ACC Help for an amateur

Discussion in 'Game Discussion' started by staffy0707, Nov 12, 2020.

  1. staffy0707

    staffy0707 Rookie

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    I'm loving the league and racing each week but I'm after advice on how to get faster. I'm in the gt4s and I know I need to be consistent for a race but im more after how to be quicker in a single lap. I practice during the week and feel I put in a pretty decent time yet come Monday I'm find I still need to be a good second faster just to compete with the back end of the silver class, but I'm struggling to find thato find that second. I'm not sure if it's my setup or driving (it's probably both). So what are common driving and setup mistakes that you guys made and changed to become faster?
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2020
  2. Rolz

    Rolz ACC Nutter Team Raceonoz Gold Member

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    hey mate, share your fav track hotlap video (you tube) with in car driver FOV... brake points are a bit screwed on replays or YT videos but we should get enough of an idea whats going on to start :thumbsup:
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  3. autech91

    autech91 Professional

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    Best advice is to be extremely critical of your own driving, go out and try different lines to see what effect it has on lap time.
    There's a saying in racing I love "practice makes permanent". Essentially if you're not trying something new and just lapping the same you'll never improve.
    Also try and pay attention to what the car you're driving requires in way of driving style, too many people get hung up trying to tune a car to be like another rather than adapting their own driving to work with the cars strong points.
  4. krunch

    krunch ACC Server Legend Team Raceonoz Gold Member Super ROOZ

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    The default aggressive setups in ACC are good enough to get you close to your actual driving pace so it might pay to concentrate first on just the driving aspects. Having said that getting tyre pressures right does make a quite a bit of difference to grip so make sure you are at least getting them into the right windows (the "Aris Drives" YouTube videos are great for that sort of info).

    I'm still trying to figure out how to improve too and I find I'm still not getting the braking right and not getting the downshifts right during that braking. I think there's a lot of time to be gained just getting that right but I'm sure the fast guys here will have better insights than me :).

    Next time you're in a session like a Wednesday prac night or on the prac server with other drivers present feel free to ask questions and I'm sure someone will give you some help there too.
  5. staffy0707

    staffy0707 Rookie

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    ive posted two tracks if you can be bothered to watch. monza is my most comfortable track and that lap is .2 off my best and the leguna seca lap is my pb. thanks


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  6. staffy0707

    staffy0707 Rookie

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    yeah i was in there last night but you guys were still faster on a fast rated track than i can on optimum. im certainly not complaining about being at the back. i aim for 27.2psi on tyres. just want to know what to work on cos i do believe the issue is probably more my driving rather than my setup so much
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  7. autech91

    autech91 Professional

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    Watching your Laguna lap I see your lines are pretty damn good, so no dramas there.

    There's another saying I once got told by someone teaching me riding which I love is "The most important part of your suspension is the throttle".
    Essentially what you do with your throttle during a corner is so important, jumping on and off the accelerator is not going to help very much. I see in most corners you're hitting the brakes and just as you get off the brakes you give it a stab of the accelerator before getting back off it again, then on it as you exit the corner.
    Essentially you don't want to touch the throttle until you are certain you will never have to get out of it again.
    Not blowing my own trumpet here but here's a hotish lap I did on ACC PS4 for one of the rounds, while I'm not perfect you'll see that the only time I get on the accelerator is when I exit corners, as its Suzuka the throttle control aspect is magnified as the first section requires some delicate inputs. Different car and track etc but the theory remains the same regardless of where you go and what you drive.

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  8. staffy0707

    staffy0707 Rookie

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    Thanks. I'll try this. I certainly think it's more my driving ATM where I can gain more time but I'm just not sure what it is I need to change or where to start.
  9. Jeremy Talbot

    Jeremy Talbot Rookie

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    A good place to start is to look at the coach dave academy videos on YouTube. They're quali style hotlaps but you get to see the line they take plus what tc/abs/brake bias/gear they use. I'd say it would be a good starting point for you. Plus if you save the replay from our races you can watch the onboard from anyone and see the line they take into each corner and the exit.
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  10. Flamebadger

    Flamebadger ACC Server Legend

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    I proviso all of the below with the fact I am not ultra quick and I drive with a lot of bad habits. But in the interest of giving you some input, here we go!:

    To follow up both Jeremy and @autech91, I think from watching your lap at Laguna Seca, you're actually slowing for each corner a little too much. As was pointed out above, you're hard on the brakes as you approach a corner, but then often as soon as you turn in for a good number of the corners you're already back on the power, and often almost full power. This would suggest you're actually braking slightly too late or too hard in the initial braking phase, because you're immediately trying to recover speed.

    It often doesn't work this way in the actual moment of driving, and I personally actually am not hugely into the GT4 cars, so again, there will be differences, but broadly (and I mean VERY BROADLY, this obviously doesn't apply to every corner), you should be hard on the brakes as you approach a corner in as straight a line as possible. Then, as you slow for the corner and reach your turn in point, you should be coming off the brake, but still having brake pressure applied, but gradually bleeding off as you turn in, continuing until you hit the apex, and once you hit the apex, it's time to start winding the throttle on. As has been said above, ideally you don't want to go back on the throttle until the car is rotated to the point you won't need to come of it again.

    If you're uncomfortable trailbraking as heavily, then you should be braking to a speed where you can turn in off the throttle and off the brake, carry the speed into the apex and then back on the throttle once you're past the apex.

    Now it's all well and good me typing that out, but the reality is in the moment to moment of dealing with a car's handling, and how it happens to be set up, this broad rule changes. I enjoy driving the front engined GT3 cars for instance, and I do tend to use throttle inputs mid-corner to help rotate the car. So back to my previous point.... the rules apply, until they don't :D

    As another option to what Jeremy has suggested, on youtube, Chris Haye has a video from June this year where he recorded about 30mins of a coaching session of his driving with the Merc GT3 around Barcelona in ACC with Nils Naujoks. Linky here. You might find watching that gives you some ideas of the approach you should be taking to braking, turn in, throttle application and so on.
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  11. staffy0707

    staffy0707 Rookie

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    I think you have a good point on slowing down too much for corner entry and that's something to trial. And your right about the rules applying till they don't . I probably enjoy the gt3s more too but having said that the last few rounds I'm feeling alot better in the 4s plus not only that I've not been long doing Sim driving and this is my first league I've been in so I'm under no illusions that it is going to take practice to get consistent and better. My goal ATM is to try keep up with the back end of the silver class and I don't think I'll be in that class next season but if I can get there after a few seasons I'll be pretty happy I think. I appreciate all the input here and it hasn't gone unnoticed cos at least it gives some things to look into and now not feel like I've exhausted all avenues and can't get quicker. Cheers boys
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  12. autech91

    autech91 Professional

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    Sounds like you've made a great start in not making errors, too many guys push too hard too early and cost themselves races pushing laptimes.
    Get comfortable, as if you manage to drop 1 second a lap but fall off every 10 laps you're no better off. So kudos there as its your mistakes that define a race. I tend to judge my performance on my own drive rather than how I compare to others, if I can mange an error free race I'm usually happy, if I win I'm happier and if I have an epic battle I'm estatic.
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  13. staffy0707

    staffy0707 Rookie

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    i definitely owe @Flamebadger a beer. ive been trying to not brake so hard and have more entry speed and already got a better pb by .5 of a sec and can probaly take another .2 - .3 with the perfect lap. so huge thanks there for that one.
    shoutout to the other guys too for the youtube advice, and im also noticing the balance of the car is a better from watching my throttle application on the exit so cheers for that one @autech91.
    i certainly don't think anyone needs to fear me still on mondays but at least now i feel there is hope if i can put it together myself on the night cos as we all know there is a big difference between being quailfy fast and race fast
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  14. CornfordCaster

    CornfordCaster Moderator Team Raceonoz Gold Member

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    I don't think I have any other insight that I want to add but I came back to sim racing after many years with ACC and Rooz and I just want to say how fun, cool and helpful this place and you guys have been!
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  15. staffy0707

    staffy0707 Rookie

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    Merry Christmas, happy new year boys, can't wait to get back into some proper racing instead of this public lobby :):):):). Anyways question on set up of a GT3 Merc. I'm fairly happy and learning lots about setup and my setups for Monza and Imola I'm comfortable on and getting some times that I'm happy with, but I am just getting a little bit of understeer in the medium/fast corners on corner exit that I can't rectify. If I get the corner spot on I can get through them well but there is zero room for error and I'm still understeering. On Monza it's t6 and 7 and also through 8,9,10 I'm getting understeer and on Imola it's t9 and a bit on t6. Any advice on what set up changes to try would be great cos i just can't get it sorted. And would you say they are medium or fast corners?? Cheers
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  16. CornfordCaster

    CornfordCaster Moderator Team Raceonoz Gold Member

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    I'm still a learner too but the two solutions I would have to this would be Diff settings and technique. The Diff settings would be higher???? (someone with a higher sim-racing/ACC IQ help out here) that would give you more rotation on-throttle. In term of technique it would be focusing on getting the early/mid-corner rotation done sooner allowing for more manoeuvrability on the exit.
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