so ive been putting together a small backyard track, nothing crazy, just trying to get some practice laps in between actual events. the space im working with is roughly 30x20 meters which i know is not ideal but its what i have. right now ive got 6 gates set up and the tightest turn is probably... idk maybe 4 meters between the exit of one gate and the entry of the next. flying it on my 5 inch it feels really rushed but i cant tell if thats a me problem or if i just set the spacing wrong.

like should i be scaling the gate sizes down too or just move them further apart? ive seen some people run smaller 3 inch builds on tighter tracks but i dont really want to build a whole second quad just for practice at home. anyone done something similar?

4 meters between gates on a 5 inch is gonna feel rushed, yeah. thats pretty much a reaction test more than a flow track at that point. general rule i follow is you want enough room to at least do a slight arc between gates, not just fly in a straight panic line. for a 30x20 space id probably do 4 gates max with wider spacing and maybe throw in one or two flags or poles instead of full gates to break it up without eating all your room.

also are your gates lined up in a way that forces direction changes or are some of them basically on the same axis? that matters a lot for how rushed it feels. sometimes rearranging the same number of gates changes everything.

honestly i just fly whatever i build and adjust until it feels good lol, i dont really measure. but i did switch to 3 inch for backyard stuff and its kind of a game changer for tighter spaces, i know you said you dont want to build another quad but even a cheap practice whoop class might be worth it if you want to actually work on technical flying. my backyard felt way more usable once i stopped trying to force a 5 inch into it