Any tips for how to be fast in R3E?

[breeminator]

I spent some time driving laps of the current free to play fixed setup competition last night:

http://game.raceroom.com/competitions/1023/leaderboard

I'm just under 3 seconds off the leader, which puts me in the top 6.4%, so that's not totally terrible, but I feel I'm struggling a bit with some elements.

The first problem is braking. It seems to be necessary to brake extremely gently. I've set the pressure to 80%, and also adjusted the brake balance forwards a bit (as the car was quite often sliding at the rear when braking), but because I'm using partial pressure, I'm finding it very difficult to replicate my braking exactly, so if I brake in the same place, I might end up a bit short of where I'd like to be, or overshoot a little. It feels like even with it set to 80%, max braking is at around 50% of pedal travel, and you need maybe 10% travel for trail braking. It's very hard to replicate these amounts of braking, any tips for how to brake in R3E?

The other problem is I'm spinning out a lot. It's hard to explain but I don't really get the same feel of when I need to correct that I get in some other games. So it might start to slide, but the feedback makes me think it doesn't need any urgent action, something about the feel of the wheel isn't telling me to countersteer. But when it does become clear to me that I need to countersteer, it seems to be too late, and full opposite lock doesn't bring it back. Any tips for this? Do I just need to get it into my head that as soon as I can visually see any sliding, I need to immediately countersteer?

Is it generally regarded that the player base is biased towards better players compared to GT Sport, for example? I'd normally be in the top 1% for time trials in GTS.

 

[breeminator]

Any tips would still be appreciated, but I managed to take a second off my lap time after looking at a developer's description of the FFB settings on the Sector 3 forum. I played about with the settings, and feel like I have better information on what the car is doing now. So that has got me up to the top 2% on the leaderboard. I still have the problems I described in my post above, but a bit less severe with my revised FFB settings. I did a lap about half a second quicker but it didn't count, the game seems to have a bug where it says the next lap won't count, but then you cross the line and the message disappears rather than changing to say this lap won't count. So I completed a lap thinking it would count, but it didn't.

 

[2112]

The car you are using is a momentum car. It does not respond to point and shoot type driving, more to coasting into turns with moderate braking. Try just relaxing and doing laps instead of trying to hammer the track into what you want it to do. Start braking sooner than you think you should and coasting through the turn until you hit the apex, then accelerate out. Often you will find yourself able to get on the go-fast before you even hit the apex and this does wonders for your overall lap times. Try to brake without getting any tire squeal at all.

If you do not do it already, work on trail-braking into long, sweeping turns and decreasing radius turns. This will help you maintain more exit speed and also keep the rear from stepping out on you. Downshift either prior to entering the turn or, if you hit the corner too hot save the last downshift until you are at or near the apex. This will help rotate the rear a bit but be careful as it can cause you to oversteer too much, especially if you are not ready for it or you are not used to it. This takes a bit of practice to do correctly.

As for your FFB? You probably have it set too high and it is clipping. Lower the FFB so your steering input is quick but no so quick that you are always fighting the wheel or you feel it go "soft" as you try to turn tighter. You may not get the feedback you desire, but you will be able to catch those spins easier. Once you get used to it, and get better, you will find the feedback satisfactory and your ability to get more (or save your car) out of the steering. The new set-up UI allows you to tailor your FFb to each car. This includes input strength, rotation speed of the wheel and degrees of rotation. Fiddle with these settings until you can take every corner comfortably.

I do not know how much experience you have but by your post count you seem to have some experience. Often it is just a matter of getting used to the car and getting your steering input set to your preferences but also allow you better control.

A few last thoughts: When driving go from white line to white line. Use the whole track. This will help "straighten" out many turns so you can go faster. Also take one corner at a time: Concentrate on getting the best time you can through one corner and then once you master that one go onto the next.

 

[breeminator]

Thanks for replying. I ended up 42nd out of 2579, so top 1.6%, which isn't too bad. I could probably have made the top 20 with a couple more hours of working on it.

Do you use a load cell brake? I think that would help a lot with being able to brake gently enough, as I could set it to a high maximum force.

 

[2112]

You could probably climb higher sooner, just concentrate on relaxing. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but I have been in races with guys who are faster than me but I have been able to keep up with and pass just because I treated the race like a "Sunday Drive" and made sure to hit my spots.

I do use a load cell brake. I tried my nephew's Thrustmaster a few days ago and I was braking too hard because it was not load-cell and I am used to the resistance. That being said, it took awhile to get used to because I did not have the pedal travel I was used to, even the travel I have in my daily driver. The pedal barely moves and you really have to press it hard to get it to bottom out. It is great for trail-braking.

One thing to remember: It is not the gear, it is the driver. Remember what Villenueve did to Button in that e-race a few weeks ago? He was using a laptop computer and an x-box controller and beat Button who was using a pretty expensive sim rig.

Good luck.

 

[mekonrider]

I find Raceroom the most punishing off all my sims. Once the rear starts to go it rarely comes back. I do like the tyre feel though and it never feels unfair if I spin out, just that I pushed my luck too much.

 

[Ak1504]

Once the rear starts to go it rarely comes back

Yea... Try ACC or rFactor 2 if you like to be able to catch the rear and not be a passenger until the car hits the guardrail ^^

 

[kikie]

Is R3E worth it or not? I have tried the free version but wasn't impressed because it looks like a game from early 2000. Eye candy and impeccable simulation features are my thing.

 

[Flerbizky]

Is R3E worth it or not? I have tried the free version but wasn't impressed because it looks like a game from early 2000. Eye candy and impeccable simulation features are my thing.

I think it's well worth the money and the small FB group I race with swears by it. Personally I love the way the cars feel and the FFB is just about spot on (for me, each to their own and YMMV etc.) It'll never look Project Cars 2 pretty unless they overhaul the graphics part of the engine. That's not a deal breaker for me though as the rest works so well.