SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Feature: Sim Racing Tips - Getting the Most Out of Your Virtual Racing Hobby

When we were kids, our bikes had training wheels until we learned our balance. Riding a bike was a challenging new environment for us, and we needed all the help we could get. Likewise, learning a high-fidelity physics model in a hard-core racing sim is also a challenging new environment. And like training wheels on our bikes, driving aids are offered in a lot of sims to help ease the transition. Things like Auto shifting, traction control, spin control, braking assist, anti-lock brakes, etc. Should you use them? My opinion is "occasionally 'yes,' but most often 'no.'"

I feel that there are three driving aids that can be used without building any truly bad habits, or diluting the challenge and reward of driving a hard-core racing sim. They are as follows:

1. Auto Clutch. Most FF wheels have only two pedals, relegating clutch actuation to a button rather than an axis. Although most modern race cars only require the clutch to get going from a standing start (not to shift gears while in motion), auto clutch is still useful in racing sims in order to make the overall driving experience more fluid. I've tried my sims with auto clutch on and off, and the overall change in driving experience isn't that significant. Without Auto Clutch you will have to be more aggressive about 'blipping' the throttle when shifting, and if you spin out expect to have the engine stall as you come to a stop. Other than that, auto clutch is an 'either or' driving aid that's pretty widely used and accepted in the online racing community.

rFactor Driving Aids

2. Traction Control. This driving aid that sees some limited use in both the real and simulated racing worlds. Traction Control systems basically limit the amount of torque that an engine can send to the drive wheels so that wheel spin is minimized. This is particularly useful when accelerating out of corners, thereby reducing the chance that a car will spin out. In modern F1 sims, I like to use the 'low' setting of Traction Control because the real F1 cars are allowed to use it, thus I subjectively "feel" like I am getting a more accurate representation of driving the real thing, since the proper use of traction control is part of the tactical skill set of any F1 driver. That being said, most real cars and racing series prohibit traction control, so in the vast majority of cases I recommend leaving it OFF. Also, most online races and leagues prohibit the use of TC, so using it can introduce some bad habits that will negatively impact your racing style.

3. Invulnerability. What?! Why would Chunx advocate this arcade-ish feature? I only advocate it from a training standpoint. When first learning to train your brain how to operate under the unfamiliar rules and senses of a racing sim's physics model, you're going to have wrecks. A lot of wrecks. "Although tempting, new drivers should steer clear of most driving aids." And rather than restarting a driving session over and over again, often it's much more expedient to simply dust yourself off, and get back on the track. You can do that much quicker if the car isn't damaged each time you leave the track or get some steering "assistance" from the guardrail. Once you've mastered the physics model, it's much more immersive and fun to crank up the damage and see the parts fly, and the suspensions and tires fail.

That's a pretty short list of driving aids that are worth using. So overall I'd say that although tempting, new drivers should steer clear (sorry for the pun) of most driving aids. In the long run they can contribute to bad habits and delay the learning curve, rather than easing it. And for the hard-core sim crowd, driving aids simply reduce the challenge and reward of learning to perform a difficult task and doing it well. Finally, if you're going to pit your skills against others online, you'll find that most races restrict the use of most driving aids, with limited exceptions noted above.

Conclusion

Part II contains quite a bit of information that should get you on the road to finding your own personal tastes as you establish your sim racing hardware needs. Recently I found a nice discussion of rFactor User Interface basics for folks new to that game, or to ISI-based racing sims in general. It's only a forum thread and so a little disjointed at times, but if you comb through it there's quite a treasure trove of information.

Next time we'll tackle the meat of the matter — literally. In Part III we'll discuss the driver, and what you can do to get the most out of your seat time when you crank up your favorite racing simulation.

Monza's Turn 1

Part I - Optimizing the Hardware is here.
Part III - Optimizing the Driver is here.
Part IV - Learning to Race is here.

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