Lateral g
Lateral g is the sideways acceleration a car experiences while cornering, measured in multiples of gravity.
Also called: lateral acceleration, cornering g
When you corner, the tires push the car toward the inside of the bend, and you feel pressed toward the outside. That sideways acceleration, measured in g, is lateral g. Typical road cars on street tires can reach roughly 0.8 to 1.0 g; track-focused cars on sticky tires go higher.
In data, peak lateral g in a corner is a rough measure of how much of the tire's grip you used. If your best laps reach 1.0 g in a corner and today you only saw 0.85, either you were not committed or something about the car or track changed.
Remember that lateral g depends on the car, tires and track, so compare yourself with yourself in the same conditions. Also, lots of g is not the goal by itself: a lurid slide can show spiky readings while being slower than a clean, smooth arc.
Lateral g shows whether you are using the grip available in corners, which is where much of the lap is decided.
Each dot is one moment of a lap: cornering (sideways) against braking and acceleration (up and down). Novices draw a cross; experienced drivers fill the circle by blending inputs. Illustrative data.