SRF is different as it actually changes the games physics to give you more grip.
If you adjust your driving style towards SRF you will always be faster with SRF on because you have 30% more grip in corners. Just throw the car into a corner at a speed way too high for it to normally get the corner. Slam on the throttle halfway the corner and voila, much faster.
I think all the aids make people slower than they *could* be given an optimised situation.
I mean: you can turn TC on, but if you would be a real pro driver (not me) and you have a good steering wheel with good pedals in a good racing seat etc etc.. you would be faster with TC off.
Same with ABS. If you are a very good driver with good chair good wheel/pedals etc etc.. you will be faster with ABS off than with ABS on.
That counts for all the driving aids EXCEPT for the horrible SRF.
There is noway you are faster with SRF off than with SRF off, speaking of the same person with same car etc etc. SRF on will always beat SRF off, and that is the biggest difference with the other driving aids.
No matter how much you practise, no matter how good you are, you will always* be slower with SRF off than with SRF on.
*note: as I said you must adjust driving style to much more aggressive with SRF on
I think you're right...
Except about the wheel...
Indeed, I see people with wheels saying they can't turn ABS off for some reason???
When many times turning it all the way off to ZERO helps me loads. And I'm using a ds3.
I've seen people (using wheel/pedals) complain about their brakes locking up easily with ABS off.
I'm good at being delicate with the throttle... but for some reason my weakness is not being delicate enough with the brakes.
I even tried using R2 with an extender... and the problem doesn't get any better. And yet I don't find a problem having ABS off. For whatever reason, many times I can go faster with it off. I don't experience this locking up business at all generally. And so long as I can control a car, I'm always faster with the TC lower... ideally if I can control the car with it off, that's the way to go.
And like I said, I'm using a ds3.
So at least in the case of the ABS & TC, it applies to ds3 in my experience.
Could have something to do with my driving style. Sometimes my bf says it LOOKS as if I shouldn't be able to set the lap times I can by the way I'm driving. He's much smoother than me, but in some cars in some situations, that doesn't make him any faster than me. I don't know why. Maybe it's a case of 2 routes to reach a destination - neither better just depends on the circumstance?
Kind of like how if you watch Youtube videos of people doing the license tests. There may be 2 videos with gold times - but they do different things, take different lines, just slightly, but get the same time. Even though one looks harried & faster in certain areas, and another might look like they're going really slow in some parts... yet they both wind up with gold time.
Maybe it means one is better overall than the other in a variety of situations. But in certain set of circumstances, it doesn't matter.