Newbie here, desperately need advice on gravel stages with WRC2 cars.

[Lymark]

I'm new to the rally series, watched a bunch of old DR2 guides and am getting a hang of all sorts of rally skills like handbrake turn, scandi flick, left foot braking and managing weight transfer(I play with wheel/pedals and 90 AI difficulty).

I just promoted to WRC2 in career mode and these AWD cars are feeling pretty good. That said, It seems that gravel is my biggest weakest so far, as I'm not sure how exactly my driving style should be around here, nor do I understand what my FFB is telling me. All I know is that it's quite slippery, and I don't think I'm driving the car properly and to its limit.

I've been trying to drive consistently, finishing the race without heavily relying on the restart feature. But, I just had to turn off the restart limitation for the first time, because for the life of me, I cannot complete the Greece stage without throwing myself off the cliff, and Italia Sardegna(Sa Mela) where I have to deal with fast tight turns/hairpins between corridors of big rocks, even though I'm already under-driving and paid 200% attention to my co-driver.

I don't think there's any guide out there that's tailored to gravel yet, so I'm open to any advice/suggestion that would help me improve/understand my driving.

Thanks!

[Beethy]

Here's what trick I used to get better at DR1 back in the day. Advice came from a real rally driver.
- Disable all assists (keep automatic transmission for now, if you're used to it. change this to manual later)
- Try to finish stages without using the handbrake at all, so you force yourself to learn the momentum and weight transfer shifts.
- Disable your HUD entirely, it's all a distraction. Listen to your co-driver.
- Don't worry about driving fast, instead drive within your current limits.
You'll get the hang of it the more you play.

[Actionjackson]

Simply dont try to win all the time... just enjoy the championship and if you dont win you get it next time, the more you drive the better you know the stages.
Just set the AI to where the "carrot" is close enough so you dont get frustrated. A lot of it is just driving and getting used to the feel and knowing the stages.

True for any rally game, once you are more used to it everything become more easy.

[Fearghus8Destroyer]

Just don't force yourself to drive faster than you really can. A little slower but steady and clean will usually give you better times than driving fast but with many mistakes.

And adjust ai difficulty so you have chances with competition and won't get discouraged. When you start wining consistently, take difficulty up a notch and so on. Practice really makes perfect.

[karik_FIN_134]

AI time can be all over the place again. Maybe need to wait fixes to those also.

While waiting just do career on your own pace and spend time learning stages. And experiment with tuning to improve stage times with that also.

[Brussels_Sprouts_Are_Not_Food]

stop drop and roll.

[stburr91]

Some decent advice already given, I would just add, you need to be pretty conservative on the outside turns where you could go off the cliff in Greece.

Also, on gravel, you aren't really going to get much useful information from the ffb, there just isn't enough fidelity.

Learn how to rotate the car either by letting off the throttle, and turning in, then back on the throttle, or using left foot braking to get the rear of the car to come around faster.

Stick with it, and you'll eventually get the hang of it.

[KingMidasNV]

Greece just owned my face right off too. Some tips.

I drive with a T300RS GT, TH8A shifter, T3PA-GT pedals. Manual h-pattern, auto clutch setup in game. No assists, except ABS set to 1. I don't have an e-brake lever yet, so I bind e-brake to the paddles on my wheel. I use hood cam almost always, widest FOV. 540 rotation in control panel, soft lock off in game.

Make sure your e-brake button is easy to get to and your familiar with using it quickly, make it a reflex action. Using it to initiate rotation/drift going into one the 5 million hairpins is essential. I come into hairpins a bit hot, (for momentum) mash the brake peddle to initiate weight transfer/lighten the rear end, crank the wheel to get rotation/drift started in the right direction, tap and let go of the e-brake for no more than like 1 second, to encourage the rear to come around sharper, then mash the gas 100% wide open throttle to finish out the last half of the rotation, complete the drift and power away from the corner, all the while counter steering as needed. Try to use ebrake ONLY for the crazy hairpins. I think I was in a 300hp rally 2 car?

E-brake can also save your ass if you come into a corner too hot, wheels cranked etc and unable to make the corner (understeer)...a quick tap of the ebrake can rotate your car in the direction of the road and not to go hang out with thelma and louise. And then its just a matter of mashing the gas to gtfo.

Greece also made me learn and embrace left foot braking in big way. It felt a little goofy to get used to, but its waaaay more effective. I must look like a freak, hanging onto my wheel with one hand, shifter with the other, working brake and throttle with both feet, sweating like a pig while sitting at my desk like a neck-beard nerd, but I love it.

Other than that, just make sure your wheel ffb settings are right and you are comfy, physically in your setup.

Cheers and i wish you many terminal damage free runs. <3

[StuKa]

Your primary goal should be to get through the stage without crashing or spinning. If that means slowing down (it does), then slow down. By focusing on this rather than trying to get through the stage as fast as possible you will become a better driver, and your times at the end will be a lot better than you probably think they will be. You'll get faster over time, and then you'll start figuring out how you can push and try new things to get faster, if that's what you want.

When you're just learning 'driving at the limit' is the opposite of what you want, because you don't have the necessary experience to do that without overdriving. Then it gets frustrating and you don't learn anything if you are always overdriving the car.

[Josephus]

The most important thing about gravel and snow that people either learn by doing or by training is that turns and braking inputs must take place MUCH earlier than one thinks because there is a delay between the inputs and the effect on the gravel or snow.

On tarmac, you turn the wheel and instant nose movement.

On gravel, you turn the wheel, there is an instant where it digs into the gravel before you start turning.

On snow, you turn the wheel and there is such a long delay between input and car movement that people instinctively keep turning the wheel (because most of us rarely drive on ice or gravel at speed or at all) and overcorrect. This causes "porpiosing" where you overcorrect the other way in response and the cycle begins.

Other posters have given good advice about driving within your limits, even if those limits might seem silly right now. As soon as you "find" your limit, you can work to get faster, but with good technique. Leroy Jenkins Rally Club is not the way.

Also, you might be using too much car. If you are new, start with the Rally 3 car for sequentials. It is slow and heavy and hard to get moving too fast, which will help in Greece.

Get a handbrake. You can use a buttoin and have fun but you said wheel and pedals so complete the set. There is no way I can see getting good at Greece without a handbrake. Oh I am sure there is some alien with a video setting a WR on controller but if you use wheel, get handbrake.

Remember on gravel during hairpins to keep the throttle on or even floored as you hold the handbrake to swing the car around. This eats your momentum but thats ok because you need a place to put that energy.

The ideal scenario is throttle down, using foot and handbrake and shifter in a dance to maintain revs and be in the right gear all the time. Obviously you cannot have throttle pegged all stage. If you are hanging out in 3rd and your revs are below 70% then downshift. Keep revs up.

To change direction, keep the throttle as far down as "you can" brake first, if brakes not slowing you fast enough and or revs dropping then downshift. The wheel is the last thing engaged and try to go easy on it. Turn sooner than you think until you get it and only think about either hand passing 12:00 in 2 width turns.

You have about 2 seconds before the average 3 to 4 turn to make the decisions. In 2 or tighter turns, Most of the time keep it in second and only go to first when you need to because revs are dropping or you need that power in a hairpin.

The main thing is to learn to get ahead of the stage. Obviously the Co-Driver is key but not foolproof. Staying focused after the first couple of minutes is harder than most will admit. So just finish for now at what ever speed. Then keep doing it. "Pushing" or aggressively driving the car at the limit should always be a conscious choice.