I suck at ACC - what to do!

What you have to understand is that a later braking point is the end result of learning to take the corner properly, not the beginning point. Using more of the track is the first step. Start as wide as possible, get the turn-in point correct and hit the apex precisely - that allows you to carry more speed through the corner, which means not having to slow down as much, which means being able to brake later. Using the brakes more effectively to shorten the needed braking distance is the second step: getting the trail braking right so that you're always using all of the grip, and coming off the brakes smoothly as your car slows and the downforce drops, reducing your brake pressure just before ABS kicks in.

 

If you can't brake from 150m at T1 Monza it's because of either hardware or technique. Technique wise there are several things late brakers do that might not be obvious.

If you are on the brakes, don't be on the gas. The transition has to happen extremely fast. Off the gas and on the brake as fast as you can. Any wasted gas will show up in meters of extra distance. With these cars it should be left foot brake only. And lightning quick!
With high speed heavy braking, let the brakes do the first bit on their own and start downshifting later in the zone and at a faster pace- grabbing the first two or three gears in rapid succession (but late). This allows the car to finish pitching the weight forward and settle before you introduce the engine braking. The general idea is to prevent your rear tires from skipping when you hit the first downshift. Practise this by seeing how long you can wait before starting downshifting. If you have never braked this way you will probably be surprised by how much the brakes do on their own and how you then can use the gears, very late in the sequence, to metre your distance to turn in. If you want to get in deep and under control you need to feel the relationship between brakes and downshifts. A little secret for you is that you can see the downshift point on a rubbered in track in ACC. Look at t1 monza and notice that the rubber starts at 150m but then at about 110 it gets much darker. That's where late brakers hit their first downshift and where the heavy braking starts.

It's all about when to start the downshifting- On other turns, like the Lesmos, I use almost simultaneous brakes and downshift in order to pivot the car a bit on turnin. The result here will vary from car to car in ACC and is what makes the 488 quicker in turns. Front engine cars will try to swap on you.


No your spot and re-gauge it on each lap and on each turn as the race progresses and tire and tarmac changes. Easy way is to have two spots picked [long and short] and decide which one you want or need to use at a given time. If it's late in the race and the dogs are tired but you need to push hard, knowing these spots by heart is critical.

 

I don't know which wheel you are using, but if it is for example a G29 and if you think that it is too hard to brake at 100%, you can go to the controls section, brake, advanced. There you can set that... pressing the pedals a 80% would mean 100% ingame, or whatever you want. Just adapt it to how hard you want the braking pedal to be.

 

There is another way. I have the G29 and my "trick" is that I set the brake on the clutch pedal. Much more modular. I also have more distance between one foot and another. The pedal brake of g29 is not good, too strong and with low escursione. With clutch pedal i can decide to brake on 20, 50, 80 or 100%.

 

G29 is exactly what i have and i probably have to tweak little bit pedal settings. I like the fact that you have to really push the pedal but sadly my seating setup is not ideal at the moment. I check that. Also one thing that i noticed today as i drove 27 laps around Monza, that my steering movements are not relaxed. Sometimes i grip the wheel knuckles all white and that cause my steering inputs are somewhat cumbersome. That was something that i have to also concentrate more. Still long way to go, but i´ll gonna get there

 

Double check your brake pedal excursion is reaching 100% in ACC settings.
Better again set 1-2% deadzone ad both min and max end, sometimes pedals have flex and do subtle spikes.

-IF- the pedal works ok then try this simple exercise at Monza T1 braking zone ( set Optimal grip, e.g. Hotlap mode ):

1. Move all the way to the left side of the track soon, at very least be there way before the 200m mark.
2. Then be sure the car is going 100% straight and full throttle. Mind the fact than any (even subtle) steering frome here onwards will likely compromise your upcoming braking phase.
3. Hit hard the brakes at the 150m mark, keep the pedal pressed hard while you downshift quickly a couple gears. Your steering wheel should stay centered, avoid ANY steering input and don't panic
4. slightly and progressively release the pressure on brake pedal while you downshift to 2ns/1st gear and/or just before starting to steer right. That's to ease turn-in, if you don't lift the brakes there the car will understeer and you will miss.

Do this a few times and you will learn quickly how to nail T1 properly, in 1st gear or even 2nd.

You can comfortably brake at 150m mark even at the "variante della Roggia".

The really tricky braking zones at Monza are actually Lesmo 2 and the Parabolica.
Those are harder to master.

 

Something's clicked tonight, and my CC has crept up to 86. I'm stoked!

 

Good stuff! Thanks for the detail on how to approach more effective cornering, braking and downshifting.

 

Hi Strawberry, your post is very interesting. I'd like to ask you something. I use two apparently similar methods of approach. Take for example the rounded curves of the Nurburgring, the first is to brake hard at the last to enter with a little accelerator and open wide at the exit. The second is to brake gently a little earlier and let the car slip into a curve by inertia without accelerating. Both methods give me about the same result but probably one of them is more correct. What do you think about it? Obviously the others too!

 

I'm not 100% clear which turns you're talking about, but it's nearly always fastest to brake as hard as you can and then coast through the apex of the longer corners. On Nurburgring there is an unusual amount of coasting to do, particularly T6 (left hander after orange cones), T7, T8, and T11 (left hander after schumacher s). The only corner where you don't want to apply full braking pressure is T12, you go up to about 65%, quickly trail off and then coast for ~2s to a late apex.

 

The corner was in general but thanks your answer is clear. Is even better brake hard before and near the corner .

 

I want to revisit this

I have do this this thread taking a closer look at all tracks and a few differing cars. Here is what I have found for me

• Tracks: I have ran practice for a few hours now, ran a few stints, I have been able to bring my laps down to a consistent number "AND AS WELL RUN LAPS WITH NO CASUALTY" aka Spin, wall endorsements etc
• Cars: I have stuck with three cars and my times vary (I have bounced the 2018 Nissan to 3rd) and surprisingly the JAG to #1 with Ferrari #2. BMW and Nissan are tied really.
• Paying attention: It really helps if you concentrate 100% on being in the moment. What I mean is this, for me in my head I thought of it as a game, I now treat it as if I am actually in a car and on a track, 100% full concentration on Entry, Apex and Exit, hitting markers and looking through.
• FOV Oh Crap Again: I have played with my setup to be a tad higher, more centered and bring the FOV and Distance to a point I have better visual to the Right and Left front (Very Important to me)

breaking it down (1 Hour at a time) Each session I run, I run 1 hour at a time applying all my rules below
Tracks: I concentrated on a goal to just getting 4 good laps in at a time (Practice) then pull in to pits. This gave me a moment to just reset and start again. My goal is consistency (See Paying attention below) as well as track familiarity.
Cars: I like all the cars, I originally stuck with 2018 Nissan, but after jumping back into the JAG with slight variations from Aggressive, my times dropped significantly (5 Secs) Jag and Ferrari times are equal, but oddly I am liking the jag a tad bit more.
Paying attention: like all things a slight lapse in judgment can be catastrophic. In the SIM world I realized my attention span was not as it should be. So I adopted a far more aggressive real time race face approach. Taking that into consideration I would say for me this was the biggest improvement. It freed my mind to actually keep an eye on tire, brake temps, fuel load, how the car is handling in corners and learn the tracks nuances. Personally I believe this made the biggest difference, I changed my attitude.
FOV: For me establishing a seating position that allows me or better allows my brain to adapt is to establish a FOV or I will call a Point of view that gives me a more realistic visual inside the cockpit. I picked up a few seconds there as well since I was able to better judge were my front end is entering corners, pin pointing apex and exiting point. This improved my consistency overall with Tracks allowing me more feel for the Cars and helping me with my paying attention the entire session.

Over all, even though my lap times are still 8 seconds or less slower then the fastest guys, that makes me competitive, my confidence is strengthened due to consistency, familiarity and attitude which all equates to FUN.

 

Hi, here´s link to my single player race on Monza it would be nice if somebody would take a look and point some hints to me how to improve my driving. I´m still working on my speed and consistency. Especially i have improved consistency a lot. But i know there are still a lot to do.

 

It all looks good, except for the racing line.
I think you're more than good enough to turn off the racing line and start driving on feel and visual cues.
Currently you're relying on the racing line too much and in many corners I see you brake way too early (at least with Ferrari) because the racing line tells you to.

Try turning it off. Shouldn't take more than a day (maybe 4-6 hours) to get used to it and be at the same pace you were. From there on you'll be able to improve more and find the limits of the car rather by feeling or testing them yourself, rather than listen to what the racing line tells you to do.

 

You have a lot more grip available, try to listen the tyres and test the limits of the car.

 

Paniiiii

 

You're losing most time under braking and apex/exit speed. I'll be looking at lap 2, which starts at 2:41.

Also, a track map for reference:


T4: You're not braking at 100% here and turning in a little late. Take more left kerb so you can position the car for a better exit and accelerate sooner.
T6: Brake later and harder, I know it's difficult without any good reference points to judge; considering the time of day, start by using the shadow of the large tree past the 100M board, brake hard then coast the car into the corner. Also try and use more kerb on exit, there's plenty of space to run wide and gain time.
T7: Same idea, brake harder and later (closer to the 50M board), and carry more speed into the corner to make better use of the kerb (and beyond) on exit.
T11: Again, braking early and softly.

You're relying too much on the racing line indicator for braking points and end up being soft on the brakes into many corners, and not using all grip available. Turn it off, find other reference points around the track to use, and the pace will come once you have a rhythm.

Or maybe this is an indication the racing line brake points need to be adjusted? (Or is it set like this to prevent those who use it from gaining an advantage in non-optimal conditions/areas?)

 

Thrustmaster peddles by default have pretty aggressive dead-zones right out of the box. I set mine to my liking and find I am bit faster for the effort.

Out of the box.



My Settings

 

So, I thought with 3 months past since my original post with this thread it is time to do a status: I have just managed to reach my personal hot lab goal with Monza: FINALLY going below the 1:50:00 mark (yes still not impressive). So when I started this thread I was around 1:53 and now just this morning I walked straight into a hot lap session and BOOM - first lap 1:49:7 and a few laps later 1:49:5. YES

I will never become an alien, but it just feels fanatastic that the effort has payed off. I have read thoroughly through this thread, serveral others in here on same topic, and whatched many Youtube videos with guides on driving style in racing. Most importanly I have kept on practicing (not just Monza ). The CC rating and player data has been very helpful along the way.

So what are the most important steps I have taken to meet my target? Practice, practice and practice. Finally also a very important realization that I have a strong tendency to overdrive the car in ACC. Focusing on being relaxed and never push too hard, has been also a game changer. To hit those corners at perfect speed and striking the apex is sooo important - combined with maximum exit speed really shaves off time.

With Monza I have had a particlarly long coming realization: Parabolica is a time killer! It can easily cost 0.5 second to do this turn sloppy og with too high entry speed / not hitting the apex.

Just thought I wanted to share the success - and spread the message that even with a striking lack of racing talent, improvements can be made