NASCAR - Saving fuel

[CupKonan04]

Hey guys,

I did a 100 lapper around Daytona yesterday and for further races I'm wondering if anybody ever tried to save some fuel for strategy reasons already? Does it actually work and if, how efficient is it?
Since I'm running a 3-speed setup I can always switch to 4th and hang with the pack a little bit to keep the rpms down which actually should be less fuel-consuming. I also would let off the throttle to hang with the pack, too.
So my question really just is if it works and how efficient it is..

Thanks for your answers!

 

[kennyblanco]

I'd imagine that by drafting you'd be able to save a considerable amount of fuel as you can keep pretty good pace with the car you're drafting using 1/2-3/4 throttle most of the time. I haven't ever tried myself though.

 

[kingstang5oh]

Hey guys,

I did a 100 lapper around Daytona yesterday and for further races I'm wondering if anybody ever tried to save some fuel for strategy reasons already? Does it actually work and if, how efficient is it?
Since I'm running a 3-speed setup I can always switch to 4th and hang with the pack a little bit to keep the rpms down which actually should be less fuel-consuming. I also would let off the throttle to hang with the pack, too.
So my question really just is if it works and how efficient it is..

Thanks for your answers!

We have run hundreds of NASCAR races in our league and we set up the laps so that one person can't lead the whole race or they will burn the tires and gas out too fast.

RPM's in this game don't have an effect on mileage even tho it makes a difference in the real world. If you take a look at your fuel meter it uses the same amount at any RPM. Drafting to keep the speed up without full throttle is the only way to conserve fuel and tires.

 

[DrifterJoe]

As kingstang said, RPM has no effect on fuel usage, but the amount of throttle you're using does. Whenever I save fuel I just hang out at the back of the pack and ease off the throttle. I think that GT5 does correctly simulate gear changes using a little extra fuel (it does from my experience anyway), so I'd advise against your 3-speed transmission if you change up to 4th whenever you want to save fuel (and presumably back down to 3rd again after). Since RPM doesn't affect fuel use I'd advise against a 3-speed altogether, as you'll have better acceleration and probably a slightly higher top speed.

 

[eran0004]

Drafting helps saving fuel. Ran a couple of races online on Route X with tyre/fuel depletion, I think it was 5 laps or something. Long enough to not be able to do it on your own without running out of fuel. So there was a lot of strategy in the race, who is going to go in front and who is trying to always stay in the back. About 2/3 of the cars had to pit before last lap and only 2 or 3 cars could keep full throttle on the last lap. It's the most fun races I've had on Route X

 

[CupKonan04]

Since RPM doesn't affect fuel use I'd advise against a 3-speed altogether, as you'll have better acceleration and probably a slightly higher top speed.

Thanks for the advice but I figured out that a 3-speed transmission is the way to go since I consistantly reach 222-223 mph going into the corners at Daytona and run lap times of 41,5xx. The worse acceleration can be made up by drafting somebody but if nobody is around you it won't cost you much anyway. Additionally, you can switch to 4th and get speeds up to 250 mph which would be impossible to do with a 4-speed with which you want to run consistantly good lap times on your own, too, since the rpm's would be too low at ~220 mph.

 

[Eric W]

It's a great feeling when you've just saved enough fuel to win. I've had a couple races where I run out of fuel as I'm crossing the finish line.

Then again, I've had several where I ran out a 1/2 lap early.

 

[jaycee_xr3]

Very interesting information, specially for nascar rookies... like me
Thanks!

 

[MSTER232]

Hey guys,

I did a 100 lapper around Daytona yesterday and for further races I'm wondering if anybody ever tried to save some fuel for strategy reasons already? Does it actually work and if, how efficient is it?
Since I'm running a 3-speed setup I can always switch to 4th and hang with the pack a little bit to keep the rpms down which actually should be less fuel-consuming. I also would let off the throttle to hang with the pack, too.
So my question really just is if it works and how efficient it is..

Thanks for your answers!

As said before, the best way to conserve fuel while racing is to slipstream someone else as close as possible with the minimum amount of throttle needed to keep up. This will help you squeeze a few more laps out of your fuel tank and it will be very useful when running long NASCAR races.

It's a great feeling when you've just saved enough fuel to win. I've had a couple races where I run out of fuel as I'm crossing the finish line.

Then again, I've had several where I ran out a 1/2 lap early.

Tough luck !

 

[DrifterJoe]

Thanks for the advice but I figured out that a 3-speed transmission is the way to go since I consistantly reach 222-223 mph going into the corners at Daytona and run lap times of 41,5xx. The worse acceleration can be made up by drafting somebody but if nobody is around you it won't cost you much anyway. Additionally, you can switch to 4th and get speeds up to 250 mph which would be impossible to do with a 4-speed with which you want to run consistantly good lap times on your own, too, since the rpm's would be too low at ~220 mph.

It's been about a year since I've run NASCAR races at full power, so I presume that full power setups have improved since then. These days I mainly race in a restricted league for more realistic speeds at Daytona.

I was able to get 250-255mph if I had a great/near perfect run when I used to do full power though, on racing hards (I used a normal 4 speed). 41.5xx times used to be my qualifying times on hards after I'd used up most of the fuel.


Also, a slight edit to my earlier post here: although GT5 doesn't count RPM towards fuel use, it uses your speed instead. E.g- going at 200mph in 3rd gear (high revs) will give you the same fuel use as the same speed in 4th gear (lower revs), but being on full throttle at 200mph will use less fuel than being full throttle at a higher speed, and will use more fuel than a lower speed.

 

[MSTER232]

Also, a slight edit to my earlier post here: although GT5 doesn't count RPM towards fuel use, it uses your speed instead. E.g- going at 200mph in 3rd gear (high revs) will give you the same fuel use as the same speed in 4th gear (lower revs), but being on full throttle at 200mph will use less fuel than being full throttle at a higher speed, and will use more fuel than a lower speed.

Good explanation but at first I didn't understand some parts of it. To simplify what you said, going full throttle at a lower speed will use less fuel than going full throttle at higher speeds.

 

[DrifterJoe]

Good explanation but at first I didn't understand some parts of it. To simplify what you said, going full throttle at a lower speed will use less fuel than going full throttle at higher speeds.

Correct. 👍

 

[MSTER232]

Correct. 👍

I still think that a more realistic fuel system should be implemented into the game in a future update so you could save fuel by cruising in 4th gear. In my opinion it would make NASCAR races much more easier and also give you a reason to change gears earlier.

 

[CupKonan04]

I still think that a more realistic fuel system should be implemented into the game in a future update so you could save fuel by cruising in 4th gear. In my opinion it would make NASCAR races much more easier and also give you a reason to change gears earlier.

I agree 100% with you here, it would make it more realistic as well.

 

[MSTER232]

I agree 100% with you here, it would make it more realistic as well.

I can only infer that they ran out of time while developing the fuel system for Gran Turismo 5. Or, the fuel system was directly imported from Gran Turismo 4 because GT4 was the first GT game in the series to include a fuel gauge.

 

[Eric W]

I joined an open lobby last night where the host was running a 45 lap race at Daytona Super Speedway. Some people were claiming that no one would be able to run 45 laps without pitting for fuel and tires but I managed to conserve just under a 1/4 tank of fuel in my RM'd ZR1 and my tires weren't an issue. I still had enough fuel for another 6 to 8 laps.

 

[MSTER232]

I joined an open lobby last night where the host was running a 45 lap race at Daytona Super Speedway. Some people were claiming that no one would be able to run 45 laps without pitting for fuel and tires but I managed to conserve just under a 1/4 tank of fuel in my RM'd ZR1 and my tires weren't an issue. I still had enough fuel for another 6 to 8 laps.

What cars were everyone else using? It might be possible that some cars have better fuel efficiency than others.

 

[Eric W]

We were all driving RM'd Corvette ZR1's and ZO6's.

 

[MSTER232]

We were all driving RM'd Corvette ZR1's and ZO6's.

So I guess that we can come to a conclusion that using less throttle means less fuel used which means more mileage on a single fuel tank .

 

[Eric W]

Definitely.

I was rarely full throttle for the first 30 to 35 laps of the race, I tried keeping it between half and 3/4 throttle. I was able to hang back and draft for more than half of the race and when it came time to put down the pedal I had plenty of fuel and tire for the finish.

I did luck out after several of the cars pitted because they came back out in front of me and I was able to continue drafting while I was in the lead. The cars with the fresh tires tried to shake me but I was able to hold on for the rest of the race.

 

[Left Turn]

I drive with a logitech G27, therefore i have a clutch. I hang out at the tail of the pack and draft down the straights almost to the point where i on the next car's bumper, I clutch the car in the corner and let the draft pull me around the track for as long as I can until I jump back into the throttle.

I ran 60 laps the other day and did the method above until the first pit stop (lap 30), I had a half-tank while everyone else had about 1/4 tank. The only thing that killed my race was that i didn't take enough gas and burned a lot up catching other cars ( run out on lap 59 of 60).

 

[iamjajo]

I've read some replies that I disagree with. You can save fuel in races and it makes sense to do so; especially for your last pit stop.

Run the higher gear and stay behind the pack. You will see a significant improvement...I've seen as much as 20% less fuel usage doing this.

 

[MSTER232]

I drive with a logitech G27, therefore i have a clutch. I hang out at the tail of the pack and draft down the straights almost to the point where i on the next car's bumper, I clutch the car in the corner and let the draft pull me around the track for as long as I can until I jump back into the throttle.

I ran 60 laps the other day and did the method above until the first pit stop (lap 30), I had a half-tank while everyone else had about 1/4 tank. The only thing that killed my race was that i didn't take enough gas and burned a lot up catching other cars ( run out on lap 59 of 60).

One of the huge advantages of having a clutch. You can clutch in when you are going around a corner, and then you roll quite happily along the track using almost no fuel.