Over the generations of forza I have changed what assists I use, f2-3 everything on except stm, forza 4 lost abs, took a while to get used to breaking but as mentioned changing braking pressure helped a lot, then I plunged in with manual with clutch which in my opinion gives you the biggest quick lap improvements, but I have kept tcm, it suits my style of driving, which is really the main point, use what works for you, and what your comfortable with,
and practice practice practice…
As someone who has recently turned off TCS, I can tell you that I see an immediate difference. I spend most of my time in Rivals trying to better my times. When TCS was on, there were certain turns that I just couldn’t get the car to make. I’m talking big sweeping curves at high speeds, like on Bernese, not hairpin turns. What was happening with me was I couldn’t quite get the car to make those turns 100% unless I tapped the brakes or eased up on the throttle more than I’d like to. The car wouldn’t come around and I’d either go out of the lines and get a dirty lap, or I would end up losing control. Once I turned TCS off, those turns became just a little easier. I’m not talking leaps and bounds of diffference, but enough that it shows up. Instead of just barely missing the end of those turns, now I’m just barely making them. Which means I get fewer dirty laps and I’m carrying a lot more speed coming out of those turns. I’ve dropped 1.5-2 seconds on my lap times with TCS off, and I curse at the TV a lot less too That’s been enough to get me into the top .1% of a few leaderboards. I’m pretty happy with that.
The other thing I notice is what I call the surprise effect. It happened more to me when I first started playing the game, but TCS would kick in when you really weren’t expecting it to. This led to way more crashes than I can count. I’ve been praciticing, and improving substantially, so now I know where the trouble spots on the courses are. I allow for them and put myself into positions to avoid them. No more having the car go sideways because TCS kicked in when I wasn’t expecting it. A lot of those spots where TCS would kick in, I just power my way right through them with it off now. To each their own, but I see the benefit of it being off in the game. It is a game, not real life afetrall… So despite what anyone says about others being dumb, and using real world scenarios to make their point, this isn’t the real world. You don’t need a PHD in physics to understand that a “game” responds better when you do certain things.
Now ABS, I haven’t seen the benefit of that being off just yet. I’m not denying the benefit is there, my skills just haven’t adapted thus far. I’m working on it though.
its not better for me
while its true turning off the assists will help set fast times its dependent on your own ability. I’n not so bothered by setting lap times as having fun racing. I have been playing racing games since 1997 and have driven manual etc etc. frankly its too fiddly with a controller and i’m just as quick using auto, abs and tcs. As far as i’m concerned learning the tracks inside out will gain you more than switching off assists. I say its what you feel best with, you will only get your best times if you are totally confident about what the cars going to do in any given situation.
thankfull T10 give us lots of options!