Great splits Red! 👍 And I know you've already got a 33.5xx T2 in you... looks like I'm going to be chasing you again for the rest of the week.
A word or three on aids....
In short, a car is always going to be faster with all aids off since all an aid does is stop you doing something you want to do. Either applying the brakes to keep the car stable (ASM), or removing drive to stop you spinning the wheels (TCS), or removing braking force to stop you locking up (ABS), or damping your steering inputs to compensate for over-correction or sudden jerky or erratic movement (AS).
These aids exist in GT not to give an unfair advantage but to simply allow those with either less experience or skill or confidence to drive the cars and race them without constantly spinning off or crashing. So inevitably, when the required level of skill is reached, one becomes faster without requiring the restrictive aids. I simply can't stand to drive a car with TCS or ASM - its like driving through glue and the car just refuses to do what I want it to.
I do use ABS and often quite a high setting... lack of braking feedback is something I have always struggled with in GT and is probably the biggest limiting factor to me getting any faster. If you've ever tried driving without ABS though, the car stops alot quicker if you manage it without locking up - so to drive successfully without ABS, you're are going to be significantly faster.
Active steering, which seems to have stirred up a bit of a debate here, is nothing more than a steering damper that basically smoothes out erratic steering inputs and applies a small ammount of opposing steering force if you start to oversteer. In essence is deadens your steering input so if you are normally a smooth and precise steerer, it will remove some of that precision and make the car feel less edgy and thus slow you down slightly. If you are someone who is quite erratic and prone to over exagerated steering inputs, AS will kick in to smooth it for you and thus you will more than likely get a bit faster. In the case of a car like the Elise, AS makes it feel less exciting but the quickest guys will still be those who are very precise with their steering inputs as well as deft with the pedals, whether or not AS is switched on.
In my case I've found that AS makes the Elise feel a bit more centered through the switchback section of T1 so you're less likely to throw the car into oversteer but if you're precise enough with entry speed, hold the throttle and thread the needle smoothly enough, it makes no difference in sector time. I am not Ramone however and maybe when you're going that fast AS makes more difference to stability. Ramone is not exactly a smooth steerer though - he takes the car by the scruff of the neck and hurls it about wherever he likes. A rare skill most of us can only wonder at.
Edit - Another point that may be worth noting. I have a Fanatec GT3 wheel which has the facility to adjust several settings independantly of GT - steering angle, FFB, dead zone, linearity, centering spring, steering damper force, ABS vibration, and shock response. Am I cheating or lame if I use any of these features to tune my wheel to my liking? The Fanatec damping adjustment basically does the same thing as the AS in GT. Individual steering wheel settings are beyond the scope of WRS rules obviously, so allowing aids other than SRF does seem the most reasonable situation to me.
all others turned to off, makes for good fun. 👍
I am impressed.
