[Caleb Avent]

Hey Guys, will be my first time participating here, really looking forward to it! Got a bunch of questions though:

1) Pretty new to sim racing.  As a beginner, which of the series for the new season would be good to race in? (Is there a couple series worth racing in as a beginner?) 
I assume the GT3 one (America/Asia/Europe.. I live in North America) would be good, GT3 cars are easier to handle, is that correct? Like I heard a McLaren 650 GT3 type of thing would be good?  If the GT3 series is recommended, what be the most beginner-friendly cars in there to get learning on?

2) The 20 Min Daily Series, i see there is one called Skip Barber Racing school, does that actually mean it's for beginners? or just to learn a certain type of car? Are any of the 20 Minute ones good for new racers? (20 minute races maybe better to join that the 1 hour long one I'm thinking, and see there's some weekly versions of those too)

3) - As far as fuel consumption = 200% / Tire =170%..what does that mean? (fuel gets consumed twice as fast if 200%? If so, how do we know how much fuel to have in a car for a race length?)
    - Driving Aids: TC / AB / SC that's Traction Control, ABS and Stability Control correct? What does the '1' or '0' mean, just whether you can turn those on or not, or that they are mandatory off and on? (Side question to that, is it better to turn those things off to get better, or leave them on where allowed when learning?)

4) Is 'full damage' always on for every race? Are full penalties on?

5) I think I bought one of the Race/Track packs for Assetto Corsa, looks like tracks that will be used can be download from SRS, but for Cars, if there's a car we need/want to use, lets say for GT3, I would have to buy that addon through Steam correct?

6) For Pitting, do you ever take the time to change tires, or always just do the 1L of fuel for a mandatory pit? Does tire wear make a difference at all in a 20 minute race? I assume maybe a 1 hour race tire wear might have an impact so you should plan to pit halfway and get new tires in a 1 hour race?

Think that's about all I can think of for now, thanks for replies in advance!

[Igor Relja]

Hey Guys, will be my first time participating here, really looking forward to it! Got a bunch of questions though:

1) Pretty new to sim racing.  As a beginner, which of the series for the new season would be good to race in? (Is there a couple series worth racing in as a beginner?) 
I assume the GT3 one (America/Asia/Europe.. I live in North America) would be good, GT3 cars are easier to handle, is that correct? Like I heard a McLaren 650 GT3 type of thing would be good?  If the GT3 series is recommended, what be the most beginner-friendly cars in there to get learning on?

I would recommend daily 20 minutes series to test the water. GT3 are easier to drive but 1 hour races require certain degree of strategy (tyres, fuel, number of stops (not usually, but some races can't be driven with one stop)), and since they are longer, people tend to take them more seriously. Being only one race per day also means that people will get mad more easily if you ruin their race, opposed to 20 min races which are run every few hours. So I would (or I did) choose one of those 3 cars, test it "a bit" offline, then sign up for race. After few days (or weeks) go for 1 hour. If you are total beginner, you probably won't fight for championships immediately, so missing a week or two won't matter too much.

2) The 20 Min Daily Series, i see there is one called Skip Barber Racing school, does that actually mean it's for beginners? or just to learn a certain type of car? Are any of the 20 Minute ones good for new racers? (20 minute races maybe better to join that the 1 hour long one I'm thinking, and see there's some weekly versions of those too)

It's just the name of a car, but it's fairly easy to keep on track so it's usually used for learning.  So it might be a good place to start.

3) - As far as fuel consumption = 200% / Tire =170%..what does that mean? (fuel gets consumed twice as fast if 200%? If so, how do we know how much fuel to have in a car for a race length?)
    - Driving Aids: TC / AB / SC that's Traction Control, ABS and Stability Control correct? What does the '1' or '0' mean, just whether you can turn those on or not, or that they are mandatory off and on? (Side question to that, is it better to turn those things off to get better, or leave them on where allowed when learning?)

Yes, if the fuel is set at 200%, it's consumed twice as fast (to simulate longer races in 1 hour period). Same for tyres. Figuring out how much fuel to put in is part of fun. But if you do 2 full laps, then jump to the pits, under Fuel tab you'll get estimate how many laps you can get with filled amount. There are also apps that can show you on your HUD how many liters you have, what's your average consumption and how many laps you can go (I don't think that any original AC apps show details, so you have to download them).

But the fuel only really matters in 1 hour races. In 20 mins you'll never need to pit for refueling. Sure, you want to be as light as possible, but a liter or two extra usually don't hurt your times too much. As long as you don't run full tank

So, pick car/track combo you want to race, see how many laps there should be (you can use RSR live timing app to keep track of the best times (some people here get really close to world records), or if it's daily series check out in the Standings), do as many consistent (without going off or spinning) laps as you can to get the best estimate for your driving style, round up to the higher number and add few more liters for one extra lap. At least it's how I do it. If you are confident, you can put in the bare minimum, but for most cars it doesn't really matter, since one extra lap is usually just two or three extra liters.

Aids are correct. 1 means factory and 0 means OFF. So, if the car have it (TC and ABS), you can use it. Is it better on or off, depends. Some sim racing purists claim that "real" drivers drive with everything off. I'm an average driver so I might be wrong, but I think that's bullshit. If the car is built in real life to be driven with TC and/or ABS, why shouldn't you be able to drive it on your PC. In theory, you are faster with everything off, but some cars are very difficult to control without the electronics, even for the best drivers. So, as everything else, test it offline and see what works best for you. If you keep spinning or locking the brakes, turn the electronics (TC and ABS) on, if you can drive safely without, keep them off. Stability control in AC is like auto braking, or auto turning in some other games is artificial assistance (artificial in a way that it is assistance provided by the game, not the car, if you know what I mean) so you should learn to drive without it. The only real measures are your lap times and consistency.

4) Is 'full damage' always on for every race? Are full penalties on?

Damage is at 60% for every race, and penalties are full.

5) I think I bought one of the Race/Track packs for Assetto Corsa, looks like tracks that will be used can be download from SRS, but for Cars, if there's a car we need/want to use, lets say for GT3, I would have to buy that addon through Steam correct?

If the car/track isn't listed in the Mods thread, you need to buy it.

6) For Pitting, do you ever take the time to change tires, or always just do the 1L of fuel for a mandatory pit? Does tire wear make a difference at all in a 20 minute race? I assume maybe a 1 hour race tire wear might have an impact so you should plan to pit halfway and get new tires in a 1 hour race?

Pits are mandatory only in 1 hour races. And, just for the clarification, pit window means that you need to either change tyres or add minimum of 1 liter inside that window (10-50 mins). You can still pit outside the window if you need to, but it won't count as your stop.

I've touched that earlier, so I'll try to make it short here. You should always take tyres in 1h races (of course, there's an exception every now and then, but I can't think of a series that I was involved where one set could make it to the end. Especially with 170% wear. Same goes with fuel, almost always you'll have to add more than 1 liter. So you should plan the number of pits, and your strategy accordingly.

In 20 min races, you shouldn't pit unless your car is so damaged that it severely affects the drive. You fill up necessary fuel at the beginning. Tyre wear shouldn't be the factor here. The only question is can you make it on softer compound (if there's even a choice) or you need the harder.

Think that's about all I can think of for now, thanks for replies in advance!

NP, if I've complicated about something let me know and I'll (or somebody else) try to clarify.

[Caleb Avent]

Hey Guys, will be my first time participating here, really looking forward to it! Got a bunch of questions though:

1) Pretty new to sim racing.  As a beginner, which of the series for the new season would be good to race in? (Is there a couple series worth racing in as a beginner?) 
I assume the GT3 one (America/Asia/Europe.. I live in North America) would be good, GT3 cars are easier to handle, is that correct? Like I heard a McLaren 650 GT3 type of thing would be good?  If the GT3 series is recommended, what be the most beginner-friendly cars in there to get learning on?

I would recommend daily 20 minutes series to test the water. GT3 are easier to drive but 1 hour races require certain degree of strategy (tyres, fuel, number of stops (not usually, but some races can't be driven with one stop)), and since they are longer, people tend to take them more seriously. Being only one race per day also means that people will get mad more easily if you ruin their race, opposed to 20 min races which are run every few hours. So I would (or I did) choose one of those 3 cars, test it "a bit" offline, then sign up for race. After few days (or weeks) go for 1 hour. If you are total beginner, you probably won't fight for championships immediately, so missing a week or two won't matter too much.

2) The 20 Min Daily Series, i see there is one called Skip Barber Racing school, does that actually mean it's for beginners? or just to learn a certain type of car? Are any of the 20 Minute ones good for new racers? (20 minute races maybe better to join that the 1 hour long one I'm thinking, and see there's some weekly versions of those too)

It's just the name of a car, but it's fairly easy to keep on track so it's usually used for learning.  So it might be a good place to start.

3) - As far as fuel consumption = 200% / Tire =170%..what does that mean? (fuel gets consumed twice as fast if 200%? If so, how do we know how much fuel to have in a car for a race length?)
    - Driving Aids: TC / AB / SC that's Traction Control, ABS and Stability Control correct? What does the '1' or '0' mean, just whether you can turn those on or not, or that they are mandatory off and on? (Side question to that, is it better to turn those things off to get better, or leave them on where allowed when learning?)

Yes, if the fuel is set at 200%, it's consumed twice as fast (to simulate longer races in 1 hour period). Same for tyres. Figuring out how much fuel to put in is part of fun. But if you do 2 full laps, then jump to the pits, under Fuel tab you'll get estimate how many laps you can get with filled amount. There are also apps that can show you on your HUD how many liters you have, what's your average consumption and how many laps you can go (I don't think that any original AC apps show details, so you have to download them).

But the fuel only really matters in 1 hour races. In 20 mins you'll never need to pit for refueling. Sure, you want to be as light as possible, but a liter or two extra usually don't hurt your times too much. As long as you don't run full tank

So, pick car/track combo you want to race, see how many laps there should be (you can use RSR live timing app to keep track of the best times (some people here get really close to world records), or if it's daily series check out in the Standings), do as many consistent (without going off or spinning) laps as you can to get the best estimate for your driving style, round up to the higher number and add few more liters for one extra lap. At least it's how I do it. If you are confident, you can put in the bare minimum, but for most cars it doesn't really matter, since one extra lap is usually just two or three extra liters.

Aids are correct. 1 means factory and 0 means OFF. So, if the car have it (TC and ABS), you can use it. Is it better on or off, depends. Some sim racing purists claim that "real" drivers drive with everything off. I'm an average driver so I might be wrong, but I think that's bullshit. If the car is built in real life to be driven with TC and/or ABS, why shouldn't you be able to drive it on your PC. In theory, you are faster with everything off, but some cars are very difficult to control without the electronics, even for the best drivers. So, as everything else, test it offline and see what works best for you. If you keep spinning or locking the brakes, turn the electronics (TC and ABS) on, if you can drive safely without, keep them off. Stability control in AC is like auto braking, or auto turning in some other games is artificial assistance (artificial in a way that it is assistance provided by the game, not the car, if you know what I mean) so you should learn to drive without it. The only real measures are your lap times and consistency.

4) Is 'full damage' always on for every race? Are full penalties on?

Damage is at 60% for every race, and penalties are full.

5) I think I bought one of the Race/Track packs for Assetto Corsa, looks like tracks that will be used can be download from SRS, but for Cars, if there's a car we need/want to use, lets say for GT3, I would have to buy that addon through Steam correct?

If the car/track isn't listed in the Mods thread, you need to buy it.

6) For Pitting, do you ever take the time to change tires, or always just do the 1L of fuel for a mandatory pit? Does tire wear make a difference at all in a 20 minute race? I assume maybe a 1 hour race tire wear might have an impact so you should plan to pit halfway and get new tires in a 1 hour race?

Pits are mandatory only in 1 hour races. And, just for the clarification, pit window means that you need to either change tyres or add minimum of 1 liter inside that window (10-50 mins). You can still pit outside the window if you need to, but it won't count as your stop.

I've touched that earlier, so I'll try to make it short here. You should always take tyres in 1h races (of course, there's an exception every now and then, but I can't think of a series that I was involved where one set could make it to the end. Especially with 170% wear. Same goes with fuel, almost always you'll have to add more than 1 liter. So you should plan the number of pits, and your strategy accordingly.

In 20 min races, you shouldn't pit unless your car is so damaged that it severely affects the drive. You fill up necessary fuel at the beginning. Tyre wear shouldn't be the factor here. The only question is can you make it on softer compound (if there's even a choice) or you need the harder.

Think that's about all I can think of for now, thanks for replies in advance!

NP, if I've complicated about something let me know and I'll (or somebody else) try to clarify.

Thanks for the answers!!

So for the 20 minute races, which one would you recommend for a beginner? Or maybe better yet, which car to stay away from at the start?

[Russell Sobie]

Skip Barber is a relatively slow car and has relatively few options for setup, but it can be challenging to make it corner at the edge of grip, so it's a great car to learn in (as Igor mentioned). I spent a couple of hours just putting it around Road America today and it is a joy to drive. The Porsche GT3 Cup is a fixed series and if I recall correctly is pretty easy to drive as well, so that's probably an even better choice. I don't think I've driven the BTCC Primera, so give it a try yourself.

Igor's answers were spot on. I'd only add a couple of things:

Download and install Content Manager if you haven't already. It is an alternate front-end for Assetto Corsa with a number of cool additions that I won't go into, except that it is trivial to set up a practice session with the same rules as any SRS race and then save that set up off, so you can have one setup for one car/track combo and another for another car/track combo... except with 170% tyre wear and 200% gas consumption.

All SRS races are done at 13:00 at 21 degrees C track temp (I think? Can someone correct me on that? I'm not on my gaming PC at the moment...) so be sure you are practicing in the same conditions.

For apps:

• Helicorsa or Car Radar (or both!). Especially if you are racing with a single display. It'll help a lot with situational awareness and keep you from drifting into other cars early race (or any time).
  
• CrewChief (add some companionship to your racing experience. Jim will keep you updated with your fastest lap, fuel consumption, who's in first place, and a bunch of other stuff).
  
• Other suggestions are here: http://www.simracingsystem.com/showthread.php?tid=1862
  

I also like to point new folks to this thread (with video link) for tips on how to not ruin races, for yourself or others: http://www.simracingsystem.com/showthread.php?tid=2125

And here's a FAQ put together by members of the forum you might find useful: http://www.simracingsystem.com/showthread.php?tid=2156

[Igor Relja]

Well, I haven't tested all the cars, but 911 and Skip Barber should be a good place to start. Do a few laps with each and see which suits you better. RSS Formula 3 is pretty good also. Not too fast like F1, but still can be fun. Basically anything with TC and/or ABS or anything that is not too powerful.0

I would avoid Russell Alexis and TVR because they are those old school, no electronics, no bullshit cars, and they could be tricky to keep on track. And if you are total beginner, maybe La Ferrari, just because of the sheer speed. It's not too hard to drive but it goes really fast, so you can't afford mistakes.

But then again, everything is personal preference. If you have time, try everything you can and see which one suits you best.

[Steve Allan]

Hey Guys, will be my first time participating here, really looking forward to it! Got a bunch of questions though:

1) Pretty new to sim racing.  As a beginner, which of the series for the new season would be good to race in? (Is there a couple series worth racing in as a beginner?) 
I assume the GT3 one (America/Asia/Europe.. I live in North America) would be good, GT3 cars are easier to handle, is that correct? Like I heard a McLaren 650 GT3 type of thing would be good?  If the GT3 series is recommended, what be the most beginner-friendly cars in there to get learning on?

I would recommend daily 20 minutes series to test the water. GT3 are easier to drive but 1 hour races require certain degree of strategy (tyres, fuel, number of stops (not usually, but some races can't be driven with one stop)), and since they are longer, people tend to take them more seriously. Being only one race per day also means that people will get mad more easily if you ruin their race, opposed to 20 min races which are run every few hours. So I would (or I did) choose one of those 3 cars, test it "a bit" offline, then sign up for race. After few days (or weeks) go for 1 hour. If you are total beginner, you probably won't fight for championships immediately, so missing a week or two won't matter too much.

2) The 20 Min Daily Series, i see there is one called Skip Barber Racing school, does that actually mean it's for beginners? or just to learn a certain type of car? Are any of the 20 Minute ones good for new racers? (20 minute races maybe better to join that the 1 hour long one I'm thinking, and see there's some weekly versions of those too)

It's just the name of a car, but it's fairly easy to keep on track so it's usually used for learning.  So it might be a good place to start.

3) - As far as fuel consumption = 200% / Tire =170%..what does that mean? (fuel gets consumed twice as fast if 200%? If so, how do we know how much fuel to have in a car for a race length?)
    - Driving Aids: TC / AB / SC that's Traction Control, ABS and Stability Control correct? What does the '1' or '0' mean, just whether you can turn those on or not, or that they are mandatory off and on? (Side question to that, is it better to turn those things off to get better, or leave them on where allowed when learning?)

Yes, if the fuel is set at 200%, it's consumed twice as fast (to simulate longer races in 1 hour period). Same for tyres. Figuring out how much fuel to put in is part of fun. But if you do 2 full laps, then jump to the pits, under Fuel tab you'll get estimate how many laps you can get with filled amount. There are also apps that can show you on your HUD how many liters you have, what's your average consumption and how many laps you can go (I don't think that any original AC apps show details, so you have to download them).

But the fuel only really matters in 1 hour races. In 20 mins you'll never need to pit for refueling. Sure, you want to be as light as possible, but a liter or two extra usually don't hurt your times too much. As long as you don't run full tank

So, pick car/track combo you want to race, see how many laps there should be (you can use RSR live timing app to keep track of the best times (some people here get really close to world records), or if it's daily series check out in the Standings), do as many consistent (without going off or spinning) laps as you can to get the best estimate for your driving style, round up to the higher number and add few more liters for one extra lap. At least it's how I do it. If you are confident, you can put in the bare minimum, but for most cars it doesn't really matter, since one extra lap is usually just two or three extra liters.

Aids are correct. 1 means factory and 0 means OFF. So, if the car have it (TC and ABS), you can use it. Is it better on or off, depends. Some sim racing purists claim that "real" drivers drive with everything off. I'm an average driver so I might be wrong, but I think that's bullshit. If the car is built in real life to be driven with TC and/or ABS, why shouldn't you be able to drive it on your PC. In theory, you are faster with everything off, but some cars are very difficult to control without the electronics, even for the best drivers. So, as everything else, test it offline and see what works best for you. If you keep spinning or locking the brakes, turn the electronics (TC and ABS) on, if you can drive safely without, keep them off. Stability control in AC is like auto braking, or auto turning in some other games is artificial assistance (artificial in a way that it is assistance provided by the game, not the car, if you know what I mean) so you should learn to drive without it. The only real measures are your lap times and consistency.

4) Is 'full damage' always on for every race? Are full penalties on?

Damage is at 60% for every race, and penalties are full.

5) I think I bought one of the Race/Track packs for Assetto Corsa, looks like tracks that will be used can be download from SRS, but for Cars, if there's a car we need/want to use, lets say for GT3, I would have to buy that addon through Steam correct?

If the car/track isn't listed in the Mods thread, you need to buy it.

6) For Pitting, do you ever take the time to change tires, or always just do the 1L of fuel for a mandatory pit? Does tire wear make a difference at all in a 20 minute race? I assume maybe a 1 hour race tire wear might have an impact so you should plan to pit halfway and get new tires in a 1 hour race?

Pits are mandatory only in 1 hour races. And, just for the clarification, pit window means that you need to either change tyres or add minimum of 1 liter inside that window (10-50 mins). You can still pit outside the window if you need to, but it won't count as your stop.

I've touched that earlier, so I'll try to make it short here. You should always take tyres in 1h races (of course, there's an exception every now and then, but I can't think of a series that I was involved where one set could make it to the end. Especially with 170% wear. Same goes with fuel, almost always you'll have to add more than 1 liter. So you should plan the number of pits, and your strategy accordingly.

In 20 min races, you shouldn't pit unless your car is so damaged that it severely affects the drive. You fill up necessary fuel at the beginning. Tyre wear shouldn't be the factor here. The only question is can you make it on softer compound (if there's even a choice) or you need the harder.

Think that's about all I can think of for now, thanks for replies in advance!

NP, if I've complicated about something let me know and I'll (or somebody else) try to clarify.

Thanks for the answers!!

So for the 20 minute races, which one would you recommend for a beginner? Or maybe better yet, which car to stay away from at the start?


Best thing I would consider is just do a few hours testing the cars you find interesting, and then also try and learn the tracks, also practice in figuring out where would be the safest place to let them pass in Blue Flag conditions.

[Igor Relja]

Yeah, one more tip: stay away from Daily Porsche this week. The thing is shitshow, even in first server.