Does the car matter?

[Ariciuc Razvan]

Noob question, but asking never hurt nobody:

I was wondering if the car (only WTCC, STCC cars) matter (i know they feel diferent and ofc RWD is totaly diferent from FWD).

My question is about speed: Is a car faster than another (ex: honda is faster than seat in the hands of the same driver same conditions etc).

At RD i've race mini mostly and i'm top10 ( in qually) at least.. but soon i started to race STCC(1 race here and 2 at race2play) and i'm rubbish.. i can bearly keep up with the back of the pack.

One thing i saw that half or more use the honda.. and few use seat or alfa.. and usualy the honda is 1'st in qually.
Or is it just me ( i've raced WTCC in Seat since i started playing sim racing but mainly on public servers noting too serious).

I'm asking because in mini i seem to do much better (same car for everyone), and in STCC,WTCC 5 times worst (diferent cars).

Thank you!

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Mostly it's just what car fits to what driver. There is not much difference between WTCC cars (apart from STCC2 Scirocco and until the latest patch, Volvo C30..) but Honda is maybe the easiest to drive (once called the NoobMobile...). To me, 2007 Peugeot just fits better than any other and i can do a second faster laps with it. Seat is easy to drive at first but getting it to 1st grid pos in the qualy is perhaps harder than with Honda. Alfa needs an Alfa-man, it feels heavy but has a good engine.. WTCC Beemers are a bit more powerful than the rest but 5-speed gearbox and RWD evens things out fine, you can almost count them to make at least one mistake more than you.. Plus RWD mistakes are way worse than FWD, spins cost a lot of time where as FWD mostly just go wide.

I haven't really even touched the STCC2 cars, tourings cars don't attract me anymore. Scirocco is the fastest by far, it's similarly underweighted like the C30 once was ( i smell a promotion agreement that "magically" made them both fastest..) but once it's patched, it's gonna be one of the worst cars in the grid, the rear is awful..

Try to find one that fits you well and keep practicing.. A tip: use left foot braking, it's way faster than regular braking especially with FWD..

Note! All above is simply an opinions, i have no facts to back me up. I could make a test track and spin them all around it, 20 degrees uphill for few kilometers is good test which has the best power/weight ratio. Empty tank, no tire wear and fuel consumption, ride height to minimum and suspension to stiffest, no wings...

 

[Dennis Phelan]

I think the Honda has great speed, the SEAT is the easiest to drive and if you're one of the special people that can drive a Beemer fast it's gonna work for you. One more thing the Beemer does, it launches, fastest starts on the grid even if your mot made for it. Each of the cars has a trait or two that make it different and special. People are the same way so look for your match and I'm not talking about an internet dating service. Kennett said a lot of good stuff too.

 

[Marco Bijl]

Indeed, as stated above, all car's have their pro's and con's. Its a matter of suiting you. The combination of car and driver makes the difference.

Further, to be a bit more specific in terms of your question.
Mini is a lot slower then the WTCC. Slower here means more room for errors . It's more easy to correct a mistake in the mini, then it is in f.i. the BMW. This makes that a bit more driving technique is required to make them run fast. As always, practice makes perfect. Just hang in there, and you shall see that the speed difference becomes less after a lot of training.

In principle, the fields of a specific class are well balanced, with sometimes 1 or 2 exceptions (BMW in GT Sport is outbalanced, VW Sirocco in STCC is outbalanced, C30 was outbalanced).

 

[Ariciuc Razvan]

Thank you all for the reply.

Well... looks like i'm gonna try out some new cars , love the seat sound, but maybe it's time for a change (1/2 years playing with it).
Don't mind training .. i actualy like it... but i wantend to know if it was just me laking talent or the car not liking my touch too.

 

[Marco Bijl]

Probably is both a bit

You missing on experience (notice I call it experience instead of lack of talent ), and the car might not be your friend as well. Some people can drive the Chevy like crazy, but for me the car just doesn't do it.

 

[Ariciuc Razvan]

Probably is both a bit

You missing on experience (notice I call it experience instead of lack of talent ), and the car might not be your friend as well. Some people can drive the Chevy like crazy, but for me the car just doesn't do it.

donno experience i don't have for sure .. talent haven't found out yet

 

[Tim Meuris]

Hi,

Interesting discussion
Kennett mentioned left foot braking is way faster.
Do most of you guys on rd apply it?
and what do you do with the clutchpedal when downshifting during braking?
(Do you just ignore it? cause i know it's possible, but it feels less real not using it...)

 

[Ivo Simons]

Nothing is faster. Its just with what are you most comfortable with. Comfortable = Faster times.

 

[Dennis Phelan]

Also break with a left foot, no clutch pedal.

 

[Marco Bijl]

When driving sequential geares, you only use the clutch during start.

If you DO want to use the right foot for braking and throttle, you need to practice on the heel and toe technique. I am not good at that, so I left brake as well. Especially with the BMW or the GT's, I need my right foot on the gas during shifting to keep control of the back end.

Ow, and believe me, there are a lot of rl drivers who left brake as well

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

The way i learned in Friendly Dev Series was that i had to drive around Zandvoort with WTCC FWD and keep the throttle down for the whole duration of the lap. Just slam the brakes on before turns and keep your throttle down as well, the brakes will overpower the throttle ( use longer brakedistances, of course). Once you've done a few laps that way, start easing the throttle on corners until the brakedistances are normal... You'll notice that when applied right, you get extragrip and handling is balanced thru corners so you can carry extra speed thru them.

 

[William Levesque]

In FWD WTCC/STCC I left foot brake... I don't really like it but it's how it is !

In the BMW though I right-foot brake, heel and toe using the clutch on downshift... In the H-Pattern 5 speed I use the shifter, clutch on upshift and downshift... Heel and toe.

 

[Ariciuc Razvan]

i panic and press ALL the peddals and leavers ) . Haven't got clutch just flappy paddle gears and break + acc.

 

[Ariciuc Razvan]

In FWD WTCC/STCC I left foot brake... I don't really like it but it's how it is !

In the BMW though I right-foot brake, heel and toe using the clutch on downshift... In the H-Pattern 5 speed I use the shifter, clutch on upshift and downshift... Heel and toe.

now that's a workout )) who need to go to the gym.

 

[William Levesque]

Haha, depends on the track and car

(DRM at Nords is pretty rough indeed, especially with good FFB)

 

[Tim Meuris]

Ah, this is all new to me...
Marco mentiones that while driving with sequential gears you only need to use clutch at the start
is that true in real life as well?

btw, thnx for all the useful replies, this thread will probably give me a whole new smimracing-experience!

 

[Erik Tveit]

I dont know about real life series and stuff, but it takes less time to release the clutch than changing from neutral to 1st, plus you get better traction.

 

[William Levesque]

In real life you have two choices with sequentials:

1st. No-Clutch on upshifts, clutch on downshifts/heel and toe. (Better for tranny)

2nd. No-Clutch at all, left-foot braking and blip with right foot on downshifts. (A bit rougher on tranny)

You have to use the clutch at the start or on standstill when in gear for both...

BUT, in every sim games you don't have tranny damage model, so not using the clutch has no effects...

 

[Marian Zelenka]

If you are precise, blip on the throttle on downshifts works good. If the car has autoblip, you don't even need to use clutch on downshifts. I've seen systems which turns your sequential gearbox into paddle shifters system. You just send signals into a box which does shifting and there is also autoblip. It's just sq gearbox, right?