F1 2012 How do you use KERS?

[Iko Rein]

Hello,

I tried to find from the forums discussion on how people use KERS.

Myself, I use KERS after a slow turn, which is followed by a straight, where I can reach 6th but preferably 7th gear. Lately I have started to use the KERS up to 4th gear, sometimes higher. I have been wondering, if using KERS more often on lower gears (2 & 3) would yield more benefits timeweise, than using KERS in one go. E.g. in rain I use KERS only when I am on 2nd (or higher) gear with good traction.

Of course in tight race, you can use KERS to defend and to attack but if you are just trying to either make gap or reduce cap, then getting maximum timebenefit out of KERS. E.g. in Spa, if I am followed by a fast car near the 1 second gap, I use most KERS right after the hairpin to avoid a DRS overtake. But if I am trying to close the gap to car in front, then I use about 60% of kers after the hairpin and a bit after turn 11 (straight before Pouhon) and then the rest after Stavelot.

How do you use KERS?

//lonelyracer

 

[kimi_iceman85]

What I do is to watch real drivers onboard qualy laps ( you can find for all 2012 tracks on youtube), where it shows when kers and drs are used. Although I'm not sure that it works in the game as is does in real life it's still a good reference.

 

[Chris]

Something I've also been wondering from people.

I try to use KERS the same way the drivers use it in real life: out of corners that will yield the best value for using it. Which usually means a slow-ish corner followed by a long straight where you can get up some decent speed.

Since KERS has diminishing returns, (the faster you go, the less it effects acceleration) you get the most accelerant from lower speeds, so you want to use it then, but not so slow that you lose traction when you deploy it.

So for example, my system for every Hotlap at India is:
- KERS out of the final corner until the start/finish line
- Use 80% of KERS on the exit of Turn 3 (80% of 400 = 320, so you want to use KERS until you see the number 80k on your delta).
- Use the remaining 20% (80k) on the exit of turn 4.

That for me seems to yield the best results.

 

[Karl Fuss]

I recently had a race in Korea and found that using 150/400 KERS and 200/400 KERS out of Turn 2 in the low gears (2,3,4) yielded the exact same top speed at the end of the straight (327km in Mix3). So basically that extra 50 KERS is better used somewhere else on the track.
I used 150 out of T3 and 50 out of T6. the extra 50 i saved from the main straight was put to good use out of the last corner on the star/finish straight. Without using it there i was never in 7th going into T1 in Mix2, but with that little KERS boost i could get into 7th.

I think every track is a little bit different on where KERS is best used (Like in India where most is used on the long straight), but as a general rule it's best used out of slower corners onto long straights, and only use 100-150 of is at a time.... anymore than that and the payoff just isn't there.
Of course KERS is used much differently when defending against a car in the DRS zone.....


EDIT - if you don't use the cockpit view you wont be able to see exactly how much KERS you are using... you will only be able to see the little red bar deplete. You'll have to transfer the KERS # into % and guess a bit at how much you are using each press of the button.

 

[Chris]

I recently had a race in Korea and found that using 150/400 KERS and 200/400 KERS out of Turn 2 in the low gears (2,3,4) yielded the exact same top speed at the end of the straight (327km in Mix3). So basically that extra 50 KERS is better used somewhere else on the track.

But you would've gotten to the top speed slightly earlier in the straight though surely?

 

[Karl Fuss]

But you would've gotten to the top speed slightly earlier in the straight though surely?

There was still room to accelerate in the gearbox. That was the speed i was hitting without the DRS open.

 

[Chris]

There was still room to accelerate in the gearbox. That was the speed i was hitting without the DRS open.

Ahh okay, i see.

Well. That sucks lol. Because theoretically, it should make a difference, even if its a small one, there should still be some slight difference. Haha

 

[Karl Fuss]

Ahh okay, i see.

Well. That sucks lol. Because theoretically, it should make a difference, even if its a small one, there should still be some slight difference. Haha

You're right, there should be a slight difference. There may also have been a slight difference in when i started pressing KERS, or a slight difference in the way i took T1 and T2. But regardless of those things, even if the extra 50kers gets you 2km/h more speed at the end of the straight that's only a +0.6% increase in speed for an additional 12.5% of KERS.

It's like you stated earlier, "diminishing returns, (the faster you go, the less it effects acceleration)" and thus the more KERS you could just be wasting...

 

[Iko Rein]

It's like you stated earlier, "diminishing returns, (the faster you go, the less it effects acceleration)" and thus the more KERS you could just be wasting...

And this is exactly what I have been thinking. Instead of hitting rev. limiter bit earlier, you could save KERS for another place and maybe gain e.g. +5km/h during the whole duration of a shorter straight and thus gain more time in total. E.g. in Singapore you have the long straight + two shorter ones, where St. Andrews (after turn 9) you exit on 2nd or 3rd gear and the Esplanade Drive (after turn 13), where you exit on 1st or 2nd gear. Leaving bit of KERS for those might improve the total time.

To really find this out, one should use the telemetry and check out the real impact. I was hoping that someone had already done that.

 

[Karl Fuss]

To really find this out, one should use the telemetry and check out the real impact. I was hoping that someone had already done that.

I'm on the xbox so i don't have the ability to check telemetry. I would love to though. I would also like to have a Map with a GPS traced line of my cars position over the course of a race (if this doesn't exist already, it should) so i can better analyse my racing line and where i might be losing lap time.

Maybe one of the PC guys here has done the work you're looking for....

 

[aagancia]

When I first got this game, I thought they had KERS wrong and that using it on low gears was not helping much. I used to think that on this game, using KERS for higher gears yielded more benefits since I got much higher top speed that way, but I was wrong.

Here's a video of a straight line test I made. Hitting KERS on low gears was quicker. It got me to the end (green astroturf) by 5 frames earlier (approx. 0.167sec.).

But hitting KERS on higher gears got me a higher top speed (6 kmh higher). But the end result is that it took me more time to reach the end (green astroturf).

this was done on time trial, with auto gears and full traction control for consistency. It's not exactly precision science, but I think it shows a good comparison.

 

[Chris]

You're right, there should be a slight difference. There may also have been a slight difference in when i started pressing KERS, or a slight difference in the way i took T1 and T2. But regardless of those things, even if the extra 50kers gets you 2km/h more speed at the end of the straight that's only a +0.6% increase in speed for an additional 12.5% of KERS.

It's like you stated earlier, "diminishing returns, (the faster you go, the less it effects acceleration)" and thus the more KERS you could just be wasting...

I just did a test at Australia on the main straight, to see the speed i could get to with and without KERS before the braking to turn 1, (I stopped using KERS as soon as i crossed the start/finish line) and got these results:
Car: Caterham
No DRS used

Test 1: No KERS used - 283 kph
Test 2: 50% KERS used - 287 kph
Test 3: 100% KERS used - 290 kph

Interestingly, It seems that codemasters have in fact coded in a diminishing returns effect, because in test 3, the KERS was deployed whilst the car has already got a lot of speed, rendering KERS almost ineffective.

 

[Jörn Darmstädter]

Some time ago I made a KERS guide for myself for most of the tracks. I simply used the onboard-videos from the official F1 website and painted in the zones. For me there is no reason to use KERS differently than they do it in real live, at least in Qualifying.

Of course this year the DRS zones (green) will change. But I think, the KERS zones (red) will be the same.
KERS / DRS guide Album

 

[Iko Rein]

Some time ago I made a KERS guide for myself for most of the tracks. ...

KERS / DRS guide Album

Great stuff. I haven't watched much onboard cameras, but it seems that my intuition on using KERS was ok, if I keep your maps as reference. Also using F1Speed has helped me plenty on finding the fastest way around.

 

[Karl Fuss]

Great stuff. I haven't watched much onboard cameras, but it seems that my intuition on using KERS was ok, if I keep your maps as reference. Also using F1Speed has helped me plenty on finding the fastest way around.

What do you mean by "F1Speed"? are you talking about the Speed channel in the US?

 

[Iko Rein]

F1Speed is one of the telemetry packages, see http://www.robertgray.net.au/pages/f1-speed

I run it on a spare laptop on the side.

 

[the_sigman]

What about the starts without TC? When I feel the rear wheels stop spinning, I press the button. Is that right?

 

[Karl Fuss]

F1Speed is one of the telemetry packages, see http://www.robertgray.net.au/pages/f1-speed

I run it on a spare laptop on the side.

You PC guys have more fun tools you can use than us console players

 

[Andre Niemand]

^^ That is very true. Though Having a console and PC= best of both worlds? off topic, I know, but just pointing it out there.