Lap time and frustration

I'm sorry if I'm late to the party and didn't read all the messages but I'm currently in the same situation. On some tracks (like Brands Hatch) I like to think I just need more practice but on others like Monza I've probably done too many km and still I get below a 1:50 only with some cars on a perfect lap but I can run 1:50:1xx for hours with the Aston. In random MP servers I usally stay in the first half of the field but yesterday I joined MrGit server on Brand Hatch() and I was 3 seconds off the pace and in his private league I would have qualified third to last in the last class of drivers.

The other side of the coin is that now I have a challenge and a time to reach on Brands Hatch, nice!

By the way I'll share something that helps me quite a lot in reaching better times, look at the track as far as you can. I saw a video where they were eye-tracking Magnussen(i think) on the simulator and he was looking three bloody corners ahead.

 

In my opinion there are two things that make pilots stronger than others:
1. The advance of the curves. The good ones turn steering wheel befoooooore the curve. Instead I have to think about it. When I do it, the delta immediately becomes green. The problem is that I have to think about it, it doesn't come naturally to me.
2. The connection between the various curves. You have to think of chess and look at two / three moves ahead. I tend to break the curves in some circuits. If there are three curves in a row they do: right left right fluidly. I do left right, correction for the further right. I think it's pure instinct ... difficult to learn.
I am, for example, a rally player, it comes naturally to me, I can't explain it. I listen to suspension, steering, grip on the steering wheel. Pure instinct
EDIT: the result....

 

I've hit plateaus often where I will go 30 laps in hotlap mode without improving my time.
Than suddenly I go 0.25 s faster than my previous best time and every lap after that (with small errors) is faster than my previous best and it suddenly feels easy to go faster.
Sometimes something will just click and it's like a permanent gain.

 

I remember the time where I made the driving license for cars and later for trucks.
40 tons 18 meter long beast's.
I had so much fear.
I can't concentrate on driving, so much brainwork to do with other things
I had to think about giving gas, braking, gear change and so on.

And today?
I drive them like cars.
You only need routine!
As example, when you watch Jardier or Nikki Thiim simracing they read and talk to the chat while doing it, because they have routine.
They now all about the track.
Brake marker, turn in point, apex acceleration point and so on.
They don't have to think about it.
When you reach that state, you will become faster from alone.

 

As Michael Krumm said in his book "Driving on the Edge" - there is two type of racers - "Natrual" ( braking by feeling ) and "Non-natural" ( braking by markers ), so ok , me in 2nd, I always try to find some concrete points to improve times.
For example - ok, let's assume there is no any telemetry data, only video with good time - let's try to "disassembly" it, divide it sector-by-sector and analyse each step, make some graphs and try to find something interesting... Maybe this concrete case is not very accurate, but in overall I like this "engineering state of mind" - this is also a some type of pleasure from the game

 

lol im glad im not the only one I think on one of the special events im like 5-6 sec off the top time that's is nuts
I remember on race 07 I think it was, you could d/load the ghost cars of the top 10 and follow them around