Should be pretty obvious, but its incredible what difference a proper controller (layout) makes. Was driving with a cheap controller from gamestop, switched today to a proper PS4 controller and started to use the stick to accelerate - cut my best time on Nürburgring by almost 2 second within 10 minutes.
Right after I had probably my most thrilling race yet, battled for pretty much the whole 9 laps with a Ferrari for second place. He was slightly faster, but took the wrong pit strategy, so for the last 3 laps I was narrowly ahead and managed to hold 2nd place till the end.
Had an interesting discussion with him, since he claimed it would have been more sportsmanlike to let him pass since he was clearly faster. This is my first racing game in a long time, is it considered unsportsmanlike to not let a faster driver pass?
Unsportsmanlike, if you do it properly, no, it’s not unsportsmanlike. Whether it’s wise or not, that’s another question.
If someone is behind you and trying to pass, you are allowed to take whatever line you want, as long as you go there first. You cannot drive looking in your mirror, and swerve to block someone who has chosen a different line than you (technically in things like F1 you can, but since you’re not Verstappen, leave that to the pros).
The best strategy is usually for the lead driver to just stay on the racing line, which forces the overtaking driver to use a non-racing line (which is usually slower, hence it’s not the racing line). Where this changes is braking into a corner. If the attacker can get alongside you and out brake you into a corner, they’ll probably overtake you. In these situations, the defensive strategy is to pre-emptively place your car in a way that makes in impossible for the attacker to get an inside line on you. Remember though, you must take this inside line away before the attacker places their car there, not afterwards.
Taking away the inside line will force the attacker to try around the outside, which is a high risk maneuver. If someone can overtake you around the outside, usually the deserve it, and it’s a sign that they were much faster than you.
So, as a defender, you are allowed one, pre-emptive defensive move to take away the inside line. After you make a defensive move to the inside, you are allowed to then make one more move back towards the racing line to set up for the approaching corner. Many people confuse this as a double move, which it is not. If the attacking driver has drawn alongside you on the outside, you must leave them enough space, but you are absolutely allowed to move towards the racing line after you have made a move to cover the inside.
All of this weaving off the racing line is slow though. Slow for you and the other person. So this is why you have to decide, is it worth it to go defensive against a particular person.
If they are seconds per lap faster than you, like a Merc F1 car vs a Williams F1 car, by going defensive, you’re just delaying the inevitable. By being defensive, you will lose time to other drivers on the circuit who are not battling wheel to wheel. Furthermore, you may aggravate the faster driver, who may end up making an over ambitious move where you come off worse. It’s not right for them to do it, but whether or not they get a penalty, your race gets screwed.
Time of the race matters as well. If it’s near the start of the race, it’s usually not considered wise to battle for position really hard, as it ends up costing you time in the long run. During pit stop cycles, you want to avoid battling people, as this will slow you down and leave you vulnerable to people using pit strategy to get past you. If it’s the end of the race though and you’re fighting for position, that’s when you get the elbows out and make your car as wide as possible.
Edit: btw, I’ve been racing in sims and watching racing for more than a few years, so know a thing or two about defensive driving. Just got GTS less than a month ago, haven’t put tons of time into Sport mode, so my DR isn’t great
.
Should be good after the disaster this week is. Brand's hatch looks like a good alternative in case of disconnects, depending on the car.
.
. Yeh, weird, but then the only reason I bought the PS2 was to play the anniversary edition of Space Invaders 
.
