Do you get more grip with the driving line off?

  • Thread starter Thread starter SteveDuk
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SteveDuk

SteveDuk

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Brundall
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GBRC-Yogi
It certainly feels like it. I just started a another shadow account to use only with the driving line off and the first thing I'm doing is Circuit Experience to build up the number of cars . I'm working through them by the number of sectors (I'm on the 4's at the moment) and on all of them I'm getting better times than I did on either of my other accounts. With the line on it seems as if you loose a lot of grip if you stray off it. A couple of good examples are Druids at Brands and the first corner at Sukuba where you seem to lose a lot of grip if you stray off the line.

Am I imagining this?
 
Turn that dummy line off

Look at the track.

Where its darkened with rubber from cars braking, cornering and such you get the most grip. Its the fast lane you always get more grip on rubberred up parts of the track vs clean barely used areas.

You can use the track to tell you its driving line and braking points. Take a few slow laps around one of them just for looking over the track and the areas with most rubber down.

The difference in grip is significant and why some guys will pull away from you out of corners even though it seemed you exited at the same speed.
 
Sven Jurgens
Trying to stick to line makes you less efficient in cornering. All the minor corrections you do to try to stick to line will unsettle your car which costs you tire grip.
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This. Also that line rarely uses the whole track width. If you want to use something to learn a track, use the cones. They show you braking point, turn in point, apex point, exit point. It's all you need, and that's why they use that in real life on track days.
 
This all makes sense :)

I'm probably preaching to the choir here but I'm definitely finding things more enjoyable.
 
Janos1986
Even cones can deceive you
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At least cones give you better representation of what a good racing line can possibly be. Good to learn the braking points and overall trajectory, after learning the track it's all about adapting the line to the car you using (breaking earlier if the brakes are weak or taking a turn differently to compensate for understeer and so on)

Driving line is totally off in GTS
 
Cones are really good to get a general understanding of the racing line, more than the visualized racing line itself.

also:

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I burst out laughing instantly by the combination of your avatar and my quote
 
About the cones:
I was driving with cones for a long time and alsways used them as general indicator for braking points. I sometimes made mistakes but usually make the corners.
Then i turned the cones of to test if i can keep my laptimes. At first i was a good 1-2 seconds off, but after 5-10 laps being "forced" to look for other brakemarkers (like tarmac pieces, fences, distance boards, etc.), i got faster, and faster. Today i drive without cones.

I would highly recommend to "force" yourself to look for your own brake markers by turning the cones off! It really changes your cornering/braking.
Same for the racing line. if you have it on, it gets you around the track for sure, but its not the fastest way, given that cars behave differently.
 
Its a step process. Go on and use the cones over the driving line to learn braking points and learn to look for visual cues. Once you are good with the cones and used to using visual cues turn off the cones and look for your own visual marker.

The point of the cones is to learn how to take visual clues and look for markers.
 
I used to rely on the cones and found some solid consistency from them but it got to the point I was driving the cones more than the track. Spending way too much time looking for them to follow, even when I knew the track. Had the odd occasion where I'd mess up a previous corner or be off line but I'd still blindly follow the cones and lose time because of it. Probably my own dumb thing to do but as soon as I realised I was doing it...and it took a while, I turned them off. Now my driving is a lot more fluid and I'll even say more enjoyable. My brake markers are getting closer to the corner and I'm finding it much easier to carry the braking into them. I'm also finding it easier to find the threshold braking of each car I drive and adapt (and use) a lot quicker.

I've had to switch to in car view (5-2 or 3 to mirror real life) to make sense of what I'm feeling through the wheel and actually seeing but it's been great fun learning my new set up. Surround sound and hearing all the bangs and rattles in car and which tyres are screeching more than others to know what's going on, it's like a new game. Now if only I could turn off the irritating flashing gear indicator...

As for the driving line, with it not being dynamic, it's hopeless and a massive distraction. Only for the sight impaired.
 
Like most people have already said any driveline assist should only be used to get familiar with a track and then turn them off.
However I do feel some tracks in this game are an exception.
Let's take the new Autopolis just added that has blind corners with elevation changes, decreasing radius corners and a host of difficult and challenging sections with no man made or natural braking markers to go by. Why a real track would not add braking markers is beyond me but 95% Autopolis doesn't have any.
Cones here can still be greatly beneficial over those who do not use them just as some kind of visual reference point. Especially if you like racing a variety of different cars.
 

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