2018 RD Touring Car Championship (R3E)

[Andrew Harper]

I do wonder why people really need to know their relative pace anyway? It wont suddenly change your ability level or magically teach you to drive faster. Just drive as fast as you are able, and race those around you.

That's a fair comment and I agree with you. It's just that in the last few years my pace would normally mean a middle of the grid position but these days with so many fast racers I'm more often or not finding myself at the back of the grid. I'm just trying to partially avoid the disappointment of thinking I'm ok but then finding I'm in trouble again!

I'm usually about 2/3 seconds off the ultimate pace these days so I'm assuming it will be roughly the same for these cars as well. For the GT league that put me at the back but fingers crossed the times are not too close for the DTM's!

Looking forward to the first race anyway, it's going to be a packed grid for sure

 

[Dan ONeill]

To be perfectly honest I have no idea, I'm afraid. I very rarely run with the AI because online racing is what it's all about for me. Trouble with the AI also is that it varies so much. I've yet to see a sim that has an AI which is consistent across all tracks. On one you may be unable to keep up at 100% yet on another you may be leaving them in your dust.

I do wonder why people really need to know their relative pace anyway? It wont suddenly change your ability level or magically teach you to drive faster. Just drive as fast as you are able, and race those around you.

But for me at least it does teach how to drive faster because I might think Ive put together the perfect lap and then I learn (from somewhere) that I'm 2 seconds off the pace and I want to learn why.
Depends on how serious you want to get really, for some it's enough to just have a fun race, for others it's about doing your best, and quite often you don't know what your best is until you are challenged.

 

[BBKing212]

I use AI to learn where on track are good spots to overtake.

 

[Deleted member 387850]

I'm usually about 2/3 seconds off the ultimate pace these days so I'm assuming it will be roughly the same for these cars as well.

I’d be similar, I usually find myself about 2 seconds of the fastest lap at a club event with a good grid, and 2 seconds of the fastest leaderboard times as well, so I use that as a gauge for a target lap time I’d be aiming for. I find 110% AI seems to represent that kind of pace, although as Ross said it does seem to vary track by track.

I always like to try and set myself a realistic target for each race but I’ve done enough club races now that I know the drivers I’m competing with regularly, so I aim to finish in a similar position. One things for sure, with such a large, quality field there are going to be great battles all the way across the grid!

 

[PresidentSmug]

For me best thing to do is go on the leader board and race against your ghost, race against the ghost of someone else's ghost who is within a sec of you or race against the number 1 ghost. Then take note of where he/she is pulling away from you. It's also a good way of seeing what wing the top guys are using. Within the first couple secs of the time trial if they're pulling from you already your wing is too high. In the leagues that I've taken part in the best quali time is roughly around .200 of the number 1 leader board time.

I've been there when you've put a good lap down and still found yourself 2 secs off, it can be disheartening. Whenever you get a chance find a video of someone faster and take note of how he drives. All you can do is get a reference point to compare yourself to, without it you're just shooting in the dark. I've made lots of video's from where i started to the present. Take a look, you may find some of the tracks we're doing in this league with setups too.

 

[demetri]

I was hoping to get into one of the permanent spots if enough people drop off or compete on server #2 but it looks like neither option is happening. Can't make myself practice for this in advance knowing that most likely I won't participate in a particular round and I'm not good in DTM cars to run without ample practice, so I think I better sign out of this. Hopefully I spot the next championship soon enough to make it into the main list

 

[UMC 22]

I'm just trying to partially avoid the disappointment of thinking I'm ok but then finding I'm in trouble again!

Haha, you just described how I felt in the RDGTC! I was used to scraping top ten finishes in the club, but could barely get a top 15 in that league. It'll likely be the same here, though the fact the cars are almost identical might even things out a bit.

But for me at least it does teach how to drive faster because I might think Ive put together the perfect lap and then I learn (from somewhere) that I'm 2 seconds off the pace and I want to learn why.

But you wont learn why by following the AI. You learn by following or watching real drivers, so the leaderboard would be a much better place to learn faster lines than racing AI set to a certain percentage. You may not be able to hit their exact pace in "racing conditions", but their lines will help you be faster than you were.

But I digress. I admittedly do all this just for fun, with very little interest in my overall finishing position. I know I don't have the pace to run at the front, so as long as I've had some good close racing with those around me I really don't care. In all honesty the club racing probably suits my mentality better, and is indeed what I prefer given the social aspect it also has.

 

[UMC 22]

There's more than a week to go until round one, and someone else has just dropped out. There's always a chance. But... up to you I guess.

 

[UMC 22]

I meant to ask this before already, does this mean more than 2 wheels over the white lines is allowed?

Nope. R3E is pretty hot on it's cutting detection. The penalties you get also vary... you are not guaranteed to get X number of warnings before being given a drive-though. If your cut is deemed bad enough then you can end up with an instant drive-through.

In other words, you cut the track at your own risk. It could very well end your hopes of a decent finish on your first attempt.

 

[Ingemar Petersson]

password changed for practis server?

 

[Anders Myhre]

Happy new year everyone! How are peoples laptimes going?

 

[UMC 22]

Happy new year everyone! How are peoples laptimes going?

About the same as they were going in 2017!

 

[Magnus Stjerneby]

Happy new year!

 

[Christian Moreau]

Regretfully, I'm going to have to sign out. A few conflicts have made themselves apparent for a few of the dates, go ahead and give my slot to Mr. Nieto.

 

[quicksilver384]

yeah boiii

 

[PresidentSmug]

If you find yourself going wide or miss your braking point for a chicane, lift off throttle or brake enough that you lose time. The cut track detection is trying to figure out if you gained time, just make sure you don't and it will just invalidate your lap time. Better to lose 2-3 secs on a corner than 30 secs in the pits

 

[Andrew Harper]

If you find yourself going wide or miss your braking point for a chicane, lift off throttle or brake enough that you lose time. The cut track detection is trying to figure out if you gained time, just make sure you don't and it will just invalidate your lap time. Better to lose 2-3 secs on a corner than 30 secs in the pits

Yes that would probably explain why I only got a warning those few times I had moments through Eau Rouge.

I wasn't on the throttle at the time so I lost speed on the exit, if I was still flat the game may well have thrown the penalty book at me!

 

[UMC 22]

Bear in mind though that the penalty allocation can be a bit dodgy at times. I've had a drive-through after spinning and sliding through a corner backwards! I also got a drive-through for this even though I was on the brakes the whole way, lost loads of time and also a position:

So yeah... cut the track at your own risk!

 

[Giannis Christodoulou]

It seems with the reduce sized grid I didn't manage to secure a spot in the grid. And since I find it really difficult to practice not knowing if I will race or not, it is better to resign from the reserve list. My apologies to the organizing team.

 

[M4LLY]

Sorry guys i'm going to have to sign out as i can no longer make the dates.