Lap Time Calculation

Lap Time Calculation

Formula Overview

A lap time starts from a baseline, then adds a penalty for setup mistakes plus a small random factor. The formula looks like this:

Lap Time = Base Performance + Penalty + Random Variance

• <strong>Base Performance</strong> starts just above the circuit's fastest possible lap. Think of it as the best time you could achieve with a perfect setup.
• <strong>Penalty</strong> adds time based on how far your car setup is from the circuit's ideal values. Your driver skills, car part levels, and crew chief all reduce this penalty.
• <strong>Variance</strong> is randomness. Higher driver Technical skill tightens the randomness so your lap times are more consistent.

The Five Setup Parameters

Each of the five adjustable settings is compared against a circuit's ideal (perfect) value. The table below shows which circuit characteristic determines how important each setting is, and which driver skill helps correct errors in it:

Per-Parameter Error Calculation

First, work out the raw error for each parameter. This is simply how far your chosen value is from the circuit's ideal, divided by 100:

baseError = |yourValue - perfectValue| / 100

Example: if the ideal aero is 55 and you set it to 70, the base error is 0.15.

Three factors then adjust this error. Each factor is a number between 0 and 1 that can reduce the penalty:

1. Circuit Weight - how much this parameter matters at this circuit (rating divided by 10, so a 7/10 circuit gives weight 0.7)

2. Car Part Factor - better parts forgive more setup error. A Level 1 part gives no help (factor 1.0). A Level 10 part cuts the error nearly in half (factor 0.55). Formula: max(0.1, 1 - (partLevel - 1) x 0.05)

3. Driver Skill Factor - skilled drivers can compensate for setup mistakes. A driver with effective skill 0 gives no help. A driver with skill 12 or higher reduces the error by up to 80%. Formula: max(0.2, 1 - min(effectiveSkill / 15, 0.8))

These three factors multiply together with the base error to get the effective error for each parameter. The overall error is then the average across all five parameters, weighted by how important each one is at this circuit:

effectiveError = baseError x circuitWeight x partFactor x driverFactor

avgWeightedError = sum(effectiveError) / sum(circuitWeight)

Final Penalty

The raw penalty before any reductions is the average weighted error multiplied by the maximum possible penalty (four times the circuit's time window):

rawPenalty = maxPenalty x min(avgWeightedError, 1) where maxPenalty = (circuit_max_lap - circuit_min_lap) x 4

The raw penalty is then reduced in two stages. First, your crew chief's Strategy skill cuts it by up to 40%. Then your driver's Technical skill fine-tunes it further, cutting up to 15% more:

penalty = rawPenalty x strategyFactor

The strategy factor comes from your crew chief: max(0.6, 1 - min(effectiveStrategy / 25, 0.4))

Your driver's Technical skill refines further: rawPenalty x min(effectiveTechnical / 30, 0.15)

The random variance shrinks with higher Technical skill: +/- (window x max(0.05, 0.3 - effectiveTechnical x 0.02))

Effective Skills

A driver's or crew chief's effective skill combines their level with their natural talent percentage:

effectiveSkill = level x (skillValue / 100)

Example: a Level 10 driver with Pace 50 gets effectivePace = 10 x 0.50 = 5.0. A Level 5 crew chief with Strategy 60 gets effectiveStrategy = 5 x 0.60 = 3.0.

Key Takeaways

• Closer setup to perfect = faster lap
• Higher driver levels reduce penalty impact
• Better car parts reduce penalty impact
• Crew Chief Strategy provides overall reduction
• Higher Technical skill = tighter variance = more consistent laps