Q: “I have a question as someone who is a sim racer, and not a real racing driver, but I still want to ask how I can practice to become a faster driver? I’ve read your book and it has been very useful, but I’m still not where the fastest drivers are since I’m around 2-3 seconds off the fastest times. I feel like I’m doing everything they are in terms of braking, lines, etc., but still can’t get to their times. Is this all due to me just needing to practice more or is it over for me in terms of getting faster? If it’s due to needed practice then how exactly does one practice getting faster? I’m willing to put in all the time and effort that I can since my goal is to be as fast if not faster than the top guys (also some racing drivers have said one of the ways into racing is e-Sports because some events offer a race season as a prize). I just need to know how to get faster.”
A: One of the great things about sim racing is some (but not all) of the physical limitations one might have don’t show up as much. In other words, if you were 7-foot-tall, you’d have a difficult time fitting in a real race car, but that isn’t the case in sim racing. So, I believe that practically anyone can compete at the top of sim racing. Sure, the last few tenths of a second, and racecraft might separate the very best from the rest, but if you’re 2 to 3 seconds off, that is just a matter of practice to get to the upper levels of the sport.
Of course, what and how you practice – as you point out – is critical. With enough practice time, you will get to within a few tenths of a second of the best. But I suspect you’re like most racers – you want it now, not in a long time from now!
The basis of my success as a coach has been the strategic or deliberate approach I take towards practice. The goal is to learn and improve as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. I’ve written entire books on this subject, but let me give you a short review.
Break the act of driving down into small components and practice them in a very deliberate way. Instead of going on track and just trying to turn the fastest lap time you can, focus on practicing one part of your driving at a time. For example, spend 30 minutes simply seeing how late you can brake for the major corners on a track, and don’t worry if it results in a faster or slower lap time. Experiment with how hard your initial application of the brake pedal is, and where you’re looking. Then spend 30 minutes practicing getting to full throttle a fraction of a second earlier (again, don’t worry about the overall lap time results). Then 30 minutes on using more track; 30 minutes focused on looking farther ahead; 30 minutes on how smoothly you release the brake pedal; 30 minutes on carrying more speed through the middle of the corner; and so on.
As you can see, you’re practicing in a more deliberate way, focusing on the components of driving. Then, every now and then, put them all together and see what the lap times are. Don’t try to force the lap times, but instead, let them happen due to the improvements you’ve made in the components (individual skills and techniques) of driving.
If football teams practiced the way most race drivers did, they would show up at a practice session and play a game. But they don’t do that, do they? Instead, they practice drills – they break the game down into components of the game, such as blocking, kicking, passing, running, etc., and focus on perfecting these individual skills and techniques. You need to practice in the same way.
See my explanation of Sensory Input Sessions here (https://youtu.be/rfOEKo4nJII) as an example of another component you should practice, and this video about practice strategy. And check out a Q&A I did regarding how to practice braking here: https://speedsecrets.com/ask-ross/q-any-recommendations-for-purposeful-practice-improve-braking/.
All good points, and certainly to be heeded. However, I think the issue often seen in sim racing is the dreaded “alien” racer.
I hold or have held a few track records in real life. I’ve turned fastest lap, gotten pole position, even made up 20+ positions, and recovered from multiple laps down in professional races. I might be considered an alien by some, but with proper coaching I can get people to go as fast (and consistent) as I do. It takes work, much of which you’ve covered in this article. On the sim it’s different. The aliens are able to do things that just don’t make sense. If I turn a 2:08 at VIR in real life, and 2:09 on the sim, these aliens are doing 2:04. You could give Vettel, Hamilton, Verstappen, Alonso, or even the past greats at their prime in those same conditions and they wouldn’t touch the alien’s pace.
You exit a corner right on their tail, even slightly better exit speed as they went a little wide, you have a draft, and you even have the same setup since it’s a fixed setup race. They open up a gap of a few tenths down the straight even though you’re in their draft. You brake at your normal point, barely able to make the entry with the ABS cursing at you insinuating your parents were too closely related, and the alien brakes 20 feet later with a perfect apex and 2 mph higher V-min. This is the frustrating part about sim racing, and partially what I think the original question was about. Using applications like iAnalyze Racing, you’re able to see a lot of the data from the other cars, compare it to your data, and make any adjustments you might need to replicate their success. However, there’s something in the sensitivity of the aliens where they’re able to do with the wheel feedback what we regular racers and mere human mortals are able to do with butt-feel and sensing the slip angle through other senses.
I can coach your butt. I can’t coach the extra sense these aliens seem to have. There are limits in the physics the aliens don’t seem to have to recognize.
I love being an alien.
The alien thing is a very interesting question to me. Are they exploiting sim physics inaccuracies that elite real world driver training would prevent a pro driver from trying to access?? Or is it that they have developed better sensitivity to the cues that are available in the sim while pro drivers struggle to match them because they fall back to reliance on real world experience where kinaesthetics and other factors mean they might have less visual (or wheel FFB) sensitivity??
I guess I’d ask it this way: why is it that pro drivers struggle to match the aliens??
And the corollary question: if it’s not sim physics exploits, what sim drill pattern would be best to develop the visual/FFB sensitivity in the sim in such a way as to be able to take advantage of that when you move back to a real world track?? Is that even possible??
I suppose the underlying thesis in my head is this: I know people assert there are limits on what you can do with sim time in terms of developing skills that work on the real world track. Is it possible that the alien phenomenon actually means that such assertions are conventional wisdom that needs an update. To refer back to the OP, if the aliens are the ones winning the prizes of seats in real cars and they are doing as well or better than drivers trained the conventional ways in the real world, are they in fact on to something??
The fact that Verstappen, Norris, LeClerc and the other F1 drivers do so well in the iRacing service certainly proves that real track experience translates into good performance in the sim. I was in a practice session with Verstappen running F3 cars on the Charlotte Roval. Watching his laps from his cockpit in the replay was very enlightening.
I watched a video recently that explained being an alien is sometimes just exploiting the limits. Made a ton of sense to me.