Practising for newbies - the next level

Hey gang, since the first Gran Turismo game I've dabbled with racing but could never find it interesting for long. I had fun for maybe two hours at a time before getting bored then leaving it for a year or two before trying again.

Along comes ACC. I picked it up seven days ago and have 33 hours in it so far. I find the leveling system to be the greatest thing since bacon and such a big help in improving and keeping interest. It really made all the difference.

But the other day I thought, "lets try a race". OMG. I know the intention is not to hit the opposition but I think my car thought it was a demolition derby. I've never felt so damn incompetent! So, today I brought the number of AI down to just three cars and made them not aggressive, I also lowered their skill level.

With those changes I tried to stay as near as possible, preferably in the middle of the other cars. It took a couple of races but I got there. So I bumped up the skill level to 10 points. I can certainly tell the difference and find it much harder to catch up if I make a bad mistake. So to me this is a great next step in practice progression, it lets me focus more because there is less going on.

So thanks to the devs for making something compelling, even in its unfinished state (not for long!) and thanks to the authors of the many posts in these forums that provide a wealth of knowledge that I could digest while lurking.

 

That's the secret to racing. Don't make mistakes. You will literally win races if your the guy that doesn't crash. Although I'd expect ACC to change that. With a more serious competitive spin on the title I think we'll see less careless driving, so my "just don't crash mantra" isn't going to be as successful for me in the future.

 

"It takes years of practice to replicate racing like we see it in TV (and btw the same is true for the drivers we see in TV )"

I can attest to this. Nearly twenty years and I'm still learning and improving. It's taken many iterations in hardware and software development to get us to this point- Where it don't feel like it can get much more "real".

All the past advice for noobs can now be tossed out and just tell them to approach the driving like it's real.

 

I like the way you think XD

Just out of curiosity, what are your rankings? Have you unlocked SA?

 

For newbies as a first step I recommend to expend a free afternoon, put music and have a drink and spend a couple of hours tunning force feedback and calibrating pedals. Try to understand how your hardware works

 

You should try with the CC rating on the HUD, and do hotlaps until you are mostly in blue and green.

 

These are my favourite type of posts, welcome aboard the sim racing train. Take your time and stick at it - you'll eventually be hooked.

 

Thanks everyone.

Depressing? Not at all and thanks for the link. I also have this: https://f1metrics.wordpress.com/2014/08/28/the-rules-of-racing/ which looks awesome but I need to study it a lot more.

No SA yet.
TC: 74
CN: 56
CC: 66
PC: 13

I've raced with AI 4 times now though only once with a full field. I've only done one special event which is where I got the 13.

I have two main issues I can see.
1. I go into corners too quick. I don't have a feel for my brakes and tend to wait till the last second.
2. I don't use the whole road well.

When I do better with those my times are so much better. Consistency is the key, I feel it is coming, slowly.

An interesting point. I have the default settings for FF. I think I can generally feel what is going on so have left it alone but of course I've no idea if I can make it feel "better".

I am using a T300 RS GT Edition with T3PA pedals. IT was the most I was willing to spend considering I didn't know if I would just give up after 2 hours again. The first two days I was using a Logitech Driving Force with broken FF.

 

ACC works pretty good out of the box. I've literally done zero modifications to the base FFB and it works just fine, the only thing I might do is tune down the gain slightly.

 

I have a Thrustmaster T300 Alcantara Edition, that I am using at the moment ( With a Thrustmaster TS-PC Racer sitting in a box I have not used yet ) anyway I have been using the ffb settings recommended in another thread, and they have worked pretty good for me.

https://www.assettocorsa.net/forum/...tmaster-ts-pc-ts-xw-suggested-settings.48834/