As I expected, the biggest gain for me is being able to use partial throttle in turn 1, until I get the car pointed the right direction. The toughest thing is recovering, one the car gets loose. Lots of spins and wall collisions. One thing I noticed about the G29 is you have to push the brake really hard to get your car stopped. I'm gonna need a lot more practice with it. Wouldn't even think about entering a race, at this point.
I reckon there are various steps in the learning process, with both the brake and the accelerator. I guess too for some, if they have a gear lever, its said to give you faster gear changes. I may do that too ... but it would be a big step from using paddles.
As far as spinning goes - you can turn on the spin corrector, set it on weak. This helps. In fact I use it when there is tough racing - because when some bozo hits you, without it I tend to leave the track and get stuck ... with it on weak, the chances are much less IMO.
I haven't listed the upgrade path, but ... justing thinking of it now from my own perspective:
You likely know all this coz your good on a controller. I can only use a controller on the comments in GTS, and also, Ratchet and Clank, version 1 (some time ago on my son's PS3).
-Start with left foot braking, because its mandatory unless you can use heel and toe techniques (!!!!)
- Start with Traction Control on 2 - never more
- Start with ABS on weak
- Start with wheel at 430 degrees - goal is much more direct steering. Hamilton (the F1 guy) reckons the main guy (the CEO - Kazunori Yamauchi) at PD grips the wheel too hard - loose hands make you faster say Hamilton on GTS. As far as the wheel's feedback - its not that necessary IMO ... its the screen that must communicate with your brain. I have improved lately, and at the same time, my wheel settings got all corrupted. I have not reset the setup - my wheel has magnets that vibrate to give you track surface feedback - but right now they are not working. They've made no difference to my speed IMO.
- Learn to back off completely rather than brake - the tail moves out and you use the front tyres turned to slow the car and it turns - then you learn to feed the power in. When you are good at that, turn off TC and start all over again. In some races turn TC on at a corner you are slow at without it. But eventually you will learn to feed the power in, and also, to correct the steering at the same time.
And Oh - i drive GT4 a fare bit back a decade ago, and I used to flutter the throttle - this is slow. Its a bad habit, and under pressure, I still do it - and it unsettles the car. The benefit of the foot throttle is really its smoothness effecting the car.
And another thing - apply the throttle into braking or during braking does effect the balance of the car. That is a very valuable technique that should be on the list above ... not yet, but remember it. Applying some throttle kicks the weight onto the back wheels. I am slow in FWD cars and I hate driving them - maybe because I likely don't have the right technique in getting the for and aft balance of a FWD car right, which you do by not only braking but by punching in a bit for throttle into or during a corner.
A big step is combining the brakes with the accelerator. Some people talk about trail braking ... when I first started to try to do it, it really slowed me down. I found that at Bathurst, if I trailed braked at the end of the first straight, I was much slower. All over the track it was killing me. I had to remind myself not to trail brake ie use both the accerelator and the brake at the same time. Eventually I realised that a real upgrade in speed is to nail the apex every time, and a slight touch of the brake can increase apex accuracy enormously. This really increases consistent speed. Its far more important IMO than "Trail braking". It becomes instinctive with practice.
As far as learning about driving without TC - I learn't a lot on an oval track some many weeks ago driving the Corvette. I was much faster with TC on - and then I found the car was spinning its wheels under power - I backed off and fed in the power with smooth accelerator movement its
TC off - and I was quick. Quite quick actually.
I reckon Pigems could have a web site on improving ones driving ... he's increased a lot in speed lately and been thorough.
By the way Pigems, all the crashes - they are probably also people with secondary accounts. They are wrecking the game IMO. I guess i'll have to do it too ... but it seems to me that if a D or C or B driver is really fast and aggro - he's (or she) is likely also running a second account. Hence secondary accounts make the game a crasher's game. With just one account, it would not be IMO.
Great battle! Unexpected finish too 
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