Guide: How to get better at Racing Games

[Dosaidon_17]

Hello everyone,

 

I am Dosaidon, a Math and IT teacher from Germany, and recently I got asked very frequently how to get better at a particular Racing Game. There are two reason why I am posting this here:

 

1. Often times I will give you the same answer and I feel like it is getting redundant
2. You see my PSNProfile at the fastest achiever list on this website

 

So because I’m a teacher in real life, I not only trying to give you some advise, I will also give you some explanation and additional info regarding certain topics. I will also highlight some text in blue color, so that you and my students always know: That is the important info and you can take your own notes for that if you wish.

 

The sections now I want to cover sorted from very important to minor things that also might help you are:

 

1. The reason why you are slow young Padawan: Assists
2. Choose the color of your lightsaber: The ideal racing line
3. May the G-Force be with you: Braking Uphill/Downhill
4. The dark site of the force track: Racing in wet conditions
5. Do not let your vision get deceived Jedi: Controller vs Steering Wheel
6. Sithlord “Time Trial Mode” and his apprentice “Darth Online Setups”

 

“Now it’s lights out and away we go!”

 

1. The reason why you are slow young Padawan: Assists

 

Before you start any Racing Game: Turn off Braking Assist. Braking Assist is the worst invention mankind has ever programmed as it effectively hinders you playing the game. It slows you down too much, you brake way too early and even if you hit the throttle, the Braking Assist does not let you accelerate.

 

Then, even if you knew that and you are still to slow and you are seconds away from achieving Gold Time, here are the real reason why assists slow you down:

 

1a. TC (Traction Control) + ABS (Antilock Braking System)

1b. Manual Gear Shifting/Transmission

 

1a.

TC and ABS help you not losing control over your car primarily while cornering or general steering in wet conditions. However, these two assists are the reason why you are slow. TC activates when you are about to lose control over your car because of Understeering/Oversteering, accelerating too early out of a corner or what seemingly only a few people knew: TC also kicks in during the start of a Grand Prix when you have to much Wheel-spin. If you hammer down the throttle pedal before the lights go out and you have TC on, you will most likely lose some positions at the start. But be careful: If you now turn off TC completely I am over 90% certain you will not make it out of turn 1 alive. Most modern racing games have implemented steps on how you can reduce the level of TC from full - medium - low - off so just reduce the TC by one step and try it out. I you feel confidant enough you can go one step lower, do so.

 

ABS on the other hand is a bit different. ABS is good thing and almost every road car has it for a good reason: Imagine you are hitting the brake pedal but nothing happens. That is bad. The ABS also helps while driving on a wet surface and counteracts to aquaplaning. While it is does not have a huge impact on your speed in a racing car in comparison to TC, it is still a factor you might want to consider turning off. But I, myself, sometimes turn it on or simply leave it on for the whole game and only disable it, if I feel like I need to.

 

1b.

Manual Transmission vs. Automatic Transmission or in other words: Europe vs. USA

 

There are many articles found on the internet that are trying to explain why Manual Transmission is better and if we go one step even further beyond: Why the Metric Measurement System is better than the Imperial.

Source 1: https://blog.getmyparking.com/2020/01/20/why-does-europe-prefer-manual-cars-over-automatic-ones/

Source 2: https://ukma.org.uk/press/reasons-to-metricate/

Source 3: https://www.houseofmaths.co.uk/2017/01/which-is-better-metric-or-imperial/

 

I do not want to start a discussion in this thread, nor do I want to offend anyone. It all boils down to two arguments from my point of view: Precision and better control over the car. If you are old enough to be able to drive a car but you have only driven a car in Real Life with Automatic Transmission so far, I promise, you will have a hard time learning how to do so. If you have played a Formula 1 game or Project CARS before, there is always that one trophy that forces you to use Manual Transmission and win with it. You probably achieved that trophy while always staying in 3rd or 4th gear most of the time. That is not how you drive a car, son.

 

So why is Manual Transmission better than Automatic Transmission in Racing games?

 

At first let me give you a brief rundown of how Automatic Transmission works in a videogame. If you have some basic knowledge about programming, it will be a little bit easier to understand. The basic premise is this:

 

if(car.speed >= 100 && car.speed <= 149) setGear(2);

if(car.speed >= 150 && car.speed <= 199) setGear(3);

.

.

.

if(car.speed < 0) setGear(Reverse); // or 0 because of conventions

 

What I try to explain with this line of pseudo-code is: The game does not know what is the best gear. The game simply follows a pattern in which between certain speed thresholds the game puts you on a certain gear.

 

Pros: While accelerating, it is actually mostly fine

Cons: While breaking, absolute disaster.

 

The reason for that is: The game puts you on the wrong gear resulting in losing speed through each and every corner. Also while you brake, the downshifting is kinda like this.

 

Gear down . . . . . . Gear down . . . . . Gear down

 

Manual Gear Shifting is like:

 

Click-Click-Click in a quick succession plus the gear you want to be in —> More Precision and better control over your car.

This also has another advantage: Since you are in lower gear more quickly, the engine / power unit also helps with braking. Staying in higher gears pushes the car forward coming from the rear. You may notice this in Real Life if you are driving slowly, like 30 kph / 20 mph but you are still in 4th gear. Your car accelerates on its own which it does less the lower the current gear is. Racing games of the “Simulation” genre have implemented that into their games which means: You brake faster and more efficiently if you manually shift down the gears.

 

When it comes to binding two buttons on your controller for shifting up and down, use buttons you can access with your right thumb. I am pretty sure, you are not using that finger aside from activating DRS or having a boost button, but certainly not all 4 buttons. The reason why you should not use L1/R1 is, you only concentrate on accelerating and braking with the shoulder buttons L2/R2. It is at least my setup. The downside of this is fat-fingering the wrong button, but that happens to the best (me).

Concluding with this chapter, I know there are more assists for you in a game. But TC, ABS and Transmission are the ones that count the most. The basic premise is: The less assists you use, the faster you are, if you can handle the car of course. And if you just started a game and want to play through carrier mode, just use Automatic Transmission to get used to the physics of the game.

 

 

    2. Choose the color of your lightsaber: The ideal racing line

 

Your lightsaber comes in three different colors, provided you are not colorblind:

 

Green/Blue indicating you are on par with the speed or (if I want to be mean) you are too slow.

Yellow indicating the so called “Breaking Area”

Red indicating you are too fast (but is that really true?)

 

If you are new to Racing games or you do not know the track, simply turn it on. The ideal racing line is not your enemy but if you rely too much on it, it can become your enemy and thus the reason why you are losing time on track.

 

First of all: Use the ideal racing line to study the track and learn where to position your car. The only real downside is the spot where to break. Personally when I was stuck on a Time Trial I turned off the ideal racing line or ignored it and searched for braking points other than the yellow area.

 

Next to the track, there are often signs indicating that next corner comes in 200-150-100-50 meters and somewhere in-between is the ideal braking point. Often times Racing Drivers look for something else like a sign, markers on the ground or a tree next to the track to figure out the best possible spot for breaking. Real Life Racing Drivers do not have a trajectory of the ideal racing line during a race, but you can use it to figure out a better breaking area than the indicated yellow area by the trajectory.

 

While I am not recommending to turn the ideal racing line off, it can help you to do so. Because then you learn the track even more immersive and figuring out the breaking points by yourself will make you a better Racing Driver.

 

Conclusion: If you can’t pass the Time Trial, do not rely too much on the ideal racing line.

 

 

    3. May the G-Force be with you: Braking Uphill/Downhill

 

Braking Uphill or Downhill is different compared to braking on even terrain. While I personally think, this should be basic knowledge, you might sometimes forget that resulting in you making a mistake. The other reason I make this a separate section is in connection with the ideal racing line. The ideal racing line is most of the time false when braking uphill/downhill.

 

The easy part: Uphill

 

You might know from Real Life, that walking up a hill, riding a bike and accelerating a car uphill is more difficult. The simple answer to this “phenomenon” is called gravity. The steeper the hill the more gravity is in effect. The flatter the hill the less is its effect. When racing on a flat track, gravity is not much of an issue.

 

When you brake uphill, for example turn 1 on the Circuit of the America, Austin, Texas, USA, you can brake later than you think. The reason for this is the ideal racing line often thinks you are on a flat track and does not consider braking uphill or downhill. This means, if a game uses for example the Unreal Engine, you can pretty much expect that the physics of gravity are in effect in a videogame. Take this knowledge for your advantage and use the G-Force for braking later uphill.

 

The hard part: Downhill

 

The same gravity rules do apply when accelerating or braking uphill. Again a Real Life example is, that walking down the hill is easier, while riding a bike or driving a car, you do not necessarily need to accelerate of your own in order to gain some speed. That is cool and all, but when it comes to racing and quickly making the turns on the downhill section of a track and especially braking downhill, it becomes very difficult.

Examples for difficult sections on racing tracks are:

 

• Eau Rogue and Sector 2 of Spa Francorchamps, Belgium
• Turn 1 of Portimao, Algarve, Portugal
• Turns 11 - 19 of Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, Australia

 

When braking downhill, expect your car to slide. To prevent this, refer to section 1 of this guide and use a lower gear. This is the most important tip that you should follow when you are going downhill. When you use a lower gear, you will have an easier job of controlling your car´s speed. Also, a low gear would initiate engine braking. It is best you shift into 3rd or 2nd gear immediately after reaching the braking area. By using this method, the engine should rev higher than usual. When that happens, do not be concerned as this is part of the engine braking. And lastly, if you use a clutch pedal, do not let go of it as depressing the clutch pedal while going downhill would cause the car to roll.

 

Conclusion: When braking uphill or downhill, do not rely on the ideal racing line and engage a lower gear as soon as possible. If you want to learn more about this topic, use the following link:

Source: https://www.yourdatadriven.com/how-hills-affect-racecar-braking-inc-trick-for-your-analysis/

 

 

    4. The dark site of the force track: Racing in wet conditions

 

Racing in the wet is one of the biggest challenges a driver will face. First you need to understand that using the normal dry racing line is often not the fastest way in the wet. In dry conditions the most rubber is often found on the racing line and rubber on rubber means you have the best grip. But the rain flushes away all the rubber that is on the track or if the rubber sticks to the track, it becomes more slippery. The result of that is: It can be faster to stay off the ideal racing line and therefore the rubber. However it is not that simple to just stay away from the slippery rubber.

 

With changes to the tracks surface all your knowledge about when to brake and turn needs to be changed. It becomes very difficult to get the perfect braking point on every corner on every lap. You will make up the most time on the breaks during the longer braking zones. Think of a long straight into a hairpin (like in Hockenheim, Germany). In these braking zones the normal racing line is to brake as late as possible on the outside of the track. But in the wet it is often better to do the majority of the braking three or more meters away from the outside of the track.

 

The reason for this is so you are on the grippy part of the track and can decelerate faster. When the braking phase is almost complete you move the car back to the outside of the track to open up the corner again making the angle of the racing line as wide as possible.

 

The downside is you have to turn for longer and travel a further distance around the outside of the corner. Getting a good exit out of each corner especially those with a long straight afterwards will have a huge benefit on your lap time.

 

Conclusion: Even though it is mathematically not the most efficient racing line, staying off the rubber and straighten your exit out of the corner is faster in the wet. If you want further inside on this topic check out the links below:

Source 1: https://nasaspeed.news/columns/driver-instruction/racing-in-the-wet-is-not-as-scary-as-you-think-and-its-a-great-way-to-improve-your-driving/

Source 2: https://physicsofformula1.wordpress.com/in-the-wet/

 

 

    5. Do not let your vision get deceived Jedi: Controller vs Steering Wheel

 

Are you using a Controller? LOL NOOB! Jokes aside. There are a lot of debates found on the internet wether a Steering Wheel is better or not. The general consensus is that racing with a Controller is much harder than with a Steering Wheel. Controller-User are generally slower and more likely to make mistakes.

Source: https://the-race.com/gaming/the-controller-v-wheel-debate-which-is-better-for-sim-racers/

 

Or to keep it in terms of trophy hunting: Can you even achieve the platinum trophy in Gran Turismo or Asseto Corsa with just a Controller?

 

WELL, OF COURSE YOU CAN! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE! JUST DO IT! This is a forum that is primarily directed towards the Playstation systems and if you used a Playstation Controller for the last 10 years or even longer, I have no doubt you can pass the challenge without a Steering Wheel. And to give you a little bit of hope: I have never possessed a Steering Wheel for gaming. Neither do I possess an Arcade Stick for Fighting Games. Investing a good amount of money (well over a 3-digit amount) it is just not worth it. It is all a mental thing you have to overcome and simply ignore it.

 

Racing games for consoles are made for controllers in mind as every Playstation owner has a Playstation controller, but not every Playstation owner has a Steering Wheel. Let that sink in. Also other trophy hunters, like myself, have achieved platinum trophy or even 100% in a Racing game using a controller. And if I, a teacher, can do it, you can do it as well.

 

 

    6. Sithlord “Time Trial Mode” and his apprentice “Darth Online Setups”

 

Probably the most difficult challenge in a Racing game on your way to platinum trophy is the Time Trial Mode. A mode, where you need to pass under a certain lap time in order to achieve a gold medal or something similar. This is the mode because of which you are probably here and reading this text. The way I want to approach this last section is by helping you tackle the challenge. As this guide is directed towards many different racing games and all of them behave somewhat differently, I support you with the following topics:

 

6a. Online Setups

6b. Your heart rate and your brain processing power —> Reaction time

6c. Your mind setup

6d. Performance > Graphics (PS4Pro and PS5 only)

6e. The best track to learn and practice

 

6a.

Setups found on the internet via a Google search let you adjust your car so you can maneuver it better around the track. But now I am asking you a serious question: Do even know what are you adjusting and what does it bring to you? Can you answer these questions:

 

• What is a negative camber angle?
• Why are you reducing the ride height?
• What is the meaning of a final gear ratio?
• What does it bring you to reduce the brake bias differential by 5% rearwards?

 

If you are blindly coping from someone else, you will not pass the test. You might find yourself in a car, that is not balanced anymore. You got too much oversteer or the setup is simply not aggressive enough. Setups posted online suits the person who is writing it, but you do not know that drivers driving style and, (this is now where I play my trap card) you do not know how many assists he or she is using. And additionally the setup was used on a Steering Wheel and not on a controller. You have to factor all these things in when you search online.

 

However, even if the setup does not suit you 100%, it is still better to use it compared to the default settings. At least you have done your homework instead of doing nothing, I guess.

This is really all I can talk about setups at this point. I am not going to explain every single option you have in the setup menu. If you really interested and want to know more about setting up a car in general and not in a particular game, here are some sources for you to read:

Source 1: http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/set_up.html

Source 2: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-do-you-set-up-an-f1-car-and-other-racing-machines-4982141/4982141/

 

6b.

Increasing your heart rate is often referred to as a bad thing, especially the older a human is. However, when you practice in a gym or on a personal training device or simply run a certain distance, your heart rate also increases. Dark Souls players also report on an increase in their heart rate when fighting a boss. But when it comes to Time Trial Mode in a Racing game, the “fear” of losing or making a mistake also increases your heart rate.

 

So is it a bad thing? Yes and no …

Yes, because if the rate rate stays up for too long, you can get blood pressure problems and your body starts to “overheat”, letting you sweat.

No, because for a short period of time, an increase in your heart rate is neither life threatening nor do you need any medical treatment.

Source: https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/aa53422

 

What it does cause however is an increase in your brain processing power and thus, your reaction time. If you find yourself in danger, your brain starts to “overclock” for a brief moment so that even one single second might feel like an eternity. These moments are also the ones we remember the best, like near death experiences or the first kiss in our life (because we have an increased heart rate at that moment). And having a better reaction time is helpful for tackling Time Trial Mode.

Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2019.00710/full

 

How to increase your heart rate?

 

Eating and Drinking

Source: https://www.pbmchealth.org/news-events/blog/why-your-heart-pounds-fast-after-eating

Listening to fast paced music with high BPM values (beats per minute)

Source 1: https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/tuning-in-how-music-may-affect-your-heart

Source 2: https://www.cardiosmart.org/news/2015/10/music-boosts-heart-health

 

6c.

Your mental health also factors in when it comes to a challenge like this. If you are saying to yourself: “I can never do this. How is it even remotely possible? Doesn´t the developer have any kind of quality assurance or did they just dumped that piece of garbage into Playstation Store without testing it before?”

 

I need to be harsh on this one: The endboss of Time Trial Mode in any Racing game is “you”. If you got spoiled by Sony exclusive games or games published by Square Enix or Ubisoft where you autopilot yourself through on the lowest difficulty and enjoy the checkpoint party even within boss fights and using guides provided by PowerPyx and his crew, these challenges are not forgiving and forces you to lean forward.

 

The right mind setup is:

• Accepting, that success on the first try is highly unlikely.
• Take a break (I know you do not want to hear this but it really helps)
• The longer you play, the less likely you are going to accomplish anything.
• Stay hydrated

 

Have you ever watched or shown at least interest in 24h races? Not a single racing driver drives the complete 24h by himself. There are often teams of 3 to 4 person who swap the drivers seat during a pit stop. That pitstop window is between 3 to 4 hours. That is the amount of time a racing driver can keep up is concentration on an acceptable level. These racing drivers are sports person and thus have a general healthy body and are well trained. When their maximum is reached after “only” 3 to 4 hours, the amount of time of us “normal” people is definitely lower. You might want to consider that when you are going for a Time Trial on Suzuka, Japan after playing for 6 hours. Expect failure.

 

6d.

When it comes to eSport you might have heard, that pro level players reduce their graphics setting in order to gain a better performing computer. The reason behind this is making room on your RAM and VRAM. Every frame our computer or console is rendering and updating, you need to figure out who the culprit is who causes the game to “lag”. You do not need to be a detective in order to find out who is causing this as the answer is pretty much known in the gaming community: Graphics and Resolution.

Source 1: https://www.avg.com/en/signal/9-ways-boost-gaming-rig

Source 2: https://www.wepc.com/tips/what-game-graphics-affect-performance/

 

The PS4Pro as well as the PS5 give you the ability to play between “Graphics”-mode and “Performance”-mode. It should not surprise you, when a I say, use the “Performance”-mode. It would be unfortunate, if you play on “Graphics”-mode which cause the game to lag and then one of your inputs does not get recognized.

 

6e.

Finally, if you want a good track to practice all of the tips and tricks given in this guide, the best track is Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. The same circuit Formula 1 uses for testing.

 

The track has:

 

• Two long straights to reach maximum speed.
• You are braking uphill and downhill
• Fast corners and slow corners.

 

Nico Rosberg, Formula 1 World Champion 2016, has provided a track guide for Barcelona in German and English, which will help you:

Source 1 (German): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baur8v6bmgw&t=186s&ab_channel=NicoRosbergDE

Source 2 (English): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYCGlAYoYt8&t=214s&ab_channel=NicoRosberg

 

 

    Final words

 

I hope this covers most of your questions you had and become the newest owner of a Racing game platinum trophy. If you have any questions, just raise your hand and then speak.

 

Maybe some users here on this website can share their experiences in Racing games as well as their experience with using a Steering Wheel, which I can not provide.

 

Have a wonderful day and happy trophy hunting,

 

Dosaidon

[NanaCheese94]

hot damn, I have no interest in Racing Games whatsoever but I'm super impressed by the time and effort you put into this guide anyways! An interesting read for sure!