Question regarding my level of driving

[RickJanssen 0]

Hey guys,

I'll get shot down by the mass of people on this board for being a n00b, a bad gamer (particularly racinggames) or lazy,  but still I'm gonna try my luck.

I've bought F1 2016 at the midnight it got released and I've been playing the fuck out of it. That's all good. A lot of complaining on these forums, but I love the game, it's the closest thing to (what I can imagine) being an F1 driver (I really don't care about cutscenes as long as the driving is 'realistic'). It's the first F1 game I've bought and played since Grand Prix 2 by Microprose. I've been an F1 lover all my life, but since the ending of the v10 era, and the absence of someone to root for (I'm Dutch), the tradition of watching each race from start to finish changed to me just watching some replays here and there.

So yeah, I'm a guy that's back into watching F1 because of Max. Pretty cliche fanboy-ish, right? Now, because Max is doing well for himself, I'm trying to do the same in the game. I started on the lowest difficulty, which was far too easy, and now I'm on Expert (100% raceweekends) which means I won't win every race, but I can still be competetive. All good right?

Now, last night I decided to take the plunge and take my newfound skills online to try and have some fierce battles against actual human beings, and what boggled my mind? I'm utter shit! I managed to win 2 races because other people drove themselves off, but I am a backmarker at the most races. Now, that's all fine. I'm probably just not good enough, but then I started thinking: "so, of all these online racers, there's actually no one worse than me? hmmm!"

I'm trying to expand my driving by toning down the assist little by little all the time. I'm currently driving without ABS, just started gearing manually, and traction control on full. Now I know people around here will say that's the main reason for me finishing every race last or almost last, but I have the feeling that's not the only thing. At time trials, I see people setting top 10 laptimes on the leaderboards with all assists on. I'm no expert on setting up my car, but took some presets from this forum for most laps and I'm using those aswell at online races. Still, whilst not in DRS, every race in multiplayer, I see the guys behind me come closer on the straights.

Now, I think it might be me losing time on the exits or the way I handle the corners. I tend to brake when my dynamic racing line tells me to, then I lift and coast through the part where it turns yellow and push the pedal at the time it turns green. There's gotta be something I'm doing wrong and I need YOUR help to tell me what it is :). I'm hitting the apex and all, just seem to lose a lot of speed in the corners. How do you guys do this?

Oh, and before leaving, I want to add this; no, I do not own a wheel, and I'm not planning on buying one. My track knowledge is pretty good after multiple career finishes, I follow the racing line most of the time. I've been talking to some people while racing online and the most dont own a wheel. So please, help a sad panda out here :)

Cheers

[imranap 2]

All I can see is brake a tiny bit later than Dynamic racing line tells you to. Most of the time Dynamic Racing line is quite cautious in the sense on certain corners where it is yellow, all you probably need is lift the throttle for half a sec and go full throttle again. Corner exit speeds in this game is crucial for a good lap time.

[RickJanssen 0]

Ok, gonna try that, but in my own eyes, I'm already braking late. Do I have to pull the trigger in full when braking for corners or should i handle it with more care?

[HelmetSquad 0]

In addition; also try turning off the racing line if your track knowledge is good - you will find yourself driving to the racing line rather than pushing yourself to find a later breaking point or a better corner entry point.

[RickJanssen 0]

Yeah, without racing line it's a total new style of track knowledge. I guess I need to memorize landmarks then for braking points. But is that the only thing though? I heard people chatting to each other during the race and they had their racinglines turned on...

[slamdunkfunkk 0]

There's only a handful of tracks that I can play confidently without the racing line - Aus, Monaco and Suzuka (although, I'm terrible at the latter) - but that's because they're my favourite three tracks. I think if you're weaning off assists, try just the corner line. That way whilst you're still familiar with the track, if you DO forget, you've time to see where you approximately need to be, which will help you remember the corner... which leads to:

It's almost certainly your corners. I'm not a good player, by any stretch of the imagination, but two things that are helpful: 1. Pick a rival near you and use their ghost to see where you're losing (or indeed making) time on them. 2. Watch the delta when you brake - forget the lap time - and the difference can be startling when looking at it from a few metres on track pov. 

I play t300 with no assists

[cooldude7 3]

If you could post a video that would help a lot.

[RickJanssen 0]

Are you guys going full throtthle after the corners?

[cooldude7 3]

RickJanssen said:

Are you guys going full throtthle after the corners?

Using TC as you do then you should do that. Remember if you do turn TC off you will need to slowly apply the throttle.

[RickJanssen 0]

Well I guess its just practice, practice, practice then. Trial and error. Or suicide.

[yogajitsu 0]

I think the people that play this game are better than those on most other driving games just because it's F1, the highest level, and it's going to be fast and too hard for a lot of people.  If you look at leaderboards in Time Trials there are those that are always on the top, but in other games you'll see maybe only 5 serious people with times a couple seconds faster than everyone else.  On F1, the gaps from the top top players to the top 200 players is sometimes less than 1 second.  There is some tough competition out there.

[Pfei 106]

I hear you, man. I'm in the same boat. I get my ass handed to me online.

I'm 42, been playing videogames since the Atari 2600. Got hooked on racing games in the '90s with F1, Gran Turismo, Colin McRae and Papyrus' NASCAR. Lifelong motosports fan. I was always really "good" at racing games.

I am no alien but I hold my own. Victories online on Project CARS are reachable. If there are fast guys, then I still do OK, I am usually 1-2 seconds per lap slower than the "aliens" (and we're talking about 2 minute laps here). Back when I was doing Events on DiRT Rally, I could get into the top 10%, and I am very competitive in the leagues I participate in. I was always competitive online in GT5 and I even won an extra copy of GT5 from Milestone in a contest. Of the ten tracks in Superstars V8 Racing, I had the fastest online time on six of them. So I am definitely no slouch.

I am at Hungary in my first career season in F1 2016 with the Renault. Started on Hard but I was thrashing my teammate in qualy and fighting for podiums all the time, so I bumped it up to Expert after China. Expert suits me well although I have gotten to the point where in races I am punching way above my car's weight. May be time to up the difficulty again.

That said, if you compare AI times in Expert with the Leaderboard times, you will see that you still suck. I am generally four to six seconds off the fastest time on the leaderboards on any given track. And I am pushing like hell with a comfortable setup and dozens of laps logged on the track.

I use a G29 on PS4 with all assists OFF except for TC which I have on Medium.

I believe my pace problems in F1 come down to this:

1. I'm 42. My reaction time is not what it used to be. F1 cars are fast and responsive. You need to react to situations while cornering much faster than you would in a GT or road car.
2. Apex. Related to my first point. I have trouble consistently hitting the late apex correctly. And in F1 it seems that early turn-in into the corner in order to get straight line acceleration out of the corner is much more important than in other motorsports. Braking points and turn-in points are absolutely crucial to a good lap time, and I can't hit them consistently.
3. Understeer. This is one of my problems causing hitting the apex in point 2). I have spent hours with setups. Trying my own. Trying ones posted on the 'net. Nothing seems to help. Maybe it's just something inherent in the F1 2016 driving model. Turning off TC helps, and I can actually be a bit faster, but it's so damn hard to be consistent without it.
4. Tire wear is extreme in this game (just like real F1). No two laps are ever the same. I think Codies has done a great job simulating the evolution of the car behavior over a race. This will throw you off online since the car will not behave anything like it does in career. You can do 100 laps of time trial where the car is the same every lap, but then you jump online on the same track and it's hard to match your time trial pace because the car has fuel and the tires wear out.
5. Mentioned earlier, but I agree: there are some really fast people playing this game!

I, personally, am mystified as to how I can improve enough to gain four or five seconds per lap. But I WILL try!

[Pfei 106]

Oh, and a tip for everyone struggling online: Go for rooms at 25%+ distance with practice+qualifying+damage+collisions. You will find people drive a bit more cautiously, and you have time to get used to the car/track conditions. I am always closer to the leader in these types of rooms vs the dumb ghost-mode sprint rooms.

[imranap 2]

RickJanssen said:

Ok, gonna try that, but in my own eyes, I'm already braking late. Do I have to pull the trigger in full when braking for corners or should i handle it with more care?

@RickJanssen Well i still use the old 'square' button for braking!! So for me its the length of time i press the button rather than how much i pull the trigger. I still manage to get good laptimes i think. (0.3-0.8 secs away from ultimate ai depending on the track).
Try different lines through the corners to see if your exit speeds improve and ultimately lap time.
Also you will be slower with full traction as it bogs the power down in certain corners.
 

[dwin20 82]

Question for everyone - how many people enter corners at a specific speed - meaning they have looked  at the speedometer and know exactly how fast they are going when they turn in? 

[Elliflyerboh 0]

Hey guys. Thought It would be nice to post on here.

I use have a few tricks on every track to set me up for fast Laps.  

1. Setup (first part of the weekend for me make sure you have a fast setup. I tend to go on to time trial and borrow someones set up and test it. If it works for me and I can handle it then I will use it. Everyone online robs these setups TRL limitless and TRL Button have good setups but they are set for TT not 100% these need slight adjustments for 100%races. Mostly to do with changing camber and brake bias. And nearly everybody uses 11 on the ballast distribution for the extra turn in. As your main problem seems to be corners use this. Really helps for faster cornering.) 

2. This point has been mentioned. Use the delta to find your optimal cornering position and throttle and braking if your green your good if your red try again. Over 16 corners, a time differnce 0.200 each corner makes a massive difference over a lap. Just over 3 secs. So practice each corner separately find your braking points. Trust me you can always improve every corner. To constantly practice each corner use your flashback in quick race on the merc. Try try and try again till you think that's the best you can do round that corner. Then start doing sectors and then moving to a full lap. 

3. Be consistent. Practice doing the above 2 and you will eventually start setting Laps that are the same each and every lap. Remember racing in this game is about the managemental of 3 things. Lap times, tyres and fuel. 
A player online might be for example doing the fastest Laps you have ever seen and your 2secs of that pace but he most likely be burning his rubber and so will have to stop again probably once more than you. The longer the race distance the more important it is to have good tyre management and consistent speed. Fuel plays part of tyre wear too. 

4. Strategy. Pick a strategy that suits you. Not what the computer recommends you. Jeff isn't right all the time. I listen to Jeff but only for a guideline. Knowing how far you can push the tyres can be the difference between another stop and finishing 8th or staying out and finishing 1st.

5. Lastly practice over over over over and over and experiment. The guys in f1 cars don't just do work on the track they do 1000s of hours in the simulators too. They know the track intimately every detail. So pay attention as you go round. Where the bumps are, what happens if I change my approach. They do all types of different things to get the most out of the car in each corner. 


Oh and one more tip that is probably the most important on this game STAY OFF THE CURBS. THEY SLOW YOU DOWN IN THIS GAME! Get your racing line without touching curbs and you will go faster.


Again guys this is what I do. Its all a matter of opinions.I do hope in some of my rambling you have found something you can use to go faster. I am mostly in the top 3% in TT when I can be bothered to do that certain track. I tend to wait till my league moves on to next week's track to try it on time trial. But I am fast over a distance because I am consistant. Also before I go try finding some good lads and join a league. It's like chess you can only get stronger by playing a stronger opponent. They maybe fast but you will eventually catch up. I used to race with Ryanl83 on 2010 and at the beginning of that game he was so slow he would be lapped nearly most of the time. Due to practice he is now one of the fastest on pc.

Enjoy it guys it's a game.

If you want some clean racing on the xbox one my gamer tag is ERL elliflyerbo  hit me up a message for an invite. We regularly do long distance practice race sessions for our racing league.

[xFitcho 0]

Not completely true. Depends on the kerb. I personally have a very aggressive driving style (wheel, no assists). I'm rather quick, if you look at the Monaco leaderboards on Xbox, you will I find my name in the top 50 (might not be now, but when I set the lap I was). I love using the kerbs, thats the way I drive, but you need to learn which to touch and which to avoid. 

[jinCHEZ 0]

A video would be nice indeed. I don't have experience with the racing line but I suppose it's not giving you the limits that you can drive around the track. If you know the track, try turn it off and find the limits on the track. don't brake because your racing line tells you to, only start braking just before the moment you can't get the corner anymore.

Also, if you're on a pad, your triggers and or sticks could have some deadzones, especially the R2 trigger can give you way less top speed and the L2 trigger can give you massive lock ups. try checking it out in the customize controls options menu. Also, while you're there, just turn on a different preset for your buttons, let the game save and go back to the previous you're used to and let the game save again. This was once a bug in 2015 but shouldn't be in the game anymore.

Other than that, there are good video's on youtube which can help you. If you're looking for outright speed (and other tips), I think limitless is a guy with nice videos. Also may want to consider joining a league as anyone I know got faster while driving in a league. I assume you're dutch and I know a pretty nice league for you then hehe ;)

[Elliflyerboh 0]

@xFitcho I can agree and disagree with you. Using some curbs can be beneficial and some detrimental to your lap times.

I reserve the fact you have your driving style and that's perfect and good that you have found yours. With Monaco I do use the curbs due to the close nature of the walls but on other more open circuits which is why I was generalising my response above for I tend to stay off the curbs as the compromise grip and traction. I am a aggressive and cautious of tyre wear at the same time but I usually only do 50% races. 

[xFitcho 0]

Elliflyerboh said:

@xFitcho I can agree and disagree with you. Using some curbs can be beneficial and some detrimental to your lap times.

I reserve the fact you have your driving style and that's perfect and good that you have found yours. With Monaco I do use the curbs due to the close nature of the walls but on other more open circuits which is why I was generalising my response above for I tend to stay off the curbs as the compromise grip and traction. I am a aggressive and cautious of tyre wear at the same time but I usually only do 50% races. 

I personally find some kerb is beneficial, helps pull you around the corner, meaning you can take more speed. However, like you said, unsettles the car a bit if you get it wrong. Part of the reason I think it works for me is that I have really good car control and don't mind a taily car.