Racing in the wet can be a challenge. With this guide you’ll be relishing the rain in F1 2020!
Photo credit: Jacob Hancox
Wet weather driving in F1 2020 is very tricky at the best of times. Lots of players dread the rain, but that is only because they don’t know how to deal with it! With this guide, you should find yourself looking upon the wet conditions as an opportunity, rather than as an obstacle.
If you are looking for tipps when racing in the wet for the latest F1 game, head to our F1 2021 guide.
1. Nailing your setup
The single most important adaptation you need to make when preparing to drive in the wet is to change your car’s setup accordingly. You’ll only need to change a couple of settings, but the difference you will feel should be like night and day.
Most impactful are your ride height settings. If your car is riding low to the ground, you’ll find yourself losing control of the car and sliding far more often than if you raise it up a bit. For totally wet conditions, we recommend running around nine on the front ride height, with eleven on the rear.
If your race is only going to be wet for a portion of the race, then you should attempt to find a compromise. Raise your car up a little in anticipation of the rain, but not so high that you lose performance in the dry. If you’re unsure, though, the amount of performance you lose by running high ride heights is pretty negligible, so you can afford to err on the side of caution and raise it up!
Fiddling with other aspects of your setup can yield results on a damp or sodden track as well. Specifically, running slightly higher wing angles to give your car more aerodynamic grip is generally a good idea in situations where grip is at a premium, such as in the wet. Additionally, it might be a good idea to knock a few percentage points off of your brake pressure, so as to ensure that you won’t be locking up into the heavy braking zones.
2. Using Lean Fuel
Another way you can try to gain an advantage over the field in a wet race before you even start driving is to go into the race with an under-fuelled car. A lighter car at the start of the race will be more maneuverable and easier to drive in the tough conditions.
Additionally, doing this will allow you to run in lean fuel mixture mode for much of the race. Usually, this would cost you time, but in the wet it can actually improve your overall speed. This is because a car running lean fuel will put its power down less abruptly in the traction zones, allowing for a smoother transfer of your horsepower onto the circuit.
This will make the car far easier to drive, especially on the exit of slow corners. In essence, it works like a mini version of traction control. However, you should be adjusting the fuel mix setting throughout the lap. Make sure that you aren’t still running lean when you get up into sixth gear on a long straight, or else you will be losing a significant amount of time due to having a low top speed.
3. A Soft Touch
After preparing as best you can before even starting a race, here’s some advice for once you’ve actually got underway. When it comes to your driving style, it’s incredibly important to be patient on the throttle. Steady, gentle throttle application in the traction zones will get you a long way. Wheelspin is an absolute killer in the wet, and being careful with the throttle pedal will prevent that.
Think of it this way. You’ve got an egg beneath your throttle pedal that you don’t want to break. If you simply plant the power down with a stamp of your foot, the egg will smash and you’ll get yolk everywhere. If, however, you slowly increase your pressure onto the pedal you’ll squeeze the egg out from under it, and you won’t have to clean your rig!
A similar attitude must be taken towards the brake pedal. Even in the dry conditions it can be very difficult to avoid lockups in F1 2020. The wet conditions only exacerbate this problem. Once again, the solution is simple to be careful.
When practicing in the wet, brake early and softly to start with. This way you’ll make it through the corner, even if you’re a little slow. Next time you come to that same corner, brake a little later and a little harder. Keep doing this until you’ve found your limit, and then stick with it.
Pushing the boundaries of what is physically possible can be tempting, but in a wet race consistency is key. Therefore, it’s best to drive at slightly less than one hundred percent, if going flat out means that you risk falling off the road.
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