ERS how to use effectively

[wackywarrior07]

Hi I have been trying to videos on ERS but find it all confusing, I tend to run out of my ERS pretty much straight away. for example I use deploy to try and get some time back on the cars in front but then I end up using all my battery, I use takeover on straights but use all my batter and use defence as the same thing. What am I doing wrong? thanks

[Andy]

Personally, i think during race the race recharging it costs too much time. So, i use deploy/overtake/defend sparingly. mabee a chunk of the first lap on overtake.
When the charge gets low leave it on normal mode.
If a safety car comes out i try and charge it back up.

When you get a bit better and start on the front row, you can just have nearly 2 laps of deploy and try and get a gap to the rest of the field.

[Crossy]

Your ERS battery will hold 6 Mega Joules (MJ) worth of energy, I think. Each lap your drivers can deploy up to 4MJ and harvest up to 2MJ.

You should be spending the vast majority of the race on Neutral deployment. This will ensure that your driver will not deploy more than 2MJ per lap and will not drain the battery.

Use deploy for things like an undercut, overcut, when attempting to get the fastest lap or when you just need that little bit more to get within DRS range. Your driver will deploy all 4MJ of battery power over the course of a lap to go as fast as possible as well as harvesting the whole 2MJ of energy that they can. Use this sparingly because you'll only have a lap or two worth of energy before you'll have to harvest.

Use Overtake when you need to give your driver an extra bit of help to get past the car in front. You generally won't need it if the car in front is on a harder compound or if your driver's tyres are very fresh and theirs are worn out. You'll only really need it if the car you're attacking is on a similar set (compound and wear level) of tyres as your driver. Again, use sparingly, because your driver will use all 4MJ of available energy in big chunks of the lap where there are overtaking opportunities. Try to activate it a couple of corners before the main overtaking spots. Again, you will only get a lap or two before having to recharge.

Defend is similar to Overtake, only your driver will use the energy defensively to try to maintain their position. You will only get a couple of laps because they'll use the whole 4MJ allowance throughout the lap. Use when you NEED to hold a position against a driver on a similar set (compound and wear) of tyres as your driver. Trying to use this deployment mode when defending against someone on softer or fresher tyres is a waste of energy except in very specific circumstances (like the closing laps of a race).

Harvest will regenerate 1MJ of energy per lap into the battery. Your driver will still deploy energy throughout the lap, but only half as much as they would on Neutral. It takes much longer to recharge the battery than it does to deploy it. Harvest is best used when you're in a DRS train or have a large gap to the car behind. But either way you WILL lose time on this deployment mode, so the less you have to use it, the better.

Bottom line is that ERS is to give your driver that extra bit of help, or to increase the odds of a successful undercut / overcut. It should not be your main effort. Use Pace commands (tyre wear) and Fuel commands as your main direction to influence your drivers' overall race-pace.

[Gurfield]

My ERS strategy is like this:

If I am starting first: Use Deploy for the first 2 laps and create a gap to break DRS.

If I am not starting first: Use Overtake if there is a long straight after the first corner, use Deploy if the track has a bunch of sharp turns or short straights.

If the car behind catches me and there is nobody behind him: Use Harvest until he passes me, then switch to Neutral and use Harvest when approaching DRS zones to fill ERS to around 90%, then use Neutral to pass him in the last DRS zone and Deploy to create a gap.

If the car behind catches me and there is a DRS train behind him: Use Neutral all the way. I have seen it too many times where using Harvest loses you positions. If you decide to use Harvest in this scenario, the car behind will sometimes pass you side by side to the DRS detection line and you will be the only one on the DRS train without DRS and 2-3 cars will pass you easily depending on the length of the straight. Only use Harvest if you 100% sure that the car behind cannot pass you and never use it approaching a DRS zone.

If the gap to car ahead is around 2 seconds: Use Deploy in parts with slow corners to catch up and get DRS and then use Harvest/Neutral depending on the situation.

To summarise the modes whichever mode you use, you will always get the same amount of ERS charge per lap 2 MJ. Harvest spends 1 MJ, Neutral spends 2 MJ, the other 3 modes spend 4 MJ. Harvest fill the bar 25% if you use it for a full lap. Neutral is neutral. The other 3 modes spend 50% when used for an entire lap. You can use Deploy/Overtake for 2 full laps at the start and in some tracks you can use it for 3 laps because of the way the car uses and gains charge at the starting lap.

You also need to apply these to different tracks because strategy will differ depending on track. For example; in Monaco you can use Harvest for a full lap except the DRS straight and others won't be able to pass you. In Canada, once you are behind in a DRS train, you will have a hard time getting out of that. In Austria, it is much harder to create a 1 second gap because of 3 DRS zones. Most of the time staying on Neutral is the best thing overall.

And one more thing, Overtake is not always the best mode to overtake from what I have experienced. If the track you are racing doesn't have a long straight, you can just use Deploy to overtake. They use 50% ERS anyway. In some tracks where you can only gain 1-2 positions with Overtake, you will gain 4-5 positions in a starting lap with Deploy. Overtake tries to overtake when there is a straight. Deploy tries to overtake on every corner.

You can also find some tracks where using Harvest doesn't hurt that much considering your lap time. For example; in Hungary, I used Neutral for first 2 DRS zones and then used Harvest all the way up to Turn 12. When my ERS charge was 70% on Turn 2, I used Deploy until Turn 1 and repeated the same strategy. In an Aston Martin that is struggling for Top 10 finishes, I managed to finish third holding back Verstappen, Perez and Leclerc. I was gaining around 0.1 per lap and finished 10 seconds ahead of 4th. The difference may seem small but if you have time you can really min max ERS to gain a big advantage. Sometimes the turns are really short that using Neutral or Harvest doesn't really have an effect on lap time. You will come up with your own strategies while playing the game.

[B✪✪tsy]

Just keep it at neutral unless you are planning to overtake or defend, same with the tires. At the start you obviously want to push!