How to drive fast.

[Tiddle18]

Hi every one I have a question. Cause I'm not doing something right. It's probably not just one thing but anyways, I took a look at some of the replays from the top lap times in some of the cars I drive to see the difference in what their doing to what I'm doing and it looks like I'm doing it all wrong. I can't drive the R35 GT-R it slides everywhere I try to turn and it's not like a power slide, it slows down alot and basically stops the turn and goes straight. But in the videos i see people are sliding around corners just fine. But it seems like the majority of people love the way it drives. That car is just one example. The Ferrari 430 doesn't want to turn at all. Ive tried tuning but thats pretty pointless as I have no idea what I'm doing. So what I'm basically asking how to take corners faster without stopping to a crawl.

 

[niky]

Turn off stability control.

And slow down.

To go fast, first you must go slow.

To do a corner properly, braking is everything. Viewing a best lap replay by any top twenty player will show you proper entry speeds, braking points, apexes and exits for the corners. When you get within the top five, that shows you the absolute best line... or something close to it. But focus first on braking properly and hitting that apex.

 

[Tiddle18]

Thanks I just took the high speed ring in the GT-r and yeah I need to practice braking just a you said. especially with cars with more power. I'm really good with the RX-8 I think because it's slower. Also my tires really affect it as well. But I like the S2's and S3's S1's have me right into a barrier. What the best track to practice good braking and cornering. But yeah my braking sucks I either brake to much or not enough. Ive never raced with the aids on. Also in standard mode it hella easier i just never tried it until now lol. But I want to learn in pro mode anyway.

 

[niky]

Learn in pro. Standard has too much handholding (I've seen a few online Daytona races where people are basically drifting around an oval at nearly 200 mph... ).

The sliding is jsut from going too fast into a corner and braking too late. It takes a while to learn proper braking points, and there's no shortcut for that, just practice practice practice.

The RX8 is both slower and lighter, which makes it more gentle at the limit. The GT-R is an interesting car in that it grips, grips, grips, understeers... then snap... oversteers (sometimes spins... well... a lot of times) through a corner. Start off with something slow and make your way up to more powerful cars once you've got the hang of the corner speeds. Learning in a big grippy car with dynamic all-wheel drive traction and nastily heavy rear end isn't as good as learning in something slower and more gradual in its at-the-limit behaviour.

 

[nikhil]

Try doing 10-20 laps with the driving line on, then turn it off and see how you do. I find it's really effective in helping me nail my braking points.

 

[Ascari_Gruppe]

This is for the current time trial event at Daytona Road I presume? The most important part with this car and track is to set the front/rear torque distribution to 45/55.

Power 504kw
Weight 1479
Tyres R1/R1

-6 / -6
3 / 6
1 / 4
-0.15 / +0.08
1.9 / 1.2


Brake bias 6 / 5
F/R Torque 45/55

3.354
2.145
1.723
1.366
1.099
0.877

Final Drive 3.451


Try my setup, it might help? I'm about 20th at the moment but I seem to have hit a brick wall with my times. If anyone else would like to share a setup that would be good


@ Tiddle18, I'm guessing you're using a steering wheel and not a Dualshock?

 

[Turbo-Kai]

I am not pro but kind of ambitious amateur ;-) ...and still drive with pad...
my basic tips for you (without thinking of car setup):
corners:
"slow in fast out" is a true phrase!
sometimes it is better to release brake a bit earlier and then roll through the corner without accelaration...or maybe doing oldschool "push-and-release the gas button"...but this is only for pad players...wheel drivers got the big advantige to hold the gas on a certain level when driving through a corner...

shifting:
go for MANUAL. first you need time to get used to it. In my case I lost time between braking and accelerating. And also my racing line got worse...A big reason for this was the allocation of the buttons....
i now use: X=gas / []=brake / Triangle=gear down / R1= gear up

> trying new racing lines / braking points...sometimes you are puzzled hom many tenths you can still find on the track...

Oh...and my last tip: practice, practice, practice...

C U on the track...

 

[Vince_Fiero]

"slow in fast out" is a true phrase!
sometimes it is better to release brake a bit earlier and then roll through the corner without accelaration...or maybe doing oldschool "push-and-release the gas button"...but this is only for pad players...wheel drivers got the big advantige to hold the gas on a certain level when driving through a corner...

I have gained a lot lately with this, breaking early regressively, low throttle and roll through the corner.

On a pad, be certain to configure it that you can do most of it, I recently reconfigured mine and it is hard to get used to the change (at my age), so do it early.

Look at the accelerate and brake buttons on this one:

I use the sticks to steer (right one) and shift up and down (left one). (still experimenting)

 

[PAPPACLART]

Also be sure to brake in a straight line rather braking hard while you are turning hard, this will cause most cars to spin. Braking can be done entering a corner but just try to use small steering inputs should you need to brake while entering a corner. Obviously the faster you are going the more likely you are spin if trying to brake and turn at the saem time.

You should always try to get all your braking done, so that you can accelerate through the corner without having to brake to correct yourself, which would suggest that you either did not loose enough speed before the corner or you simply accelerated to soon and hard on the exit of a corner which will cause you to run wide.

The best thing to do, is pick a car and track you enjoy, and practice. Do multiple laps and try to beat you ghost. You will improve.

 

[Ascari_Gruppe]

Also be sure to brake in a straight line rather braking hard while you are turning hard, this will cause most cars to spin. Braking can be done entering a corner but just try to use small steering inputs should you need to brake while entering a corner. Obviously the faster you are going the more likely you are spin if trying to brake and turn at the saem time.

You should always try to get all your braking done, so that you can accelerate through the corner without having to brake to correct yourself, which would suggest that you either did not loose enough speed before the corner or you simply accelerated to soon and hard on the exit of a corner which will cause you to run wide.

The best thing to do, is pick a car and track you enjoy, and practice. Do multiple laps and try to beat you ghost. You will improve.

That's going to be hard because I think he's talking about Daytona Road in the OP and the first corner there is 200mph down to 2nd gear while cornering through that kink.

But definitely a golden rule with braking is to brake hard only in a straight line.

 

[niky]

Still use the stick. I might be missing out on that last 5% that I could get with "left-foot" braking, but it ensures all my inputs are smooth.

 

[Tiddle18]

@ Ascari_Gruppe nope I'm using a dual shock.
Thanks so much guys. I really suck at manual it adds another factor that i have to think about. When I try manual everything else goes out the window but i guess it's better to learn now then really be messed up later. It will also give me more control over the performance with my car right? http://www.drivingfast.net/ this website has great instruction and explanation on the physics of racing and how to race. Another thing I'm having a problem with is steering mainly with the pad I can tell that will take some practice, but is their a tuning or setting that might help that? Also the braking in a straight line has proved to be great it reduces the likelihood of me spinning out.
What would be the maximum horsepower that I should be learning or practicing on that wont be too hard for my level? Thanks so much for the other tips

 

[Alan_G]

I really suck at manual it adds another factor that i have to think about. When I try manual everything else goes out the window but i guess it's better to learn now then really be messed up later. It will also give me more control over the performance with my car right?

I recommend just getting used to manual gears immediately. You have to do it sometime really.

Not sure what everyone else does, but I use the sound of the engine note to upshift, while occasionally glancing at the RPM to make sure I'm still upshifting at the best point.

Using manual gears definitely gives you more control. Firstly, you won't suffer downshifts at inappropriate times, such as in the middle of a corner. Also, you can upshift early (short shift), which can be useful.

Another thing I'm having a problem with is steering mainly with the pad I can tell that will take some practice, but is their a tuning or setting that might help that?

I recommend forgetting about car setups for a while. Practice the Arcade mode time trials. These don't have setups, so they keep things simple, and they are a level playing field (apart from the ignorance towards pad users meaning we can't assign a clutch...and also those wheel users using a modified clutch to achieve seamless shifts). If you start messing around with setups, then every time you face a problem, your first target is going to be the car setup, whereas the root of the problem is probably technique.

What would be the maximum horsepower that I should be learning or practicing on that wont be too hard for my level?

I would recommend some of the low power front-wheel drive cars.

I feel you can break it into two distinct parts:

- Selection of racing lines
- Execution of racing lines

At this stage, you're big focus should be the first part. I don't know your kind of experience, but everyone needs to get very sharp with realising the best lines, and most importantly, recognising when the taken line was not the fastest. The reason the line selection is so important is because it will change how you go about applying the technique. So watch the replays of some of the top guys & girls on the leaderboards.

There's not much I can add about the execution part. One very important thing is to use percentages of the throttle during corners. It varies a lot between corners/cars, but commonly from around halfway through the corner get on around 20-50% throttle, and as you exit, gradually increase it (very difficult with the pad because of the bizarre non-linearity of pad throttle).

 

[Tiddle18]

Not sure what everyone else does, but I use the sound of the engine note to upshift, while occasionally glancing at the RPM to make sure I'm still upshifting at the best point.
throttle).

I do the exact same thing. I just practiced a bit with the lancer Evo IV on the high speed ring(it seemed the easiest as far as not too many shift changes) and i also just read on how to shift when approaching and going around corners first figuring out what gear I want to exit the corner at then braking matching the revs down shifting after breaking right before I start to set my line. hit the apex shift up and accelerate out. Am I correct in assuming I should never be changing gears while going through the corner, but after the apex? But the main thing I have to get down now as far as cornering goes seems to be where the apex is so I know when to accelerate out because I have a habit of accelerating to soon. I always thought the apex was in the exact middle of the corner but thats not so in some corners. All this is starting to come together now. But just to make sure am I sorta on the right track now? And Thanks for all the help and advice so far and I gonna take your advice and try even slower FF car to ensure I have time to think about all these factors because it alot to think about when driving a fast car because the margin for error is so much smaller which can be very frustrating. I'm gonna try the focus.

 

[Earth]

Tiddle18, here are my tips.

#1 Get a wheel ASAP. A DFGT is around $100, G27 is $200+. Going from a a DS3 to a wheel may feel awkward at first, but with a little time it will feel much more natural and you will have much more control.

#2 Remember the tires and their grip limits. Everything you do affects the grip of the tires. Lets say the tires have a maximum grip efficiency of 100%. If you accelerate from a standstill your using 100% of your tire grip for accelerating. If you accelerate and turn at the same time, 50% of your tires grip goes to turning, another 50% to accelerating. That's why its always best to brake in a straight line. This way you can focus 100% of your tire's efficiency for braking. Remember that when accelerating out of a corner its usually not best to floor it until you've stopped turning. Feathering the throttle coming out of a corner reduces the amount of tire grip you are donating towards aceleration and gives it to cornering speed and grip.

#3 Turn off all AIDs right now. No traction control. With some real cars TC is an advantage, but in most games like GT it slows you down. No stability control. The computer will mess with your steering, you don't need the computer's help. Use manual transmission. This will give you ultimate control over your vehicle. Use higher gears to get more grip. Lower gears to get maximum power out of low speed corners. Alot of cars have power curves that aren't at the rev limiter and can only be matched consistently with manual transmission.

#4 Study racing line. Missing the premium racing line through a turn by one foot can mean a tenth of a second.

 

[FC3S-D]

I'm not a fast driver but here are some things I've learned.

1. This one I learned yesterday, when you brake into corner, dont lift off accelerator all the way because I was spinning out so much. I'm not sure if this is good for the car or tires but I improved my lap time on London by 2 seconds having just learnt it.

2. Smooth braking and accelerating which means less wear on tires.

3. Don't dive into the corner as fast as you can. It's more important to have a fast and smooth exit speed.

4. And use as much of the track as possible.