Posts by Coach Dave

The mental element of racing is the most underappreciated element while also being the most impactful. At the end of the day, the mental state of the driver affects the decisions that make the difference between a good result and a bad one. Yet developing the mental game is not something that’s regularly spoken about.

In this module, we are going to break down key areas you need to look at when analysing how a car feels and how that feeling is affected by setup. This is fundamental to your driving in the simulator, as how you interpret the car’s behaviour and the setup choices you make will directly affect your lap time. So without further ado, let’s get started. 

The ultimate goal of improving your lap times at the end of the day is to use all available grip of the tyres as often as possible. That means that at every point in a corner, you want to be close to losing grip on both the front and rear tyres at the same time. In the case of understeer, there will be a surplus of grip on the rear end of the car that could have been used.

In this module we will cover the basic of consistency when out on track, how you can maximise your practice time and what to focus on.

When it comes to learning a track, it’s vital that, as a driver, you have a strategy planned out. Preparation is key; it’s not good enough to drive off instinct, as it will take you much longer to accomplish your goals of being consistently fast.

In this module, we will look at the importance of changing our driving techniques for different corner types. To do this, we need to understand what corner sequencing is.

In this module we will cover the fundamentals of throttle technique, how it impacts car behaviour and how the you have to adapt based on the cars you drive.

In this module, we’ll talk about how we can understand and control the platform (and I use this word specifically because it gives you a better idea of the whole thing than fronts vs rears) to achieve faster lap times. We want to be able to induce more or less rotation, using different tools (more or less steering, more or less engine braking, more or less trail braking, etc.) to keep the car balanced and, at the same time, using 100% of the grip.

In this module we will cover the fundamentals of braking, how it impacts car behaviour and how the techniques change based on the cars you drive.

In this module, we will cover different racing lines that will increase the tools in your driving toolbox. Even a simple hairpin can have different racing lines depending on the car you are using. This module will teach you the different options you have, no matter the conventional shape of the corner.

The lessons in this module form the foundation of this entire course. As drivers, we can only control when we brake and when we turn the steering wheel; everything that follows is a consequence of these two initial inputs.