Sim Racing Journey

Since turning off the ideal driving line and stability control, I haven't missed it - I did struggle for a little bit without stability control, but it didn't take long to adjust. I've pretty much been driving the Porsche - with a short break trying out the Lamborghini and Audi - it sounds like the Porsche can be difficult to drive, with it being easy to spin - and I've certainly suffered from that. Next was to move on from Rookie mode to "Expert" - this reduces some of the assists and increases the realism. I've also been nearly exclusively racing with the Aggressive preset - which appears to be different across tracks. What helps is to map keys to the increase/decrease traction control - so that you can up the traction control a little bit when its hard to not lose the back end. Whats great since I started about 7 months ago is that somethings that were hard/frustrating are now becoming more fun: Navigating chicanes or hairpin corners - used to slow down

Six months into my journey, and I've gone for the second upgrade - Thrustmaster T-LCM Pedals. I've read often about how important the pedals are, this had to be the next choice.  Up to now I've been using the T3PA pedals (with canonical rubber modification installed) that came with the Thrustmaster T300 steering wheel. These were entry level potentiometer pedals.  Load cell pedals aren't linear like the potentiometers - which is supposed to give you a better feeling leading to better braking.  Note, these pedals cost over half of what I paid for the steering wheel. But the next upgrade - I think - is going to have to be a PC. This will by far be the biggest upgrade, most likely more than 4 times what I paid for the steering wheel - but from what I've heard, the PC is the place to be from an options (plugins) and performance (can you get the same laptimes on PS4 that you can on PC? I don't know!)

I've been thinking for a while about turning off the ideal racing line assist. It's been very useful for learning new tracks, but I think its time. And, while I'm at it I'll turn off stability control.  With that done, its time to head to the track and see if it has any significant negative effect. After doing approximately 40 practice laps at Barcelona in the Lamborghini, I think it's okay. No big problems. This lap is 1m52.071s - and is around what I'd usually do. According to the game stats I have at one point done a 1m50s lap in the Lamborghini before, but I don't think thats the norm. 

I got my Thrustmaster T300 steering wheel on 29 July 2021 — only just over 2 months ago — but I felt the need to upgrade to a proper cockpit — a great option for COVID lockdown. The wobbly table worked and was fun, but it just wasn’t doing it justice. Looking around there are many options at all different price points — but I finally settled on the GTOmega Titan with RS6 seat . And it ROCKS! Having the steering wheel and pedal firmly secured makes all the difference — I can fully stomp on the brakes now which makes a huge difference, and with no movement in the steering wheel everything becomes a lot smoother. Still, there are plenty of upgrades to be had in the future — I won’t be rushing into any of these, but over the next couple of years perhaps, maybe…? Monitor stand so I can bring the screen closer and set the Field of View correctly. Load cell pedals Buttkicker Gamer 2 for more immersion (I’m not sure how to attach it to the GTOmega Titan yet). Computer for more flexibility, po

ACC has been my racing sim of choice for the last couple of weeks. I’ve started the career mode and participated in the first 3 tracks: Brands Hatch Misano World Circuit Hungaroring Next stop is Nurburgring, but after completing the above tracks — which we all new to me — I’ve decided to try to get to know the next track before I start the session. Not something that is necessary, but knowing the corners makes it more interesting and competitive. The best thing is that I’m now able to have fun in races against the AI — I’m no longer getting tangled up in the first corner and crashing out early. Now I’m actually able to battle, overtake (sometimes with questionable technique but getting better), and if I get a good start then perhaps take the podium (racing in rookie mode at the moment). I still haven’t started playing with the car setup, but I’m planning to compare “safe” setup with “aggressive” setup both from a hotlap and race perspective. I’ve also got to check out my ThrustMaster T

A couple of weekends ago the Playstation Store had a sale on and I grabbed Assetto Corsa Competizione for half price. I’ve been playing AC Ultimate Edition up until now, but I thought it was worth seeing what ACC was like. It actually has a very different feel to it than Ultimate Edition, but its hard to put into words. I’m definitely not sure if I’ve got the Thrustmaster 300 set up correctly, but I’ll try tweaking it over time and see. I’m giving career mode a go at the moment, and although I have no idea what I’m doing, I’m having fun. I think I’m slowly getting better at practice laps but when it comes to racing the AI it’s a bit of a melee. Career mode started off with a Lamborgini at Monza, and after doing some laps in different conditions (dry, wet, night), you get to choose a car and then start doing some events at different tracks which consist of: practice laps qualifier 1 qualifier 2 race 1 race 2 You can adjust the settings, to change the duration of a session, but I left i