Noob driver I guess...

  • Thread starter Drwho0894
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Drwho0894

Drwho0894

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United Kingdom
Armyboy0894
Hello all. First time poster, I've been meaning to sign up here.
Lets just start off with I love Gran Turismo. I played quite a lot out of 1 but eventually I forgot and then rediscovered it again at 5. I've played the hell out of 6.
My question is how can I become better at this game? I want to play online a lot and win but I always end up near the back of the pack. I do have a steering wheel, it's a Supersports 3x... I didn't really have much money at the time and I don't really have it now. I just want to get better and start winning online so any tips?
 
I'm on controller so I can't give you much. The wheel takes a lot of getting used to, so I'm told. Half of it depends on the car you're driving at the time. All I can say is practice a lot.
 
Drwho0894
Hello all. First time poster, I've been meaning to sign up here.
Lets just start off with I love Gran Turismo. I played quite a lot out of 1 but eventually I forgot and then rediscovered it again at 5. I've played the hell out of 6.
My question is how can I become better at this game? I want to play online a lot and win but I always end up near the back of the pack. I do have a steering wheel, it's a Supersports 3x... I didn't really have much money at the time and I don't really have it now. I just want to get better and start winning online so any tips?
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If you want to drive with a wheel which will increase your sense of immersion in the game and your enjoyment you will need to buy a better quality wheel. The Logitech DFGT is accepted as the starting point for wheels and features good force feedback (this provides you with information about the behaviour of the car such as understeer and oversteer etc). They cost about £80 if you can get one on a sale offer. You would also need a good quality stand (such as a Wheelstand Pro) or if you have space a driving rig. Some of the fastest drivers in the world including GT Academy guys use the DFGT, but there are better wheels out there if you have the budget.

If you don't have the money for a DFGT and a secure mounting (stand or rig etc) then you will be faster with a hand controller. Cheap wheels unfortunately are not worth buying as they do not have force feedback and the Supersports 3X has deadzone control issues.

Some extremely fast drivers use hand controllers (much, much, much faster than me) - you can do a search for how they configure the buttons. You can also do a search for driving tips as there are many on this site including video tutorials by experts like Tidgney.

A couple of brief tips - use the single player time trial mode and save your best lap replay using Race Soft tyres. Then switch to Race Medium and chase your ghost. When you can beat it switch to Race Hard etc. Once you are getting good consistent times delete the times and start again.

Try doing the time trial challenges as soon as they appear on the game so that the time of the 10th placed guy is not so fast. Download his replay and practise chasing his ghost.

Good luck and as others have said - practise!
 
Welcome to GTP.

Sick Cylinder
A couple of brief tips - use the single player time trial mode and save your best lap replay using Race Soft tyres. Then switch to Race Medium and chase your ghost. When you can beat it switch to Race Hard etc. Once you are getting good consistent times delete the times and start again.
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This 👍.

Another tip is to download replays of best laps (leader from a seasonal events) and compare your time and his in the Data Logger to see where he is braking and when he gets on the throttle compared to yourself.

Also important to keep in mind that corner exit's are more important than corner entry. If you run wide or not utilse the width of the track it doesn't just effect your time on that corner but the straight which leads onto it. If it's a long enough straight (Forrest Elbow onto Conrod Straight at Mount Panorama Circuit for example) you could loose up to a whole second just by a mistake.

Also a bit of practice never hurts :sly:

Good luck with your progress :cheers:
 
Learn proper driving technique. There are many resources online to avail yourself of. This means braking early, setting up for turns, hitting apexes, powering through the turns, etc. Sloppy driving does nothing but slow you down.

Use as few assists as possible so you learn to control the car instead of relying on the helpers to make you feel like you're doing better when in actuality they're masking your bad habits. The majority of the fastest drivers on GTPlanet use only antilock braking 1 and nothing else.

Drive with the worst tires you can. Nothing teaches car control like hard, non-sticky tires. When you can lap fast on comfort hards then you've learned a LOT about car control and technique.

Drive the cars/tracks that are difficult for you. Make your worst track your favorite track. If it's challenging you then you'll learn from the experience.

Practice, practice, practice. This more than anything else.

Good luck,
Sark
 
Sick Cylinder
If you want to drive with a wheel which will increase your sense of immersion in the game and your enjoyment you will need to buy a better quality wheel. The Logitech DFGT is accepted as the starting point for wheels and features good force feedback (this provides you with information about the behaviour of the car such as understeer and oversteer etc). They cost about £80 if you can get one on a sale offer. You would also need a good quality stand (such as a Wheelstand Pro) or if you have space a driving rig. Some of the fastest drivers in the world including GT Academy guys use the DFGT, but there are better wheels out there if you have the budget.

If you don't have the money for a DFGT and a secure mounting (stand or rig etc) then you will be faster with a hand controller. Cheap wheels unfortunately are not worth buying as they do not have force feedback and the Supersports 3X has deadzone control issues.

Some extremely fast drivers use hand controllers (much, much, much faster than me) - you can do a search for how they configure the buttons. You can also do a search for driving tips as there are many on this site including video tutorials by experts like Tidgney.

A couple of brief tips - use the single player time trial mode and save your best lap replay using Race Soft tyres. Then switch to Race Medium and chase your ghost. When you can beat it switch to Race Hard etc. Once you are getting good consistent times delete the times and start again.

Try doing the time trial challenges as soon as they appear on the game so that the time of the 10th placed guy is not so fast. Download his replay and practise chasing his ghost.

Good luck and as others have said - practise!
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Well said, I agree with everything except the part about Racing Soft tires. That's the approach I took when I began with GT5 but knowing what I know now, I'd say never use more than the native tires a car came with and start with slower FR cars and build up to the faster. I'd start with CS tires on something like the Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86 etc. , completely stock and learn to master that car on a variety of tracks before moving on to faster equipment.

Harder tires really bring the physics to life, really force you to learn throttle and brake control, whereas using racing tires of any grade on a street car is like throwing a blanket over the beautiful physics programmed into the game. The cars all handle the best and feel the most alive, on the tires they were programmed with. Racing Hard tires only on race cars and even then, I'd only use them on the faster race cars. GT300 and many of the slower race cars are just fine on Sports Hards to Sports Mediums.
 
Great tips in this thread.

Especially the discussion that emphasizes the importance of corner exit speed.

I recommend reading "Going Faster! Mastering the Art of Race Driving" from the Skip Barber Racing School.

Understand that tires have a certain amount of grip. That grip can be used for cornering, or braking/accelerating or a combination of some of the two. If you are using up all available grip to hang on in a corner, there's nothing left for speeding up or slowing down. As you exit a corner and it opens up, then you are no longer using all available grip, so you can ease onto the throttle while you are still turning to gain an advantage in the following straight segment.

Conversely, you don't have to completely lift off the brake as soon as you start to enter a corner. As the corner tightens up, you can ease off the brake progressively, thus leaving your braking phase later. It's referred to as trail braking.

Also, think about weight distribution on the individual tires, and how it changes during racing. During acceleration, the rear tires get more than their fair share, so they grip better. When you back off the throttle, the weight transfer to the front makes the front tires grip better, a fact you can use when cornering. This may be enough to gain enough grip to cancel out any need for braking.

Finally, remember that the accelerator and brake are not on/off switches. Treat them progressively. Sudden hitting of the pedals can upset the attitude of the car. It takes time for the weight shifts I mentioned above. Your pedal usage should be in concert with those dynamics; it's a kind of dance.

Hope this helps. I'm still not very fast, but I have fun.
 
Dont forget to set realistic goals, if you are too ambitious with your goals, you probably will never achieve them, and then its not fun anymore. The way I started out was Time trials, mostly seasonal events. My first goal was to be within 1000'th place, then 500'th, then 200'th, then 100'th, then 50'th, then 20'th, and now my goal is to always be top 10.

but you should be able to consistently be able to run well within your goal before setting a new one, its not like if you are within 1000'th once, you can go on to try for 500'th. once you have been within the 1000 4-5 times and even been below 500 once, then you can set your new goal.

And as @Johnnypenso said, Racing tires makes the slow cars feel weird, stick with the stock tires. however, if the car is somewhat heavy and powerful (Chevy Corvette and such) you can upgrade to Sports soft tires instead of Sports hard.

and the only cars that is suited for Racing soft tires is heavily tuned LMP cars (1000hp and above) and even then, Racing hard works fine.

No need to use Comfort hard or medium IMO, Comfort soft works for all slow cars.
 
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Well all good advice listed. One tip I would recommend is that you learn how to aim slide the car from Conner to corner and learn throttle controll 1/2 or 3/4 throttle not only keeps you RPMS up and will allow you to maintain control while maintaing your speed.

Good luck see you on the grid
 
Here is another effective improvement trick I have enjoyed.

Set your goal as "consistency" and "getting better" will be the natural outcome.

Here's how.
  1. Put down a few laps until you feel you are close to "your limit".
  2. Then race your ghost, trying to be close to your best time, within, say, 1%.
  3. Don't try to beat the ghost, just try to be close. This will relax you.
  4. You'll quickly discover where "your ghost is weak", and you'll squeeze time out of that track section.
  5. Now you have a new ghost, go back to step 2 above
Have fun!

Edit:-

I should add that when you plateau out with the above approach, keep going until you can lap consistently within +/- ½ of one percent. If you can do that, you'll race faster than your friends who can get in the occasional really fast lap. You'll be racing cooler.
 
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All of the posts here have sound advice.

Another piece of advice I'd throw in is learning how to smoothly link up corners. If you can gently swing from outside - inside - outside through a set of corners without having to adjust or correct your steering, you will gain a lot of time, it all leads up to higher cornering speeds and exits. Also remember that the tires have 100% grip, but any form of turning, accelerating or braking reduces that number. Try different driving styles to always get 100% out of the tire and not going over that limit. What I mean is that if you have the throttle pinned, you could be using up 80% of the tire's grip and only have 20% left for steering before you begin to slip - thus losing time. It works in all ways - if you're steering hard and using up 70% of the tire's grip, you only have 30% for braking or accelerating. Experiment with this against your own ghost in time trial mode, try using more throttle one lap, less throttle another lap but at a slighter higher speed and so on.

Smoothness is the key and using the throttle and brake to do just as much turning as what the steering wheel does. Any time you are having to correct the car because you have turned in too much or too little, or burst through the first corner fast but are in a bad position for the next, you are losing fistfulls of time.

When you get it right, I think it becomes or looks a bit like sewing.
 
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Lewis_Hamilton_
All of the posts here have sound advice.

Another piece of advice I'd throw in is learning how to smoothly link up corners.
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This can take massive amounts of time off a lap if done properly (and I must confess that I rarely do it properly :P ). When there are corners in a series, sometimes you have to take the "wrong" line through the first corner in order to get the most speed out of the second corner. If the first corner goes directly into the second but the second goes onto a long straight, a driver is better off to sacrifice a little bit of speed in the first corner because the extra speed carried through the second corner will pay off all the way down the straight as well.
 
1. The primary objective of any corner is exit speed. Everything else is a distant second.

2. Mistakes on entry and mid-corner cost you a tenth or two at most, being too fast or too slow. Mistakes on exit can cost you several tenths or more than a second on the following straight alone and just as important, a lower speed throughout the following straight making you vulnerable to being caught and passed in the draft.

If online is any indication, almost all drivers try too hard to force entry speed and can't hold a steady line through the corner and it costs them exit speed every time. Your goal from entry to apex should be simply to set the car up for exit and nothing more.
 
RocknSoul
Well all good advice listed. One tip I would recommend is that you learn how to aim slide the car from Conner to corner and learn throttle controll 1/2 or 3/4 throttle not only keeps you RPMS up and will allow you to maintain control while maintaing your speed.
Click to expand...

I see this "sliding" from corner entry to exit so often in the Top 10 video replays and I am just astonished how people can maintain such control! Well, that's why they're Top 10 drivers and I'm lucky if I get near Top 1000 or Top 2000. It's a beautiful thing to watch.
 
RocknSoul
Well all good advice listed. One tip I would recommend is that you learn how to aim slide the car from Conner to corner and learn throttle controll 1/2 or 3/4 throttle not only keeps you RPMS up and will allow you to maintain control while maintaing your speed.

Good luck see you on the grid
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please dont listen to this... sliding is slower because you cant get on the power quickly and you have to adjust the sliding so you dont spin wich loses time too. throttle control means turning the car with throttle not keeping it 1/4 or 3/4 active all the time. if you dont lift of the throttle in some corners your gonna get loads of understeer
 
If i could give any advice, it'll be try to rotate the car into the entry and maintain the rotation round the corner, they try to get a very clean exit without any oversteer. I'd also like to add on the trail-braking helps the car rotate while slowing it down enough for the corner.
 
nick1402
please dont listen to this... sliding is slower because you cant get on the power quickly and you have to adjust the sliding so you dont spin wich loses time too. throttle control means turning the car with throttle not keeping it 1/4 or 3/4 active all the time. if you dont lift of the throttle in some corners your gonna get loads of understeer
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You should send this to all the GTAcademy qualifiers and anyone that ever finished top 10 in any TT in GT5 or GT6 because they've been doing it all wrong. A controlled drift is the fastest way around many corners because GT doesn't model tire heat buildup or loss of traction very well, and you can maintain a controlled slide as a way of entering corners with more speed and rotating better at the apex. It's very hard to do consistently, but it's still the fastest way around.
 
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nick1402
please dont listen to this... sliding is slower because you cant get on the power quickly and you have to adjust the sliding so you dont spin wich loses time too. throttle control means turning the car with throttle not keeping it 1/4 or 3/4 active all the time. if you dont lift of the throttle in some corners your gonna get loads of understeer
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Take it from me, it is the fastest way if you get it right. For one simple reason: you get better rotation at apex.
It is usually not the best IRL tho.
 
oh i see, i haven't really played gt6 since i got a decent pc. is was talking about irl or more realistic simulators like iracing. i tought it would be the same in gt6
 
Then, then your next, next goal is to be the BEST #1 and finally always #1 :)

et_
Dont forget to set realistic goals, if you are too ambitious with your goals, you probably will never achieve them, and then its not fun anymore. The way I started out was Time trials, mostly seasonal events. My first goal was to be within 1000'th place, then 500'th, then 200'th, then 100'th, then 50'th, then 20'th, and now my goal is to always be top 10.
Click to expand...
 
Ditch that wheel, it doesn't even turn to 900 degrees. Stick to the controller and just practice.
 

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