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Help with stopping oversteer
(12 posts, started )
Help with stopping oversteer
Can someone take a look at this replay please?

I find that in pretty much any car, I'm getting vast amounts of oversteer, meaning I end up drifting round most corners. The corner in question is the one after the big back straight. I know I'm on cold tyres in the replay, but this was just to keep the replay short - its happening even on warmed tyres.

The setup I'm using I got sent by one of the fastest people on the server, who wasn't taking corners like this, so it seems to be my driving style, rather than anything intrinsically wrong with the car.
Attached files
Crashgate3_BL1_XFG.spr - 33 KB - 217 views
Don't skip 4th gear. This will unsettle the car less upon entry. Come off the brakes smoothly and carry them toward the apex(i.e. trail-brake). Blend your corner phases into one smooth motion. Use more of the track so you don't have to turn so hard. You weren't on the white line when you started your turn-in, you didn't touch the apex curb, and you didn't go onto the exit curb or green astroturf at all. The astroturf is very wide there which makes the exit forgiving.
Quote from Crashgate3 :The setup I'm using I got sent by one of the fastest people on the server, who wasn't taking corners like this, so it seems to be my driving style, rather than anything intrinsically wrong with the car.

A couple of quick comments

Fast setups are made to be oversteery on purpose.
When you watch other players online you need to realise that what you see isn't exactly what the player has done due to lag. I.e. if at the end of the straight it looks as if he brakes at 100m marker or just after in reality he has begun to brake at 110-105.

In the replay you were braking fine, you just started too late so therefore weren't able to turn in effectively (understeer which you then tried to correct by driver induced oversteer )

Your speed just before the appex ought to be 108ish with you off the brakes and just starting to pick up the throttle. So start to brake 10m earlier fading the brake as you turn in and then get back on the throttle around the appex.

Slow in Fast out.
Well, I haven't looked at the replay but I will tomorrow . I just want to say, if its happening when you lift off the brakes, I know EXACTLY what you mean. For some weird reason, after you finish braking and let go, the car suddenly decides to really turn in like mad. I found that the best way to avoid this crazy amount of oversteer is to use less brake pressure or to not brake for as long and just the let the corner itself scrub speed off the car so that you can take the corner safely.
#5 - col
Basically all your inputs should be smooth - if you are near the limit(if you aren't you will be slow) and make any sudden extreme control inputs, it is likely that you will lose grip efficiency.

If you are still braking HARD at turn in point, all the weight is over the front of the car, so there is very little grip in the rears, if you then turn putting more pressure on the (outside?) rear, it will break loose... you want to ease your braking before turn in (just long enough for the car to settle), but not too much that you send the weight of the car flying in the other direction

You should google 'traction budget' or 'traction circle' for more useful info about how to 'manage' the car through corners. Also google 'trail braking'

Having looked at the replay, I would say that for the car/track/tyres/setup you are using, you are just stepping over the grip limit at turn in!
Don't turn in quite so much until you have released the brakes a bit more - trail braking is tricky this way, I think you are turning too hard at first and the resulting weight transfer is too violent - when you've don't that, there is no 'fix' later in the corner - so try to be smoother and keep tighter control over the weight transfer towards the end of the straight part of the braking zone and during the initial turn in... if you get that right, you can probably turn in harder keeping more speed and apex faster without losing the rear (its not gonna be easy though )
You also must use a setup that is designed for your driving style - ie. there's no point in trying to trail brake with a mouse setup.
Hmm.. that makes sense.. thanks for all the comments.


I'm trying to ease off the brakes as I turn. but I suppose I'm just not doing it enough. It makes sense that the back is breaking loose because there's just not enough weight over the back wheels.

So I need to do more of my braking while I.m still in a straight line? I'll try that. It seems to mainly be corners at the end of fast straights too, which also fits with what people have been saying.
#7 - col
Quote from Crashgate3 :Hmm.. that makes sense.. thanks for all the comments.


I'm trying to ease off the brakes as I turn. but I suppose I'm just not doing it enough. It makes sense that the back is breaking loose because there's just not enough weight over the back wheels.

So I need to do more of my braking while I.m still in a straight line? I'll try that. It seems to mainly be corners at the end of fast straights too, which also fits with what people have been saying.

It's not that you're not easing off the brakes enough, or that you're not braking straight for long enough, it's that when you start turning, you're turning too hard - too aggressively. When you turn, turn less and do it smoothly releasing the brakes smoothly at the same time - you have to feel the connection between releasing the brake and turning the car - if you're getting it right, and the setup is good, you will get nice turn-in and hear the tyres scrubbing without squealing all the way through the turn.
The comments in this thread have been great in helping me understand why my times have not been improving.

I have been stuck at the same times for a while and that is what has been holding me back from getting the full version of LFS. My laptimes have been hanging around at 1.37 and no matter what I have been trying I have not been improving.

Will be trying some of the comments when I next get in and see how they improve my time. I expect that it shld improve significantly as I have not been doing what col is saying.
Never coast.


Brake before you turn, then get back on the power before corner entry and hold it there. Only back off a fraction if the back end starts to slide, never lift off completely mid corner and apply throttle until you're pointing dead ahead. After a while you'll be able to make a smooth transition between the braking and accelerating at corner entry without the rear stepping out.

Most mid corner slides can sorted with lifting the accelerator a tad bit, if you leave it late then you're going to need to counter steer it. Also experiment with the LSD and try to find a good balance with power/coast settings, a good diff setup will go a long way!
Aggression seems to have been mainly causing it. I've just had a go and made myself brake earlier and its taken a second off my lap times just after 4 laps or so.
Just to add some more tips I experienced and got from Race drivers books, concentrate on where the weight of the car wants to go.

Quote from Leprekaun :Well, I haven't looked at the replay but I will tomorrow . I just want to say, if its happening when you lift off the brakes, I know EXACTLY what you mean. For some weird reason, after you finish braking and let go, the car suddenly decides to really turn in like mad. I found that the best way to avoid this crazy amount of oversteer is to use less brake pressure or to not brake for as long and just the let the corner itself scrub speed off the car so that you can take the corner safely.

Under braking the cars weight is beeing transformed to the front giving more grip to the front tires, as the rear gets light it becomes unstable resulting in oversteer when turning.

Quote from Crashgate3 :So I need to do more of my braking while I.m still in a straight line? I'll try that. It seems to mainly be corners at the end of fast straights too, which also fits with what people have been saying.

Yes. Braking in a straight line is alot better, if say a tire generates 100 % Grip and you use 80% of it for braking, you only have 20 % Grip left for turning, a tire can only have a certain amount of Grip which you have to compromise if the forces on the tire goes in different directions like when braking and turning at the same time.

After a long straight try to brake in a straight line as hard as possible first (100% of the tires grip can be used for that), and then ease off the brake as you slow down and the turning begins (compromise), the car gets more stable for turning as the weight transfer gets more balanced.

Alot of people concentrate to much on the brake point, while it is also important to concentrate on where I want the braking to be finished.

As Ross Bentley so often says in his book "concentrate on weight transfer". Helped me alot.

In nearly all corners it is better to have more speed coming out of the corner than to brake late. Some people think they get to much of an advantage by braking very late and beeing longer on the throttle. But it is better if you brake a little bit earlier, if you could then get earlier back on the Gas.
If you brake a little bit later than usual into a corner, you might have been a couple of km/h faster then the lap before in this short period of time under braking, but if you can be just a little bit faster coming out of the corner you will be faster the whole length of the following straight.
4 words to live by, I knocked seconds of my lap times when I actually applied this...


"Slow In, Fast Out"

Doooo eeeettt

Help with stopping oversteer
(12 posts, started )
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