The Driving School Thread

[machscnel]

I've been wanting to ask questions regarding driving technique for awhile, bit have not really had the place to ask. So I'm starting this thread, as kind of a Driving School for all the newcomers to Prologue or even people who have been playing it since release, anyone who has questions regarding getting better at driving in Prologue.
I'll get the ball rolling with my first question.

I tend to lose traction going around big raidius corners. I''l hold my speed through the corner and then when I it my grip limit I'll take my foot of the gas. This causes me to lose the rear end and sometimes(if I can't bring it back) have an off. I can understand the back kicking out if I gassed it mid-corner but not when I take my foot of the gas mid-corner. So-far it's happened with cars like Nissan GTR, Ford GT, NSX and the main corner it happens on is Turn 4 Fuji, the long, big raidius turn.

 

[Magneto]

Lift-off oversteer is a common thing, regardless of corner type.
I personally never go off the gas completly, and by always keeping on a little throttle, even under braking if nescessary, I'm able to avoid this perticular problem.
Though depending on the situation it can actually be a tool for faster driving, but for me atleast this is in slower and/or tighter corners.

 

[paskowitz]

Yeah you want lift off oversteer drive the GTLM. If you can control that you can control just about anything. You have to be really careful on those sweepers not to lift off. Brake a little bit if you have to, to balance the car out but never lift off. This is what makes corner entry so important. Take the GTLM (w/R1s) out on Fuji and set your goal to not create any tire smoke (ie slide). This is a great car and track to really master mid corner car control. Get this down and watch the power input on exit and you will be putting down fast laps in no time.

 

[The Outlaw]

The guys above did a good job of pointing out what issues you're having. By letting of the gas mid corner you're basically transferring weight from the rear of the car torward the front, giving the front tires more grip to turn, and less grip for the rear to maintain traction, creating an oversteer situation. Depending upon deceleration or acceleration, weight is shifted front or rear. When you slam on the brakes you can visibly see how the cars weight shifts to the front as it squats down. The same when you accelerate and see the rear of the car squat down. When this weight transfer occurs, weight is shifted in either axis, increasing the tires potential traction on that particular axle. To avoid sudden oversteer/sliding in that particular corner at Fuji you'll want to keep your throttle inputs as steady as possible in order to prevent sudden weight transfer which will cause the car to lose traction.

 

[TofuStoreDrift]

All the answers are correct, but I like timeattack07gt's post the best. Knowing what causes the problem always help to solve the problem.

 

[Earth]

machscnel, one thing you can try is to think ahead. How about slowly taking your foot off the gas right before you reach the grip limit?

When cars are on the edge traveling at high speeds sudden, abrupt changes to the car whether it be steering, brake or throttle can upset the car's delicate balance.

Sometimes smoother is faster

 

[EERS4YEARS]

Also, try lowering the rear more than the front. This puts more weight on rear tires all the time, consequently front wheels lighter though. Being smooth letting off throttle is biggest help. Or higher grip tires in rear than front also will help but, along with lowereing rear more than front, this will affect your cars overall handling. Reading instruction manual to GT4 will help also.

 

[JDMKING13]

Or higher grip tires in rear than front also will help.

Do real race car drivers do this, put a different type of tires on their cars Example i see many people putting S2 on the front and R1 on the back. I never saw this before, but i wanted to know In real life do racers do this and does it affect your car in a negative or a positive way thank you

 

[EERS4YEARS]

I meant like s1 in the front and s2in the rear. And most "real" series have a choice of 2 tires (and their grip levels are signifigantly different), not 9. For example Ill use s2 s3 combo or s1 s2 combo, with higher of 2 in rear. Ive tried s1 s3 before, and that made the car impossible to drive, so mixing Race and Sport tires is out of the question... except really low HP FWD cars i.e. 450pp TT. I can usually run less rear toe, and get my foot back on throttle sooner if rear has SLIGHTLY more grip than front.

 

[Magneto]

machscnel, one thing you can try is to think ahead. How about slowly taking your foot off the gas right before you reach the grip limit?

When cars are on the edge traveling at high speeds sudden, abrupt changes to the car whether it be steering, brake or throttle can upset the car's delicate balance.

Sometimes smoother is faster

As Bob Lee Swagger says in the movie Shooter: Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

 

[The Outlaw]

Do real race car drivers do this, put a different type of tires on their cars Example i see many people putting S2 on the front and R1 on the back. I never saw this before, but i wanted to know In real life do racers do this and does it affect your car in a negative or a positive way thank you

Most race cars in real life run the same compound front and rear. If you run a different compound front and rear in real life, one tire will go off sooner or later than other, completely screwing up the balance of the car. Of course in the game there is no tire wear or tire operating tempature to take into account, so you'll put on a tire combo that provides the best laps times as there is no need to worry about the tires losing grip if it passes its ideal operating tempature. It's something I wish GT5P had as it would add a huge element to the game and how smoothly people must drive in order to maintain/save their tires throughout the race. This is a huge aspect of real racing, especially in Formula 1 ATM.

One last thing. Some of the Porsche 911 race cars run a harder compound in the rear at times, simply because they really eat through the rear tires with the engine and weight bias drastically torward the rear. It also depends on the track and how much load a particular tire gets throughout a lap as well. Hope that answer your question 👍

 

[JDMKING13]

Most race cars in real life run the same compound front and rear. If you run a different compound front and rear in real life, one tire will go off sooner or later than other, completely screwing up the balance of the car. Of course in the game there is no tire wear or tire operating tempature to take into account, so you'll put on a tire combo that provides the best laps times as there is no need to worry about the tires losing grip if it passes its ideal operating tempature. It's something I wish GT5P had as it would add a huge element to the game and how smoothly people must drive in order to maintain/save their tires throughout the race. This is a huge aspect of real racing, especially in Formula 1 ATM.

well. Hope that answer your question 👍

Thank you for the answer. I feel the same way you feel on the tire topic though. I thought when i saw people putting different tires on their cars it was strange, with me winning is not that serious where i would put tuning combination on my car that would be real in reality. When i race i know there is not real tire wear, but when i drive i drive as if i had to save my tires. Anyway thanks for the answer

 

[VetteDawg]

Ive tried s1 s3 before, and that made the car impossible to drive, so mixing Race and Sport tires is out of the question....

I beg to differ. I run an S3, R1 set up on my Lotus 111R at Sazuka. Granted I'm slow as a turtle off the line and in the straights but it handles like a dream.

 

[zeemie]

Regarding tire selection, I find that lower performance front tires + higher performance rear tires affords me more precise control of lift-off oversteer in some of the MR cars.

For example, try R1, R3 on the Ford Spec II. This combo takes some of the violence out of the Ford oversteer. S3, R1 works well for me in the NSX.

Not that I'm fast yet but you have to stay on the pavement before you can get fast!!

 

[The Outlaw]

I beg to differ. I run an S3, R1 set up on my Lotus 111R at Sazuka. Granted I'm slow as a turtle off the line and in the straights but it handles like a dream.

That works fine because you're sticking a much stickier tire on the rear, therefore increasing the rear traction and drastically decreasing oversteer. This makes the car very easy to drive and control but it's sure that's not the fastest, most ideal set-up though. With a S3/R1 combo you're not only dialing in more understeer to the car, your also losing the PP that you could put torward either HP or weight reduction.

Try putting a R1 on the front and S3 on the rear and it would be a complete mess though

The only time I've used a entirely different series tire front and rear (R1/S3) was on a fwd car around Fuji where you want a lot of front bite and not that much rear bite to allow the car to rotate around the corners.

 

[VetteDawg]

Try putting a R1 on the front and S3 on the rear and it would be a complete mess though

An ABSOLUTE mess.
A combo that I run a lot is S2/S3. It negates a lot of the oversteer and it lets you get back hard on the power earlier without fishtailing like it would with matching front and rears.
The problem is running lesser tires in the front makes it take longer to get turned through the corner...they just keep pushing/sliding forcing you to slow way down.
My main driving problem is touch. I don't 'feather' well. I like to be all on the gas or all on the brakes.