Hey guys,
I’m in need of some advice to improve my lap times.
I’m currently trying me best to beat the new bounty lap time. However no matter how well I drive (many good and perfect corners) I still can’t get anywhere near the 2:19 time.
I’m always around the 2:25 mark, even after doing a perfect lap and pushing it as much as I can.
Any pointers would be appreciated.
I have ABS-ON, STEERING - NORMAL, TCS & STM - ON, SHIFTING - AUTO.
Learn to drive Shifting = Manual With Clutch
Much faster than auto
Change controller to have Clutch as A, then mash two buttons at same time,
Easy to learn , Trust me, YOu can have it mastered in two hours or less.
That should take 2-3 Sec off,
Other than that, Keep trying, Its all about turning and exit speed
So are you saying that manual shift with clutch is way faster than manual shift with “auto-clutch”? I haven’t even tried using clutch as I thought it is just to get more immerse experience, not so much to improve lap-times.
Start by turning ABS off would be my first recommendation - I’ve found personally that I drive a bit smoother through corners without it. Can’t make a recommendation about the rest - with high-powered cars I typically leave TCS+STM on, although I have started venturing into using just STM, and I drive with a wheel, so the paddle shifters make it easier (for me) to do manual shifting versus automatic.
TTFN
Toni
You def. need to turn your assists off if you are in lower classes. Some A class and greater cars it might be a good idea to run tcs on just due to the immense power the cars can generate. Manual+clutch can also knock off a lot of time. If you are on a track where you shift a lot you can shave seconds off your time. Now what track are you running where your trying to get the 2:19:00 and what type of car are you driving
Well, I’m going to go against the grain a bit here, and tell you NOT to worry about turning off assists just yet.
I just ran the Bounty Hunter event for a few laps using the same settings as you: ABS-ON, STEERING - NORMAL, TCS & STM - ON, SHIFTING - AUTO
My current time: 2:18.710
So, you’ve got plenty of room for improvement in terms of your driving… After that, you can start turning off assists and really jump up the boards!
You can try setting me as your rival, so you can chase a ghost that’s using the same settings so you can see just where you need to work on things.
Thanks Don, I will give this a try and stick with it 
STM is the devil incarnate. If you’re already a good driver, it probably won’t slow you down THAT much (talking to you here DON!), but if you’re still learning the basics of speed, you may as well drag an anchor around behind you. It covers up your many errors and excesses and will be constantly scrubbing off speed. Very hard way to learn.
Well, two sides to the coin…
It is pretty easy to notice when STM kicks in - and it’s usually STM and TCS kicking in together.
Smooth is Fast. There’s no two ways about it.
So, while running laps, you work on driving smoothly so the STM does NOT kick in. Once you start turning laps with STM enabled - but NOT seeing it kick in - you know you’ve improved your driving, and you’ve likely already climbed that leaderboard quite a ways.
Quick question - How do I set my rival to someone?
Go to said rival event, press Y to bring up the leaderboard, find player, press A → set as rival.
Thank yah!
Honestly, I’d only experiment with STM off and manual without clutch first.
Auto will slow you down so much because of the horrible shift points and because manual and manual with clutch get an acceleration bonus after each upshift (manual with clutch’s acceleration bonus is > manual acceleration bonus).
See little benefit for STM. Always felt the cars didn’t turn as good with it on and that they felt too stiff.
TCS can be left on. TCS doesn’t seem to slow people down like it did in other games. The lower class leaderboards have shown such in RWD dominated tracks.
ABS on or off isn’t that big of a deal if you have mastered all other aspects of driving fast.
ABS is a big deal! Mastering “no abs” has knocked almost 2 seconds off some of my lap times.
Learn how to race manual w/ clutch first and make sure to switch your clutch button from the LB button to the A button so all you have to do is button mash when shifting up or down. Then learn no abs. Then practice your pants off.
And leave TCS on but turn STM off. The difference in lap times with TCS on or off is marginal and comes down to how well you can control the car. STM on the other hand does slow you down and you really should learn to drive without it. Thats how I play forza, all assists off except for TCS and I did a 2:20 on my second lap of that bounty hunter challenge. Once I get to know the track and each of the turns better I can post a better lap time so practice is key.
double post. Dumb phone. Lol.
That’s why I said if you have mastered all other aspects of driving. I used ABS from FM2-FM5 (made the switch in December of 2013). When I went to go back and clean up some of my ABS times, I was seeing only a few tenths improvement on the few tracks I tried really hard with ABS. Not saying I’ve mastered driving, but I think I’m near the peak of my own abilities in terms of car control.
There’s a guy I used to be teamed up with that has car control that far exceeds anything I’m capable of and he uses ABS and has a bunch of #1s and other crazy fast times.
ABS off (though faster) isn’t that big of a deal. The gains right away aren’t as extreme as manual clutch. I’d say your gains were partly due to better driving and better line choices. Granted I’m assuming with ABS you weren’t following the brake line religiously and weren’t braking early.
I suggested not to use clutch right away because it’s easy to upset a car while downshifting with the clutch. Regular manual will at least get you somewhat prepared for that change.
Seems I comment on this stuff just about every time it comes up…
1st - Assists do NOT slow you down. Driving poorly, causing the assists to kick in, slows you down. The only setting that makes a significant difference is Transmission - and I wouldn’t really classify that as an “assist.”
2nd - Depending on the car / build / tune / class / track, you will see varying levels of benefits.
3rd - The MAIN reason people see lap-time improvement when turning off assists is because they are Learning To Drive Better.
4th - Take a look at the LeaderBoard for the current Bounty Hunter event (I’m not at the console at the moment, so this is from memory)… You’ll see someone with a time of about 2:16.100 - which is a pretty decent time - and he is using AUTO-transmission with both STM and TCS enabled. If you are running it with Manual+Clutch and STM off, and you are not beating that guy, it doesn’t make much sense to say the Transmission and Assists are “slowing him down.”
There are a whole lotta factors involved in turning quick laps… and learning how to drive properly will do a whole lot more for your lap-times than turning on or off various settings.
Auto/Manual/Manua+Clutch has a bigger effect lower in the class you go. In race cars, like Don said, not a huge advantage. Everything Don said above is completely true.
If you are off by few seconds in a race car, it is not the driving aids or transmission that is slowing you down; it is your driving that is off pace.
If one accepts this and look for self improvement, one will find that there is plenty of room to improve upon.
That said, my 2:18.00 time, relatively speaking, sounds dismal. I’ve got to at least get into 2:17 or top 200 to retain any sense of self pride!