F1GP/WC Driving Guide
F1GP can prove tricky until a few simple techniques are mastered. This
document lists some of the most useful pieces of advice for learning how
to drive quickly enough. Please remember that these tips come from
various people on the net, and that everyone develops their own style.
DG: I've made a few personal observations about driving style, based
partly on people's descriptions of how they drive, and partly on their
setups. It seems that the fastest qualifiers tend to be in the Mansell
mould; very exciting to watch, right on the limit of essentially
unstable setups; Ivanhoe Vasiljevich and the Smit brothers, Ren, and
Robin, certainly seem to fit this description. Those who consistently do
well in races are in the Prost mould; calm, calculating, pragmatic,
pushing safe, stable setups hard enough to get the job done without
risking an incident which could wipe out their chances; that's the
approach I try to take. Knowing which approach to use when is half the
trick; being able to use either as necessary is the other half...
1. Learn the course
This is probably the hardest, but most effective method for speeding up.
With a good knowledge of the track you can pick up 2-3 seconds a lap
(and that's a pretty conservative estimate!). There is no easy way to
learn the tracks except to drive round them a lot! [Duh, no?] Look out
for landmarks, such as the dome at Mexico, the bridges at Silverstone
and the buildings at Monaco. Once you know what corners are coming up
you can anticipate the way that the opposition are going to move and
which side of the course to position yourself on. Of course with the
Ideal Line on it becomes a lot easier to tell, but on the higher levels
you lose this option, and the ideal line isn't always ideal anyway.
2. Braking
OK, so you know where the corners are, now how about slowing for them.
The Auto-Braking feature is very poor, and you can usually travel
another 50-100 yards before you have to apply the brakes, this is the
main way for passing the other cars and making up a lot of time. The
computer controlled cars always brake very early so it is east to shoot
past them, there is no excuse for not passing 3 or 4 cars at every 1st
or 2nd gear corner.
By late-breaking into all corners whilst on a clear lap you can easily
smash the lap record, the only problem with this technique is that your
tyres get worn quickly and you may find yourself having to make an extra
pit-stop. [DG: Actually, I think tyre wear is based on distance only;
perhaps someone can provide more information?]]
3. Starting
A good start can gain you plenty of places, or keep you out of the usual
pile up at the first corner. If you have too many revs as the lights go
green you will sit stationary whilst the wheels spin, and if you have
too few revs the car will move away too slowly. There is quite a large
rev-band in the middle where you can make a very good start.
GB: My personnel technique is to hold the car at full revs in first
until the first lights come on, and then let go of the clutch (Gear
change button), by the time the light go green the revs will have fallen
enough for you to make a pretty good start. Note, this does not apply in
the wet, when two many revs causes massive amounts of wheel spin. See
the "In the wet" section for more information.
DG: My technique is similar, but I let the revs start dropping after
counting to 5 (about 7 to 8 seconds). This is slightly before the red
lights come on, about 1-2 seconds. That way, the revs are a little lower
when the lights go to green, you get less wheelspin, and a quicker
start.
If you aren't on pole, you should be aware that when the wheels stop
spinning and bite properly, you'll get a sudden burst of acceleration
which can easily put you into the back of anyone in front.
4. Accidents
Invariably there will be an accident during a race, there are three
types, ones that are half a lap away, ones that are a car length away,
and an accident involving your car. Obviously the first sort is the
easiest to cope with, and you will only usually find out about by the
message "Kip Kipper is out the race". When this appears press pause and
then insert to see what happened. This is done for two reasons, firstly
to watch any cool pile-ups and secondly to see if it effects your lap at
all. In most cases there will be no problems and you can continue as
normal, however you should always check for cars parked half on the
track that the computer isn't removing, and any damaged cars. If any
stopped cars are still on the track then remember where they are so you
don't overtake into the side of them! Normally the marshalls will push
stalled cars away pretty quickly, but there are a few places where they
may leave part of the car on the track. Damaged cars only pose a threat
if you catch up with them near the pit-lane since they will suddenly cut
across your path and can cause further accidents. (This is most
noticeable at Mexico where cars going into the pits slow down on the
racing line. Several other tracks also suffer from similar problems,
especially Montreal, where they slow to 40 mph where you need to be
going 170 mph!)
If there is an accident directly in front of you then there is usually
not too much you can do except take avoiding action; always watch the
road ahead for funny shaped blotches that could be spinning cars and
take care near some of the 'blackspots'. If there is a crash and you
can't avoid it then all you can do is slow down and pray that you are
going slow enough to cause no damage. Remember that you could get stuck
behind another damaged car and the same problems as above apply.
Finally, what do you do if you are in an accident? The first thing to do
is not panic or get angry, if you go off course then there is nothing
much you can do except wait for a gap in the traffic to pull back on. If
you pull back on without waiting then chances are you will be hit by
another car and taken out.
Your car can be damaged at the front, the rear, or both combined. Front
damage makes it very difficult to turn corners, rear damage means wheel
spin and a sharp or fast turn will spin the car, and both damaged will
make the car very difficult to control. Once your car is damaged, all
you can do is limp round to the pits, taking the straights quickly and
the corners slowly and carefully. Once in the pit it is usually a 25
second stop before you are released.
It helps to practice a bit on the grass. The cars will behave strangely
on grass (and most especially when one side of the car is on grass and
the other on asphalt) and you need to practice getting back on the
course quickly, and without hitting the walls or other cars. Sometimes
no matter how hard you try, other cars will ram straight into you. That,
as Damon Hill would say, is racing.
5. The pits
The pits are where all repairs are conducted on your car, in an ideal
race you will only see them once or twice for pit stops. During a pit
stop bring your car in smoothly, and consider doing another lap if a car
in front is also going to pull in as they will slow you down. When in
the pits watch very carefully for other cars pulling out or racing down
the pit lane as they will hit you mercilessly. A tyre stop is quick with
the get-away being the only problem you have to worry about.
GB: I follow a similar procedure to starting the race, but instead of
waiting for the first lights I wait for the car to begin to be dropped.
When the car is damaged there is little change in the procedure except
that the stop will take longer and there is more danger of you
overshooting the pit.
6. The opposition
There are 26 cars in a race and if the level is set to 1991 level then
they all have a set performance. In this case it helps to know what the
other team colors are so you know who you are trying to pass. Mono VGA
owners [GB: like me] will just have to learn the general patterns of the
faster cars. By knowing who you are up against you can judge how fast
they are going to be traveling and how likely they are to make a pass on
another car.
The Artificial Intelligence of the computer cars is very poor and they
will all follow the same line, and brake at the same points so it pays
to learn these patterns. The main problems occur when overtaking two
cars that are battling each other, at some circuits (notably Hockenheim)
sometimes the second car will put out to overtake the first car as you
pull alongside, thus pushing you off. There is no way around this and
you will just have to wait for a corner or be very brave pull right over
to the side of the track and go at it three abreast.
7. The right line
The right line is crucial for going quickly, however, the game provides
a lot of help when it comes to picking out the correct route. This is
done in two way, firstly through the use of the Ideal Line Indicator
which puts the dotted line on the track, and the Steering Help which
tends to pull you over to the correct side of the course. Although both
of these options can be turned off, by the time you reach the levels
where the former is not allowed you should know the courses quite well.
At some corners it helps to come up with your own line, but this will
tend to happen naturally depending on your style.
8. Cornering
Grand Prix cars have a different cornering characteristics depending on
their set up, and learning these is just a matter of trial and
experiment. With a lot of downforce at the back, the car will be
unresponsive in corners but it will tend to drift out of corners nicely,
the main thing to remember is not to accelerate mid corner as the car
will understeer off the course.
If the cars has more front downforce then it will turn in well and be
better at taking sharp corners, the problem with this set up is that if
you accelerate too early the car will spin or turn too quickly (this is
often desirable!); it takes time to learn the correct acceleration
point, but this just takes practice. Sometimes the rear wheels will skid
as you come round a long corner (such as Peralta at Mexico),
occasionally it pays off to accelerate when this happens, and hope the
tyres bite the road, also steering the opposite direction to try and
prevent a spin. This technique takes a lot of practice and good luck,
but once you learn it, the cars become far more controllable than
before.
DG: Read the manual carefully. It does explain how the setup will affect
the car's handling, and what oversteer and understeer are, but not very
clearly. Practice and experiment a lot until you can identify how a
setup change will affect handling and performance. And the manual has
some good advice: only change one thing at once.
9. Overtaking
Apart from the methods described in 'Braking' and 'The Opposition' there
is Slipstreaming, where you move up close behind the car in front and
pick up a tow (This is a "hole" in the air behind a car in front, by
moving into it you lose both drag and downforce and so move faster). As
your car picks up speed pull out quickly and use the extra 10mph to
overtake. This is fairly easy to do, the only problem happening if you
have a low downforce car and you turn out too sharply and lose control.
There isn't too much you can do about this except to turn out more
gently or be ready to catch the skid. It's also all too easy to get too
close before pulling out and accidently hit the car in front, often
resulting in you spinning out.
10. In the wet
GB: I am rubbish at this! Any tips appreciated for both me and the FAQ.
DG: Err, yeah, me too! Still, here goes...
First, forget any knowledge of the track you already have; it's totally
different in the wet, and forget any notions of running without Traction
Help, unless you like spinning. Your setup will have much less
downforce, and the differential between front and rear wings must be
less or you'll have uncontrollable oversteer and will lose the back end
at pretty much every corner. When starting, you want no wheelspin, so
just engage first and wait for the light; the AI cars will beat you off
the line but there's apparently nothing you can do about it. Do not
attempt to brake into a slow corner like you can in the dry; you must
finish braking before you turn in or you will lose the back end.
11. Set up hints
Take a look at the Halls Of Fame for some good setups; below are some
more general bits of advice from various people.
11.1 Doug Reichley
[DG: I lifted this from an article posted to rec.autos.simulators. It
has been very lightly edited.]
Some of you will remember the advice I gave for the German track last
year. I said to have just enough wing to make it through turn 1 and the
Agipkurve flat out.
Well, I have changed my mind (and my car). After practicing at other
`fast' tracks (I'm smokn' at Monza), I brought in what I learned and am
now solidly in the 1m31 lap range on Q tires (and no drafting, of
course).
Last year's car was getting 207 to 208mph down the straights. This
year's car is only getting 203mph. The difference is definitely in the
slower corners. Last year's car pushed through the pit entrance corners
at 80mph. This year's car is nuetral going 109-112mph.
Wings made the difference. Here is what I suggest (I've been wrong
before):
Put your wings at 10 (front) and 1 (rear). Don't worry about cornering
yet; you will still be flat out for the 2 fastest corners with these
wings. Set your gears to get the maximum speed down the straightaway.
Don't be afraid to try a setting above 64. Once the gears are set for
maximum speed, don't change them for the wing adjustments.
Change only your front wing until your car starts oversteering. I'm not
talking about while braking, but rather snapping into oversteer during
high-speed cornering. You'll know it when you see it `cause you'll kiss
the wall big time. You can expect to be about 20 counts apart when this
starts happening, depending on your style. Back off on the front wing
until the car no longer snaps into oversteer.
Now adjust both wings equally until you start losing top-end speed.
This may surprise you how far up you will get them before you start
losing speed. I don't mean 1 or 2 mph, but rather 4 or 5.
Now pay attention to cornering. Is the car pushing [understeering] in
the slow corners? It most likely will be at this point. This is where
the compromise will come into play. You will want to get rid of the push
(again adjust both wings up equally), but you will need to sacrifice top-
end speed. 5-7mph is no big loss since the cornering speeds are now
higher.
Once you get comfortable with this, you can start using the brake bias
to see how it will affect cornering at the slower speeds. I still have
negative (rear) bias on my car (-10 for now to be exact).
Now the final step will be to re-adjust the gearing to gain any speed
that may be left in the motor.
Once all that is done, you should have a nice car to drive. Don't be
afraid to tweak it in any direction. You may be real close to that
`magical' setup I always talk about.
This was written specifically for Germany, but can be used at most of
the tracks. I hope it helps someone out.
11.2 Dave Gymer
I start by moving the brake balance towards the front, at least to
neutral and sometimes beyond, to get rid of any oversteer and increase
stability. I set the gear ratios to 25,33,41,49,57,65 (that's 8 steps
apart). Next I pick some wing settings that seem about right; at a tight
circuit like Pheonix or the Hungaroring I set the front wing at 64,
otherwise I pick what seems like a good value (often by averaging the
top few setups on the Hall Of Fame). The rear wing is usually 15 lower.
Then I go out and drive test laps in ones and twos, adjusting the rear
wing so I can get round the fastest corners on Q tyres with the car not
quite breaking loose (take rear wing off one step at a time until it
becomes loose, than back up one step).
Now I decide if the front wing needs changes to either increase speed,
or increase cornering speeds. This will typically happen at a medium-
fast circuit like Interlagos, where compromise is the name of the game.
By this stage the wings should be within 2 or 3 steps of the nominally
correct position, so it's time to start playing with the brake balance.
I shift it rearwards until the car oversteers under braking; some
drivers like oversteer but I prefer a shorter braking distance and a
smoother line through the corner. At this point it might be worth
fiddling with the rear wing and brake balance, but most likely all
you'll do is upset the balance of the car.
Finally, adjust gear ratios. The lowest ratio should be sufficiently low
as to permit good acceleration out of the slowest corner (typically a
hairpin); you may want to experiment with a ratio as low as 20. The
highest gear wants to get you to about 12500 rpm at top speed; that
leaves a bit over for drafting. Those who use autogears should keep
their lower 3 gears within 7 or 8 steps or each other or the autoshifter
will get confused under wheelspin and get stuck in 2nd.
When I'm choosing a race setup, I tend to move the brake balance forward
a place or two to reduce any oversteer, add a little rear wing for more
stability, especially with a heavy fuel load and when pulling out of a
draft, and always start on Cs.
