X-BOW... How to control that rear?

[TyCobb]

Fired this game back up after I saw the 1.3 update. Got through the BMW career and am now attempting the X-BOW. How in the hell do you stop the rear-end from breaking loose?

I was getting better last night, but I just cannot seem to find the trick to accelerating. The car definitely seems like you have to be ease into the throttle and definitely want to make sure you are slow into the turn. However, the car just seems extremely touchy.

Am I on the right path? Are there any other tricks I need to know? If it matters, I am using heel & toe to drive this car.

Oh, is this car ABS? Just want to confirm as I have the settings set to "Factory" and pretty sure I locked the brakes up a couple of times practicing this car. Just want to make sure.

[1wild1]

Just gotta be smooth. Watch the turbo guage. turbo kick in be ready for moar power.

[TyCobb]

Oh. Never even noticed the turbo gauge. Definitely going to try and locate that.

[TyCobb]

Finally got past the first race. Installed the tire mod to see my temps and noticed that the tires were extremely cold. Ended up having to actually tune the car instead of using the defaults.

Searched the official forums and saw they flagged the X-BOW grip as a non-issue with whatever changed in 1.2, but the car to me was undrivable in a competitive nature (Especially with the AI strength in the high 90's)

Here are the changes I made if anyone else come across this issue in Career:

[Tire Pressure]
Front: 24psi
Rear: 25psi

[Camber]
Front: -2 deg
Rear: -1.7 deg

[Fuel]
15 liters

Tires heat up a lot faster, but do keep in mind that there's a lot less on the track and not enough to actually heat the core temps past 60*C during the 4 laps.

[byteborg]

Clutch?

[TyCobb]

Yes, I use a clutch + H pattern and H&T.

[Fatty McGassy]

I have no clue as I haven't tried it out yet, but the KTM is a paddleshift car and you are using an h-pattern on it. In 1.3 they made paddle shift cars have the real safety mechanism which might be causing you problems when you're downshifting with an h-pattern.

Just an idea.

[TyCobb]

I tried using the paddles, but it was forcing me to use the H-Pattern. Some cars I have to use paddles and others the H. The game was making me use the H even though I initially tried the paddles.

[The Icecream Snowman]

The X-Bow behaves like an open wheel car (because it is), i.e. you have to be very careful about applying power or braking while steering.

You have to do 90% of your breaking while you're travelling in a straight line before entering a corner; don't apply the break fully, though as there is no ABS, nor traction control in the X-Bow.

You then have to be very gentle with the throttle, if you start to lose traction, reduce the power. When you've straightened up after the corner you can slowly ramp up to full throttle. This allows you a bit more time to react if the car starts to lose traction and the turbo won't take you by surprise. The red bar on the standard gear/rev meter is the turbo gauge - keep an eye on it while accelerating so you know when the power output is ramping up.

If you try to break while turning the front end will probably lock up and you'll spin out. If you apply full throttle suddenly while turning, the back end will lose traction and you'll spin out. If you slowly apply medium throttle while turning you'll pull a nice drift, then spin out.

This basically applies to all open wheel style cars and should allow you to at least make it around the track without dying.

[TyCobb]

Thanks a lot for the post Snowman. I'll admit, probably 80% of my issues at first was me getting on the throttle too quick coming out of a turn. I am actually kind of glad I had issues because it made me read up on tire setup. That actually helped out a ton on the first lap once I realized the tires were cold. I just didn't think about tire temps because the track conditions were "optimal" and just assumed tire temps weren't any concern in early stages of career.

I'd say I was just getting bit by a bunch of little things. I would correct one like throttle control, but then still end up having issues as I tried to push in order to attempt to catch the leader that was somehow 7-10 seconds ahead of everyone else by Turn 5. I like the X-Bow, but just not in career. Once I got past Imola, I blew through the other N stages and now in I.

[byteborg]

Originally posted by TomatoSauceTy:

... but the KTM is a paddleshift car and you are using an h-pattern on it.

IIRC, it has a 6-speed manual H-pattern gearbox. Seen one once in my life, there aren't many on the roads...

[Ragequit Inc.]

Originally posted by byteborg:

Originally posted by TomatoSauceTy:

... but the KTM is a paddleshift car and you are using an h-pattern on it.

IIRC, it has a 6-speed manual H-pattern gearbox.

Yes, it does.

[byteborg]

Originally posted by TyCobb:

[Tire Pressure]
Front: 24psi
Rear: 25psi

I'm running the rear tyres also at 24psi, which seems to give worse cornering but a bit more stability when opening the throttle past the apex.

[Talkie Toaster]

I find I can really thrash the X-BOW, but there is a point in the rev range where the torque seems to overwhelm the grip and send the rear out. I treat it a similar way to the RUF cars in game, you can carry some speed into a corner and use throttle to get a slight drift on, it gets pretty twitchy from that point on.

[Simon said EAT DUST PLAYER_1 !]

maybe reduce the turn-in snappiness a little. reducing the front-wheels' negative camber a little, adjusting the toe a little bit more neutral will give you that.
Remember: open-wheels or not: most open-wheelers are "mid-engined" layouts.

With performance-focused cars like these that means: the heaviest concentration of mass (engine + gearbox) is located between the axles. That is what causes the inherently different reactions to weight-shifts and throttle-control when compared to the more-conventional "standard-layout" (where the engine is historically found at the front, longitudinally-placed with the gearbox attached to it's rear-facing end and the driven wheels at the rear).

I always like to recommend to watch "Drift Bible" with Keiichi Tsuchyia. Although your favourite discipline might not exactly be drifting (or maybe it is?), he successfully compares his inputs and the resulting output (using a Toyota MR2) next to other cars with different basic layouts and characteristics.

Ultimately: controling a racecar is usually about balance. Your job - the driver's - is ensuring balance is kept in-check whatever you plan to do with the car.

[SlomoRacing]

I find conservativeness and control with the right foot works best, just takes practice, the setup helps a little for grip