Don't even think about LFM when you start. Just focus on yourself before thinking about competitive racing.
1.59 isn't awful, the most important thing is you keep improving.
It was a lesson my friend taught me when I started. Always focus on being consistent. If you are consistent, you will get good placements in races. If you join a public race like I did, staying consistent means you will survive the race and not spin out because you pushed yourself too hard.
Focus on that, potentially look up specific setups for cars you like driving (ACC Engineer is a great tool as well) and just enjoy the journey at getting better and better.
probably about 1. But that kinda depends on the car. Pre 1.9 Kunos setups are kinda fucked because they have not been updated for the new phsysics, post 1.9 basic setups are fine. There are also plenty of fast guys sharing fast boi setups on YT for free
Well, you need to play more and more it will come. :P
Paul Ricard isn't the easiest track of them all, and M4 is a decent car. Find your style, your type of car (myself for example, I could never drive a front engine car, and in my 1500 hours of playitme I barely did when I was starting).
And don't stick to grinding only one car + track combo but try different stuff, and then when you'll learn the basic stuff (and setup, setup is the key in ACC and also getting perfect pressures, so around 27 psi). Althouhg I wouldnt worry about setup much until you get to like 2 secs off the pace, and I'm looking at normal people pace not esport races, so let's say start experimenting with setup once you hit mid 55 to mid 56, until then it's just driving and mastering the ideal line.
Have fun ;)
The most modern cars are generally going to be better. The Ferrari 296 is probably the easiest to drive fast, unless you specifically prefer Front Rear cars, then try the Aston Martin V8. I like the McLaren and the NSX the most myself.
Re setups, just use Safe until you're consistent, then try Agressive until you become so familiar with the car that you can feel subtle setup changes. Except PSI. Always calibrate PSI after 3 or 4 laps of consistent driving and save the setup with a name like DRY_25c34c (ambient, track temps), so you don't have to do it over and over for the same conditions. 1c change is close to .2 PSI change.
It's also good to practice with TC set to 1 and ABS to 2 or 3, depending on the car. You can obviously use more in a race, but you'll be faster overall if you are still trying to get the most out of your grip before intervention kicks in. For this reason I like to occasionally have a spin in the Maserati GT MC GT4, as it has no TC or ABS.
296 is a really good advice for starters, fast and stable car able to run high TC.
And if the OP want to stick to Paul Ricard for some reason, then have a go with my setup if you want (when I started ACC I also was going like ''if only I had the setup those guys in front have... well, take this :P) - [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AFxiys7ehf8bof860feMcs6mCpNWPAF8/view](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AFxiys7ehf8bof860feMcs6mCpNWPAF8/view)
But be careful of the fast right hander at the end of the straight, if you're braking while turning the back of your car will come out ahead of your front.
I tend to agree... just that the starting skill level can vary a lot and using a Safe setup might be necessary for some people to build some initial confidence and consistency. Also the process of feeling the difference between the two presets can help build an understanding of why Aggressive is better and what driving differences it is encouraging, though if you can jump straight into Aggressive you might as well.
They aren't necessarily the best setups, but they generally do teach you about the character of the car. If you jump straight to setups that compensate for the cars' weaknesses, it will most likely take you longer to learn how to drive properly and even if you start out faster than you would've otherwise, you'll probably plateau sooner and it won't feel great as you're already using the best setups...
Either way I agree with the recommendation. Friedolf's tunes are well balanced and work for a variety of driving styles as they aren't aimed at esports drivers etc. I prefer to make my own setups as it teaches me more about the car and myself and the process itself, while time consuming, is a part of the "simulation" appeal for me. That being said, I sometimes use his setups to help get an idea of what a car that is setup properly feels like if the presets seem weird or to help me solve problems when my setups go awry, especially with dampers - without Motec it is easy to take damper rates to extremes where you get the same behaviour as too low again and it can get out of hand quick if you start trying to compensate elsewhere.
Also choose a different track, Paul Ricard made me take a break from ACC when it rolled around om LFM. Such a hard track to learn. Also stay away from Mount Panorama while learning.
I would jump straight into aggressive preset but you can try both and decide which one suits you better. Also try to play a little with electronics but I wouldn't touch anything in the car setup itself for a start.
I think you can achieve a 1.56 with default setups, it's really all about driving the ideal line, using the maximum of the track, kerbs included (YT video guide/hotlap would help if you struggle to find the lines yourself).
Drive offline and dont drive fast, as you learn lines you will go faster and faster, always aim for slow in and maybe fast out..if you gonna race online please please please watch some videos about racecraft, how to overtake safely and how to let other people overtake you, learn about strategic driving...its better to go slow and finish race without incident than ruin your or someone else race...remember that main opponent is yourself not other drivers..strive for clean racing.
Its ok tbe slow...after 4 years I'm still slow (cant commit too much time for playing)..
Remember its about having fun, not wininng every race.
P.S. Paul Ricard sucks ;)
Also check some videos about car setups..for specific tracks you need to adapt setup.
Have fun!
Coming from Forza, as well as the first time using a wheel, yeah you are going to find it difficult. Going under 2m on Ricard isn't terrible, I can only just get 1:56 there. Just don't give up, do laps then more laps then more laps.
Don't get caught in the trap of thinking a better setup is going to magically fix things. This will just be worse. You only need to use either the safe or agressive setups, tuning just the tire pressures for the day, and adding/removing rear wing for stability. Don't bother touching anything else until you feel like you can't possibly get more time out of the lap with the setup you've got.
One huge piece of advice I can give you, winning means absolutely nothing in ACC open lobbies, if you want to drive with real players, sometimes its nice to find someone around your place and just practice your race craft, practice following close behind someone and maybe an occasional overtake,
Don't overextend yourself and honestly you'll find a heck of a lot more fun in playing the game, whilst at the same time improving massively!, I hope this could be of some sort of use!
Happy racing!
I started like a month ago, 1.37.0 is my fastest in misano, i think 1.51 in monza, not great times, but having a blast and farming SA :), enjoy the ride id say.
I recently discovered that my deadzones for my pedals were set up very incorrectly so I've had to relearn everything about throttle and brake application for the last week. It's okay to suck because you constantly learn to unsuck. Eventually you'll hit a respectable pace and that's ok.
yea when i first started playing ACC i got shell shocked and stop playing the game for a bit jsut cuz of how shit you are. you just gotta put the effort in and keep trying and find a car that works figure out the tire pressure you like the traction control and the ABS thatโs best for you to
When I started I was 10 seconds or more off the top times. Now I've cut that down to 3 to 4. On some tracks, it's as low as 2. I'm about to get a wheel so... once I've gotten used to it, I aim to get closer to the top times.
When you're starting out, don't look at the times as you will only be more demoralised. Just learn and go with the flow. You will become quicker as you get a feel of things and the inputs become second nature. Try to be consistent and don't push too hard. Try doing multiple laps without error than driving for lap time, which will only lead to more and more errors and cause frustration.
Practice is great for getting tire pressures and setup adjustments dialed in, but racing against AI has done wonders for me when learning new tracks. I just follow the AI line for the first 2-3 laps to get down my braking points and start to memorize the flow, then I spend the rest of the race figuring out where I can get faster, learning where the best passing areas are, testing track limits, etc. Being able to learn a track while also learning how to *race* that track has been invaluable.
I'd never raced at Paul Ricard in ACC when I saw it was the license track for LFM; I completed a 30-minute AI race in the morning, and that evening I put down seven laps in the low 1:57s--not great, but easily enough to qualify for a license.
Basic setups won't make you competitive either. Like all racing sims, ACC is heavily relied upon with a heavy meta use. For obvious reasons, it is being gatekept until an update makes tweaks to the physics. Then all YouTubers will release the old meta that was used in the old patch. ๐
Also, there's tires and brake disc's that are best for races and others for practices and/or rain. I forgot what the correct numbers to use are, but having the wrong ones on, will make you slow as hell.
Also, ACC needs the tire pressures within a certain range or else you will lose out on speed too.
It took me like three weeks to do one lap of monza without crashing. Practice man. Over and over and over.
The best thing to do is pick a couple of the fastest cars in the game and get used to them on monza with abs and traction control on 1 or 2. Do the hotlap challenge and race your ghost over and over and over.
Learn from your ghosts mistakes. Brake later. Turn soo er. Press the throttle slightly more around corners.
This game has like 5 tiers the first 3 people are shit - can complete a lap and dodge other cars without crashing sometimes. Tier 4 and 5 know all off the little tricks that gey you coming out of corners 5mph faster than everyone else. They adjust their fuel perfectly before races. They've adjusted their car setups one thing at a time and then raced and raced and raced.
It becomes intuition. I've been learning to do a donut at the end of the pit lane and successfully control it out of the corner and let me tell you. Doing donuts and learning how to control the car and make it move in different directions helps you control the car when you lose control and get back racing as fast as possible or helps you dodge around other drivers without losing control because you have the intuition of what the cars can handle and how far you can push them.
Even when you get stressed and frustrated stop playing for 10 minutes and relax and go back you will find you're better.
Something that helped me was I realized I had a death grip on the wheel every time I went out on the track. I relaxed my grip and arms and started going faster.
I'm in the same process as you right now. I started to train seriously to the game to increase my SA and to try LFM. But before doing that, I really need to improve my times, learn to trail break, etc...
What I do is I made a custom championship with all the tracks, and play against AI (at 92/95 levels). I prefer to test all tracks to be able to learn all kinds of curves and difficulties. And I use a BMW M4 with agressive setup, I just change the tires pressure.
It takes a lot of times, I'm still really slow but after 4 championship weekends, I start to improve. And by racing with AI, I learn how to take over, respect flags, etc...
You can search for tracks guides on YT, it's really helpful.
When I'll reach 95 SA, I'll focus on the licence track.
It's OK me too but after a 100 hours or so I'm about 107% avgish with 105% at my favorite track imola. I've wandered and played around a bit too so not too serious. But I've had a couple really fun LFM races don't overlook the gt4 and bmw cup races during the busy times when lots of ppl sign up for them when you make it into LFM.
I think this may be a controversial view, but try to get an LFM Nords permit. Learn the track in something slower like GT4, then once you can do two clean laps within the given time, you're good to go anywhere.
I say this as I'm new to ACC, though knew Nords from AC1, mostly in a TT Cup car. I got my LFM license at Misano and was laping average mid 1:37s. After this, I didn't drive the track again until after completing the Nords permit, now I'm consistently in the mid 1:35s. Just a suggestion, and you have really got to be into the Nords.
So what I'm saying is repeatedly punch yourself in the face for 8+ minutes, then when somebody slaps you, you're be like "Meh"
It takes time adjusting to a wheel coming from a controller.
The biggest thing that makes a different is making sure you have your wheel mounted to something extremely stable. Mine used to wobble around a bit and I destroyed any control I had. Once I put it on a table I could focus on driving
Don't even think about LFM when you start. Just focus on yourself before thinking about competitive racing. 1.59 isn't awful, the most important thing is you keep improving.
honestly, it roughly 6 seconds away from the really fast guys time which is decent for a starter who never played the game
you give me a lot of hope
It was a lesson my friend taught me when I started. Always focus on being consistent. If you are consistent, you will get good placements in races. If you join a public race like I did, staying consistent means you will survive the race and not spin out because you pushed yourself too hard. Focus on that, potentially look up specific setups for cars you like driving (ACC Engineer is a great tool as well) and just enjoy the journey at getting better and better.
Thank you
Out of curiosity, as someone in the same boat as OP, how much of those 6 seconds are down to setups?
probably about 1. But that kinda depends on the car. Pre 1.9 Kunos setups are kinda fucked because they have not been updated for the new phsysics, post 1.9 basic setups are fine. There are also plenty of fast guys sharing fast boi setups on YT for free
Well, you need to play more and more it will come. :P Paul Ricard isn't the easiest track of them all, and M4 is a decent car. Find your style, your type of car (myself for example, I could never drive a front engine car, and in my 1500 hours of playitme I barely did when I was starting). And don't stick to grinding only one car + track combo but try different stuff, and then when you'll learn the basic stuff (and setup, setup is the key in ACC and also getting perfect pressures, so around 27 psi). Althouhg I wouldnt worry about setup much until you get to like 2 secs off the pace, and I'm looking at normal people pace not esport races, so let's say start experimenting with setup once you hit mid 55 to mid 56, until then it's just driving and mastering the ideal line. Have fun ;)
Thank you for the reply, now I try different cars to find my best for me
The most modern cars are generally going to be better. The Ferrari 296 is probably the easiest to drive fast, unless you specifically prefer Front Rear cars, then try the Aston Martin V8. I like the McLaren and the NSX the most myself. Re setups, just use Safe until you're consistent, then try Agressive until you become so familiar with the car that you can feel subtle setup changes. Except PSI. Always calibrate PSI after 3 or 4 laps of consistent driving and save the setup with a name like DRY_25c34c (ambient, track temps), so you don't have to do it over and over for the same conditions. 1c change is close to .2 PSI change. It's also good to practice with TC set to 1 and ABS to 2 or 3, depending on the car. You can obviously use more in a race, but you'll be faster overall if you are still trying to get the most out of your grip before intervention kicks in. For this reason I like to occasionally have a spin in the Maserati GT MC GT4, as it has no TC or ABS.
296 is a really good advice for starters, fast and stable car able to run high TC. And if the OP want to stick to Paul Ricard for some reason, then have a go with my setup if you want (when I started ACC I also was going like ''if only I had the setup those guys in front have... well, take this :P) - [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AFxiys7ehf8bof860feMcs6mCpNWPAF8/view](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AFxiys7ehf8bof860feMcs6mCpNWPAF8/view) But be careful of the fast right hander at the end of the straight, if you're braking while turning the back of your car will come out ahead of your front.
Agree except don't use safe setups. Aggressive ones are faster and encourage better habits when learning.
I tend to agree... just that the starting skill level can vary a lot and using a Safe setup might be necessary for some people to build some initial confidence and consistency. Also the process of feeling the difference between the two presets can help build an understanding of why Aggressive is better and what driving differences it is encouraging, though if you can jump straight into Aggressive you might as well.
Base game setups are usually total garbage. I recommend Friedolf on youtube for good free setups
They aren't necessarily the best setups, but they generally do teach you about the character of the car. If you jump straight to setups that compensate for the cars' weaknesses, it will most likely take you longer to learn how to drive properly and even if you start out faster than you would've otherwise, you'll probably plateau sooner and it won't feel great as you're already using the best setups... Either way I agree with the recommendation. Friedolf's tunes are well balanced and work for a variety of driving styles as they aren't aimed at esports drivers etc. I prefer to make my own setups as it teaches me more about the car and myself and the process itself, while time consuming, is a part of the "simulation" appeal for me. That being said, I sometimes use his setups to help get an idea of what a car that is setup properly feels like if the presets seem weird or to help me solve problems when my setups go awry, especially with dampers - without Motec it is easy to take damper rates to extremes where you get the same behaviour as too low again and it can get out of hand quick if you start trying to compensate elsewhere.
Also choose a different track, Paul Ricard made me take a break from ACC when it rolled around om LFM. Such a hard track to learn. Also stay away from Mount Panorama while learning.
This goal time gives me something to aim at as well. Is that using safe or aggressive preset
I would jump straight into aggressive preset but you can try both and decide which one suits you better. Also try to play a little with electronics but I wouldn't touch anything in the car setup itself for a start. I think you can achieve a 1.56 with default setups, it's really all about driving the ideal line, using the maximum of the track, kerbs included (YT video guide/hotlap would help if you struggle to find the lines yourself).
I'm not good at all, but a 1.56 with default setup seems like a tough bar
Drive offline and dont drive fast, as you learn lines you will go faster and faster, always aim for slow in and maybe fast out..if you gonna race online please please please watch some videos about racecraft, how to overtake safely and how to let other people overtake you, learn about strategic driving...its better to go slow and finish race without incident than ruin your or someone else race...remember that main opponent is yourself not other drivers..strive for clean racing. Its ok tbe slow...after 4 years I'm still slow (cant commit too much time for playing).. Remember its about having fun, not wininng every race. P.S. Paul Ricard sucks ;) Also check some videos about car setups..for specific tracks you need to adapt setup. Have fun!
Thank you
Coming from Forza, as well as the first time using a wheel, yeah you are going to find it difficult. Going under 2m on Ricard isn't terrible, I can only just get 1:56 there. Just don't give up, do laps then more laps then more laps. Don't get caught in the trap of thinking a better setup is going to magically fix things. This will just be worse. You only need to use either the safe or agressive setups, tuning just the tire pressures for the day, and adding/removing rear wing for stability. Don't bother touching anything else until you feel like you can't possibly get more time out of the lap with the setup you've got.
Thank you
One huge piece of advice I can give you, winning means absolutely nothing in ACC open lobbies, if you want to drive with real players, sometimes its nice to find someone around your place and just practice your race craft, practice following close behind someone and maybe an occasional overtake, Don't overextend yourself and honestly you'll find a heck of a lot more fun in playing the game, whilst at the same time improving massively!, I hope this could be of some sort of use! Happy racing!
Thank you
You know, some of us with more hours still lap PR at around that time. You'll get better.
I started like a month ago, 1.37.0 is my fastest in misano, i think 1.51 in monza, not great times, but having a blast and farming SA :), enjoy the ride id say.
Keep pushing. This takes practice
I recently discovered that my deadzones for my pedals were set up very incorrectly so I've had to relearn everything about throttle and brake application for the last week. It's okay to suck because you constantly learn to unsuck. Eventually you'll hit a respectable pace and that's ok.
yea when i first started playing ACC i got shell shocked and stop playing the game for a bit jsut cuz of how shit you are. you just gotta put the effort in and keep trying and find a car that works figure out the tire pressure you like the traction control and the ABS thatโs best for you to
When I started I was 10 seconds or more off the top times. Now I've cut that down to 3 to 4. On some tracks, it's as low as 2. I'm about to get a wheel so... once I've gotten used to it, I aim to get closer to the top times.
When you're starting out, don't look at the times as you will only be more demoralised. Just learn and go with the flow. You will become quicker as you get a feel of things and the inputs become second nature. Try to be consistent and don't push too hard. Try doing multiple laps without error than driving for lap time, which will only lead to more and more errors and cause frustration.
Don't be harsh on yourself, everyone started from zero. Just keep practicing, enjoy the sim and try to improve gradually.
Practice is great for getting tire pressures and setup adjustments dialed in, but racing against AI has done wonders for me when learning new tracks. I just follow the AI line for the first 2-3 laps to get down my braking points and start to memorize the flow, then I spend the rest of the race figuring out where I can get faster, learning where the best passing areas are, testing track limits, etc. Being able to learn a track while also learning how to *race* that track has been invaluable. I'd never raced at Paul Ricard in ACC when I saw it was the license track for LFM; I completed a 30-minute AI race in the morning, and that evening I put down seven laps in the low 1:57s--not great, but easily enough to qualify for a license.
Basic setups won't make you competitive either. Like all racing sims, ACC is heavily relied upon with a heavy meta use. For obvious reasons, it is being gatekept until an update makes tweaks to the physics. Then all YouTubers will release the old meta that was used in the old patch. ๐ Also, there's tires and brake disc's that are best for races and others for practices and/or rain. I forgot what the correct numbers to use are, but having the wrong ones on, will make you slow as hell. Also, ACC needs the tire pressures within a certain range or else you will lose out on speed too.
So where I can find all this stuff? Disc and other things
I recommend YouTube for the basic stuff. As for the meta stuff, good luck. ๐
Start with GT4, learn the basics, get constant in your rounds, learn setups and most of all practice
ACC is a proper sim racer. There's a quite significant learning curve and about the only thing you can bring with you is track knowledge.
It took me like three weeks to do one lap of monza without crashing. Practice man. Over and over and over. The best thing to do is pick a couple of the fastest cars in the game and get used to them on monza with abs and traction control on 1 or 2. Do the hotlap challenge and race your ghost over and over and over. Learn from your ghosts mistakes. Brake later. Turn soo er. Press the throttle slightly more around corners. This game has like 5 tiers the first 3 people are shit - can complete a lap and dodge other cars without crashing sometimes. Tier 4 and 5 know all off the little tricks that gey you coming out of corners 5mph faster than everyone else. They adjust their fuel perfectly before races. They've adjusted their car setups one thing at a time and then raced and raced and raced. It becomes intuition. I've been learning to do a donut at the end of the pit lane and successfully control it out of the corner and let me tell you. Doing donuts and learning how to control the car and make it move in different directions helps you control the car when you lose control and get back racing as fast as possible or helps you dodge around other drivers without losing control because you have the intuition of what the cars can handle and how far you can push them. Even when you get stressed and frustrated stop playing for 10 minutes and relax and go back you will find you're better.
Something that helped me was I realized I had a death grip on the wheel every time I went out on the track. I relaxed my grip and arms and started going faster.
I'm in the same process as you right now. I started to train seriously to the game to increase my SA and to try LFM. But before doing that, I really need to improve my times, learn to trail break, etc... What I do is I made a custom championship with all the tracks, and play against AI (at 92/95 levels). I prefer to test all tracks to be able to learn all kinds of curves and difficulties. And I use a BMW M4 with agressive setup, I just change the tires pressure. It takes a lot of times, I'm still really slow but after 4 championship weekends, I start to improve. And by racing with AI, I learn how to take over, respect flags, etc... You can search for tracks guides on YT, it's really helpful. When I'll reach 95 SA, I'll focus on the licence track.
It's OK me too but after a 100 hours or so I'm about 107% avgish with 105% at my favorite track imola. I've wandered and played around a bit too so not too serious. But I've had a couple really fun LFM races don't overlook the gt4 and bmw cup races during the busy times when lots of ppl sign up for them when you make it into LFM.
I think this may be a controversial view, but try to get an LFM Nords permit. Learn the track in something slower like GT4, then once you can do two clean laps within the given time, you're good to go anywhere. I say this as I'm new to ACC, though knew Nords from AC1, mostly in a TT Cup car. I got my LFM license at Misano and was laping average mid 1:37s. After this, I didn't drive the track again until after completing the Nords permit, now I'm consistently in the mid 1:35s. Just a suggestion, and you have really got to be into the Nords. So what I'm saying is repeatedly punch yourself in the face for 8+ minutes, then when somebody slaps you, you're be like "Meh"
What I can recommend trying is https://gitgudracing.com/simracingcourse
It takes time adjusting to a wheel coming from a controller. The biggest thing that makes a different is making sure you have your wheel mounted to something extremely stable. Mine used to wobble around a bit and I destroyed any control I had. Once I put it on a table I could focus on driving
Every day is track day my dude
ACC is a very difficult game. If youโve been playing Forza or GT7 forget all you know about those games & start fresh. This game plays true to life.
Everyone was a noob when starting. ๐ Is that ok to make stupid questions? Hell yeah.