Feel the W3O love! Oh yeah!
Nice videos! I can see your dedication. Hear it, too! <clickety-clickety-clickety in the background of those videos>
You've definitely got some speed there. I'm not often very good at Phantom, but I totally recognize all your lines and everything. You hit the wall at exactly the places where I hit when I was really trying to push the envelope. Even the way you dodge the pilons at the start line is familiar. It looks very similar to the way I flew W3O many years ago.
Ain't nuthin wrong with a bit of reliance on AP, if you're breaking Phantom records in an Icaras it's sometimes required.
The only thing I could ask from you is this: Get all your times in the record tables! It's always nice to see pilots reap the rewards of their efforts by placing "top 3". I had a quick scan of them and you've actually still got a #1, well done! If Al can't knock you down in a day or two it must be a nice time! 8 )
However, with as much as I recognize your piloting, I think I can come to some conclusions if you're interested:
1) You can go faster. A lot faster.
Really, I can see small errors in your line, and they're at consistent locations. You train yourself a bit and you can overcome.
- Work on your pit line. Make it perfect and you'll speed up. It's pretty sweet for Porto Kora (better than I could ever do!), but I think you're a tad too far to the right for the best Terminal pit entry line.
- Stop aiming those weapons! You get sweet eliminations while you're racing, but you stop focusing on your racing line while you aim those and you invariably wall right after. All weapons are fire-and-forget, don't bother to aim with more than 10% of your concentration. Your main weapon is your speed (play eliminator to work on this if you don't believe me! 8 D), so focus on your line, ignore your crosshairs.
2) Question: How much pitch do you use? I'm not used to watching 3rd person (nice to see it though!) and I can't tell how much pitch you're using. It doesn't look like a lot. You should be using serious pitch on every corner. I imagine you are to be flying smoothly at those speeds, but I can't be sure since I'm not used to 3rd person. If you're not, get right on it. Necessary skill.
3) Practice and the consistency will come.
It looks to me like you're truly zoning the track to get your speed laps. With more practice you'll be able to zone a track sooner in the race and for longer. Eventually you'll be able to hold it for a whole race. It takes some time, but the race record results will be phenomenal.
4) Learn to fly.
That's the last step to true speed. You have to cut the corners, fly over the buildings, skip as much of the track as you can. If you're going this fast without flying, I can almost guarantee record laps and races once you've found your wings.
So that's what I can give back to you in return for the videos. Hopefully it comes across as "sage advice" and not "me talking out my ass". 8 )
Hmm, one last question: I notice you stop in the pit lane a lot. Is that just for your speed lap attempts? Or is it a regular habit?