GPL Foolishness

Learning a track

A motley fool ponders the track maps

Introduction
The walk
The novice trainer
Your brakes have failed
The race ladder
Remembering the details
Glossary

Introduction

If you are reading this, then you have large frontal lobes. When we humans use them, we realise that sometimes, if we defer taking a small reward now, we can gain a greater reward later.

Learning a track requires frontal lobes.

I'm sure that a lot of patience is lost with GPL because it's relatively easy to slide off the track while you're learning it. In Real Life, you don't learn a track by climbing in your race car and trying to go round it as fast as possible from your first lap.

In Real Life, you start by walking round the track. (Okay, so Michael Schumacher has been seen on a bicycle, but the point is the same.) At each corner, you stop, wander around and note the following:

Note the basic geometry of the corner, especially if the radius increases or decreases;
Find the geometric apex (GA - the geometric middle of the corner) and then take a guess at the clipping point (CP). To get a better drive out of the corner, the CP will typically be after the GA. However, the CP will certainly be after the GA if the road on the exit of the corner is narrower (e.g. umm...), and likewise the CP may be before the GA if the road on the exit is wider (e.g. the Parabolica at Monza);
You must find a brake marker for the start of each braking area. This is usually a sign or object by the track, or a change in kerbing or tarmac texture. You may also need a turn-in marker, a clipping point marker and, for really complex corners, one or more navigation markers to keep you on line (when you take these corners for real, you are going to be in a big hurry, possibly with reduced visibility and surrounded by other cars);
Changes in camber and banking have a surprisingly large effect upon a car, and will always work for or against you. Work out how the camber and banking will affect the car at each corner; if it is working with you it could shorten the braking area and/or let you turn in with more speed (e.g. Silverstone/Copse and Silverstone/Stowe have some helpful camber at the apex - like mini carousels - that can be used to 'surf' around the corner);
Different types of surface have different coefficient of grip, so look for worn or repaired strips around the corners that you could use or avoid. Look for bumps in the tarmac that could unsettle a finely balanced car;
The rule of thumb is that you are going to use a kerb (put your inside wheels on it) unless you have a reason not to. Check the inside kerb of each corner for height; if it is too high, using it will unsettle or even damage your suspension.

Each of these things will contribute to the line that you will eventually take through the corner. They are a lot easier and quicker to study while you are standing quietly on the track, rather than hurtling along on the limit of grip!

GPL does not let you do a track walk, which is a shame - I think it would make a great feature. (Even better would be the ability to place markers at the turn-in and clipping points of each corner.) Instead, you have to drive around in first gear, doing frequent loops and three-point turns while you look around. Go off the road and look at the track, using both the in-cockpit and the F10/'Nintendo' viewpoint. Try doing some laps going the wrong way.

If corners have names, learn them. This not only helps you remember the track and give it character, but also makes it easier to talk about the track afterwards.

Only when you know your way around well enough to be able to close your eyes and imagine a journey round the track - every corner and straight - should you go to the pits and hop in your car, when the learning process starts all over again from a different perspective...

Part two: the novice trainer

You've done your track walk, and you can close your eyes and 'see' every corner on the track. Do you leap into the F1 car and start blasting round? No way. If you're anything like me, you'd just spin at every other corner and finally give up in frustration after 10 minutes. That's 10 minutes wasted.

OK then, do you leap into the F1 car and drive around slowly? Again, no way. We are racing driver wannabes, not Sunday drivers. We are incapable of driving slowly in an F1 car. No matter how restrained we try to be, no matter how good our intentions, the temptation to use that horsepower is too great. Result: more wasted time.

Novice trainer to the rescue! Swallow your pride, make sure nobody is looking (shoo the pets out of the room, lock the door, turn your mother's picture to the wall), and get into the F3 car. Your mission - should you choose to accept it - is to turn laps until you have found The Line. Take this time to experiment: make sure, for every corner, you have tried an early, middle and late apex. Keep a vague eye on the lap times, but don't worry about them. Just stay on the track.

You'll know when you've found a good line, because your lap times will stabilize. For example, when learning Brands Hatch, I lapped in the F3 until I could do ten consecutive laps under two minutes.

Part three: your brakes have failed

Now it's time to get in the F1 car, but with a catch: you must not use the brakes.

(I know, I know, I've skipped the F2/Advanced Trainer. They are brilliant for racing, but don't teach you enough about the track to pay you back for the time, IMHO.)

I find that most of the spins that occur while learning a track in GPL occur under braking. You know the routine; you misjudge a corner, hit the brakes too hard and too late: straw bale. On the other hand, if you don't have any brakes, you learn anticipation. It's a Graham Hill thing - the car he learnt to drive in had no brakes.

Secondly, with no brakes, you learn to use the sideways motion of the car to scrub off speed in the corners, which is an essential skill to acquire.

So, without touching the brakes, turn laps again until your times stabilize. I'm often surprized just how fast the lap times can be, for example 1:40 at Brands Hatch is quite possible - if you don't mind holding your breath through Paddock Bend.

Part four: the race ladder

The final part of learning a track, for me, is to learn it under race conditions. I think this is the most time-efficient way to learn a track; racing keeps your interest while you put in the miles, you learn how to drive the off-line parts of the track, and you get to hone your racing skills.

Enter a novice race with as many AI opponents as your hardware can handle, and start at the back of the grid by skipping qualifying. Drive the race. Then race again, but this time eliminate the opponents that you beat in the previous race. For example, if you started 20th, and finished 12th, then reduce the number of AI opponents for your next race from 19 to 11. Start the next race at the back, in 12th. (Version 1.0 of GPL was better for this; GPL 1.1 retains some slow AI drivers when you reduce the size of the field. You can revert to the original behaviour by copying driver.ini from your original CD to your \SIERRA\GPL folder.)

Eventually, you'll get down to the minimum number - five - of AI opponents. The races get a bit more serious now, so optionally allow yourself the luxury of qualifying if you don't want to start from 6th place all the time.

When you win the novice race at a particular track, then that's it - you've graduated. Go to VROC and have fun (or, better yet, do the same again with Intermediate Short races).

Part five: remembering the details

There will usually be several ways of taking each corner, or several techniques that can be used to take it. Early/middle/late apex, trail-brake, four-wheel-drift and so on. For each corner of each track, it helps to keep a note of the approach used. This helps you to remember the track when revisiting it, but also makes you be consciously aware of the lines you are using. For example, my track notes for Kyalami are:

Kyalami

So little grip here that you can revert to a wet weather corner entry style: don't even think about going late 'n deep, instead brake early and turn in early (cutting inside the racing line), scrubbing speed off sideways. The safest overtaking place is to go inside the AI on the entry to Sunset; they enter this corner really slowly, and by the time you're past them, you're back on their line and blocking them.

Crowthorne A longer corner than first appears. After the tires have warmed up (2 laps) brake so late that you have to trail brake. Brake 'diagonally' across the track to the apex, decreasing the radius as you slow. Take a late apex; CP = TAP.

Barbeque Approach and bend are more downhill than appears from the cockpit. You hardly turn in here; rather, just let the car fall sideways down the hill.

Jukskei Sweep Ride on the kerb at TIP; lots of kerb at GA (keep outside tires on the track, but only just); brush kerb at exit.

Sunset Scrub to inside RL, CP, continue scrubbing to outside of RL as steering angle increases, to TAP, then drift out to the left as you apply power and unwind the steering wheel.

Clubhouse Don't use the full width of road to the right before turning in, it takes too much out of the car to get across and back. Brake early and scrub (uphill) to GA=CP.

Esses 1 Scrub to GA/CP.

Esses 2 Get steering rotated early and use the suspension compression to add more throttle.

Leeukop (entry) Scrub (uphill) to inside of RL, stay on RL for remainder (i.e. no late or double apex).

Leeukop (exit) Squeeze power on and unwind steering wheel synchronously.

Kyalami
So little grip here that you can revert to a wet weather corner entry style: don't even think about going late 'n deep, instead brake early and turn in early (cutting inside the racing line), scrubbing speed off sideways. The safest overtaking place is to go inside the AI on the entry to Sunset; they enter this corner really slowly, and by the time you're past them, you're back on their line and blocking them.
Crowthorne	A longer corner than first appears. After the tires have warmed up (2 laps) brake so late that you have to trail brake. Brake 'diagonally' across the track to the apex, decreasing the radius as you slow. Take a late apex; CP = TAP.
Barbeque	Approach and bend are more downhill than appears from the cockpit. You hardly turn in here; rather, just let the car fall sideways down the hill.
Jukskei Sweep	Ride on the kerb at TIP; lots of kerb at GA (keep outside tires on the track, but only just); brush kerb at exit.
Sunset	Scrub to inside RL, CP, continue scrubbing to outside of RL as steering angle increases, to TAP, then drift out to the left as you apply power and unwind the steering wheel.
Clubhouse	Don't use the full width of road to the right before turning in, it takes too much out of the car to get across and back. Brake early and scrub (uphill) to GA=CP.
Esses 1	Scrub to GA/CP.
Esses 2	Get steering rotated early and use the suspension compression to add more throttle.
Leeukop (entry)	Scrub (uphill) to inside of RL, stay on RL for remainder (i.e. no late or double apex).
Leeukop (exit)	Squeeze power on and unwind steering wheel synchronously.

Glossary

BP: Braking point
CP: Clipping point
GA: Geometric apex
RL: Racing line - the dark groove in the track
Scrub: Turn in early with little or no braking - usually cutting inside the RL - and use sideways motion of car to scrub off speed. What you do when learning a track with no brakes
TAP: Throttle application point
TIP: Turn in point