Welcome to Round 2 of the Hot Lap Challenge
Sim: Assetto Corsa
Track: Spa Francorchamps
Car: Ferrari 312T
Weather: Clear
Track: Optimum
Temperature: 20.0C
Wind: 0k/m
If you do not have Assetto Corsa, please submit your times with the sim you are using, replicating the track conditions as closely as possible.
Please use the car’s default setup. You may only adjust fuel levels, tyres, TC, ABS, and Brake Bias.
You have until 30/07/2023 23:59 to submit your best lap. Please only submit times in a top level comment. If you have already submitted a lap and you improve, please edit your top level comment.
Please include a screenshot of your lap time for verification.
Please reply to this comment with your suggestions for the next Hot Lap Challenge. Most votes wins!
Last time out
So, I think we all hated the Audi, yes?
| Driver | Time |
|---|---|
| itsmikeyd | 2:22.995 |
| [email protected] | 2:25.285 |
| [email protected] | 2:29.033 |
| [email protected] | 2:33.084 |
| akanes | 3:12.000 |
Hopefully an old school F1 car on a modern classic track is a little more popular haha!
As before, please respond to this comment to nominate car and track combinations for the next round.
Most votes wins!
Let’s do the Hungaroring in the Lotus Exos 125, so we can all see how slow we are compared to Max Verstappen haha!
I’m expecting great things from you here haha!
I’ll throw out my suggestion of AMS2 at Brands Hatch in the Formula Classic G4 M3(90’s F1).
The Formula Classics have the new tyre model overhaul.
I really should run a poll to see how many people run the different sims. I’ve never tried AMS1/2, but I always hear good things about it.
I just find it the easiest sim to just get in and drive haha, the tyre update fixed things massively as well. Unfortunately only a handful of cars have that update for now
It would be interesting to see what sims most people drive. I seemingly switch around between AC, ACC, AMS2. I just refuse to pay for iRacing things.
I just find it the easiest sim to just get in and drive
I actually mentioned this as the main reason I like AMS2 in my steam review of the game. Like, seriously why does it seem like it’s so hard to make a game where you can start it, pick a car and track, and drive. I don’t wanna click through 100 menus and watch flybys of all the badly animated spectators, I just want to drive… (Looking at you… Dirt Rally 2.0)
So true, I think my worst experience has been rFactor 2. It seemingly took ages to get all the tracks and cars I wanted as well as VR setup.
A huge shame too because i really liked the feel of driving in rFactor 2. I might give it another go this weekend now that I have a decent GPU.
If I raced 3 or 4 times a week, then I’d pay for iracing for sure. It has all. The content I’d want to keep me entertained.
As a dad with a full time job and a family who apparently want to see me regularly, I’m lucky to hit the track once or twice a week.
Haha gotta spend time with the family!
I’ve only been averaging maybe an hour a week myself lately, a far cry from the 20hr+ sim racing weeks I put in during my younger days.
Just enjoy it when you can I guess!
Alfa Romeo 155 on brands hatch gp :)
2:26.067
Keep pushing, you’ll find your pace :)
What are you struggling with most?
I feel like I’m at the point where I don’t know what I don’t know, but I feel like I’m having trouble braking in this car. I either over do it and lock up, or I miss the apex. Sometimes I do get it right though and it feels great, so I imagine I just need more practice. Thanks for the encouraging words!
I’ve noticed with this car being so heavily biased rearwards with the brakes by default you really have to work on bleeding off the brakes coming into corners.
Too much brake and the rearward bias tends to straighten the car out when attempting to turn in at low speed. Making the car feel terrible at turning in.
Eventually too much brake for too long will result in locking the rears or fronts (if too much steering is applied or front biased decently) if you completely overdo it.
Maybe try working on you brake trace coming into corners etc…its all a bit tricky at first but it’ll click eventually!
Here’s a brake trace example for a bit of context.
Yup, this is the way! With downforce cars in general you can start with very high brake pressures, but have to lift off as the downforce decreases.
Trail braking is super useful to learn too.
I like to think of a tyre as having 100% of grip. When you’re turning, it uses so much grip, as does accelerating a braking. You can 100% turn, but not change speed, or you can 100% accelerate or brake and not turn.
The hard part is turning and accelerating or braking at the same timez say 40% turning, 60% braking. Each car, track, setup, conditions combination has a different feel for this so it’s a constant learning experience. It’s managing this which really separates the normal guys like me and the aliens.
With downforce cars in general you can start with very high brake pressures, but have to lift off as the downforce decreases.
Wow, I never thought of it that way but now that you say it it makes complete sense why things feel the way they do. Thanks. I will give this another try hopefully before the 30th.
And now you know what you didn’t know! 😁
Downforce cars have a brake trace with a high level, a low level, and a trail. Non-downforce cars looks like the red trace in your diagram with maybe a touch more trail.
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Was able jump on the sim and grab a lap really quick. I like this car much more; it’s got a bit of character to it!
Lap: 2:25.076 --> 2:22.198 --> 2:20.359 --> 2:19.758 --> 2:18.979
Plenty of time left on the table, but it’s a start haha
Edit - I’m starting to get a feel for AC physics thankfully
Edit 2 - Video of 2:18.979 lap, I massively screwed up the first corner which likely cost me a 2:17.xxx lap but this will work for now hah!
Nice lap! Have you got some assist on to to kill the throttle on upshifts? I really don’t know AC well, so I’ve no idea if that’s a thing.
Thanks! I’m using Autoblip and Auto clutch, one of those might be doing that?
One day I’ll get a nice H shifter haha
Oooh. This will be a fun one.
Edit 1: I see the trend; cars that’s don’t turn in :)
Edit 2: First session 2:25.281 on softs but without changing fuel.
Edit 3: 2:23.9xx with a cut that didn’t help me; 2.24.625 no cut. Brake bias is probably worth at least a second a lap.
Are we allowed to change brake bias?Nice work. Yes, feel free to change brake bias. Will update the OP.
Comment
Thanks!
Found a few things out about this car through driving it, really came to enjoy it by the end of my session. There’s still time on the board, optimal is a second faster and I know there’s a few places I’m losing a disproportionate amount of time
Braking - This one really enforced straight line braking on me. Damn near impossible to lock up in a straight line, but the second there’s steering input it just boats around or locks. I was riding 90%+ brake pressure through most braking up until the last quarter where I could bleed off pretty quickly. Good to get some practice in on the fundamentals and I had the hang of it pretty well.
Shifting - Without my clutch setup (It’s sitting behind me on a shelf) it’s a little harder to get shifting down on this car. I found that blipping on downshifts pretty aggressively worked quite well, and a slight lift on upshifts kept it from bouncing off the limiter with no loss in speed.
Eau Rouge/Raddion - Still can’t get this one quite right, but I’m getting there. I’m lifting pretty early and getting back in throttle about halfway up and it’s kept me from going over track limits
Assetto Corsa - I haven’t driven this sim that much in years, not since I was on a T300RS, now with a DD it’s a huge contrast. The FFB feels great and I can really feel the behavior of the car. Very contrasting to the satanized output of iRacing that I’ve gotten used to over the last year and a half.
Overall a really enjoyable car to drive and I’m probably not done putting in laps. I was thinking about suggesting this car at mugello or another Italian circuit.
edit: updated to better time screenshot
2.26.910 on softs but I just can’t string one together. First time in this car and it’s better than I thought it would be.
02:22.301
Coming off of an unsuccessful Spa24 in iRacing i had a good time trying to manhandle this car. I haven’t touched AC in years so the physics took a bit to get used to again. Any notes for the car itself has already been said in here and I agree in most of it. Overall I found the car to be quite chuckable, loading it up for Raidillon, tapping the brakes to help it turn in and then pinning it to get it within the limits. Very fun when I figured out how it handled. It did definitely not like curbs however, had to unlearn some GT3 lines due to that.
I left at least a second on the table as far as I can tell. Alas, I don’t have that much time to dedicate to this.
Anyway, have a bunch of poor camera choices. https://streamable.com/iqid4q
have a bunch of poor camera choices
you aren’t kidding. There are at least two corners there where the car never appears and then it cuts to some other angle lol
I was figuring out the hotkeys for the cameras etc. And I couldn’t be bothered to re-do the recording.
ah, I apologize, I thought that was some sort of camera automation. I totally understand and didn’t mean to make fun of you.
Great lap. If you have the time, I’d love to see a post telling us about your Spa24 preparation and how the race went!
Ive got to get on this, since Spa is coming up this weekend!
Edit: I do like this format, i.e. having the Hot Lap Challenge be the upcoming race; Im not sure that was intentional or accidental but it should work out brilliantly! During off weeks, we can Hot Lap tracks not currently on the calendar, so there will always be something to race!
It’s a really fun one in the Ferrari too, it’s a wild beast of a car!
Indeed it is! This is my first time driving it, and I set a sad 3:14 around Spa so far. Its like the machine was trying to murder me the entire lap haha!
02:19.685
I made another video (old lap time).
This time it’s a replay as I wasn’t recording live. The timer is probably not exactly where it should be! I’m very much learning Davini Resolve as I’m going along.
Really fun challenge. This car can brake a lot later than I initially thought it could. Blipping the throttle on the downshifts really seemed to help with this. I’ve never driven this era of Formula 1 car in a sim before, and that’s a damn shame. I must admit though, I’m hoping for something a little more pointy next time round!
Edit: I got a faster lap.
Nice lap! I’d say our laps are fairly similar and the time difference is likely down to eau rouge.
I think I blend out to about half throttle go into it and manage get back to full throttle a decent bit earlier to carry a bit more speed.
For reference I blend out throttle at about 21 seconds and am full throttle at or just before 23 seconds on your timer if that’s any help!
Gonna have to try to improve my time more tomorrow hah
Cheers, thanks for the tip!
Seen you’ve improved to a 19, nice work!
I suspect that there’s a 2:16 in this car for the aliens out there. Whether I get time to try and improve I don’t know. Hopefully!
Can we change brake bias either at beginning of lap or mid lap?
Yes, will update the OP.
Thanks!
My vote would be mid lap personally. I don’t use it often but sometimes it’s nice.
I feel like this car needs to go up or down a percentage here and there. Like down a bit before the bus stop and La source and then back up for the twisty bits after kemmel.
Yeah it could use a bit of adjustment here and there, I’ll have to mess around a bit with it next session!
My main issue with the car is I prefer very pointy cars especially on initial turn in and this car is not that by default. But it’s manageable and fun at least.
Put in a car and track suggestion, or vote for one that suits your style.
I’m hoping for something more pointy. I’d be happy if we end up with the Lotus Exos as Hungary as already suggested.
This is a pretty good combo imo, I think most car default setups won’t suit most peoples styles but that’s okay. Makes the adaptability aspect of it more fun.
I’ll see if I can think of a game/car/track combo to suggest for the next round. I’m just happy to be hot lapping!
Yeah, that’s what I was aiming for with the fixed setups. I’m all for seeing who is best at “run what you’ve brung” vs who can optomize a setup best over the course of a couple of weeks.
