Newbie questions

[JE20]

Hi guys,

I just set up my wheel and pedals and played AC. This is the first racing game I've played for a long time (since PS2 with a controller!) and had a few questions for more experienced people:

1. Can someone explain how to properly change gears up and down? I never saw any automatic throttle blip or automatic clutch when I used to play, and also never used paddle shifters as I only ever remember playing on automatic cars before, so hoping someone can help me understand these terms and the correct method.

2. When you guys were starting out, did you find the coordination between steering/changing gears up and down/braking/throttle to be quite difficult?

3. I remember when I used to play I could jump on full throttle really early after corners, but today this was causing me to spin or skid. Is this because "Stability Control" was turned off, or because "Traction Control" was not set to 100%?

4. Does everyone play with "Pro" settings in whatever game you are playing? What settings do you use for ABS/Tyre Wear/Tractionand Stability Control/Mechanical Damage/etc?

Also, any other advice for how best to approach learning to race sims would be great.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Hi guys,

I just set up my wheel and pedals and played AC. This is the first racing game I've played for a long time (since PS2 with a controller!) and had a few questions for more experienced people:

1. Can someone explain how to properly change gears up and down? I never saw any automatic throttle blip or automatic clutch when I used to play, and also never used paddle shifters as I only ever remember playing on automatic cars before, so hoping someone can help me understand these terms and the correct method.
That is really quite to your liking. Expensive pedal sets come with three pedals, so I bet many people use clutch and blip and heel and toe and have their gear stick and their handbrake and go all out sim. I personally started playing racing games 16 years ago when many pedal sets just had throttle and brake. By the time I bought my first wheel with a three pedal set it was too late, I had already gotten used to and have ever since been using automatic clutch and the paddle shifters next to my wheel. The experts here say that this costs you some time each lap, but I'm dead slow anyway, so who cares. I think it really is down to what you feel safe and comfortable with.

2. When you guys were starting out, did you find the coordination between steering/changing gears up and down/braking/throttle to be quite difficult?
Depends on whether you know how to drive a car in real life. If you have your driving licence, the coordination should not be a big problem

3. I remember when I used to play I could jump on full throttle really early after corners, but today this was causing me to spin or skid. Is this because "Stability Control" was turned off, or because "Traction Control" was not set to 100%?
Driving aids are there to help you get started (and in some real life racing cars they are active as well). Many players on this forum treat them like the vampire treats garlic, they would never touch them. It might be a good idea to start out with some driving aids and then have them switched off. On average, you should be faster without driving aids if you have practiced enough to have the virtual car under control.

4. Does everyone play with "Pro" settings in whatever game you are playing? What settings do you use for ABS/Tyre Wear/Tractionand Stability Control/Mechanical Damage/etc?
Guess I answered that question already, sorry. I would not be afraid to start at a more medium level and get used to the feel of the virtual car and the track and then slowly increase difficulty. Easy does it, after all you do this for fun.

Also, any other advice for how best to approach learning to race sims would be great.
It is of utmost importance to dial in your wheel to any game. The forums here are very helpful for that, for each game there is usually a sticky thread somewhere at the top of the page dealing with wheel setup and tips. I would try out some of the wheel setups posted, people seem to have very different preferences but I usually find a set that suits me fine. Also check if your wheels allows you to save different basic settings for each game already in the wheel software, that can make all the difference. One setting that is a game changer is the wheel rotation: whether you set it to 900 degree or 540 degree usually makes a huge difference to what the game feels like.

Thanks in advance!

 

[JE20]

Thank you. In iRacing/ACC online, are you allowed to use automatic clutch in all the license classes?

Perhaps it's best to just leave ABS and Traction Control to the Factory Settings?

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

In iRacing yes, though maybe not at the very very pinnacle, the pro class, but that's only a handful of people, so fat chance one will ever get there. people claim you lose 05 secs a lap if you use auto clutch, but as I said, I am some seconds away from the aliens, so I cannot be bothered. In ACC I have played with auto clutch on the ranked servers and it was fine. Don't know if an admin can set it to "manual clutch" only, never seen it. The "barriers" in ACC are track medals (you usually need the maximum three medals to join a server) and Safety Rating, often 70SA and higher.

and I just remember: in iRacing always click "individual wheel setup for each car" when you setup your wheel in the game. They really differ from car to car (and in oval also from track to track) a lot.

 

[JE20]

In iRacing yes, though maybe not at the very very pinnacle, the pro class, but that's only a handful of people, so fat chance one will ever get there. people claim you lose 05 secs a lap if you use auto clutch, but as I said, I am some seconds away from the aliens, so I cannot be bothered. In ACC I have played with auto clutch on the ranked servers and it was fine. Don't know if an admin can set it to "manual clutch" only, never seen it. The "barriers" in ACC are track medals (you usually need the maximum three medals to join a server) and Safety Rating, often 70SA and higher.

and I just remember: in iRacing always click "individual wheel setup for each car" when you setup your wheel in the game. They really differ from car to car (and in oval also from track to track) a lot.

I just tried driving an open wheel in AC and found it much easier than an Audi R8, it felt easier to turn and like it had more grip so I was skidding less. What happens if I use auto-clutch but don't blip when downshifting?

I checked for wheel settings for my wheel in AC on the forum but unfortunately there is no settings posted there for my wheel..

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

I just tried driving an open wheel in AC and found it much easier than an Audi R8, it felt easier to turn and like it had more grip so I was skidding less. What happens if I use auto-clutch but don't blip when downshifting?

I'm no pro and I usually do not blip using auto clutch and it usually works fine, though I remember the GT cars in the rFactor Endurance mod would not brake in a straight line without blip, so it seems to vary. I would ask on the sim-specific forums , also saying, which car, which mod you are playing / asking about.

I checked for wheel settings for my wheel in AC on the forum but unfortunately there is no settings posted there for my wheel …

Maybe there are pre-sets in the game? cannot remember. These vary greatly from game to game, but some are quite useful. It's weird, though, the AC community is hyper alert, that's the first group of people here on the forum I would have guessed to have every single wheel down pat. Weird.

 

[JE20]

I'm no pro and I usually do not blip using auto clutch and it usually works fine, though I remember the GT cars in the rFactor Endurance mod would not brake in a straight line without blip, so it seems to vary. I would ask on the sim-specific forums , also saying, which car, which mod you are playing / asking about.

Maybe there are pre-sets in the game? cannot remember. These vary greatly from game to game, but some are quite useful. It's weird, though, the AC community is hyper alert, that's the first group of people here on the forum I would have guessed to have every single wheel down pat. Weird.

I've asked in the forum to see if anyone has any settings for it. In the meantime I just had to map all the buttons etc. myself.