GeneRally International Forum

I'm part of the Generally community for 4 years and I've participated in numerous compos during those years. However I've noticed that my pace is way too slow from others. What am I doing wrong?

The are a few answers to your question:

-The 1st (and easiest) is, you're general to slow. But I don't think, that's at you the case (or at anybody here at GRIF).

-Maybe you're training to less. When you make your race without training, you'll be very slow. You need some training, until you know the track/car and than you'll be faster.


-You could also ask a few better drivers for hints. That could help you, too.

Also a proper (at least average) controller like in case of any other game, it's sometimes underestimated, because GR is often played on ancient machines with not very responsive keyboards.

I never thought about getting a controler for this...do they work in analogue mode with GR?

At least the steering can be analogue. I'm using my gamepad in digital mode though.

As for the original question, study other people's replays to see where you are slower and try training in the hotlap mode, the more the better.

TuomoH wrote:As for the original question, study other people's replays to see where you are slower and try training in the hotlap mode, the more the better.

I agree with TuomoH

And maybe try different several "driving-styles" and see which one is the fastest for you:
- no braking in curves
- braking and sliding through curvers
- full throttle all the time + braking in the curves

and of course: training, training, training

You are using arrows to drive, I have found that using left hand to accelerate/brake and right hand to turn left/right is much better.

kuba wrote:You are using arrows to drive, I have found that using left hand to accelerate/brake and right hand to turn left/right is much better.

I still using arrows i tried with left AND right hand
Results: Catastrophical driving

But you see Ivan, everybody has his own "driving style", some guys need more time to find the best one, some need less time

kuba wrote:You are using arrows to drive, I have found that using left hand to accelerate/brake and right hand to turn left/right is much better.

Recently, I've experimented with Z/X button layout for braking/accelaration (like in normal car the brake is on the left). At first it was difficult, but maybe I'll get used to it at later stage.

After some analysing my main problem is when taking slow speed corners. I don't use the brake that much

Never use the brake

I think driving style (aka driving line) is what matters the most. GR is obviously not a racing sim but i think having a sim background (or being a huge racing fan who understands driving techniques and line approach) helps even in an arcade game like this one. I like to use what is called as a late apex line, what it does is maximize exit speed by driving as straight as possible once you've hit the apex (there is no point in being 100% on the throttle facing a long straight but still having to use heavy direction imputs: you're no maximizing that car speed); that means you have to do the biggest amount of cornering early (while you're cruising -not on the gas, nor on the break-).

Of course you have to take into account the car you're using. I always drive this way because that's what i'm comfortable with but i've found a biggest advantage in sliding cars (WRC cars, some touring cars) than in super grippy cars (GRID Formula car) which makes sense since a Formula car is supposed to grip to the track without losing speed even if you have full lock on. You couldn't do that with the GRPL WRC car because your speed and flow trough corners would be s**t. It's no coincidence that i had more trouble winning in GRID than in WRC: you don't cruise on corner entry and/or lose speed on corner exit with the Formula car.

And yes, there are corners that can be done without breaking (or w/o getting off the gas) & turning as hard as you can and that still won't be as fast as getting off the gas early (before the apex) and having smaller turn imputs on corner exit (e.g. last corner at Phillip Island with the V8SC car).

I have no problem in sending my training tracks to some of you guys (no, i'm not sending them to the Alonsos of the GR-world! ) so you can open them with the track tool and study the line/imputs/speed i use.

Studying the replays also helps: For example i noticed a lot of the top guys at Pukehohe (@NAGRCA V8SC) attacked much more aggressively the chicane than me hence carrying more speed on corner entry while i opted for a tighter line on the right-hander to achieve a more straight-ish exit on the 2nd part of the chicane. That way i had more space in case i were to outbreak myself coming from the back straight to avoid the sunk tyre on the 2nd apex and/or wouldn't need to slide all over the exit kerb to keep the car on track. In fact i think i barely touch the exit kerb while some guys needed to put half the car on the grass.

If you have an hour to spare i'd recommend to watch this race (or at least watch from 53:30 on) to see a late-apex line (red & white car) versus a very early-apex line (blue car). Commentators do a good job explaining it too (listen carefully at 58:40 and at 1:00:10).

I use the arrow keys with my right hand and the space bar as the brake key with my left. Brake key is uselees in some compos (GRID, old FSS series, GRACO LeMans) while very useful in others (GRPL WRC) and moderately useful in a few (GRPL F1, V8SC)

One thing that you have to keep your eye on: keyboard keys locking. Due to nature of how most keyboards are built certain key combinations can be impossible. For example, if you want to press up, down and left simultaneously (when decelerating in corner without losing grip as with outright braking) one of the keys might not register. It happens mostly when the keys are grouped together, so you might be forced to change your setup if it happens to you. As someone suggested, AZ + left/right should be free of that problem.

Paw wrote:... one of the keys might not register. ...

Or even worse it can lock the keys.

E.g. my laptop keyboard does this: when I'm pressing a forward and right arrow keys at once AND press left one too, it "resets" both the left and right keys, so the car neither turns left nor keeps turning right but goes straight for a tenth of second. After the tenth it begins turning right again, but it's enough to ruin lap (in better case).