Nordschleife Guide

[RasmusP]

Hey guys,
since over 2 years I wanted to create a little guide for the Nordschleife but could never be bothered to actually do it. Now I copy+pasted all my posts I wrote about this track and finally created two videos about this awesome track.

Here we go

Changelog, so you know if there's something new:
- 16th May, 2019: changed "patterns" in the 2nd post to the 11 categories, corrected a few corner descriptions

Introduction:
The Nordschleife has so many corners that you can't really remember all of them just like that. You need to build bridges and strings in your memory so you can browse your memory like a workbook.
Sector -> section -> corner combination -> hints about how to take this corner right now

It's like remembering a good story. You remember the basic, complete story and the more you dive into the story, the more details you remember. One leads to the other etc.

Overall this track is mainly:
Staying at the inside, some oversteer at the exit, a few repetitive flows, a few fast long bends where you need to keep the weight shift under control and a few times remembering to brake late or early to not crash.

Basics about this track:
I thought a lot about how exactly I am remembering this track and I came down to the following:

1. It has a lot of very similar corners
2. It comes down to be 11 categories of corners
3. There are quite a few "repetitions" that are only slightly different
4. Once you've learnt 1-2 corners of each category, you'll get quick
5. Then you need to attach strings to remember the combinations and repetitions

The Categories:
Some corners would fit in multiple categories. I chose the ones that pop into
my mind first.

1. High Speed Bends
2. Right Side Kerb
3. High Speed Bumps
4. 90° Oversteery Right
5. Tight Lefts
6. The 2 Left Kinks
7. Left/Right Under Braking
8. The Karussells
9. Sector 3: Twisty Part
10. Stefan Bellof S (double S)
11. Special Corners: Mutkurve, Eiskurve, Schwalbenschwanz

The Sections with basic hints. Print this and look at it while practicing:

Sector 1:

- Hatzenbach

• Difficult Tight Left
• High Speed Bend
• Left Right Under Braking
• Right Side Kerb #1
• Right Side Kerb #2

- Flugplatz, Schwedenkreuz, Hairpin (1st Full Throttle Part)

• High Speed Bend (Flugplatz)
• High Speed Bump (Schwedenkreuz)
• 90° Right Hander (Aremberg)

- Fuchsröhre (2nd Full Throttle Part)

- Adenauer Forst

• Left Right Under braking
• Difficult Tight Left
• 90° Right Hander

Sector 2:

- The Two Kinks and Tight Lefts

• High Speed Bend, (double left, one gear down)
• 1st Left Kink (braking)
• 90° Right Hander

• 2nd Left Kink (no braking)
• High Speed Bend (3x right)
• 1st Difficult Tight left (slow)

• 90° Right Hander
• 2nd Difficult Tight Left (wide)
• 90° Right Hander

- little full throttle part (1st Full Throttle Part)

• 90° Right Hander

- Big Full Throttle Part (2nd Full Throttle Part)

• Mutkurve, (brake + bit of throttle, 1 gear down, back on throttle)
• High Speed Bump

Sector 3:

- Karussell

• 90° Right Hander, (brake at left kerb)
• The Karussell, (dive in late, early on throttle)

- Before The Twisties

• Left Right Under Braking, (no Kerbs!!, barely brake!)

- The Twisty Section:

• 1st Right (3rd gear)
• 2nd Right (4th gear)
• Left+Right 1 (Kerbs!) (4th gear)
• 3rd Right (3rd gear)
• Left+Right 2 (no Kerbs!) (3rd gear)
• 90° right Hander Brünnchen

• Special: Eiskurve, (full over exit Kerb!)

- Pflanzgarten 1

• High Speed Bend+Bump, (brake after jump, keep throttle through the turn!!! Risk of spinning!)

- Pflanzgarten 2

• Double Chicane, (full throttle!)
• Stefan Bellof S, (take left Kerbs!)

- Schwalbenschwanz

• Schwalbenschwanz Entry (beware of the weight shift!)
• 90° Left Hander (evil kerbs)
• Kleines Karussell, (dive late, early throttle, oversteer!)

- Galgenkopf

• Uphill Right, (tap Brakes, move to left side)
• Downhill Right, (turn in on Hilltop, cambering gets you through)

- Döttinger Höhe

- Last Corners

• Entry Bends, (keep half throttle)
• Chicane, (Left Right Under Braking!) (bbbrrraaakkkeeee!!!)

Done


Videos showing what I'm talking about:

First Video: This shows a full lap. You will see the category for each corner. Watch this while looking at the written overview above. You will start to build strings and see patterns, I'm sure!

Second Video: This is cut so you'll see all corners of the same category to build strings and patterns in a different way. Watch this slowly and pause between categories. It's not meant to watch as a whole!

 

[arcadios]

Amazing job. I wish someone could cut Nord into sectors and drive (practice) the specific part of the track and not drive from the beginning...

 

[RasmusP]

Amazing job. I wish someone could cut Nord into sectors and drive (practice) the specific part of the track and not drive from the beginning...

Thanks
You can with project cars 1&2. 3 sectors as described in the beginning of the second post.

 

[arcadios]

I know. Grant Turismo has too, but it's different for arcade and simcade compare to ac and rf2.

 

[RasmusP]

I know. Grant Turismo has too, but it's different for arcade and simcade compare to ac and rf2.

That's very true but it's still great to learn the track like this.
Pcars 1 is very accurate, but a bit too bumpy, pcars 2 is laser scanned.
For me it's no problem to jump back and forth between these 2 and assetto corsa.
Can't comment on gt as I don't have a PlayStation sadly.
But if you don't own them yet, it's probably not worth to buy them only for learning this track, yeah...

 

[Neilski]

Thanks
You can with project cars 1&2. 3 sectors as described in the beginning of the second post.

Mmmm, now could that be a good enough reason for me to reinstall PC1?
(Nah, I reckon not! )

 

[LagunaSeca]

I know. Grant Turismo has too, but it's different for arcade and simcade compare to ac and rf2.

I think since GT6 all real tracks in GTS were laser scanned. So no problems learning the track with GTS.

BTW, I believe people should really ditch the notion of "simcade", which I believe is absolute nonsense but the result of gatekeeping. The driving philosophy is all the same. You brake late, you understeer, so you brake earlier. You stump the pedal hard, you lock up, so you ease it off a little bit. Same operations for both game and real life. The force pattern you feel might be different but hey, irl it varies from car to car as well. Once you know how to negotiate with your car, you are learning something about the motorsport. (real life is much more complicated sure, but you are not on your own since you have a team of engineers.) If you want to race so that you are trying to have a better understanding of the sport, you are driving a simulator.

I play a lots of titles, and I race in real life, and yes I know car engineering and aerodynamics. I however, treat them all with respect and seriousness. You can hold your head high no matter which title you play or which device you have.

 

[Christopher Snow]

I'm not sure which version of Nurburgring this guide and thread refers to, but FWIW, Niki Lauda listed the leap at Pflantzgarten as "the most exciting place in all the world's grand prix tracks" in his first book (1975). The last airborne leap in Grand Prix racing back then. A spot which caused Hans Stuck to opine: "That knocks the wind out of you down to the last fart!"

 

[RasmusP]

I'm not sure which version of Nurburgring this guide and thread refers to, but FWIW, Niki Lauda listed the leap at Pflantzgarten as "the most exciting place in all the world's grand prix tracks" in his first book (1975). The last airborne leap in Grand Prix racing back then. A spot which caused Hans Stuck to opine: "That knocks the wind out of you down to the last fart!"

Since it's in the Assetto Corsa Forum, it refers to the official, laserscanned version from Assetto Corsa

Nice quotes and definitely fitting!

 

[Elaphe]

I'm sure Nords lovers will find this guide on PDF very interesting.

 

[stingray_SIX_TWO]

You can also spool 8.000km on an M3CSL in GT4 on PS2...as I have done . After that you do know the track. Aside from road mesh and graphics it is unbelievable in retrospect how accurate the track was back then.

Funny enough the car used in that 'Sport-Auto' guide is an '03 M3CSL.

 

[stenovitz]

Just jumped into this interesting thread.
Drove Die Grüne Hölle in real life just a couple of years before GPL came to the sim marked with a Nordschleife track available, and just after this playing the track mod for F1C99-02 (yah, I was born in a wrong era, and had to wait as a late teen until Speed King for C64 as most advanced 'sim' in 1985 ).

I agree with almost all parts of the OP's tips (big kudos!)
Except that I will narrow it down to a more general driving manner, speaking complex tracks:

• Slow in - fast out
• Keep the car stable
• Start out first lap in a slower car (more grip than power and able to break before crash)
• Drive first couple of laps at maybe just 70% of full speed - close to cruising.
• Split the track up in sections in your mind after own choise.
• Concentrate at one or two sections at a time the first laps you drive
• A lot of sections with slightly curved course can be regarded as straight lines in your mind

Those simple basic rules helped me a lot in early rally games and my real life debut at Nordschleife and later more complicated simracing tracks such as Machwerk, Solitude, Nordschleife Gesamtstrecke, and rally courses like Peyregrosse, not to mention the Kesselberg 70K Runde and especially Targa Florio 72K classic track.
In fact my first lap at Targa Florio in a GTR2 mod some 10 years was near to perfection, just as some marathon runners experience their first marathon as close to perfect; I felt calm all the way, taking it easy with slow in - fast out all the time. At the second lap where I tried harder, in fact I ended up 45 secs slower! So again - have the safe cruising feeling with early braking and fast out all the way, and doing right heel+toe handling of the gearbox payed well off.

Apart from that, I can warmly suggest both NS beginners and +2000 laps experts of the track to take 43 mins of their time with this video from real world classic race car driver driving Die Schleife:

 

[stenovitz]

And maybe I should add, after a couple of recognition laps, two old quotes from Mario Andretti works very well for Nordschleife:
"Racing isn't about going fast, but to drive just slow enough to stay on track"
"If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough".
Though the latter I will not suggest for real world driving, unless you're a very experienced real world driver

 

[RasmusP]

Just jumped into this interesting thread.
Drove Die Grüne Hölle in real life just a couple of years before GPL came to the sim marked with a Nordschleife track available, and just after this playing the track mod for F1C99-02 (yah, I was born in a wrong era, and had to wait as a late teen until Speed King for C64 as most advanced 'sim' in 1985 ).

I agree with almost all parts of the OP's tips (big kudos!)
Except that I will narrow it down to a more general driving manner, speaking complex tracks:

• Slow in - fast out
• Keep the car stable
• Start out first lap in a slower car (more grip than power and able to break before crash)
• Drive first couple of laps at maybe just 70% of full speed - close to cruising.
• Split the track up in sections in your mind after own choise.
• Concentrate at one or two sections at a time the first laps you drive
• A lot of sections with slightly curved course can be regarded as straight lines in your mind

Those simple basic rules helped me a lot in early rally games and my real life debut at Nordschleife and later more complicated simracing tracks such as Machwerk, Solitude, Nordschleife Gesamtstrecke, and rally courses like Peyregrosse, not to mention the Kesselberg 70K Runde and especially Targa Florio 72K classic track.
In fact my first lap at Targa Florio in a GTR2 mod some 10 years was near to perfection, just as some marathon runners experience their first marathon as close to perfect; I felt calm all the way, taking it easy with slow in - fast out all the time. At the second lap where I tried harder, in fact I ended up 45 secs slower! So again - have the safe cruising feeling with early braking and fast out all the way, and doing right heel+toe handling of the gearbox payed well off.

Apart from that, I can warmly suggest both NS beginners and +2000 laps experts of the track to take 43 mins of their time with this video from real world classic race car driver driving Die Schleife:

Nice video and absolutely agree!
Massive tracks you listed there, wow!

The steps and process you wrote down are pretty much what I did.
I simply made my own notes a bit prettier and posted them for everyone who doesn't want to think about each corner, decide where to split and how to order the sections in your head etc.

For normal tracks it's a nice little task to do it but for the Nordschleife most give up before they feel the effect of having everything nicely stored in their brain.

I had to drive a lot of laps until I started to see the repetitions, similarities, sections and get it all sorted in my head.
I never found a guide where they explained how to remember everything. They were all about how to drive it, but not how to get that massive amount of corners into your head.

That was the main goal of my thread. To help people how to store and remember, not really how to be faster

 

[DocFar]

Fantastic work - such detail and the vid plus the bit about what is in your mind is great! Incredibly helpful!

 

[Ken Bell]

Wind window down
arm resting on door
one hand on wheel
look at the lovely views
just drive

mmmmm no wonder I am always last!

 

[JackCY]

I would say practice and practice until you can drive it without seeing it. As to how to take each corner, that a lot depends as any other track on the car, it's balance, it's setup and your driving style.
Same as for any other track, avoid curbs/don't cut, avoid off track areas, slow in fast out.

Each car also has a bit different braking points depending on power/aero, weight, tyres. Some cars are to the floor as Nord is a fast downhill track overall, almost all the uphill sections are straights. Other cars have too much power and you gotta slow down more and more often.

Wet track is not available in AC but then the line you might want to take is again different depending on precise conditions.

There is also a big difference going around Nord like 99% of AC players who cruise vs actually racing or even hotlapping.

There are plenty guides for decades on internet for the real track. No guide will replace experience though, you gotta drive and drive a lot, no one else can do it for you. There are no magic setups or settings or apps, it's just experience.

 

[Micropitt]

Not so long ago I found a Nordschleife Poster with the slogan "Face your Fears" which sums it up in a pretty good way. Over the last 6 month I have driven close to 1000 laps on the Nordschleife on 3 different Sim platforms. I have divided the Nordschleife in 2 parts, before the Karussell and after the Karussell, which helped me to learn the Track better. In my opinion (and I can only talk for myself here), the part after the Karussell is much more difficult. However, I have lost more cars at the Schwedenkreuz than anywhere else on the Nordschleife. Fuchsroehre and Adenauer Forst are very enjoyable and usually from Hedwigshohe until Schwalbenschwanz I forget to breath. The Nordschleife is the Track where I truly learned how to brake because you can't just slam on the brakes.
Pro Tip: if you want to experience a 5 1/2 minute long major anxiety attack, I recommend taking a modern F1 car for a spin on the Nordschleife. To that extend, a Group C car will do as well. You welcome ;-)

 

[ltcars]

During Corona I wanted to finally learn the Nordschleife, so as I knew the first third of the track already quite well, I did the thing with Project Cars and learned each sector separately. Against your advice, I did it only with supercars, because I can't help myself. As I grew more comfortably I switched to AC, my main sim and again, only learned with Supercars. My main goal was to complete the laptime challenges of AC.
TL,DR: I missed gold in the Mclaren P1 by 0,2 seconds and have gold in the Performante.

Sadly I will be again away from my simulator for a month