I’ve spent the majority of my time with Forza in rivals. I’ve done my share of racing, but not really a whole lot. Well, last night I got to race against a couple of different guys who are vastly better than me. Oddly enough, I can beat many, if not most, of their times while hot lapping. That’s easy though cause its just one lap that you have to get right. Every time I get a good lap and move up on the leaderboards, that lap is recorded and it may look pretty good to some. However, nobody sees the 10 laps before that one that were just horrible. What impressed me about these guys is that they are just super consistent. Its like they are a machine and every lap is almost the same. Virtually no mistakes, nothing crazy, just methodically working their way around the track. I can be faster for one or two laps maybe, but I can’t put it all together like that for 4,5,6 laps. I’ve been puffing my chest out lately because I’ve been recording some half decent times, but I still have a long way to go…
Dust hit the nail on the head. Being the fastest person leaderboard wise means nothing if 2 of 3 laps you are consistently off that time you have on a board.
Now Dust is VERY consistent so can use this as an example. Here are some fictional laptimes of a fictional race.
DUST2DEATH
Lap 1: 1:04
Lap 2: 1:01
Lap 3: 1:01 TOTAL: 3:06
Lou3824
Lap 1: 1:05
Lap 2: 1:02
Lap 3: 1:02 TOTAL: 3:09
Number 1 driver of track
Lap 1: 1:06
Lap 2: 1:00
Lap 3: 1:03 TOTAL: 3:09
As you can see you may not of been the fastest person in the lobby but as you put consistent times down you put the same race time in as the fastest lapper and as they may of made a mistake you could of capitalised on it. Speed is nothing if you cannot keep the laps going. I have beaten many people in lobbies that on paper would be FAR faster than myself. But one thing I work on all through FM4 was getting my times consistent and smooth.
Guy #3 describes me on most nights. It’s hard sometimes to build a rhythm in short races. Dust, Clay, and Worm are some if the most consistent guys I’ve raced with. Gotta be on your A game to beat them.
Don’t you hate that, the LB’s would have you believe I’m faster than the people I race with, but once we start racing, it’s an entirely different story. I lose 9/10 times.
Nah I don’t hate it. There’s nothing really worthwhile I find in winning. Actually I prefer finishing second or third and fly under the radar. I prefer close racing with consistent inputs. My favorite race so far was one with my teammate where we were literally nose to tail the entire race and our laps were within hundredths of each other all race. Thats what i desire. I only get annoyed when i have those nights where silly small errors i normally do not make prevent me from keeping up with guys and gals of similar abilities. It’s even more annoying when I look at the fastest lap times and there isn’t much a difference. I always think what should have been.
That’s fun, I’ve got a replay of me and Cortina nose to bumper for 3 laps around Prague, I’m half tempted to upload the video to YouTube. Actually, now I think of it, I remember racing with you on Indianapolis, you where in a 2014 Civic (god knows how it was so quick in a straight line) and I was in my Dodge charger, and that was a pretty close race from my view (behind), you where just so quick in the damn straight.
Hmm I don’t remember that. Lol. Usually I get bogged down in traffic with that car, but I know there were a few races where I had room to let her rip and was hitting 1:35s every lap. It is funny out doing V8s on the straight with it. The obnoxious kid in my head sometimes wants to scream Vvvvvvtec!
Tune is shared if you wanna know what made it quick. Lol.
Oh come on, you would think what should have been even if you ran the perfect lap and you know it That’s the beauty of this game, no matter how fast you are, or how good you are, you can always go faster somehow.
Dust is right, just keep racing, from what I’ve seen from you Forza 5 is your first Forza, correct? I and most of the guys you speak of have been playing since Forza 2-3, adding up to thousands of hours of race time. If you wanna be consistent, race online, so you get more track variation.
Getting on track with other racers allows you to see behaviors. Watching patterns in a driver means you can work out where you can get past them on track. I find following someone who is running quick and spotting their weaknesses means I can take advantage on the next lap or so. If they have few weaknesses then a good bit of pressure driving can help to make them make a mistake…but comes down to how big their cahones are
I love working on getting better at this game, and I do want to emulate the consistency of those veteran drivers who do so well. I realize that this takes time and practice, practice, practice. I have no problem with this.
I always play online, not only for the track variations, but also to pit my wits and response time against other real human brains.
that said, the human brains I seem to get are the ones who don’t even brake going into a turn and feel it’s easier to use the side of my car as a bank for their turn, or they just slam into me at full speed thus sending me into another timezone just west of the track. lol
Every so often I get a room with mature drivers in there, who actually want to run a clean, professional race. But that is a rare happenstance.
Now I don’t want it to come across as whining, I realize that this is a hazard of the online community for any game. But I keep my game clean, and I do my best to improve with every lap I drive.
Veterans: I’ll be there with you someday. Be prepared for it. lol
Yes, its my first Forza… This post wasn’t meant to be about me though. Seriously, it was a tip of my hat to the really good racers that are out there. Because I am trying to get to the same place many of you are, I now know how difficult it can be and some of you guys have really earned my respect.
last night? tsk tsk tsk. shes gonna make you go to forza anonymous. just kidding. hotlapping is about staying on line and up to speed, you remember your way around a certain track. you memorize one track, turn the car for just enough grip. for multiplayer you need a bit more grip and acceleration because you have to adjust, sometimes very quickly, to the other car making you have to take a new line. as you race more you’ll learn if its faster to take them before the next corner, thru the next corner, or after the next corner. racing is about how fast you can go off line/speed and how quickly you can get back online and up to speed. thats one of the reasons i was telling you racing is more about having the highest minimum speed rather than the highest top speed. rather than remembering the fastest line you have to learn the second fastest line thru the corner and decide if off line will be faster than just following. and acceleration become more important. if you can beat him to the next corner he has to drive around you rather than vice versa, he has to take the second fastest line. and right after the corner comes the straight where you have the advantage again.
you learned the multiple ribbons/tracks per enviroment. now you’ll learn multiple lines per track and when to use what line. but the slow in fast out…that remains.
and control your frustraion. even when you do everything right there are time you are going to pay for other people mistakes. espically the start at bathurst. over 100 races and only 1 didn’t have the turn 1 pile up.
My wife once told me that she awoke from sleep because she heard engine noises. She got up to see if I was still racing . . . but I was asleep next to her.
Lou, for someone who’s been at this only for a few months, your driving skill is amazingly good!
its having the concentration to keep your mind set in race mode, hotlap mode or drift mode,
i spent most of Saturday on the rivals doing the drift ones got in the top 100 of each, then went back to race and my first few laps was bad till race mode set in then i was good.
Alot of people are rite Consistency is the key, you will get people saying ‘you beat me but i had a faster lap time’ which is good but if there lap time is half a second faster but all your laps are with in a 10th of a second thats why you win.
when i am online and if i get out in front i race my own lap times so they are always around the same time.
That’s the beauty of this game, no matter how fast you are, or how good you are, you can always go faster somehow.
