I just cant turn it off, my thumb even refuses to press the button to do so.can i be competitive with it on?
many of the very best drivers leave it on.
many of them turn it off.
its all down to preference. You would be surprised how quick you would learn to race with no line on.
Like PTG said its a prefrence thing (but only to a certain extent). The racing line isnt very accurate using the proper line or apex. If you can drive with it on and still run the proper line then leave it on. Now if you find yourself trying to stay on the line while going thru the turn i would recommend following some of the faster rivals and actually watch their lines and how they drive the track.
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you can be competitive, just realize that depending on your driving style, car, tune, etc…that line is often incorrect, its not the fastest way around the track. on bathurst it had me clipping the wall and its main use was telling me traffic direction after spinning. if the arrows are pointing at you thats the wrong way. bathurst is so narrow that before you stop spinning on lap 1 you would get hit again and again. going up the hill i learned to start cutting into the corner sooner than the line to the right, cutting the tires back to the left about when the line started going right, and letting the cars weights push me wide enough to get thru the quick right left without having to slow to a crawl. and no more spins and wrecks so i already knew traffic direction.
Braking line and racing line will keep you on the track. But very often, they are not so great when it comes to time.
I only keep the braking line on, and even then it’s only there for kind of a guide while I drive a car for the first time. After a bunch of laps in a car I get a feel for it’s braking and cornering and adjust accordingly, completely ignoring the line.
I do the same. I like to pay attention to what gear I am in and that ends up being my guide around the track. Brake line I find useful in lobbies too if you forget which track you are on for a moment 
I like racing in a whole bunch of different cars and I don’t have the motivation to learn the braking point on every track in every one of them so I leave the braking line on. Im not the fastest but I have set top 300 times with it. The guys are right though. You have to ignore it some times. I pretty much use it just fro my braking marker.
You can be just as competitive with the line off, provided that you give it a fair chance and practice (more than a week).
If you get started with the line on, I imagine it will be difficult to turn it off because your mind gets used to it.
Pretend that the option does not even exist and do not look back. It can be done.
Again, it is personal preference.
The racing line is an aid to make the game easier. If it’s easier for you then you should be more competitive than without it. It takes away some of the skill requirement. If you need the assist, though, you aren’t as skilled as a player that doesn’t need it. If we were racing in my own custom lobby and I force the line off for all players, players relying on it will be in a pickle.
Hmmm…
Since the general consensus over the years around here is that following the “line” is not the quickest route around the track, it seems to me that turning a top time with the line ON requires MORE skill (pretty easy to turn comments like that around, isn’t it?).
I think a more accurate description would be “it takes away some of the MEMORIZATION requirement.”
So often, when this topic has come up, I’ve made the same points:
In the real world of racing, how often do you see a pro driver run 5 - 8 minute races on track to track to track, using varying types and classes of cars? You don’t. They arrive at a track, study and discuss with their crew, spend a day or two on test / tune / practice and qualifying, and then go out and race.
Personally, I leave the braking-line turned on. If someone wants to host an organized race, where I have the opportunity to spend a day or two practicing the specific track in the specific car, I’m all for disabling the line. But in the typical multi-player Forza racing environment? I’d rather race against folks having fun, than folks getting frustrated.
- Don Ente
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Good word there that no one brings up. I personally use a line but never brake where it says. I know in Turn 2 of Road America West to brake before it says and to be on the gas before the apex when it is still red. On the corkscrew at Laguna I brake way later than it says…just memorized where to brake while running with it.
I have a friend that never used a line and is quite fast, he has a few #1’s now, but back when he tested it he tried turning the line on and it completely messed him up. He was running slower with it than he did without because he had memorized the tracks and their markers by using no line.
It’s all down to how you learn or what you are comfortable with.
Noob.
As far as braking line goes, I’m sure it doesn’t make a difference to a good driver, but I will say that there are plenty of drivers online who NEED the braking line if they aren’t using it. I’ve watched a few streams over the past week and I see comments saying turn the driving line off noob, but it’s probably those same guys who will drill you in the back in public lobbies because they have no idea where they should brake.
The opposite can be true too. I see people who look to me like they are following the braking line too religiously and therefore braking way too much and sometimes too early.
I use the braking line but to me it is just another environmental factor that may or may not be used as my braking point. Sometimes I will brake a few car lenghts later or earlier than the line suggests.
How do you know they’re breaking too early? The breaking distance on their car could be significantly longer than yours. Who knows?
Braking line gives confedence for braking and as a racing driver 70% of the confedence comes from braking alone.
I use just the braking line and usually set top 500 times in rivals and podium in multiplayer. So, yes, you can be competitive.
I love this topic.
As previously stated, the line can be a huge learning tool / cheat, especially the braking line. Knowing exactly when to hit brakes is huge! Like UberUndersteer said, it gives confidence and he is correct.
I brought this topic up in another thread after watching some of the best of the best using not only the braking line but rather the full line. After going lap after lap with them I can see the HUGE advantage that having the line on really is.
This is different than what Don believes. If somebody already knows a track layout quite well you’ll already know where to run even though the line is in a different place. That isn’t the big deal as long as you can see the line, it’s still giving you active information about your speed in relation to the corner. It becomes an active environmental factor even if it isn’t in the same place your car is. Nothing like following a ghost car which is trivial, as in the same mistakes the same time every time.
Personally, I love Forza as a racing simulator therefore there is NEVER ever any lines, anywhere.
As a matter of fact I’m really regretting using the traction control cheat, I’m having a hard time replacing it with a “hardcore” time. (Hardcore as defined by Forzastats)
If you’re like me stats are important and the best one up that anybody can do in Forza is race with NO ASSISTS on. You can almost guarantee to halve your position because of all those above you that “cheated”
But if you roll the dice and hope that the Turn 10 guys don’t add a column that shows whether or not you used the line, then the line is golden. If they add that to the charts I wonder how many guys will not be able to reclaim their spot with an even faster lap?
If only games still had manuals then I could say the following:
So turning on a function that is mentioned in the manual is “cheating” is it?
Sorry Merlin but I am with Don on this one.