i take a test run or two or three depending on how many the track lets you have. then the scientific stuff begins. i dial faster by .1 of my fastest hit. as the races progress i always dial .1 faster than my last race if i won. this is fairly simple and has always worked for me. the next thing is to race the finish line correctly which to me is alot easier if you're the faster car. i never bothered with all the other crap you're talking about, especially the .01 stuff. i just didn't care about that little bit of et.