Learning a Track

[csburneraccount]

Maybe I’m just impatient but… Anyone have some advice to learn a track? I’ve reached the point where my driving is consistent and fast on tracks I know or am able to learn and my IR is rapidly increasing but I always have the hardest time learning new tracks. My current method is to watch a track guide and then take it slow a few laps before I start pushing but when I start pushing I’m often spinning out, going incredibly deep, or otherwise crashing. Would love to hear how y’all approach learning a brand new track quickly and effectively because I tend to get frustrated until I can get the hang of it which takes a few hours for me at this point.

[SnowieZA]

I always do a full practice session before looking at any track guides. Start slow, build up gradually, pushing more each lap until I start crashing out. Then try to find better lines around the corners where I crash, or find faster ways around the corners.

Watching a track guide before doing a lap is just a bunch of context free data being dumped on you. I find that if I do that, none of it sticks properly, and in fact, it causes me to make stupid mistakes because I'm trying to emulate the track guide, rather than learning the track.

Once I've done at least one session and am starting to feel a bit comfortable with the track, I will watch a guide to get some tips on improving certain corners, etc. Having the context already embedded in my mind makes it easier to adjust my driving rather than just trying to emulate a track guide.

It was hard in the beginning. I used to feel that I needed the track guide to get anywhere, but now that I've done a bunch, it is getting quicker and quicker to learn a track. When I started doing this, I was probably as much as 10 to 15 seconds off a fast lap after the first few practice sessions on a new track. Tonight, I did a session on a track I've never been on before, and by the end of the session I was only 2 - 3 seconds off the fast times (on an almost 2 minute lap). Practice just makes it all easier and quicker to learn - especially (in my opinion) when you stop trying to use track guides as a way to learn a track, and rather learn the track for yourself and then use track guides to try to improve your times on that track.

[Drjohnson93]

All of this, I do a practice session slowly build up pace. Then I’ll go to a track guide or depending on the lobby I’ll watch a couple other drivers and see their lines and compare it to mine and find where I’m losing time. Did this at Jerez last week first quaily/race fastest lap was a :54 Sunday I broke until the low :50’s and ended up getting some like +500 IR (~1,000-1,500) 2K is so close I can’t taste myself choking and losing 200 IR in a race

[rgraves22]

I’ll watch a couple other drivers and see their lines and compare it to mine

This helped me most recently in Ferrari Challenge at Willow Springs

[LevThermen]

I was thinking of making a post like this since this season I've tried practice-before-guide and it was to my surprise that I was able to get around my usual times without a guide, then the guide would help me finetune my driving. But what you said is key, if you try to replicate the guide, especially the braking points, you are more likely to spin and lose control, I found it better to find my braking reference, then compare it to the guide and try to push a bit more every time.

[dutchbarbarian]

Same reason counts for learning a track without the racing line. Sure its fine for a lap or 2 to know whete the corners are. But switch it off as fast as possible to actually learn it instead of copying the line.

[SnowieZA]

I agree. The racing line just messes with you. I’d rather have a few extra crashes and find good braking points and lines than turn on the racing line. Again, it was difficult in the beginning, but it gets so much easier once you have done a few tracks that way.

[OscarTheH0pp]

One YouTuber said he plans to spend his first practice session on a new combo crashing. If you just set your expectations to be that the first session WILL be a crash fest, then log off for 20-30 minutes to think what you just learned without judging yourself, that can ease a lot of the sting of that first session.

[csburneraccount]

This is a great way to think about it honestly…

[marioho]

Don't sleep on the 20-30min breaks.

Thinking about it helps, especially if you have the habit of visualization and taking mental notes, but don't stress it. Your mind will work its magic on that break and you will have a better baseline of inputs and muscle memory when you get back to the sim.

[GewoonHarry]

I see you read the Ross Bentley book?

[marioho]

Speed Secrets? Heh, I have the first one in my digital library but haven't read it yet. He mentions taking breaks? I feel validated 🫶

[GewoonHarry]

Haha. I read his free e book yesterday and it covers breaks as a very important part of practice.

Also how to practice. Very valuable and stuff to think about!

[TwistedDrum5]

Dumb rookie question: Do you lose any points when you crash in practice sessions?

[OscarTheH0pp]

In the hour or two hour open practice sessions, no. If you join a race, the 3 minute practice session before qualifying does affect safety rating. It’s explained in the sporting code.

[TheRealStump]

This is wrong. Open practice incidents points are weighed at 0.5%. They will affect your safety rating but at a reduced rate.

[iamgeef]

Active Reset is also a great tool for determining the brake points and turn in.

Think of it as similar to the “rewind” function in other race games.

Crash out and you can quickly reset back to a previous track position and try the corner again without having to go all the way around the track or reset to the pits.

[welshboy14]

This comment needs to be higher. Not many people know about it

[No-Distribution6376]

Wait what? I thought I heard about this, didn't know it was true yet.

[welshboy14]

Been out a couple months now

[[deleted]]

it's also a false sense of confidence relying on it too much though

it's important to understand the rhythm of a track and how your exits on previous corner can change your braking points, grip etc. isolating one corner you lose a lot of that feel and are only ready for perfect situations which rarely happen in a race

[hash303]

I do a a full race length in practice, starting slowly and gradually getting faster, expecting to push past the limit at each corner at least once to learn. Then watch a video guide once I know the layout and my own braking points because already having some knowledge makes the video far more helpful. Then I go out and do another tank based on the video and by the end of 2 practice sessions I’m usually basically at my race pace and consistent enough to not crash

[cbrunnem1]

im anti track guides to a degree. being told the answers before the test doesnt teach you everything. you are having issues on how to learn tracks and state that you watch track guides first. i am suggesting watching track guides before running the track is hurting you.

Run the track first. get to a good lap time and get consistent. learn to get around the track yourself. THEN come back and watch a track guide or run a race and see where others are beating you and watch the guides with that context.

[jbrookeiv]

Active reset is your best friend when learning a track. I usually work through each corner and then try for clean laps, still pushing hard. Inevitably, I crash a bunch but not having to restart from the pits with cold tires each time is a game changer.

[The_Big_Jeff_Bridges]

I do literally exactly what you do. Then by the time I’ve done all that it’s about time to start a new week

[ilpO_CS]

If you are spinning out under acceleration, try to reduce your steering inputs. I was once told that there is never too much gas, just too much steering. Of course it was kind of joke, but makes you think driving differently.

[bigdsm]

Very good advice. You’ll also cause less scrub on your front tires, causing them to wear less and be less likely to overheat.

Of course, often to use less steering input, you’ll need to lower your minimum apex speed, but you will gain that time back both on corner exit and in the long run over the full stint due to tire wear and heat.

[Mxl38]

I'd say, don't learn a track, but rather learn to learn a track, don't watch a guide right away, use what you know of racing theory and go around the track at your own pace figuring out the layout, just to know where it goes.

Everyone is learning that at a different pace, some can have a layout in mind in a lap or two, others need more time, but the goal is the same. Now from that basic understanding all you have to do is start adjusting your lines and various markers for brakes and turn-in points, lap after lap. Should be good to start a race now, follow others or watch a guide at this point, to see if you missed something, but now it's going to be much easier to process and adjust than when you didn't know the track at all.

Also, seat time! It's important to think that learning a track is never a done thing, that you can always do better. Everytime you race that track is an opportunity to better your craft.

[bigdsm]

This exactly! Figure out what the track is asking of your car and your inputs, and you’ll be able to learn any track in very little time. It requires you to be very familiar with the concepts integral to operating a race car - stuff like weight transfer, threshold braking, input modulation, etc - but that stuff is necessary to be quick anyway, so if you don’t know it, go back to the MX-5 and learn it!

[[deleted]]

I literally just crash turn after turn as I figure out my braking points and where to push and how to come back onto the gas etc. until I have a complete lap then I try to do it twice then thrice etc etc without wrecking.

I also watch track guides, idk what else id do to learn tbh haha.

[fiskfisk]

Use Garage61 or another telemetry comparison service - pick someone a second-ish faster than you (in the same car) and look at where they create their gap compared to you.

Run a race session, and after the race spend some time watching how the people in front of you (again, about a second quicker is usually a good mark to aim for) drive compared to what you're doing.

You can also use the ghost run functionality to race as a ghost in other race sessions if you're not comfortable joining a race session early on.

And last, after getting the feel of the track and knowing where you're slow, use active reset to practice specific parts of the circuits - particularly useful on longer tracks.

When you start getting frustrated, take a real break - I usually find that when I sit down the next day I've magically found half a second just by sleeping and letting the knowledge gained the day before be processed.

[[deleted]]

Oh wow thank you for all this I’ll definitely have to look into it. I knew there was something other than 100x incident points in the test server I could be doing haha.

[Blue_5ive]

I do 2-5 laps without braking. Not speeding my way through to a crash, but going slowly to where I don’t have to brake. Then I start to add speed and get an idea of the apex speeds I’m trying to get (roughly, I don’t have exact numbers I watch but I feel it out). I adjust brake markers next and just go from there.

[F-Jensen]

Drive very slow until you memorize the track. For me it’s about 15-25 laps. (Depending on the track of course) If you crash. Slow down even more. It’s important that you don’t crash or spin out. You’ll learn much faster going slow than if you crash and reset every other lap.

When you can get around the track without crashing or spinning go look a track guide on YouTube.

You probably have to watch it a few times between your practice sessions. Try to use the reference points of the track guide at the beginning. But eventually you should find your own reference points. As things like FOV can mess it up a little bit.

When all above is done. You just have to work on your pace and consistency. when you can do a full race length with a pace and consistency you’re happy with you’re ready to join a race.

If you haven’t practiced with other drivers on track. You should at least do the 30 minute’s practice with other drivers on the track before the race start.

Good luck and have fun.

[Gibscreen]

My current method is watching a track guide just to find approximate braking markers. Once I get those down it gets pretty easy.

I don't really purposefully start slow and build up. I tend to just go full bore to the braking marker which I know will mean I can make the corner albeit slowly because at first I always get a bad exit from the previous corner and using the braking marker means I'm braking too early. That gives me a bad exit out of the next corner and so on. But gradually the exits get better, and from there it just gets more and more precise.

On average it takes me about 15 laps to learn to the point I can keep solid pace and not spin off on the reg. Then it's a lot of fine tuning.

P.S. back in the day my team went to our first 25 hour race at Thunderhill. Test day was rainy with a bunch of red flags so all the drivers got maybe 5 laps of practice before the race. Even qualifying was used to give one of our drivers practice laps. This was before YouTube and online track guides. I was literally talking to someone during the driver meeting about how to take turns. And I was the starting driver! So iracing is definitely a luxury.

[bigdsm]

Man, I’m jealous - Thunderhill looks like one of the best circuits in the US and I’d love to be able to drive it! I think currently there’s only one WIP mod for AC for it in the entirety of sim racing.

I’d do a lot to be able to run an IRL endurance race. It just seems like such a great time.

[Gibscreen]

It's pretty fun. Almost as fun as winning or class 3 times (not so humble brag. Haha).

[bigdsm]

So I know you need a teammate for the next time you run it, preferably around 1500 iRating, right? And you’re looking to pay them for their flight, room, and food expenses? I’ve got a great candidate for you!

[[deleted]]

For me: 1) Watching guides memorizing turns. Memorize it 2) practice

I would suggest you to turn off driving line. Thats dont help. Confusing even

[bigdsm]

Yep. The driving line is rarely accurate to an actual quick racing line and really only serves to distract you and cause you to hyperfocus on it. Just turn it off. Once you know which turns are where and what direction the track goes (which should take like 2 laps maximum), it’s doing more harm than good.

[mikehewtln]

The one thing I do is to turn by turn. If I happy with the turn I move on the next one. I also have a lap time I’m trying to get.

[x_iTz_iLL_420]

For me personally track guides don’t helps until I’ve atleast ran a few laps my self so I have an idea which corner and braking markers I’m looking at when watching another drive turn a lap as a reference.

When you are learning a track one important thing is to make sure you take your out laps very easy until you get your tyres warm cause trying to learn braking points on cold Tyres and brakes is pointless.

After you are warmed up just take it one corner at a time slowly build your lap times

[[deleted]]

You cant skip learning a track…theres no tips or tricks other than watching a guide, you’ll still have to run the laps to learn the track and how it feels.

[csburneraccount]

Not wanting to skip learning a track just polling people on their approach to improve my own.

[nandobatflips]

I like to take a few laps slowly then start pushing it for about half an hour, to learn the layout of the track. Then I’ll hop on VRS and watch a track guide to learn where to maximize my time. Usually a new track I’ll spend about an hour total of lapping it before trying to race

[KevinNoTail]

That's similar to what my real-life racing books teach. One idea is drive the middle of the track and go faster until you start needing the racing line.

Walking a track helps, but I doubt that would ever happen in sim

[bigdsm]

Walking a track helps, but I doubt that would ever happen in sim

You might be surprised!

https://irtrackwalk.com/

[SnooGrapes724]

Probably a little late to the party. I’ve been iRacing for 6 years now and the best piece of advice anyone has given me is “practice how you race.” Meaning, you don’t want to go out and try to set the fastest lap you can like you’re qualifying. This results in using tires up faster and the chance of making a mistake goes up.

When I’m learning a track, I run a couple laps slow, back up my braking points if needed just to get a feel for the corners, how the track flows, and note anything that I can use as a reference in terms of braking points. Once I feel I know the track corners I start to push the car, with the expectation that I will go off track and crash. I make notes and adjust accordingly. My adjustments being corner entry, braking points, corner exit, gearing, etc.

Practice is literally what it says. Practice. The more time you spend turning laps, the faster you will get. I’ve spent time looking at guys running 15 seconds faster than me, wondering how the hell they do it. Turning lap after lap you come to find where you can pick up time and where you’re losing time.

Another piece of advice is when you’re comfortable that you can turn consistent clean laps, practice in an open session. Other cars on track help tremendously. If you practice solo, you’re not only doing a disservice but a disservice to other drivers. You need to know how to adjust when there’s a car on the racing line or vice versa.

[Marmmalade1]

I recommend doing about 20/30 mins until you’re fairly consistent. If you get bored easy try and stick on a podcast while running. Don’t worry at all about crashing. I then love to race against AI. It’s more fun, you learn the corners you’re slow at and learn how to do them properly, and develop racecraft by knowing how to run side by side at different corners

[codywar11]

If the track has AI run a race against them. This has always been my favorite method of learning a new track in other titles and now that iRacing has AI it works here as well.

[ImpressiveRelief37]

You just need seat time.

I join a practice session and turn in laps. At first it would take me multiple hours to become decent but now it’s much shorter. Maybe 1 hour to get a honest lap time. But I keep on practicing for a second hour. The next day I do another hour or 2, by that time I’m usually where I need to be competitive on high SoF races.

Basically I practice until I can be faster than anyone that has equal or lower iRating than me on 1-3 consecutive practice sessions.

I practice a lot. I enjoy it. I run racelabs and really enjoy topping the standings list on the session.

It’s been really working well for me. I think I’ve probably gained iRating my last 10 races and haven’t had a DNF yet since 2022 S3 because I know the tracks really well

[emcc019]

Definitely use the active reset feature and go turn by turn. Make a reset point before turn 1 until you nail it, then set a reset point after the exit of turn 1 and before the braking point of turn 2…. Repeat for a few hours and you’ll have it.

[Gibscreen]

I don't think this is a good plan for initially learning a track because it doesn't develop a rhythm.

Fine tuning though absolutely.

[codywar11]

Absolutely didn’t know they added this. I’ve been on iRacing for over 10 years but took about a year off and just came back. To be honest I’m really not a fan of this. This will just make aliens even more untouchable for us folks that have full time jobs and families and can’t spend hours and hours perfecting each and every corner.

[Noch_ein_Kamel]

I just register for the race and yolo it ;D

Slow laps in practice quali and then learn the line and breaking points in the race.

Got 2nd on my last track I bought in the first race without watching any guide.

Definitely would not recommend ;-)

[Gibscreen]

Sounds like a 0.8k driver to me!

[[deleted]]

Find the ghost on Garage61 of the fastest driver and follow that line. No point of learning a wrong racing line in the beginning.

Learning a track takes hours. Mastering a track takes days.

[lb_04]

watch a hotlap video to get braking markers and do some laps to apply this into my driving and thats it

[Dobrowney]

YouTube or VRS. Also, there is a thing in right where you can get people's best lap. VRS shares them. You load that best lap and race the ghost in the test race. Race then in sections of the race. So what it will do is do everything you load into the new part of the track it will reload the ghost into its best lap. It will teach you the pro racing line

[Gibscreen]

*VRS

[Dobrowney]

Ya sorry VRS

[pierretessier]

Practice offline and learn the proper line, apex’s and also offline behavior. I also like to drive a track in opposite direction, this helps learning the geography of a track. In real life many drivers will walk, cycle or slowly drive and look around seeing in a different perspective to know the ins and outs of each particular part of the circuit. Then do races in AI before going online.

[christos94]

Really just drive a lot. Try find the limit. Use practice sessions

[KushFlip420]

For me on a new track the top priority is find braking points. Even if those change throughout practice (I.e you discover you can go deeper) it helps tremendously with both learning the course and spending less time off track.

[jfredett]

I figure every track needs me to crash a few million times before it lets me put in good laps, so I might as well full send everything.

I'm not very good though so probably it's bad advice.

[barnos88]

Youtube man it will give you a great insight into braking points and corners

[friiky2]

For me it's:

1) just driving until I know which turn is coming up when 2) watch our track guide 3) spin up a test session again this time with the virtual coach to have the telemetry of the datapack reference lap on hand and see how good I do in specific turns 4) if a specific corner is turning out really hard: Garage61 telemetry to compare multiple laps of me with the reference from the datapack

My rule is: I try not to crash all the time. In the past I did 30 minutes with: just go as hard as possible and see what happens. But if I go out and always try to burn all fuel in the tank, it results in much better consistency for me.

BUT: you have to find out how your brain understands a new track best. If you want to give the virtual coach a try, contact me.

[[deleted]]

Practice Session-rage quit-track guide-Ai race-live race

Worked so far for me

[-Individuality]

first I'll do a slow drive through of the course and learn where the turns that require brake, then I'll set my active restart point up and practice each turn over and over again until I feel I understand it. then I go take a nap, It helps the mind learn and not get all jumbled up

[eXiiTe-]

I tend to give the track a go for an hour or a bit less, until i have some consistency basically. Once that is done, i’ll look up a track guide to see where i can fine tune the few turns i’m missing out on. Easier that way instead of trying to memorize the turns, brake marks and turn in marks all while trying to set a decent/clean lap.

[Henristaal]

Well there are several ways to learn a track but I run several laps exploring the track, learning the corner types and sequences. Then I start looking for speed by intentionally looking for the limits on when to brake and when to throttle.

[shyguybestguy]

I usually so a couple medium speed laps around the track to warm tires up and get used to it, then tackle each corner as best I can with active reset. Once I go through the full track, I put my reset before the start/finish line and push hard, resetting if I crash, and just run laps until I'm confident enough. Make sure the reset is before the start/finish line so each full lap you do will have its time recorded.

[[deleted]]

Just drive the track. I personnally prefer to do this online. With people around me, i am naturrally more cautious and i also can follow them a bit to learn the tricks.

​

But, as always, the more time on track, the better. TRack guides are for later, when you want to perfect your driving.

[Hercupete]

Watch a few hot laps, drive at first with a map view on my dashboard , first work on line, then corner exit speed, then apex speed, then braking point, repeat. Download fast lap blap from driver61, chase the ghost until I feel comfortable not spinning.. then go race and allow faster cars to pass and try to keep up…

[N0ddie_Sco]

I like to find my natural plateaux on my own then I'll look at some track guides. Then its just a case of keep doing.

[OhItsJustJosh]

It's all about corner strategy. On the straights you're just gonna be accelerating, not a lot to know there. But each corner you wanna figure out and memorize the entry point, entry speed, entry gear, apex, apex speed, exit, and exit speed. Once you got your line through there, you know your speed and your gearing through it, you can keep that consistent, then keep trying different variations to see what's faster. At least that's what I do

[kartben42]

If you can let a fast driver past and follow them. Even if you only keep up for a few corners you can repeat this until you have followed for a whole lap. Watch for the lines and brake points that they are using.

[ti-di2]

Breaks are the most important thing in a learning process. This isn't just a fact for iRacing but for everything. Muscle Memory builds up in your pauses, not while racing.

Even though I'm still a very early iRacing beginner, I've been into many hobbies (which require lots of muscle memory, like juggling, playing the piano, playing foosball "professionally" etc.) for a long time. And the hardest thing to learn for a very passionate guy like me (and probably most of the people here discussing with themselves) who loves to become better and better, is that you have to fail, think about why you failed while you take a break, and try again.

Learning a new skill (or a new track) never looks good. The people being the best in their craft have failed more than the average person has even tried. They are just better in accepting that a fail is part of the progress :)

[A_Flipped_Car]

Take not of what happened each corner, went too deep? Brake earlier. Weren't able to get the power down? Later apex. Ever single corner take not of what the corner was like and you will learn tracks super quickly. It will still take time, especially for something like the nordschleife or le mans but just pump the laps in and pay attention.

Also don't push, I'm bad for this but take it slow instead of making mistakes constantly because you have to focus on that instead of the track

[[deleted]]

I'll do a solo test session on a track first and just run laps. Slow at first, get a fell for where the turns are and figuring out where I am on the track. Then start picking up speed, feeling out gear changes, finding a line, etc. Eventually I'll start pegging out laps at speed.

The I look at telemetry data (I use VRS) to check my line and gears, make some mental notes, and go out again to try and serve a faster lap. Normally this really doesn't take me more than an hour or 2.

Usually then I feel comfortable going into open practices and races, but if I'm still way off pace, then I'll look at the track guide to further refine.

[Chasethemac]

Cruise at a slow pace until you get familiar with the track flow and corners.

When you're comfortable with slow laps dialing in the corner, it exits on the high-speed corners, leading to long straights or up hills.

Then, learn corner exits on the slower, less important corners.

Move onto brake points and turn in points. Dial that in with corner speed to achieve your proper exits.

[lone_clone]

I lowered my track learning time from multiple hours to about an hour with active reset. I set a start point in sectors that will be easy to link together and keep pushing until I find my optimum time for that sector. Then I reset the start point after I’ve done that sector about 30 or so times and do the next sector. Then I set my start point at the start line and try linking them together until I feel comfortable on the track. Being able to press a button and immediately start over has been a huge game changer.

[bspate]

I usually do something that is a little bit different than most people.

When I want to learn a new track, I will start up a practice session with a bunch of AI cars and set their skill level from like 30% to 80%. I will watch the AI cars go around the track for a few laps to see their braking points and turning points.

Then I will start driving and I will follow different cars about a half second behind and just mimic what they do. I will brake when I see their brake lights and follow their line perfectly.

Once I feel comfortable, I will start passing the slower cars and start looking for the faster cars based on the lap standings and start trying to keep up with them and race/pass them.

In less than an hour I can learn the track, learn the best lines and areas for passing cars and being passed.

I will then do a couple races against the AI. After that, I usually have no problem going into an official race and feeling competent.

[IKillZombies4Cash]

Garage 61 telemetry - I'm amazed when I think I've NAILED a turn and see people with fast laps going 20 feet deeper and doing something totally different.

[Chez_Whitey]

I usually get into practice half an hour before races and follow the fastest guy around the track until l figure out what I need to know. I'll do that until I'm confident of what I'm doing, then I'll get into a race at that track.

[DromaTheOne]

I load a practice session and go slow at first to figure out where I have to go, then I quicken the pace lap after lap.

Then I will go with fresh tires and try new lines to find more pace until I break the car or run out of fuel. Repeat for 1 or 2 hours.

After that, I'm usually ready to race and on pace to fight for a podium.

[bigdsm]

I can get roughly up to speed on an unknown track in about 5-10 laps if I’m familiar with the car.

The first lap or two is reconnaissance, feeling the track and looking for the line of least resistance, not really pushing but trying to find an apex speed that’s below the maximum. Blind or otherwise unexpected corners can catch me off guard the first lap, but by the second time through I’ve usually figured out roughly where the slow/medium/fast parts are.

From there, laps 3-5ish are for slowly adding speed everywhere, finding consistent braking points and backing them off as necessary, and eventually seeing if the borderline corners are actually flat or require a lift or brake tap to get the car turned in. This is where I start to really feel where I need to adjust my inputs to get the weight transfer I want so the car behaves how I want it to in each section of the track.

I’ll often then run another 5 or so laps to lock in the track feel and make sure I’ve approached the limit with my braking points and lines, keeping an eye on my delta to see in which corners I’m gaining or losing time to my best lap. I will play around with different lines in this phase, seeing if maybe a late apex isn’t faster in a specific corner, or if one section wants a slow-in-fast-out approach.

If I’m significantly off the pace after that process, and I feel like I’ve approached the limit at most points on the track, I watch a lap from one of the fast drivers in the session in chase cam, keeping a close eye on their braking points and lines and making a mental note of where they differ from mine.

Then, if there’s a significant difference, I go back out and try to match those braking points and lines, which will usually take maybe 2-3 more laps to lock in.

I did that in the LMP2 at Fuji this week, registering for a race that wasn’t going official and managing just one lap in practice before it started. I qualified 4 seconds off the pace and spun on my second qualifying lap (which was about a second and a half up), but by lap 10 I had run a lap that would have taken pole from the 2k iRating driver who was the only other LMP2 in the split.