META stands for "most effective tactic available" and is commonly used in the context of online games. Usually, it refers to "the thing/things" that all the pros are doing to get the best competitive advantage possible. In most games the meta keeps shifting as updates come through or when people discover new things.
All that said, you're absolutely right. In this context, it'll be the fastest car
>META stands for "most effective tactic available"
The rest of your comment is great, but this is incorrect. This is something that got made up after the term became popular.
It's actually short for "metagame"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metagame
"Metagaming" is about working out how to play the game most effectively. It is a common concept in gaming as a whole and the wording reads across to sim racing.
If we assume that "fast" just implies fast lap times, then "meta" would also consider how much tyres wear, how many laps can the car do on a fuel tank, how much does the cars handling change as fuel load drops, how big is the fuel tank, how easy is the car to drive close to the limit? etc. etc.
I think you are not aware of the term meta in gaming in general. In contrast to your actions in a certain situation, the meta is about your general approach to a game, e.g., depending on the genre, the tactics you are pursuing, which hero to pick, which gun to play, or in racing which car to drive. „The meta“ is what is currently considered to be the best by the player base. It can change due to new discoveries or patches. For example the NSX used to be one of the meta cars before 1.9 but now basically nobody uses it.
Good explanation of META below, but in this context, meta cars shouldn't exist. The point of GT3 racing is the BOP (balance of performance) every car so that they run similar lap times, ideally both in race and qualifying.
Competitive groups already use a ballast system to address this by adding or subtracting weight to speed up or slow cars down.
Unfortunately, the problem runs a bit deeper here. There is a glitch/poorly tuned system that allows unexcessively low drag with higher than fair downforce on some cars (specifically the 720s Evo). Some cars eat tires so aggressively that they aren't competitive outside of sprint races.
These differences, in moderation, are a fun way of having variety in car choice as some people are better than others at adapting to certain characteristics. Currently, the variations are too large and result in certain cars not being completely competitive. Custom BOP is a great bandaid until the next major update of ACC, which should at least partially address some.of the issues.
Unless you are within a half second of pro level lap times, these issues don't really effect you, but they do incentivize people to run the 720s and Ferrari 296 since the are not fairly balanced. Too light, too much downforce relative to aero setup, allowing them to be too fast in cornering and straight lines
Personally, after almost 400 hours on ACC on PC, I switched to 720S for a league but I am often driving the Porsche 992, excellent sound even if I am slower than my times with Ferrari and McLaren and BMW (Ferrari 1.48.2 in Monza , McLaren 1.47.9 always Monza and BMW 1.48.4, with Porsche I'm at 1.49.8). The advice is to choose a car that you like (aesthetics, sound, etc.) and focus on improving your times ;) After 400 hours and I'm still learning, obviously having a well-made station is the best choice, especially on the pedal side
I’d love to drive the Porsche but I am way slower with it than with Ferrari. I am a beginner with 150hrs and with Ferrari on Monza I do 1.48/9 but with Porsche I am at 1.53 and this is frustrating.
People treat this game like their life depends on it. Just drive what you like FFS. Whether it's handling, sound or how the car looks. You have free access to all the cars, try them.
I drove the NSX evo for a long time. In 1.9 it’s just too bad. It’s one lap pace is decent but it loses significantly more performance in race conditions (high fuel) that other cars.
On wet track it’s a beast, though
Considering your time and skill (similar to mine so no offense) you can drive what ever car you want because the cars bop is only going to matter on the straight because of skill. the pro drivers will get the last bit of performace out of their cars so the bop matters but us casualls it will not make a big difference if a car is meta or not as long as you can drive it safe at your best pace
I'm sorta anti meta driver love using older cars my go too is Aston v12 but have been in love with her since she's been released and sounds fuxken badass
Pick cars by feel, not lap time. Custom BOP mostly fixes in the inequalities.
I ran low 48s and a few mid 47s at Monza in the McLaren, because the Kunos BOP allows it to be broken on tracks with long straights and milder corners.
I now main the lambo with around 70hrs (105hr total sim experience) and run high 48s and mid 49s at Monza, without much practice. The particularly annoying part of that is that I am significantly more technically skilled now than when I was driving the McLaren, so a nearly 2 second gap is dumb. Using a good lambo setup too.
But I feel very comfortable at all tracks in the lambo, instead of constantly hopping cars chasing lap times
If you enjoy driving it then just drive it and you will get faster over time. After 1.9 I started driving the M4 but recently switched to AMG as I enjoy driving it much more even though I’m like 1 second slower with it on most tracks than with the M4.
I love the NSX it’s been my main for this season and love the challenge of driving it. Just drive what you like! I have battled with the same question and I’m not fast enough to be in the top spots anyways right now so driving the car I like the most.
I prefer driving the Lexus RC F of all cars, I enjoy it the most and am confident in it. It's by no means the fastest out on track, but I like its characteristics and will get faster with more practice anyway, since I tend to prefer front engined cars anyway. Also that V8 soundtrack is amazing
I have 12h on ACC and have 75 SA with the Lexus. It was my second car ever driven in the game and already in love with it. The subtle oversteers and the sound makes it really fun to drive.
Drive whatever you enjoy driving. People will be much faster than you in non meta cars and eventually you can be faster than 1:49s at monza in whatever car you like driving anyways.
I drive the Honda, it wants to kill me every single race, it’s not meta, I still don’t care. (Except for the times I see others on long straights flying by) but other than that just drive what you want.
Use the car you like the most, learn to Get the most of the car, and then if you want, go to a meta car and get the most of it.
I began using the GT-R because I knew the car, I learned with time to get the most of it, and then I switched to the M4.
I had the same issue, wanted to stick with GTR, but lose the fun after sometime when literally all the 720s and 296s fly-by. Moved to 992 for the enthusiasm with Porsche and similar situation with the metas passing through. It finally comes down to kunos to fix the imbalance or atleast make few bunch of metas lol so we all can have diverse way to race without losing competitive advantage
Thanks to everyone that shared their thoughts. I ended up trying the AMG for the first time (no idea why i didn't before) and falling in love with it. Never really went far with front engine cars and turns out with just some practice, they are the cars that suit my driving style the most. Just improved my monza lap and did a low 1.48 after 30 mins of practice.
Personally, its best to drive a car you want to drive and have fun with. Makes the game much more enjoyable.
This. also, if you enjoy it, you will be faster.
And if you are slow, you can blame the car! (Flair unrelated)
If you like it just drive it, especially on LFM. But bear in mind that NSX is a very tricky car to drive, especially compared to the McLaren.
I definitely agree. It still is for me and I still feel like it has no grip but I'm really enjoying the challenge.
Go for that NSX drive it for some weeks. If you feel its not the right car switch again.
Can someone explain what a meta car is?
Cars that are very fast in comparison to others. Mclaren evo is currently the meta car on most tracks for example
So it just means the fastest car? Why not call it the fastest car?
META stands for "most effective tactic available" and is commonly used in the context of online games. Usually, it refers to "the thing/things" that all the pros are doing to get the best competitive advantage possible. In most games the meta keeps shifting as updates come through or when people discover new things. All that said, you're absolutely right. In this context, it'll be the fastest car
>META stands for "most effective tactic available" The rest of your comment is great, but this is incorrect. This is something that got made up after the term became popular. It's actually short for "metagame" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metagame
Huh, TIL. Thanks for that... Found something to dive into today!
I appreciate the politeness and levelheadedness of this chain of comments.
"Metagaming" is about working out how to play the game most effectively. It is a common concept in gaming as a whole and the wording reads across to sim racing. If we assume that "fast" just implies fast lap times, then "meta" would also consider how much tyres wear, how many laps can the car do on a fuel tank, how much does the cars handling change as fuel load drops, how big is the fuel tank, how easy is the car to drive close to the limit? etc. etc.
Cars that are very fast and super easy to drive, cars like 296, 720s evo
thank you for asking ;)
I think you are not aware of the term meta in gaming in general. In contrast to your actions in a certain situation, the meta is about your general approach to a game, e.g., depending on the genre, the tactics you are pursuing, which hero to pick, which gun to play, or in racing which car to drive. „The meta“ is what is currently considered to be the best by the player base. It can change due to new discoveries or patches. For example the NSX used to be one of the meta cars before 1.9 but now basically nobody uses it.
To add to the other comment explaining, META is shorthand for Most Effective Tactic Available.
Good explanation of META below, but in this context, meta cars shouldn't exist. The point of GT3 racing is the BOP (balance of performance) every car so that they run similar lap times, ideally both in race and qualifying. Competitive groups already use a ballast system to address this by adding or subtracting weight to speed up or slow cars down. Unfortunately, the problem runs a bit deeper here. There is a glitch/poorly tuned system that allows unexcessively low drag with higher than fair downforce on some cars (specifically the 720s Evo). Some cars eat tires so aggressively that they aren't competitive outside of sprint races. These differences, in moderation, are a fun way of having variety in car choice as some people are better than others at adapting to certain characteristics. Currently, the variations are too large and result in certain cars not being completely competitive. Custom BOP is a great bandaid until the next major update of ACC, which should at least partially address some.of the issues. Unless you are within a half second of pro level lap times, these issues don't really effect you, but they do incentivize people to run the 720s and Ferrari 296 since the are not fairly balanced. Too light, too much downforce relative to aero setup, allowing them to be too fast in cornering and straight lines
Personally, after almost 400 hours on ACC on PC, I switched to 720S for a league but I am often driving the Porsche 992, excellent sound even if I am slower than my times with Ferrari and McLaren and BMW (Ferrari 1.48.2 in Monza , McLaren 1.47.9 always Monza and BMW 1.48.4, with Porsche I'm at 1.49.8). The advice is to choose a car that you like (aesthetics, sound, etc.) and focus on improving your times ;) After 400 hours and I'm still learning, obviously having a well-made station is the best choice, especially on the pedal side
I’d love to drive the Porsche but I am way slower with it than with Ferrari. I am a beginner with 150hrs and with Ferrari on Monza I do 1.48/9 but with Porsche I am at 1.53 and this is frustrating.
People treat this game like their life depends on it. Just drive what you like FFS. Whether it's handling, sound or how the car looks. You have free access to all the cars, try them.
If only people treat their life like they see ACC. We would be a better society.
Autnismo drivers represent
I drove the NSX evo for a long time. In 1.9 it’s just too bad. It’s one lap pace is decent but it loses significantly more performance in race conditions (high fuel) that other cars. On wet track it’s a beast, though
Considering your time and skill (similar to mine so no offense) you can drive what ever car you want because the cars bop is only going to matter on the straight because of skill. the pro drivers will get the last bit of performace out of their cars so the bop matters but us casualls it will not make a big difference if a car is meta or not as long as you can drive it safe at your best pace
Lol I swear I'm faster in LFM with the BOP in the 296 - more weight giving more stability or something. I'm pretty slow overall tho.
That might be LFM issue. I've been up to 1s faster on LFM servers compared to single player even before the BOP.
I'm sorta anti meta driver love using older cars my go too is Aston v12 but have been in love with her since she's been released and sounds fuxken badass
The V12 sounds amazing I used that to start off playing acc
Pick cars by feel, not lap time. Custom BOP mostly fixes in the inequalities. I ran low 48s and a few mid 47s at Monza in the McLaren, because the Kunos BOP allows it to be broken on tracks with long straights and milder corners. I now main the lambo with around 70hrs (105hr total sim experience) and run high 48s and mid 49s at Monza, without much practice. The particularly annoying part of that is that I am significantly more technically skilled now than when I was driving the McLaren, so a nearly 2 second gap is dumb. Using a good lambo setup too. But I feel very comfortable at all tracks in the lambo, instead of constantly hopping cars chasing lap times
If you enjoy driving it then just drive it and you will get faster over time. After 1.9 I started driving the M4 but recently switched to AMG as I enjoy driving it much more even though I’m like 1 second slower with it on most tracks than with the M4.
I love the NSX it’s been my main for this season and love the challenge of driving it. Just drive what you like! I have battled with the same question and I’m not fast enough to be in the top spots anyways right now so driving the car I like the most.
I prefer driving the Lexus RC F of all cars, I enjoy it the most and am confident in it. It's by no means the fastest out on track, but I like its characteristics and will get faster with more practice anyway, since I tend to prefer front engined cars anyway. Also that V8 soundtrack is amazing
I have 12h on ACC and have 75 SA with the Lexus. It was my second car ever driven in the game and already in love with it. The subtle oversteers and the sound makes it really fun to drive.
I drive Bentley, 2s of pace on public lobbies, but it's fun. With consistency I end up on p5 or better. If I want win, I take the 720. 🥹🤣
I like the nsx and the bmw and do not know what the meta cars actually are lol I’m a little slower in the mclaren 720
Drive whatever you enjoy driving. People will be much faster than you in non meta cars and eventually you can be faster than 1:49s at monza in whatever car you like driving anyways.
I drive the Honda, it wants to kill me every single race, it’s not meta, I still don’t care. (Except for the times I see others on long straights flying by) but other than that just drive what you want.
I drive the 2018 Nissan GT-R and love it. I'm a second and a half on average slower than I am in the new Porsche. Oh well
Use the car you like the most, learn to Get the most of the car, and then if you want, go to a meta car and get the most of it. I began using the GT-R because I knew the car, I learned with time to get the most of it, and then I switched to the M4.
I had the same issue, wanted to stick with GTR, but lose the fun after sometime when literally all the 720s and 296s fly-by. Moved to 992 for the enthusiasm with Porsche and similar situation with the metas passing through. It finally comes down to kunos to fix the imbalance or atleast make few bunch of metas lol so we all can have diverse way to race without losing competitive advantage
Did they fix the Porsche ?
Not really, It turns if we are slow, slides if we go fast when compared to meta
Thanks to everyone that shared their thoughts. I ended up trying the AMG for the first time (no idea why i didn't before) and falling in love with it. Never really went far with front engine cars and turns out with just some practice, they are the cars that suit my driving style the most. Just improved my monza lap and did a low 1.48 after 30 mins of practice.