Tips with the Escort MKII

[LeNwAr]

Hey guys I'm just after a bit of advice driving the MKII. I started out with the Mini and went alright with that, since then I've moved to the MKII and I'm having no end of trouble controlling the thing, mainly on icy stages. It seems that the smallest movement of the wheel will make me spin out, and the lightest tap of the handbrake will pretty much always result in a 180° spin, making it next to impossible to complete a stage. I've tried all combinations of brake and throttle with different steering angles and I still can't figure this car out. Any tips?

[{DDB} Ghostface and chill]

so im guessing by spin out you mean popping a 180 coming out of turns? if so here is the most common issue: with a RWD car you are now pushing your car along instead of pulling it. with a FWD you can slam the throttle coming out of a turn and the car wont oversteer due to the fact that you are steering and moving with the same wheels. Now that you are using RWD you need to learn to ease up on the throttle while the wheels arent pointed forward. Also countersteering is now a must. Try coming into a turn, applyign the handbrake as you flick the wheel and as soon as you begin to turn give it alittle throttle and turn the wheel in the opposite direction. you should slide pretty nicely through the turn. Dont get too excited and pin the throttle too early though.

[LeNwAr]

Yeah I'm sure I've been doing all that, I get the difference between FWD and RWD, but I find even just a small adjustment along a straight is making it spin out as well, even with very little throttle. Maybe I just needs more practice, but I can't say I've had this issue in other rally games before. Probably just the lack of invisible assists in other games too

[[RX-7] Rotary-Raptor]

Drive slowly. Seriously, I was out of control with the Escort, but now that I've just accepted that I have to drive slow (feels like a grandma), I actually do pretty well. I constantly get between 1st and 6th on Professional difficulty with the Escort now. Just going slow enough that you never need to reset actually SAVES time.

Just like many things in life: Slow is smooth... smooth is fast.

Brake early and slowly with the Escort. Much better to lose a half second braking too early than late brake, lock em up, and slide off a cliff, losing 15 seconds + the lost time from momentum loss.

If you want to try to get fancy/scary/realistic, come towards a corner from the outside with some slight steering/rotating AWAY from the corner, then flick the wheel hard into the corner for only a split second while you give it plenty of throttle (maybe not full). This will quickly kick the back end out. Now manage the gas through the corner while countersteering to keep the back out but not spinning around. As you end the corner, straighten out and accelerate smoothly away. This is the Scandanavian Flick. I'm swedish, so obviously I'm an expert :)

[BirdCurtains]

honestly I went from horrible to great with the stratos, Learn to setup for the calls. Anything other then a 6 and sometimes 5 call I'm already at my desired drift angle for the turn and using power to hit the apex before I even see it, from the outside in...depending on the next corner of course. If you feel you spin out to easy soften up the back end. But 90% of being in control in this game is being out of control but in control. Corner setup is crucial.

[OOR | Bender Rodriguez]

Originally posted by Patrick Swayze:

If you feel you spin out to easy soften up the back end. But 90% of being in control in this game is being out of control but in control. Corner setup is crucial.

^^ This. Learning to be in control, without actually being in control is a great skill to have.

[TIZZLA]

With RWD cars you have to be really careful not to over-rotate the car, since you don't have any power going to the front wheels you can't pull yourself out of a corner like you would in a 4wd car. You need to use throttle control and counter steering to control the slide but if you rotate the car past a certain point you will always spin no matter how you react.

[Bigbazz]

The Stratos is the same at the ice stages, even look at the handbrake and you will be doing a non recoverable 180, you just have to drive slow and use minimal steering lock when driving the RWD cars on ice. Really speaking you should avoid using the handbrake unless you absolutely need it even on dirt/gravel as it can often over rotate you with very little chance of you being able to fix it.

In the FWD/4WD cars it's a different matter of course.

[LeNwAr]

Thanks guys, I have found that going while going a bit slower I get pretty respectable times, it just doesn't feel right and I get an itchy throttle foot from time to time, that's where I tend to fail :D