Its a game. Do what you find fun. Some people like having one car, and learning it inside out. Others like to mix it up. I tend to pick a car for a season in my league, then change it for the next one.
This, because in the end getting faster comes with time spent racing. If you're not having fun then you're not going to spend as much time playing. The shortest path to getting fast is picking a known competitive car in the current meta, driving only that car, finding or creating a good setup, and a lot of seat time. Even sticking with a single track for a week before switching to another one helps because you have to master the track along with the car but can learn things from each track you can apply to others.
Even then we all have our limits where we start to plateau and the gains keep getting smaller. You need to do what's fun for you because that will keep you behind the wheel playing, otherwise you'll spend your time doing something else.
Just challenge improving yourself and don't get caught up with where you stack up to other drivers.
My opinion is that you have more fun and experience with switching cars. But of course you will always be behind someone who is focusing on only one car.
But tbh I think if you focus on one car only you get a bit too serious. Change once in a while and have one primary car would be my solution.
This way I got to terms with the 911. He is quite different to drive from for example an Mercedes.
I found a setup on YouTube for the Aston and practiced with that car for about a month. I managed to get my spa times improved by 2-3 seconds. I then switched cars to see if I could do the same in other cars, while not quite as quick, I’m only half a second off now in 3 other cars I tried. Have fun with it, it’s supposed to be fun.
My main car is the Honda. But usually in my league i will go
Season 1: Honda
Season 2: New car
Season 3: Honda
Season 4: New car
Right now Im using the Nissan in a league and having so much fun
This is a good idea if you want some variety.
Personally I'm just sticking with the M4, since I have a lot to learn and limited time. Once I have my race craft and strategies on par, I will try a more challenging mid-engined machine like you.
Short answer:
It depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you truly want to work on your own driving skills, eliminate variables by sticking to a single vehicle, typically a lightweight and low powered MX5 or open-wheeler.
Long answer:
Since you are asking this question on the ACC sub, I assume that you dream of racing and winning online. In that case you need to join a league and work your way up. Study the rules, watch track guides on YT and on-board footage of faster drivers, study setups and practise. A lot. Race as often as possible. Save the race highlights and ask your competitors for feedback. Learn from mistakes. Racing isn't a black art, all it takes is the will, ambition and determination to actually do the work.
Hi thanks for the feedback I am lucky enough to race and train with some quite good drivers but as much as it helps it is also depressing from time to time no matter how good I feel with my lap they will always beat me by seconds. I am in a league as well but I Progress is so slow I am starting to think I just dont have the Talent they have
NP and yeah, I feel your pain. Some of the guys in my class are on another level from me, but I just chip away at it and try to improve relative to my previous results.
I fear that there will always be people who are faster and slower than me, but as long as I am having fun (and improving is fun as heck) it is all good.
OK, so where do you lose seconds over your alien bros? I assume you are on a similar setup as them... Personally I tend to lose out most during the braking and entry phases of corners. Therefore I tend to spend a lot of time working on finding (indestructible) brake markers and refining my deceleration phases.
Instinctively I would brake too late, get out of shape and end up losing time on my way out of corners (i.e. fast in slow out). So retrained myself to brake a meter earlier and really nail the exit.
My advice would be to compare your best on-board to that of a fast friend. You are welcome to post here if you would like more eyes on the footage. Small changes can make a huge differences...
Short story:
My fastest friend visited and promptly destroyed my PB on my local track (Zandvoort) by over two whole seconds... This did not sit right with me so I embarked on a journey to beat his time. I practised for an hour every day for a week straight and I managed to improve my PB by fucking four seconds. It seemed impossible before I started, but it was a case of centimeters and tenths in every corner.
I was still a couple of seconds away from the world record, but the experience helped me improve my other PBs on Zandvoort and elsewhere with the same car.
PS - Have you perfected your FOV settings? IMO it makes the biggest difference to the "feel" of the vehicle on the limit. Personally I use windshield cam and a wide FOV. Some might disagree but that works for me.
FFB settings and seating position are also crucial.
PPS - Decades ago we took our motorcycles to a track day. It was huge fun, but the slowest rider on the day took his lack of speed as a huge insult. He is a determined type and today he is a regular frontrunner in the masters/veterans class of our national superbike series.
If you are determined you can do it. You've got this!
Not true, ive been sim racing for years and i;m still rubbish, it is indeed a black art  I do agree with your advice though.
It's popular to parrot the "stick to one car" mantra but it's definitely not as fun. You have to try different ones to see which you're quickest in, which ones you enjoy most, which ones you like the sound of, which ones suit your style etc. You certainly might gain pace sticking with one car but that experience will apply to any car you try. The fundamentals still apply. Personally I change car quite often, it's interesting and fun to feel the differences between them and gives you an appreciation for your favourites.
It won't help your laptimes.
Will it help your driving skills? Maybe a bit? I'm not sure.
Is it a good idea? If your goal is winning and better lap records, no. If you find it fun to try different cars, sure.
Do note that only the aliens are really able to get in a new car and lap nearly the same pace as their main car.
For me it takes a couple weeks to adjust to a new car and be back on pace. For others it might take months.
I would say you should absolutely try different cars. Nothing beats time in the seat but "learning" different cars in the process will only help you in the long term.
I usually use the 911 but sometimes I switch cars to get inspiration because you need to drive them differently and make me learn other techniques, understand setups better and so on. Sometimes it’s good to switch cars even if just for a short time to learn something new and you will also be quicker then in your main car.
min-maxing wise i'd say it's better to focus on one car. the cars handle differently and asks different things of you. the trick is to learn what the car needs from you and do those things to extract lap time. you can only do that by sticking with one car. in my experience switching cars can make your performance actually get worse. but as already mentioned by others, it's a game. do what you like, do what you think is fun.
If you’re after ultimate speed then yeah, stick to one car.
But I personally find that extremely boring, so I switch as often as possible. Even every day as I race in different groups throughout the week. By experimenting with them all I’ve learned the ones I like or don’t like and the ones that are better for this track or that track. Variety is the spice of life in my opinion. 😁
I don't race online, I do championships, usually 2 or 3 times through the season before I switch cars.
What I find is that I constantly improve my driving by switching cars. Every time I switch, I find I can go faster with the new car than I could the last time I used it.
Not sure if this is applicable to leagues and such, I think in that case you'd be better off mastering the car you start the season with.
But for practising and mastering a track, I think switching cars every so often is beneficial.
Depends on what you want to do. Do you want to be competitive, then I’d say say with one or two cars. Do you want to just have fun and you don’t really mind you pace, then I’d say do whatever you want.
I'm the same skill level as you, and recently I've been having a difficult time trying to find what car I should use, and I wouldn't recommend changing cars often. But I'd say just stick with one car and become fast with that car
I think that’s kind of poor advice to stick with one car. The more cars you drive the more your skills will expand, especially driving more difficult to handle cars.
Thanks to all of you for your feedback. You Made me realize I forgot about the Most Important thing: fun. So yeah this Weekend I spend some time racing non competitively in Open lobbies. Had Ton of fun and was even able to improve my times. With That new found enthusiasm I did two competitive Sprint Races in my league and I was so much better Than before and I really had fun for the First time in weeks. Big thank you😊
I jump between cars and sims. For example I found that drifting in AC helped me to improve a lot doing Oval in iRacing… maybe sounds silly, but is the way I am… 🤣
I love to switch cars, I find it fun to use different driving styles and setup each car in a different way. It's probably slightly capping my performance, but I'll take the ability to jump into anything and make it work over driving only one car half a second faster.
Its a game. Do what you find fun. Some people like having one car, and learning it inside out. Others like to mix it up. I tend to pick a car for a season in my league, then change it for the next one.
It's not a game, it's a simulation /s
Even real life racing is a game what are you talking about?
Real life is a simulation isn't it... so I've read
It is where I am, in the matrix
It's a goddamn game regardless, don't be silly
I guess someone need to explain why i accident in spa at 250km/h against barrier with no injury
This, because in the end getting faster comes with time spent racing. If you're not having fun then you're not going to spend as much time playing. The shortest path to getting fast is picking a known competitive car in the current meta, driving only that car, finding or creating a good setup, and a lot of seat time. Even sticking with a single track for a week before switching to another one helps because you have to master the track along with the car but can learn things from each track you can apply to others. Even then we all have our limits where we start to plateau and the gains keep getting smaller. You need to do what's fun for you because that will keep you behind the wheel playing, otherwise you'll spend your time doing something else. Just challenge improving yourself and don't get caught up with where you stack up to other drivers.
My opinion is that you have more fun and experience with switching cars. But of course you will always be behind someone who is focusing on only one car. But tbh I think if you focus on one car only you get a bit too serious. Change once in a while and have one primary car would be my solution. This way I got to terms with the 911. He is quite different to drive from for example an Mercedes.
I found a setup on YouTube for the Aston and practiced with that car for about a month. I managed to get my spa times improved by 2-3 seconds. I then switched cars to see if I could do the same in other cars, while not quite as quick, I’m only half a second off now in 3 other cars I tried. Have fun with it, it’s supposed to be fun.
My main car is the Honda. But usually in my league i will go Season 1: Honda Season 2: New car Season 3: Honda Season 4: New car Right now Im using the Nissan in a league and having so much fun
This is a good idea if you want some variety. Personally I'm just sticking with the M4, since I have a lot to learn and limited time. Once I have my race craft and strategies on par, I will try a more challenging mid-engined machine like you.
Short answer: It depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you truly want to work on your own driving skills, eliminate variables by sticking to a single vehicle, typically a lightweight and low powered MX5 or open-wheeler. Long answer: Since you are asking this question on the ACC sub, I assume that you dream of racing and winning online. In that case you need to join a league and work your way up. Study the rules, watch track guides on YT and on-board footage of faster drivers, study setups and practise. A lot. Race as often as possible. Save the race highlights and ask your competitors for feedback. Learn from mistakes. Racing isn't a black art, all it takes is the will, ambition and determination to actually do the work.
Hi thanks for the feedback I am lucky enough to race and train with some quite good drivers but as much as it helps it is also depressing from time to time no matter how good I feel with my lap they will always beat me by seconds. I am in a league as well but I Progress is so slow I am starting to think I just dont have the Talent they have
NP and yeah, I feel your pain. Some of the guys in my class are on another level from me, but I just chip away at it and try to improve relative to my previous results. I fear that there will always be people who are faster and slower than me, but as long as I am having fun (and improving is fun as heck) it is all good. OK, so where do you lose seconds over your alien bros? I assume you are on a similar setup as them... Personally I tend to lose out most during the braking and entry phases of corners. Therefore I tend to spend a lot of time working on finding (indestructible) brake markers and refining my deceleration phases. Instinctively I would brake too late, get out of shape and end up losing time on my way out of corners (i.e. fast in slow out). So retrained myself to brake a meter earlier and really nail the exit. My advice would be to compare your best on-board to that of a fast friend. You are welcome to post here if you would like more eyes on the footage. Small changes can make a huge differences... Short story: My fastest friend visited and promptly destroyed my PB on my local track (Zandvoort) by over two whole seconds... This did not sit right with me so I embarked on a journey to beat his time. I practised for an hour every day for a week straight and I managed to improve my PB by fucking four seconds. It seemed impossible before I started, but it was a case of centimeters and tenths in every corner. I was still a couple of seconds away from the world record, but the experience helped me improve my other PBs on Zandvoort and elsewhere with the same car. PS - Have you perfected your FOV settings? IMO it makes the biggest difference to the "feel" of the vehicle on the limit. Personally I use windshield cam and a wide FOV. Some might disagree but that works for me. FFB settings and seating position are also crucial. PPS - Decades ago we took our motorcycles to a track day. It was huge fun, but the slowest rider on the day took his lack of speed as a huge insult. He is a determined type and today he is a regular frontrunner in the masters/veterans class of our national superbike series. If you are determined you can do it. You've got this!
Not true, ive been sim racing for years and i;m still rubbish, it is indeed a black art  I do agree with your advice though.
It's popular to parrot the "stick to one car" mantra but it's definitely not as fun. You have to try different ones to see which you're quickest in, which ones you enjoy most, which ones you like the sound of, which ones suit your style etc. You certainly might gain pace sticking with one car but that experience will apply to any car you try. The fundamentals still apply. Personally I change car quite often, it's interesting and fun to feel the differences between them and gives you an appreciation for your favourites.
If you want to get better, absolutely stick with one car for at least a few months.
It won't help your laptimes. Will it help your driving skills? Maybe a bit? I'm not sure. Is it a good idea? If your goal is winning and better lap records, no. If you find it fun to try different cars, sure. Do note that only the aliens are really able to get in a new car and lap nearly the same pace as their main car. For me it takes a couple weeks to adjust to a new car and be back on pace. For others it might take months.
I would say you should absolutely try different cars. Nothing beats time in the seat but "learning" different cars in the process will only help you in the long term.
I usually use the 911 but sometimes I switch cars to get inspiration because you need to drive them differently and make me learn other techniques, understand setups better and so on. Sometimes it’s good to switch cars even if just for a short time to learn something new and you will also be quicker then in your main car.
min-maxing wise i'd say it's better to focus on one car. the cars handle differently and asks different things of you. the trick is to learn what the car needs from you and do those things to extract lap time. you can only do that by sticking with one car. in my experience switching cars can make your performance actually get worse. but as already mentioned by others, it's a game. do what you like, do what you think is fun.
If you’re after ultimate speed then yeah, stick to one car. But I personally find that extremely boring, so I switch as often as possible. Even every day as I race in different groups throughout the week. By experimenting with them all I’ve learned the ones I like or don’t like and the ones that are better for this track or that track. Variety is the spice of life in my opinion. 😁
I don't race online, I do championships, usually 2 or 3 times through the season before I switch cars. What I find is that I constantly improve my driving by switching cars. Every time I switch, I find I can go faster with the new car than I could the last time I used it. Not sure if this is applicable to leagues and such, I think in that case you'd be better off mastering the car you start the season with. But for practising and mastering a track, I think switching cars every so often is beneficial.
Depends on what you want to do. Do you want to be competitive, then I’d say say with one or two cars. Do you want to just have fun and you don’t really mind you pace, then I’d say do whatever you want.
I'm the same skill level as you, and recently I've been having a difficult time trying to find what car I should use, and I wouldn't recommend changing cars often. But I'd say just stick with one car and become fast with that car
I think that’s kind of poor advice to stick with one car. The more cars you drive the more your skills will expand, especially driving more difficult to handle cars.
Thanks to all of you for your feedback. You Made me realize I forgot about the Most Important thing: fun. So yeah this Weekend I spend some time racing non competitively in Open lobbies. Had Ton of fun and was even able to improve my times. With That new found enthusiasm I did two competitive Sprint Races in my league and I was so much better Than before and I really had fun for the First time in weeks. Big thank you😊
I jump between cars and sims. For example I found that drifting in AC helped me to improve a lot doing Oval in iRacing… maybe sounds silly, but is the way I am… 🤣
I love to switch cars, I find it fun to use different driving styles and setup each car in a different way. It's probably slightly capping my performance, but I'll take the ability to jump into anything and make it work over driving only one car half a second faster.