"Become an Alien", a video series aimed to polish your driving

This is the introduction for a series of upcoming videos where I´ll try to highlight all the little details that set apart average and fast drivers, the so called "aliens". Even if this content will be created using Project CARS, the lessons will apply to any game that takes itself semi-seriously and provides a decent handling model.

I bet some viewers are already familiar with all the content I want to cover -I had the pleasure to share track with some of them already-, but I also bet a majority out there will learn at least a detail or two that they can use to boost their pace over the course of the series. At least that will be the target. Here´s the intro, I´ll keep adding the pieces as they´re completed. I hope it helps!

 

Is NASA aware that you've confirmed the existence of aliens?!

But seriously, good video series topic. Would be awesome if you can get interviews with some of the "aliens."

Edit: I'm definitely not an alien.

 

Get an E.T. to phone home and request setup. Become alien fast by E.T. telekinesis.

 

Looking forward to your videos, thanks in advance for taking the time and effort to help us out.

 

Completely this ^^^. All of your tutorials etc have been an absolute godsend. Please keep them coming

 

If you'd like someone to help you put voice overs into these videos let me know

Looking forward to watching all these!

 

I am an alien!!!

 

OP updated with first bit! It´s probably the most straight forward part to get right, so don´t get confident yet, it won´t be a walk in the park

 

I've always coasted, and I've always went hard on the brake, and coast around a corner and accelerate when i can get full power down.
Seems like ive been doing it all wrong

 

Heh great stuff thanks for making this thread I looked trough some of your tuning videos and you seem like a guy I could ask few questions about tuning at some point if you don't mind?

Currently wating to get new wheel for my T300 throttle pedal (org pedals) simply just BLEW on me and I had to send it back... Some trouble with wheel engines too so got to mention thrusmaster quality is pretty far from what I was hoping it to be

Heh so I'm currently spending time surfing around forums and this really seemed like the most interesting thread ATM so kudos to you @dyr_gl watching the video it just game to mind that while it's of course very important to be on the brake as soon as you lift throttle there can be some issues too for while doing TT's in GT I was wondering why I loose time on braking compared to those aliens and it really seemed that my timing was wrong in a sense I didn't lift off throttle early enough and when starting to brake there I still had some throttle on... Watching those top gyus videos I realized they had a millisecond coast before braking and when I started to pay attention to not over lap the pedals I was being bit faster and more consistent under braking... So yeah, just wanted to mention there's possibility for too fast transaction too so watch out for that... This probably is not very common problem and if it seems I'm wrong on this and actually having some throttle input on when starting to brake helps please correct me, but this I remember being quite helpful thing to realize while chasing after leaderboards so I thought I'd share my thoghts on this for they strongly relate on this first subject

Heh and I got to mention that Pcars sure is 100 times more interesting driving/tuning wise than GT for example but I'm missing the great community around GT TT's so it's nice to see we have some active members here

Hope I'll get my new wheel soon (or at all ) and have a great weekend guys

 

Is it even possible to "become an Alien"? You either are one from birth or you aren't. An Alien is fast, right out of the box with no "worldly" explanation of why it is so. However, if you become "as fast as an Alien" thru hard work, practice and commitment....maybe you're an overachiever (?) Just a thought.

 

That´s an interesting topic.

On one hand I am 100% sure not everybody has the same cieling, on the other hand, I am 100% sure there are guys with talent out there that are not driving fast and can benefit big time just changing some bad habits.

I for one shake my head sometimes watching videos of my own driving 10 months ago!

I think it depends on your definition of an alien. Is it simply a fast driver, or is it that guy that jumps into a new series and blitzes veterans straight away? I think it IS possible to become fast, but of course you can´t become a "fast learner" (and by that I mean a guy like Räikkönen in his late teens and early 20´s, constantly making leaps forwards and impressing straight away with ridiculously low experience in whatever his ass landed next).

 

I've been finding/modding/making apps in assetto corsa to show live telemetry data. For some time I've been thinking about putting data just outside the area drivers are looking at, and had not seen pcars telemetry overlay before. Here's an example of the apps I have up while racing (most of which I don't look at until I watch the replay video)



I'm curious what info other folks would consider most useful. I like the performance delta front and center. I feel like the slip angle would be helpful in making sure I'm not applying too much steering input.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Dave/Esotic

 

@dyr_gl, great videos so far, I'm rally looking forward to more.

Question about the initial braking video - how does using ABS factor into how aggressive the initial input should be, and also in setting the brake pressure? I'm assuming all of your examples were without ABS?

 

In my experience, any of the 'aliens' here in this community put in serious amounts of time, effort and practice. So those are not mutually exclusive.

 

I don´t change anything in regards of using ABS or not. Maybe I keep a higher input in the late part of the braking zone with cars with ABS as the lockups aren´t too dangerous. In terms of setup any car with ABS wants you to use full pressure. Unless you do something ridiculous, it will work.

I just updated the first post with the latest video BTW This part is a bit harder to master!

 

Cool thanks

I just checked out your Boss 302 tune last night, and I absolutely love it!! Knocked 2 seconds off my lap time at Donnington National and dropped me into the 1:10s consistently. The dampers are quite different than what I've been typically doing, so I may have to take a look at some of my other cars.

I tried watching one of your setup guides, the one on tire pressure and brakes I believe it was....and there was no commentary and no sub titles...just a car driving around a track. Is there something I'm missing, or are these videos out of date or something?

Thanks again for your efforts, I look forward to watching the rest in this "Alien" series

 

I used to rely on YT annotations, but I was buried under compliants telling me that the video didn´t have text.

It didn´t take me long to notice that annotations didn´t work for all dispositives, so some phone users, or Smart TV users would be left out. Nowadays I insert the text in the video before uploading it so anyone can watch. If you need to watch these, try a PC, and if you´re already using one, try a different browser and make sure annotations are on.

 

Ahh I see. Unfortunately I don't have a PC, just my phone and PS4. I'll give it a go on the Playstation tonight and see if it works.

 

One more piece is out, updated the OP with it. Hope you find it helpful!

 

Great videos. By any chance are you a teacher in real life? If not, I think you may have missed your calling.

Look forward to the next one.

 

Nope, but I would like to have been one! 3+ months of holidays, decent salary, no physical wear at all, low stress levels... doesn´t sound bad

 

Looks like I have to work on my preload settings. I notice this especially on the Vantage GTE in the wet. It gets all axe murderer during mid-corner coast.

 

That setting is in a dark corner of the setup feature, but it´s critical. Before I became aware of how important it was sometimes I would try all sorts of values for the sway bars and even the front springs and I would never find a satisfying balance.

If you want a car where the effects of it are really prominent to understand what exactly will change, the BAC Mono is probably it.

 

Great vids. Can't wait for more. Keep up the good work.

 

I only regestired to say tank you, Please keep them coming!
Very helpful, Very easy to understand stuff i did not before. as you said in Vid, I know were to place car, but the rest was just forcing things.
I need to go back and rewatch them and bring a note pad.
Break pressure and Adjusting bias on fly looks to be huge areas for me to improve.

Thanks again

 

I always say it, it´s very cool for me to hear people are having an easy time following them. It´s not always easy getting your point across when talking about complex stuff! So thanks for that, I really like hearing it

There´s just one more to go in terms of regular driving, the one about corner exit. It´ll be out ending this week, busy times. People seem to be enjoying them so I´ll think later if there´s more stuff that I got the hang of and it´s worth sharing.

 

Your videos are amongst the most helpful I've seen, across pretty much any game I've played

The text is clear and concise, and the in-car cameras are great at really illustrating your point. In your setup guides, I especially like the "why" that goes along with the "what", if that makes sense

Have you ever thought of doing a series on the art of racecraft? You could cover topics such as:
• The Start - How to get the best launch, standing vs rolling differences, how to navigate traffic.
• Surviving Turn 1 - different strategies to help avoid and/or navigate the chaos that is the first turn of any race.
• Overtaking - various techniques like drafting (including focus on corner exit speed), out-braking, selling the dummy, over-under
• Defending - legal vs illegal blocking, how to make your car "wide", fading, braking deep into the corner, parking on the apex, controlling the pace
• How to run side by side, wheel to wheel.
• Thoughts on when to be aggressive, when to be passive.
• Strategies for "fast car vs slow car" and "slow car vs fast car"
• Where to be fast (eg, at Bathurst, do you want to be fast across the top of the mountain, or up and down the long straights?)

That's all I can think of for the moment, I'm sure there's more topics that could fit into this category.....not that you need more to do or anything

As always, keep up the great work

 

[Runs for notebook]

 

I added the latest bit to the OP