SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Driving rFactor: A Fast Lap at Toban Raceway Park's Short Track

Turn 2R: This uphill right-hander is taken at or near full throttle in 4th gear and in a gentle 4 wheel drift. The key is to have the car's chassis settled and stable as you enter the turn. You can easily modulate the oversteer attitude of the car by using small modulations of throttle.

The big thing once again is to get car balanced with its suspension settled in the turn and clip a slightly early apex on this uphill right hander. If you just start to hear gravel sounds with the right front, you are spot-on in car placement, as the kerbing for this corner starts at the apex, so a little gravel sound means you've hit a slightly early apex that will set you up nicely for Turn 3. Should be able to go through the entirety of Turn 2 at or very near full throttle, only modulating the throttle if you need to tuck the nose in slightly for the next turn. If that's the case, firmly squeeze-on the throttle to induce a touch of power-on oversteer. This is one area where it's imperative that you point car with throttle for Turn 3.

Through Turn 2 and 3

Turn 3L: Still at full throttle and 4th gear from Turn 2, aim to clip the inside kerbing and keep telling yourself that in these high speed corners, a bit of 4 wheel drift is a good thing. Continue to point the car using a combination of steering input and throttle that keeps the car hustling here, all the way to the braking zone for the next corner. Try to clip the apex kerbing and point a bit inside of where you actually want the car to go, while allowing the 4 wheel drift to keep the car on the track.

Turn 4R: Welcome to the first true braking zone on the Toban Short track, and one of the most challenging corners on the circuit. The key to successful negotiation of Turn 4 is precise car placement. The braking zone here is quite challenging, as the entry to Turn 4 occurs over the crest of a hill, such that pavement continually drops away just prior to the braking zone, partially hiding the entry to the turn. In order to compensate for human reaction delays and suspension dive, get on the brakes hard just before the darkened pavement area of the braking zone covered by the hood of your car. The key here (and later at Turn 8) is to gradually ease the brake pressure as the car slows down. Since the down force provided by your rear wing is reduced as you slow down, you need to gradually ease up on the brake pressure to prevent locking the wheels and unsettling the car. This is one of the key techniques to master when learning an ISI racing sim. Once you master it, you can start moving the brake bias further and further back, allowing the rear wheels to contribute more to the car's deceleration and shortening braking distances — unless you lock the rear brakes, which will typically result in an extremely unsettled chassis and a spin.

As the car slows and before you turn in to the corner, downshift the car to 3rd gear. The car will feel slow enough to downshift into 2nd, but resist the urge and take advantage of the extra momentum you'll carry through the apex by staying in 3rd. I used to negotiate Turn 4 in 2nd gear, but once I started using 3rd I immediately shaved several tenths of a second off of my lap times.

Given the smooth, flowing and wide nature of the back straight's S-turns, Turn 4's exit becomes the de-facto entry into the back straightaway.

As I mentioned earlier, Turn 4 is located at the crest of a hill and marks the highest point on the Toban Short circuit. Because the turn rests on this hill crest, the pavement seems to continually fall away as you turn, making it hard to see where you're going and keeping the suspension slightly more unloaded than in a turn on a flat piece of ground. It's also hard to gain sight of the turn's exit and judge your acceleration point. Luckily, ISI has strategically placed some cones near the turn's exit, and they can allow you to accurately gauge when to lay down on the gas pedal (assuming no one has knocked them down!).

As you pass the apex, gingerly start to apply the throttle as you unwind the wheel, being mindful for oversteer that is exaggerated by the hill crest mentioned earlier. Sometimes I find that a bit of opposite lock is required to keep the car tracking straight and not swapping ends. If all goes well, the car will ever so gently drift out towards the last pair of cones on the turn's exit, aimed at the right side of the track just prior to the next turn. The throttle should find its way to the floor as you pass the first cone near the turn's exit.

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