Learning the art of driving
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ArcticBlue
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2014 3:56 pm
- Location: Christchurch
Learning the art of driving
So I've very slowly been improving my driving with the current KSR series but it seems like that is almost at an end. So can anyone suggest a good rFactor mod for learning/improving my car handling skills that will also help with future series here? I have definitely found the Porsche a handful so nothing anymore challenging than that. I've got no other mods installed so suggest away. Any tracks that might be useful would be good too
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Mike
- Posts: 505
- Joined: Mon May 20, 2013 3:48 pm
Re: Learning the art of driving
It's a pretty good question, but I'm not sure there exists some perfect progression of cars and/or tracks.
Once you have the fundamentals down, I think the most efficient learning comes from driving a car just outside your comfort zone, one that's just a little bit too hard for you to drive. That way, all your mistakes and bad habits will become much more obvious. For example: these Porsches were quite difficult for me at the start, I was spinning a lot. Now though, learning from those spins I've improved my throttle and steering input. It's something that I wouldn't of done had I been driving a car which didn't punish bad habits like that.
For actually learning about racing though, racing lines, braking points, etc. I think probably an easy car would be best. The first car I drove on here was the Flat 6 mod from Enduracers. It's a Porsche that's significantly easier to drive than these 993s, you could give them a try and see how they feel to you. Of course, making progress offline is going to be slow. Practicing online, racing other drivers is the most efficient way to learn. But you've got to make sure you've got the confidence to keep the car on the road before racing online, or else it's just going to be discouraging.
For tracks, you really need to drive on a variety of them, there's all sorts of different corners, and different cars react very differently to them. It's one reason why racing is once a week - you need a week to learn how the car behaves at a track and to find the quickest line.
If you haven't seen it: the iRacing Driving School series of videos is very good: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... RRypXovWv6 some of these techniques are very basic and you've probably heard them before, but you'll still pick up on little things that are helpful. If you apply all the techniques you should be able to get yourself up to pace pretty quickly. The entire series is only about an hour, so just find some time and watch them all. It will help.
Hope that's helpful.
Once you have the fundamentals down, I think the most efficient learning comes from driving a car just outside your comfort zone, one that's just a little bit too hard for you to drive. That way, all your mistakes and bad habits will become much more obvious. For example: these Porsches were quite difficult for me at the start, I was spinning a lot. Now though, learning from those spins I've improved my throttle and steering input. It's something that I wouldn't of done had I been driving a car which didn't punish bad habits like that.
For actually learning about racing though, racing lines, braking points, etc. I think probably an easy car would be best. The first car I drove on here was the Flat 6 mod from Enduracers. It's a Porsche that's significantly easier to drive than these 993s, you could give them a try and see how they feel to you. Of course, making progress offline is going to be slow. Practicing online, racing other drivers is the most efficient way to learn. But you've got to make sure you've got the confidence to keep the car on the road before racing online, or else it's just going to be discouraging.
For tracks, you really need to drive on a variety of them, there's all sorts of different corners, and different cars react very differently to them. It's one reason why racing is once a week - you need a week to learn how the car behaves at a track and to find the quickest line.
If you haven't seen it: the iRacing Driving School series of videos is very good: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... RRypXovWv6 some of these techniques are very basic and you've probably heard them before, but you'll still pick up on little things that are helpful. If you apply all the techniques you should be able to get yourself up to pace pretty quickly. The entire series is only about an hour, so just find some time and watch them all. It will help.
Hope that's helpful.
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Riven
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Re: Learning the art of driving
Also don't be alarmed if virtual racing isn't easy.
My father is 1981/82 NZ Sportscar Champion, the real deal ability doesn't always translate in the virtual world, as he really struggles.
My father is 1981/82 NZ Sportscar Champion, the real deal ability doesn't always translate in the virtual world, as he really struggles.
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ArcticBlue
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2014 3:56 pm
- Location: Christchurch
Re: Learning the art of driving
Thanks for the responses. I'll give the Flat 6 mod a go as I'm sure there is a lot of room for improvement with the basics. And I'll check out the videos, I actually found a Skip Barber one which has been quite helpful too. With a bit more practice and some time racing the AI cars and I should feel more comfortable with the online racing.