tyre only has so much grip, if 100% of that grip is being used for braking then if you try to steer you will lock up or, as we now all use ABS *cough* Jordie *cough*, understeer.  Therefore you want to get all your braking done before the corner - it is possible to carry some braking in to a corner (known as trail braking) however this is tricky as you need to constantly balance your braking and turning to come off the brake the more you turn in.  With some practise it is possible though and I find it easier on longer corners like T1 and Kyoto for example.

[Greboth 2,721]

As we've got a few more faces racing who are new to the game / series, I thought I'd do a small update to this.

 

Firstly, a couple tips about the HUD

 

 

1. Gear indicator

This is the gear the game thinks you should be using for the next corner and will flash red when the game thinks you need to brake for the corner.  In my experience, it's too conservative and will always tell you to brake too early and mostly to use a gear 1 lower than actual.  However, it acts as a good starting point if it's a track you don't know and as you get more familiar you can start pushing your braking point later

 

2. Throttle position

GT7, much like GT Sport, the lower the Traction control (TCS) you can use the faster you'll be.  Though it's always important to remember, lower TCS will save you 1-2 seconds a lap but set it too low and spin, that'll cost you more like 20-30 seconds.  You can however do a little practise of using lower TCS as the throttle position goes white, as in the screenshot, to show you're at 100% throttle but if you engage TCS, a portion at the top will turn red to show how much the game is limiting your throttle.  If out of every corner you turn it red, try to be a little more gentle and ease on to the throttle.  If you never turn it red, try turning down your TCS.  It's not quite that simple as at lower levels TCS cuts in later so you can be more aggressive with the throttle before it activates but it's a small part of the picture of if you're over-driving the car.

 

3. Driving assists

Which nicely leads on to driving assists.  I think Phil mostly disable these on the server due to a certain Mike incident.  However, much like TCS, they turn red when the assist is active and again, like TCS, activation of an assist will generally cost you time in GT7 (ABS it the exception to this rule*).  So again, if you're constantly activating these over a lap, try being smoother, easing the stick to steer rather than 0 - 100% steering instantly etc.

 

*ABS is the exception to this rule - technically speaking ABS does also slow you down too BUT it's incredibly hard to threshold brake without locking up.  Lock up - and you'll be slower.  Don't brake quite as hard to avoid locking up - you'll be slower.  There's a tiny tiny margin in the middle where braking without ABS is faster.  So keeping it ABS at default will overall make you faster as you'll be far more consistent.

 

Smoothness

I've mentioned this a couple times and I want to explain some of the theory behind it - Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.  Often times you'll a lap where you're on the edge and you have to really work the car will be slow and the laps that feel slow will be your fastest.  Keeping the car balanced, with little to no understeer or oversteer, will mostly feel slower but is considerably faster.  Now the question is how to achieve this smooth is fast - this can be broken down in to the 3 areas of a corner; braking, turning and accelerating.  In a perfect world, each should only be done once - brake before the corner and come off the brakes as you turn in, turning to the maximum lock required for the corner at the apex, then start opening the steering as you feed on to the throttle.  If you needed to get back on the brakes then you braked too late, if you get on the throttle before the apex you braked too early, if you need to change steering input you turned in too early or too late, if you need to counter steer on corner exit you got on the throttle too early or too sharply.

 

I'm not saying you should be thinking all this all the time but it's something to keep in your mind while practising or watching a replay of your laps.  As you go round the lap, make a mental note of things such as braking too early for turn 3 and too late for turn 9.  Then the next lap, make small steps to correct these on the next lap while making mental notes of thing for next lap.  Basically small incremental changes each lap can equal a decent improvement on overall lap time.