Confused about principles

[oik01]

So Im back into this series, trying to learn as much as I can. Ive been reading a lot, and everyone is always talking about oversteer, understeer, and weight shift but I cant seem to understand a few minor things. Can someone just help me out with the basics? Il write down my own understanding and please tell me if its correct:

Weight shift when braking: When you brake, your weight shifts to the front of the car, increasing traction on the front wheels, allowing you to turn better while the back wheels would lose some of their grip.... therefore SHOULD HELP YOU OVERSTEER? One tutorial says you should always keep 20% of your braking for while you are turning because it would let you turn faster, but others say that braking puts a load on the front wheel so they would lose traction easier... and then say we should finish braking before turning??! which is correct??

Accelerating : Weight shifts to teh back and you lose traction in the front, ... herego understeering ...

Lift off oversteer: When you lift your foot off the pedal you should oversteer because again, your weight previously in the back comes forward, increasing traction in the front wheel while the back wheels spin out? Wouldn't braking do this better? Why is this so important? I can't seem to do this with any cars :S :S

MR cars: Tend to oversteer when you accelerate because the rear wheel is getting a lot of torque and loses traction quickly? But then why does this not happen with FR cars? Shouldn't the extra wheight at the back increase traction in the MR? or is it that the weight is already at the back that less weight is being transferred there during the acceleration phase? So before we said accelerating = understeer, but with MR its oversteer... so is it that a bit of acceleration will understeer, but too much will make the wheel unstable and then oversteer??? just too confused about this ...

Finally approach to a corner: I tend to brake hard to the speed I can hit an apex on, and then just release everything and just drive in. I don't brake while turning unless I realize im still to fast and understeering. Is that the right technique or should I aim for a slightly quicker speed and brake while turning to do some oversteer? Also I rarely ever slide on turns, is that okay? How do you guys induce the drift? I never really learned that part :S

 

[NOSWaster]

The biggest answer is: It depends.

When to brake and how to brake is completely dependent on the car that you're driving. Some cars are best when you trail brake up to the apex. Some are best when you brake only in a straight line. Some are better in between. The Delta Wing is one of those cars where you ALWAYS brake in a straight line, else you will be spinning out.

Accelerating while in a turn generally makes the car oversteer, unless it's an FF car or a mid/rear-engine car that shifts about a ton.

Lift off oversteer is helpful because it allows you to direct the car more easily without needing the brakes mid-corner. This is incredibly useful on MR cars because you can give a slight lift of the throttle, get a bit of extra turning grip, and power out of the corner. It's not as noticeable on FR cars from what I've seen. It's supposed to be there on FF cars, but it really isn't. Also, it's fairly deadly on RR cars. Don't ever try using lift off oversteer on the RUF CTR or BTR (or Delta Wing, but that's an MR car).

MR cars generally understeer or go neutral when you accelerate. The reason is because they already have more weight on the back tires, and the acceleration brings even more weight onto them, allowing to grip while you give them power. They also will usually oversteer while braking or lifting the throttle because they still have a lot of weight behind the driver, as opposed to an FR car.

Your braking technique honestly should be adapted to each car you drive.

Some cars like the Elise Race Car '96 absolutely love to be tossed into a corner and given trail-braking. Basically, straight line braking isn't good in the go-kart-like cars (Cappuccino Race Car and Elise Race Car) because they're low on power, so they need to preserve every single bit of speed possible. Also, because they're generally light, mucking up the entry speed by a couple MPH isn't horrible because you can just tap the brake for a fraction of a second and shave off the excess speed.

Some like the Delta Wing require your technique, though the part about realizing you're going too fast in the middle of the corner is bad for this car. The Delta Wing is a car that you brake in a straight line and drive into the corner at about 10-15% throttle before you know you can peg it for the exit.

Something like an NSX should be given trail braking, so long as it's smooth. This will help it take advantage of the TBO (Trailing Brake Oversteer) to point the car, then you can press down the pedal to stabilize it.

Your mileage may vary.

The best way is to just learn the car you're driving and find out what it likes and hates. 👍

 

[Cosbuster]

Weight shift when braking: When you brake, your weight shifts to the front of the car, increasing traction on the front wheels, allowing you to turn better while the back wheels would lose some of their grip.... therefore SHOULD HELP YOU OVERSTEER?

Shifting your weight to the front wheels means forward momentum which means understeer, at least to my knowledge and understanding.

 

[oik01]

The biggest answer is: It depends.

When to brake and how to brake is completely dependent on the car that you're driving. Some cars are best when you trail brake up to the apex. Some are best when you brake only in a straight line. Some are better in between. The Delta Wing is one of those cars where you ALWAYS brake in a straight line, else you will be spinning out.

Accelerating while in a turn generally makes the car oversteer, unless it's an FF car or a mid/rear-engine car that shifts about a ton.

Lift off oversteer is helpful because it allows you to direct the car more easily without needing the brakes mid-corner. This is incredibly useful on MR cars because you can give a slight lift of the throttle, get a bit of extra turning grip, and power out of the corner. It's not as noticeable on FR cars from what I've seen. It's supposed to be there on FF cars, but it really isn't. Also, it's fairly deadly on RR cars. Don't ever try using lift off oversteer on the RUF CTR or BTR (or Delta Wing, but that's an MR car).

MR cars generally understeer or go neutral when you accelerate. The reason is because they already have more weight on the back tires, and the acceleration brings even more weight onto them, allowing to grip while you give them power. They also will usually oversteer while braking or lifting the throttle because they still have a lot of weight behind the driver, as opposed to an FR car.

Your braking technique honestly should be adapted to each car you drive.

Some cars like the Elise Race Car '96 absolutely love to be tossed into a corner and given trail-braking. Basically, straight line braking isn't good in the go-kart-like cars (Cappuccino Race Car and Elise Race Car) because they're low on power, so they need to preserve every single bit of speed possible. Also, because they're generally light, mucking up the entry speed by a couple MPH isn't horrible because you can just tap the brake for a fraction of a second and shave off the excess speed.

Some like the Delta Wing require your technique, though the part about realizing you're going too fast in the middle of the corner is bad for this car. The Delta Wing is a car that you brake in a straight line and drive into the corner at about 10-15% throttle before you know you can peg it for the exit.

Something like an NSX should be given trail braking, so long as it's smooth. This will help it take advantage of the TBO (Trailing Brake Oversteer) to point the car, then you can press down the pedal to stabilize it.

Your mileage may vary.

The best way is to just learn the car you're driving and find out what it likes and hates. 👍

thanks that clears up more than a few things, will give it a try again and let you know. Will try and experiment with more cars this time.