Driving Line - On or Off?

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Driving Line - On or Off?

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I turned the driving line off right away, as I did for FM3. I used it through FM2 but decided to cease using it altogether afterward for FM3 and now GT5 because it's too much of a crutch. Figuring out where to best place your car, how fast to take any given part of the track, how early to start braking for a corner, and that sort of thing are part of becoming a good race driver, and a magic race line painted onto the track for you takes that away from you, not to mention being the most unrealistic assist available.

I always found it humorous reading comments from the FM3 community from people with inflated egos all puffed up about them being hardcore, driving with a manual transmission with TCS and ABS off and such but most of them are using the magic racing line painted onto the track by God and magically shifting in color in real time based on how fast they're going relative to what they probably should be doing. I'm not sure how somebody can pat themselves on the back for being hardcore when they're clinging to the driving line aid.
 
I used to use the driving line when I first got the game to learn the tracks and cars... Now I don't use any assists except ABS 1.
 
I think it's best to turn it off. It's too easy to become accustomed to it to the point when you do come to turn it off you feel blind.
 
You loose to much time using the line & don't learn the circuit as well.

No aids. ABS on 1 with a G25 thats how I roll.
 
I use to use too until I turn it off one day for a online race with my friend, ever since that day I havent use the line....just use the flashing red number as your braking point
 
HangDC4
I use to use too until I turn it off one day for a online race with my friend, ever since that day I havent use the line....just use the flashing red number as your braking point
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I still wish there was a way of turning them off. I'm sure you could in GT4, setting the display to simple or something. Even though they are often wrong, telling you to brake too early and too low a gear, they are still too much of a cue for the corners.
 
BigYoSpeck
I still wish there was a way of turning them off. I'm sure you could in GT4, setting the display to simple or something. Even though they are often wrong, telling you to brake too early and too low a gear, they are still too much of a cue for the corners.
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That true it tell you to brake early and use lower gear most of the time, that why I always use the 1st lap to see what the best gear to use
 
As long as you bear in mind the generic 'out-in-out' technique and know the right part of the corner to apply throttle (which depends on the car), there isn't really too much the driving line can tell you.
 
yumcrest
Is it nooby to use the driving line?
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I would say it is n00by. Not that that's a bad thing. We all could use some extra help when we're new to the game.

On the other hand, I'm one of the old skool drivers who learned it all without a racing line. GT and GT2, amongst a few other racing games. So it's possible to learn without it. Watching real-life racing helps lots, whether it's on TV, YouTube, or whatever. YOu watch how the pros do it, and try to pick up what you can.

What do you use?
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Most of the time I don't use it. I would imagine it would be distracting to have it on all the time. But the other day I did turn it on (I'm being honest here) during the AMG school Sector 2, because I wanted to get a second opinion about a few things.


PedanticNerd
As long as you bear in mind the generic 'out-in-out' technique and know the right part of the corner to apply throttle (which depends on the car), there isn't really too much the driving line can tell you.
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"Out-in-out" doesn't always work, though. Some corners can be taken in-in-out or some other variation, especially if they're part of a chicane or S-turn.

Also, if there's Ai drivers involved, sometimes I'll find it best to take a crazy line, like out-out-out. Avoid the Ai altogether by taking a wider line than they do.
 
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If ever I have it on, I never really take much notice, I tend to look at surroundings, and take the corner based on that, most of the times with the line, the breaking points are terrible, and honestly, the line is generic, it doesn't take into account your car type.
 
now that i've taken it off, i can remeber all the major breaking sections/corners and i use manual so the thing that tells you when to change gears helps to
 
HangDC4
That true it tell you to brake early and use lower gear most of the time, that why I always use the 1st lap to see what the best gear to use
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You can deactive it and drive without hud which is a great feeling expecially in a night race
 
I never use the racing line. In Ferrari challenge and Need for Speed Shift i used the racing line to accostom to the strange physics. But i'm familiar enough with GT's physics to not have to use it
 
I've been racing sims & in real life for longer than I've been legally allowed to drive (well, do Night Driver & Pole Position count as sims?) and I still use the line on tracks that I don't know well and even sometimes on those which I do.

That said, I don't actually FOLLOW the line religiously. I just use it as a reminder of what's coming up since you can often pick it out of the distance a little better than you can the actual track.

It's generally never the quickest way around the track for any individual driver, but it can be a decent guide for those new to that track or racing in general. Just don't always blindly follow it instead of learning the track. Use it as an aid.
 
The important thing is to learn the track. If you need it on for a while because you are unfamiliar with the track, ok, as long as it gets turned off eventually.

I usually keep it off always. Sometimes if I want to do an event quickly and it's on a track I am unfamiliar with, I will turn it on to get the event done and out of the way.

Also, for the people having trouble with the flashing red numbers, I just hid the speedo. I use the cockpit view, so in most cars I use that for the tach, otherwise I either do it by ear or maybe turn the speedo back on if I am feeling lazy.
 
Sometimes the driving line tells you to brake when you don't need to or will take you through a wide line rather than a tight one. I'd never recommend using it. If you want to learn a track just have a few races in arcade mode and follow the AI, after getting past them you'll find your own lines.
 
I never use it, even on tracks when they're new to me. Part of the great thing about new tracks is figuring them out, after a couple laps you should have a good idea of the best way to tackle it. If you always use driving line you will always depend on it and you will never find your true potential.
 
Thanks to some threads here and some advice I've now switched successfully to manual transmission. Now I want to turn off the driving line too. Today, I tried running some expert series races with driving line off. I found that much, much more concentration is needed when the driving line is off. Ok, now to my questions...

Is it worth learning to drive with driving line off ?
How to judge braking points with driving line off for corners which don't have distance markers ? (I don't get the flashing gear indicator as I drive with HUD off too.)
 
Try and remember braking points. As you said, not ever corner has the signage, but every corner should have some trees, or curbs, or something that lets you know you need to start braking.

I don't see a problem with leaving the line on if you want, as long as you understand the line isn't always right. There are plently of courses where the line is extremely conservative. Though, I'd say learning to race with it off is arguably "better".
 
HUD off driving practically demands driving line off so as to not ruin the immersion. I'm so happy there's an option to disable the HUD and enjoy the graphics in this game.

The one thing GT5 will never have is the fear and danger involved with driving. Learning to be cautious and estimate/remember brake points is a critical part of the experience, IMO.

It really wasn't so hard for me to transition to driving without the line displayed. Just practice the tracks you're less familiar with in a car with forgiving braking (like a BMW GTR).
 
My advice would be to turn the driving line off but the HUD on - at least temporarily. You'll get a suggested gear and time to shift, which is a good help for tracks that you don't know too well, but isn't as big a help as the driving line. Furthermore - at least in my opinion - it is quite often wrong, since the ideal braking point is nearly always at a different position and you can sometimes stay a gear above the one suggested.

If you have a few favourite cars, like I do, it will probably only take you a few laps per car to know the right gear for each corner of each track (at least the important ones), and if you pay a little bit attention on the track you know when to downshift to make a corner - and at that point, the HUD goes off again.

As for whether it's worth it: Everything that makes the game more realistic is worth it - and I for one haven't seen driving lines anywhere on the road when I'm driving - but I've never been on a track, so what do I know...? ;-)
 
Also recommend turning the line off. I felt like having the line on I was driving to it rather than learning the track.

But it's better to do a few sessions in practice first, so you don't have the competitive pressure which might be frustrating or distracting until you get the hang of it.
 
I started playing since GT3, when we didn't have driving lines:nervous:

Basically, first keep the driving line on while learning the track. Memorize all the braking points and corner turn-ins.

You'll notice that you can drive much faster without the line.
 
Also, remember that most tracks have a faint driving line in reality, if you carefully look for rubber detritus in the entry to corners. It's more fun to try to process that into your driving.
 
The driving line will impede your judgement skills, and may prevent you from learning the track altogether, time to take the training wheels off. I've kept the line off since A-10-ish. Never going to turn it on again, i dont care if the track is new. You'll thank yourself later.
 
If you have problems remembering the brakepoints, just remember that the gear indicaotor will start flashing.
 

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