The F1 Challenge Driving Guide

[ForthRight]

Originally Posted by operato

In other news, I busted out a 1.23.011 was going for a 1.22.6 then spun out

Yes it is horrible when that happens. I was 1 tenth up in the first sector on my next lap (after the 1.17.7) and I ended up spinning on the exit of Vale.

Good luck with the setup.

ForthRight.

[operato]

Originally Posted by ForthRight

Yes it is horrible when that happens. I was 1 tenth up in the first sector on my next lap (after the 1.17.7) and I ended up spinning on the exit of Vale.

Good luck with the setup.

ForthRight.

Thanks, I thought you didn't race in leagues because you have dialup..?
I still can't replicate your exit out of club and onto the straight. If I try and accelerate fast after hitting the apex for club the back usually steps out.

o_0

[ForthRight]

I don't race in the league but I do try to make the best setups I can for the team.

Club really is a pain. After taking Vale in 2nd gear I normally try to stay close to the exit curb (the right hand side curb) without touching it. Then you have to hesitate for about half a second - instead of trying to constantly add throttle (pressing the pedal more and more) I actually keep the throttle pedal at a set amount for about half a second until I think the car has become balanced.
On the exit of a chicane such as Vale the car will normally be quite unbalanced and ready to spin if you input sudden steering or throttle movements so I use the above technique to give the weight balance a bit of time to settle - it's hard to know exactly when that moment is (because you aren't actually in a real car) but there will be point shortly after where you can start accelerating normally without the back end coming around.

ForthRight.

[operato]

Originally Posted by ForthRight

I don't race in the league but I do try to make the best setups I can for the team.

Club really is a pain. After taking Vale in 2nd gear I normally try to stay close to the exit curb (the right hand side curb) without touching it. Then you have to hesitate for about half a second - instead of trying to constantly add throttle (pressing the pedal more and more) I actually keep the throttle pedal at a set amount for about half a second until I think the car has become balanced.
On the exit of a chicane such as Vale the car will normally be quite unbalanced and ready to spin if you input sudden steering or throttle movements so I use the above technique to give the weight balance a bit of time to settle - it's hard to know exactly when that moment is (because you aren't actually in a real car) but there will be point shortly after where you can start accelerating normally without the back end coming around.

ForthRight.

Thanks I actually run about 3 quarters of the car on the right hand side curb, I think that is causing the understeer.

Also if I increase the downforce that would help prevent understeer?

[ForthRight]

When you said "the back end steps out" I assume you mean oversteer.

Anyway, adding wing will change the balance depending on which end of the car you add wing too. If you simply add rear wing it can create understeer because the rear has more grip than the front and if you keep adding front wing the car will start to oversteer because the front has too much aero-grip.
Adding both front and rear in equal amounts should simply give more overall grip but a lot of this depends on the original setup balance.

ForthRight.

[operato]

Originally Posted by ForthRight

When you said "the back end steps out" I assume you mean oversteer.

Anyway, adding wing will change the balance depending on which end of the car you add wing too. If you simply add rear wing it can create understeer because the rear has more grip than the front and if you keep adding front wing the car will start to oversteer because the front has too much aero-grip.
Adding both front and rear in equal amounts should simply give more overall grip but a lot of this depends on the original setup balance.

ForthRight.

I get some uneven heating of the front left tire with your seutp, would decreasing the camber be effective? I also noticed that the pressures were higher in the front than the rear, what's the reason behind that?

Not criticizing just curious.

[ForthRight]

You should find that most setups have lower rear tyre pressures. This is because the rear tyres heat up faster (under traction with acceleration) so they don't need as high a pressure to begin with otherwise they would get too hot. You can see this in effect if you spin the wheels in 1st gear - they turn yellow (very hot) very quickly and while you might not spin the wheels like that in regular driving the same effect does happen to a lesser extent over a number of laps.

The front tyres are harder to get some heat into so they normally have a higher pressure because they need to get upto temperature quickly - the front tyres are obviously very important as they control turn-in grip.

If you are driving a clockwise circuit such as Silverstone then the front left tyre will always get very hot as the weight and stress is put onto this tyre for most of the main corners in the lap.
If you are driving an anti-clockwise circuit (Brazil or Imola) you will see that the front right tyre gets very hot quite quickly as most of the main corners are left hand turns which puts the weight and stress on the front right tyre.

This is bad because if that front tyre gets too hot it can lose traction and you will get understeer in those corners.

For a race I do often lower the pressure and camber slightly for that particular tyre (front left or right depending on circuit) as this helps the tyre to maintain a good level of grip for longer. You need the non-symmetrical car settings to do this obviously and for Silverstone I would probably lower the pressure of the front left tyre by 1 and lower the camber by two clicks. You shouldn't really need to do this for 2 or 3 lap qualifying runs though.

ForthRight.

[operato]

Originally Posted by ForthRight

You should find that most setups have lower rear tyre pressures. This is because the rear tyres heat up faster (under traction with acceleration) so they don't need as high a pressure to begin with otherwise they would get too hot. You can see this in effect if you spin the wheels in 1st gear - they turn yellow (very hot) very quickly and while you might not spin the wheels like that in regular driving the same effect does happen to a lesser extent over a number of laps.

The front tyres are harder to get some heat into so they normally have a higher pressure because they need to get upto temperature quickly - the front tyres are obviously very important as they control turn-in grip.

If you are driving a clockwise circuit such as Silverstone then the front left tyre will always get very hot as the weight and stress is put onto this tyre for most of the main corners in the lap.
If you are driving an anti-clockwise circuit (Brazil or Imola) you will see that the front right tyre gets very hot quite quickly as most of the main corners are left hand turns which puts the weight and stress on the front right tyre.

This is bad because if that front tyre gets too hot it can lose traction and you will get understeer in those corners.

For a race I do often lower the pressure and camber slightly for that particular tyre (front left or right depending on circuit) as this helps the tyre to maintain a good level of grip for longer. You need the non-symmetrical car settings to do this obviously and for Silverstone I would probably lower the pressure of the front left tyre by 1 and lower the camber by two clicks. You shouldn't really need to do this for 2 or 3 lap qualifying runs though.

ForthRight.

Ahhh I see now, you make your setups with the tires that come with the game... I use Mikas tires. If I lower the tire pressure that would increase grip because more of the tire is in contact with the ground?

[ForthRight]

I don't know what Mika's tyres are. Do they change tyre grip levels or something? I don't like using any addons that can effect lap times as this just causes problems online and I like to have a totally level playing field. I just assumed most of the tyre addons simply changed the tyre appearance?

Anyway, lowering tyre pressure is better for a race as they won't get as hot or lose grip as quickly, however they won't be as fast straight out of the pits.

Personally I don't think the game models this feature too well. In real F1 you often hear a driver say they "got the tyre pressures wrong" on a particular set of tyres and this meant their lap times in the race dropped off dramatically for a whole stint. For me this can't happen in the game - if I drive with 135 front and 130 rear pressure I will normally do exactly the same lap times in a race as I would if the pressures were increased slightly to 138/133 - so slight changes in the game don't seem to have the same dramatic effects that they can have in real F1. Obviously if you change them massively (to 145 front and 138 rear etc) they will not work very well in a race distance.

So you normally decrease the pressure for races to make the tyres last and increase them for qualifying to make faster (more temperature and grip) on the first few laps out of the pits.

In the wet your theory definitely applies - lower the pressure to have more tyre in contact with the road and better overall grip but in the dry it really depends on the number of laps you will do and also the camber settings.

If I'm honest I don't spend a huge amount of time adjusting setups for qualifying and race myself as I think there are standard settings which work well for me and it rarely effects my lap times if I make small changes.

ForthRight.

[operato]

Originally Posted by ForthRight

I don't know what Mika's tyres are. Do they change tyre grip levels or something? I don't like using any addons that can effect lap times as this just causes problems online and I like to have a totally level playing field. I just assumed most of the tyre addons simply changed the tyre appearance?

Anyway, lowering tyre pressure is better for a race as they won't get as hot or lose grip as quickly, however they won't be as fast straight out of the pits.

Personally I don't think the game models this feature too well. In real F1 you often hear a driver say they "got the tyre pressures wrong" on a particular set of tyres and this meant their lap times in the race dropped off dramatically for a whole stint. For me this can't happen in the game - if I drive with 135 front and 130 rear pressure I will normally do exactly the same lap times in a race as I would if the pressures were increased slightly to 138/133 - so slight changes in the game don't seem to have the same dramatic effects that they can have in real F1. Obviously if you change them massively (to 145 front and 138 rear etc) they will not work very well in a race distance.

So you normally decrease the pressure for races to make the tyres last and increase them for qualifying to make faster (more temperature and grip) on the first few laps out of the pits.

In the wet your theory definitely applies - lower the pressure to have more tyre in contact with the road and better overall grip but in the dry it really depends on the number of laps you will do and also the camber settings.

If I'm honest I don't spend a huge amount of time adjusting setups for qualifying and race myself as I think there are standard settings which work well for me and it rarely effects my lap times if I make small changes.

ForthRight.

They change the wear rate and heat up rate of the tires. I do not think they change the girp levels. Here's the readme from them.


V1.2 - Bridgestone and Michelin Tires for seasons 1999-2002 and the 2003RH add-on Season [11:09:03]

First off many thanks to my good friends at F1gamers.net for joining me on-line and testing these tires, the feedback was very encouraging.

These included files consist of tires for each season 1999 - 2003.

The 1999-2003 tires have the wear rates adjusted to bring them in line with the expected life-span of the real world tires, the 2003 tires also have included extra tire compounds, these are:

Hard - 114*C
Soft - 110*C
Medium - 112*C
Front Soft/Rear Medium - 110/112*C
Front Medium/Rear Hard - 112/114*C

These tires bring the element of tactics and strategy back into the game due to the increased wear rates (approximate real world), of course how you treat your tires will dictate how they will perform.

Your choice of tires is paramount to your success to win, choose the wrong tires for the track and/or track temperature and/or conditions and you may find yourself at the back of the pack. Likewise, if your opponents do the same, then your strategy will see you through.

Being fastest is not always important, your driving style will dictate greatly to your tires performance and your position on the track, go too quick (particulaly cornering speeds) for too long, and your tires will not last or maintain stability, and you may find yourself lapping slower than the rest.

Please check the F1gamers.net forums for any updates or discussions on the tires.

Regards Mika

[operato]

Do you have a 1999 Hockenheim setup? Or know of where I can get one?

[ForthRight]

I don't have a setup for that track, sorry. The old Hockenheim track has always been one of my worst in any F1 game (as far as lap times go) and in F1C I just ignored the fact that it was included.

Probably a setup similar to Monza is the best place to start but my 2002 Monza setup probably won't suit the 1999 cars.

ForthRight.

[operato]

Originally Posted by ForthRight

I don't have a setup for that track, sorry. The old Hockenheim track has always been one of my worst in any F1 game (as far as lap times go) and in F1C I just ignored the fact that it was included.

Probably a setup similar to Monza is the best place to start but my 2002 Monza setup probably won't suit the 1999 cars.

ForthRight.

In your Austria 2002 setup, could you post a telem/replay of your 1.07 please?

[ForthRight]

Here is a replay of 1.06.9 at Austria without aids, 2002 Ferrari.

It's a very difficult track to find time as it is so short and the curbs are horrible in Super High physics rate.

I can't attach telemetry to this site but I can send by email if you still want it?

ForthRight.

[operato]

Originally Posted by ForthRight

Here is a replay of 1.06.9 at Austria without aids, 2002 Ferrari.

It's a very difficult track to find time as it is so short and the curbs are horrible in Super High physics rate.

I can't attach telemetry to this site but I can send by email if you still want it?

ForthRight.

absoultely rob at fastmail.ca

[ForthRight]

Okay I have sent the telemetry.

ForthRight.

[operato]

Originally Posted by ForthRight

Okay I have sent the telemetry.

ForthRight.

Thanks!

Do you have any replay/telemetry/setup for spa (1999)?

[ForthRight]

No, not a lot for that track. I gave a 2002 setup with the guide but that was quite an early setup and I haven't driven at Spa since then. I do like the track so I should improve the setup for it some time.

At the minute my stupid leg isn't working, can't even do a full lap before I have to stop. Never had problems like this before so I don't know what to do to fix it or how long it should take. It's the calf muscle at the back of my right leg.

ForthRight.

[operato]

Originally Posted by ForthRight

No, not a lot for that track. I gave a 2002 setup with the guide but that was quite an early setup and I haven't driven at Spa since then. I do like the track so I should improve the setup for it some time.

At the minute my stupid leg isn't working, can't even do a full lap before I have to stop. Never had problems like this before so I don't know what to do to fix it or how long it should take. It's the calf muscle at the back of my right leg.

ForthRight.

Damn that sucks *** lol ... :/

Hope you get better, maybe stretch or something before playing?

[ForthRight]

Yes I think I will have to in future.

I pulled the muscle (or damaged it not sure) by simply driving too hard for too long. I really put a lot of effort into the throttle control and driving for too long like this seems to have really caused some problems.

Right now I just want it to get better but it has been almost 7 days and it doesn't seem to be getting better at all.

ForthRight.

[ForthRight]

Just a quick post to say I have updated the attachments in the first 4 posts of this thread - the links no longer worked for some reason so I have had to upload the files again.

I also included some new and updated setups in the CJC-Setups.zip file in the third post of the thread.

ForthRight.

[operato]

Originally Posted by ForthRight

Just a quick post to say I have updated the attachments in the first 4 posts of this thread - the links no longer worked for some reason so I have had to upload the files again.

I also included some new and updated setups in the CJC-Setups.zip file in the third post of the thread.

ForthRight.

Excellent, thanks forthrightm, do you have a replay/telemtry file for malaysia?

[ForthRight]

Here is a Sepang replay without aids.

ForthRight.

[ForthRight]

Here is some telemetry.

ForthRight.

[operato]

Thanks forthright, you back doing laps around any tracks yet?