How Do You Get the Most Out of High Down Force Cars?

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Pigems

Pigems

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Hey Fellas! I’ve got a question for the community. What’s the deal with the High Down Force Cars? How do you squeeze that last bit out of them? Or wrap your brain around driving them? I try and I Try and I try, but I’m usually still way off pace with anything Gr2 and up in a lot of cases, even in Gr3 sometimes. It feels like I’m pushing the car to its limits, but clearly I’m not. :lol:

So I ask the community, what’s the Secret to driving the HDF Cars? Any and all info on the subject would be greatly appreciated, TYVM everyone and have a great day!
 
Several months ago, I did ask a driver who did some real world racing and competed in GT Academy back in the day and took 2nd (if I recall) in the UK and he gave me these tips:
  • Minimize your steering inputs. You want to find the maximum speed you can carry through a corner so you need to find the least amount of steering input.
  • Brake harder the faster you are going. I don't know if this applies to GTS but it gets harder to lockup your tires the faster you are going. You need to bleed off the brakes accordingly as well.
  • Push harder on faster areas and be precise on slower areas. Take advantage of the downforce.
I apologize if this doesn't really help you that much. I don't remember all of the conversation and this was many months ago. I also don't get along that well with high downforce cars seeing as I struggled to not bin the Gr.2 car in GTS the last time I tried it (Suzuka in January I think).Also I am like 1 second to 1.5 seconds slower than the top guys on HDF cars so I can't really offer you any suggestions from my abilities.
 
For me the 2016 Gr.2 took a while to get my head around but once you 'click' to the driving model it feels like an LMP2 type car almost.

The 2008? I have yet to drive one!

I feel like the Gr1 type cars are a BIG difference to the open wheelers, they are another league altogether.

I have no problems with the Audi R18 and the McLaren VGT Gr.1 which are the tip of that class of performance. I feel like you can still drive them like just faster closed wheel cars.

However open wheelers are another world, especially the SF19 which I feel suffers from a lack of power so you have to conserve all that momentum.

If you dont have to brake, don't. I maintain just steering inputs on large sections of Autopolis or St. Croix. Chain the corners.

I still feel like I'm well behind most on open wheelers since I find it hard to judge corner braking zones in all of them.

Like 130R you can go flat out in most openwheelers. You cant on most closed wheel race cars.
 
Couple of things comes to mind, keep on throttle always when not braking. Dont coast, drag is huge and cause car slow down fast.
Also adjust to the grip, high speed means high grip. If you lose much time, or cant keep on track like faster drivers, drive faster.
Driving line is important, if it's not right, you cant keep the speed up - slow speed less grip.

In top 10 vid from daily c this week, some drivers use downshifts to get thru some corners faster. No idea how to do that.
my optimum is 1:23.7, but q time still 1:24.2. :cheers:
 
More speed = more airflow over the car which with (high) down force pushes the car down giving more grip.

Kinda what's already been said
 
Trust is the biggest thing for me, driving like a mad man in practice and going off is the easier way to find the limits, lol. Keep it in your mind that your cornering speeds will be much quicker, so you might be able to do medium and fast corners in a higher gear compared to gr4 or gr3. Especially if are used to using 5 or 6 gears and jump into something with 7 or 8.

Also using the engine braking while downshifting is really important, don’t just bang down through the gears as quick as possible. Downshifting should feel like it’s helping you turn in. I’m sure that applies to all categories but it feels the most prevalent in the fast cars imo.
 
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