Nurburgring Woes

[BoneSawTX]

I detest every second I spend on this track. Am I alone?

right there with you, raced it a ton on GT4 and have done all but the endurance for this track and just don't enjoy it.

 

[L1truckie]

Menown...I love "The Ring", although I wouldnt say Im a pro at it by any means, but what I do that helps me (on all tracks really) on the tuff corners, the ones that throw you off your kilter...is I count though the corners...meaning

Before the corner I will pick a point, IE mailbox, tree, rumble strip etc, and I count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc So as I count I may lift off the pedal on 3, coast around and throttle out at 6. Or i may brake on 2, coast on 5, roll in the throttle on 7, and hammer it on 9..after a while it becomes second nature...It takes a few tries to get it but once you have a rhythm its consistent every-time...

It may or may not help, its just what I do and it helps me....good luck!!

 

[dabest2500]

I use to be like that.
In less than 5 days, I became intensely in love with the Nurburgring with massive appreciation for it. I can also drive at 100% mistake free.
How?
By getting Gold in all AMG Driving Academy Special Event.
That event has taught me so much in less than 5 days.
By attempting to Gold it, I have learnt the Nurburgring, and also got the seemingly hard GTR Record trophy with ease.
Focus attention on to getting Gold at the AMG Driving Academy and you'll earn massive respect and love for the Nurburgring 👍

 

[msbe36M3]

Nurburgring is one of the best tracks! its a skill, control track for sure. It takes time to learn, and it has its quirks. I actually am a Bimmer lover so I think my cars and their tunes have an affinity for this track! I swear my M3 loves Nurburgring and is easier to drive there.

Couldnt agree more. The ring is the main reason i bought gt5(and 4 copies of gt4). Ive gone so far as to build a sim seat using an M3 seat( of which there are not any e36 m3s in this game). The Ring rocks.

Oh and the only thing i can thank PD for is the Nurburgring type V!!!!!

Now if there was just as many german cars as Japanese cars. Id like 59 versions of m3's And many other german race cars from the past.

 

[am0eba]

I agree with the car suggestions provided by others. Mercedes CLK Touring Car is a NATURAL for this course! Race-Modified Lotus Elise is also a gem.

I also agree with the suggestion to use the Special Events challenges to figure things out. The driving line is super helpful in finding reference points for braking, etc. even though the suggested line seems to be from someone's hallucinatory dreams... Not much bearing on what line to actually take.

One silly, but possibly useful suggestion nobody else has made in this thread: try practicing in a go-kart! This is similar in concept to the custom of walking a track prior to racing, but in a more manageable way. Use the kart to explore the constantly-changing surfaces, kerb profiles, banking, and hogback that comprise this very intricate course!

One other suggestion would be to try other racing games / sims and their versions of the Nurb'... I think these might help you to appreciate what a great job they did in GT5, and also provide some insight into how to drive it!

_Dave_

Not an expert by any measure, but really enjoying the learning process!

 

[dougdoberman]

I'm torn about the Nordschleife. I enjoy it driving solo, but am less of a fan of it for racing against other cars. If it were one lane wider, it'd be MUCH more fun in traffic. There's not really room for alternate lines if you're driving similar cars.


One thing that may help (on many courses, but here in particular) is taking notes & studying them. The Prima guide has a map of the track, or you can easily find one on the net. Take some easy laps and jot down some notes as you go. "Watch for dip on left side" "Tires on the curbing will help" etc. SOmetimes referring to these and then working on that specific section can be very helpful.

Running the AMG Special Events will help a great bit, but you've ofetn gotta basically relearn it with each car you drive.

 

[FLIGHT50]

I have only played this track on GT5, about 5 times, I know every corner.

Unless your being sarcastic, I doubt you know every corner if just 5 laps with GT5 being your first go at it. If you do I doubt you had a high powered car doing it. The braking points, acceleration points and your pushing to the limit points all take some time to master for a particular power band a car has.

This by far is the most challenging and most exciting course in the series nowadays. If you have driving it 100 times, I am surprised that you don't know it yet. Your doing pretty good if you got silver though. The hardest sector to learn its probably the Northeast one. I think that is sector 3. If one wants to test there skills, this is the track to do it on. Game wise and real life.

 

[dabest2500]

Unless your being sarcastic, I doubt you know every corner if just 5 laps with GT5 being your first go at it. If you do I doubt you had a high powered car doing it. The braking points, acceleration points and your pushing to the limit points all take some time to master for a particular power band a car has.

This by far is the most challenging and most exciting course in the series nowadays. If you have driving it 100 times, I am surprised that you don't know it yet. Your doing pretty good if you got silver though. The hardest sector to learn its probably the Northeast one. I think that is sector 3. If one wants to test there skills, this is the track to do it on. Game wise and real life.

He could have got to the last corner, then drive in reverse.
Do the lap again and repeat.
He would still be on lap 1

 

[cicua]

It just feels like a random heap of corners landed in Germany and people started driving on them.

With other tracks I can feel the flow and how one corner relates to the next. Nurburgring just feels random, it's like we are speaking different languages. I just know at some point it will all click, but it's like I'm missing something.

Funny, I find the ring is one of the smoothest tracks in term of rhythm. Once you get into it, you can just drive and drive and drive it, it just flows like water. There is not a single chikane there to interrupt you. Not one! It is just nice big turns all the way, one after another.

Perhaps you end up in the grass because you do not pay attention to elevation changes and the way corners tilt. In many places you can easily underestimate how much you are actually going downhill, and brake too late. Also several corners are hideously tilted outwards, only wanting to throw you off. You really need to take the inside line, and brake much earlier than you expect.

Also pay attention to spots where the pavement is particularly bumpy. You can not brake as effectively there, brake before. You can not always see it. You have to drive it, notice and remember. And of course you just have to memorize all the blind corners.

Brake early and go slow into corners, it really pays off when you blast out of them. More so than on other tracks, I find.

 

[dabest2500]

Funny, I find the ring is one of the smoothest tracks in term of rhythm. Once you get into it, you can just drive and drive and drive it, it just flows like water. There is not a single chikane there to interrupt you. Not one! It is just nice big turns all the way, one after another.

Perhaps you end up in the grass because you do not pay attention to elevation changes and the way corners tilt. In many places you can easily underestimate how much you are actually going downhill, and brake too late. Also several corners are hideously tilted outwards, only wanting to throw you off. You really need to take the inside line, and brake much earlier than you expect.

Also pay attention to spots where the pavement is particularly bumpy. You can not brake as effectively there, brake before. You can not always see it. You have to drive it, notice and remember. And of course you just have to memorize all the blind corners.

Brake early and go slow into corners, it really pays off when you blast out of them. More so than on other tracks, I find.

When it rains, the smooth flowing corners become smooth flowing rivers
What a great track 👍

 

[manimalmagic]

Watch a few laps of Derek Bell in the Porsche doing a sub-seven minute lap of Nurburgring with commentary, it is on youtube.

 

[chriz00]

Here's my advice:

1. Do the AMG Academy and GET THE GOLD TROPHY's

2. Why? It is really difficult getting a Gold, thus, you will attempt each section NUMEROUS times. (I lost track of how many times I had to restart for making one wrong move)

3. It is frustrating as hell and you will want to cry (lol jk).

4. There is no "ghost" that can allow you to see how far off you are, you will have to rely on "visuals" ...ex: There are some road signs scattered at various locations, each time you pass one, check the time ...then when you do the next run, passing that same road sign, check the time again ...then ask yourself, "Are you faster or slower? Than last time."

5. Once you've obtained all Gold, you will have more confidence on the Nurburgring. In turn, you will have better knowledge of the track.

...that's it.

 

[GT5kid824]

The only way to ever fully master the track is by growing up there, see Sabine Schmitz, you can get to know the track really well and learn the line and learn the braking points and learn where each corner takes you but it takes a lifetime to really know the track, to really know how to wring it's neck; which is how you're driving it if you end up on the grass at every corner.

 

[RacingManiac]

The sector between the Carousel and the back straight is the best part once you've learned the line and sequence...its actually a very easy track to start pushing once you know where you can push...

I remember when I first played a variation of it PC's F1C 99-02, the learning process consists of jump into car, drive, crash, restart....over and over. Eventually your'll crash later and later into the lap and by the time you go without crashing, you've pretty much learned the sequence of the track. And now you start to push to get the lap times down. GT5's AMG Academy makes it much easier since now you can learn and push in chunks as opposed to whole serving. And you have a target to shoot for...

 

[dabest2500]

Here's my advice:

1. Do the AMG Academy and GET THE GOLD TROPHY's

2. Why? It is really difficult getting a Gold, thus, you will attempt each section NUMEROUS times. (I lost track of how many times I had to restart for making one wrong move)

3. It is frustrating as hell and you will want to cry (lol jk).

4. There is no "ghost" that can allow you to see how far off you are, you will have to rely on "visuals" ...ex: There are some road signs scattered at various locations, each time you pass one, check the time ...then when you do the next run, passing that same road sign, check the time again ...then ask yourself, "Are you faster or slower? Than last time."

5. Once you've obtained all Gold, you will have more confidence on the Nurburgring. In turn, you will have better knowledge of the track.

...that's it.

Exactly what I did 👍
I still mess up at the last chicane though...
Need to learn to take it more conservative

 

[Patrocles]

I detest every second I spend on this track. Am I alone?

Which leads me to my plea, help me see the light, what am I doing wrong?

I've been driving this thing since GT4 and I still have no idea where anything is, the track is really narrow, it's filled with corners that just throw me onto the grass and then it's all over. I spend more time crashing than I do in control, yet I managed to get all silvers in all of the special events for it.

I learned my way around Cape Ring (all versions) in about 5 laps. Monza took 3 laps to get down, but I've done hundreds of laps of the Nurburgring and I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm thinking of taking a 100hp car around it until I can do a few laps without crashing then changing to one with 50 hp more. See if that helps.

I never raced on the nurburgring GP track until GT5 and I love it! It is one of my favorite tracks. good luck taming this track!

 

[dabest2500]

I never raced on the nurburgring GP track until GT5 and I love it! It is one of my favorite tracks. good luck taming this track!

The Nurburgring GP/F track doesn't flow so well, especially the first corner and the 2nd sector.
I don't mind driving there but not a favourite of mine.

 

[Patrocles]

The Nurburgring GP/F track doesn't flow so well, especially the first corner and the 2nd sector.
I don't mind driving there but not a favourite of mine.

yeah, the challenge is fun! oh, and I assume the OP means the GP since he refers to the learning cape track and Monza (very simple track to learn) in a few laps?

 

[Hobgoblinpie]

I used to try and beat my times on GT4 around 'The Ring', got down to 5:32 with the Polyphony GT thingy. Could have done better but wasn't really invested in it. Now that I have GT5 and a wheel I'm spending more time learning the corners (I know the entire track by heart, but slowly and surely re-doing every corner to find the best lines). Therefore my first ever lap of The Ring in time trial was 5:41 with a GT-One.

 

[chris139ryan]

I love it. Take the likes of a subaru impreza or evo and a set of super softs and you should be fine until you get to know the track

 

[Exorcet]

1) Do the AMG Acadamy event.
2) Do it until you can run the sectors cleanly in the SLS.
3) Take what you learned to heart and 'stitch' the sectors together.
4) If necessary, turn the driving line on, until you can get some consistent clean laps in and turn it off afterwards.
5) Rinse and repeat...

This sounds good. The AMG event has a time based goal that should give you an idea of how well you're doing, instead of blindly doing laps. Gold it, and then keep driving it until you can gold (or silver, or however good you want to get) repeatedly. Use your ghost (I don't know if you can, but try it) too.

 

[Carlos Fandango]

Pretty much what everyone else has said.

AMG events first

When you have golded those, I suggest something with more grip than power - Cusco Subaru might be a good place to start.

When I first drove the 'Ring, it was with a keyboard in Grand Prix Legends!!!

 

[Dashers]

I never liked the 'ring in GT4, it was too big and long and twisty and I could never get my head around it. However in GT5 for some reason it has clicked a lot more, the AMG special events have turned it around in my head, I love the final easy event, blatting round the whole ring in the 300SL overtaking cars, I have a massive smile on my face the whole time. Now I'm trying to drive all my cars on there listing the times to see what is fast and what is slow, and I am getting more and more confident.

I would recommend the easy AMG challenges, dont worry about getting gold, just try to get faster and faster. Id say the easy ones over the medium because the car is slower I didnt spin out so much so I could concentrate on my lines a bit more. Give it time, it will come.

 

[BrianGT5]

I use to be like that.
In less than 5 days, I became intensely in love with the Nurburgring with massive appreciation for it. I can also drive at 100% mistake free.
How?
By getting Gold in all AMG Driving Academy Special Event.
That event has taught me so much in less than 5 days.
By attempting to Gold it, I have learnt the Nurburgring, and also got the seemingly hard GTR Record trophy with ease.
Focus attention on to getting Gold at the AMG Driving Academy and you'll earn massive respect and love for the Nurburgring 👍

100% Mistake free i love this track and have done countless laps but i still make errors here and there, maybe i have one good lap but not every time, can i go down the ring 100% error free every time no, sorry to be a little sceptical on this

 

[Hypergolem]

If you are on the grass too much... then go slower. The Nordschleife is not just for pushing hard...

 

[taun]

Its not called the green hell for nothing..

 

[ripping_silk]

I'll throw in my 2 cents worth.
I learnt Nordschleife on GT4. I remember it took many many attempts to make it around the circuit without incident. Initially it was like: Start, crash at turn 3, restart, crash at turn 5, restart, crash at turn 7 etc etc. After 30 or so attempts I made it ALL the way around at a fair clip. After 50 or so tries I was getting quicker AND consistent.
Now I have (I estimate) several thousand laps laps under my belt, and still there is learning to be done. Every different car you drive shows you the 'ring with a new set of eyes, some cars are well suspended and you don't notice many of the bumps, some are harsh and literally want to throw you out of the track like a bouncer at a bar fight.
My suggestion for enjoying the track is to learn it - well. Imagine its back roads around where you live, its your home ground. The road isn't going away, so you'd better become familiar with it so an 'out of towner' doesn't come along show you up!
You'll need a stable, quick car on the best tyres you have.
The reason I say good tyres (ie race soft) is, if your learning the track, you want as few distractions as possible, as you find out which way the corners go. As you become more familiar, then you can downgrade the rubber.
Cars I'd suggest are BMW M3, Ford Falcon XR8, Lexus LFA ..... the list is long. Something FR is what I like, but maybe you prefer FF or MR. ? A Stealth Nissan GT-R 500 is a great car. I took the Nissan Concept GT-R LM car for the 4 hour race at the V-layout - awesome car, stable, fast, predictable, easy to drive.
I think its too easy to become impatient with this track, its long as we know, and because of that it takes a LOT of learning, which I think is half the fun. After 1000's of laps I'm still finding things out and improving my lines and times.
I have had no greater sense of achievement in a game than completing my first proper fast lap around here. And every lap I complete, I carry a little of that with me.

 

[cicua]

oh, and I assume the OP means the GP

Hadn't even crossed my mind

But no, GP/F was not in GT4, so he must be speaking of the Nordschleife.

 

[Medieval]

For me I just feel the car. If you're about the hit the grass slow down as much as possible before hitting it, you should make it through without going into the grass. And while going through turns make the car glide through the turn once you've slowed down enough, or gauge the gas.

The only car I've had problems with in the Nurb is the X2010, way too fast for me, especially since I use a DS3.

 

[CarreraGT]

It takes time to learn for sure. Use a low powered car and concentrate on memorising the course first, then try and perfect your lines through each of the corners.

You will find that you will learn the course in sections, and each section has a couple of really tricky corners that will get you every time until you remember where they are. Its one of those track where you need to be really patient. If you're not smooth with turn in and power application, it's a nightmare (hence "Green Hell").

Put the time in and you will see what I mean. Pulling off a tidy lap is very rewarding, and once you learn it you will want to lap it over and over and over....