How to make the strategy for a race?Draft

[CalhauGTi]

Hi guys, I´m entering a championship and I need to know what´s the best strategy to use in it.
He have two tyre compounds: Race Hard and Race Medium (and the rain tyres when it rains), I have to use both, but I don´t know what´s going to be my strategy.
Is there any way to decide what´s the best strategy? (If I had to use advanced Maths, I will try)

 

[Spirit]

Hello @CalhauGTi, creating a race strategy from scratch can be a really intimidating process for those who are new to these concepts, but with a little explanation it can be done in as little as 30 minutes.

What is below is simply how I would approach a race with mandatory tire type change with fuel consumption as a limiting factor. This is not the only way and it may not necessarily be the best way to go about this either.

First thing first for me is to optimize the car setup. It is hard to run good laps for calculations when you struggle to handle the car. One you have a decent setup you can drive got 10-20 laps or so consistently you can proceed to fuel consumption measurements.

To measure fuel consumption, exit the pits in an online lobby with the proper settings and run 10-20 laps depending on the track size. Once this is done you should enter the pit lane and write down the maximum fuel the game will allow you to add to your tank. Take this number and divide by the number of laps you ran on the track. Note where your pit box is relative to the control line, you may need to subtract a lap if your box is ahead of the line.

EXAMPLE:
- 17 laps ran (18-1)
- GT6 offers me, say, 68L of fuel
- The quotient of 68 and 17 is 4

This means that on average my car along with my inputs consumes 4 liters of fuel every lap. This is a really important piece of information which is the most vital part (in my opinion) in developing a race strategy.

Next step is to evaluate the length of the race, as well as the track you are racing on. If the race is 76 laps, for example, at 4L/lap, my car will consume 304L of fuel, yet with GT6 automatically starting your race with 100L in the tank, you should subtract 100 from this value. This will give you the AMOUNT of fuel you need to add to your car over the course of the event.

4L/lap x 76 = 304 <-- fuel used
304 - 100 = 204 <-- fuel needed

Now we judge how many pit stops we should make over the course of the race. For a race where 204L is needed you will have to make at least three stops, as there is no way you can add 204L in two, GT6 only allows you to add 101L MAX per pit, and that 1L is usually splashed right back out of the fuel nozzle. Now depending on the track, you may want to make more than three stops. On most circuits, where tires are used fairly liberally, a three-stop strategy over 76 laps may burn your tires off too much and cause you to lost time on the track. This is mostly a judgment call and knowledge of how long you would like to push your tires, with an idea of the time it takes to make a stop, which I explain how to calculate here.

For this example, I will judge that I should make this a 3-stop race. Now I can split up the laps and fuel numbers accordingly.

76 / 4 = 19 lap stints
204L / 3 = 68L

I divided by 4 because at the checkered flag I will be wanting to make a pit stop in most situations. So a "pit" at the flag would theoretically be a 4-stopper. So just add 1 to the number of stops you want to make. Still divide your fuel needed by the number of stops you're wanting to make, however.

So this means that every 19 laps, I will pit and take 68L of fuel to the car. But beware, the first stint may not allow you to take 68L (since you started on a full tank) so test your strategy and apply the difference evenly across the remaining stops.

L19 - 50 (since it won't allow 51)
68 - 50 = 18L difference
2 stops remaining so 18 / 2 = 9

In situation where I do not get whole numbers I typically round up for fuel and round down for tires/in-laps. So my full strategy would look something like this:

L19 - 50L
L38 - 77L
L57 - 77L
L76 - END

To be safe you may consider adding an additional liter of fuel at each stop just to make sure you don't run out.

For tire selection I'm not too much of a help. Most of the races I partook in so far have only used one tire type. My only advice is to (maybe) fun the faster tires at stints where your car will have the least fuel. This will allow you to optimize them better with the decrease in weight. Or, if you're certain weather is coming, use the better tire at the beginning so you can gain that advantage while you can. For this example, let's assume a dry race using RH and RM tires, and I can only use RM once:

L1-L19 RH
L20-L38 RH
L39-L57 RH
L58-L76 RM

This is because I will have the least amount of fuel in the car at the end of the race, where the goal is to be close to an empty tank when you cross the finish line, for weight reasons.

I hope this helps a little bit, there's no really easy way to explain it over messages, and I'm not sure how well I've laid everything out for you. Best of luck in your championship!

 

[Gravitron]

you need to ass

I usually just do what Bambi does.

 

[Spirit]

I usually just do what Bambi does.

Fixed.

 

[Gravitron]

Joking aside, @Whitetail has refined his strategies on many different types of races. Great write-up!

 

[Spirit]

Thanks @Gravitron. I've updated my post further to amend some errors, hopefully everything will be correct now for the most part.

 

[CalhauGTi]

Hello @CalhauGTi, creating a race strategy from scratch can be a really intimidating process for those who are new to these concepts, but with a little explanation it can be done in as little as 30 minutes.

What is below is simply how I would approach a race with mandatory tire type change with fuel consumption as a limiting factor. This is not the only way and it may not necessarily be the best way to go about this either.

First thing first for me is to optimize the car setup. It is hard to run good laps for calculations when you struggle to handle the car. One you have a decent setup you can drive got 10-20 laps or so consistently you can proceed to fuel consumption measurements.

To measure fuel consumption, exit the pits in an online lobby with the proper settings and run 10-20 laps depending on the track size. Once this is done you should enter the pit lane and write down the maximum fuel the game will allow you to add to your tank. Take this number and divide by the number of laps you ran on the track. Note where your pit box is relative to the control line, you may need to subtract a lap if your box is ahead of the line.

EXAMPLE:
- 17 laps ran (18-1)
- GT6 offers me, say, 68L of fuel
- The quotient of 68 and 17 is 4

This means that on average my car along with my inputs consumes 4 liters of fuel every lap. This is a really important piece of information which is the most vital part (in my opinion) in developing a race strategy.

Next step is to evaluate the length of the race, as well as the track you are racing on. If the race is 76 laps, for example, at 4L/lap, my car will consume 304L of fuel, yet with GT6 automatically starting your race with 100L in the tank, you should subtract 100 from this value. This will give you the AMOUNT of fuel you need to add to your car over the course of the event.

4L/lap x 76 = 304 <-- fuel used
304 - 100 = 204 <-- fuel needed

Now we judge how many pit stops we should make over the course of the race. For a race where 204L is needed you will have to make at least three stops, as there is no way you can add 204L in two, GT6 only allows you to add 101L MAX per pit, and that 1L is usually splashed right back out of the fuel nozzle. Now depending on the track, you may want to make more than three stops. On most circuits, where tires are used fairly liberally, a three-stop strategy over 76 laps may burn your tires off too much and cause you to lost time on the track. This is mostly a judgment call and knowledge of how long you would like to push your tires, with an idea of the time it takes to make a stop, which I explain how to calculate here.

For this example, I will judge that I should make this a 3-stop race. Now I can split up the laps and fuel numbers accordingly.

76 / 4 = 19 lap stints
204L / 3 = 68L

I divided by 4 because at the checkered flag I will be wanting to make a pit stop in most situations. So a "pit" at the flag would theoretically be a 4-stopper. So just add 1 to the number of stops you want to make. Still divide your fuel needed by the number of stops you're wanting to make, however.

So this means that every 19 laps, I will pit and take 68L of fuel to the car. But beware, the first stint may not allow you to take 68L (since you started on a full tank) so test your strategy and apply the difference evenly across the remaining stops.

L19 - 50 (since it won't allow 51)
68 - 50 = 18L difference
2 stops remaining so 18 / 2 = 9

In situation where I do not get while numbers I typically round up for fuel and round down for tires/in-laps. So my full strategy would look something like this:

L19 - 50L
L38 - 77L
L57 - 77L
L76 - END

To be safe you may consider adding an additional liter of fuel at each stop just to make sure you don't run out.

For tire selection I'm not too much of a help. Most of the races I partook in so far have only used one tire type. My only advice is to (maybe) fun the faster tires at stints where your car will have the least fuel. This will allow you to optimize them better with the decrease in weight. Or, if you're certain weather is coming, use the better tire at the beginning so you can gain that advantage while you can. For this example, let's assume a dry race using RH and RM tires, and I can only use RM once:

L1-L19 RH
L20-L38 RH
L39-L57 RH
L58-L76 RM

This is because I will have the least amount of fuel in the car at the end of the race, where the goal is to be close to an empty tank when you cross the finish line, for weight reasons.

I hope this helps a little bit, there's no really easy way to explain it over messages, and I'm not sure how well I've laid everything out for you. Best of luck in your championship!

@Whitetail, in first place, thank you for your reply, I imagine that you put a lot of time replying me. However, in my first post, I should've written 2 things: the 1st one is tuning isn´t allowed, and the second one is that in this kind of races, I already used a similar fuel strategy that I developed when I began participating in this kind of racing. But instead of laps, I work with time. Eg.: the races are 90 minutes, so I do a 30 minutes comsuption test. Then I multiply my result by 3 and I get my total fuel comsuption for the race, but I always add 5 lts to be safe. My doubt was about my strategy about the tyres that I should use. I can use as many tyres as I can, as long as they are RH or RM. How do the guys in F1 calculate that, for example?
But anyway, despite not helping me too much, I´m sure that you helped a lot of guys here, so thanks again!

 

[Spirit]

@CalhauGTi, without tuning you can simply disregard the first point of my original reply. As for the timed races, try to calculate how many laps the race will be based off of lap times. For example,if the race is 30 minutes long and you are running lap and times of 1'35 on average, you can simply divide 30 by 1'25. The easiest way to do this is to convert from minutes to seconds first, this way you aren't messing around with fractions.

For your series tire rules I would use the harder compound at the start of the race if you don't have to use the tires you qualified on. If you do, the I would use the hard tires for the second stint. This way, you are getting that out of the way when the car still has more fuel in it and you can save the softer tires for your final stints when the car is light.

I'm not entirely sure for the engineers in Formula 1 go about that yet, but I guess that's why I'm still an engineering student.

Also, the way you described how you do your fuel calculation can work as well, as long as your L/lap reading is less than 5, in case there is an extra lap at the end which was not anticipated. There are many ways to go about this process and as long as the reasoning is good and the math is correct you should be okay.

I hope this answers your question a little bit better. Have a nice day/night wherever you are.

- Whitetail

 

[CalhauGTi]

@CalhauGTi, without tuning you can simply disregard the first point of my original reply. As for the timed races, try to calculate how many laps the race will be based off of lap times. For example,if the race is 30 minutes long and you are running lap and times of 1'35 on average, you can simply divide 30 by 1'25. The easiest way to do this is to convert from minutes to seconds first, this way you aren't messing around with fractions.

For your series tire rules I would use the harder compound at the start of the race if you don't have to use the tires you qualified on. If you do, the I would use the hard tires for the second stint. This way, you are getting that out of the way when the car still has more fuel in it and you can save the softer tires for your final stints when the car is light.

I'm not entirely sure for the engineers in Formula 1 go about that yet, but I guess that's why I'm still an engineering student.

Also, the way you described how you do your fuel calculation can work as well, as long as your L/lap reading is less than 5, in case there is an extra lap at the end which was not anticipated. There are many ways to go about this process and as long as the reasoning is good and the math is correct you should be okay.

I hope this answers your question a little bit better. Have a nice day/night wherever you are.

- Whitetail

Thanks @Whitetail for the reply. But I have to start the race with the tyres that I used in the qualification. Yesterday I started with the hardes compound because I only raced with one hand, because the another one was hurted, so I knew that I would be slower. For the next race however I hope to race normally and I will think your idea of using the hardest compound on the 2nd stint

 

[CalhauGTi]

@CalhauGTi, without tuning you can simply disregard the first point of my original reply. As for the timed races, try to calculate how many laps the race will be based off of lap times. For example,if the race is 30 minutes long and you are running lap and times of 1'35 on average, you can simply divide 30 by 1'25. The easiest way to do this is to convert from minutes to seconds first, this way you aren't messing around with fractions.

For your series tire rules I would use the harder compound at the start of the race if you don't have to use the tires you qualified on. If you do, the I would use the hard tires for the second stint. This way, you are getting that out of the way when the car still has more fuel in it and you can save the softer tires for your final stints when the car is light.

I'm not entirely sure for the engineers in Formula 1 go about that yet, but I guess that's why I'm still an engineering student.

Also, the way you described how you do your fuel calculation can work as well, as long as your L/lap reading is less than 5, in case there is an extra lap at the end which was not anticipated. There are many ways to go about this process and as long as the reasoning is good and the math is correct you should be okay.

I hope this answers your question a little bit better. Have a nice day/night wherever you are.

- Whitetail

One day I hope to be gratuated in Engineering as well, especially car engineering or motorsport engineering

 

[TRL_Andromeda]

A few things to think about to optimize your overall racetime:

-Try to minimize the time you are out on the harder compound. It is usually better to do your shorther stint on RH, then do a few longer stints on RM. even if the tyrewear is higher, your overall pace will still be better on them.

-Try to get rid of your fuel as quickly as possible. As your car gets lighter, you go faster. If you at your first stop still have 50+ liters left, dont bother refuelling at all, if you have used more than 50 liters, refill just so that you can make your 2'nd stint. For example if you have done 19 laps and you have used 75 liters, just refill 50 liters, so you can just make it to your 2'nd scheduled pitstop. after this, you need to refill 70 liters in every stop.

So if your race is 76 laps and you use 4 liters/lap (as in Bambi's example), I would suggest pitting after 10 laps to get rid of the RH tyres, them you have 3x22 laps stints to do.
Your first stint will use up 40 liters of fuel, and the rest 88 liters. so refill 28 liters in your first stop and then 88 liters in the next 2 stops.
If the RM tyres cant do 22 laps without dropping off, do more stops. if they drop below 1.5 - 2 seconds slower /lap, then pit, no point staying out if you loose 2-3 sec per lap, after 10 laps you will have lost all that time you gained from doing 1 less stop.

I participated in a series a while ago, where faster drivers where forced to start on RH, while slower drivers could use RS from the start. most of us just pited on lap 1 to get our RS tyres on, so they had to inforce a rule that we had to do a set number of laps on the start tyre, wich ended up with ALL the fast drivers pitting at the same lap, as soon as they where allowed.

So what you need to know is: how long can you go on RM before they are trash?, and of course how long is the race?

 

[o0Maxx0o]

A lot of knowledge here! Really fun to read. @TRL_Andromeda and @Whitetail good job!