4 corners can’t be that hard can they? Well no, unless you want to finish P1 that is. Here are some things to consider when driving on Speedopolis and Bullseye Speedway. Some personal nuggets of wisdom mixed with some real life racing theorems.
Qualifying
Ovals are all about speed. So to qualify fast we must be as fast as possible as often as possible. On a straight that is seems easy- just floor it! But what about the 4 corners we have?
Turning – normally
Turns should be taken with the O-A-O-Approach (Outside-Apex-Outside). By using this approach we turn the least hard/at the widest angle possible (red line):
This is good, because the less you turn the less we have to worry about your tyres losing friction and the faster we can go!
Turning – shifted apex
If we break a bit later but harder turn a bit more we can shift our apex to be a bit later and after the apex we don’t have to steer that a lot anymore. Meaning we get to go earlier on the gas. Here is the shifted apex (red) over the “perfect” (green) line:
But doesn’t that mean we lose time in the corner? Yes. But it doesn’t matter – we gain such a speed advantage on the straight that it is more than nullified.
Choosing a lane & difference in cars
Now that we can take corners but one question: What “lane”(inside/outside/somewhere in between) do I take on the straight. Assuming you are driving the “impact”/the stock car you will have enough speed to utilize the full track width with the O-A-O. But if we use say the Piccino it is slow enough that we can throw out a lot of the above said, instead you want to shortened distance travelled.
When dealing with a slow car always stay as inside as possible. You cant go fully onto the inside as it would mean having to turn at to much of an angle and thus losing speed.
There is a sweet spot, but that you have to find with experimenting. Especially in races when having to consider tire wear.
Racing
No matter the qualifying- everything can change when the lights go out. For better or worse.
Absolute basics
First of all, don’t just send it (at least in public lobbies). Not caring about others or even actively trying to crash just tells anyone: You can’t drive and are unwilling to learn it. This of course goes beyond overall racing. Keep it clean and after some time the results will come. If you are frustrated and feel like crashing play this for a while.
Overtaking & Defending
Most overtaking will take place by the corners. You generally want to overtake someone from the inside. Naturally they will defend, as should you. Why no go around the outside?
This is why:
A small misjudgement caused the black car to end up somewhat turning into the yellow car. Despite only a small contact the black car on the outside practically gets thrown into the wall.
Unless it is the last laps try to hang back and wait for a mistake from the car in front. Keep just close enough to make full use of the drafting technique and to make some pressure to the driver in front.
You might even be able to get him on strategy.
Pit strategy
When it comes to oval racing the fuel consumption is surprisingly high. Public games most often require a 2-stop strategy. As with most cases you will try to undercut your opponents. The undercut is generally very strong in this game due to tire wear. Try using the practise mode to get used to the relatively long and narrow pit lane. Spinning here might cost you the win.
Speaking of costly things. If you do end up in the wall or otherwise receive damage consider boxing sooner than later. 5% damage is not noticeable on most tracks, but here it is due to the high speed nature of ovals. Anything over 10% is likely will compromise your race.
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