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Ten years ago I used an old version of Forza to learn Laguna Seca and it worked brilliantly.
I’ll be at COTA for the first time in April and would
like to learn the track beforehand. What racing games/simulators include COTA?
As long as the track is represented well it doesn’t have to have all the bells and whistles. In fact I find sometimes the bells and whistles are distracting. I tried one full motion simulator back when I was preparing for MRLS and I couldn’t even get out of the pits because the motion “simulation” did not feel anything like a real car. 😂 I’m sure they’ve improved a lot. But a home based game would probably be better so I can do a daily practice ahead of time.
__________________ -Peter Krause www.peterkrause.net www.gofasternow.com
"Combining the Art and Science of Driving Fast!"
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I thought about that as an option. But I am having difficulty figuring out if it would be good for my purpose — four weeks of practice at one track only.
It’s a little hard to tell how you get access to COTA since it’s not one of the free tracks included initially with a subscription. Is there a requirement that you “earn” it by racing for some period of time in iRacing? Or is it as simple as buying access to the track for an extra fee?
It’s also not clear I’d you race just that one track without having to complete a certain number of races in a season format? One thing I liked about the old version of Forza was you could just pick a track and run it all day long without having to run a season format.
It’s also not clear to me if you can race against AIs at COTA. From the FAQs it doesn’t look like the track is featured in the beta AI version. I’d prefer to be able to run against AIs who “know” the track as opposed to starting as a rookie and racing other rookies who don’t know the track. That adds an extra dimension of chaos not unlike passing inexperienced back markers in a real world race.
They can do lead/follow, analyze your data to tell you what you need to work on and get you FAR ahead of people who haven't done this.
This is one of the best ways to invest in coming up to speed on this track or any other.
For more study material for the sim and in real life, that you can download and review any time on multiple devices, there's Ross Bentley and my painstaking Virtual Track Walk of COTA, available here, second one down: https://speedsecrets.com/virtual-track-walks/
They can do lead/follow, analyze your data to tell you what you need to work on and get you FAR ahead of people who haven't done this.
This is one of the best ways to invest in coming up to speed on this track or any other.
For more study material for the sim and in real life, that you can download and review any time on multiple devices, there's Ross Bentley and my painstaking Virtual Track Walk of COTA, available here, second one down: https://speedsecrets.com/virtual-track-walks/
A few years ago, I used iRacing to prep for my first trip to COTA and it worked very well. The only downside was I used the GT3 or the Cup (can't remember) and crashed a whole lot. On my first day on track in real life, I was scared to death. I had crashed so many times online that I was just waiting for it happen IRL. But by day 2, I was having fun and on day 3, I was getting pretty close to the PCA record for my car's class. I definitely felt much more prepared for the track due to all of the time I spent on iRacing.
Unfortunately, 22 mins into the 4th session of day 3, one of my bleeder screws came open going into turn 11 at 114mph and I had no brakes. I put it into the barrier sideways at 43mph (according to my data) and I haven't made it back to iRacing or COTA since. Although hopefully, I'll get a chance to give both of them a try again this year.
This is spot on. I live in Austin and COTA is my home track. I coach here more than at any other track. iRacing will really help you get ramped up regarding track flow, elevation, visuals, and some of the camber nuances of COTA.
hit up @Jickel180 hes local and wheels his gt3 around COTA quite well... helped me tremendously my first time @ COTA back in our m3 days!
Dang, too kind my friend!
I'm happy to help do a lead/follow next event and share some Aim data (from my .1 w/ OEM Cup 2s or Dunlops) as well, but you can't beat having a real coach in your right seat like Veloce Raptor, Scott Dollahite, Cameron Lawrence, etc.
Honestly Forza would probably be good enough just to get some course memorization embedded into your brain. iRacing can be much better, but really depends on your rig setup...which can take a commitment to procure, setup, tune, etc.
This is spot on. I live in Austin and COTA is my home track. I coach here more than at any other track. iRacing will really help you get ramped up regarding track flow, elevation, visuals, and some of the camber nuances of COTA.
I'm a little south of Austin. I need to hire you one day. I'm comfortable in my Spec Miata...GT3, not so much.
I'm happy to help do a lead/follow next event and share some Aim data (from my .1 w/ OEM Cup 2s or Dunlops) as well, but you can't beat having a real coach in your right seat like Veloce Raptor, Scott Dollahite, Cameron Lawrence, etc.
Honestly Forza would probably be good enough just to get some course memorization embedded into your brain. iRacing can be much better, but really depends on your rig setup...which can take a commitment to procure, setup, tune, etc.
A few years ago, I used iRacing to prep for my first trip to COTA and it worked very well. The only downside was I used the
Unfortunately, 22 mins into the 4th session of day 3, one of my bleeder screws came open going into turn 11 at 114mph and I had no brakes. I put it into the barrier sideways at 43mph (according to my data) and I haven't made it back to iRacing or COTA since. Although hopefully, I'll get a chance to give both of them a try again this year.
Oh ****. Very sorry about that. I know how much that must have hurt.
02-20-2021, 02:53 PM
Racing game/simulator options for COTA
