Why does my car lose grip during a championship race vs. week-long practice sessions?

  • Thread starter reefer
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reefer

reefer

754
Scotland
Glasgow
joe__kerr
I'm looking for any ideas as to why this may happen?

I run consistent lap times in practice, often to the tenth, in the lead up to weekend championship races I'm in. However, come race day, when the room fills up and the green lights go out, my car feels a lot less grippy. It feels light, not as connected to the road, and most times I'm about a second off my practice pace. In a practice room with only a few it doesn't happen, it's only when the race room fills up. It isn't time or weather settings either because I've just finished a muscle car championship where my practice weather/time settings were the same as my race weather/time settings and it still happened every week.

Anyone else experience this, or can anyone explain why it might happen?

cheers for any help - joe
 
reefer
I'm looking for any ideas as to why this may happen?

I run consistent lap times in practice, often to the tenth, in the lead up to weekend championship races I'm in. However, come race day, when the room fills up and the green lights go out, my car feels a lot less grippy. It feels light, not as connected to the road, and most times I'm about a second off my practice pace. In a practice room with only a few it doesn't happen, it's only when the race room fills up. It isn't time or weather settings either because I've just finished a muscle car championship where my practice weather/time settings were the same as my race weather/time settings and it still happened every week.

Anyone else experience this, or can anyone explain why it might happen?

cheers for any help - joe
Click to expand...
It might be because the game runs on a slightly simplified physics engine in online mode. Do you do your practices offline or online?
 
Practice is usually with 2 or 3 others. Race room is 10 to 12+ racers. We've ran a lot on user-created tracks with lag, but with the in-game tracks there's no discernible lag. It's a mystery. Surely there would be threads that have covered this already but I can't find any. Some have mentioned frame loss but I don't know if that applies here or not? The car just feels like my tyres are at 8s when they are at 10s - that kind of feeling.
 
reefer
I'm looking for any ideas as to why this may happen?

I run consistent lap times in practice, often to the tenth, in the lead up to weekend championship races I'm in. However, come race day, when the room fills up and the green lights go out, my car feels a lot less grippy. It feels light, not as connected to the road, and most times I'm about a second off my practice pace. In a practice room with only a few it doesn't happen, it's only when the race room fills up. It isn't time or weather settings either because I've just finished a muscle car championship where my practice weather/time settings were the same as my race weather/time settings and it still happened every week.

Anyone else experience this, or can anyone explain why it might happen?

cheers for any help - joe
Click to expand...

Hi reefer! If I get time to practise I find that I am often less consistent and normally slower in a championship race - I assume this is down to my concentration level. I assume that you are hosting? I think the extra pressure of hosting makes it hard to drive as well as you did in practise. It could also be the pressure of the big occasion! Although it may sound unlikely I think the extra pressure of a real championship race plays with the mind and affects your concentration.

I am not a fast online racer by any means, but I have found that the ability to concentrate and as a result race error free for a full race distance has been my biggest challenge since I started racing online.

I would be interested however if there is a technical reason - perhaps do some tests with an online room with one present then four then a full room.
 
Thanks Sick.

Sick Cylinder
I assume that you are hosting?
Click to expand...

I've experienced it when I'm hosting and when I'm not hosting. And I don't usually get nervous during a race but I can see how 'the big day' can have an effect on lap times. I think @IfAndOr summed it up nicely here

I'm just surprised that there's no threads on gtplanet that cover this.
 
Hi Mr Reefer.

Since I've been mentioned... ;)
I would possibly suggest that it is those using a wheel that notice the problem more than those on a controller. I find there is a lack of force feedback response when the phenomenon occurs, you can't feel the road so much as normal - hence the "floating".

It's not a recent thing, I've noticed it for ages. Yet not necessarily all the time or as much, which would suggest that it is some variable (either settings or drivers and their connections) that affects it.
 
The short story is "online". The grip loss online is common knowledge. I don't have exact proof, but I have felt for a long time that the number of persons in the room, as well as the track, affects lap times. It's sort of a seat-of-the-pants thing. With the same car, same group of racers, one race I feel like Senna, we switch tracks and I'm impersonating Maldonado.
 
I like to practice on one tyre grade lower, as in if i am running an SS race, practice on SM tyre, then when the race starts the SS tyres feel awesome it seems to help me
 
What I've noticed is that at the start of a race it feels like I have a little less grip. After a few laps I'm usually back at my regular pace.
 
eran0004
What I've noticed is that at the start of a race it feels like I have a little less grip. After a few laps I'm usually back at my regular pace.
Click to expand...

Interesting. If I feel it at the start, I feel it throughout the race and it puts me on the back foot. I should be used to it by now but it's not something that's easy to practice for (cos I don't feel it in practice).
 

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