With the new patch out, and throttle blip and cut gone, some advice for us newbies would be nice.
I raced for some time now (getting s2 on Tuesday finally) and have always used those aids, and I think a lot of other beginners as well. There are of course some differences in setups but unless you own a g25 (or some other wheel with clutch pedal) you have to use some tricks to get around this problem of not having a clutch.
How are we supposed to blip and cut (although cutting is pretty straightforward) without the clutch, if someone could give tips for different controllers (I have a wheel, but there will be a lot of beginners with mouse, keyboard etc), I would appreciate it very much.

edit: Let me make clear that I like this change. It will take some time getting used to, but I'll be back at my old times soon enough.

I have to ask. What is so difficult about it? I've been blipping the throttle manually for years with 2 pedals.

How to do it? It's something that's so easy, it's impossible to explain. You just blip the throttle while you are downshifting

Just read this, it explains how to blip with combined axis peddals, but you could apply it to keyboard or mouse use to.

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=35238

I guess it's simple if you've been braking with your left foot all these years, but for me, who's been using the right foot for gas and brake all these years, it's quite an adjustment.

So the best way to go around this problem with a normal two-axis steering wheel is using a button to act as a clutch and throttle blip while braking and pushing the button?
I see there are some cars (like the formula 1 car) that have throttle cut IRL, is it the same ingame? Do you also have to blip in cars that normally have flappy paddles?

I have a DFP with 2 pedals and I use auto clutch. Throttle with right foot and brake with the left.

When down shifthing I brake as normal and just blip the throttle in between changes and depending on the car I lift off on upshifts. I only feel the need to blip when braking from highspeed to low speed turns at the moment, like turn 1 at Blackwood. You blip every car, flappy padels change nothing.

Its really not difficult at all, just need some practice. Plus you wont get back to your old times because of the physics change so forget those.

What exactly does the blip do for you anyway? I've been driving without it for a while now and have never felt the need to blip manually either. I haven't tested the patch much though, if I don't blip now is it going to heat up the clutch?

Quote from UncleBenny :

What exactly does the blip do for you anyway? I've been driving without it for a while now and have never felt the need to blip manually either. I haven't tested the patch much though, if I don't blip now is it going to heat up the clutch?

The blip on the throttle is to match the speed of the wheels to the speed of the engine in the lower gear. When you downshift the revs are going to rise, so you're preparing the engine by raising the revs with your right foot before the next gear engages.

If you don't do that, when you shift down and there's a mismatch in speeds between the engine and wheels you're going to have a situation where the momentum of the car has to accelerate the engine, and this added load might cause the driven wheels to break traction.

Maybe it's bad for the clutch too, I don't know, but it's definitely bad for decent lap times.

By taking out auto blip and cut I fear the learning curve of this game got quite alot steeper, none the less you may says its simple enough but to some one who's new to game/sim could find it very confusing! I found it quite confusing at first and quite hard as im trying to cut and blip on ps2 joypad. After a few days iv got the hang of it and lapping quite faster than alot of other people! I would suggest someone make a quick tutorial on how to cut and clip and what it actually does as I have a feeling a few new drivers may ask this question quite frequently, then you could just direct them to it!

I found this new patch ahrd to deal with but im happy with my progress so far with the joypad still!

With my DFP, I use what I like to call the "toe-heel downshift". I brake with my toes, and then blip the throttle with my heel. It makes the FBM easier to control during deceleration. And, when upshifting in the FBM you don't have to release the throttle completely. Unfortunately, sometimes I end up not releasing the throttle enough and then the gears won't engage.

With upshifts on the FBM you can 'preload' the shifter. Press to change up a gear (then hold) while holding full throttle, and it will stay in the gear until you lift off the throttle, at which point it will shift up. This eliminates the timing issue, all you need to do is make sure you lift off the throttle enough.

For downshifts, using auto clutch, I find I'm not too good at getting the timing right with the blip on the FBM. Is anyone else just not bothering to blip on downshifts with this car? I find as long as I choose the point when I shift down carefully, it's not a problem.

The only time I blip is at the last downshift, because I never let off the clutch untill I'm ready to start the turn in, sometimes I go from 6-4 and than go to 3rd with a quick blip of the throttle during the turn in, without braking after I come to 4th.

This alows me to use engine braking to trail brake if I have to, but I still have the revs up to accelerate out of the turn quickly.

i use a ps2 style controler and have lernt blips

analoges for throttle/brake & steer

l1 shift down
R1 shift up
R2 Clutch

i just tap the throttle quick when shifting b4 relising the clutch
seams to keep the revs up and works so much better now with new patch

Quote from Quarin :

So the best way to go around this problem with a normal two-axis steering wheel is using a button to act as a clutch and throttle blip while braking and pushing the button?

Forget the clutch, just use auto clutch like you've done so far. There's no point using manual clutch with 2-pedal set.

Quote :

I see there are some cars (like the formula 1 car) that have throttle cut IRL, is it the same ingame? Do you also have to blip in cars that normally have flappy paddles?

Yes, two of the GTRs has ignition cut and also the single-seaters excluding Formula BMW. But you're demo racer so... you need to blip & cut manually on all cars.

When the patch goes official and world record hotlap competition starts, we'll see what's the fastest way of doing it. I'm afraid the super-fa-fa-fa-fast-downshifting style doesn't change much, NOT blipping should definitely upset the cars a lot more than it does now.

Quote from deggis :

There's no point using manual clutch with 2-pedal set.

Using the button does give you the opportunity to block shift, if your style benefits from it.. especially if you can heel and toe properly.