[Russell Sobie]

Keep in mind that  with other people of the track you wil often have to be off the optimal line, and you have to compensate for that by taking the corner slower etc. Just yesterday I did a PC2 race with 12 or so live players and 18 very slow AI cars. Basically moving chicanes. Very weird race, but good training in being flexible and finding alternate lines when another car is crawling at the apex.

This is the biggest mistake I see most often in races here. There's plenty of people who can put in good lap times alone on the track, but when you put them side by side with another car, they haven't a clue as to how to take a corner a car+ width off the apex and still keep it on the track. Or how to hit an apex but alter their exit so they still leave a car+ width on the outside.

A common occurrence for me is to qualify 10th-20th, then pass 5 or so guys that wreck out lap one due to whatever reason... and then some of those 5 guys (who overall are faster hotlappers than me) expect to easily pass everyone slow than them once they get back on the track. They then find that just a tiny bit of defense keep them at bay because they can't take a corner off the optimal racing line. They either end up stuck behind me permanently, or get so frustrated they dive bomb. Sometimes I'll see it coming and let it go, but most times it's out of no where and they cause a wreck.

In short, after you can go around a particular track 20 times without losing control once while keeping it within 5 seconds of a normal race pace*... start taking corners with sub-optimal racing lines. See what you have to give up (speed, turn in, breaking point, etc.) in order to make the turn without losing too much time.

*This is my own personal training litmus test... if I can't keep the car on track that consistently, I very likely won't sign up for a race in the first place.