Okay, I'm really quite new here and although I haven't done much in the way of racing in LFS, I am aware of the techniques, principles, whys, wherefores etc. of track/grip racing. I'm fairly uncrap at Race07 see! Oh, and I can drift rather well in 'Grid' but I don't really bother with the arcade stuff anymore. The main reason I bought this game was for the dirt track thing. However, having watched other people do it I see they can fly around corners like Stasky+Hutch. Me? Well I'm more akin to 'Driving miss Daisy' at best. At worst I'm giving it doughnuts at the ice-capades. Is there anywhere I can find some kind of guide to flying round corners in muck?
Key questions I suppose would be:-
-Pedal or Handbrake?
-RWD or FWD?
-Is there anything I can use from my drifting experience in 'Grid'?
-Is it acceptaple to wear my ex-wifes underwear?
Thank you both for the advice. I was particularly interested by your suggestion S14 Drift, is there anyway you could elaborate on your technique. I understand if it's just a 'feel' thing which can't really be explained:-
My own rather half-cocked attempts have mostly revolved around rwd with heavy rear braking to create oversteer>drift but obviously haven't proved too successful, and since your name includes the word 'drift' I suspect that you'd know a considerable ammount more than I do.
Oh, and this is to anyone, how important would you suggest left foot braking is. I'm thinking keep up the throttle while stabbing at the brake, or is this just silly?
Well, for being used to sliding the RWD around the tracks (not drifting : sliding). I would suggest something rather different :
- Stiffness and damping set for entry oversteer + exit understeer. (higher stiffness at the rear-slightly- / low damping at front and high at rear for FR, the opposite for RR and MR layouts).
- ARB set to slight oversteer.
- Brake set to understeer (more to the front)
- Wheels (camber) : set to understeer. (+ 0 toe + equal pressure on rear and front).
- For the tires : Knobbleys in low powered cars, Hybrids in higher powered cars. Because grip on the tarmac isn't that important for the low powered cars since you can gain many seconds in the dirt. However, for higher powered cars, the straights are essential, so hybrids create a much smoother transition.
- For the differential : on asphalt, either 1.5 way (coast = 0.5 power setting) with a mid to high coast or either a 2 way (coast = power) with a low preload so that to simulate a 1.5 way. (in both cases, power at 80%). On dirt, same settings for low powered cars, a bit less locked and preferably using the 2way for higher powered cars, especially TBO's.
You don't want the brakes to create oversteer, since it is better than they stabilize the cars with understeer. Anyway, you don't get that much oversteer by braking (don't need to explain if you are familiar to the traction circle). However, you get oversteer when you release the brakes. So what I do (i suggest you do the same) is to follow those transcients :
- Threshold Braking (maximum braking you'll ever get).
- Steer lightly (untill the tires at the front start screaming)
- Release the brakes just a little bit (usually half of the braking you apply) + Steer more and firmly (your car should start to go into a very light oversteer)
- Play with the brakes untill you find the appropriate angle. (<- not mandatory when you will be used to releasing the brakes a bit) Keep braking untill reaching the sufficient speed (you have to control your angle and your speed : more braking = more deceleration and less angle). Do not countersteer yet, or you will cancel the effects of the 2 previous transcients.
- Step on the gas. Control the oversteer with the gas. You don't need to countersteer (as much as you thought), since having an appropriate footwork on the acceleration and a steady steering angle will result in you sustaining your relative angle through the corner (this is a very important concept, which means you will get a constant angle relative to the racing line/tangent of the part of the corner you are in - not meaning that you will have a constant angle compared to the exit way). This is because your 4 wheels will be sliding basically. This is [b]the fast way[/b) (and it is more seeable in the dirt tracks than on asphalt, since you might have to catch higher angles to cope with the basic understeer you get on dirt). You can countersteer a bit if you want, to have only 3 wheel slidings while the front outside one will provide some directionnal force, but I suggest you to train ASAP to slide with your 4 wheels. A light countersteer might be good, as long as it doesn't make your fronts gain grip again. This is good because it will allow you to end the slide faster
- Once you want to end the slide, just countersteer a bit more, while keeping the same gas pedal.
All of these will allow you to fly through the track and the corners, sliding a bit, while keeping transmitting power to the road.
Good luck
EDIT : What you have to know about whether to use left foot brake is the effects it creates. There are 2 kinds of left foot braking.
- The "blip" : you just press/release the brakes rapidly while accelerating and in a corner, and this will remove any understeery tendency, saving your corner, your car, and your arse. <-- In this case, the dominant pedal is the accelerator.
- Applying the accelerator while braking : this is meant for two things, the major being affecting your brake balance, and the minor is keeping the boost of the turbo to remove the lag. In a FWD car, the more you apply the throttle when braking, the more you switch your brake balance toward the rear (front brakes will have to slow down accelerating wheels --> less braking power). This results in oversteer, and might be very useful for a FWD. I am more skeptical about a RWD, because it creates understeer (same as above, but inversed). However, if you defintely want to keep the boost up while braking, you maybe should move your brake balance to the rear a bit, so that left foot braking in this case will result in the same stability as a balance more to the front and no throttle on deceleration.
Not only is FWD easier to drive, it's also faster than the RWD equivalent from each class. XFG>XRG. FXO>XRT, etc etc. Ignore the name, I mainly race. I'm not really that good at rallyx, never practise or take part in them when they come up, you want a slightly oversteery balance but you want the car to remain neutral under braking. Play with the front/rear ARB relation and rear spring rate. Left foot braking can come in later, better you practise learning ahout your car.
Thank you all. That's a lot of information, and as soon as I finish work at the weekend I'll look forward to working on it.
Also :-
Yes, it makes sense but as I said it's a lot of information so it'll take me some time to absorb it all. I am stunned with the ammount of trouble you've gone to and I truly hope that I can repay the favour someday.
That's a very good point actually. Having been used to GTR Evolution for a while it all takes a lot of adjusting. It's surprising how different two members of the same genre can be. Come to think of it, on that subject do people generally like GTR Evo here or is it a bit of a dirty word amongst the LFS community?
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