rec.autos.simulators

Some excellent advice has been given in response to the original post.
I would like to add a couple more tips.

1) Work on one corner at a time.  Concentrate on attacking one corner.
Once you feel that you have it down, start working on the next corner.

2) Concentrate and envision beyond the area you are currently driving
toward.  Before you even begin to approach the braking area for a turn,
envision you braking point and how hard you will be braking.  Before you
even begin to approach the apex, envision how you will approach it.
Before you approach the exit of a turn, envision your throttle
application and where the car will exit.  After you have worked on these
as individual parts, you will eventually be able to envision them as a
whole.  Always direct your attention to where you want the car to be,
not where it is.

--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
     Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.

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Hi guys, thanks a lot for your help. I've basically restarted from scratch
and that's helped me a lot. Just one thing I'd like to point out for the
sake of not looking like a complete newbie is that I was actually getting
some decent lap times. With the GP2 car, my fastest was about 1:16.XX at
Watkins Glen which ain't that bad. But like many of you have pointed out, it
ain't worth going fast if you can't do it consistantly, and boy was it hit
or miss for me. Some laps would be great, other would be full of crashes and
then all the ranges in between. Going back to the GP1 car and really taking
it slowly has already helped me a lot. My main problem is breaking smoothly.
I used to lock the tires up almost every turn which, needless to say,
messed up my driving line emmensely. All this skidding around the track
would make the entrance and exits of the turns pretty much uncontrolled and
thus unpredictable. One of the replies posted said that he was unsure if I
had a wheel. Well, I did mention that I had a wheel in my original post, but
he makes a very good point to anyone else trying to learn any serious racing
sim. Without a decent wheel, its pretty much impossible to get good lap
times. Not to mention its a whole lot more fun driving with a wheel :-) I
just have a question about Allison Hine's setups. Has anyone modified them
for the trainer cars? The reason I ask is because she says that "all you
have to do is change the gear ratios to fit the trainer cars and it should
be fine" well... unfortunately I'm not a garage junkie so I'm not really
sure how I'd go about getting a good set of gear ratios. Anyway, thanks
again for all the tips, I'll be back after a few hundred laps he he he (as
suggested by a previous post :-)

-Josh de Bever

Well guys, after more than 3 hours and 78 laps around Watkins Glen, I'm
starting to see the light. Everything is starting to come together. Breaking
smoothly, turning smoothly, applying power smoothly. So far so good. Today
on lap 73 drving with the Novice Trainer, I got a 1:26.88. Well, I smiled
and said "hey, not half bad". Then I finnished my next lap and got a
1:25.67. I smiled again and continued driving. Then on lap 75, I finnished
what is possibly my finest lap ever and got a 1:25.07. the smile on my face
at this point was very large indeed. But to top it all off, I had been
driving consistantly. Everything was pretty tight and I managed to get about
10 laps or so all within 1 sec (not including the 3 personal fastest laps.).
Anyway guys, thanks again, and hopefully I'll see you all online sometime
and we can have a race without me smashing into everyone :) Well, have to
return to the realy world now....

-Josh de Bever