Gran Turismo 5: Nurburgring Nordschleife Speed Guide

       ﻿Nurburgring Nordschleife Speed Guide - Gran Turismo 5
By Mike Kimball
Version 2.2, November 1, 2011



Copyright Notice
Contact The Author
Version Updates

Unlocking the Nordschleife
The Car
Game Equipment
  New PS3 System
Shoes - On or Off?
Left-Foot Braking
Driving Tips That Have Helped Me Go Faster

Nordschleife - Step by Step
  (Includes all corner names and time splits)
Looking Forward

Addendum 1 - AMG Academy
Addendum 2 - Red Bull X2010 Challenge
Addendum 3 - game progress
Addendum 4 - battling the AI
Addendum 5 - suggested GT improvements
Addendum 6 - lap milestones
Addendum 7 - real-life lap records
How many corners are there?
Safety and driving philosophy


Copyright 2011 Mike Kimball

Intended for private, personal, and educational usage only.

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Contact The Author

guide in the subject. 

Send to bloodmetalcontent at yahoo dot com.

I'm also on YouTube -


seven minutes and six or seven seconds than most people have experienced
of animosity towards machinery and to a racetrack."
--Jackie Stewart, 1973

First of all, the obligatory disclaimer: Just as the game may differ from
the real life cars and tracks represented therein, so may the information
in this guide differ from your time attack in your real car in real life.
It's hard to overstate the fact that there is still a gulf between what
you can do in a game versus what may happen if you go to the track for
real.  Try to remember that this track can easily rearrange your car
(or, your internal organs) in spectacular fashion if you're not careful.

I think the fact that in GT5 you must unlock the Nordschleife, by passing
the first two AMG Academy levels, shows how serious they are about fostering
fast as Michael Schumacher after a handful of GT4 laps, and then pushed
too hard and cracked up their cars (or skulls).  Some elements of the game
(tires, grip, power, durability, braking) are inevitably idealized, and
even PDI's masterful rendering of the track naturally doesn't reach the
depth of detail in the real one (even though they've made a massive step
forward with GT5's version).  Think of your first laps in GT5 - you were
probably far slower at first than in GT4 and maybe still had some
off-road excursions...

My advice is to remember that whatever car you drive on the real
Nordschleife will probably have nowhere near the capabilities of 80%
of the cars available in GT5.  So, to prep for a real-life visit, do
at least 50-100 laps, and include laps with crappy tires on (comfort
soft or less), and laps in a fast car that has no aero, or aero that
only works when all four wheels are on flat ground (Chaparral 2J),
so that you find out where all the main bumps are, which will tend
to lead you astray of the racing line or disrupt your throttle delivery.
Then do a few more in the AMG Academy to remind you that you won't
often have the track to yourself (and therefore the racing line you
want), or a nice, dry grip level.

certain we were going about 170 in Kesselchen).  That Zakspeed Viper was
truly amazing.

especially moments where the weight transfer might get you in trouble -
but the simulator practice does mean your brain already has some sense of
what to do in an unsteady moment, which you also perceive earlier.  Still,
when you've only driven street cars and racing simulators, driving a Formula



First, I want to thank all of the people reading this, it's amazing to see
so many hits on this page.  Pretty soon this will overtake my GT4 guide,
which has been up a lot longer.

I would like to acknowledge some sources which have offered specific
inspiration for this guide:, Nurburgring for Dummies by
Carroll Smith and Bertil Roos among others.  I've also been reading a lot
of lately, so I hope to make subtle tweaks to this guide that
will make it easier and more interesting to read. Naturally this guide will
become more influenced by Ayrton Senna and the awesome Senna documentary
as well, which I saw recently.  His passion for the sport and his amazing
ability continue to be very inspiring.

I want to thank Sir Jackie Stewart for all of his invaluable contributions
to motorsport and especially Formula 1 when it comes to safety as well as
driving technique.  His advice in the Grand Prix: The Killer Years dvd was
particularly resonant (and quotable), as was that of Jackie Ickx, and
Emerson Fittipaldi.

up, our tour manager Oise for adding the Nurburgring day to the schedule, my
former band and TM (John, Sean, Trey, and Brian V), and all at Zakspeed
for an amazing high-speed experience.

has made a huge difference.

Version Updates

Version 2.2
- R.I.P. Dan Wheldon
- Formula Gran Turismo: New video uploaded - 4'42.277
- Small correction to the Formula Gran Turismo setup (LSD)
- Tightened info on the AI
- Driver Aids info
- Game Progress info updates (grinding, online, Seasonal races)
- DLC, and other game improvement info
- New section: Safety and driving philosophy

Version 2.1
- Congratulations Seb Vettel and Red Bull on the back-to-back championships!
- Vettel Championship X2010 info added
- GT5 2.0 is here!  Updated suggested GT improvements addendum, AI sections
- Usual small corrections and additions here and there...

Version 2.0
- Thanks for the 50,000+ hits reached during v1.8; now 57,000...
- Formula Gran Turismo: New video uploaded - 4'43.165, small setup tweak
- Game Equipment: New PS3 System, ghost replays not exported but available
- More on the AI, since they still haven't fixed it
- New addendum on my suggested game improvements
- Tweaks here and there on the cars, lap times, guide, etc

Version 1.9
- New addendum about the AI (PDI - This Is ESPECIALLY For You ;)
- Updated Ferrari F2007 setup and time
- Tweaks to game equipment, addendum times, car info, lap milestones

Version 1.8
- A few corrections (there always is one thing I missed)
- B-Spec info (frivolous reporting on what everyone already knows)
- I made friends with the F2007, it's faster than the FGT (setup included)
- Touring car info (setup included)

Version 1.7
- Revised corner count, some corner directions
- Added setup info, car info
- Small updates to game progress
- Updates to AMG Academy info
- New lap times

Version 1.6
- Updates to the lap guide, some changes to gearing
- Tweaks to the car info
- New fast time and setup tweaks
- New video uploaded: 4'44.599

Version 1.5
- Updates to the game progress including 24h Nurburgring info
- Car info (Ferrari F2007)
- A-Spec: Gold Standard on February 19, 2011
- New Formula Gran Turismo info (and a video)

Version 1.4
- At last: the Formula Gran Turismo
- Updated Red Bull X1 Challenge info
- Updated game progress
- Usual small updates to guide, car info
- New lap times

Version 1.3
- Added Red Bull X1 Challenge info
- Small updates to the lap guide
- New lap times

version 1.2
- Updated AMG Academy info (includes Expert tier)
- Addendum - game progress
- More adjustments and corrections
- New lap times

Version 1.1
- Added AMG Academy info
- Lap times added

Version 1.0

Unlocking the Nordschleife

A FAQ from new GT5 players is "where is the Nordschleife?"

You have to unlock it by completing the first two tiers of the
AMG Academy (in the Special challenges) with at least bronze times.
Note, this also involves some leveling up.  After you pass the
Beginner and Intermediate AMG levels, the Nordschleife will be
available for Practice and in Arcade mode.  More on this follows
in the section Addendum 1 - AMG Academy.

The Car

Formula Gran Turismo
The Formula Gran Turismo is still one of my favorite cars; I collect
all of them. If you still need one, just look in the online lot -
sometimes they do half credits and zero mileage deals. It appears in
the normal used lot also, but a bit infrequently and rarely in a
timely fashion.

The car now reaches over 235mph even with full downforce, so the FGT
is faster on straights than in GT4, but has conspicuously less aero
to help in corners (235mph = Monza wings).  70/90 instead of
75/105 doesn't sound like much, but trust me, you will feel the
difference.  The other F1 cars all have more than double that,
in fact their rear wing doesn't even go as low as the FGT's maximum.
The real difference is not only less aero, but a different proportion
of downforce distribution, so the aero balance combined with the new
higher speeds makes it a different world altogether.

Further, I suspect they've also more accurately modeled the tire
specs (in the sense that F1 uses 13" wheels and high-profile tires)
meaning that even when you set the suspension as stiff as it goes,
the car still floats around and it reacts relatively slowly to
your inputs.  My understanding is that if they put better tires on
the car, it would simply be too much performance and drivers would
black out under braking.  So instead, we have to live with tire
deflection and its delayed, snappy handling characteristics.

Other than that, the car is essentially the same - but when combining
low aero and squishy tires with an engine producing over 930hp, the
experience of driving it at the limit is daunting.  The car is quite
agile even without a lot of aero, but also very unstable. Every aspect
of cornering is more difficult, and the car is extremely sensitive to
throttle inputs, steering, and braking, which can easily become
jumbled and get the car all crossed up.  It requires a completely
different driving style, something like a normal car in the wet -
early and careful inputs. Many dramatic maneuvers require little
more than a tiny lift.  

One last thing, as you may experience an extreme spectrum of emotions
while doing time attacks in this car - it's important to keep some
perspective when things aren't going too well.  It's not just the
car, which handles well enough on any other circuit - it's the car
plus the track that is a killer.  The reality is that F1 stopped
racing the Nordschleife after 1976, and sports prototypes also after
1983, and neither has really been engineered with the Nordschleife in
mind since then.  The speeds you can achieve in modern race cars are
far above speeds that were ever intended to be reached on a bumpy,
tight, ridiculously dangerous and complicated circuit like the
Nordschleife.  That's a big reason Bellof's record of 6'11 remains
untouched even after nearly 30 years of advancing technology.  But
that's no reason to stop us in our glorious GT5 world, of course.


Some advice from "Winning" seems correct - that once the setup is in the
lap time. However, it might make the car easier to drive or merely suit the
driver's style better, which can give enough confidence to improve.  Two to
tango, as it were.

Most setup changes come with certain negative side effects that you must
recognize and learn to live with.  I'm continually learning the various
ways seemingly harmless tweaks can result in mysterious instances of
erratic behavior - remember, at the Nurburgring the track surface changes
everything, and random bumps can easily catch your car out as much as
you (since bumps can affect one side of the car or one tire at a time,
so the other side that's still touching the ground may suddenly do
something unexpected).  The more you can attribute a crash to a specific
cause (either a mistake or a setup problem), the less frustrating it is.
And as we know, it takes only a slightly incorrect setup on the Formula
GT to make it almost undriveable, and you can chase your tail endlessly
trying to muck about with the interrelated puzzle of tuning adjustments.

the ability to adjust one's driving style.  Nurburgring Nordschleife is
probably the best example of how crucial this adaptability is to getting
around the track in one piece, let alone setting a fast time.  And the Formula
Gran Turismo is a fairly extreme example of the spectrum of balance one can
experience in a single car (huge understeer, neutral, huge oversteer) 
depending on the phase of the corner and the driver's inputs.  There is a
still the single most important factor in going faster.

That said, here is my GT5 Formula GT Nordschleife setup and my lap time.
I have spent a lot of time trying just about everything (extremes of camber,
spring and damper settings, transmission, LSD, aero balance) to find any
improvement in balance and handling, but ultimately it was my previous
setup that still worked best.  The only difference - I have changed the
gearing for 2nd to be longer to avoid locking the rear wheels, and 4th is
a few hundredths shorter to improve the bite in certain corners. Also,
slight tweak to the LSD.

Aero: 70, 90 (max)
Transmission: manual, 242mph (390kph), 2nd 4.180
LSD: 18, 60, 40

Spring rate: 19.5, 19.5
Dampers: Front 10/8, Rear 10/8
Anti-Roll: 7, 7
Camber: 2.0, 1.6 
Toe: 0, 0.3 (rear toe in)

Brakes: 5, 4
Tires: RS
Driving aids: all off except ABS 1

Personal record (practice): 4'42.277

Ferrari F1
There are two Ferrari F1 cars (F2007 and F10) - I mainly drive the
F2007.  Its handling is awesome, although with so much downforce you
do suffer a bit on straights, which is acceptable.  The one thing I
don't particularly like is the camera angles - with no proper hood
camera, I must use the helmet cam (which is a bit too high and far
back, but now that I finally use a proper wide-aspect flat screen, this
is less annoying).  But on days when I don't have the patience to drive
the FGT with its twitchy low-aero handling, the F2007 is far more fun
to drive. It's nice when a car doesn't feel like it's forever
plotting new ways to stuff you into the Armco.  I have the F10 also,
but so far it feels slower and the balance is awkward... you can see
from the suspension geometry and the camber settings, kind of extreme
compared to most any other car... I'm still developing a setup of my
own for the F10 - so far it's good at Tokyo.

F2007 Setup:
Aero 150, 196
Trans 211
LSD 6 33 12
Susp 20 10 8 7 (front and rear)
Align 2.0 1.0 0.0 0.30
Brakes 4 4
Driving aids: all off except ABS 1

Personal best (practice): 4'42.914

Fastest F2007 lap I've uploaded (4'43.434):

Red Bull X2010
You skilled and lucky drivers who reach level 30, then pass the Red Bull
X2010 Challenge with at least bronze times, will get an X2010 to practice
(at the Nordschleife).  Five minutes? Rubbish.  This thing can beat four
minutes without breaking a sweat.  The car is crazy fast, thanks to a few
technologies that are banned from F1 (such as ground effects, fans, turbo)
plus a few other aero improvements like a canopy and wheel cowls.  More
on this in the addendum on the Red Bull X2010 Challenge.  When I time
attack in this car, the main thing is to max the downforce.  Its diff is
already set to 7 35 15 to help it turn.  I think my best, which is about
the average for quickest times I've seen, is around 3'20.  It's been a
while since I drove it on the 'Ring...

NASCAR, or My Newfound Respect
I know what you're thinking, something like "WTH does a NASCAR stock car
have to do with the Nordschleife?"  How about 6'04.794, sound good? I am
simply astonished at how well the Jeff Gordon #24 Impala handles when
you consider that it weighs 3400 pounds.  Further, I noticed that it
takes a driving style not unlike what I use for the Formula GT.  So you
could say I am a little bit more interested in NASCAR than before GT5.
I already know that they test at a track very dear to my own racing
heart (VIR), so how cool might it be if they brought a stock car over
to the hallowed Nurburgring to see what's what?  As long as you are
careful with the weight and remember not to put all the power down
too aggressively on corner exits, you'll stay out of the Armco.  
Any NASCAR stock car can even beat the Seasonal Real Circuit Tours
Nurburgring 24h, which is filled with Group C cars (Sauber C9, etc).
Check my youtube channel for a vid of that, driving the Tony Stewart
#14 Impala.

Touring Cars
Ah, touring cars - I'm quite fond of them.  Sometimes it's just so
refreshing to drive a car that has more grip than power, and stays on
the track almost no matter how hard you drive it.  They all tend to
understeer a bit, so I have a specific setup I apply to all touring
cars (whether they be DTM or JGTC) to make them rotate more freely,
and then it's just happy time.  Give me the Xanavi GT-R or the
CLK '00 and I'll do lap after lap without feeling bored or annoyed.

As for the setup: max the aero then take 10 off the rear, put the
diff at about 7 34 14, then put the brakes toward the rear (3/7).
This depends on the layout of the car, of course - but most are FR.
If the car is MR (e.g. Audi R8 LM), put the diff at 8 36 18 or so.
With many front-heavy touring cars my LSD is set to 6 33 12.
Most of the touring cars can beat 6'30 around the Nordschleife
(I sometimes do a 1-minute standing start, and even then you can
clobber everyone in the 1-lap DTC).

I'm still trying to complete my collection of every DTC and Super GT
car I can find...

The GT40s
Tricky to handle, but sublime anyway - the Ford GT40s that won
Le Mans in the late 60's are among my favorite race cars in
GT5.  I particularly like the 1967 Mark IV - its handling is so
enjoyable (though one must not be careless of course, given its
MR layout) and may even be better than the Gulf GT40 from 1969
that we love.  Actually I'm very glad it handles well, given that
it cost 20 million (as does its main rival, which also handles
nicely and is fun to drive, though the 330 P4 isn't quite as
good as the Mark IV).  I really don't do anything to the setup
of the Mark IV - it feels fine the way it is - it's more of a
driving style thing.

Other vehicles
Later on I'll mention how important it is to do some really slow laps
at the Nordschleife so you can fully appreciate its complexity and its
subtleties... and you won't always want merely to drive slower in a
favorite fast car.  I'm not saying all these cars are slow, but definitely
not in the 5-minute lap range... these are just some other cars that
I've enjoyed (some more frustrating than others).

Zonda R - 6'19.994 stock, 5'56.538 tweaked
PDI Kart - 10'20.884
Mugen Civic - 7'38.922
Ferrari F40 - 6'55.887

Driver Aids
I always have these turned off, especially since some of them will
actually slow you down if you're a reasonably good driver.  Traction
control pretty much ruins full accelerating corner exits still, although
in some cars it's surprising how you may not notice the aids are on
sometimes - GT5 has improved them so the car balance is still good.
Skid recovery is fine if you're into ambitious corner entries, but
is pretty hideous otherwise and quite annoying to deal with when
it's forced on you (license tests often don't let you turn off SRF).
I'm not always that patient with the driver aids since they are
constantly interfering (especially SRF, on some tracks/cars). As
Jeremy Clarkson would say, what I want from my throttle and brakes and
steering is a bunch of yes-men, who do exactly what I tell them to do,
when I tell them to do it.

GT5 is pretty good at remembering what your preference is but usually
seems to default with TC at 5 on new cars (and sometimes it forgets
your prefs and sets it to that on practice laps anyway).  I think
everyone pretty much leaves ABS on its default "1" setting, so that
braking feels similar to the way it worked in GT4 - getting a feel
for braking without ABS is still a bit fine for it to work well in
GT yet... maybe if the pedals were better it would be interesting.
Skid recovery is the one that people seem to argue about a lot,
from the aspect of using it but denying it (even though it's pretty
obvious in corner entries).  Most of the aids have gauges that indicate
whether they are in use or not.

Game Equipment

My current setup:
Logitech Driving Force GT wheel
Logitech G25 pedals (modified)
Sparco cockpit with a Sienna seat (modified)
Cheap Panasonic surround sound with subwoofer

A driving cockpit and a 900-degree wheel will certainly improve your
game dramatically.  Just the immersion alone will be worth it regardless,
being able to adjust the seat, pedals, and wheel to the exact positions
you desire, and having a completely stable base to minimize any slop
from the body. I hear great things about the Thrustmaster or Fanatec
wheels, but most of us are probably using mid-level, affordable driving
wheels from Logitech.

I have a big bone to pick with the DF GT, and I'm sure it's in common with
many other DF GT owners who find that its durability leaves something to
be desired.  I'm on my second one already, and it started making creaking
noises within a week.  It's enough to make you consider other options that
might cost the same as two DF GT wheels but last longer.  The DF GT has
detailed feedback and good features (like the select wheel for changing
settings on the fly), but it feels very cheap and flimsy, and even with
the feedback on 10 and power steering off, it's rubbery and faint, so 
you have to guess how much steering input to add sometimes.  The DFP was
much more solid, and I like its smaller diameter which makes its feedback
feel stronger through the lack of mechanical advantage (and the wheel
is simply heavier).  However the DFP is slightly lacking in detail, has
a dead zone in the middle, and is just too slow at fast maneuvers.

To be honest, that weak, rubbery feedback in the newer Logitech wheels
(G25, DF GT, etc) always tempts Mr. Hand to become Mr. Fist.  My G25 wore
out far too quickly on its own, but also certainly met its demise in an
accelerating fashion due to how often it reacted in ways that would make
me lose my patience, then bearing, then any shred of temper.  After that,
I tend to bellow expletives that would make Kurt Busch blush, and the wheel
inevitably changes from precision instrument to percussion instrument.

One enduring weakness in the DF wheels is the plastic pedals, which are
amazingly unimproved.  The G25 pedals are much better, but they aren't
compatible with the DFP/DF GT wheels without rewiring. You could also find
an adapter to join them up - I would suggest trying that first.

G25 Pedal Mod (for use with DF wheels)

  fairly good with small electronics and are not taking chances with your
  Again, I've since seen adapters online that can accommodate this so
  you may want to try that first.

To make the G25 pedals work with the DF wheels takes some rewiring, mainly
on the seat, wheel, and pedal board positions).



  Throttle - single black, green, single red
  Brake - double black, white, double red

  Throttle - double black, white, double red

because it holds perfectly but is still adjustable.

New PS3 System

Recently I had problems with my 60GB PS3 disc drive (shocker), and even
after about a dozen attempts to disassemble, clean, reassemble, the thing
refused to work.  It was getting to be a power hog and a noisy, heavy
thing that tended to overheat anyway... so I got a 320GB PS3 and followed
the instructions online on how to transfer all of your data, which worked

One catch - if you didn't export your saved replays, you lose the ability
to view them in the Replay Theater.  NOTE: you don't lose them entirely -
if you go to the track where you set a lap, you do have access to your
saved ghost replays to load and race against. So they are all in there
somewhere, it's just the game that essentially limits your access to
them.  I hope this is something PDI will fix eventually - obviously if
it can load your old ghost replays in practice, it should be able to find
them in Replay Theater as well.

Shoes - On or Off?

weight in the pedals.

Left-Foot Braking

but then real rally drivers are constantly shifting both feet between
brake/gas and brake/clutch). 

Driving Tips That Have Helped Me Go Faster

"The exit of the corner is much more important than the entry to the corner,
with regards to smoothness.  And another thing is that you never put your
foot on the gas until you're sure you won't have to take it back off."
- Jackie Stewart

your rhythm into the next, and so on.  All it takes is time, practice, and
feeling like quitting... you are actually on the verge of making a huge
improvement.  So remember it's all part of the process of training your
the same way when I was learning to play guitar.

loses time in tenths.


"Work backward" also applies to figuring out the best line to take through
corner complexes: the idea is that the last corner usually needs the best
exit, so the preceding corners require adjusted lines to accommodate
this prioritization.  Usually this means turning much earlier for the
first corner in a complex in order to set up a corner going the opposite
direction.  The line you choose for any corner is always a compromise
between shortest distance and highest speed, and corner complexes are
often approached by choosing a shorter distance for initial corners
so that you can have maximum speed exiting the final corner.

allow it.


maximum acceleration.  There's a practical limit for every car, and then
there's the real limit if you're able to push into the slip angle just the
right amount.  But the closer you get to the limit, the more risky it
becomes and the smaller a mistake needs to be to exceed the limit.  As Senna
might say, this place makes you very fragile and it can all be gone in an
instant; yet you must go for it.

about how weight transfer affects braking and throttle as your car alternates
same thing, just laterally.

In GT5 the thing I find myself thinking about most is how the car handling
is basically all about finding balance - the brain is always trying to make
sense of the "actions have equal and opposite reactions" principle, and the
fact that you're always essentially riding on a bunch of springs and rubber
bands that are constantly having different ripples of force tossed at them.
Since you can't actually feel your body and 2000-odd pounds of steel being
shifted around, you have to commit to memory and learn to anticipate what
these actions and reactions are going to do.

When you feel it, it is magic.  Sometimes you will start to go beyond your
conscious knowledge - the kind of realm that scared the hell out of Senna
at Monaco one year and yet he searched for but never quite experienced
again.  Many times I'll set a record for myself when I'm not merely
trying not to overthink it, but not even really understanding exactly
what I'm doing to go so much faster - you just get in the zone both
mentally and physically, and with a bit of luck you manage to put it all


Nordschleife - Step by Step

so learn where this is - usually it marks particularly difficult corners


Again, the gearing is for the Formula Gran Turismo.  For the X2010
the black [silver or gold]) and how much downforce you have added -
you'll probably want that maxed out. If you actually won any of these
cars, then I doubt you really need my advice :)

T13 (grandstand section)

5th - Brake-4-3 - left - 4-5 - right bend - 6th - right - 7th - left bend

Right off the bat, the right to T13 is slippery - it's easy to mess up and 
go wide left into the grass, or spin into the wall on the right.  And the
first left is a doozy as well.  You wouldn't believe how easily your lap
can be over before it even starts.

and 5th, tracking to the right side. I stay in 3rd gear for this left now.
Because it's downhill, it's easy to miss the apex here.


Hatzenbach (Hatzen Brook)

Brake-6-5-left-4 - double right - 5th - left - 4th - right-left

a tiny lift in 4th to switch left, exiting wide and heading to the next section
in 5th gear.

Hocheichen (Great Oaks)


This section seems tighter than in GT4 - don't be late here.  I've become
familiar with all sorts of ways to crash here in GT5...

touch on the throttle to avoid spinning as the road drops under you, and the
camber for the left also does strange things.  It's almost a mini corkscrew.

since it's easy to blow laps anywhere in Hatzenbach or Hochichen.  So many
difficult turns in just the first 26 seconds.

Quiddelbacher Hohe (Quiddelbach Height)

Flat - over crest - right


Flugplatz (Airfield, literally "Flying Place")


Easier than in GT4.

Go over the left center of the crest as straight as you can and stay on
heading into the double-apex right-hander.  This corner is easy to get
next section.

Schwedenkreuz (Swedish Cross)


track slightly left of center as you get ready to brake hard down to 3rd
into the next section.


BRAKE-6-5-4-3 - long right - flat on exit

throttle control is important. If you can do this without 3rd gear it can

Fuchsrohre (Foxhole or "Fox's Neck")

Flat to 7th left-right-left - right - left up hill - 6th - left

it takes a delicate touch to stay on the track.

Adenauer Forst (Adenau Forest)


It is really easy to screw up this bumpy, twisty section, so think ahead.

"newbie corner".  Avoid braking too late, and if you can, smoothly connect the
two lefts, using a line to set up the right. If you can avoid the kerb on
it's a lot easier to find time here.

accelerating flat out into 7th for the next section.

Metzgesfeld (Metzge's Field)

Flat - bend left-right-left - left - left - brake-6-5-4 - left-5th-right

Deceptively difficult - it's flat if you do it perfectly, but if you miss
the apex or bump the kerb the least bit, you'll visit the big grass field
on the right.  I usually have to turn in twice, hard.

Give extra attention to your line, carefully sweep through flat in 7th gear
then brake down to 4th for the next left.  Watch the kerb, and 4th may feel
boggy if you turn in too late or brake a bit too much.  5th gear by the
right turn apex and down the hill, but it's very bumpy and slippery through
this section so be careful with the throttle. 

Kallenhard (Kallen Forest)

Brake-4 - right - 4-5 - left - 6th

early and drop back to 4th.  The kerb on the inside right is a good reference,
a clear exit, then give it gas and track to the outside.  Continue through 5th
and 6th as you bend left and approach the next scary sections of the track.

Spiegelkurve (unofficial, "Mirror Curve")

Flat 6th - left-right - sort out messy exit

up before the next part.  Not to be underestimated, however.



Big change from GT4 - now, it's the front end you have to worry about.  Very
easy to blow it here.

It feels like this is easier, but the tendency is to understeer after the third
much.  I'd leave it in 6th here, with a small lift to get the car pointed.

Wehrseifen (Resistance Valley)

Brake-5-4-right-3-left-2-left - 3rd - right - 4th - exit - flat 5-6

you'll only be losing time.  Once I realized the left is really a double left,
I altered my line somewhat and it made some time.

just after the left and get to 4th for the following right.  Careful with the
exit.  Flat to 5th and 6th toward the next section.




you can leading to the next right.

Ex-Muhle (Water Mill)



6th gear into the next section.

Lauda Links

Flat 7th - left


Bergwerk (Mine, literally "Mountain Work")

Brake-6-5-4 - right - 5th - right - left flat 6th

The exit is also tricky - there are weird dips and crowns that can easily
throw you off if you don't pay attention to them.

Kesselchen (Little Valley, "Little Bottom")

Left-7th-left-left - left - right, right, right-left

lefts is more difficult to do flat-out in most cars.  Reminds me a bit of the
four-apex left in Turkey GP, maybe they got it from here...

right edge, and brace for the next section.


Flat 7th - double left - left

Get tight inside for the first apex and then track toward the outside.  Another
left bend after that.

Klostertal (Convent Valley)

Flat 7th - left-right - crest - relaxed exit

Turn early with a lot of anticipation.

also isn't too difficult in the Formula Gran Turismo now.

Steilstrecke (Steep Stretch)

BRAKE-left-6-5-4-3 - double right - 4th - exit - 5-6

Understeer - oversteer.

brake just before the kerb on the left, down to 3rd.  This is another curve
reaching 6th gear before dropping hard back to 3rd again.



how well you stay in.

the next section.

Hohe Acht (High Lookout, after the hut)

Right - left - left-brake-5-left - right - Brake-4 - right - Flat 5th

on the throttle hard at the apex.

Hedwigshohe (Hedwig's Height)

Left - 6th - right - light brake 5th - left

totally blow your balance into...

Wipperman (Seesaw Man)

Left - downhill right - tap brake - uphill right


Eschbach (Ash Brook)

Brake-4 - double left - 5th


to 5th gear for the second apex. 

braking points.

Brunnchen (Little Well)


with the revs, dropping to 4th slightly lower each time.

Eiskurve (Ice Curve)

Brake-4th - left - 5th through right - 6-7

Tons of crowned pavement through here.  Plus camber going the wrong way.


Pflanzgarten 1 (Plant Garden)

Left, left, right, over crest STRAIGHT - settle-dab-6th-right-right

Try to be aggressive into the first right after the jump, since it's hard
to get very much grip until the big drop.  I'm trying really hard to get
to where I'm flat in 6th after I turn right...

The wavy bends can be taken flat, sticking to the basics but ending
considerable time all the way to Schwalbenschwanz.

Sprunghugel (Leap Hill)

Moderate - left - 7th before exit - left - STRAIGHT over left side of drop

a problem anymore.

Pflanzgarten 2


been resurfaced...

Schwalbenschwanz (Swallow Tail)

Flat 7th - right - brake-6-5-4 - left - 5th

I can finally do the entry flat here.  The timing is crucial and your line
needs to be very accurate in order to set up the following left, so focus,

Kleinekarussell (Little Karussell)

Brake-4 - drop into banking left - pop out - left - flat 5-6

MUCH better than in GT4 or NFS:S.  Stay in 4th.

brake somewhat early to 4th.  Drop half the car inside and try to build
revs as you pop out over the right corner of the last paving block.

Galgenkopf (Gallow Hill)

Dab 6th - don't touch kerbs - right-right - right - exit

Not to be underestimated, but it's easier than in GT4.  Like 3 rights, now
you can just turn in and not worry about the rear so much.

The trick is getting the first right apex - you definitely do not want to hit
you go the slightest bit too wide you will not stay on the track. Use 5th
gear after the entry if you even think the left edge is getting too close or
if the car bogs down.  Try to anticipate the kerb for the third right
hander and dive in, staying flat on the throttle and close to the inside
kerb.  Normal exit.

Dottinger Hohe (Dottingen High)

Flat 7th - looooong straight


Antoniusbuche (Antonius' Beech)

Flat 7th - left - down hill


Tiergarten (Animal Garden)

Flat 7th - left-right

drop to 6th for the final section...

Hohenrain (Raised Boundary)



of the right, going into the left with careful throttle. 

Brake to 3rd and get ready for the final right-hander.  Aim for the Armco
at the apex and just miss it - don't go too wide as you make your last effort
at throttling hard up the hill to the finish.  This corner is slippery and
I've blown laps here several times.  You should make 5th gear and then
cross and get your final lap time.

Looking Forward

Well this would be much easier for us if PDI hadn't omitted the section
times from Replay Theater!  You almost have to write them down as you're
trying to concentrate on racing, or make some kind of mental note.

Anyway, my latest best time of 4'42.277 has at least .7 of time to be
improved in the first five sections - I know this from racing against
it as a ghost.  However I still don't know what I did to be so fast after
Hohe Acht, sometimes I lose 1.5 seconds on the ghost just in T6-T8!
Nevertheless, my current "ideal lap" is around 4'41.5, so we'll see how
many hundreds of laps it takes to put that together...

Addendum 1 - AMG Academy

first complete the Beginning and Intermediate AMG Academy Special challenges
with Bronze times (fairly easy if you know the track, and even the

AMG Academy is meant to teach you how to lap the Nordschleife safely,
first four are the quarters of the track, followed by a fifth segment
while 3-4 are wet.  I also feel that the grip seems slightly better for the
full lap than in the segments, even though the tires are supposedly the
same spec.

Wet Racing
consider trying to "push harder" - you'll probably go slower, or crash.
wet to kick out the tail slightly in some places.  In fact when I replay
the AMG Academy these days I turn off TC and set the brakes at 3/5 so they
are weaker and more toward the rear.  Mostly, just be smooth and think
way, way ahead.

When overtaking slower traffic, one must try to follow the German
obviously racing technique usually is pass on the inside (which could
braking, you may have to break the rechtsfahren rule to overtake safely.
so go for it, but try to practice always passing on the left.  This will
of course get more and more difficult the faster you get - if you are
going for a lap time beyond the mere gold target, you won't want to waste
time waiting for the other cars to get out of the way, and very often
they will be in the wrong place, and especially in the wet they are so
slow that you will almost always catch them off guard.  I found that it
is possible to beat the gold times for the full wet laps by nearly
30 seconds, but you have to be a little aggressive and pass on the
right more often.

You get a lot of experience and credits for completing the AMG Academy,
and for getting all golds in the Expert tier, the prize car is the 2003
SLR McLaren.  And I love being able to practice segments of the 'Ring, 
which really helps to polish weaker spots without going through
the entire 13 miles each time.  I only wish you could do that in
practice with different cars...

My best times:
AMG Beginner full lap: 8'33.664
AMG Intermediate full lap: 6'56.992
AMG Advanced full lap: 9'14.863
AMG Expert full lap: 8'00.416

Addendum 2 - Red Bull X2010 Challenge

ludicrous speed!"

When you get to driver level 30, the Red Bull X2010 Challenge is unlocked
and demands skill and concentration like you've never needed before.

And, you win an X2010 for getting all three bronzes (S. Vettel), and another
credits and 463,640 experience points for bronze, 329,000 and 649,100 for
silver time.

available.  The biggest problem you will have in hitting even the
bronze times is that the car doesn't respond well to anything less
than full throttle - it requires finesse, but mostly it requires
attempt gold is the understeer, which is extremely pronounced especially
at Suzuka (scrubbing front tires on every corner).  Even with the diff
default set for lively handling, it still tends to produce understeer
does the same thing (in chicanes, runoff, etc).  I'm not saying go
four wheels off deliberately (and mathematically that often leads to
diminishing returns anyway), but take what you need.  Keep in mind, the
have to get close enough, so don't give up.

Avoiding understeer in the Red Bull X2010:
- Don't upshift early for corner exits (utilize high revs)
- Minimize throttle lifts
- Don't brake too deep
- Utilize lateral weight transfer
- Very clean footwork

And Suzuka, they should rename the X2010 Suzuka round "The Understeer
the proverbial string of obscenities in the heat of battle was definitely
in the last chicane).

My Suzuka gold result is available here, but I stopped trying as soon as
I made it so there are probably better ones out there:

Vettel Championship X2010 Online Challenge

I want to say it was a very nice gesture that GT5 honored Sebastian
Vettel as the 2011 F1 drivers champion by giving away an S.Vettel
Red Bull X2010, and doing a time trial at Suzuka online for a whopping
5,000,000 credits if you got gold.  Thanks for that.

The gold time was laughably easy (1'25, 20 seconds slower
than you needed to gold the original X2010 challenge at Suzuka)
and why they also chose RM tires is beyond me... but it was still
a nice timely feature.  Hope you all got a chance to do it
while it lasted.

Congratulations Sebastian and Red Bull!! Well Done!

Addendum 3 - game progress

A-Spec Level 40 - The Grind is over.  B-Spec Level 29 - Oubliette.

First let me say that GT5 has nearly every improvement I wanted.
It's just epic.  They even brought back the Rome track, which is
really fun not only for the scenery but also since it is an
interesting, somewhat tricky circuit.  GT5 has some flaws of
course, but overall it is still the best (console) racing game
there is.

worthwhile to do this initially instead of going back through later
and trying to find the bronze and silver stragglers.)

Third week: All about the Endurance series... until I reached
was tough though - most of the endurance races aren't enough by
themselves to advance to the next driver level that is required to



The online Seasonal races really take away a lot of the need for
silly grinding since the rewards and credits are quite high for
relatively little effort/time.  Too bad I made it all the way to
level 40 before I ever raced online.

The grinding really started after finishing the 24h Le Mans race, when
I found out the reward cars for completing the race and therefore

I did seventeen 4-hour Nurburgring races, calling it "practice"; using
the most ridiculous fast car that can spend half the time parked
for grinding.  My car of choice was of course the black X2010.  There
were still times when I just didn't want to do another 4h Nurb enduro,
(first two were soggy, but the third was 100% dry, so it varies).

The races with the highest rewards and experience without going online
are (times shown are approximate X2010 race times):


Laguna - 90 laps (75 minutes); 158,000


Indy 500 - 200 laps (2:15); 250,000

However, the rewards for playing the online Seasonal races are so high
that I have used them to get every car I wanted - at this point I've
seen all of them appear in the online lot or used.  Playing online
eventually means you can blow credits just to blow them; it's pretty
easy to get them all back.

24-hour Nurburgring:
lighting effects during the 24h Nurburgring are spectacular - well
Actually they are so fascinating that in both races I have gotten
distracted and run off the track occasionally.  Racing the Nordschleife
but no, you'll still find it very tricky to race it in the dark.

Have you ever gone karting with a bunch of newbies who have clearly
only driven on the street and know nothing about racing?  You know how
they will often do the exact opposite of what you're supposed to do
in a given racing situation?  That's what the experience of B-Spec
frequently feels like, except it isn't only the other cars, it's your
driver too.

Thus, before you play the b-spec races, make sure you adjust your

Granted, you must have some coaching shrewdness since the driver does
respond in subtle ways with varying success depending on when you
precisely tell him "pace up" or "overtake" (too bad there isn't a
"stop rear-ending every car you're trying to pass, you sophomoric
jackwagon" button).  However, you can be a star coach and still
groan in disbelief as your driver gives up a well-established
inside line, lifts on corner exits, repeatedly hits other cars,
refuses to pass even when there's plenty of room... so be patient.
You may have to run races several times to get the win.  You may
even have to adjust things to make it a little easier (i.e. give
your driver a car with the most performance allowed by the rules).

I think it's good that b-spec isn't just a tool for getting you out
of races you can't be bothered (or lack the ability) to do yourself,
and I indeed found it rewarding to run each endurance race for real
(instead of delegating some to b-spec in GT4).  However, the only
reason I bothered with b-spec in GT5 was to get the GT40, and that's
appeared in both car lots a few times now... so I could have had it
with far less aggravation.

Seasonal - Real Circuit Tours, Nurburgring 24h

This is one of my favorite races, although it does get into the
frustration of problems with the AI cars (more on that below).
I've won this race with lots of weird matchups that you wouldn't
expect to compete with the Group C frontrunners, cars like the
Chaparral 2D (440hp), or the NASCAR Chevy Impala (3400lb).  But
it is fun and replayable - and rewarding.  This race alone has
made it possible to fill my garage with many treasured autos.
(Of course the DTC race at Le Mans and the SuperGT races at
Laguna Seca and Nurburgring GP also are my frequent favorites.)

Seasonal - FormulaGT, Nurburgring 24h

Awesome race concept, except again we have a problem with the slow
AI cars (you can pass them all well before Aremberg and then you'll
be all by your lonesome for the remaining 10 minutes of the 2-lap
race).  I highly doubt Racing Hard tires would be one of the
choices on a track like this, so I don't understand why this is
the default in the series.  Still, if you can fight through traffic
and actually do two straight fast laps on the Nurburgring 24h
in a Formula GT without crashing, that's a feat in itself.

Addendum 4 - battling the AI

There's a great article on Cracked about how today's game designers
are so afraid people will simply put down the game if it's too hard,
that they build them for the very lowest common denominator (much
like the way speed limits are set so that even in a torrential rain,
an old lady with bad eyesight, a sloth's reflexes and terrible tires
would still be relatively safe).

The problem in GT5 is too often the AI antics mean wasting time
practicing the wrong things, instead of honing your precision and
technique with high-level wheel-to-wheel competition.  Mostly, you
practice your cleanest dirty racing where you have to take incredible
chances and you are frequently making passes that in real life
would be ill-advised to say the least (passing on the outside,
dive bombing, etc), all while trying to avoid contact.  Much of it
is nothing more than memorizing patterns, which is not an unusual
aspect of road racing but does make racing other cars feel mechanical.

One big thing you must watch out for is the lift-off.  If you get close
enough to a car in front of you and you both are anywhere near a corner,
he will lift off (and even downshift!) in order to make it easier to
pass.  Clearly the AI isn't unaware of your car's position, and one
quality of a skilled driver is knowing when to back off in corners so
that you both exit the corner on the tarmac.  Sometimes you have to
check up a little in order to set up your counterattack.

Except that the AI cars don't do that, exactly.  You come up right
behind them and you are counting on them to brake normally and then
exit the corner on full power, which they totally don't.  All your
brilliant effort in putting your car exactly the right distance
behind and then nailing the corner exit is spoiled as the other car
suddenly hurls itself into your nose.  And where they do this is
often in a place where you have nowhere else to go.

As of the 2.0 version, the AI is even more likely to act intimidated
if you invade their "personal bubble" a little.  I've been able to
pull a Steve McQueen and see them leap into the grass... and other
times, it's not at all uncommon to hear the AI double downshift if
I get anywhere near them.

I totally understand if the AI is little more than following a script
of a predetermined driving line, but can't we have two AI modes (oh,
let's say "amateur" and "professional")?  Can't we get some drivers at
PDI to lay down some faster driving line scripts?  If professional
AI race decision-making is still years away, I'd at least like to put
my 787B against the Minolta without checking out by Aremberg.

Dear PDI, Please, please, PLEASE fix this.

Addendum 5 - suggested GT improvements

This is where I voice my suggestions (frustrations) for improving the
Gran Turismo experience for future releases (or better: near-future
updates).  If you agree with me, let your voice be heard wherever
you choose as your favorite forum, so PDI will (maybe) get the word.
Or even if you don't agree with my suggestions, speak up on yours.

Incidentally, now that we have DLC (downloadable content) available,
there's always the issue of whether the "improvements" should be
free or paid add-ons.  I'm a little afraid they'll stop doing as
much when updating the game simply so they can sell DLC packs
of stuff that would normally be included without charge.  

1. AI - If I had to mention one flaw in the game that on some days
makes me wish for other racing simulator alternatives to GT5,
it would be the AI.  The AI skill level is singular and average,
and its handicapped tires and power are not adjustable. So you
either race even-steven and cream them, or you race on even worse
tires and power... which is the opposite of why I play GT5.
Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with a good Fiat 500 race, but mostly
I want pro race cars with full power, soft racing tires and a
race pace that doesn't allow you to make any significant mistakes.
I know it's ultimately just a game, but if they can accurately
model hundreds of cars and a 13-mile circuit with over a hundred
corners and countless tarmac nuances, why can't they make AI that
understands how to take corners at speed?

2. Camera Angles - most of the cars have improved perspectives
for the interior (first-person) cameras, but they still don't
quite work if you're already using a driving wheel to play the game.
And personally I don't like the bouncy, blurry camera - your eyes
adjust to this when you're racing for real, so in GT5 it's excessive.
I prefer the "hood" cam overall, but many of the cars haven't
rendered this correctly as far as width, or height and depth of field.
Some of them are even mounted on the roof instead of the hood.

3. Race Series - the really serious race categories (Formula,
Group C, Super GT, DTM, NASCAR, etc) are way too short.  As with
#3 above, the game needs to have the races expanded in general,
but these top tier series races in particular need to be much
more expansive.  A Le Mans race series would be nice also.

4. Sound - it's no secret that the sound quality of the various
car engines is GT5's enduring shortcoming, though many of them
have vastly improved from GT4 (more accurate, more aggressive,
more lifelike, louder).  Continued improvement there, please.

5. Car Tuning - GT5 still has some of the same limits for certain
crucial tuning aspects that control car handling - namely the LSD
(which is limited to 5-60 but should go 0-100), and the caster and
steering lock adjustments (which GT5 doesn't have, but should).
Tire pressure adjustment is another MUST ADD.

6. Real Circuits - well GT5 has sort of addressed this with DLC
for Spa, but I would still like to see Road America added, and if
we're able (or required) to pay for new tracks then let's also
mention Watkins Glen, Montreal (Circuit Gilles Villeneuve), and
Brazil (Interlagos).  And bring back Motegi as well!

7. Cars - Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, Aston Martin DBR9 - these two cars
simply must be added to any future version of the game.  I can't
believe that GT5 has Aston Martins but not the awesome DBR9! Also,
I would like to see the F1 cars from GT3 come back - the ones
based on old 80's and 90's cars and actually had some variations
other than livery.  Again, if this has to be a DLC thing, then
fine, that would be more interesting than yet another half dozen
Skyline variations (and I love the GT-R, mind you).

8. Original Circuits - I'm not sure why a circuit like Eifel is only
available to race online, it's a beautiful track.  And why did they
take away the Seattle circuit?  I loved that track.  GT3 also had
another great Japan-based night circuit that was awesome, wish they
would bring that one back.  I would also love to see the original
Rome circuit - I know the new one is laid out using the actual Rome
streets, so maybe the old one would need to be adapted accordingly,
but I miss it.  There are a few other tracks that were awesome that
were omitted from GT5... 

9. Time Change/Weather Change - Fully fixed in 2.0!! Just awesome,
you can now set the time or weather as well as its degree of change.
Just remember to bring a car that has headlights if you race at night,
I noticed it was pitch black when I tried it in my FormulaGT.

10. Replay Theater - Why do you lose the ability to view your replays
when you transfer your data to a new system?  I see that all of the
replays came over since I can load them in practice, so obviously
the Replay Theater just doesn't know where to find them.

11. Tires - I really wonder what's going on with tires in GT world.
GT5 has taken away the super soft compound, and there's a lot of 
emphasis on races that put you on hideous comfort tires (often with
an equally hideous minimum weight).  I appreciate that some enjoy
these sorts of challenges, but I don't see why every single race
seems to put the AI (and often you as well) on the lower end of
the tire spectrum.  I want GT to put the racing super softs back
if only so I can give them to the AI so they'll have a chance at
being competitive.  Also, it would be nice if tire durability
were different between compounds, so that you could actually use
that strategically in races.

Addendum 6 - lap milestones

Most people's advice is absolutely correct: that it takes about 100
laps just to consider oneself minimally familiar with the track.  But
half-second improvement.

(even if I wipe out at Galgenkopf, or T13 for that matter).


Lap 3660: New record arcade - 4'40.824
Lap 3672: New record practice - 4'48.974
Lap 3767: Combined GT4/NFS Shift Nordschleife laps: 4000

Lap   89: Formula Gran Turismo (Nordschleife only): 4'56.251
Lap  734: Finished 24-hr Nurburgring A-Spec (Gold Standard Trophy)
Lap  736: Ferrari F2007 shakedown Nordschleife: 4'59.0
Lap  738: Formula Gran Turismo (new) Nordschleife: 4'49.310
Lap  743: Red Bull X2010 Vettel Nordschleife: 3'21.318
Lap  757: Formula Gran Turismo Nordschleife: 4'44.599
Lap  885: Formula Gran Turismo Nordschleife: 4'43.466
Lap  890: AMG Academy Beginner, full lap: 8'37.882
Lap  896: GT40 '69 Nordschleife practice: 6'21.7
Lap 1003: Ferrari F2007 Nordschleife: 4'47.432
Lap 1103: Ford Mark IV Nordschleife: 6'08.601
Lap 1119: Combined Gran Turismo Nordschleife laps (GT4/GT5): 5000
Lap 1153: Mazda 787B, Nurburgring 24h: 7'00.630
Lap 1159: Mercedes CLK-LM '98, Nurburgring 24h: 7'16.410
Lap 1165: McLaren F1 GTR, Nurburgring 24h: 7'20.185
Lap 1252: Formula Gran Turismo Nordschleife: 4'43.165
Lap 1275: Formula GT Nurburgring 24h 2-lap online race: 11'57.998
Lap 1299: Formula Gran Turismo Nordschleife: 4'42.277

Addendum 7 - real-life lap records

qualifying in the 1983 Sports Car Championships, the final year that
historic starting grid...

1. 6'11.13: Bellof/Bell Rothmans #2
2. 6'16.85: Ickx/Mass Rothmans #1
3. 6'31.59: Wollek/Johansson Joest
4. 6'39.52: Rosberg/Lammers Canon
5. 6'41.17: Patrese/Alboreto Lancia Martini
6. 6'42.1:  Fitzpatrick/Hobbes JDavid

How many corners are there?

"It's not REALLY a corner..."
--Sabine Schmitz

The Nordschleife has 117 corners, in my opinion - at least
that's how I see it now in GT5.

In GT5 there is naturally a greatly increased accuracy in the track, 
and I also was starting to get lost or confused while reading my own
guide, since some of the minor bends had been oversimplified or
disregarded. So I went around for a few back-and-forth recon laps
(with much practice of e-brake turns in my Formula GT) and I've added
ten to the corner count.

I still don't quite get how people ended up tallying 147, or 173.  I can
understand the low numbers I've heard (I caught myself second-guessing
often, "is this a corner", but found I had counted the same bends
before most of the time), but I do wonder how they got the high counts
the numbers could have gone so high unless you start numbering by
some arbitrary angle size. 

I must mention also that sometimes it takes really looking at the
track (either in a slow car or merely by driving really slowly in a 
fast one) to appreciate the complexities of the layout and its subtle
rhythmic delights.  It's all too easy to miss it when you're always
going for the fastest lap time you can manage.  I certainly had many
"look how cool that is" moments while going more slowly (and sometimes
backwards) and really analyzing not only what counts as a real corner
or at least a bend, but also how they connect to one another in some
almost musical phrases, variations, and echoes.

Safety and driving philosophy

Is racing too safe these days?  I've even asked myself that question,
purely as a spectator.  Believe me, you could hardly ask yourself that
question as a driver, except in the sense that the illusion of safety
in the motorsport world in general might be inviting drivers to engage
in increasingly risky behavior.  Most sadly - you're always going
to have situations like the Las Vegas IRL race that lead to a great
driver losing his life and reminding us all that racing will never be
completely safe.

There are plenty of reasons why racing continues to be a risky
endeavor, not the least of which is the fine line that teams often
balance between performance and reliability - the idea that "the ideal
race car crosses the line in first place and then falls apart" has
driven constructors to make some cars very light, very powerful,
and very quick, but so fragile that if anything goes wrong, it's a
complete disaster - particularly for the unlucky driver, whose car
will often break at the worst possible moment.  Steering columns
snap, wings fly off, brakes or suspensions fail.  The frustrating
fact is that a vast number of our greatest drivers have been
killed by mechanical failures, and not by their own fault.  And far
too many of them knew it - they went forward into a race where they
knew something serious was wrong with the car (or the track, or both).
Even the great Juan Manuel Fangio is quoted as saying "a crazy man
finishes in the cemetary", or on another occasion, something to the
effect of if you don't feel confident in the car or the track, don't
race.  I think the hardest thing is to distinguish between normal
worries that drivers tend to shut out as they must concentrate
100% on the race ahead, versus genuine problems they should heed
to avoid getting themselves hurt in the race to be.

One strong point of view that I have heard consistently from any
champion drivers (and only contradicted by drivers who never became
champions) is that you always have more to learn, no matter how much
experience you have.  I think this goes hand-in-hand with safety as
much as success - as soon as you think you have nothing more to learn,
not only is that the moment you will start to lose, but that could
be the start of what will eventually cost more than race results.

The other thing that many greats (Senna, Fittipaldi, Lauda, etc) have
expounded on eloquently is the pressure, how enormous it is and how
you must deal with it well.  As a racing driver, you're always going
for the limit, the absolute highest performance you can command of
yourself, which is not merely 100% of the car's limit but that 101%
or 102% which truly is its maximum.  At that level, the wrong kind
of response to pressure is a disaster - so you must know how to
remain calm and somewhat clinical, and precise.  And when the mistakes
happen, or bad luck, you must acknowledge it yet forget it and get
on with the task at hand, stay focused on moving forward and save
looking back on things for later.  It's very dangerous to let your
mind wander - you don't have the luxury of trying to multi-process
within your brain when you need to concentrate on each corner, each
braking point, each exit, to get the most out of the car that you can.
Above all, never let the red mist get out of control...

"To drive consistently, you can't overdrive.  You can't go rushing
into corners, because then the whole corner becomes an adventure.
You've gotta be able to back off at the right time, get the car
decelerated, and get the car into the corner; don't overdo the
steering angles, don't overheat the tires, don't have the car
understeering one second and then oversteering the next second,
don't spin your wheels on the way out, don't use up more fuel,
don't use up more brakes.  Learn how to do it properly.  And when
you learn, never forget."
--Sir Jackie Stewart

Thanks for reading

Thank you for reading!

--Miyamoto Musashi, 1645