For the past couple of months, and even longer, I’ve been using telemetry, and it’s made a noticeable impact on my pace and overall performance in GT7. In this video, I’ll show you exactly how to use telemetry effectively and explain why it’s such a game-changing tool. Let’s dive in.

What is Telemetry and What is DELTA (Why it’s useful)

The biggest reason I use telemetry is to clearly identify where I’m losing time compared to the top drivers in the world. While I’m ranked fairly high, there’s always room for improvement. Sometimes it’s the braking points that are slightly off, or specific parts of the track where my technique isn’t quite hitting the mark. That’s where telemetry steps in.

Telemetry gives you a detailed breakdown of your lap. It highlights what you’re doing right, what needs adjustment, and how to fine-tune your driving. If you’re new to the concept, telemetry is used in both real-world racing and sim racing. It visually displays your driving data, usually through graphs that show inputs like throttle, braking, gear shifts, tire temperatures, RPM, and more.

Studying this data helps smooth out your driving and close the gap to the fastest drivers, especially when you’re comparing against a strong reference lap.

For my setup, I use Coach Dave Delta. There are plenty of options out there, some free, some paid, but Delta is my preferred choice thanks to its simplicity and clean interface, which makes spotting areas for improvement much easier. I’ve also covered other tools like MoTeC in past videos, but for this one, we’re focusing on Delta.

So, let’s kick things off by recording a baseline lap.

Recording a lap (while driving)

Recording a lap while driving is straightforward. First, download Coach Dave Delta, I'll include the link in the description below. Just so you know, it’s a paid tool. It costs around 50 euros per year, or about 5 euros a month if you opt for the monthly plan. Not the cheapest, but definitely worth it for the insights it provides.

Once installed, launch Gran Turismo and start driving. The great thing is, your PlayStation automatically transmits data during your sessions, and Delta picks that up in real time. You don’t need to do anything special, just race like you normally would.

After your session, whether it's one lap or fifty, you can dive into the data and review your performance. Delta shows you racing lines, gear selections, braking input, throttle pressure, and more, all laid out in a clean, visual format. You can pinpoint exactly which line you took through each corner, how hard you braked, and how soon you got back on the throttle.

One limitation to note: GT7 doesn’t track steering input, so we won’t be able to analyze that aspect. But we’ll focus on what we can see, braking, acceleration, and overall driving behavior, especially your adherence to the ideal racing line.

Now, once you’ve got a lap recorded, it’s time to analyze it. The key here is to compare it with a faster reference lap. This comparison will show you exactly where time is being lost and where you can make gains.

Recording a lap (Replay)

Before I started using telemetry, I used to rely on replays, painstakingly going frame by frame to figure out where I was losing time against the top drivers. It worked, but it took ages. With telemetry, finding extra pace takes just a few minutes. Whether you're refining a single corner or optimizing an entire sector, it's fast, efficient, and incredibly insightful.

Let’s say you're racing online and want to grab a solid reference lap. Start by finding a replay from a top-ranked driver. Load it up and pause it at the beginning. Then open Delta and turn on the “Replay Capture” option.

Next, go back to your game and let the replay run from start to finish, no pausing, skipping, or rewinding. This step is crucial. Any interruptions will disrupt the data capture. Just let that single lap play through cleanly.

Once the replay finishes, Delta will ask where you'd like to save the captured data. Choose a folder on your PC or Mac. (Quick heads-up: Delta currently works only on PC and Mac, though that might change in the future.)

After saving the data, open Delta again. Load your own best lap, click on “Load Reference,” and select the file you just saved. Delta will overlay the reference lap on top of yours, and you’ll immediately start to see the differences.

The first thing you’ll notice is the delta line. This shows the time gap between your lap and the reference, broken down by each section of the track. In some corners, the time difference is immediately clear.

For this breakdown, we’re going to focus on Fuji Speedway. Let’s take a close look at the spots where I lost the most time and explore what can be done to improve.

DG EDGE Integration

One more thing worth mentioning is the powerful integration between Delta, DG Edge, and your DG account. Once your profiles are linked across these platforms, every lap you record in Delta automatically syncs with your DG Edge dashboard. For instance, all of my recorded laps are stored there and easy to access.

Why is this a big deal? Gran Turismo has a slight delay when transmitting braking data. So even though telemetry might show a clean, curved line for braking input, that’s not entirely accurate. The game doesn’t update quickly enough to capture the exact moment you hit the brakes or how rapidly you applied pressure. This makes the braking trace from replay data less reliable.

But when you record your own lap directly through Delta, that delay is eliminated. The input data is captured in real time, giving you a far more accurate look at your braking behavior.

If you want to compare your performance with other drivers, it’s incredibly simple. Just head to DG Edge, click on "Lap Times," and your data pops up in your browser. Every lap recorded through Delta shows up here automatically, keeping everything neatly organized and up to date. You can even find my laps there and compare them to the latest events I’ve raced in.

I’ll drop a link in the description that walks you through how to connect everything step-by-step.

Analyzing Data

Now that we’re inside Delta with my lap and the world record loaded for comparison, the first thing you’ll notice is the delta line spiking in key areas. These spikes highlight exactly where I’m losing the most time. Some gaps are surprisingly big, so let’s break things down, starting with Turn 1.

Zooming in, it's clear the reference lap took a smarter approach. Despite GT7’s slight delay in braking data, you can still see the difference: the world record lap eased off the brakes more smoothly, used the curb to help rotate the car, and turned in earlier. He carried more speed through the corner and used the full width of the track on exit, which resulted in a clear time gain.

In Turn 3, the pattern repeats. I braked earlier and stayed on the brakes longer, which cost me speed going in. The reference lap used a wider entry, got off the brakes quicker, and maintained a better line. Gear choice mattered too, he stayed in 4th gear while I dropped to 3rd, which may have unsettled the car and slowed me down even more.

Further into the lap, one section really stood out. I actually entered the corner faster but held the brakes too long and didn’t rotate early enough. The reference driver turned in sooner, used the curb again for rotation, and got back on the throttle earlier. He also stayed in 2nd gear, which helped him maintain better traction and exit more cleanly with more speed.

These might seem like minor differences, but they add up. In one corner, I accelerated a fraction of a second earlier, but it pushed me wide and compromised the next turn. If I’d waited just a bit longer before getting back on the throttle, I could’ve held the line better and carried more speed out. That single mistake cost me about 0.05 seconds.

One of the most telling sections showed just how important precision is. While our corner entries were similar, the exits were completely different. I went wider on entry but struggled with stability under acceleration. The reference lap had a smoother, more controlled throttle application. In the telemetry, his throttle trace was almost flat, while mine wavered. That difference alone added another 0.05 seconds to the gap.

In the end, these aren’t huge errors, just small inefficiencies, each worth a few hundredths. But when you’re chasing down half a second or less, these micro-adjustments are everything. It’s about refining brake points, carrying more speed through the turns, optimizing your exits, and using every inch of the track. These are the changes that elevate a good lap to a great one.

Conclusion

All in all, telemetry is an incredibly powerful tool for lap analysis. It saves time, sharpens your driving, and helps identify the small, critical improvements that really make a difference. If you have questions about anything in this video or want to dive deeper into a specific topic, drop a comment below. You can also join the conversation in the Lap Analysis thread on the site or hop into our Discord community where we break down laps and share insights regularly.

Telemetry in Gran Turismo 7 - How to Use It & Find More Pace

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Telemetry in Gran Turismo 7 - How to Use It & Find More Pace

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