But this tells us nothing really, it is not a good test. I'd bet even without the assist the second 10 laps would see improvements as you really start to get in the flow. Even if you know the tracks 8 laps is not much to really get back to the rhythm of it, especially if u are driving near the absolute limit. If u really want to test proper you have to turn more laps. Turn laps until you hit your ceiling and your consistently within 3 tenths of your best and 5 tenths of optimal, then start the testing
Actually I had ran probably 25 laps earlier in the day as I was thinking about running some races in the daily race. The whole point of the test for me was to see if at what overall pace I normally run for a race for myself if I noticed any difference between using or not using the aid.
My intent was not to see if the aid made a difference in a hot lap or ceiling of my absolute lap time but rather if I felt the aid made a difference in helping with maintaining consistent lap times while reducing or lessening the risk of making a mistake at a normal race pace across multiple laps.
I have run many laps around Suzuka in a Viper and in the car I used for "my" test I have driven this exact car for 1600 miles in this game so I am familiar with the cars characteristics. (although actually not important I have another 2100 miles driven in my GR4 Viper so I do know a Viper pretty well.)
On Suzuka I know which corners that running a little further inside or a little further outside than normal at race speed require a lighter throttle or extreme care or you will spin the car. I know which curbings in which part of the track to avoid as they are more likely to cause control loss and this was learned through running hundreds of laps on this track with this car playing the part of a merry go round many times.
What I did mainly was to run some normal laps pushing a bit and run some laps intentionally putting the car in positions on the track that I knew would cause spins without the aid and see what the differences were with the aid and yes with the aid employed in instances where with no doubt the car would have went completely around the aid allowed me to catch the car and as a result not incur the same time loss as that mistake would have cost without the aid. This in itself is a big advantage to using the aid in my opinion.
My purpose of making the notation about the couple of tenths better time was strictly that even with my limited use and experience with employing CSA that it did increase confidence to be slightly more aggressive with applying throttle a little earlier and a little harder as the aid would assist me in being able to catch a loss of traction where without the aid in the same spots such a risk would end in a spin out period.
This discussion is intended to be whether that the use of CSA gives an advantage or not and whether it needs to be addressed or nerfed in on line races from my interpretation anyway.
I personally can see the advantage even at my level and with using the aid not for turning ultimate lap times but pushing a bit harder and how the aid can allow a racer to push a bit harder and still remain consistent over a racer that that does not employ the aid trying to push at the exact same level will assume more risk of having a major time losing incident.
So yes in my opinion for what I was trying to learn and determine concerning CSA this was a good and useful test. I t did show me that there is an advantage to using the aid in an online race and at my level and pace anyway does not show any drawback or penalty to using it. I was even surprised that with a GR3 car that it allowed to turning TCS off completely and it seemed that the CSA was actually a better smoother traction control on this car and this track for my driving style at least.
My test was not conducted to prove anything as far as allowing actual faster lap times or anything concerning what type of controller was used or the differences in the options as that was not the intent of this discussion either but more to whether CSA offered and advantage to those that employed it over those that did not.
In my opinion in limited time of usage it does offer an advantage that allows a user in some situations to apply throttle a bit earlier and maybe a bit harder in some situations and in other situations employing the aid does allow the user to catch a car and not incur the same loss of track position or time as a non user for making the exact same mistake.
I think like anything else the more time I used it on track and could really learn its limits and explore its capabilities perhaps it could be used to a greater advantage, perhaps not just need a lot of laps to determine that with the aid which currently I do not have.
Those situations where you can save the car or just have a wiggle instead of a larger time loss because of deploying the aid could very easily result in a performance or increase in finishing positions over a full race distance and the longer the race and the more tire wear involved lessening grip in the layer laps the more pronounced the advantage could be.
Someone that does not like the way I conducted my test feel free to disregard my test results and opinions and conduct your own test using whatever criteria that you feel is warranted. At the end of the day no test results run by us racers will have actual scientific results.
My opinion is currently at my pace and level if nothing else just the better less intrusive traction control alone the aid seems to give is worth using the aid and the extra insurance of less risk of mistakes causing major time losses at a normal type of race pace makes the aid either a must use or it does need to be nerfed above a certain level to limit its advantages.
