I understand what you're saying. Maybe I'm a bit sad and obsessive...
I remember many moons ago I used to spar with a guy on CIX (Peter Gagg
if he's still around) on GP2, and remember the both of us on alternate
nights doing what we thought was the best lap possible, only for the
other to try a different direction on setup and go quicker still.
I think in the end he won that battle, but it was very interesting to
find new lines, new setups and more time in the track again and again.
The interesting thing was we were within a tenth or so of each other
all the time, with completely different setups - and the telemetry
readouts showed completely different speeds. As I recall I was later
on the brakes and earlier on the throttle, whereas he carried more
speed overall. We're talking about minimal amounts though...
Thinking back, we were (and probably still am) among the top 10 or 20
on the net on all tracks except Monza - where I was always rubbish - a
second or so away from the fastest times.
Anyway - I'm wandering off here so I'll shut up :-)
Jonathan