[Marcin Dworog]

Well, i want to help you, but it isn't that easy to just remember a formula and just use it in race, also i'm not a pro, you need practice and race can go cluster-foo very quick.

First i would always advise to armor up and be ready for some iSalt, some folks can drive aggressive and then became *surprised pikachu face* when someone is done with their poo acts and takes matters on their hands (closing the door late, dive bomb ultra-late-braking, starting to bumping you from the middle of track when you are squished to the line). Try to keep your line and if somebody dies off you, then do what people mostly do, ignore iSalt boomerville. "If he/she dies, he/she dies"
Also don't look at your incident points, AC have simplified system and if race gets heated and light bumpy, it still gonna punish you like you did a war-crime. Just keep driving and have fun from the race, not the overalls standing.

Secondly, for attack try to get control of inside and outside lines without falling off them, it is very powerful to keep the line and use it for your advantage, mostly people with brain gonna choose to let you go and wait for your mistake to pass you, or simply successfully defend their line (don't be surprised, attacks are a risk). Most of time it is who ""owns"" which line at the exit of the corner, usually the inside, but S'es are more complex, due to having another corner after first so your lane changes to the other. For now, try to keep the line and don't fall off from it, accidentally closing the door late or just spinning without control. Later you can actually start trying to brake slighty later to get the inside control, but it isn't easy, you can overshoot the corner and do more harm than good, for now focus on lane control.

Third, Defense is opposite to attack, you pick the lane first and try to use it in the full, making opponent risk too much time and slowing down trying to find lane to pass you. Problem is, people are random, some gonna accept lane defense, some gonna dive bomb you forza like (just kill you) or think that their brakes are made from magic and gonna brake even later than you and fly forward under-steer. There is also allowance to give the incoming opponent inside line and expecting that they will overshoot it, so you do outside-inside-inside and exit with slight better speed giving you a chance to pick next lane before corner to defend it (it not always works, but when do, usually you go enough fast to pass the opponent). Also don't try to defend religiously, it often ends with someone faster than you, punting you to finish your forced defensive, it is always good to be clear with your defense, so opponent knows he now needs to think this through.

Fourth, the pace. Attack and defense matters only in race with someone who is your level. If you defend and you are slowing down someone way faster than you, observe him, if he clearly is ""sniffing"" your butt, give him pass, you gonna easily see him going into ""narnia"" quicker than you think, but do that only if you clearly see that opponent is fast, if it is like just 2 turns quick and falls behind, stay on defense. Also remember, attacking-defending is time wasting, everyone else driving race line gonna be faster than those who use 'Att', 'Def'. so don't be surprised when more people will show up.

Like i said in beginning, i'm not a professional, but i saw enough racing in AC, iRacing and had some online racing, to know the basics a bit. I hope it helps you and stay strong.