How does drafting work?
- Thread starter JaEYuN
- 26 comments
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- 1,128
Drafting is basicly riding in the low presure aria left in the wake the car in front of you. by doing so you take the air off the nose of your car greatly reducing wind resistance, or aerodynamic drag allowing you to gain more speed. the effect is more pronounced in high downforce cars which have high levels of drag. drafting can also be mutualy benificial for both the front and rear cars, because not only does it take the air of the nose of your car, but it also helps to fill the low presure reigion behing the lead car that is effectivly trying to suck him back into it as ambient presures always attempt to equalize. in short this helps the both of you to go faster. drafting is used on the straits only though, as being in the draft will lessen the front tiers grip for cornering by taking downforce of of them. if you've ever suddenly slid to the outside of the course in a high downforce car for no apperant reason it was probably because you cut into the draft of a car in front of you
Unless of course you'r talking about drifting, which is the act of breaking traction at the rear wheels around a corner, and maintaining progress in a sideways fashion around the turn by modulating the throttle and steering. see the drift forum for more info. I'm a grip racer and not much of a drifter.
Unless of course you'r talking about drifting, which is the act of breaking traction at the rear wheels around a corner, and maintaining progress in a sideways fashion around the turn by modulating the throttle and steering. see the drift forum for more info. I'm a grip racer and not much of a drifter.
- 24,344
- Midlantic Area
- GTP_Duke
If you've seen an actual race on TV, you've seen drafting - it is just like inferno described. That's the reason race drivers tuck right up behind each other. It also helps fuel economy because less power is required to go the same speed.JaEYuN
In cars of very equal power it is often the only way to pass effectively: fall back a little in the leader's slipstream, build up as much momentum as possible as you run up behind him, and the use that momentum to pull out and pass at the last moment. In GT3, when you're travelling ~100 mph or so, there is a lot of wind noise. But when you tuck into the car ahead's slipstream, the wind noise dies off to indicate you are drafting.
A quick search for "drafting" would have turned up a lot of information.
Welcome to GTPlanet, inferno, by the way. Enjoy your stay here.
- 1,193
I don't think i've ever been in a situation where drafting ever worked in GT3. but a really good example of drafting would be NASCAR. Just watch any NASCAR race, and you'll see a perfect example of drifting.
- 24,344
- Midlantic Area
- GTP_Duke
Drafting almost always works unless they can run totally away from you. But I always draft down the front straight at R246, and I've won 30 minute races at the test course by tenths of a second by hanging on behind the faster cars for the whole race, and slingshot passing on the last turn.RX-7_FC_DrIfteR
- 1,193
Ohh okie... I've never really noticed
- 569
- Germany
- Srweber88
- Srweber88
I hardly ever use drafting on GT3.I use it alot on NASCAR games.
- 118
I use rafting in Midnight Club 2 and Need For Speed: Underground it shows that your doing it also and you hit the car in front of you most of the time. But in Midnight Club 2 a bar fills up showing your drafting you don't gain speed though. But when it fills up you cut to the side of the car in front of you and press your nitrous button. It doesn't use nitrous but you fly forward.
SWAT2291
Hmmm...
First off welcome to GTP SWAT2291, I hope you enjoy your stay here.
Second off...
I know about both these features but the thing is for Midnight Club 2, it's not really the same thing, in that case it was sorta exaggerated or a sense of something built up then pass, the draifting they mean obviousy is what has already been explained, you follow in one's trail and you have a better path and eveuntally you'll be able to pass a said driver be it on a strait or going into a turn. Midnight Club 2 uses that on a different level that is very well classifed as unrealistc, sorry to sound like a bubble buster but that's the very case.
Plus Midnight Club 2 and Need For Speed undeground don't have as much (if any) emphasis on realism as GT does, although I'll admit your noting to that, far as at the least I can tell, it really donsen't pay too much relevance to actuall GT. Sorry if I actually sound like an *** but that's how i see the situation. Again, sorry to sound like a pain.
That's my view...till later...
- 227
Drafting is an aerodynamic phenomenon that begins at 70 MPH. Back when Papyrus brought out the first "NASCAR Racing" game, that quote was typed in the manual and I've never forgotten it.
- 418
I'm not convinced that drafting begins at 70mph either. As a cyclist I can feel the draft behind a bus or truck at 20mph. However the effect does increase with speed. Famine could probably give us a formula 
Drafting in GT3 does work, even with cars like an untuned Mini. But to get the full effect race in two-player mode with the S class Toyota GT-Ones around the Test Course. Get to within a second of the car in front, follow in his wheeltracks and watch your revs and speed rise.
Drafting is commonplace in oval racing, Nascar and IRL, but was also a widely used technique in F1 before the cars needed all the air over the bodywork they could get for downforce. The 1971 Italian GP had the closest finish in history as the cars drafted each other around the track and it has only been eclipsed as the fastest ever race in the last couple of years.
Drafting in GT3 does work, even with cars like an untuned Mini. But to get the full effect race in two-player mode with the S class Toyota GT-Ones around the Test Course. Get to within a second of the car in front, follow in his wheeltracks and watch your revs and speed rise.
Drafting is commonplace in oval racing, Nascar and IRL, but was also a widely used technique in F1 before the cars needed all the air over the bodywork they could get for downforce. The 1971 Italian GP had the closest finish in history as the cars drafted each other around the track and it has only been eclipsed as the fastest ever race in the last couple of years.
- 71
Yes going into a strong head wind would also make a difference, in that the car behind wouldn't have to strain as much as the car in front.
- 2,118
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- MastrGT
The effectiveness of a draft depends upon how much volume of air is being displaced by the lead vehicle. The faster the vehicle moves and the larger the amount of air it displaces, the more complete the vacuume is around the following vehicle, the more effective the draft is. Therefore, for drafting purposes, getting closer is more efficient than dropping back, and going faster is more effective. You can easily see this on long straights, as you approach a lead car.
As mentioned, a cyclist needs more vacuume, while most cars today need at least some downforce. They also need radiator cooling, so they don't always stay exactly behind the lead vehicle for long. There are also ways the following vehicle can disturbe the lead vehicle, without touching it, just by using the aerodynamics, so bumper-to-bumper driving needs to be done with care, IRL.
My question is, do AI cars get the same benefits from a draft?
Cheers,
MasterGT
As mentioned, a cyclist needs more vacuume, while most cars today need at least some downforce. They also need radiator cooling, so they don't always stay exactly behind the lead vehicle for long. There are also ways the following vehicle can disturbe the lead vehicle, without touching it, just by using the aerodynamics, so bumper-to-bumper driving needs to be done with care, IRL.
My question is, do AI cars get the same benefits from a draft?
Cheers,
MasterGT
- 1,128
My best guess, alot of cooling.
and as for wether or not the ai cars benifit from drafting, Yes. I've seen them use it numerous times at the test course. the cars just fall into two lines and stay that way for a while. I've ben involved in the formation once with the F1's and when I steped out to pass they started pulling away.
Does this also mean that a draft that is done at low speeds (say, 30 MPH) is also technically drafting, yet not very effective? Technically you are still displacing air, given by that one formula... dm/dt = mAV? (mass, Area, Velocity)... so I think it'd work all the time, unless I'm missing something about the fluids recombining in the rear. (I'm an Aero Major =P but I don't take fluids until next quarter...)
I remember reading about the triathlon in the newspaper and how it was considered unfair for people to draft while running... so I really don't know...
- 24,344
- Midlantic Area
- GTP_Duke
Well, you have to consider the scale. You can't take it that literally. A marathoner is not the same thing as a racecar, in speed or in power output or in volume of displaced air. It's all relative. Bicycle racers draft all the time. Migrating geese fly in V formation because one wing of each goose is in the slipstream of the goose ahead, and so it doesn't have to work as hard. If you watch, they change sides to distribute the fatigue, and no one goose stays in the lead for more than a few hours.
Drafting does work at any speed, but given that air resistance goes up as a square of velocity, as you slow down the effect becomes exponentially less noticeable.
Drafting does work at any speed, but given that air resistance goes up as a square of velocity, as you slow down the effect becomes exponentially less noticeable.
- 2,118
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- MastrGT
Relative is right. The marathoner might also benefit more from the cooling affects of unobstructed air flow, unless heading into a strong wind. The benefits of a runner drafting must be minimal. Having raced bicycles in my younger days, I have a keen appreciation of drafting.neon_duke
The BBC's "geese" news article is
here. Not only do large birds have an easier time because of drafting, but they also get to take their foot off the gas pedal (coast) a lot more, too. That is one of the techniques used by maximum milage contests, but it wouldn't help most of us in the game.
Cheers,
MasterGT
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