Do race car drivers use assists in real life?

  • Thread starter Thread starter iPr0kka
  • 85 comments
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Do race car drivers use assists?

  • Yes they do

    Votes: 101 71.1%

  • Nope, they're simply pros

    Votes: 41 28.9%
  • Total voters
    142
I

iPr0kka

Messages
30
I have been playing Gran Turismo 5 without the use of assists except for ABS which is set at either 1 or 2 depending what car and/or track I'm on. Driving with no assists (using manual transmission) takes a lot of practice to avoid any mistakes. Now I'm able to race around on the most difficult tracks such as 24 Hours Nürburgring without spinning out or hitting the grass. However, there are moments in which I do make big mistakes that would force me to retire from the race.

Over the weekends, I tuned in to the Speed channel to watch the 24 Hours of Daytona and was absolutely amazed how very well these professional race car drivers drove their cars (after all, they are professionals). But it kept me wondering if these race car drivers are using assists such as traction control and stability management. I'm not a car enthusiast so I don't know any real life specifications of cars I'm driving in GT5. I looked up threads here about "real life [assists] settings for cars" such as the Ferrari 458 Italia and Nissan GT-R R35 having high traction control. Also cars now having electronic control stability (aka active stability management (ASM) in GT5) as well as ABS.

Like I said earlier, I have been playing GT5 with no assists at all until now. Using the RA menu, I mess around with TCS and ASM with several cars. I've noticed how easier it was to drive the cars on the corners. But for some reason having ASM turned on feels iffy. Sometimes my car would slightly move itself.

I've always avoid playing with assists because initially I thought it was for newbies but now I'm starting to think that some of these assists are actually essential and real life race car drivers are using.
 
Formula 1 has experimented with assists, incuding adjustable, adaptable ride height. Traction Control, ABS, AYC.. they're all just another tool in the tool box. If you told a racer that they'd have an edge by strapping a hamster to the nose of their car, you'd see it almost overnight. Systems become so advanced, and work so well, they are quickly outlawed.

If there's an edge, they'll use it.
 
A race driver would be a fool not to use every mechanical aid that the rules allow.

Many times they use aids that the rules do NOT allow. And sometimes they get caught.
 
Most race series disallow driver aids like ABS, "ASM" and traction control.
 
daan
Most race series disallow driver aids like ABS, "ASM" and traction control.
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Yes, but only after they've proven themselves faster than without, or unsafe.

Check out this vid for one helluva aid.

 
McClarenDesign
Yes, but only after they've proven themselves faster than without, or unsafe.
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Your argument is invalid. The FW14B was faster than cars without the systems it had and it wasn't unsafe.

Aids are banned in F1, and other series, as they want the driver to be in control of the car.
 
Do race car drivers use assists? It depends on the rules. If it's legal, then yes. If not, then no.

Per our rules, I have no assists, no traction control, no ABS. Power steering is optional, and I have it removed.
 
daan
Your argument is invalid. The FW14B was faster than cars without the systems it had and it wasn't unsafe.

Aids are banned in F1, and other series, as they want the driver to be in control of the car.
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The vid was just a demonstration of an aid, and not meant as part of the greater question. Do racers use aids? If allowed, yes.

KERS is an aid, and some teams will be running it this year while others will not. DRS is another aid allowed in F1, both this year and last.
 
McClarenDesign
KERS is an aid, and some teams will be running it this year while others will not. DRS is another aid allowed in F1, both this year and last.
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McClarenDesign
I'd use an F-duct if I could.
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We're in the GT5 forum. KERS, DRS and "F-ducts" are not in GT5. The aids the OP is referring to are TCS, ABS and "ASM".

So, if the series allows it and it's not banned, then TCS may be used, but ABS and ASM won't be, as a professional driver will be faster without them.
 
I think differentials help racing drivers out a lot. Top level motorsport racing drivers are at a really high level. They will be amongst the top 1% in GT5 if they use any simulators IRL. They make the car they drive look like it is on rails but give an amateur the same car and they will make the car look very hard to drive fast.
 
daan
So, if the series allows it and it's not banned, then TCS may be used, but ABS and ASM won't be, as a professional driver will be faster without them.
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I must disagree. A well designed ABS (not the crap systems on production cars) will be better than the best driver. No human will ever analyze instantaneous slip on all 4 wheels 1,000 times a second and modulate individual braking force on each wheel 1,000 times a second.

Edited becuz I camt spel. :dunce:
 
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daan
We're in the GT5 forum. KERS, DRS and "F-ducts" are not in GT5. The aids the OP is referring to are TCS, ABS and "ASM".

So, if the series allows it and it's not banned, then TCS may be used, but ABS and ASM won't be, as a professional driver will be faster without them.
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The question was a philosophical question and i answered it as such, then provided examples even though they aren't in the game. Theres no reason for a racer not to use aids, so long as the rules allow and the racing is fast and clean. This goes for GT5 and real life. Using them doesn't make you less of a racer, just like those that use KERS aren't better racers than those that don't.

Just because my examples aren't in GT5 doesn't make my answer irrelevant because it addresses the nature and intent of the question.

And I'd use the F-duct on the FGT and F1 cars if PD let me.
 
McClarenDesign
If you told a racer that they'd have an edge by strapping a hamster to the nose of their car, you'd see it almost overnight.
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If I make my dream of designing race cars when I'm older then I will find a way to make this work, just for the lolz. If I used a metal cage ball and had it on a F1 car and then combine that with 5G of braking. I'm not clearing up the mess.
 
With the new technology that's slowly being released into the racing world, racing events are constantly changing their rules to disallow driving assists. This makes it more challenging for both the drivers and the race teams, but at the same time, it gives them a chance to adapt to the new features of the racing vehicle they're piloting.
 
To try to bring this back on topic, the aids in GT5 don't do a great job of mimicking their real life counterparts so drawing a comparison between, say, Rolex GT cars and GT5 GT cars isn't going to yield much useful data. If you mostly play offline, use whatever aids you feel comfortable with. But if you plan on racing online (especially in a series) it would be best to practice with all the aids off as most don't allow them (except ABS which is generally allowed).
 
McClarenDesign
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Formula_One_season

How about tc in 2001?
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How about it in 2001? Frank Williams was using TC, and to some extent ABS, on his cars a decade prior. Coupled with the genius that is Adrian Newey, they won back-to-back titles in 92/93 with a myriad of assists including active suspension. And yes, it is a driver's aide... no different than ECS, apart from being hydraulic in this case. They likely would have completed the dynasty in 1994 too, had it not been for the infamous Schumi-Hill incident.


Briefly back to active suspension, it was banned by the FIA from 1994 after it nearly killed Alex Zanardi.

 
HippieGiraffe
How about it in 2001? Frank Williams was using TC, and to some extent ABS, on his cars a decade prior. Coupled with the genius that is Adrian Newey, they won back-to-back titles in 92/93 with a myriad of assists including active suspension. And yes, it is a driver's aide... no different than ECS, apart from being hydraulic in this case. They likely would have completed the dynasty in 1994 too, had it not been for the infamous Schumi-Hill incident.


Briefly back to active suspension, it was banned by the FIA from 1994 after it nearly killed Alex Zanardi.

Click to expand...


The point being that a) professional drivers use aids and b) aren't worse drivers for doing so.

That's all.
 
I drove once an Audi R8 LMS from french GT3 championship. This car use an ESC, wich could be a major problem in race, as if you spin really hard it makes all the electronic of the car switch on low-power mode. You have to stop the car and re-start the engine to reboot it. Quite a mess in the midle of a race.
It was a year ago, maybe some improvement have been made since.
 
ZDUPH
With the new technology that's slowly being released into the racing world, racing events are constantly changing their rules to disallow driving assists. This makes it more challenging for both the drivers and the race teams, but at the same time, it gives them a chance to adapt to the new features of the racing vehicle they're piloting.
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Funny because most racing series tend to be getting slower because of "saftey"
The reason They ban aids is because the drivers get faster.. leading to more accidents and increasing the spin out radius * cars don't stop in the sand Pits look up some 2000-2008 F1 crashes* and they Dont wanna get sued when a car flips and kills the dumb spectators standing right on the corner.. :dunce: when in reality this could be resolved by adding aids and making spectators move further away ,in the F1 races the spectators are right next to the cars on the city tracks..
Its not about having more skill its simply safety , look at rally now a days..
in my opinion cars are going slower so in a way there dumbing down the sport due to safety regulations , having AIDS on makes simply makes the cars faster and more dangerous.
 
McClarenDesign
Formula 1 has experimented with assists, incuding adjustable, adaptable ride height. Traction Control, ABS, AYC.. they're all just another tool in the tool box. If you told a racer that they'd have an edge by strapping a hamster to the nose of their car, you'd see it almost overnight. Systems become so advanced, and work so well, they are quickly outlawed.

If there's an edge, they'll use it.
Click to expand...

aids were banned in F1 at the early 90s.

Also most racing competitions prohibit all driving assists, including ABS, and non of them is an assist fest like most people drive in GT5.


TheeFrogmanlego
Funny because most racing series tend to be getting slower because of "saftey"
The reason They ban aids is because the drivers get faster.. leading to more accidents and increasing the spin out radius * cars don't stop in the sand Pits look up some 2000-2008 F1 crashes* and they Dont wanna get sued when a car flips and kills the dumb spectators standing right on the corner.. :dunce: when in reality this could be resolved by adding aids and making spectators move further away ,in the F1 races the spectators are right next to the cars on the city tracks..
Its not about having more skill its simply safety , look at rally now a days..
in my opinion cars are going slower so in a way there dumbing down the sport due to safety regulations , having AIDS on makes simply makes the cars faster and more dangerous.
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the reason is not safety, since aids always help a lot on that aspect. Those were banned because those don't encourage competition between drivers, so racing became dull since it felt like no one was taking risks.

There's a difference between driving assists, which in general terms don't necessarily make the car faster, and software controlling some aspects of the car, which are intended to achieve faster lap times, for example active suspension.

Actually every single category is faster nowadays than what it used to be. It'd tough to find one example in which lap times became significantly slower than lets say 20 years ago.
 
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I know you posted that. It's just to make it easier to get since F1 changes a lot every year and that period was crucial on this aspect, and nowadays TC is banned anyway.

if that's the case you could also mention launch control on that example, or which are the various roles software still has in current F1 cars.
 

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