My best time for this installment is down to 7:15.563. At this stage it takes far longer to get a faster lap than before. The days of just going out and learning to do some section a bit better and setting a new faster lap are over.
I’ve compared my best lap to the original video and I find that there are four turns (or turn sections) where I lose 1+ seconds each and then I lose portions of a second per each kilometer thereafter. At no time do I gain on the control lap. This indicates that I’ve botched a couple corners but also that I need to carry a bit more speed overall through the lap.
The most problematic corners are the ones just after downhill sections where I am slowing from top speed down to a medium speed suitable for making the corner. The following video shows the four hardest sections (page numbers refer to the preferred line pdf ):
Even with no physical ramifications, it is hard to fling oneself into a corner with abandon. Miss a corner and you can start over having tossed away 8 minutes on the warm-up lap plus however much on the hotlap. With the car unsettled and hard to control going into these corners, sneaking a glance at the speed is an invitation to the deer sandwich buffet and so it’s easy to misjudge how fast the car is going. One thing about the GTR-E replay engine is that it doesn’t render the tire screeching sound that I get in the car so the replays have the feeling of being rather slow.
Trying to carry more speed throughout the lap is a different problem. I’m going to have to do several things in order to do this: Firstly, I have to use the full width of the track. This technique helps get the maximum grip possible from the tires in tight corners; alternatively, not needing the full width of the road indicates a wasted opportunity for going faster. Developing sensitivity in steering input and using the minimum possible turning force on the wheel to get the car to turn is also part of this approach.
Secondly, I have to explore the limit of adhesion. The ultimate lap is taken with every single corner at the limit. I have seen there are sections of track where I can go faster than I think possible. As close to the edge of disaster as I think I am, someone else has shown that it is possible to take the corners faster, with the same car.
With this in mind, I vow to take my more sensitive, adventurous, and commited self to the track to renew my progress. Next time we get our hands dirty with a simply amazing tool designed to analyze telemetry from real cars.
Racing is something I know almost nothing about in the real world, and a genre I rarely play in the game world. Following this adventure is really interesting to me. Even though I knew that modern serious racing sims are realistic, I never quite grasped how much. To take this to the limit requires as much strategizing and experimentation as an in-depth strategy game. Keep them coming, Helmut!