Lord Blackadder said:
Now I'm going to have to fire up GT4 when I get home from work and see how fast I can do it in the M5 without crashing(
). The worst section for me is during the first third (I think), where there is a reasonably long straight that goes downhill, bends slightly left as the track rises, followed by a tight left, a right, slightly uphill then a hard left with a late apex in 2nd gear going immediately into a hard right. If I can get past that I'm good...sort of.
Yeah I know the sequence you mean, that threw me the first couple of times as well, it's an unconventional combination (as opposed to what you find on modern day race tracks)
Depending on the car, I've found it best to take the straight completely flat, as you go uphill take the car to the far right of the track (literally the edge), brake and shift down whilst in a straight line, in RWD cars I prefer to do a slight Scandinavian flick to upset the rear of the car, this will create slight oversteer into the fast left, but will also correct the understeer that I found that even RWD cars experience during that corner, as you catch the slide the car should sweep to the right of the track (balance the throttle, don't hoof it) but be on the racing line and should be already set up for the following right. e.g. after catching the slide, it should be pointing towards the left of the track ready for the next tighter right.
I think the following right depends on the car you're driving, if you've got a car with excellent lower speed torque then you can get away with taking the right in a higher gear (you'll lose time changing down) but in a car with less torque or a car that produces it's torque at higher RPM, then you need to change down to keep the engine in the range.
I've tried a couple of approaches to the following tight left and right... if you've got the car to take the previous right in a higher gear, you can get away with taking the following tight left in a higher gear as well, whilst you encounter a slightly slower exit speed, it also eradicates the need to change in the short spurt before the right, whilst it's probably no quicker, it means you've got a more settled and stable car to position for the last right... allowing you to focus on the exit of the corner.
The other approach I tried was to change down to 2nd for the tight left, but whether it's my entry/exit speed, but I always seem to ping off the limiter way before the braking point for the right, so I find myself in a position where if I change up, I'll lose time, but if I stay on the limiter then I lose time as well, whereas taking that sequence in a higher gear (should the car be capable of it) then I find that not only is it far smoother, but also quicker because of the higher entry and mid corner speeds.
Of course there's always the balls out banzai approach... heheh
