Here's what was ruining me on Motegi, and i didn't realize it until I ran against my ghost:
On Motegi East, perhaps more than any other track I've hot-lapped, the split-times are misleading.
I was getting faster individual split times when my exit speeds leading into a straight out of a combination were low. This is a consequence of the split being taken after the combination, and NOT at the end of the straight. When I finally raced with a ghost, this significance became painfully obvious. I'd get really excited when my first split was 0.250 faster, then I'd get passed by my ghost with a slower split, but faster exit speed.
The other thing that was killing my lap time:
Torque. I was using torque to cover a bad line coming out of the turns that led into the critical straight sections. I didn't realize how badly I was doing it until I turned about 15 laps in a car with half the torque of a Barracuda or Challenger, the BMW 3.0 CSL. When I went back to Motegi East with the "Little Fish" after racing the BMW, my lines and exit speeds improved by leaps and bounds.
YMMV, but I hope that helps.
PS: larryCR's right about being smooth.
