A question on cornering.

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Lotek

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Hey, i have been having a lot of trouble cornering effectively, usually i am going to fast on entry and sometime's i'm going to slow. so i just wanted to ask you guy's, what is your method on finding and knowing the correct entry speed for any giving car? also what gear to be in.

Thank's.
 
Trial and error. Start slow and increase your speed while keeping an eye on your tire. I usually up my speed by 5 mph.
 
Well using the driving line until you get your timing down helps getting entry speed right. Also if you watch the rev counter on the HUD in the bottom right of the screen, next to what gear your in, when you approach a corner a red number comes up next to the gear number. This indicates the gear which will most likely work best for that particular corner.
 
Go pedal to the metal until turn in. Slam on stop pedal till rear end breaks free and car swings around to point through apex. Then mash go pedal to the metal again and power through! :lol: :crazy:

Of course I also hit a lot of walls so...;)
 
XDesperado67
Go pedal to the metal until turn in. Slam on stop pedal till rear end breaks free and car swings around to point through apex. Then mash go pedal to the metal again and power through! :lol: :crazy:

Of course I also hit a lot of walls so...;)
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....HA! That's the usual driving style I seem to find people utilizing during races at the Nurburgring. Of course when their "rear end breaks free", it usually slams me off the track and ruins my race...
 
Its mostly about learning the braking zone for each car and how long to brake for. Usually don't need to look at the speedo or gear selector anymore, just give it some time.
 
Go thru corners slow on practice mode, then gradually work on your exit, when you get your exit good, start speeding up your entry, when you begin to break free, you know you have gone too far, just before the apex, you shouldn't use any gas or brake, that'll settle the car for exit, then ease on the gas off the exit, (atleast in real life), and for MOST cars, not all of them though
 
Corner exit is more important than corner entry. First concentrate on corner exit as that affects the straight line speed after the corner. Then the corner entry and last maintaining speed through corners.

Ofcourse this means learning to prioritize corners and learning the proper line through them...
 
Roush_fan_99
Go thru corners slow on practice mode, then gradually work on your exit, when you get your exit good, start speeding up your entry, when you begin to break free, you know you have gone too far, just before the apex, you shouldn't use any gas or brake, that'll settle the car for exit, then ease on the gas off the exit, (atleast in real life), and for MOST cars, not all of them though
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^ I'd say this is the best advice given to the OP so far 👍
 
memorize braking points, they'll usually stay the same up to LM cars, because even though you're going much faster the brakes are also better, the only time you have to adjust is if you're using a production car that's particularly heavy
 
i found I was understeering like crazy if the camera view being used is outside/behind the car, by the time i was turning in the car had already gone too far into the corner. This is the first racing game i have played where i drive a lot better with bonnet cam than the outside car cam, worth a try
 
Golden rules in real life cornering:

Slow in, fast out.
Once you get on the accelerator in a corner, you should never have to get off it. (Barring other cars forcing you to, that is.)
 
Seeing as its just a game, and you don't have to worry about damage or death...

Try going as fast as you want, and if that fails go a bit slower next time

That way, you'll retain a fast mindset. If you start slow and wind it up, you'll end up going
as fast as you're comfortable with, rather than as fast as you possibly could be 👍
 
Practice, practice, practice. Save replays of your races and watch the guys who win consistently, you can learn a lot from that. More often than not, they aren't sliding, aren't drifting, they are smooth and steady, on the edge of grip. Car set up has a lot to do with it. You can be a great driver but with the wrong set up you can't compete and the car won't do what you want it to do. Search the tuning forum for cars you like to race, but make sure the tune is related to what you are doing. An offline tune on sports softs may not help you much in an online race with racing softs.
 
I like to start slow, and gradually pick up the pace. Slow down early, and work on finding the apex and a perfect turn-in spot. Do lap after lap, going faster and faster each time through. Eventually you'll push it too far, and you'll know you've found the spot.

Obviously it's a little harder on some tracks and some turns to figure out the perfect speed, but like all things - practice makes perfect.


One of the most important things, is don't get on the throttle until you know you don't have to take it off again. Don't ever get into the on-off-on-off-on-off habit.
 
Time trials are your friend. If you want to find out where you're losing time, or if there's a better racing line, Time Trials are your friend.

GT5 doesn't require extensive testing, but if you want to be a decent driver, you yourself will require extensive testing. I highly recommend picking 5 tracks of different styles, then run 10 laps on each in a very low powered car. A Citroen 2CV does wonders.

Yes, it will take for f'n ever to complete one lap, but it's also a much easier car to control. Once you've found all the speed you possibly can, you can work your way up to faster and faster cars, adjusting and improving your technique as you go along. Your course knowledge on those 5 tracks will also increase dramatically, which will also benefit you whenever you race those tracks again, online or off.

After a while, it will get tedious. You'll hit a wall, get sick of the tracks you chose and or the cars, and you'll want to move on. Just be sure to take with you what you've learned on your Time Trials, and you should become more consistent and faster, thus a better driver.

Finally, if you do race online, find some decent people that are years ahead of where you are, and race them. If they're good people (and assuming you yourself are a good person), you'll find some patient people that will lead you through what you're doing wrong or what you're missing.

Remember:

1. As mentioned above, fast in, fast out. Treat the apex like your significant other and get close and comfy... just before bolting (lol).

2. "What you manifest is before you." -The Art of Driving In The Rain. If you know the tendencies of your car, learn to induce and control those tendencies, rather than react to them. Be pro-active, not reactive. If you're reactive, it's already too late and the circumstance you created will lead to the consequence you feared.

3. "If it feels good, it probably is. If it feels bad... it probably is." -Kenny Brown, pro Mustang racer.

4. Visit drivingfast.net for technique tips and advice. The articles are wonderful if you don't have the Apex book.
 
Exit its all about the exit, any gains you make on corner exit will be carried down the following straite. Work on youre exit first, then start to find out how hard you can push on entry with out sacrificing what you had on exit.
 
I have a related question, thought I'd tack it on here rather than starting a new thread...

What's better, keeping your speed up as long as possible and braking hard at the last second, or letting off the gas early and braking less? I find myself doing the latter because it's easier and I have more control in the corner, but is it slower?
 
The goal is to brake as LATE as possible, and still be slowed down enough to properly hit the apex and get on the gas early. You want to use as much of the available grip as possible, at all times.

If you're purposely braking early and less hard, then you're not using the tires full grip, and you are indeed loosing time.

With that said, if early braking allows you to carry extra speed onto the next straight, and it makes you consistently fast, then by all means don't change your driving style.
 
If I were you (OP) I'd spend as much time as you feel like spending on doing time trials and studying your ghost. You can really learn a lot by doing a lap to warm up your tyres, then just do as many flying laps as you can in one sitting. If it's a real life circuit it may help to watch some real-life laps to learn the lines, then as others have said, after a while you should learn how different cars handle (I don't mean every car you drive; cars with similar drivetrain layouts, engine sizes and aspirations often yield similar results), then apply that knowledge to stitching together a lap which follows a good, consistent line, because at the end of the day, that's what you're aiming for. I often do time attacks at Tsukuba, which means doing quite a few laps until I get my best time. I find I'll do some pretty slow laps as I get used to the car or just get back into the game after a week away, after about five I'll do a fast lap that I can't beat for another five afterwards. Then I'll realise where I'm going wrong and manage to smash that previous fast time by up to two seconds (on a 1 minute lap, that's a pretty big gap), and the process goes on until I either give up trying to find more time or I can't focus hard enough to even match that time. Maybe if you tried the same you'd get something from it?

You don't have to hit the apex of every corner, there are times where you'll have to choose which to hit and which to miss (there's a section of the Nürburgring known as 'miss-hit-miss' in real life for this reason), but it's usually the fastest way through the corner as it's the straightest line, thus allowing you to get on the accelerator as quickly as possible and minimising your steering input.
 
Depending on the car, I sometimes brake a tad early & then get OFF the brakes which causes overrun on the motor, which can carry quite a bit of speed through the corners.
 
smrtb0mb
What's better, keeping your speed up as long as possible and braking hard at the last second, or letting off the gas early and braking less? I find myself doing the latter because it's easier and I have more control in the corner, but is it slower?
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I believe this will answer a majority of your questions.
 
You want to go slow in and fast out, try to make the apex a few feet later then normal in a rear drive car and a few feet early in a front driver.
 
Sometimes you have to be brave but not stupid. I.e a tight corner needs care but a steady 60 degree corner is just an inside line and glide. But tight corners if using manual you can always downshift to recommended gear (red) but sometimes the speed is too low.

The guys using wheels are lucky they can feel the force and when they are losing grip. With a controller with no Vibration you have to judge it by the way the car moves during cornering. Sometimes you just know when you are going off track.
 
BlademanX
The guys using wheels are lucky they can feel the force and when they are losing grip. With a controller with no Vibration you have to judge it by the way the car moves during cornering. Sometimes you just know when you are going off track.
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Listen to your tires. Even with a Sixaxis, you can tell everything you need to know about grip by simply listening to your tires.
 
Ferrari_1996
Slow in, Fast out .
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Also...

When steering through fast sweeping corners, you should make minute adjustments. For slower corners, you may have to throw the wheel left and right (or stick if you're on a DS3) quickly.

From The Art of Racing in the Rain- Slow corners = fast hands. Fast corners = slow hands.
 

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