12-02-2017, 02:55 PM
Over the last few weeks of SRS races I've noticed a really odd trend during the qualifying period for races. The purpose of this post is to point out what I see is the problem, and to offer some suggestions on how we can all improve our qualifying experience.
Typical Qualifying Behavior
When practice ends just 3 minutes after we are allowed to join the server, most people understandably want to get out on the track as quickly as possible. This might be because this is the only practice the driver will get before the race. Or because you need to get your tyres warmed up as soon as possible to get that extra lap in before time runs out. Whatever the reason, the end result is the same.
The Problem
Cars are too close to each other to account for everything that can occur during qualifying. Fast drivers are going to get slowed up by slower drivers. Inexperienced drivers may go off the track and can create obstacles for others. Essentially, unless you have a good buffer zone between you and any other car on the track, it is a good chance that your lap times are going to suffer. You are going to have to spend at least a couple of laps sorting this out, either by slowing and letting traffic pass you, or worse, trying to overtake other drivers during qualifying.
What You Can Do
Everyone should consider the "out lap" as a "preparation lap". The out lap, as its name suggests, is the lap you do as you come out of the pits. Your lap time on this lap isn't going to break any records, as you aren't crossing starting line going flat out. Because of this, you can use this lap to purposefully put time between you and other cars on the track. How do you do this?
The fastest way to get a gap between you and the car in front of you is to just wait a good 3-4 seconds before leaving the pit after another car. It's that simple. But even if everyone does this, there's going to be cases where someone is significantly slower than you or you are significantly slower than the car behind you. You'll need to adjust accordingly.
Be sure you have the RealTime application enabled and placed somewhere on your display that you can easily glance at while going around the track. It is highly recommended that you have this app available for reference when there are other cars on the track. It shows the time gap between you and the cars that are nearest to you (as well as some other information that is useful during a race).
During your out lap, watch the gap between you and the car in front of you. If the time gap is less than 5 or 6 seconds, you are too close. Slow down and let the gap increase. Do some of those fancy weaving maneuvers you see pro drivers do on television to help warm their tyers! Do this even if the driver in front of you is known to be faster around the track than you are. If he/she is faster, great... that means you won't have to worry about getting slowed down by them during the following laps. However, they may have to contend with the cars in front of them, so the bigger the gap the better. The faster you get this gap large enough, the more time during this lap everyone on the track has to adjust the spread of cars.
Got a nice big gap between you and the car in front? Now take a look at the gap between you and the car behind you. This is the tricky part, because you'll have to figure out if the driver behind you is chomping at the bit trying to overtake you (for no good reason) or if they too are trying to create a gap between them and you. If they are trying to overtake you... well, they are being dumb. Lift off the throttle, be predictable, and just let them pass. No one is getting pole position from their out lap lap time, and overall this choice will give you more time to do actual qualifying. If, however, they are also putting a buffer between themselves and you, super! They will see that you are slowing down, and that they should do the same to maintain a good amount of time between cars.
Speaking in generalities, if the average lap time for a circuit is 2:00.00 and there are 24 drivers trying to qualify, that means that if everyone was perfectly spread out throughout the track, they would have 5 seconds between them (120 seconds divided by 24 drivers). That doesn't sound like a lot of time, but it is ages when you are talking about lap times. Given that we are all at drastically different skill levels here on SRS, some gaps may need to be bigger or smaller... and some tracks have lap times under a minute, so you'll need to adjust accordingly.
In Closing
The overall message here is that we should be spending the entire out lap preparing for the rest of qualifying. Go as slow as you need to during the start of the lap to place as much space between you and other cars in front and behind you. When you get to the point in the track where you can accelerate to maximum speed across the starting line (typically just before the final turn in the circuit), you can turn on the speed and begin putting up your best lap times without having to concentrate on the other drivers.
Be safe out there!
Typical Qualifying Behavior
When practice ends just 3 minutes after we are allowed to join the server, most people understandably want to get out on the track as quickly as possible. This might be because this is the only practice the driver will get before the race. Or because you need to get your tyres warmed up as soon as possible to get that extra lap in before time runs out. Whatever the reason, the end result is the same.
The Problem
Cars are too close to each other to account for everything that can occur during qualifying. Fast drivers are going to get slowed up by slower drivers. Inexperienced drivers may go off the track and can create obstacles for others. Essentially, unless you have a good buffer zone between you and any other car on the track, it is a good chance that your lap times are going to suffer. You are going to have to spend at least a couple of laps sorting this out, either by slowing and letting traffic pass you, or worse, trying to overtake other drivers during qualifying.
What You Can Do
Everyone should consider the "out lap" as a "preparation lap". The out lap, as its name suggests, is the lap you do as you come out of the pits. Your lap time on this lap isn't going to break any records, as you aren't crossing starting line going flat out. Because of this, you can use this lap to purposefully put time between you and other cars on the track. How do you do this?
The fastest way to get a gap between you and the car in front of you is to just wait a good 3-4 seconds before leaving the pit after another car. It's that simple. But even if everyone does this, there's going to be cases where someone is significantly slower than you or you are significantly slower than the car behind you. You'll need to adjust accordingly.
Be sure you have the RealTime application enabled and placed somewhere on your display that you can easily glance at while going around the track. It is highly recommended that you have this app available for reference when there are other cars on the track. It shows the time gap between you and the cars that are nearest to you (as well as some other information that is useful during a race).
During your out lap, watch the gap between you and the car in front of you. If the time gap is less than 5 or 6 seconds, you are too close. Slow down and let the gap increase. Do some of those fancy weaving maneuvers you see pro drivers do on television to help warm their tyers! Do this even if the driver in front of you is known to be faster around the track than you are. If he/she is faster, great... that means you won't have to worry about getting slowed down by them during the following laps. However, they may have to contend with the cars in front of them, so the bigger the gap the better. The faster you get this gap large enough, the more time during this lap everyone on the track has to adjust the spread of cars.
Got a nice big gap between you and the car in front? Now take a look at the gap between you and the car behind you. This is the tricky part, because you'll have to figure out if the driver behind you is chomping at the bit trying to overtake you (for no good reason) or if they too are trying to create a gap between them and you. If they are trying to overtake you... well, they are being dumb. Lift off the throttle, be predictable, and just let them pass. No one is getting pole position from their out lap lap time, and overall this choice will give you more time to do actual qualifying. If, however, they are also putting a buffer between themselves and you, super! They will see that you are slowing down, and that they should do the same to maintain a good amount of time between cars.
Speaking in generalities, if the average lap time for a circuit is 2:00.00 and there are 24 drivers trying to qualify, that means that if everyone was perfectly spread out throughout the track, they would have 5 seconds between them (120 seconds divided by 24 drivers). That doesn't sound like a lot of time, but it is ages when you are talking about lap times. Given that we are all at drastically different skill levels here on SRS, some gaps may need to be bigger or smaller... and some tracks have lap times under a minute, so you'll need to adjust accordingly.
In Closing
The overall message here is that we should be spending the entire out lap preparing for the rest of qualifying. Go as slow as you need to during the start of the lap to place as much space between you and other cars in front and behind you. When you get to the point in the track where you can accelerate to maximum speed across the starting line (typically just before the final turn in the circuit), you can turn on the speed and begin putting up your best lap times without having to concentrate on the other drivers.
Be safe out there!
Tutorial on how to use Autodesk Mudbox and Adobe Photoshop to make custom liveries! https://tinyurl.com/yaetz4qz
Grab my PDash Skins (an Assetto Corsa HUD app) here: https://tinyurl.com/y95ewubz
Grab my PDash Skins (an Assetto Corsa HUD app) here: https://tinyurl.com/y95ewubz
