F1 2014 Any tips for faster lap times?

[Aidan Sabin]

Hey, I got F1 2014 for Christmas (yeah I know Christmas noob) after playing F1 2010 for about 6 months prior to F1 2014's release.
I was able to challenge for the title in career mode in a HRT on 2010 on Legendary difficulty with traction and ABS off and I could comfortably win most races in a Force India.

However, as I've missed 3 years of handling changes, I'm now abysmal. Still with Traction and ABS off and Legendary difficulty I can qualify in roughly 16th and get up to 7th after the first lap, but then I become the front of a long train of cars until I make a mistake and let them through.

My problems are with controlling the back end as it is much harder to find the right time to apply the throttle, and also with the much heavier handling.

Any tips on how to improve? Or will it just be a case of practice, practice and more practice?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Darth]

Practice is definitely gonna help you the most, but I suggest checking out
some of the setups provided on this site. They are not gonna help you much,
cause all of us drive differently, but they'll give some ideas. Find your ideal
setup on your own. I also suggest increasing the downforce at the rear of your car
just a bit more. till you get used to the rolling and spinning, it will
cost you some time on most tracks but it'll be worth it. Last but not least,
the scaling between the teams in F1 2014 is far more evident than in
F1 2010, so it would be more of a challenge anyway.

 

[M Theory]

Hey, I got F1 2014 for Christmas (yeah I know Christmas noob) after playing F1 2010 for about 6 months prior to F1 2014's release.
I was able to challenge for the title in career mode in a HRT on 2010 on Legendary difficulty with traction and ABS off and I could comfortably win most races in a Force India.

However, as I've missed 3 years of handling changes, I'm now abysmal. Still with Traction and ABS off and Legendary difficulty I can qualify in roughly 16th and get up to 7th after the first lap, but then I become the front of a long train of cars until I make a mistake and let them through.

My problems are with controlling the back end as it is much harder to find the right time to apply the throttle, and also with the much heavier handling.

Any tips on how to improve? Or will it just be a case of practice, practice and more practice?

Any help is appreciated.

Traction is the biggest issue in this year's game. Generally, learning the circuits and where wheelspins tend to occur most frequently can help. Those areas need much more gradual throttle application and also selection of the best gear for exit - too high a gear with too rapid throttle can give you problems due to high torque. Setups do help. Balance, Suspension and Alignment have the greatest impact on traction in my opinion. The wings seem to me to mostly just slow you down. When you look at setups others are using, you will see a lot of 11s in Balance and Suspension, especially if you search on youtube for setups for the game.

For alignment, there seems a tendency to put camber all the way to the left, toe all the way to the right. This seems the right direction of approach to me to balance against what you do with Balance and Suspension.

There is also something weirdly counter-intuitive about some setups that work well for some circuits but not others. Sometimes one that will produce a lot of understeer is the by far the best option. Also varying the bias between oversteer/understeer measures can give you better traction.

Another thing that can be forgotten is braking distances; sometimes braking less is better than late (or first and second phases of braking); another phenomenon (highly dependent on gear selection) is that some turns it is better to enter slow to get a fast exit; others better fast and letting it "roll" in a higher gear - which is when you have to be really careful with applying throttle.

Traction also varies from car to car. Mercedez has superb traction, some team cars are dire.

If you are using a hand controller traction will be an even greater problem. I have a Thrustmaster Lightback wired controller for the Xbox, which has longer trigger and stick travel than the Xbox standards. Helps a bit - maybe by 8 tenths or more.