20 Tips for Sim Racing Beginners

The centre of mass DOES NOT move. The only time it moves is based on how much fuel is in the car, and that changes slowly throughout a race. Weight transfer is the inertial forces being put onto the tyres by acceleration.

It's a small but crucial distinction because weight can only exert a certain and constant force whereas acceleration can apply infinite and dynamic inertial forces. It is incredibly important to understand this otherwise you will struggle to understand grip in general.

Single best tip video ever ngl

This isn't really tips for sim racing, its more like tips for regular people to understand real racing and car physics. Sim racing is just a potential application of this information...👎

I actually cannot drive without sound i use engine rev as how much i slowed on a corner like a muscle memory but ear muscles memory lol

I just picked up AC and a sim rig so that I can train for motorcycle racing during the off-season. Yep, motorcycle racing - the points Chris makes are pretty much spot on for riders as well!

because dcs world is easy

Great tips. Learned more in your :35 seconds on trail breaking than a Driver61 video thats 20 minutes long!

Excellent video

All the sauce you’re putting on this is shitty.

You can learn more in road cars than race cars because everything is happening slower and mistakes are more noticable. And with their limits being so low you can really fool around with them when you get tired of chasing laptimes

From someone who is already quite experienced in simracing: this video is really good, and i wish i had all these tips when i was starting out.

Sick video

Thanks for this bro

This is the best video with tips for beginners I found so far. Well done. Thanks

I totally want to get back into racing games. First game I played when I was 7 yo was some rally game and then some f1 game with ps1.
So far Dirt2 is my favourite racing game for ps3. Also Need for speed most wanted is legendary always.
Gotta upgrade by getting myself a gaming set up for PC and such just for this stuff. I dont really care about other games, only enjoy racing really. It would be great to find new friends who enjoy the same hobby.

Thanks man. Most videos about simracing either assume I know too much already (they talk about tuning and mechanical details I know nothing about) or they are too focused on specific games. I wanna learn the stuff that applies to any simrace, not just a specific one

I made the mistake of buying a 100 dollar Xbox branded wheel. Doesn’t have force feedback and only has 180 degree radius. It’s way too sensitive for anything professional. I’m planning to get a Logitech g920 though, can’t wait for the 900 degree radius

as someone who only plays with ps3 controller, get forcefeedback wheel. Any cheapo wheel is better then controller!

Assetto Corsa has good modding community in my opinion that’s what makes that game fun. I haven’t played any forza motor sport yet, but Gran Turismo has the better graphics and ease of use for newer sim racers in my opinion. Definitely go AC if you can and have the rig to run good mods. If you’re console I recommend GT or Forza Motor Sport games invest in a cheaper Logitech wheel or thrust master for beginning to see if you like the scene first. Definitely practice tracks alone first before going out and joining servers or online games. Good luck racers, hope I helped a little!

My volume is max and I can't hear you mumbling

cant understand s**t you say its YOUR ACCENT!!

The center of mass of the car is a geometric property of the mass distribution in the car. It won't change unless the car itself (or its contents) changes. The center of mass will move forward a little bit during breaking because the vehicle's fuel (and occupants) will slosh forward a little bit, but that is not the cause for why load is transferred forward in breaking. That is because the braking force is applied on the wheels and the car's center of mass is above the wheel axles, so the braking induces a torque which tries to rotate the car forward. Same goes in reverse for acceleration.

If the center of mass explanation were correct, you'd see the front always go down when breaking even if the wheel axles are mounted above the center of mass, or for a hypothetical f1 car braking while driving upside down on the ceiling. In both of these cases, you'd in fact expect the front of the car to go up.

Some really insightful and encouraging advice! Left foot braking though ugh. 😑 I know I have to learn it but I’d rather not. I currently only do it when using open wheelers with paddle shifters.

Just go and play the game. You don't need a tutorial on how to have fun. Games are about discovering by youself by mistakes and getting better. You don't need to treat it like a high responsibility job.

Really enjoyed this vid, learned a lot. May I add the idea of doing practice laps from the perspective of above and behind the car.
Truly learn every track, I noticed ‘career mode” does not include practice sessions before a race.

Question: why do you guys have problem with braking with your left foot ? I thought that's how it's been the default since the first time i go to the karting track.

thanks man

😂the setup bay

people brake with their right foot? what?

You know you are noob if you knew all this but still slow.

Okay so I am used to driving in American Truck Sim and now I got AMS2 with my G29 wheel, I barely know anything about cars technically besides watching F1 races on TV for fun. I’m such a noob that I had to Google oversteering. Wish me luck

Left foot braking? Don’t I need the left foot for the clutch though?

Where did chris go?!

So I started simracing yesterday without any experience in sim or irl. At first it was a bit stressful and I confused the pedals, but after a few hours I got used to it and it became really fun.
I ended up going downhill on Akina for about 6 hours straight, near the end I noticed that I was steering a lot more than usual in a certain corner and accelerating a lot more than usual.
I was wondering how that wasn't making me lose traction and in fact it made me faster. I went as far as to ask this on a discord server and they weren't able to tell me why, but they told me that they do the exact same thing as experienced drivers and it's the perfect thing to do.

Now, in this video you talk about the traction circle, that the more I turn, the less I can accelerate. But how come, it's the exact opposite for me in that corner.
At a medium speed, I can go through it by turning my wheel about 60 or 70 degrees and barely touching the gas pedal,
but if I enter the corner a bit faster, turn the wheel by about 100 or 110 degrees and floor the gas pedal after the car starts turning, I get through the corner much faster.
And I'm not drifting or anything like that, at least it doesn't look like it, but I'm not a specialist.

It seems like accelerating pulls me outward and turning the wheel pulls me inward
and balancing those by doing both excessively at the same time, seems to make me a lot faster

I don't understand any of this, but it makes me think your traction circle theory must be wrong, or my car is possessed by some magic, or... I don't really know

It would be great if we can talk about this and if you can explain this to me

(I only watched the video today because I wanted to get used to driving before taking any kind of advice and I wanted to develop my own basic technique before trying out anyone else's technique)
(I was using the normal AE86 on Akina 2022 and the corner I'm talking about is the first left one)

When I first started I found I was concentrating so much on what my left foot was doing I'd forget to turn into corners properly.

Can I just say, I love your smile that shows how much joy you have in sharing your knowledge to others looking to get into sim racing. Your joy is honestly really infectious and makes me want to get back on the tracks and keep racing.

thank you

The kicking off that pedal set felt personal

I can't have force feedback because I don't have a pc or even a wheel that supports it, assetto corsa is a great sim, I got it the other day and I can't stop playing, acc is too hard and only focuses on one discipline, gt3 racing, but ac does pretty much all of them, have a great day!

I just started and bought a thrustmaster 458 ferrari yesterday. Its a cheap wheel but im really happy with it. So much more precise than a controller and its only a $130 wheel. No force feedback but im fone with that. Can't wait to get home today.

Hi, just started sim racing today. I am doing well, and felt like I can get wayyy better than I am now because I felt motivated to do it passionately.

Your calm demeanor felt very welcoming. Thank you for the lessons. New subscriber here!

I loved everything except for Nurburgring sprint mocking me 🤣 I'm incredibly new to sim racing and Assetto Corsa N2 is kicking my butt

tip 1 : do what everyone else does... Cheat

I am absolutely braking too late and it's driving me nuts. Thanks for the tips, imma dial it back a bit.

Great video

I thought this dude was showing my replay of spinning out!! I need to get better under braking big time!

So how do I modulate pedals with Mouse and Keyboard 🙄

Enjoyed this vid as much as a do Sim Racing. Great and helpful tips. Thank you so much Chris. And I have a request: can you give some info about gear shifting. When to pull through high revs or when to short shift etc...

The best cars to learn all the solid basics in assetto corsa is the Ford escort and mx5 cup car. In the escort you'll learn how to dance a car and pick up car rotation and throttle/brake inputs, the mx5 will teach you precision without too much speed. The escort might just be my favorite car to run on the green hell