In case you don't know who Don Palmer is he's a driving tutor (not passing your test kind of tutor, instead he shows you how to really drive upto and over the limit etc, ex works driver I think, very nice chap including the beard).

A few years ago I took a session with him at a large airfield as I'd just bought a 340Bhp car and wanted to know what it (and I) could do, the whole power/responsibility thing. Anyway.

Over the last few days I've been blatting sideways around SwainDrift in a LX6 and I often rememeber something he said to me that was a massive help in learning car control, and I've not seen it mentioned in the numerous online car control guides so I thought I'd share it with you, just pooling information kinda thing.

His killer advise was to hold the steering wheel with just your finger tips so that only the "finger print" part of each finger (and thumb) is actually touching the wheel. This benefits in two ways: 1. instead of gripping the wheel it forces your hands to relax, and anyone else who's done martial arts will know when you relax your body it's more open to feedback and stimulus, and 2. you will get a large boost in feedback directly from the wheel as each contact patch of skin is able to "slide" slightly over the subcut tissues which really improves your perception of small wheel movements.

The result? Smoother interpretation of what the car is doing and a smoother response from yourself. Nice.

Anyway. Just wanted to share that. LFS has such lovely subtle forcefeedback (on my G25 anyway) it seems silly to waste a percentage of it.

Try it with your real life driving too.

I have not tested this technique, so I canot say how this work in thie game. But as you write it, it sounds very true, special the part of relaxing the body and beeing able to recive more feedback.

When I get home I`m going to try this, thanks for sharing this tips

Thanks for the tip

I noticed Tiff Needell from Fifth Gear drives with his fingertips sometimes, i can understand the reasons, but it's not good for countersteering in some dangerous situations, like avoiding sudden obstacles on the road, loosing control of the car, etc..
It's good for racing, but not for road driving IMO...

also, this is mostly true for the G25, the other wheels are too slow and have too much lateny to rely that much on the feedback.

So true, I have been racing/drifting with a keyboard for 5 months, and hwne I got my wheel I always raced with the fingerprint. My old wheel had no force feedback but It will hopefully work much better with my Momo Black. Gonna try that this week

I'll give it a whirl my grip level normally depends on how many other people are racing with me... at the first round of the RSSC I was in a full on deathgrip during the first few corners proper stuff.

I'm gonna try it, it definetly seems like it will work. After all, i need to fix how tense i get in t1.

I often rode my motorcycle with my fingertips when going quick, as fewer inputs from the rider help the bike stay straight when going over bumps, etc. Staying loose is the key to smooth driving!

This thread is really quite a coincidence. I say this because as I was AutoX'ing with the LX this week, I found myself doing exactly this technique subconsciously! I didn't know professional drivers did it too. And it really did help make fine movements such as going through the slaloms! Very cool.

I may be talking complete bollocks here but i seem to remember a film many many years ago with Al Pacino playing a racing driver. There was a scene where he was driving an Alfa GTV and explaining his driving technique and how he held the steering wheel to his gorgeous blonde passenger. He described it as very gentle, with very light finger-tip touch and with a very sensual touch of the controls. Come to think of it he was probably just trying to get laid, but it does sound similar to the technique you mentioned above.

I'll see if i can find the film on Google.

edit The film's called Bobby Deerfield and its from 1977 (God i'm such an old git) But from what i remember it's not a bad flick, check it out !

Quote from Johnny Vet Boy B :

Try it with your real life driving too.

This is why, as silly as it might look, putting a quality harness and seat in any car will instantly make you a better driver. No longer need to use the wheel to hold yourself in place.

You can't "relax" and hold the wheel like the delicate control that it is if you are busy trying to remain in your seat.