Formula C...What gives?

[LordDeimosIV]

So i started the game in Formula Rookie and i was having a blast. I bumped up the difficulty to 75% and agression to 65%. It was challenging and i was neck in neck with the Ai.

I finally got to Formula C and I'm getting destroyed by the Ai. I'm consistently 4-5 seconds off the pace in qualifying no matter what i do. I actually dropped the difficulty down to 50% and I'm still strugling. What gives? Qualifying and races have become frustrating as the Ai just zooms past me most of the time. The car feels way too loose and looses grip in the rear tires very easily. It's gotten to the point where it's ruining my enjoyment of the game.

Does anyone have any tips on how to improve? Car setups, game setting etc.? I don't play a lot of sim racing games so having a difficult time is to be expected but this is ridiculous. I'm using a controller.

[LordDeimosIV]

Yep, from what i can tell my tires are warn. I've had 1 hour free practice sessions and it persists throughout. I thought maybe it was just the first track and i need to get used to the car but same thing with the next track on the calender. I've even spent an extra hour in free practice mode to try and improve. I just can't keep up with the Ai and they seem to be able to take corners way faster than i can.

[Wolke]

buy a good wheel. This is a sim.
choose stable as setup and decrease tire pressure
practice.
practice
practice and prac ... you know the drill

If you insist in playing with an inadequate input device for a driving sim - buy a game. Another one.

[Mahjik]

Try the Sport tires.

[LordDeimosIV]

Thanks for all the input. I tried a different motorsport and I was able to keep up with Ai a lot more, on the same tracks. I'll just have to struggle with Formula C until I get to the next tier. I get that this is a racing sim and a wheel is the best option but it shouldn't be a requirement to get decent times, considering i was doing just fine in the previous series and with other cars.

[LordDeimosIV]

So after messing around with the assists, it looks like stability control with Formula C is a bad idea, for me at least. I get this jerkiness when taking sharp corners which causes me to miss the apex and have to slow down too much. Sometimes it even causes me to go off track completely. This doesn't happen with other cars so I'm not sure what's going on. Turned it off for Formula C and the car feels smoother and I feel like I have more control.

[Wolke]

Perhaps you should try authentic assists and turn on what you need later.
There was a bug or bad behaviour with the assists, but i thought it was fixed.

[Wylie28]

Originally posted by LordDeimosIV:

Thanks for all the input. I tried a different motorsport and I was able to keep up with Ai a lot more, on the same tracks. I'll just have to struggle with Formula C until I get to the next tier. I get that this is a racing sim and a wheel is the best option but it shouldn't be a requirement to get decent times, considering i was doing just fine in the previous series and with other cars.

Are you holding the break button down all the way for entire duration of your breaking zone? This is something i see newer players do. With faster cars like FC you will lock up your tires at low speeds. This basically means the tire loses grip and starts sliding across the pavement rather than rolling across it. This means your tires are now experiancing kinetic ficition instead of static friction. Which is weaker, so you slow down much slower.

[LordDeimosIV]

Originally posted by Wylie28:

Originally posted by LordDeimosIV:

Thanks for all the input. I tried a different motorsport and I was able to keep up with Ai a lot more, on the same tracks. I'll just have to struggle with Formula C until I get to the next tier. I get that this is a racing sim and a wheel is the best option but it shouldn't be a requirement to get decent times, considering i was doing just fine in the previous series and with other cars.

Are you holding the break button down all the way for entire duration of your breaking zone? This is something i see newer players do. With faster cars like FC you will lock up your tires at low speeds. This basically means the tire loses grip and starts sliding across the pavement rather than rolling across it. This means your tires are now experiancing kinetic ficition instead of static friction. Which is weaker, so you slow down much slower.

Nope, i let go of the gas so i slow down a bit before hitting the break zone. Then i put the breaks on, and slowly accelerate through the corner making sure not to put on full throttle until i've exited the corner.

Turning off stability control has worked out and I'm enjoying Formula C now. I have to be carefull so i don't spin out but that's just part of the learning curve.

Originally posted by AkelaDE:

Perhaps you should try authentic assists and turn on what you need later.
There was a bug or bad behaviour with the assists, but i thought it was fixed.

I'm going to do that from here on out :)

Originally posted by Chelle:

I have noticed that the longer the race the more balanced the AI seems....Not a science just my observation...:)

I've been doing half laps maybe i will go full laps in future :)

[Wylie28]

Originally posted by LordDeimosIV:

Originally posted by Wylie28:

Are you holding the break button down all the way for entire duration of your breaking zone? This is something i see newer players do. With faster cars like FC you will lock up your tires at low speeds. This basically means the tire loses grip and starts sliding across the pavement rather than rolling across it. This means your tires are now experiancing kinetic ficition instead of static friction. Which is weaker, so you slow down much slower.

Nope, i let go of the gas so i slow down a bit before hitting the break zone. Then i put the breaks on, and slowly accelerate through the corner making sure not to put on full throttle until i've exited the corner.

Turning off stability control has worked out and I'm enjoying Formula C now. I have to be carefull so i don't spin out but that's just part of the learning curve.

Originally posted by AkelaDE:

Perhaps you should try authentic assists and turn on what you need later.
There was a bug or bad behaviour with the assists, but i thought it was fixed.

I'm going to do that from here on out :)

Originally posted by Chelle:

I have noticed that the longer the race the more balanced the AI seems....Not a science just my observation...:)

I've been doing half laps maybe i will go full laps in future :)

Im not saying full throttle. Im saying full brakes. Are you holding the brakes down all the way the entire duration of braking?

Also do not let go of gas and slow a bit. You are wasting time there as well. But yeah not going 100% throttle when coming out of a corner is important with formula cars.

[LordDeimosIV]

Holding down the breaks all the way down will just cause the wheels to lock up so no, i don't press the trigger all the way down. I would do that in an arcade racer but not a sim :P

[WAY3D]

lower the rear 10 to 15 mm, stiffen the front and drop the front aero by 2 clicks. This fixes the aerodynamic centre of pressure which by default is waayy too far to the front of the car

[Fox9920]

Originally posted by WAY3D (say: weɪd):

lower the rear 10 to 15 mm, stiffen the front and drop the front aero by 2 clicks. This fixes the aerodynamic centre of pressure which by default is waayy too far to the front of the car

Just somebody from two years in the future saying thanks, this is EXACTLY the issue, I just wish I'd found this before blowing the BRNO and Donnington park races. Thanks for having an actual answer, I spent maybe 30 minutes searching and most people reccomend random ♥♥♥♥ or say "get good" like many did to OP here. I dropped the rear by 12mm and instantly had amazing balance and grip through the corner.

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by Fox9920:

Just somebody from two years in the future saying thanks, this is EXACTLY the issue, I just wish I'd found this before blowing the BRNO and Donnington park races. Thanks for having an actual answer, I spent maybe 30 minutes searching and most people reccomend random ♥♥♥♥ or say "get good" like many did to OP here. I dropped the rear by 12mm and instantly had amazing balance and grip through the corner.

Driving a race car is very different depending on the driver's style. One setup may not work well for someone else. i.e. Bottas cannot just take Hamilton's setup and take pole. There are certain things Bottas prefers that Hamilton doesn't and vice versa.

With that, it's not that people are giving bad advice. It's that not all advice works for everyone's driving style.

[DAN-di-WARhol]

Formula C is really really tough. I have the same problem, even though I consider myself to be pretty good at this game now.

I've left that one til last.