The Test Drivers and Tuners Dictionary

This thread is a dictionary (or Lexicon) with the intent of bringing consistency to the communications between Test Drivers and Tuners.

The second post is for Test Drivers, the third is for Tuners. Because drivers and tuners think in different terms there will be overlap between the lexicons.

I will list several "linguistic determinations" (aka concepts) that drivers and tuners use commonly. If you have a word you want to add to the TDTD just add a reply with the word and your definition for it. If you have a new definition for an existing word, ditto.

Many thanks to:
Drivingfast.net
Turnfast.com

Test Drivers Lexicon:

Under-steer: the front tyres loose grip before the rear tyres.

Over-steer: the rear tyres loose grip before the front tyres.

Snap over-steer: sudden and uncontrollable (usually) over-steer.

Feedback: the feeling from the steering wheel (and the "seat of the pants") that tells the driver what the wheels are doing.

Tank-slapping: the rear end of the car will counter sway as you exit a corner / The rear tyres suddenly lose grip causing a partial spin. # Could result in fish-tailing. Usually occurs when finishing a drift or overpowering the rear tyres with throttle on corner exit.

Fish-tailing: the rear end of the vehicle will sway side to side after it exits a corner. # Can lead to loss of control.

Trail-breaking: applying the breaks while not driving in a straight line. # Usually applicable during corner entry. Often used to compensate for understeer.

Threshold breaking: Applying the brakes to the maximum amount before a wheel or wheels lock or the ABS activates. # This achieves the shortest stopping distance.

Wheel discipline: how a driver grips and manipulates steering inputs. # When used correctly the driver will get better feedback from the wheel and more sensitive and quicker inputs.

10-2:
9-3:
8-4:
Underhanded:

Range-of-feel: the change of the feedback from the steering wheel as the car approaches its slip.

Slip angle: The difference between the direction the tyre is pointing and the direction the vehicle is travelling. # An understeering car will have higher slip angles for the front tyres, while an oversteering car has higher slip angles for the rear tyres.

Drifting: sliding the rear of the car out as you round a corner. Usually.
{Can anyone give me a good def for drifting?}

True Drift: achieving near maximum slip angles with both the front and rear tyres.

"Squeak, squeal, screech:" The three distinctive sounds a normal will make as it reaches traction limit. # It is possible to pass through one or all three straight into total grip loss.

Drafting: letting the vehicle in front of you break through the air, so that your vehicle has to work less against air resistance.

Yaw:

Point of yaw: the point along the cars longitude axis that the vehicle rotates around.

Weight shift:
Lateral:
Longitudal:
Squat: rearward weight transfer. # Due to acceleration.
Dive: forward weight transfer. # Due to breaking/deceleration.

Heal-toe shifting: depressing the clutch with your left foot while breaking with the pad of the right foot and the accelerator with the heal of the right foot. # Do not practice this discipline outside of a closed environment.

Synchronized shifting: shifting while the gear you are in and the gear you are shifting to are rotating at the same speed. Aka: clutchless shifting. # Most modern transmissions do not... appreciate... synced shifting. Do not try this irl without direct tutoring from an experienced and professional driver.

Double clutching: using the clutch twice for one shift: once to go from the gear you are in to neutral and again to go into the next gear. # Usually only applicable in old vehicles.

Granny shifting: shifting with only one clutch depression, passing directly through neutral. # Despite the negative moniker this is usually the safest and most called for shift type.

Traction:
Grip:

Traction limit: the point where the tyre exceeds its grip.

Torque vectoring: Distributing engine or braking force to a particular wheel in order to control the rotation of the car. # A common example in GT5 is using high LSD Acceleration values to send extra torque to the outside wheel of a RWD car. This causes the car to rotate, reducing exit understeer

Load (tyre load):

Complex (corner complex): multiple corners with no appreciable straight between them. # For quick driving (track) draw your driving line from the last corner to the first. Exit speed for the straight is emphasized. For social driving extending your LOS is more important.

Chicane: a left-right or right-left road movement, usually no more than three lane widths. # Any more than three and its a complex.

Simple corner: a corner which is isolated from other corners (the opposite of a complex).

Field of view (FoV): the distance and amount of territory the driver can keep track if.

Line of sight (LoS): how far ahead the driver can see.

Natural aim: where the drivers eye naturally focuses. # Where you look, you tend to steer toward.

Field of focus:

Reference points (breaking, etc.): track markers drivers use to know when to execute a maneuver. # Do not use non-permanent reference points.

Relative distance: the distance between two objects in time, rather than distance. # Ie. "I was 3 seconds behind the car in front of me."

Contention: when two (or more) cars want to occupy the same space.

Corner Parts:
Entry:
Apex:
Exit:

Corner Phases:
Breaking zone:
Turn-in:
Apex:
Exit:

Driving Line: the path over the track (road) that the driver desires.
Geometric DL: a consistent and even path through a corner.
Ideal DL: a GeoDL that is modified based on the vehicle setup.
Miss corner: a corner where the IDL is not across/near the apex. # Applicable only in a complex.
Early apex (1/4, 1/3): a corner where the IDL apexes before the mid-point of the corner.
Late apex (3/4, 2/3):
Blind LoS: a corner where the drivers Line of Sight to the corner exit is blocked. # Unsafe in social driving. It is often difficult to judge the apex.

Controlling (against opponents): forcing another driver to take a less favorable DL.

Corner types:
Euler, reducing radius, closing radius: a corner whose radius decreases. # A blind LoS Euler corner is known as a Philadelphia corner.
Opening radius:

Overdriving:
LoS: driving faster than you can react to.

Grip/traction: driving faster than the grip of your tyres can cope with.

Opponents Reaction (mia-tay {sp?}): driving faster than other drivers in your environment can react to. # The main reason in social driving why the speeds are usually far below the vehicles capabilities.

Military crest: A hill or bump that is tall enough to block line of sight (LoS) in the far side. # Much harder to judge than a blind LoS corner.

Break checking: unexpected breaking intended to make the vehicle behind you back off. # ILLEGAL maneuver under all circumstances.

Flat spotted: the irregularity in a tyre caused by locking the beaks. # Not possible under GT5s current physics.

Armco: a common metal barrier used to keep vehicles on the road.

Rumble strip: aka: line indicators. Usually blue and white or red and white material where cars often leave or run against the track. # On a standard corner the rumble strip will be on the outside on the entrance and exit and on the inside at the apex.

Flying lap, hot lapping: Trying to string together the best lap for that car.

Induced over-steer, situational over-steer, SOS: Manipulating the mechanics of a car to make an under-steering car over-steer.

False entry, Scandinavian flick: using a lateral weight shift in the opposite direction of the turn before turn-in to induce SOS.

Overpowering: pushing too much power to the rear tyres in order to induce SOS.

Dirt Drop, Tyre drop: placing the outside rear tyre off the track in order to reduce traction to that tyre to induce SOS.

Rain meister: drivers who excel at driving in the rain.

Ai-Car-do: understanding that driving is a martial art and acting appropriately. #from my personal dictionary

Defensive driving: driving so that your vehicle doesn't threaten those around you.

Offensive driving: using your vehicle to threaten those around you. # Kansas City drivers.

Lateral grip: The sideways force (relative to the direction the car is pointing in) provided by the tyres that allows the car to corner. # A lack of front lateral grip causes understeer, a lack of rear lateral grip causes oversteer.

Bump steer: When bumps/curbs/camber cause the car to deviate from the current path.

Power oversteer: Oversteer that is caused by power from the engine, mostly for RWD cars.

Power understeer: Understeer that is caused by power from the engine, due the "squat" reducing the grip of the front tyres. # For FWD cars, wheelspin can also be a contributing factor.

Lift-off oversteer: Oversteer caused by the forward weight transfer as the throttle is released. # Often experienced in rear-engine cars.

Compression breaking, Engine braking, clutch breaking: Downshifting so that the engine's tendancy to lose revs causes additional braking. # This braking force is only applied to the driven wheels.

Short-shifting: Upshifting earlier than usual. # Can be used to avoid a gear change at a critical location, or to reduce wheelspin.

Bump compliance: The suspension's ability to maintain grip despite running over bumps/kerbs.

Bottoming out: When the suspension is fully compressed. Also: when the cars underside touches the ground. # This can cause a loss of grip.

Stability: The car's resistance to unintended yaw.

Agility: The car's ability to quickly respond to the driver's inputs while maintaining grip.

Chassis balance: Whether the car understeers or oversteers in the absence of downforce. # Has most effect for low- and mid-speed corners.

Aerodynamic balance: Whether the car understeers or oversteers due to downforce. # Has most effect for high-speed corners, +60mph.

Braking understeer: Entry understeer which is caused by the brakes using too much of the front tyres grip, therefore not leaving enough "left over" for cornering.

Braking oversteer: Entry oversteer which is caused by the brakes using too much of the rear tyres grip, therefore not leaving enough "left over" for cornering.

PNR, point of no return: on an understeering car, the point on the driving line where both throttle and breaking will cause oversteer. Also: In social driving, the point where if the light turns yellow it is unsafe to stop in the relative distance remaining.

Flash over: blinking your high beams twice to signal to another driver that it is safe to move in front of your vehicle. # Illegal in some countries/states.

Tuners Lexicon:

Really: who cares? Lets drive!

I like that words to help understand the car between the tuner and the tester good jop Sir Ronald .

Great start, Ronald! This should be a great help to folks reviewing and driving cars in the shootouts. Sticky anyone?

I think in addition to having definitions we could add in some short descriptions where applicable so that folks understand how things present while driving. For example:

Under-steer: the front tyres loose grip before the rear tyres. Feels like the car does not want to turn in enough on entry or wants to push to the outside of the turn on exit.

Over-steer: the rear tyres loose grip before the front tyres. The rear will tend to break loose to the outside of the turn, especially on exit. Presents itself more in high powered and/or light weight cars.

Click to expand...

Bold being what we have currently. I'm sure there are better descriptions we could agree on, of course. 💡

"Pushy" and "loose" have to be in there surely.
They describe the way the rear end behaves on a car.

Also, threshold braking is a term used to describe braking where the driver uses the maximum amount of braking without locking any wheels.

A tank slapper is when you try and balance a slide but over-correct and get a sudden counter slide. Also common when gathering up a slide on the exit of a corner.
What you defined it as is known as fishtailing (a tank slapper often develops into fishtailing).

And "false entry" is commonly known as Scandinavian flick or feint drift/inertia drift.
The technique was first used by the Swedish SAAB 96 drivers in the early days of Rallying.

Thank you Newdriver2.

Good idea DBaka. Would that clutter the definitions? Should I create a new post for examples?

@Vegard: thank you. Updating definitions now. (Thats why I wanted this lexicon.)

Can you give me good definitions for "Pushy" and "Loose?"

This is all very useful information. It's good to have it in a central location for reference. I'll surely use this in pursuit of perfection(I don't even own a Lexus) haha

Ronald6

Can you give me good definitions for "Pushy" and "Loose?"

Click to expand...

Pushy - Set up to be neutral / understeer.
Loose - Set up to oversteer.

Great work, Ronald. Here are some suggestions

Ronald6

Tank-slapping: the rear end of the car will counter sway as you exit a corner. # Could result in fish-tailing. Usually occurs when finishing a drift or overpowering the rear tyres on corner exit.

Click to expand...

Rear tyres suddenly lose grip, causing a partial spin # Could result in fish-tailing. Usually occurs when finishing a drift or applying the throttle.

Threshold breaking: breaking in a straight line with as much deceleration as the car can handle.

Click to expand...

(needs to mention ABS)
Applying the brakes to the maximum amount before the wheels lock or the ABS activates. This achieves the shortest stopping distance.

{Can threshold breaking be done while not in a straight line? Can you trail break and threshold break at the same time or are they mutually exclusive?}

Click to expand...

(Yes then can be at the same time. I think it best not to mention trail braking here, to avoid causing confusion)

Wheel discipline: how a driver grips and manipulates steering inputs. # When used correctly the driver will get better feedback from the wheel and more sensitive and quicker inputs.

10-2:
9-3:
8-4:
Underhanded:


Range-of-feel: the change of the feedback from the steering wheel as the car approaches its slip.

Click to expand...

Is this relevant to a video game? Especially considering most drivers use controller.

Slip angle: the difference in direction between where the tyre is pointed and the inertia of the tyre.

Click to expand...

The difference between the direction the tyre is pointing and the direction the vehicle is travelling. An understeering car will have higher slip angles for the front tyres, while an oversteering car has higher slip angles for the rear tyres.

Drifting: sliding the rear of the car out as you round a corner. Usually.

Click to expand...

A driving style involving high slip angles. The only way to drive a Nissan 180SX!

Drafting: letting the vehicle in front of you break through the air, so that your vehicle has to work less against air resistance.

Click to expand...

Driving behind another car vehicle in the region where the leading car has "pushed the air out of the way". This reduces drag for the following car, thus increasing straight line speed.

Yaw:

Weight shift:
Lateral:
Longitudal:

Click to expand...

A diagram would be fantastic for these. Mention "squat" as a common term for rearward weight transfer (due to acceleration) and "dive" for forward weight transfer (due to braking).

Opening radii:

Click to expand...

(Don't forget it's evil brother: closing radius!)

Traction: The tyre's grip which converts engine torque into forward motion for the car. A lack of traction causes wheelspin.

Torque vectoring: Distributing engine or braking force to a particular wheel in order to control the rotation of the car. A common example in GT5 is using high LSD Acceleration values to send extra torque to the outside wheel of a RWD car. This causes the car to rotate, reducing exit understeer.

Lateral grip: The sideways force (relative to the direction the car is pointing in) provided by the tyres that allows the car to corner. A lack of front lateral grip causes understeer, a lack of rear lateral grip causes oversteer.

Bump steer: When bumps/kerbs/camber cause the car to deviate from the current path.

Power oversteer: Oversteer that is caused by power from the engine, mostly for RWD cars.

Power understeer: Understeer that is caused by power from the engine, due the "squat" reducing the grip of the front tyres. For FWD cars, wheelspin can also be a contributing factor.

Lift-off oversteer: Oversteer caused by the forward weight transfer as the throttle is released. Often experienced in rear-engine cars.

Engine braking: Downshifting so that the engine's tendancy to lose revs causes additional braking. This braking force is only applied to the driven wheels.

Short-shifting: Upshifting earlier than usual. Can be used to avoid a gearchange at a critical location, or to reduce wheelspin.

Scandinavian flick: Intially steering the car in the opposite direction to the corner, then sharply steering the car into the corner. This rapid steering input is used at corner entry to induce oversteer.

Bump compliance: The suspension's ability to maintain grip despite running over bumps/kerbs.

Bottoming out: When the suspension is fully compressed. This can cause a loss of grip.

Stability: The car's resistance to unintended yaw.

Agility: The car's ability to quickly respond to the driver's inputs.

Chassis balance: Whether the car understeers or oversteers in the absence of downforce. Has most effect for low- and mid-speed corners.

Aerodynamic balance: Whether the car understeers or oversteers due to downforce. Has most effect for high-speed corners.

Braking understeer: Entry understeer which is caused by the brakes using too much of the front tyres grip, therefore not leaving enough "left over" for cornering.

Braking oversteer: Entry oversteer which is caused by the brakes using too much of the rear tyres grip, therefore not leaving enough "left over" for cornering.

Hope this helps,
Simon

Thanks, Simon, I will add these after work. Thank you for taking the time to help with this project.
👍

ronald6 and a great help that you are giving for lovers of gt5 but my greatest difficulty, and that my English and pessimo and moreover I use google translator, which is not very effective

ronald6 and a great help that you are giving for lovers of gt5 but my greatest difficulty, and that my English and bad and moreover I use google translator, which is not very effective

as I said in another comment that my bad english and why not studied the sufeciente and now use the trdutor of vgoogle then every time you want to check out a set of you I have a little dificuldae to understand even using google traduçao why not and Standing traducao to the letter, but I'll put my little setup to give you power and help me improve even more, although my setup are all made to control who uses once in a while for those using the right wheel, I added you hugs .. .

happy new year