Absolute newbie - help with Canhard R52 on Portimao Club?

[LouKurt]

I have no racing game/sim experience except GT3 (played a lot a long time ago) and RBR. I started R3E because it's free and I'm trying to figure out if I want to commit to buying a wheel. Also, I think I just like road racing better than rally. I have an Xbox controller for PC and I'm using the triggers for throttle/brake, the left stick for steering, and buttons to shift.

I randomly picked one of the free cars and tracks to start with, so I've been practicing solely with the Canhard R52 on Portimao Club. I just do the leaderboard challenge, focusing on smoothing out my inputs, following the driving line, and not going into corners too damn fast! Sidenote: is the leaderboard challenge the only way to get a driving line aid? It seems to be the line from the record lap and not necessarily the best line.

This car seems like a beast. One thing I noticed right away is the turbo kicks in strong and I don't really know how to handle it. Sometimes I loose the back end exiting a corner because it spools up even when I'm not at full throttle. I'm basically scared of that turbo kick, and tend to shift early unless I'm on a straight away. Also 1st gear seems very erratic and mostly unusable. I am in 2nd gear for turn 3, but acceleration is kinda slow at low revs.

I'm driving on Get Real using the setup from this thread except with 10% traction control. Tried 0, but I'm just not man enough for that yet. I'm open to suggestions of better learning cars and tracks to practice on but would prefer to stick with free content for the moment. For any other newbs like me, the S3S forum has a decent FAQ with all the free content listed here. If it really would be better to start on a different car, I like to spend less than about $15 bucks. I'm pretty happy to drive the same car/track for a while until I get a bit more smooth.

Last question, is there a master list somewhere in the game or on the net that lists the physics updates for all the content? I keep hearing anecdotes like this and that car and track have updated physics, but it creates a ton of confusion for new players and probably experienced folks too.

Thanks for sticking with me thought this longish first post.

 

[Cosmic]

Unfortunately, the free cars aren't very beginner friendly. The Canhard is probably the hardest for me (it seems to require the most throttle discipline). The Aquila is a bit squirrelly to me as well, I'd suggest trying the Saleen, BMW, or Prototype. Since your using a controller I'd definitely use as much traction control as needed.

If you go to the IN-GAME Store you can test drive any of the cars.
Off the top of my head, I'd suggest test driving the M1, WTCC, Touring Classics, GTR2, GTR3, ADAC, and the DTM stuff. Most of these cars are more forgiving or more planted. The G5 series is totally awesome but they are a handful, but you definitely should check them out as well.

I highly recommend a good wheel/pedal setup. To me its night and day compared to a controller. I'm probably spoiled but I don't think I'd sim race if I didn't have one.

 

[LouKurt]

Thanks for your reply Cosmic. I'm off on vacation for a week tomorrow, but I'll try out the three cars you mentioned when I return.