Quick Start

This guide walks you through the essential steps to start using TrackOut.

Try it without an account

You can start at trackout.app/start before you sign up -- no account, no email. Add your car (year, make, and model; nickname, colour, and miles are optional), log sessions with a track, a day, and an optional best lap and conditions, and fill in the build sheet. Sessions at the same track on the same day are grouped into one track day, and the form tells you whether a session joins a track day or creates one.

Everything you add stays in that browser until you save it. After your first session TrackOut offers to save your garage; if you choose Not now, it asks once more after your second session and then leaves you alone -- Save your garage in the sidebar (or Save at the top on a phone) is always there.

Saving takes you through the normal sign-up or sign-in, then moves the car, its sessions, and its build items into your account and shows what arrived, then takes you to your garage. If you finish signing in from a different browser (say, a sign-in link opened on another device), there's nothing to save there -- TrackOut says so, and you can save from the browser you started in. If you sign in to an account you already have, the car is added to your existing garage alongside your other cars -- nothing there is changed. If your plan's car limit is already reached, you can upgrade or keep the garage in that browser for now.

Create your account

Sign up for a TrackOut account with email and password, Google, Apple, or a magic link -- the sign-in page's Continue with Apple and Continue with Google buttons create an account the first time, and Email me a link sends a magic link. You can compare plans and read the FAQ on trackout.app before you create an account. If you use email and password, check your inbox for a verification link -- it expires after 24 hours. If the email has not arrived, use Resend verification email on that screen. If you try to sign in before verifying, TrackOut shows the same resend screen. After you verify, TrackOut signs you in and takes you to your garage (or back to the page you were trying to open).

Magic-link sign-in emails expire after 30 minutes. The sign-in page sends a password-reset code that expires after 15 minutes. Request a new link or code from the sign-in page if yours has expired.

From your garage you can manage cars, view upcoming maintenance, and explore all of TrackOut's features. After you have an account, you can add a passkey in Settings for faster sign-in.

Add a car to your garage

Start by adding a car to your garage -- that's the moment TrackOut starts being useful, and a car is what lets a saved telemetry session be filed under a vehicle.

An empty garage is the first-car form: What are you driving? asks for year, make, and model, an optional nickname, and whether it is a Track car or a Street car, then Add car. To decode a VIN or scan a window sticker, click Use the full form under the other options; Import from MotorsportReg connects your MotorsportReg account instead. Beside the form, Or start from what you have lets you upload a receipt, drop a telemetry file, or find the address to forward receipts to.

Once the first car is in, new accounts get a four-step setup card at the top of the garage page. It is a card, not a pop-up -- the garage stays visible and readable behind it the whole time. It is a first-run surface only: if you already had a TrackOut account before it shipped, it does not appear.

Manual make/model fields in the empty garage, first-run setup and the build-sheet editor suggest known catalogue entries while accepting custom values.

Only the first car collects data. Year, make, and model are enough -- VIN, colour, and mileage are optional. Window sticker, photo, and extra build details stay on the full Add Car form for later.

Steps 01–03 each have Skip this step; the card header has Skip setup for the rest of them at once, from any step. Skipping never loses anything: skipped steps move to saved for later and the garage keeps a single reminder you can Resume any time, or Dismiss to quiet. Nothing is deleted.

On a phone, the steps no longer squeeze: fields stack and the receipts step labels Copy address on its own row. Skip this step stays beside the primary action. Step 04 shows Crew Chief; Deep Research stays on its own page.

If you finish, skip, resume, or dismiss a step in another tab, this tab keeps that progress instead of overwriting it.

When you finish, the card becomes a Your garage, at a glance summary of your notes, events, and service reminders, with Next in the garage follow-ups you can dismiss with the X on a phone or a computer. Dismiss both follow-ups and the card retires.

Set your HPDE experience level later in Settings -- it is not part of adding the first car. TrackOut emails a reminder on day 3 and day 7 if the garage is still empty -- unsubscribe from those emails in the footer.

Upload your first session

1. Open Analysis under Track days in the sidebar (or My track days for a day-specific shortcut) and choose Upload telemetry
2. Select a telemetry file from your computer (up to 50MB)
3. The file is parsed instantly in your browser -- no data is sent to servers until you save

Explore your data

Once your file is parsed, you will see a list of laps along with interactive charts. Here is what to try first:

• Select a lap -- Click any lap in the list to view its telemetry data
• Compare laps -- Select up to 10 laps to overlay them on every chart
• Use the track map -- Click on the GPS track map to see data values at that position
• Check the delta trace -- See where you gain or lose time versus your reference lap

Save the session

After analyzing, you can save the session to your account:

1. If a Link to event banner appears after a standalone upload, accept it to attach the file to that past or today track day -- and that day's car -- or dismiss it to save standalone. Link and Unlink still work after Save.
2. Click Save in the cockpit header
3. The lap data is stored in your account, and the file you uploaded is kept alongside it

Saved sessions live on the Saved sessions page in the Analysis header and can be loaded at any time without the original file.

To tie a session to a car, either upload from a track day's card on the Analysis page, or accept Link on the Link to event prompt after Upload telemetry / a page-level drop. You can also Link or Unlink after Save, including when you reopen the session or re-upload the same file. See Saving sessions for the details.

Set up maintenance

Keep your car in top shape with recurring maintenance rules:

1. Open the car's Overview
2. On Oil, fluids, and intervals, click Manage -- or open Maintenance → Service schedule and choose New tracker
3. Choose What are you tracking? -- picking an item fills its name, the service type that resets it, and a suggested interval
4. Tick Not done yet if you have not done that work since you got the car; otherwise the interval starts from today
5. TrackOut generates reminders when service is due, and the Overview card shows used vs. limit on each interval

See Maintenance tracking for interval types, reminders, and logging which items a service covers.

Next steps

• Garage management -- Learn about car profiles, mileage tracking, and fleet organization
• Car setup -- Configure tires, brakes, alignment, and suspension for each car
• Maintenance tracking -- Set up service rules and reminders for your car
• Tire inventory -- Track tires across your fleet with heat cycles and tread depth
• Parts inventory -- Manage parts with status tracking and install history
• Track days -- Log track day events with sessions, conditions, and lap times
• Events -- Discover motorsport events, confirm the days you are attending, and review My season
• Inbox & receipts -- Scan service receipts with AI to auto-create records
• Crew Chief AI -- Chat with an AI advisor about your car
• TrackOut in ChatGPT -- Look up tracks and, after you approve, update your garage from ChatGPT
• Deep Research -- Get AI-powered research reports on parts, tires, and more
• Passkeys -- Sign in with your face, fingerprint, or device lock
• Uploading data -- Learn about supported file formats and data channels
• Lap comparison -- Understand color coding, best lap indicators, and delta analysis
• Available charts -- Explore all the visualization tools at your disposal
• Session overlay -- Use the full-screen analysis interface