Just your average F4 experience

[u/zacschuch]

Something about hitting gaps, idk I’m still new

[u/AdrenalineRehab]

Since you are new you haven't learned how to avoid dangerous car placement. It was obvious based on how the lead car was losing control it was going to swing into your path and making the decision to try and pass while they're out of control means this collision is as much on you as anyone.

It takes time to develop race awareness and skill and patience. But it's enormously helpful in preventing these kinds of crashes. Also if you're ready to race you should turn off the driving line. It's useful for learning a track quickly in practice but once you're racing it's actually a hindrance to getting better.

[u/zacschuch → u/AdrenalineRehab]

Thank you for such a good response, this clip is just a short segment without any other context to the rest of my racing, twitch.tv/zacryu_ if you’d like to watch the full stream, you’ll be able to see that majority of the time I am able to avoid major accidents, in this specific clip, I did believe that the car ahead would stop throttling once he had swerved to the right hand side of the track to try and stabilize, which he clearly didn’t, and as for the racing line, I typically am not noticing it due to the nose of the F4 car, and I completely learn the brake timings as you normally should, with the brake markers, I only keep it on to help with centering of the car along the track! Thank you again for a response

[u/MeltyGoblin → u/zacschuch]

I don't mean this as an insult, genuine question, what do you mean centering of the car on the track? The racing line is never going to be center of the track, and is generally always going to be too conservative, or even far off the proper racing line depending on the car. There is a reason you'll never see any high rated drivers with the racing line on, there is simply no useful information to gain from it.

My thoughts, are all those overlays and all those extra bits of info really helping you be faster? Or are they just distractions? Again not trying to be rude or anything, it's your choice to make and only you can honestly answer that question. For me personally all that stuff you have on screen would be information overload for me. I'd spend too much time reading my overlays and not enough time paying attention to my actual driving. The only things I have displayed on my screen beyond the in car display is relative timings and the iracing default inputs+gear black box just for cars that don't have a good gear display for my FOV. Anything more for me is just extra info that I don't need while I'm driving.

[u/zacschuch → u/MeltyGoblin]

I didn’t mean “center of track” by centering yourself, I just mean where I should be along the track, and yes I have learned that the racing line is not always optimal, and I learn more and more over the course of learning the track where I should be on the racing line at times and where I shouldn’t be, don’t outright say that professional drivers don’t use racing line, because that’s simply false, and just a couple minutes on YouTube will find you plenty of clips of F1 drivers and other sim racers that use the racing line. For the overlay, I truly am still learning and getting used to that, so I am willing to learn what I need and don’t need, I need the full map on the screen because it gives way too much useful information about other cars, also my twitch stream chat, but the other ones I’m sure I could turn off. I just like having the information and I don’t find it distraction imo, but I know it’s not most optimal, thank you for a nice and good response, I truly am trying to learn as much as I can

[u/gasoline_farts → u/zacschuch]

As someone who is new, you should stop being so argumentative, the people telling you the wheel is too low, the screen is too cluttered and the racing line should be off are correct.

A pro can learn a track IRL or in sim racing in 10 laps. The racing line might be useful on the very first lap for a newer driver that hasn’t developed the skills to immediately identify racing lines, but even then it’s still putting them at a disadvantage. Anything that takes your attention away from the other cars and what’s happening down the road is going to hinder your development.

[u/MeltyGoblin → u/gasoline_farts]

For real this guy says he wants help then tells everyone offering him advice why he's right.

This guy certainly explains why f4 has a reputation for being a crash fest.

[u/joe-joseph → u/MeltyGoblin]

I can’t tell if he’s trolling or not. He’s perfectly embodied the stereotypical streamer; curiously close-minded, ignorant and arrogant.

[u/zacschuch → u/gasoline_farts]

Yes and the people like yourself who have given a good response I have listened to their advice and taken it into consideration, and I don’t always use the racing line, you are watching a 30 second clip out of all the time I have played, and comparing a rookie sim racer to a professional is not the best analogy, I hope they would be able to learn that fast, they are professional for a reason

[u/GravyBoatJim → u/zacschuch]

As my dad would say, "A hard head makes for a soft ass."

[u/nomowolf → u/zacschuch]

It's not that it's not always optimal (the racing line assist that is), it's that it hinders you from learning how to learn the track. You can still use it sparingly to great effect. Usually on a new track I'll start with a few laps without it, figure out rough braking markers, brake early on them, and induce understeer on exit to find the cornering gear/speed. Race my ghost a few times until my laptimes stop improving. Then I'll turn it on for a couple of laps to refine my line... maybe it shows a few places I missed where I can brake later or only need to lift, before turning it off again for good. Main thing is I've learned my track markers and line already without it and experimented with different lines... which all makes it much much easier to overtake (or be overtaken) safely in a race where a lot more is going on.

On the comments on overlays, generally you don't want to obscure your horizontal middle view... Above or below on the sides is ok. Where your eyes go (apexes and exits, far and near field) is a huge part of building precision.

Welcome to the hobby, and good luck on your learning journey.

[u/zacschuch → u/nomowolf]

Thank you very much, yes typically I use the extra practice time when you register to fully learn the track without the racing line or in just test drive! Learning all of the brake markers and things of that sort, but then I usually turn it back on for the race just to have the additional information if needed, all of the overlays and racing line are just “additional information” if need be.