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Prioritization of corners for passing is going to be different than hotlapping. Most of the top corners for hotlapping become important during a race for catching up with cars who have gapped you, but have little value when it comes to passing.

Unlike Albert Park where my favorite passing zone is on the exit of a corner (12), at Sepang, it appears to be all about braking.

The most successful places I have found to pass on this circuit are on entry to corners one and 15. If you follow one of my hotlaps, you will see that I treat turn 1 as two turns dropping to third gear for the first half of the turn and the downshifting to second to complete the last section. This extra speed and later braking routinely allows me to pass multiple cars in this corner.

I've also found success passing cars by outbraking them into turn four. This turn is a bit more tricky and not as safe and I've found myself spun by the curbing on several occasions. You also risk breaking your rhythm leading into the corner five-six corridor.

I have not been successful passing cars going into turn nine. I think this is mostly because I'm still trying to get corners seven and eight correct. I'm generally not carrying enough speed out of turn eight to set cars up to be passed into turn nine. After I correct my exit speed in turn eight, I'll revisit this as a passing zone.

One weird place I've found to pass is in turn 14. If I carry a bit more speed than the car in front of me and take a wider arc through the corner, I will generally pass it on the outside and take the line exiting onto the straight.

Sepang has been a fun track. I've run a few short races against the AI on it and have won a couple. I was able to win much faster on this track than Albert Park. Don't know if the track is easier, or if I'm just getting better. I'll race on this track more in the next couple of days, but I've already taken a peek at Bahrain and am getting excited about getting on that track.

If you read my posts about Albert Park, you know that I initially prioritize corners based on speed and distance from the exit of the corner to the next corner. I do this because it is hard to regain lost speed the faster you are going. 15 MPH lost on a 2nd gear corner is much easier to regain than 15 MPH lost on a 5th gear corner.

This is my priority for hotlapping based on the initial AI analysis. 

For hotlapping, my first priority is turns seven and eight which are taken almost as one large hairpin. In racing, I've found that as long as you can keep from getting passed on this corner, you are doing OK. There's little passing opporunity in this corner but getting it correct can get you up into sixth gear on the straight that follows. Doing a poor job will keep you in fifth and cost you some time.

My next set of corners are five and six along the back straight. Just like with seven and eight above, as long as you are fast enough to defend your position, the corners aren't as important in racing. The turn-in for corner six is tricky because it is fairly blind. If you are not exiting corner five correctly, it makes it difficult to guage your turn-in for six. I've also found that if I mess up turn four, it often carries all the way through turns five and six and I have a poor run through this corridor.

Corner 12 is tricky and has taken me some time to get correct. It's faster than it looks/feels but too much time on the curbing at entry can put you in the gravel.

After driving the circuit for a few laps, I'd put corner 14 a bit higher priority. It is fairly high-speed and getting the corner correct can help with passing on the straights that follow.  

This hotlap is from my third session at Sepang. Getting better with the line and with braking at an appropriate time. Still working out the line. I've got some work to do on the back corridor including corners 5-8. Those are extremely important for fast lap times because they are high speed.

The other thing I'm discovering is the curbing at this track is rough. You can put two wheels on it with no problem, but don't drop a wheel off the other side on most corners or it will wreck you.

Still like this track.

Overhead View

In-car View

This hotlap is from my second session at Sepang. I'm not dissatisfied with it, but it illustrates some classic mistakes that are hard habits to break. The primary mistake I'm making is focusing on entry speed instead of exit speed. In a lot of the corners, you will see me shoot past the racing line and the car I'm chasing start to pull away when exiting the corner. At this stage of my learning, I need to be focusing on the line and exit speed, not on how late I can brake.

But it's a start.

Overhead View

In-car View

I like this track. It's challenging in different ways than Albert Park. Being a purpose-built track, it's wider and generally has a lot more of a runoff area. It has a decent amount of vertical change which adds more challenge to finding the right balance of the car while driving. It has a lot of corners that are long, sweeping, and fast which you will find more challenging.

I don't like how the AI enters and exits the pit lane. On entry, it is in the racing line and then veers wildly to the pit lane crossing the outer lane of traffic. Not sure how it will react if another car is out there. On entry to the track, it again veers wildly back into the racing line. I have yet to be hit by one, but I have seen other AI cars get hit by one re-entering the track.

I drove about 60 laps today and rode along with the AI for another 20 or so. I've gotten up to speed pretty quickly on this track after my initial analysis. I'm still finding it hard to put together complete laps, but I feel like I'm further along after this many laps than I was with Albert Park.

Attached is a hotlap from the AI, as well as a screen shot of each corner.

AI Hotlap, In Car

AI Hotlap, Overview

This lap was completed in 2:04.709 (124.163 seconds).

The gear, RPM, MPH, and time between corners are measured at the point the RPMs begin to increase when exiting a corner. The screen shots are also from the point of acceleration from the corner.

Let’s take a look at a lap.

Corner 1

Corner 1 is a tight hairpin leading quickly into a left-hander.

2nd gear, 4679 RPM, 47 MPH
13.667 seconds from start
22.163 seconds from corner 15
5.396 seconds to corner 2

Corner 2

Corner 2 is a slightly downhill left-hander immediately after the turn 1 hairpin.

2nd gear, 4333 RPM, 43 MPH
18.733 seconds from start
5.066 seconds from corner 1
17.767 seconds to corner 4

Corner 3

Corner 3 is a sweeping right-hander that is taken full out.

Corner 4

Corner 4 is an uphill right hander.

3rd gear, 4604 RPM, 60 MPH
36.500 seconds from start
17.767 seconds from turn 2
9.8 seconds to turn 5

Corner 5

Corner 5 is the first of two high-speed corners along this corridor.

5th gear, 5525 RPM, 109 MPH
46.300 seconds from start
9.8 seconds from turn 4
4 seconds to turn 6

Corner 6

5th gear, 5488 RPM, 107 MPH
50.300 seconds from start
4 seconds from turn 5
7.5 seconds to turn 7

Corners 7 and 8

Corner 7 is a flat, fairly high-speed right hander that leads almost immediately into the Corner 8 which is also a right-hander.

Corner 7: 4th gear, 5645 RPM, 93 MPH
57.800 seconds from start
7.5 seconds from turn 6
12.867 seconds to turn 9

Corner 8: 4th gear, measured acceleration

Corner 9

Corner 9 is one of the bigger breaking zones outside of the hairpins. It is a tight, uphill, left-hander.

2nd gear, 4438 RPM, 45 MPH
70.667 seconds from start
12.867 seconds from turn 7
9.033 seconds to turn 11

Corner 10

Corner 10 is a right-hander that trickles into corner 11.

Corner 11

Corner 11 is a fairly high-speed right-hander that falls away and leads to a short downhill shoot.

3rd gear, 5349 RPM, 70 MPH
79.700 seconds from start
9.033 seconds from turn 9
8.267 seconds to turn 12

Corner 12

Quick left-hander.

5th gear, 5728 RPM, 113 MPH
87.967 seconds from start
8.267 seconds from turn 11
7.133 seconds to turn 14

Corners 13 and 14

Continue acceleration from corner 12 into corner 13 before beginning braking for corner 14. Corner 14 is a long sweeping right-hander that is at least two corners built into one. It falls away and seems to go on forever before opening up to one of the two straight-aways enclosing the main grandstands.

Corner 14: 3rd gear, 4535 RPM, 59 MPH
95.100 seconds from start
7.133 seconds from turn 12
20.783 seconds to turn 15

Corner 15

Corner 15 is the second hairpin and leads back onto the front straightaway.

2nd gear, 4908 RPM, 50 MPH
115.833 seconds from start
20.783 seconds from turn 14
22.163 seconds to turn 1

The 2008 Malaysian Grand Prix will take place on March 26 at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur. The track has 15 turns and a distance of 5.543 KM (3.44 mile). Juan Pablo Montoya set the track record of 1:34.223 while driving for Williams-BMW in 2004.

There are two rFactor tracks available for this circuit:

4 ½ Star - http://rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Sepang%20GP4
3 Star - http://rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Sepang

Future entries about this track will include:

• First Impressions, including AI hot laps, screen captures and statistics about each turn
• Ranking the corners for hot lapping
• Hot laps and lessons learned
• Passing zones, re-ranking the corners for passing
• Racing and lessons learned