So, mannjon, I followed your advice to align my racing line to the speed pads and as simple and obvious it may seem – it works quite well! Sure I don’t catch them all (yet?), but it works as a general guide. I figured I should start with A+ right away and set a timer to 30 minutes or longer doing nothing but speed lap for a single track. After 30 minutes: On to the next one! Needless to say I didn’t do all tracks yet. Sure there’s still plenty of room for improvement, but after a few laps you get used to the speed and see the track more clearly. Except for Unity Square of course, because this track is a nightmare for me right now.


Quote Originally Posted by blackwiggle View Post
skill cuts […] can make your times faster, it would seem best practice to learn the quickest route first, then improve your times from there.
Yes. Emphasis on can. Some skill cuts, even if you perform them correctly and don’t bump into walls, do not have any positive impact on your racing line unless you’re barrel rolling. So they’re basically just harder routes without benefit if you cannot perform a barrel roll because of low shield energy or mines all over the place. A failed barrel roll can even make you lose control, making it worse.

Quote Originally Posted by mannjon View Post
Once you find skill cuts, try to figure out how to effectively use them too!
Exactly. I set a priority list for learning a track yesterday: 1. Get around the track without bumping into walls. Try to avoid too much airbraking and sideshifting. Use the speed pads for guidance. 2. Try to take skill cuts where possible. Focus on smooth entry and exit to keep a clean racing line. Sideshifting may help. 3. Apply barrel rolls.

Consequently my lap times were longer at first than they could have been if I had chosen the „easy“ routes and applied barrel rolls from the start. But I want to make sure to get a good racing line first and get better from there on. After all it’s not about competition yet at this point.

My plan is to do the other tracks next. And the whole thing again after that. Feels a bit like doing homework – haven’t had that for a long time Not too bad after all; after ~40 laps you kind of get into the flow.

I chose Qirex Speed. For now, it gets me trough the curves nicely. Lets see if it works out in the long run. Sadly, on some open track sections I can’t quite figure out where the track walls really are. They’re invisible and seem a bit off sometimes. So I try to cut a few centimeters and see me slamming into rocks. But well, that’s a story for another time.