I'm sure this has been talked over a lot but here is my question: For a noob driver, again: a noob driver, what would you suggest? Using the driving aids until he's better or not? I avoid using any aids at all because I think it helps me a bit to learn how much to brake or throttle in order to keep the cars under control although this makes it difficult to focus on keeping the correct racing line and all the other shenanigans going on. What do you think? How did you learn to race? How did you become fast? PS: I don't ask for myself.. I'm asking for a friend! hehehehehehe
It's more a matter of what is enjoyable. If a player struggles in a sim, it makes sense for them to use driving aids until they eventually improve enough to do without. Sometimes a player has to use aids because they don't have all the necessary equipment - for instance, I use auto-clutch, auto-blipping and auto-lifting because I don't have a clutch pedal. Driving aids promise the driver even more enjoyment in the long run. Finally switching off a driving aid (traction control, for example), makes the game fresh again. I'm really looking forward to the day when I get a clutch and an H-pattern gear lever - Automobilista will become far more difficult for me, but it will also feel like I have a completely new sim on my PC.
I play with a Xbox360 controller, sometimes I use ABS depending on the car, everything else off, manual transmission. Back when I started playing racing games a few years ago I used most driving aids (everything except auto braking). As I got better I started turning driving aids off one at a time. Games felt too easy & boring with aids on, I thought by turning aids off the game would become more challenging and interesting. First I turned off racing line, I figured I could go faster by learning the track, best line for quick lap, best line for overtaking, adjusting braking points with new tyres, used tyres, in the wet, etc. Next I turned stability control off. SC generally is related to steering input while TC is related with throttle input. SC off meant I had to be more precise when steering around corners (more steering in slower turns, less steering in fast turns, as opposed to the on/off/tap steer inputs most casual players use). Then I learned to use manual transmission, which gave me a better sense of speed around corners, I learned that short shifting and/or using a higher gear can help with traction in certain situations and consequently help with pace & tyre wear. Learning to use manual transmission also helped me control the car with TC & ABS off. Last step was to learn to drive with TC & ABS off. That required more precise inputs when braking before the turn and accelerating out of turns. Braking without ABS can vary depending on the car (open-wheelers generally allow hard braking, touring generally require more gentle braking to avoid lock-up), accelerating out of corners also vary depending on the car (power, suspension, drivetrain, etc). Track also has a lot of influence on how to brake & accelerate (elevation changes, camber, bumps, etc). Turning aids off allow me to get a better feel for all those things. So, I think it's OK to use driving aids if you're getting started with racing games but in the long run it will better to drive without them because you get a better feel of how the car reacts, and therefore you can have better pace and better control of tyre wear. I recommend turn aids off one at a time as opposed to turning them all off at once.
I found out that using the racing line only made me slower so this was a thing I only used a couple of times. Auto braking and turning is one more thing I never could get used so I never used it (after the first ever time I tried it I mean) Auto Clutch is what I use because I don't have a clutch and sometimes I run with low TCS. It takes me a lot of time to be able to run a car around a track but I get a satisfaction feeling at the end. But I think for this week's TT I will be using High TCS ASM and ABS... I just can't keep them on the road.
Personally I advocate just jumping in at the deep end and learning the hard way. I used to train by booting up rFactor with the 1967 GP cars and running laps at the Nordschleife in the rain. If learning car control, I don't think it would achieve much to try and use the aids like training wheels, because then when you take them off you would still have to learn "proper" control inputs, so it's kinda moot. Maybe if you want to focus solely on other elements like lines, so you don't have to concentrate on multiple things at once
Seizing your thread, the difference from TC=0 to TC=1 is too much in AMS. For F1 cars, the difference is night and day, going from undriveable to run on rails. There should be more gradation.
You could try cutting your teeth on Formula V10 before moving into other open wheelers. FV10 allows you to keep the TC aid OFF and still adjust TC to low/medium/high in the car setup menu. Me, I play with all aids off. My lap times are super slow, but I have more fun feeling every reaction from the car and trying (usually failing) to adjust to all of it.
I should have been more specific. It has to do with the fact that I'm an untalented manchild with OCD and a toy steering wheel.
recommended: autoclutch & ABS on low/high depending on your preference (& pedals/input device) are what i'd advise for any car. autoblip may be necessary for manuals if you don't have an h-shifter, i'm not sure. other than that its pretty much to taste. a true newbie to simracing would probably want a fair amount of assists at first; traction & stability controls..i couldn't recommend any kind of brake/steer assist as i've never used these in any game/sim, but there are several to choose from (i think there's both an opposite lock assist & a spin recovery assist for example). gradually (or suddenly) you'll get a general feel for whats going on & find yourself wanting to strip the training wheels off to really feel the car out. if you put in a solid effort (practice + some youtube videos/very general reading) & its not enjoyable or feels overly punishing to you, no problem.
I'd suggest NEVER turning on more than traction control, stability control, antilock brakes, and auto trans. And don't put them on high. Inevitably the more assists you have the less naturally the car will drive, which at some point will actually hinder your results and if you intend on moving away from assists at some point they'll also make you learn a lot of stuff the wrong way. As for the other assists, such as spin recovery.... pretty much want stuff like that off at all times. I actually think the best way to learn with assists is with the three i mentioned turned on LOW and automatic trans/clutch on. Also the "auto blips/auto lift" options are useless without a wheel either way, and you do get weight penalties for every assists that is turned on... so they just add an unnecessary weight penalty. If you are using a wheel you might find some use from them, but I fail to see how they could really help all that much.
