There are drivers who have a natural talent and they are really fast with surprisingly short periods of adaptation and learning. Obviously only a few are privileged and most of us will have to make do with what we have.
Luckily, not everything is based on talent and there is no doubt that with a small dose of effort and dedication you can perform very well, be really competitive and, above all, maintain a palpable evolution and learning, which will help us to maintain an illusion and motivation.
How do I start?
It is clear that there are many paths to follow: it depends on the time and dedication that each one wants to invest.
Usually we dedicate all the time and energy available to race and train alone, having only the “delta time” and the observation of the drivers before us, which may be the slowest way to go.
Another very valid method is to get down to business.
The most basic and important tip: training
Train no more and no less than necessary; train enough to allow us to go comfortably and at a speed appropriate to our level. We should not overtrain so as not to lose that point of freshness and not fall into boredom and frustration.
- Train enough so that this car/circuit combination provides us with knowledge or experience for our continuous evolution.
- Train intelligently with a pace of less to more and with the greatest possible variety of conditions: temperature, qualifying setup, race setup.
- Learn a good theoretical basis of vehicle dynamics, reading the already abundant documentation.
The more knowledge we have about vehicle dynamics the better. If we understand what happens in our car when we brake, take a curve and accelerate, it will have a positive effect on our driving.
Analyze replays or “hotlaps” of faster drivers.
Analyzing the replays of a “top” driver will allow us, through our intuition and observation, to see which details make the difference in time.
We should pay attention to the way he brakes, intensity, linearity, where he brakes and where he stops, how he uses the accelerator, where he starts to put the car in the corner, how he traces in each corner and the gear he uses in each of these. The great advantage of iRacing replays is the variety of cameras, playback speeds and the ability to visualize the position of the brake, accelerator and clutch at all times. Its disadvantage is that the time to invest is greater.
Another good option is to visualize “hotlaps” on Youtube: surely we can miss a lot of details but in return we will have the advantage of memorizing by repeating visualizations. Of course, the time to invest is much less.
Analyze your “replays” to find driving errors.
This method is almost essential for detecting driving errors, but we must take into account that this step is closely linked to the previous one, since it will allow us to know the optimal braking and acceleration references and routes. With the mentioned iRacing repetitions we will be able to see if we jump into a curve too early or too late, if we brake later or earlier than necessary.
Use specific software such as Ispeed, Motec or VRS.
For the last several years, technology has been introduced in all professional fields and the motorsport world has not been an exception. Have the best driver is not always a synonym to winning races. Aerodynamics, engine, suspensions and tires are essential for a race car.
The main goal of this article is how to take all the information provided by iRacing and how use MoTeC for display the data and improve our driving perfomance or our setups.
First of all, we need to define what is “telemetry”.
What is telemetry?
Telemetry is a technology that allows remote measurement of physical quantities for later analysis. Applied in the motorsport world, it will allow us to gather all the information provided by the vehicle to analyze desired aspects like car behaviors that affect the dynamics of the vehicle or driver inputs.
Our main advantage using sims is that we have to completely forget about testing the sensors in the different parts of the vehicle. iRacing offers all this in a simple way.
What do I need?
iRacing: The sim that we will be using in our case. Installed and configured correctly.
Mu Exporter: A little software that will allow us to convert our extracted telemetry files into iRacing to be used in MoTeC.
MoTeC’s i2 data analysis software has been developed over a number of years with valuable input from professional race teams worldwide. It delivers an extensive package of powerful analysis tools and innovative data management features, whilst maintaining a simple and intuitive user interface.
Note: Data Analysis -> i2 Pro version (64 or 32 bits)
How can I record telemetry?
To save telemetry in a session, we will first need to enter a session, whether in test, practice or career. Once we are inside the vehicle, we must press ALT-L.
We must look at a new widget that will be activated below the display box. While the indicator is active, all the information will be recorded in a file that we will examine later. In the case where you wish not to record any telemetry, pressing ALT-L again will stop.
Note: It is advisable to deactivate this option and only use it at the necessary times, since otherwise we will occupy disk space.
Where do I find the data?
The files you have saved in your session will be in the following folder:
C:\Users\User\Documents\iRacing\Telemetry\
When you have a few files, it is important to sort them by date, it is the best way to see the last ones and organize them in some way.
The name’s file is composed as follows:
Car -> Track -> Date -> Extension
Installing MU Exporter
Once we have located our files in the folder, it’s time to use MU Exporter. This program will allow us to import these files into MoTeC, converting them into another extension so they can be analyzed.
To do this, we will open the program and select the folder where the files are located.
C:\Users\User\Documents\iRacing\Telemetry\
When the conversion is completed (automatically), our files will be ready to be imported into MoTeC.
How can I import the files into MoTec?
The first time we open the software we will have to create a new workspace. In this first article we will focus only on importing the data we have recorded to verify that they are displayed correctly.
To do this, we will click on Create a new Workspace and select Circuit profile, then we will choose the name for our workbook.
Once we have finished, we will see different empty graphs, to verify that our data is displayed correctly we will click on File-> Open Log File and we will select our data that will be located in the default folder mentioned above.
C:\Users\User\Documents\iRacing\Telemetry\
Finally we will see that the data is displayed correctly:
Join a team
Joining a team is an important step if we decide to take it a little seriously, as it can guarantee to speed up our evolution as drivers and satisfy the need to share knowledge.
Not to mention the satisfaction that comes from sharing our favourite hobby, feeling supported by a group of friends and competing for oneself and for these is priceless.
Setup
It is one of the most repeated questions throughout all the seasons and practices. What setup do you use? Where did you get it? Do you share it?
The eternal search for that setup that makes us the reincarnation of Senna, Schumacher or Alonso and that makes us go down two seconds per lap magically.
Today, we bring you a compilation of the best setups resources for iRacing.
Virtual Racing School
Setups week by week, video laps with telemetry, olaps and blap laps from the best drivers on iRacing.
There is the possibility of having a comparison with your teammates according to the type of account you have. There is also the possibility of having interactive classes with specialized coaches in each car.
The most common packages are for €4.99 and €9.99 per month.
Example:
Pure Driving School
Setups by Maxilimian Benecke, Gianni Vecchio, etc. Available to all those who believe it is necessary to make an investment in their training through coaching classes in the most advanced way. .
Services like videos, phantom laps, olaps and blaps, telemetries, times, references, etc. One of the things I like the most is being able to launch the same test session where the time was made from the PDS page.
The packages are divided into 2, basic and professional, which differ in access to only one vehicle or to all, and the prices per month range from € 5.90 to € 9.90.
Craig Setup Shop
A more informal way to access setups directly. Craig A. Williams is the engineer for G2 and other great teams like CORE or Apex that occasionally use setups from this site as a base.
The good thing about this option is that it is possible to have it for free if you are members of Amazon Prime, since it includes a free subscription to Twitch Prime, which is what it takes to enjoy the service in the most economical way, without spending a euro. If you do not have an Amazon account, you can sign up through this link or consider paying for any of the two subscription packages from $ 5 a month to 50 annually.
See you on the track!
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You forgot to mention ‘iSpeed’ telemetry collection and HUD app and it’s companion app ‘Lap Analyzer’.
This simple tool allows anyone to review their lap inputs (accel/brake/racing line) and superimpose the laps of anyone in the session (especially the fastest people) to see where there are areas for improvement.
I’ve found that most time can be found in paying specific attention to braking zones before the turn to get the optimal line, allowing us to get back on the accelerator faster.
Thanks!
Yes, I will write about braking techniques and racing lines in future articles.
I’ve read various articles about getting faster and driving styles and there is one thing that is overlooked is what people are using to race with.
For instance, is a driver who is starting out with say a logitech g920 set up going to be able to be within 1-2 seconds a lap of a person whom has a dd wheel and load cells?
I’ve never seen anywhere what the differences and results would be if that is the case and would be intrigued to find out.
It’s not overlooked, it is secondary. Many aliens have become aliens with Logitech G29 and G27. A DD “only” gets you more realism, immersion and confidence, but the talent and the times can be done with almost any device.