Off to the ring for the first time this year. Can anyone suggest a good PS3 driving game with the ring circuit to get a feel for the sequence of bends?
Need to learn the ring: PS3 suggestions
- Thread starter Eurohooner
- Start date
I have to agree with ksher .... i'm planning a ring trip for summer this year ... to learn the track i actually got my PS2 out of the loft, set up my Logitec Pro Wheel and went round the ring in a Z4 ... just managed a smidge under 9 mins! Its a great tool to learn the track 
Just remember in real life there is no restart button!
Just remember in real life there is no restart button!hello
have any of you taken a 2.0i to the ring? Ifso, what was it like? i think that my zed (a 2.0i) goes very well, but i would love some feedback from someone who has taken their 2,0i to the ring!
i seen those packege deals on the net for £800.00
has anyone been on one of these and what was it like?
thank you all in advance
have any of you taken a 2.0i to the ring? Ifso, what was it like? i think that my zed (a 2.0i) goes very well, but i would love some feedback from someone who has taken their 2,0i to the ring!
i seen those packege deals on the net for £800.00
has anyone been on one of these and what was it like?
thank you all in advance
Liverpool
I'd advise NOT trying to learn the track from a game.
All it will do is give you confidence, and you don't want to be confident on your first visit there - timid, scared, apprehensive are all much better states to be in than confident.
There is a saying that after 500 laps you begin to feel you know the place, and it's the 501st lap that kills you or the car
The game cannot give you the sense of deflation that you get from experiencing a 60bhp Fiat Panda barrelling past you on some braking zone and shooting off into the distance whilst you've got your foot buried trying to catch up
All it will do is give you confidence, and you don't want to be confident on your first visit there - timid, scared, apprehensive are all much better states to be in than confident.
There is a saying that after 500 laps you begin to feel you know the place, and it's the 501st lap that kills you or the car
The game cannot give you the sense of deflation that you get from experiencing a 60bhp Fiat Panda barrelling past you on some braking zone and shooting off into the distance whilst you've got your foot buried trying to catch up
mmm-five said:I'd advise NOT trying to learn the track from a game.
All it will do is give you confidence, and you don't want to be confident on your first visit there - timid, scared, apprehensive are all much better states to be in than confident.
There is a saying that after 500 laps you begin to feel you know the place, and it's the 501st lap that kills you or the car
The game cannot give you the sense of deflation that you get from experiencing a 60bhp Fiat Panda barrelling past you on some braking zone and shooting off into the distance whilst you've got your foot buried trying to catch up
X2
Clarkson tried to do the exact same thing on one of the top gear episodes and he said it was totally different, etc...
I have GT prologue and looks like will need to wait for the full release.
I take your point about false confidence but I do think an overview of a track is helpful. Re. being humbled by 60hp Fiats is nothing to being humbled by your 7 and 10 year old sons on Dirt 2 and GT prologue and I'm pretty used to that :? .
I take your point about false confidence but I do think an overview of a track is helpful. Re. being humbled by 60hp Fiats is nothing to being humbled by your 7 and 10 year old sons on Dirt 2 and GT prologue and I'm pretty used to that :? .
If it were any other circuit, then I'd agree that a couple of hours learning the track would be useful, or as useful as a circuit guide (which I also have).
Videos are slightly more helpful, except for the fact thet they're single POV and you don't see where the driver is looking, only where the camera is pointing. So you are not necessarily seeing what the driver is responding to.
However the Nordshleife is not a circuit you can learn in that way - even if you do spend a whole week learning the corners, as there's much more to it than the corners:
Good luck if you think you can remember all the corners are a few hours on a console - although remember that insuring a Z4 for the 'Ring will cost £200-£300 per day (for £15000-£25000 of cover respectively), and then you've got the cost of the armco at £100/metre, track closure at £1000/hour, recovery at £300, and any 3rd party costs you incur from taking out any innocent parties with your accident.
Yes, your UK insurance has to cover your 3rd party liability as legally required on the 'Ring, but their T&Cs will state they can and will do their utmost to recover it all back from you.
Don't even think of trying to get away with getting your car towed 10km away and telling your insurance company that it happened there, because a police report is made for every crash and the insurance companies do check this.
I'm really not trying to piss on anyone's parade and I'd encourage anyone to try the 'Ring at least once in their lifetime, but I'd urge caution and urge you drive it your first time 'blind' as you would an new-to-you country B road (with the exception of having only one-way traffic).
Videos are slightly more helpful, except for the fact thet they're single POV and you don't see where the driver is looking, only where the camera is pointing. So you are not necessarily seeing what the driver is responding to.
However the Nordshleife is not a circuit you can learn in that way - even if you do spend a whole week learning the corners, as there's much more to it than the corners:
- negative camber corners
- positive camber corners
- low kerbs
- high kerbs
- bumps
- slippery surface
- keep right rule
- locals in track-prepped Golfs
- locals in race-prepped GT3-RSs
- weekend warriors with rent-a-ring cars
- altitude changes
- ice
- snow
- fog
- mist
- wind
- leaves
- oil
- coolant
- cars facing the wrong way after their own accident
- etc...
Good luck if you think you can remember all the corners are a few hours on a console - although remember that insuring a Z4 for the 'Ring will cost £200-£300 per day (for £15000-£25000 of cover respectively), and then you've got the cost of the armco at £100/metre, track closure at £1000/hour, recovery at £300, and any 3rd party costs you incur from taking out any innocent parties with your accident.
Yes, your UK insurance has to cover your 3rd party liability as legally required on the 'Ring, but their T&Cs will state they can and will do their utmost to recover it all back from you.
Don't even think of trying to get away with getting your car towed 10km away and telling your insurance company that it happened there, because a police report is made for every crash and the insurance companies do check this.
I'm really not trying to piss on anyone's parade and I'd encourage anyone to try the 'Ring at least once in their lifetime, but I'd urge caution and urge you drive it your first time 'blind' as you would an new-to-you country B road (with the exception of having only one-way traffic).
Sorry - I really don't get how driving it blind makes it safer. Any knowledge is better than none - it is better to know where the track is basically heading, as it may be that one less thing that allows you to see the biker in your rear view mirror that you may otherwise miss.
As I said - drive within your abilities, treat it as a road and not a track. Even the roads I know like the back of my hand I drive carefully as you NEVER know what is round the corner. Thats the key.
As I said - drive within your abilities, treat it as a road and not a track. Even the roads I know like the back of my hand I drive carefully as you NEVER know what is round the corner. Thats the key.
csmith319 said:
So what would you suggest for a person going to a track that's not on youtube or a console, or a country road that they've never driven before. Should they simply not go, or physically stop at each corner, get out and survey the bend before continuing? I'm not suggesting either of those and would expect any normal driver to read the road as they drive it and take extra care on their first couple of trips.
The reason for driving it blind the first time, is so that you don't assume you know what's coming next and you use your eyes/body to tell you what's coming/happening as you would if you were driving on a new piece of fast B-road in Wales/Scotland/Yorkshire, etc.
This also means that you'll likely be driving much slower than you would if you'd just done the first corner at 100mph in the same car on GT5 / PGR4 / FM3.
I'm guessing that you don't physically stop at every corner on a country road to see what's coming (which would be the safest method), and would you at the 'Ring as there's rarely anything coming the other way.
But if you go to the 'Ring with the thought that 'I know this corner, it's very quick' then end up on the wrong part of the corner, or have had to move over to let something past just before the corner, or find the video/game doesn't convey the size of the bump mid-corner, you'll very quickly find out how much more difficult it is to get back on line to take the corner at any speed at all.
There is no need to practice before hand as your fist laps can be as slow as you want, although I'd suggest you keep it above 30mph for the sake of the tourist coaches trying to overtake you.
And for all our sakes, don't be tempted to try to follow that roll-caged, sticky-tyred, local-driven hot hatch, as even a foot difference in braking/corner entry/apex/exit can ruin your day.
Remember, real life does not have a reset button, and I reserve the right to stick my tongue out and say 'I told you so' when someone has an accident - which strangely happens quite a lot at the 'Ring (I wonder why?).