Spend some real solid d time in huge cockpit view. Don’t just try it once or twice.
Forget about the steering wheel, hands etc. just focus on thet Rack ahead and watch the track ahead, braking points cars ahead etc etc etc.
You’ll soon be immersed into the view point, and really just ‘drive’ the car as you would in real life… If you’ve spent years behind the wheel on the real roads, one gets to expect to see light retractions off the various windscreens, various “A” Pillar obstructions etc.
That’s what you’d expect to see in RL. So you do as you would to in RL… Concentrate on what’s several yards ahead, as well as what’s going on around you.
Nowhere in RL does one drive sitting on a bonnet, flying above the car etc. one “drives” the car from the drivers seat…then braking point s become your guide through corners.
The Forza “corner only” brake line simply becomes a guide to an approaching corner or bend. Especially at night or in their rain, and more importantly, on those tracks where there’s minimal or no lighting.
To get better the only way to do that is practice practice practice. It will take time to learn the tracks and what the braking zones are. Remember that you will have to adjust your braking and turn in points depending on the car you are driving. You can watch replays from top players on the leader boards and pull up the telemetry to see when they brake and how much brake pressure they apply. You can also adjust brake pressure and bias to help out. The brake line like all of the driving lines are just a suggested line and not necessarily the fastest line anyway so you might as well just turn them all off. If you don’t know a track take a few laps at slow speed to get to know it. Then try faster and faster. Some times it helps to pick a top player and just follow their ghost. Sure you may not beat them but if you can keep up you can see where they brake and turn in on corners. How do they set themselves up to take a corner or a series of corners or chicanes. On some tracks you have to set your self up for a corner a turn or two in advanced. It does become a rhythm. Landmarks are important. Signs, cones, trees etc anything can help you brake at the right spot.
My personal experience is that the racing line assist is too distracting as you are trying to follow it precisely but end up going off on every corner anyway. My dad uses the braking/racing line and he tries to follow it, and goes off every time. One of his worst places is Turn 2 at Lime Rock Park, the braking line starts turning in but is still on the outside of the corner, so he’s gone off there pretty much every lap, even though I say to him “You’ve driven Lime Rock Park in real life, why do you need the braking line?”
Real racecar drivers don’t have the option to do this in real racing, obviously, so I would turn it off. Like some FM6 loading screens say, start off with a few slower laps then gradually add speed.
Most tracks in the real world have kerbs or some sort of “tell” that can serve as landmarks for when to brake for the corner. Even NASCAR’s ovals have orange countdown flags on the catch fencing when I watch on the weekends. For instance, on Yas Marina that uses the North or Full circuits, the long straightaway on the “gun barrel” side (seriously, because Yas Marina looks like a pistol) has a really long set of kerbs on the right side, use that to begin braking; if you find yourself going too slow by the time you reach the corner, wait a little fraction longer before braking, the next time around.
Nighttime braking is a bit tougher. Some signs are reflective, such as those on the Mulsanne Straight of Le Mans just before the chicanes, but others may not be, so be careful when you have damage on. Spa-Francorchamps’ Turn 5 at night is somewhat tricky as well, the signs aren’t as easy to see.
Every track also has the racing line “showing” even with racing line assist turned off, in the form of blackened patches of track just before corners (rubber on the track). Use all of these tips to get better laps.
Also, you’re already getting good laps as you are driving with your Transmission assist set to Manual. I’ve heard that Manual driving is slightly quicker, but I don’t really use Manual because in races, I’ve got enough to concentrate on without having to deal with shifting too. Just my preference. But if you turn the Braking Line off, try using Automatic shifting while you get used to finding the landmarks and using kerbs to time your braking, then turn Manual shifting on once you feel comfortable with the racing line off. This is only a suggestion as I’m sure you’re good at the manual shifting thing.
Yes, your times will improve if you remove the guide lines. You should know the various tracks by now if you’ve been using them, just remove them and see for yourself.