Your practice program

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TheW

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Hi guys, I'm just a newbie to the world of professional racing. I'm looking to find inspirations for your drills or just simply ways of playing the game to get better the most efficient way.

I'm using a g29 wheel btw. Thanks in advance!
 
Before entering a daily race, spend a decent amount of time qualifying. Then watch a replay of one of the Top 10 and note their lines. Then spend more time qualifying until you find yourself going around the track without thinking :)

Be courteous on the track, don't seek revenge, race clean and get up to 99 SR where life is slightly easier with less bumpers and rammers. The sooner you get to max sportsmanship, the quicker you can become better at driving as you don't have to worry (except in rare cases) about idiots.

Sport Mode can be a bit overwhelming at first but stick with it.

In fact, here are my thoughts on Sport Mode
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/sport-mode.374877/


I would probably do the Circuit Experience and Driving School to get a feel for the game, learn the tracks etc.. if not before starting Sport Mode, at least in between times.
 
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Robben
Before entering a daily race, spend a decent amount of time qualifying. Then watch a replay of one of the Top 10 and note their lines. Then spend more time qualifying until you find yourself going around the track without thinking :)

Be courteous on the track, don't seek revenge, race clean and get up to 99 SR where life is slightly easier with less bumpers and rammers. The sooner you get to max sportsmanship, the quicker you can become better at driving as you don't have to worry (except in rare cases) about idiots.

Sport Mode can be a bit overwhelming at first but stick with it.

In fact, here are my thoughts on Sport Mode
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/sport-mode.374877/


I would probably do the Circuit Experience and Driving School to get a feel for the game, learn the tracks etc.. if not before starting Sport Mode, at least in between times.
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Follow Robbens advice. For me personally, I spend as much time as possible qualifying before entering a race. The further up the grid you are, the better your results should be. Also, dive into this forum! There is a wealth of knowledge from all of these guys and gals. I have gained so much just by reading the posts and picking up on their suggestions.
I can attribute my moderate success to following the above. I have been playing since launch, and although at times it is very frustrating, it is an awesome game. My progress has been very slow, but that's OK. I really enjoy the game and this forum should does help.
Good luck and see you on the track!
 
Everybody has their own method, but I disagree with varying your cars and tracks while learning. It's always a compromise in racing, but having a broad focus will make you an average driver in any condition, but a "master of none." By all means, do the driving tests and missions to learn basic concepts, but beyond that I think specialization is key.

I always suggest learning one track really well with a competitive Gr.3 and Gr. 4 car. Once you feel confident, enter Sport mode races with that combination. Your early races should be focused on driving consistent lines, consistent lap times, and avoiding contact with other cars.

After some success with your car/track in Sport mode, start all over with a different track. The skills will carry over and you will learn the new track much quicker than the the first.
 
GT_Alex74
1) Drive
2) Drive
3) Drive
4) Drive again

I find it better to vary you car, tyre and track combinations to improve your overall level and not build in bad habits.
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There is such thing as bad practice though so don't just drive aimlessly, drive with a purpose.
Focus on keeping the car on the track, and being smooth, smooth on the brake, smooth on the gas and smooth on the steering, once you've gotten used to how the car behaves and where there is grip on the track - then you can start pushing hard.
 
My routine:
  1. Look at the Top 10 to find out what car is best suited
  2. Watch the No. 1 driver's replay if available
  3. Go to Qualifying time trail and stay there until achieving a satisfactory time
  4. Enter race
  5. For the FIA races I additionally drive a full uninterrupted race distance in Qualifying mode
 
I start sport mode, see what's up next, enter, then if there's more then 2 minutes left I'll do a qualify lap if I feel like it. That's how not to do it :)
It does give you lots of time to study how everyone else drives, ghosts and replays don't do it for me. Sink or swim!
 
DriftMethod
I disagree with varying your cars and tracks while learning. It's always a compromise in racing, but having a broad focus will make you an average driver in any condition, but a "master of none." By all means, do the driving tests and missions to learn basic concepts, but beyond that I think specialization is key.
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Specific practice is good and necessary when you start attending serious racing events like championships. But you gotta have the basics and experience various situations, because not only you will be able to get a sense of the combo much faster and get more practice time dedicated to improving your lap time instead of just trying to figure out how not to crash. I can even tell you being part of a high level drift team improved my grip driving, and doing some Nascar events really improved my consistency in road racing. Driving a Yellowbird on comfort tyres helped me to save a lot of potential crashes in other cars, and racing low powered cars on high grip tyres helped me to navigate better through a tight pack of cars. Driving a Citroën Xantia in PP lobbies made me learn how to deal with understeer.

I could go on with many examples. Anyway, all these things are completely different, yet every single one of them helped me focus on some specific skills which are all helpful on, let's say, a Gr.3 car, or anything else, really. In the long run, that makes all your practice valuable for most of your races. Great drivers may have a category they like more, but they're still utterly fast in everything on 4 wheels.

Also, it's way easier to build in bad habits if you always do the same thing. You can always have a few days off, but then why not take the opportunity to do something else to keep some training going on without getting bad habits engraved in. At least, that's what works for me.
 
GT_Alex74
Specific practice is good and necessary when you start attending serious racing events like championships. But you gotta have the basics and experience various situations, because not only you will be able to get a sense of the combo much faster and get more practice time dedicated to improving your lap time instead of just trying to figure out how not to crash. I can even tell you being part of a high level drift team improved my grip driving, and doing some Nascar events really improved my consistency in road racing. Driving a Yellowbird on comfort tyres helped me to save a lot of potential crashes in other cars, and racing low powered cars on high grip tyres helped me to navigate better through a tight pack of cars. Driving a Citroën Xantia in PP lobbies made me learn how to deal with understeer.

I could go on with many examples. Anyway, all these things are completely different, yet every single one of them helped me focus on some specific skills which are all helpful on, let's say, a Gr.3 car, or anything else, really. In the long run, that makes all your practice valuable for most of your races. Great drivers may have a category they like more, but they're still utterly fast in everything on 4 wheels.

Also, it's way easier to build in bad habits if you always do the same thing. You can always have a few days off, but then why not take the opportunity to do something else to keep some training going on without getting bad habits engraved in. At least, that's what works for me.
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You make valid points and I do agree with you in general. Putting yourself into a lot of different situations will help teach different skills. That being said, I stand by what I wrote earlier. OP is asking for the most efficient way to get better. Everything you mentioned comes from having a lot of experience and you even mentioned "in the long run."

In my view, doing time trials on one track with one or two cars is more efficient. Time trials show the difference to the driver's fast lap in real time. The driver can instantly see if they are doing better or worse than their best lap. This instant feedback is why I believe it is the most efficient way to get better. The key to speed is in the details, drivers will never learn how detailed a single corner is without that consistency and time feedback. That attention to detail is what will carry over to learn the next track or car quickly.

In racing, there is no such thing as a bad habit that equals faster times. (I must note that this doesn't include hitting other cars to slow down or lean on in corners.) This might mean over a single lap or a whole race, I understand tire wear can be an issue. The point being, anything that makes a driver faster is a good habit and anything that makes them slower is a bad habit.

OP has multiple "paths" to get better and that's a good thing. Take what works and throw away the rest.
 
DriftMethod
You make valid points and I do agree with you in general. Putting yourself into a lot of different situations will help teach different skills. That being said, I stand by what I wrote earlier. OP is asking for the most efficient way to get better. Everything you mentioned comes from having a lot of experience and you even mentioned "in the long run."

In my view, doing time trials on one track with one or two cars is more efficient. Time trials show the difference to the driver's fast lap in real time. The driver can instantly see if they are doing better or worse than their best lap. This instant feedback is why I believe it is the most efficient way to get better. The key to speed is in the details, drivers will never learn how detailed a single corner is without that consistency and time feedback. That attention to detail is what will carry over to learn the next track or car quickly.

In racing, there is no such thing as a bad habit that equals faster times. (I must note that this doesn't include hitting other cars to slow down or lean on in corners.) This might mean over a single lap or a whole race, I understand tire wear can be an issue. The point being, anything that makes a driver faster is a good habit and anything that makes them slower is a bad habit.

OP has multiple "paths" to get better and that's a good thing. Take what works and throw away the rest.
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It is and it isn't. If the OP just practices with one track and a couple of cars, then he has to wait for this car and track combo to come up. This is not an efficient way to progress :lol:. Personally, I choose one of the daily races each day to compete in and just focus on qualifying for that race. That way you are as prepared as you can be but still get to race every day. Tuesday and Wednesday I spent so long qualifying (1 hour 40 minutes) that I only actually had time to get one race... because I knew (seeing my optimal) I could get a few more tenths and better my qualifying time, I didn't want to enter until I had found that bit of extra time.

I think this way, you are perfecting tracks and learning track/car combos without being a "specialist" in just one combo.
 
GT_Alex74
I can even tell you being part of a high level drift team improved my grip driving, and doing some Nascar events really improved my consistency in road racing. Driving a Yellowbird on comfort tyres helped me to save a lot of potential crashes in other cars, and racing low powered cars on high grip tyres helped me to navigate better through a tight pack of cars.
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Couldn't agree with you more. During my early days with GT6, this strategy was the most effective and efficient method for gaining a sense of how virtual racing behaved, thus aiding my transition from real world physics to sim physics.

DriftMethod
You make valid points and I do agree with you in general. Putting yourself into a lot of different situations will help teach different skills. That being said, I stand by what I wrote earlier. OP is asking for the most efficient way to get better. Everything you mentioned comes from having a lot of experience and you even mentioned "in the long run."

In my view, doing time trials on one track with one or two cars is more efficient. Time trials show the difference to the driver's fast lap in real time. The driver can instantly see if they are doing better or worse than their best lap. This instant feedback is why I believe it is the most efficient way to get better.
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While instant feedback and efficiency are important, so is the longterm strategy. It's a balance and to each their own, but sometimes always going after quick wins can have a negative impact on driver progression.
 
I'm confused why people seem to think that if a driver focuses on mastering one car/track, they aren't able to apply those skills to another car/track. Then those same people state how how having a lot of less focused experience will apply to all situations.

Sorry to make huge generalizations, but a lot of real world professional drivers got their start in karting. Typically, they would have one kart and learn on one or two tracks. Through repeated focused practice, they learn to drive and eventually drive other karts/cars and travel to other tracks and can apply all the skills they learned and get up to speed quickly. To get to Formula 1 (arguably the pinnacle of motorsports) most F1 drivers had very focused experience. There's no need to learn multiple disciplines of driving before becoming one of the best drivers in the world. Once you get there, I think you can branch out and be successful almost anywhere, but there's nothing wrong with a narrow path to driving excellence.

Robben
It is and it isn't. If the OP just practices with one track and a couple of cars, then he has to wait for this car and track combo to come up. This is not an efficient way to progress :lol:. Personally, I choose one of the daily races each day to compete in and just focus on qualifying for that race. That way you are as prepared as you can be but still get to race every day. Tuesday and Wednesday I spent so long qualifying (1 hour 40 minutes) that I only actually had time to get one race... because I knew (seeing my optimal) I could get a few more tenths and better my qualifying time, I didn't want to enter until I had found that bit of extra time.

I think this way, you are perfecting tracks and learning track/car combos without being a "specialist" in just one combo.
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OP is "looking to find inspirations for your drills or just simply ways of playing the game to get better the most efficient way." I interpret that to mean specific ways to get faster/competitive quickly. What I mentioned is a "practice program." When you mentioned "then he has to wait for this car and track combo to come up." I think you are missing my point. There is no waiting involved, keep doing the focused practice. I mentioned Gr. 3 and Gr. 4 cars because they are the most commonly used in Sport mode and they are mid level cars where it will be fairly easy to adapt to slower street cars or faster Gr. 1 cars. You get the biggest bang for your buck with these.

Your last line about "perfecting tracks and learning track/car combos without being a "specialist" in just one combo." really brings up the point I am trying to make. I don't think drivers can "perfect" a track or car by switching to a new car/track combination every day.

dabz343
Couldn't agree with you more. During my early days with GT6, this strategy was the most effective and efficient method for gaining a sense of how virtual racing behaved, thus aiding my transition from real world physics to sim physics.



While instant feedback and efficiency are important, so is the longterm strategy. It's a balance and to each their own, but sometimes always going after quick wins can have a negative impact on driver progression.
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Again OP was asking for ideas to get up to speed quickly, not a long term strategy. I didn't mention anything about "quick wins" or taking shortcuts, just an efficient strategy.
 
The most efficient way to get better/quicker at GTS is to stop playing other driving games and focus on one camera view in GTS.

Playing Dirt Rally VR for a few hours and then trying to drive on TV in GTS is impossible, it's like having never played GTS before.
 
DriftMethod
I'm confused why people seem to think that if a driver focuses on mastering one car/track, they aren't able to apply those skills to another car/track. Then those same people state how how having a lot of less focused experience will apply to all situations.

Sorry to make huge generalizations, but a lot of real world professional drivers got their start in karting. Typically, they would have one kart and learn on one or two tracks. Through repeated focused practice, they learn to drive and eventually drive other karts/cars and travel to other tracks and can apply all the skills they learned and get up to speed quickly. To get to Formula 1 (arguably the pinnacle of motorsports) most F1 drivers had very focused experience. There's no need to learn multiple disciplines of driving before becoming one of the best drivers in the world. Once you get there, I think you can branch out and be successful almost anywhere, but there's nothing wrong with a narrow path to driving excellence.



OP is "looking to find inspirations for your drills or just simply ways of playing the game to get better the most efficient way." I interpret that to mean specific ways to get faster/competitive quickly. What I mentioned is a "practice program." When you mentioned "then he has to wait for this car and track combo to come up." I think you are missing my point. There is no waiting involved, keep doing the focused practice. I mentioned Gr. 3 and Gr. 4 cars because they are the most commonly used in Sport mode and they are mid level cars where it will be fairly easy to adapt to slower street cars or faster Gr. 1 cars. You get the biggest bang for your buck with these.

Your last line about "perfecting tracks and learning track/car combos without being a "specialist" in just one combo." really brings up the point I am trying to make. I don't think drivers can "perfect" a track or car by switching to a new car/track combination every day.



Again OP was asking for ideas to get up to speed quickly, not a long term strategy. I didn't mention anything about "quick wins" or taking shortcuts, just an efficient strategy.
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Don't get me wrong, the suggestions you made are valuable and I agree that your tactics have merit. But as the OP sought suggestions on drills, the comment made by GT_Alex74 about lesson from mastering drifting suggests a different, or unconventional, approach that illustrates how drivers of varying skill/character may approach their own learnings.

Your analogy about karting does signal 'focus' being important, however, a rich driver progression program can involve various non-obvious drills that challenge the driver both physically and psychologically. Hence my comment about a balanced approach.
 
JacksHerer
The most efficient way to get better/quicker at GTS is to stop playing other driving games and focus on one camera view in GTS.

Playing Dirt Rally VR for a few hours and then trying to drive on TV in GTS is impossible, it's like having never played GTS before.
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That happened to me when I bought F1. I played for 2 days and then, when I got back to GTS, I had to relearn it.
 
@DriftMethod Why I value versatility is because every race is different, and a single bad event can ruin everything. Even if they happen rarely, a good driver must be able to deal with them when they happen. Being a good racer involves much more than just being able to set a lap time on a specific combo. If you just practice lap times, the day you do an endurance race, you'll be surprized when your tyres lose grip suddenly and / or when the balance of the car changes. Or maybe that guy in front of you makes a slight mistake, you have to take the outside line but dip your wheels in the grass : if you only practice Gr.3 over and over, chances are you won't have experienced a lot of snap oversteer so you won't be able to prevent or save that. If you're used to drive ****** cars on ****** tyres, chances are you got used to this and built some muscle memory for these kind of situations, and yhat will help you not crashing your GT3 car there.

Look at MotoGP riders, training on dirt tracks and doing cross as well on their free time. Those things are pretty much the perfect opposite of their race machines and tracks, yet they get valuable experience they can apply during races later.

Don't get me wrong, I had some events I practiced thousands of km for, when everyone drives the combo daily for 3 weeks, you can't just have an hour of driving the combo and call it a day. But still, driving it too much at once will begin to do more harm than good at some point, because progression is not linear : you'll get tired, stop improving, which will end up frustrating you, so you'll probably overdo it and start braking too late, trying lines that won't work, and if you keep driving, you'll build that into your muscle memory. You'll then need to get those habits out of your system and that can be a long and hard process sometimes, trust me, I've been through that. Sometimes it's just better to stop driving at all for a few days, nearly every time I did this I improved my pace as soon as I got back to it - there's a couple times I even thought something changed in the game to account for how my feeling improved.

Anyway, becoming a very fast driver is not quick, it's a neverending process which requires you to challenge yourself as much and as often as you can.
 
As said before here,
Practice... practice... practice...

I suggest choosing 2 or 3 Cars of Group 4 and 3 that will be your to-go cars depending on track and race type.

Spend a lot of time on qualifying time trial with all the 3 Cars, setting it up to your style (TC, B.B., ABS, etc)

One thing that was not mention here and I do a lot is, before getting into the online race, I do 3 or 4 arcade custom races with the same settings as the race I want to go, you’ll start in half of the back pack and have to climb, try to be as clean as clean as possible, set a good pace and be close to the times you did on qualify... this way you’ll have a bit of the race feeling...
 
One thing I do with every thing that I try to learn, and it works, is:

Try not to practice without thinking about it. We tend to get used to driving and the mind wanders off to whatever... we start doing it automatically. This is actually bad for practicing. Try to always keep focus of one thing you’re trying to achieve, how to achieve it and how far of achieving it you are. Try always minding what you’re trying to accomplish. This is actually what builds your “muscle memory”. This conscious thought while practicing makes the automated part better over time. The more you think in practice, the less you think in racing.
 
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People can spend hours and hours trying to qualify but after setting a good lap can they hit that time constantly or even on their first lap me I had to learn the hard way I set a great qualify time on nurburgring gp top 4 every race only to fall back to my constant time between 7th and 10th but u live and learn what I like to do is a set a custom stage to what race is on with the same settings but start from the back and manuaver my way to the top then start hitting some lap times my average time is after the 5th lap usually.... so remember practice with custom race and dont hit a time that you're only gonna hit only once
 
DriftMethod
I'm confused why people seem to think that if a driver focuses on mastering one car/track, they aren't able to apply those skills to another car/track. Then those same people state how how having a lot of less focused experience will apply to all situations.


OP is "looking to find inspirations for your drills or just simply ways of playing the game to get better the most efficient way." I interpret that to mean specific ways to get faster/competitive quickly. What I mentioned is a "practice program." When you mentioned "then he has to wait for this car and track combo to come up." I think you are missing my point. There is no waiting involved, keep doing the focused practice. I mentioned Gr. 3 and Gr. 4 cars because they are the most commonly used in Sport mode and they are mid level cars where it will be fairly easy to adapt to slower street cars or faster Gr. 1 cars. You get the biggest bang for your buck with these.

Your last line about "perfecting tracks and learning track/car combos without being a "specialist" in just one combo." really brings up the point I am trying to make. I don't think drivers can "perfect" a track or car by switching to a new car/track combination every day.



Again OP was asking for ideas to get up to speed quickly, not a long term strategy. I didn't mention anything about "quick wins" or taking shortcuts, just an efficient strategy.
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Fair enough, I interpreted your comment to suggest that he learn one track and car and become a specialist at it and just enter that race if/when it came up.

And I maintain that the best all round way to practice GT Sport is to do so on one of the given daily races - it may be a longer route to "perfection" but he will learn more tracks and familiarise himself with the car(s) he chooses whilst doing so.

I agree that group 3 and group 4 is the best option for this and after a few days I'm sure the OP will find a car from each class that he feels comfortable with and can then use on whichever of the races come up for that day.
 
I'm quoting @GT_Alex74 from another post "that one corner"...
GT_Alex74
I see a pattern in that corner list, a lot of them being a lot about balls, quite simply. You want to take all the advantages a video game has to offer - being able to crash without dying or going bankrupt.
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So... I think it's probably applicable here as well.
When I practice, I always start slow, and work my way up to what I "feel" is as fast as I can go. By doing so, I'm consistent as all heck, but, I'm betting I never truly find my ultimate pace.
A buddy of mine will jump in and attack the track like a mad man... yep, he goes off track a lot and full on wrecks with regularity as well.
I'm reluctant to go that extra bit in fear or going off track/wrecking... he has no fear but never really gets consistent... just keeps believing his speed will work with a little correction here and there.
Sometimes he gets it all right in one lap and it's blistering... but then we race, and he has trouble over the distance.

There must be some happy medium between the 2 styles... I cannot find it.
I think if you find that medium of not being afraid to make a mistake, yet, work on consistency at the same time, you've found the secrete to practice, and pace.
Good luck, my mind just will not let me go there.

Sofia Speed
One thing that was not mention here and I do a lot is, before getting into the online race, I do 3 or 4 arcade custom races with the same settings as the race I want to go, you’ll start in half of the back pack and have to climb, try to be as clean as clean as possible, set a good pace and be close to the times you did on qualify... this way you’ll have a bit of the race feeling...
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I think this is very important.. not because AI is great competition, rather, because driving against the AI forces you to drive on a different line, cover the brake through sections where they mess up or slam the brake for no apparent reason... It forces you to create alternate entries/apex's to either get that good run out, or find a new brake point off the racing line.
Key to all this as @Sofia Speed noted is, you have to race clean against the AI... if all you do is bump and nudge your way through you are not doing yourself any favors... actually, you are setting up muscle memory to be "that guy" online.
 
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