1. Vision

Vision is important when driving on track whether it’s real-world or sim because you need to give yourself the right information at the right time. Most drivers will begin by not looking far enough ahead, meaning they’ll likely make quite a few mistakes and will commonly “run out of road” on the corner exits. 

The other issue with vision is that a driver’s vision is often not active enough when they should be “scanning” around different areas on the circuit. You can take a look at our Driver’s University tutorial on vision – you’ll be amazed at how much it helps.

2. Smooth Initial Steering

How you turn in to each corner, is actually based on where you’re looking on the circuit – hence why vision is so important. If you’re not looking where you’re going to end up, you won’t have a clear idea of when and how much to turn in.

Once you’ve turned in, however, the steering wheel should be reasonably smooth as extra steering angle or correction will unsettle the car. Focus on having one smooth increase in steering angle as you turn your car into each corner.

3. Don’t Overslow Your Car

Keeping up speed throughout the corner sounds obvious, however, it’s one of the key areas sim racers and real-world driver lose loads of time. Most drivers will try to brake too late, before actually reducing speed too much before the apex. 

If your technique is feeling a little “lumpy” try to think about your car’s fluidity as you drive through the corner. Of course, heavy braking is still required when you need to shed a lot of speed, like into a hairpin bend, but just before turn in you’ll need to begin to blend out of the brake pedal. This should make the car easier to drive and actually generate more grip, leading to a higher cornering speed. 

If you are interested in getting faster in the sim and learning skills that make you a “natural” driver, check out our sim training courses.

Finding the right sim software is the first step on your journey. There are quite a few different types of software that vary in terms of realism and physics. If you’re new to sim racing, the physics and feel of each game is something that you’ll begin to understand over time.

Here’s a list of the best sim racing software:

• iRacing
• Assetto Corsa
• rFactor2
• Project Cars 2
• Raceroom
• Automobilista

There are other less realistic sim titles out there such as the F1 series, GT Sport and Forza, but for the most realistic experience, we recommend the list above.