Driving without assists

[Rirarum]

Hello,

till now i played F1 casually with a gamepad. Now i have a cheap steeringwheel and was wondering how it would be the best way to learn to drive without assists. Currently i am doing some timelaps to get a feel. Has someone some tips?

[ChronischeStaar]

Just drive.

[Anton Chigurh]

Originally posted by ChronischeStaar:

Just drive.

I wanna be the only one to make it to the line

[Maya-Neko]

How do you define "cheap"?

If that means, that you don't have force feedback, then sticking to assists or playing with the pad would be the better option.

Otherwise just train as much as possible. There's no real trick to it.

[Alexandre Reis]

Originally posted by ChronischeStaar:

Just drive.

This. And drive as clean as possible, trying not to commit of tracks neither crashing.

[Byronitus]

There is a reason why f2 is before f1. Good for learning

[Anton Chigurh]

Originally posted by Byronitus:

There is a reason why f2 is before f1. Good for learning

lol F2 cars are harder to drive at least for me

[ChronischeStaar]

Originally posted by Reis:

Originally posted by ChronischeStaar:

Just drive.

This. And drive as clean as possible, trying not to commit of tracks neither crashing.

Practice makes perfect.

[sharpbyte41]

I turned them off one by one. Not sure in what order, but after turning an assist like TC off, it took me about an hour, maybe 2 to get back up to speed. Then turned off another one, practised another hour, got back up to speed again, etc. The key is not to get discouraged, you are probably going to suck first... :) But you can learn it all in a weekend at most.

[Byronitus]

Originally posted by Daniel Retardo:

Originally posted by Byronitus:

There is a reason why f2 is before f1. Good for learning

lol F2 cars are harder to drive at least for me

But once you manage throttle control in a f2 car it becomes quite easy in a f1 car

[DephDK]

I actually found the practice programs to help in learning the basics. Track acclimatisation is good for learning how to drive a track "correct", without pushing. Learning to first drive the car on pace, without pushing, can be very helpful.

[SammyJeev]

I'd advise starting with racing line and just turn everything else off. I used automatic gearbox as well because it's one less thing to think about when you're learning. Later on once you know the tracks better you can turn racing line off and gears to manual once you're comfortable.

[2Steps]

Originally posted by SammyJeev:

I'd advise starting with racing line and just turn everything else off. I used automatic gearbox as well because it's one less thing to think about when you're learning. Later on once you know the tracks better you can turn racing line off and gears to manual once you're comfortable.

I'd say exactly the opposite. Learning a track requires knowing what gear to be in and using your own brake/turn in/throttle out markers. Other assists can be left on if necessary, though really I'd advise going full cold turkey and turning them all off, but the quickest way to get comfortable is practicing with manual gears and without a line. Get a few braking zones wrong, go in too fast or too slow, work it out.

Besides, in close racing you can't see the line under the other cars, learning markers on the track makes for less crashes in the long run.

When learning the lines on a particular track it can help to just start a GP on that circuit with long practice sessions and watch the AI drivers for a few laps, spot where they tend to brake, where they turn in and what gear they use to throttle out. Go out for a few laps and see how close to those markers you can get, don't make any setup changes and just try to match their marks.

Once you find your groove and get confidence in the car the line will come naturally. Getting onto the brakes and throttle comfortably is all about knowing how the car will want to behave.