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The original was posted on /r/simracing by /u/mike0sd on 2023-09-03 02:44:14.

If you follow sim racing you have probably seen people leaving comments comparing “hot lappers” to “racers”. This is a fallacy, and is actually an obstacle to improving your own pace and racecraft. In any race, the most important part of your race strategy is your pace. Nothing gives you the ability to attack and defend like pure lap time.

“The best defense is a good offense” is a timeless adage. 99% of drivers should be focusing on why they are losing time to faster drivers. Acting like people who are faster than you don’t have any race craft is a way to cope with your own lack of pace.

I have witnessed so much “race craft” from people who are severely off pace, things like breaking the slipstream and taking defensive lines. These things are not what you should be doing much of, unless you are battling a driver who has similar pace to you. If you have someone who is quickly closing up a gap behind you, doing these things only kills your lap time and distracts you. The driver behind is not catching up so quickly because of your slipstream. It’s because you’re not using the whole track, you’re overslowing, missing apexes, watching your mirrors, and just simply have worse pace. Look forward and hit your apexes. Learn to “hot lap” a little bit. Learn to drive on the limit for the duration of a race.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever block the inside line, but that is a secondary thing to figuring out how to go faster. And honestly, are there really even these people who know how to do insane lap times on a track but don’t think about the wheel to wheel aspect? Sure, I’ve seen my share of poor racecraft and outright wrecking. But I think the idea of a “hot lapper” who just joins online races to drive alone lap after lap is a myth.