How to Practice to Improve Lap Times

[nottakumasato]

Hi everyone,

I am a newbie to Gran Turismo and played a lot of Career mode and Time Trials last week. However, I am now at a point where I cannot improve my laptimes as much as I like. You might think that there is no room left to improve but considering I am 9-10 seconds of the pace in GT Academy rounds, there is a lot to improve actually. I have noted my breaking points, turning points and lines taken in every circuit I race in and for every car.

So my question is, how do you guys improve your laptimes? Do you have a "program" or methodology that you use to improve your laptimes? What advice would you give to a newbie like me to make him/her lap within 2-3 seconds off the best there is in GT?

Thanks and I wish everyone quality racing sessions.

 

[polysmut]

Hi everyone,

I am a newbie to Gran Turismo and played a lot of Career mode and Time Trials last week. However, I am now at a point where I cannot improve my laptimes as much as I like. You might think that there is no room left to improve but considering I am 9-10 seconds of the pace in GT Academy rounds, there is a lot to improve actually. I have noted my breaking points, turning points and lines taken in every circuit I race in and for every car.

So my question is, how do you guys improve your laptimes? Do you have a "program" or methodology that you use to improve your laptimes? What advice would you give to a newbie like me to make him/her lap within 2-3 seconds off the best there is in GT?

Thanks and I wish everyone quality racing sessions.

I'm definitely not one of the fastest players but I would say the best thing for improvement is practice.
You're already looking at braking points, turn in points & lines. 👍 Certain game modes give you a ghost of your previous best lap, that shows you if something you are trying is gaining time or losing time at any particular corner.
If you're really new though, just getting a feel for the cars & the way they handle in the game will lead to improvements.
At any level, practice is important & I would say it's the most likely thing to lead to improvement.
Good luck & remember, practice, practice, practice.

Edit: On re-reading the thread title, I see that the answer was already there in the question. 👍

 

[nottakumasato]

I'm definitely not one of the fastest players but I would say the best thing for improvement is practice.
You're already looking at braking points, turn in points & lines. 👍 Certain game modes give you a ghost of your previous best lap, that shows you if something you are trying is gaining time or losing time at any particular corner.
If you're really new though, just getting a feel for the cars & the way they handle in the game will lead to improvements.
At any level, practice is important & I would say it's the most likely thing to lead to improvement.
Good luck & remember, practice, practice, practice.

Edit: On re-reading the thread title, I see that the answer was already there in the question. 👍

So doing Time Trial with ghost loaded is the way to do practice? I don't know, but I thought maybe there were exercises to do to improve trail braking, cornering, getting on the gas. I guess I will just do Time Trials with my ghost then. Thanks .

 

[eran0004]

A good exercise is to try and use the full width of the track. You get a good feeling for how fast you can go through that corner when you do that.

Also, spend some time getting to know the weight balance of the car during cornering: what happens to it when you brake? When you accelerate? When you coast? Especially in FR cars you can get quite a lot of front end grip during acceleration, as the weight balance shifts to the rear.

 

[polysmut]

So doing Time Trial with ghost loaded is the way to do practice? I don't know, but I thought maybe there were exercises to do to improve trail braking, cornering, getting on the gas. I guess I will just do Time Trials with my ghost then. Thanks .

That was just one idea. It doesn't necessarily mean it's the best or the only thing you should do.
I'm sure there is a lot more you could try & you should probably try as many things as you can.
eran's advice, above this, sounds good.
There are much faster players than me. I'll be learning from some of the responses you'll hopefully receive here too.

 

[hasslemoff]

So doing Time Trial with ghost loaded is the way to do practice? I don't know, but I thought maybe there were exercises to do to improve trail braking, cornering, getting on the gas. I guess I will just do Time Trials with my ghost then. Thanks .

Have a look at the WRS Time Trials, they are weekly time trials and many a driver has improved over time. There are replays available to download every week from the TT's from the numerous drivers of certain speeds and people are very generous with there help, from 1st sector videos, corner explanations and any other tips.

Each week replays are uploaded so you can download them to your ps3 to see where and how you have lost time, its a great way to practice, learn, have fun and a bit of competition.

 

[GTP_CargoRatt]

One thing that I do in my practice sessions is to use1 or 2 grades lower (depending on the car) tire than comes stock with the car. Using much less grippy tires really helps develop good throttle and brake control. Also helps with steering inputs. I have been known to drive a NASCAR car around on SS tires. If you're feeling adventurous, try that on the Nurburgring.

 

[hasslemoff]

One thing that I do in my practice sessions is to use1 or 2 grades lower (depending on the car) tire than comes stock with the car. Using much less grippy tires really helps develop good throttle and brake control. Also helps with steering inputs. I have been known to drive a NASCAR car around on SS tires. If you're feeling adventurous, try that on the Nurburgring.

CS tyre's are made for Nascar's, makes oval racing a whole lot of fun .

 

[TexRex]

I have been known to drive a NASCAR car around on SS tires. If you're feeling adventurous, try that on the Nurburgring.

Well, at least you'll have a safety net should you clip the grass in an unfortunate area.

As a whole, I recommend the suggestion @GTP_CargoRatt made, but there are some caveats. Taking a car that's equipped with Comfort Soft tires as default and dropping to Medium or Hard is all well and good, but the over-tire'd cars that come with Sports Hard tires as default may put up a fight upon returning to the softer compound after practicing with the economy rubber. In addition to having a softer compound, they tend to have tread blocks designed more for heat dissipation than for conforming to the driving surface, and their blocks are generally larger with less extensive grooving to direct water on wet surfaces.
Mind you I'm not saying to avoid the advice, just be warned and don't lose patience when you find trouble.

 

[GTP_CargoRatt]

Well, at least you'll have a safety net should you clip the grass in an unfortunate area.

As a whole, I recommend the suggestion @GTP_CargoRatt made, but there are some caveats. Taking a car that's equipped with Comfort Soft tires as default and dropping to Medium or Hard is all well and good, but the over-tire'd cars that come with Sports Hard tires as default may put up a fight upon returning to the softer compound after practicing with the economy rubber. In addition to having a softer compound, they tend to have tread blocks designed more for heat dissipation than for conforming to the driving surface, and their blocks are generally larger with less extensive grooving to direct water on wet surfaces.
Mind you I'm not saying to avoid the advice, just be warned and don't lose patience when you find trouble.

I've never encountered the situations which you have described. The advice I have given has always been beneficial to me and never had a problem returning to the stock tire or even better. At any rate, its only advice and I am by no means telling anyone that they should absolutely practice in this manner.....only saying what has worked for me so take it for what it is......or even as just a grain of salt. We all know my lights are on but nobody is home most of the time.

 

[TexRex]

I've never encountered the situations which you have described.

That may be the difference between wheel and controller--assuming you use a wheel as I have [assumed] for some time.

 

[GTP_CargoRatt]

That may be the difference between wheel and controller--assuming you use a wheel as I have [assumed] for some time.

Yea, I use a wheel and have for a long time. 👍

 

[Jack002]

nottakumasato, I assume you have done all the licence tests? If you want training on how to drive better go into all of them (again) and read the text there, lots of good advice on how to improve.

I like to load the ghost of better drivers from the online time trials. Even the movie of the car racing, study them, it helps.

Tuning was mentioned. Most cars I think we all can tune well and get good results. Some very unusual cars need special tuning we might not know or guess. The tuning forum here with the find-a-car tuning app helps me a lot with those.

 

[SCClockDr]

I sort of leveled out for a while and I returned to GT5 to do some shuffle racing just before the servers shut down. That experience sliced my pastimes quite a bit. I then joined the Geezer Club and even more improvement. I then got involved in QM racing. That really helped with both my tuning and driving.

So I would suggest getting into online lobbies and the QM races where you provide the car. QM lobbies are not for everyone but it will challenge you to learn how to defend yourself and avoid contact. Your competitors are real people and they will act randomly compared to the AI drivers. Plus there is lots of credits to earn.

I've got most of the cars I wanted and am @ 50 million credits & I still run the QM's and race with the Geezers just for the challenge.

 

[MonGnoM]

Just drive.
Get some miles on as many cars as you like (but on curvy tracks, not SSRX)

I improved myself by testing everycar on either Suzuka and the Nordschleife, that way i got a feeling for different cars, i adapted quicker to cars, and i made soooo many miles there.

 

[MrGrado]

Controls, driving perspective, settings

I recommend using triggers for brakes and accel, "normal driving view" and set controller sensitivity to max. Use manual transmission!

Also drive without music.

Data logger

Save a lot of laps, watch the replays and compare laps with the data logger.

Precision

Practice driving down the edge of the racetrack on straights. Make the effort to learn how to use the whole track and place your car precisely where you need it on the track.

Margin for error

Identify areas of a lap where you are consistently making an error and drive with more caution.

1. Remove errors
2. Gain consistency
3. Try small changes to improve

Free Time

Very often you can find speed by adjusting where you shift. It's not a lot, but it's risk free.

For hot laps, exit the final turn before commencing a lap with max speed (between apex and exit drive more loopy and cover more distance) and position yourself before the start line to make the shortest run to the braking zone for turn one.

On any lap where you are ahead of your ghost, exit the final turn and drive to the finish over the shortest distance, as in position yourself for turn one after finish line, again not a lot of time to gain but it's risk free and takes no talent!

Sometimes, for online hot laps, I'm ahead of everyone on my friends list at the start line and ahead before turn one and this is why. I'm also fastest (as far as I can tell) for B1 license test and this is mostly from shifting at correct RPM in up shifts.

 

[MonGnoM]

Oh yes and i switched from the DS3 to a 200° Lock to lock Wheel (Driving Force EX). This wheel made me 2 seconds per lap faster.
Then i switched to a G27, and again some 3-5 seconds per lap faster.

I can say that I'm now a pretty fast driver.
Oh yes, the GT Academy is a very good practise, I took 2-3 hours per round to get used to the car, push it, tweak the line and get better results.

Eventhough I didn't made a "blue" best lap every time i have completed i lap, i saw that the average laptimes were coming down and down and down, so just practise driving.

 

[SCClockDr]

Another thing to consider is getting clear as to your learning style. Some study a situation and make plans, others dive right in and go crash fast then adjust, & still others start slow and build up as they improve doing mostly blue (good) laps. You need to know your learning style to chose the best approach.

Race drivers IRL start slow and build speed if they wish to survive the experience for very long. Slow being a relative term in this context.

 

[Dagger311]

I always practice by taking it slow and gradually trying to go a little faster, until I feel I'm at the cars limit. When that happens, I take it around different lines, trying to find one that I can push it slightly faster on.

Then of course, there's tuning, which is a whole new realm of improving lap times.

 

[MidFieldMaven]

Like others have said...

1) Race against your ghost
2) Try braking later/sooner and getting on the gas later/sooner
3) Use full width of track. If coming up to a right-hand corner, you want to be as close to the dirt on the left side as possible. There are very few instances where this is not the best course of action.

 

[Sick Cylinder]

If you can, do some practise with a friend - I sometimes find that I can gain a couple of seconds by following and copying the lines of a faster friend.

 

[photonrider]

^
This is true - like having a good sparring partner. You can improve your skills with a capable friend.

So my question is, how do you guys improve your laptimes? Do you have a "program" or methodology that you use to improve your laptimes? What advice would you give to a newbie like me to make him/her lap within 2-3 seconds off the best there is in GT?

Thanks and I wish everyone quality racing sessions.

In addition to the great advice given in here that many would find useful, let me add that finding a suitable group of friends, or a well-run Lobby that is regularly scheduled, can improve your overall handling and mastery of the car, improve your reflexes and hand-eye-coordination, and you will find yourself driving faster and better as the weeks go by - which will translate into a better attack when you go hot-lapping again.