Posted on January 29, 2008 15:21 by ScottDrake
I logged about 100 laps in a GT at Lime Rock Park today and it reminded me how much I like this track. For a sim racer who spends most of his time hotlapping and occasionally racing the AI, it's about the perfect track because it's short and challenging.
Mess up in corner one at LRP and it takes you about a minute to get around and start another lap. At most of the other tracks I run, it's more like two minutes. LRP is also perfect for some spectacular wrecks thanks to the elevation changes and little run-off area. I included a video of one below. What LRP is not as good for is racing. It's a very narrow track with very few passing zones.
LRP also got me to dig into the setup of the car. I think a lot of people spend too much time tinkering with car setups and not enough time in the seat behind the wheel learning to become a faster driver. Setups can take you so far, but only seat time will make you fast.
For LRP, I did change the gearing to improve acceleration at the expense of top-end speed, and put more grip in the car. That helped but probably not as much as just putting in some laps.
Overview
Wreck
(I run with damage off most of the time so I don't have to keep visiting the garage)
Posted on January 28, 2008 13:14 by ScottDrake
I've taken a break from sim racing for the last week or two but got inspired to jump in a GT after watching the 24 Hours of Daytona last weekend. This is the first time I've driven a Porsche in rFactor, but I'm revisiting one of my favorite tracks in Lime Rock Park.
In the last couple of years, I've driven thousands of laps in formula cars, but less than 100 in GT or prototype cars so it is an adjustment. It's a nice change of pace so I think I'll play around with the Sports Car Challenge mod before jumping back into F1-track analysis early next month. I may post another hotlap or two before I'm done.