[Russell Sobie]

Why do you need a server before the actual races? You can set the practice or hotlap offline, with the same temperatures as on the servers etc., there you are alone and you can practice hotlaps or even laps with full fuel and other compound

A few points here to make.

Firstly, I have yet to find out how to get the server's exact settings before the race actually starts (weather, time of day, temps). Where is that information shown? All I see in the race specifications is like the following example:

Code:

Start / Finish: 2017-11-19 - 2017-12-31
Session schedule: 00:00,06:00,09:00,12:00,17:00,22:00
Starting Mode: FastStanding // Fuel Usage: 100 // Tire Usage: 100 // Mech Failures: 1 // Race Start Time: 23:58:00 // Race Time Scale: 1
Driving aids: TC: 1 // AB: 1 // SC: 0

If time of day, temps, and weather specifics are available, I'd love know where to get them, as going into a track full of people TOTALLY blind is a truly awful idea, so I might as well have it set up right to start with.

Secondly, I believe that part of the reason many racers on here are struggling is that all they do is hotlap on the track alone (if that!) and have zero idea how to deal with someone right on their tail or right in front of them. Getting good and consistent lap times is a big part of racing, but that's not 100% of it*. You likely won't learn how to alter your brake zone for an overtake, how to safely protect position, how to re-enter the track without t-boning other cars... the list goes on and on. 

Thirdly, watching other drivers' POVs from the pit is an invaluable resource. Doing so can allow you to immediately pick up the nuances of a particular car/track combination that you would have to spend hours and hours on privately to discover... if ever. When I do this I can typically shave a couple of seconds off of a track I'm not familiar after watching just one lap of a talented driver.

And finally, you can actually meet and have conversations with other people you are competing against. I think many people would be less apt to knob things up in T1 if they could internalize that there are actual human beings (and some aliens) across the Internet wires when they are racing on SRS (or anywhere).

In conclusion, doing nothing but private hotlapping is a really boring and not-all-that-useful way to practice racing.

*Unless, of course, you are so fast that you never have to pass anyone that isn't blue flagged to you.