The BAR meter, for the turbo, next to the tach, how's that work? Do you want to keep it full/red, or run it just under full/red?

[Arena22]

It seems tied to how quick you pop through the gears. I was wondering the best strategy. Try and keep the BAR meter full/red as long as possible, or try and run the gears so it never quite hits full/red.

Any (most) thoughts appreciated.

[arby]

assuming you're at full throttle, it's simply directly related to your rpm.
The only time you need to worry about it is if the car is sluggish pulling out of hairpins, if so then you can gently throttle while braking or put the clutch in and floor the throttle while braking.

Each car's turbo is tuned/sized to provide extra power at a certain point in the power band- either at peak power, or earlier in the rev range to give a broad and less peaky power curve. But we don't have any control over that.

edit: the reason I said that you might have to keep the turbo spinning when braking is that a turbo takes time to build up the necessary air pressure to operate efficiently. So while a naturally aspirated engine will give you power the instant you stab the throttle, a turbo engine will give some power, but the extra power from the turbo will come a second later (when the BAR meter fills up)

[Arena22]

Gotcha, keep it full while cornering/braking. Guess that's where the left-footed braking skills come in.

[Arya]

Well, adapt it to what you want to achieve on-stage.

Running the Turbo to higher BAR(which equals more Turbo RPM) will seriously lengthen your repair times; it wears both the turbo and the engine a lot faster. Running less BAR will preserve the car a lot better, good for when you get two Long stages in a row. Or if you've got no pit crew.

[Arena22]

Good point, my turbo does get ravaged easy. Somtimes tough to get it back to 100%.

[J van E]

Hm, I have yet to look at any of those gauges... From day one I drove looking at the road and using my ears. I don't have the time to look at the dashboard apart from checking which gear I am in whenever I've forgotten it. I wonder how many drivers (real life and simmers) actually look at those gauges...?

[Meszes]

If you drive with manual sequential you should enable clutch override under preferences. This will let you spool up the turbo and get full power coming out of tight turns.

[arby]

Originally posted by Not Lucien:

Well, adapt it to what you want to achieve on-stage.

Running the Turbo to higher BAR(which equals more Turbo RPM) will seriously lengthen your repair times; it wears both the turbo and the engine a lot faster. Running less BAR will preserve the car a lot better, good for when you get two Long stages in a row. Or if you've got no pit crew.

You have control over the turbo pressure you run?

[Bandana Boris]

It's all about left-foot braking and heel-toe techniques. Especially on 4WD Turbo Cars like the Quattro you need to keep that snail spooled up to be quick.

[Aurora]

Originally posted by Meszes:

If you drive with manual sequential you should enable clutch override under preferences. This will let you spool up the turbo and get full power coming out of tight turns.

Exactly this! Very advanced driving technique but one that had to be used in real life to stay on pace.

It's slightly incorrect when people say it's directly linked to engine RPM. It's actually powered by the exhaust back-pressure so it does have corelation to the RPM, but some of the cars also have very effective anti-lag systems that continue to spray fuel into the exhaust itself - Which ignites from the heat, causing pressure to keep the turbo spooled when you're lifting off, braking or shifting gear. This is what causes the wild crackling sound from the exhaust when you're off the power.

[RockyBe33]

ALWAYS KEEP NEAR THE RED

[Mr.Rothwell]

Shame there isn't an anti-lag mode that we can turn on and off for periods when it would be useful on some tight sections of a stage but using it massively shortens the life of the turbo and exhaust.

[Madhun67]

boost is related to engine load not rpm :)
its not well modelled in game right now IMHO. but its a small thing anyways

[Randomheppu]

Originally posted by J van E:

Hm, I have yet to look at any of those gauges... From day one I drove looking at the road and using my ears. I don't have the time to look at the dashboard apart from checking which gear I am in whenever I've forgotten it. I wonder how many drivers (real life and simmers) actually look at those gauges...?

Yep I also wonder, who is watching that gauges.

For me the best and only gauge is speedometer. Some likes RPM and if I remember right Kankkunen used shift light only in Hunday. Mostly other gauges are for co-driver to see is there something wrong in the engine.