This is the second article in the racingmojo sim racing series on 'Getting Faster'.

First things first: if you want to go fast on a track you must know the track inside out. Of course, this means that you need to know the order of sequence of the corners, that is stating the obvious. What I really mean by learning the track is really getting to know every detail about it.

Besides the 'black stuff', the thing on which you should drive most of the time, there are a ton of other details on and close to the track that should be stored in your mind somewhere.

Let's get over them and discuss why they should matter to you.

Reference points for braking/turning in

Literally anything can be used as a reference point for braking or as a turn-in point, so not only the typical braking distance boards like 200, 100 and 50. These reference points are very important to drive consistently. Here is a list of potential track side objects that could be used as a reference point, but don't forget that anything goes if it works for you:

  • marshal posts
  • trees
  • bridges
  • change in type of fences
  • cones
  • changes in the concrete
  • run-off areas
  • sometimes white lines painted alongside the kerbs, like the 100m boards

Viewing reference points

These can help you in having the correct view in the corner, especially handy when going over a hill in 'blind' corners: the corner is blind in the sense that you cannot see the apex, thus you must have another reference point to know when to start your turn-in. For instance, turn 3 in Road Atlanta or the famous cork screw (turn 8) in Laguna Seca are examples of such blind corner.

The image below shows the cork screw in Laguna Seca: you should focus your vision to the middle tree (where the red arrow is) to point your car in the right direction to hit the apex of the corner you don't see yet.

Finding the apex

Finding the apex is trickier in some corners than others. You will 'feel' when you are doing this right. You better learn a new track with a low powered car first, the so-called momentum cars like for instance the Mazda MX-5 (Miata). By driving momentum cars, it will be very obvious to feel if you are hitting the apex or not.

One of the advantages of racing in a sim, is that it's easy to change camera views and see replays of your driving: use the chase cam or helicopter view to analyse your driving lines from above

If you still have trouble in finding the right driving lines, you could jump into a race in view/watch mode and study other cars.

Corners

Try to identify what the type is of each corner: is it opening? or closing? Does it have 1 or more apexes?

Check the sequence of corners: should you change the apex of one corner for a better racing line in the next corner? In other words, do you need to sacrifice one corner over another?

Prioritising corners: some corners are more important than other ones, in terms of minimum cornering speed and if they are followed by a long straight. This will be discussed in more detail in the article on improving your lap times using telemetry data.

After you know the corners, have a look at the full track map. That way you can mentally link the view from the cockpit with the overall location on track. Do not use on-screen track map overlays while learning a new track. Same remark for racing line indicators that change color to indicate when you should brake. These driving 'aids' will limit your progress big time. The first 10 laps will be harder without them, but after that you will learn much faster without them.

Learn the corner names: especially of interest if you are using spotter tools like for instance Crew Chief. Your spotter will tell you that there has been a big crash in "the Kink" while racing on the Road America track: if you are just about to turn-in in that corner, it's very useful information to know that you should expect a wrecked car in the middle of the track.

Change in materials

Different (track) materials could have different grip levels in different circumstances, like for instance when it's raining

Examples: different concrete in some parts of the track in Sebring

You have different materials on the track, the kerb, and some run-off area (grass/concrete/gravel ...): practice by intentionally driving over it to see how much it unsettles your car. Sometimes this is very forgiving, sometimes it kills your car in a minute, so you'd better be prepared.

Track elevation changes

Is the track going uphill or downhill? This is very important to know, especially in corners or braking zones. Braking will be easier uphill, and more difficult when going downhill.

Does the track have sections with positive or negative camber? In other words: is there a height difference between the outsides of the track and the middle section?

Positive camber means that the outside of the corner is higher than the inside (think of oval circuits with banked corners). This will allow for higher cornering speeds compared to neutral corners. Negative camber is the opposite and makes cornering more tricky.

Camber is of course very relevant in cornering but be careful in heavy braking zones: a straight line on track could also have positive or negative camber: during heavy braking this could pull your car left or right.

Remark: in car setups they also talk about camber: this is about the position of the tires when comparing to a vertical axis

Driving

Start by driving very slowly, so you'll have the time to look around and absorb all these details. You can compare this to what race drivers do in real life by doing a track walk.

Use a slow car to withstand the urge to put the pedal to the metal right away: use a Mazda MX-5 (Miata), Skip Barber or similar. Slow cars also give you a better feel of the corners: for instance, TC (Touring Cars) are less forgiving in late braking than GT3 cars

Treat it like driving in real life, not a video game. This will curve your aggression.

Exercises

To force yourself to drive at really slow speeds, attempt to drive for 15 mins without getting an incident (inc) warning in iRacing (or similar in other sims)

Drive the track a couple of times without touching your brakes.

Drive the FULL track in 3rd gear all the time: this gives you a better idea about the minimum cornering speed

Pro tips

Don't forget that some of your brake markers could be destroyed during a race, thereby eliminating your breaking sign. Make sure you have a plan B in case this happens. Better also pick some static non-destroyable visual clues where to brake, turn in etc

A bit related to the previous tip: make sure your braking points are still visible during the night (when doing endurance races) or during different weather conditions (heavy rain, fog, sunrise, sunset ...). Not all parts of the track are equally lit during night races! And if I'm not mistaken, when I was playing Project Cars 2: when in a night race you could damage your front lights, making it VERY dark after kissing the crash barriers :-) And depending on your sim this could be damage that you could or could not repair during a pit stop.

Jump to the Getting Faster Series overwiew page to see all articles in the series.