F1 2012 People understeering? Have a little read of this!

F1 2012 The Game (Codemasters)
Hey all.

So, I'm reading a lot about understeer at the moment.. I have a few pointers..

Firstly, I play with a pad, assists turned off in cockpit view. I understand that wheel users experience an entire set of problems I don't contend with. But, believe me, I race with wheel/pad users in no assist lobbies all day. It doesn't really matter what type of controller you're using in most cases.

If you are a wheel user, then you may have issues with your brake saturation, but I guarantee that more often than not it's a setup/driving problem.

For no assists it's vital that I have great brakes. If you're braking at a 100 metre board and you lock up for 10 metres of that distance, then it stands to reason you'll "understeer". The brakes are the most important thing for me for consistency. I've raced with an extremely well balanced car yet my brakes were iffy making the overall setup catastrophic. I usually race either low/standard with 52 R bias, or high/low 50/50. If I'm experiencing lock up problems in game, I find that by pushing the brake bias to the rear while you're racing helps out a great deal (although that might not be good practice for 50/100% races..

When I'm braking into a corner, most of the time I'm applying a minimal amount of braking pressure all the way to the apex. If I'm taking too much speed into a corner, offering 25% brake usually helps me shrug off that extra 10mph if needed. Having the ability to brake and turn is magical if you're able to master it. I must admit, I'm still learning, but I stay close to the racing line pretty much all of the time now. I had a little go with ABS, for a laugh. To be honest, I couldn't get the same feel over the car. It didn't matter what brakes I set, the way the car handled just felt unnatural. If you run with assists, or if controlling the car with your brakes isn't helping, then chances are you have fundamental setup issues.

The beauty of this game is that you're able to do what you want with the setup. If I have true understeer, or oversteer for that matter, I know I must alter my setup. I know it's not a problem with the game, and low and behold when I play with my setup my lap times generally plummet if I'm able to find the sweet spot.

Chances are you're running a setup that does not suit your driving style. You must forget about last year's game and spend some hard hours (like I and many other people have) finding a balance that suits you. The reason you're understeering could be the roll bars, the alignment. It could be that your 2nd gear is too large..

My biggest tip is that the braking distances are a lot longer in this game for some corners. Like 2011 setups, you must get rid of 2011 braking distances Most people I see "understeering" while spectating are simply taking way too much speed into the corner. I played 4 sprint races in a row last night. I won 3, and came 2nd in the other (due to a back marker waiting to take me out from the lead and me getting the resulting penalty). It was my first experience playing with traction control people this year. I obviously did well, but it was because everyone was off the track for most of the races. And that isn't people running into each other, it was mostly down to driver error.

Here is a setup for you to try. It would work on most tracks.. Have a go on Silverstone, or Suzuka..

Front wing 5
Rear wing 5

Braking low pressure, medium size 52 R bias

Balance 10-8
suspension 2-2 stiffness 8-9

Alignment 3.3 1.1 .08 .44

I use many setups, but I the above is my fail safe for tracks I haven't spent a lot of time on. If you're experiencing problems, please post what kind of setup you're running, what controller and what assists you're using.

The way I see it, is that if neither me or my friends are suffering with this "understeer" problem, then it's not a problem.
 
Thanks other Peter :) I added you on xbox earlier.. PullThePlug666 is me.

And RE the ARB settings.. I agree with you. But, from my experience, I feel the alignment and roll bars have to be coupled to get the desired traction/handling. I wouldn't say either is better or worse, but if you have high roll bars they need to be coupled with the alignment. I've been trying 10 10 roll bars, and fine tuning the alignment settings. A setup a I tried earlier was 10 10 roll bar, the top three on alignment all the way to the right, the bottom one all the way to the left. I wasn't hugely fond of the setup, as the steering was uber crazy, but it gave me tremendous turn in. You'll have to let me join you for a race or two next time you're on
I accepted that last night... I don't get on that often due to other commitments but i'm sure i'll catch you on track at some point with the races being organised now.
 
Your setup worked very nicely for me in a quick run out I had at Hockenheim last night.. only did a few laps just to re-familiarise myself with ther track (another one I really enjoy) and the setup gave me a very nice and stable car (minimal understeer). Hopefully I can get some more time to find some actual pace before tomorrow's PLR there. Should be fun regardless. You racing in it?

I'm glad you like it. I'm not sure on the PLR race. I never know where to find them. I'll have a quick look now
 
Good **** man. See you tomorrow either way..

And for the few people here persisting that there's an understeer problem, I think it has been somewhat debunked by the other people participating in this discussion.
Like I said in the original post, I'm not understeering, other people are not understeering, so there's no understeer problem. It's either car setup, wheel setup or you need to improve your driving from an arcade style, to something that vaguely resembles how one would drive a formula 1 car. Some drivers online are a lot faster than me at this moment in time, but at least I'm always getting faster as I'm trying to understand this years game. Once you understand that there's no problem with the game, you'll start trying to work your way around the bewildering maze that is car setups.

And I forgot to get back to you, @Kartik Sri Harsha.

I posted this just after that traction setup

"That setup is a little erratic, which is why I don't use it much.. But it's a fast setup if you can master it.. Plus, if you add a bit of wing it's even better.. Obviously it's not great for all tracks, but it sure works on high downforce tracks for me"
I actually agree with what you said entirely. It's very twitchy on straights.. It's actually a pain in the ass.. But, what you said about maxing top speed only really applies to qualifying or time trials. I generally go to practice sessions to play with setups.. And for the most part, I'm concentrating on a good race setup. My first focus is to get a good balance on primes.. Once that is cracked, I'll clearly be faster on options..
My concerns with that setup are as follows.
1) It burns through tyres. It's a great setup for 25% races, or sprint races.. For 50% or above it nails the rubber..
2) I personally don't think I should be able to run that setup, with 1-1 wing around a track like Silverstone and set very competitive times. I prefer adding a bit of wing, because you get great traction and great grip.. But, I still shouldn't be able to lap Silverstone sub-1:32 with 1-1 wings. Like I said, I still go faster by adding wing, but it's clearly some kind of strange (borderline bug) setup.
Other than that, it's a very fun setup once you get to grips with it. I can full throttle out of a lot of corners as the traction is so tremendous.
Try it out on Silverstone with 1-1 wing. You'll probably see what I mean
 
CM explains why there IS an understeer issue:

"Hi guys, just to let you know that we’ve adjusted track information that will provide a more uniform level of grip across the entire surface. This update will be going live in patch #4 later today.

We’ll post the patch notes later this afternoon!"

grip levels needed to be more uniform
 
I posted this just after that traction setup

"That setup is a little erratic, which is why I don't use it much.. But it's a fast setup if you can master it.. Plus, if you add a bit of wing it's even better.. Obviously it's not great for all tracks, but it sure works on high downforce tracks for me"
I actually agree with what you said entirely. It's very twitchy on straights.. It's actually a pain in the ass.. But, what you said about maxing top speed only really applies to qualifying or time trials. I generally go to practice sessions to play with setups.. And for the most part, I'm concentrating on a good race setup. My first focus is to get a good balance on primes.. Once that is cracked, I'll clearly be faster on options..
My concerns with that setup are as follows.
1) It burns through tyres. It's a great setup for 25% races, or sprint races.. For 50% or above it nails the rubber..
2) I personally don't think I should be able to run that setup, with 1-1 wing around a track like Silverstone and set very competitive times. I prefer adding a bit of wing, because you get great traction and great grip.. But, I still shouldn't be able to lap Silverstone sub-1:32 with 1-1 wings. Like I said, I still go faster by adding wing, but it's clearly some kind of strange (borderline bug) setup.
Other than that, it's a very fun setup once you get to grips with it. I can full throttle out of a lot of corners as the traction is so tremendous.
Try it out on Silverstone with 1-1 wing. You'll probably see what I mean

Yeah i noticed that one also I've tested the my Own setup with Your Setup lets call it as a 1-1 wing set up
In Bahrain it clearly showed the Difference in qualy i got Pole by .6 sec (Still i'm learning the New Driving Model so Currently Playing on Professional) over P2 with My redbull but in full race i have to get rid of Qualification Option tires by 13th lap where as with my own setup i ran the Qualification set until Lap 19
That 1-1 Setup gives the Advantage over Traction but eats tires may be due to the Traction it provides.
I'm also trying for a New setup but can't find a balance for both Qualification and Race
 
Yeah i noticed that one also I've tested the my Own setup with Your Setup lets call it as a 1-1 wing set up
In Bahrain it clearly showed the Difference in qualy i got Pole by .6 sec (Still i'm learning the New Driving Model so Currently Playing on Professional) over P2 with My redbull but in full race i have to get rid of Qualification Option tires by 13th lap where as with my own setup i ran the Qualification set until Lap 19
That 1-1 Setup gives the Advantage over Traction but eats tires may be due to the Traction it provides.
I'm also trying for a New setup but can't find a balance for both Qualification and Race

If you make it a little less extreme, say, put the front ARB to 10, rear to 7.. Suspension stiffness 2-10, alignment 3.20,1.30,0.06,0.38, you'll probably be further towards the setup you desire
 
CM explains why there IS an understeer issue:

"Hi guys, just to let you know that we’ve adjusted track information that will provide a more uniform level of grip across the entire surface. This update will be going live in patch #4 later today.

We’ll post the patch notes later this afternoon!"

grip levels needed to be more uniform

What's your source, by the way?
 
Excellent advice @Peter Evans. I really do think that this game comes down to precision, smoothness and consistency. I made a thread last week and linked this website in:

http://www.drivingfast.net/

It's very useful not just for racing technique but also for how to counter under/oversteer through setup. With 2012s, much improved, physics- this website really helps.

Thanks man, I'll check it out for sure
 
CM explains why there IS an understeer issue:

"Hi guys, just to let you know that we’ve adjusted track information that will provide a more uniform level of grip across the entire surface. This update will be going live in patch #4 later today.

We’ll post the patch notes later this afternoon!"

grip levels needed to be more uniform

There is no understeer issue. There is more grip in offline then online, that's what 'uniform level of grip' means. The patch will make the gap between offline and online smaller.
 

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