- target (3 laps)
- 2:15.00
- per lap
- 45.0 s
- record
- 0:58.06
- lap length
- 435 m
- width
- 22 m
- corners
- 8
The map as the game's menu draws it, seen from above like the in-game camera. The dot is the start line.
Overview
Esses has 8 corners, 6 right-hand and 2 left-hand, turning through 660° in total on a 435 m lap. The tightest corner has a 18 m radius. At 22 m wide it is one of the roomier tracks, forgiving while you learn to hold an angle.
To beat the target you need an average of 45.0 s a lap. Corners swap direction, so the transitions between them decide the lap.
Corner by corner
| # | Corner | Turns | Angle | Radius | How to take it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Esses | right | 50° | 18 m | Kink / flick. Barely a corner: a quick weight swing, keep the throttle pinned and link it into the next one. |
| 2 | left | 100° | 18 m | Medium. Tap in before the apex and hold a moderate angle with the throttle. | |
| 3 | right | 100° | 18 m | Medium. Tap in before the apex and hold a moderate angle with the throttle. | |
| 4 | left | 50° | 18 m | Kink / flick. Barely a corner: a quick weight swing, keep the throttle pinned and link it into the next one. | |
| 5 | Corner | right | 90° | 20 m | Medium. Tap in before the apex and hold a moderate angle with the throttle. |
| 6 | right | 90° | 20 m | Medium. Tap in before the apex and hold a moderate angle with the throttle. | |
| 7 | right | 90° | 20 m | Medium. Tap in before the apex and hold a moderate angle with the throttle. | |
| 8 | right | 90° | 20 m | Medium. Tap in before the apex and hold a moderate angle with the throttle. |
What hairpins, chicanes and sweepers are and the line through each: corner types and how to drift them.
The esses: racing line through an S
Esses are a run of bends that alternate direction, an S or several in a row. This track opens with one, 30 m after the start line: four arcs on the same 18 m radius, 50° right, 100° left, 100° right and 50° left. The hint calls it "two chicanes back to back", and the rest of the lap is four 20 m right-handers joined by straights. The S is where the time is.
The S is almost a straight. The four arcs cover about 83 m of track, and through them the middle of the road swings 12.9 m from side to side: right, back, right again. The road is 22 m wide, wider than that swing. Worked out from the track data, a dead-straight line through the whole S never gets more than 6.4 m from the middle of the road, so it keeps about 4.6 m to each wall, less half the width of the car. That is the fastest line: be on the right-hand side of the road at the end of the start straight, aim through the S and barely steer. Each apex is a brush past the inside of the bend, not a corner you turn into.
Why the classic line fails here. Taken one bend at a time (outside, apex, outside), each exit throws you to the wrong side for the next bend, which turns the other way. You end up correcting four times on 18 m arcs, and the inside wall of each one curls round on only 7.0 m. The lesson carries to any set of esses: plan the line for the whole S, sacrifice the exits of the first bends, and let the last exit decide what you get onto the next straight.
The straight line sets up the next corner. The S ends shifted 12.9 m to the right of where it began, so a line that stayed straight comes out on the left half of the road, the outside of the 20 m right that follows 10 m later. Brake in a straight line there, turn in late and use the full 22 m: the inside wall of that right runs on 9.0 m, the outside on 31.0 m.
How to drift it. The target time only counts the clock, but the drift score counts the slide, and the hint, "transitions are everything", is what the score rewards. If you want points, keep the angle small and let the car swap from one direction to the next: lift as the car passes straight, the rear swings the other way, catch it with counter-steer and back on the throttle. Done as one movement, the slide never breaks and the multiplier keeps building through all four arcs. Big angles cost time here and put the tail near a wall. At the speed you carry into the S the steering lock is small (about 20° at 72 km/h, less as you go faster), so small, early inputs beat late corrections. No handbrake needed: with it on, the rear keeps only about a tenth of its sideways grip, which is right for a hairpin and far too much rotation for an 18 m flick.
The four rights. The first two are only 20 m apart, so treat them as one 180° turn: wide in, stay in the middle of the road between them, then a late apex on the second, because it opens onto the 122.73 m straight, the longest on the lap. Speed out of it is worth more than speed into the first. At the end of that straight brake hard for the third right; the fourth comes 32.86 m later and leads onto the 30 m start straight and the S. Run out to the left as usual, then use that straight to drift back over to the right-hand side of the road, ready for the straight line through.
The theory: corner types: esses and how to link drifts. Want more S-bends? Snake and Zigzag are full of them, and Chicane has a shorter one before a hairpin.
The record
The current record on Esses is 0:58.06 by @AndrewCourtney7, 76.9 s under the target, with 23 drivers on the board. Think you can beat it? Sign in with X in the game and your fastest run goes up under your @handle.
Tips
- Drive one clean lap first: any wall contact restarts the run, and your ghost only records runs you finish.
- Once you have a personal best, race its ghost and watch the checkpoint splits to find the corner that costs you time.
- Use the width: a wide entry lets you start the slide early and carry more speed through the apex.
- New to the technique? How to drift with a keyboard covers handbrake entry, counter-steer and linking.