Spinning -- Interesting Problem Possibly Resolved

I find I spin a lot in AC. I've tried adjusting settings and doing all manor of things without success. The interesting thing is this starts as a slight rear slide that would be easily corrected in a real car. In AC, once it starts there does not seem to be any way to recover. Up to now I thought it was just me. I'm sure I still contribute but now I no longer think it is just me.

I was listening to a Ross Bentley podcast from Dallara's Indiana factory where they have a $1MM+ simulator. Ross was commenting that it was easy to catch slides in this simulator, that in fact it felt like a real car, while in other simulators he found them impossible catch. Hmm. That sounded familiar.

One of the people he was interviewing said that of all the physics calculations, the most difficult to handle was slides of this nature and that it required an incredible amount of computing power. They can do it because they have the equipment. AC isn't built with that kind of computing power in mind because it isn't meant to run on that kind of system. I think once it gets beyond its "comfort zone" all it can do is give-up.

I guess the key for me now is to try to push to the edge of the software giving up. If I can feel that in the sim I will probably be able to feel it in a car.

 

Im pretty sure this podcast is much more useful listening: https://speedsecrets.com/speed-secrets-podcast/126-lawrence-loshak-how-to-win-at-racing/


One of the main points: You have to be proactive. If you only react to what you see and feel you're already too late.

 

That's a different issue. I'm just trying to figure why the sim, which is so accurate in so many other respects, seems to fail in this one area. Ross's podcast provided a possible answer. It may not be the only answer but it is an explanation I can relate to.

On the track, if the car starts to slide, you can correct. In the sim you can correct up to a point (proactive) but the maximum point is nearer than on track. This isn't a total loss. You can feel the car approaching the edge and if you steer clear of it you are okay, but once you pass it there is no coming back. The same thing can happen on track but it is later. There is a large period where the car is trying to get away from you but you can still catch it. That doesn't seem to happen in the sim.

I have never looked into it, so maybe I am completely wrong, but based on my experiences to date I think it would be difficult to drift a car in the sim. I'd like to hear that I am wrong.

 

??? AC is one of the favorite sims for drifting. I am not a drifter but in AC I can catch slides. Any example?

 

Cool. That suggests it really is me. I still think slides are harder to catch than on track but that doesn't mean I can't learn to do it. I need to keep working at it.

 

To be honest for me that said podcast was one of the least good podcasts Ross Bentley have released. Probably because it shines how little Ross knows about the sim industry. For me the episode sounded like an advertisement. Which it kinda was but I'd like to hear more about the fancy simulator than some grandpa-talk.

What goes to catching slides thingy, if Ross talks about sims he talks about iRacing. Not sims in general. If people have issues sensing oversteer and catching it in AC, blaming software wouldn't be the first thing I would look at.

 

Yea, I'm sort of concluding that. I think part to the problem, as I've mentioned before, is trying to get the sim to act the same as the car and it doesn't for any number of valid reasons. I'm now trying to drive the sim I've got rather than the car I'd like to have. If that means it is less neutral, has less grip at the limit and gives up faster past the limit then I have to figure out how to deal with it. Mostly this means backing off a bit in areas where past experience tells me I could have troubles. My goal is to drive a ten lap session at close to my best without an incident.

Frankly, once it really goes I can't bring it back, but that seems to be me.

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4coYYsrDFc8H2HwB7