Ive not improved my driving skills since i started racing forza 4 a few years ago. Ive put in the time driving but never got the knack. Could it be my broadband speed causing me to have slower lap times than any other racer and always coming in last? Help, anything you can do to tell me how you win races. Do you use handbrakes round corners, have certain assists on, or anything. Pleeease help me get better place ranks!
It can be anything. There’s the driver skill, car and tune. Even assists you use can make a difference.
If you give more details about what cars you use, what PI they are, relevant specs like horsepower, torque, etc (don’t read off the speed, handling stats, the figures are better), and then what assists you use, etc. All those details help. Then we can focus more on the issue and try to advise you through it.
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Here are some things that I’ve found help me the most in winning races: Do not use the throttle through a corner until you’re sure you can keep it on. Don’t use the handbrake. Turn off the assists one at a time. Switching to manual w/clutch will make the biggest difference in making you faster (watch this to see the difference Auto vs Manual vs Manual w/clutch. Turn off ABS and stability control. The only assist I leave on is TCS, but I race strictly R3. I am in the top 1% on every track and am in the top 1,000 on a good number of them. I’ve achieved this just by racing online (never hot lapped before) and doing all the things I listed above. Also, if you don’t want to mess around with tuning, buy one from the AH. Feel free to add me on XBL and if you have any more questions, I will help as best as I can =]
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There are many things that are needed to be competitive and win races. The car, class, build and tune are very important. However, the skill level of the driver is ultimately what it comes down to.
The assists can play a big part as well. If you are not already using manual with clutch, I would recommend switching to it. This one change can account for seconds off your lap times.
I would also recommend starting in a lower class car (D class or below) and racing some ghosts of drivers who are better than you. Pick a track on the leaderboards and then find a driver who is about 2-3 seconds a lap faster than you and chase that ghost until you can beat him every time. Then move to another driver who is 2-3 seconds faster than you and do it again. Keep doing this and your driving line will improve, you will learn key braking points and your lap times will improve significantly.
Once you have become familiar with the tracks and improved your driving line, you will be ready to try your skills online or in career mode. When you are satisfied with your progress in one car class, move on to the next car class.
I would also suggest that you search out some of the higher rated AND most downloaded tunes. Not higher rated or most downloaded, you want the ones that many people downloaded and liked.
As with any skill set, practice, serious practice with reasonable, attainable goals is the best way to get better.
I hope this was helpful. Best of luck.
Peace
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Ive tried various cars, classes and assists. Ive got the hang of manual sometimes without clutch, most assists off except on the higher classes. I race A,b,c,d,e,f classes when people are around to race. I have a 2006 lotus exige cup 240 a600 class, 298hp, 195lb ft, weight 1829, front 43%, 1.8l. But change tunes sometimes. I also have chevy 2011 spark f194, 125bh, 106lbft, 2011lbs,51%,1.2l. These change if im experimenting with purchased tune setups. If any one can sell me a car i would pay whatever! Thanks
Im guessing i can eliminate the car setup and assists to see if i can improve my placing by using the cycled production races. All cars and tuneups are the same there i think so its down to assists and driver skills. Cool!
Hehe welcome to the club m8, i find myself also always at the last place in regular races 
People are driving 5 to 8 seconds per lap faster then me.
Note that i do not tune my cars cause i have no idea what im doing there so sometimes i buy a tune in the store and that helps abit but not alot.
I drive with a fanatec porsche gt2 wheel and use manual shifting but without clutch cause im not that comfie yet in using the clutch in this game. (irl i drive with my clutch everyday)
But when i race in the cycled production races i do find i can keep up with many people and there i dont do so bad at all. I even managed to win a few races there in the E and D and C classes. B and A i managed to get once in the top 3 haha.
All it comes to is i need to improve my skills alot and i really mean alot and tune tune tune. (oh and use the clutch ingame also)
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Forgot another important tip that helped me out greatly. Changing your controller deadzones. I have my Accel and Decel deadzones both set to 0-100 and my steering is at 15-85. You can play around with these settings to find what you like, but I recommend these!
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One tip I will give you OP is to pick your favourite track and class, then spend a good while watching the replay of one of the fastest guys laps using the view you would usually race with. Put the telemetry on for a few laps here and there too, you’ll get a fair idea of what gears you should be in for certain corners, and how to get your car set up position-wise to take the corners properly.
You’ll be amazed at what you’ll learn.
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There are a million things to think about when racing, so my best advice is to focus on driving when you’re driving. Good lap times are achieved by maximizing MOMENTUM. So here are a couple thoughts I have about doing that. Don’t think about lap times, current position, etc. just focus on your car’s momentum. Warm up with rivals or free run and try to feel the car’s weight as you ride brakes into a corner, feel your cars weight pushing the limit of your tires. When you can feel your momentum you really maximize your speed into a corner and maximize the throttle out. It also helps to understand how the car is designed to corner. To me the Apex, or what I consider to be the apex of a corner (the moment you gas out), occurs when you’re vehicle’s weight finally settles after hard braking and the car really begins to squat into its cornering stance. When it starts to squat you’ll notice the car begin to oversteer harder into the corner, at this moment if you feather the throttle and give it a little gas you’ll notice the rear end (most of the time) will push the car even harder through the corner.
This whole braking physics explanation is why top drivers engine brake into corners, more often than foot brake because the footbrake throws your weight while the down shift only really slows your momentum. You can pretty much downshift and begin the turn simultaneously, where as the foot brake forces you to over brake and weight for your weight to settle before you can hard corner.
Only other tip, PRACTICE. Nothing beats practice. Doer’s do and teacher’s teach ya know? Gotta practice to turn the knowing into doing.
Good Luck out there guys!
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Doesn’t seem like there would be enough engine braking for a lot of corners. I’ve been practicing a lot on Road America and there are quite a few tight turns that seem to require braking before the turn. But maybe I’m doing it wrong. A longer sweeping turn, I can see though.
All the tips have helped immensley. I’m much more competitive in races and using the advice i managed to get 4th place and am middle of the pack now. Thanks so much for the tips, i can enjoy the game more now i am able to race better! Could someone explain what the deadzones do etc on advanced controller settings. This seems to have helped a lot.
Awesome, I’m glad to hear it bud! The deadzone settings are basically adjusting how sensitive the controls are and the precision. Not sure how else to describe it.
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Everytime you hear your tires squealing, that is the sound of you driving slower. Drive smooth, try to never let the tires squeals. You’ll get slower at first, but soon, you’ll start getting lot’s and lot’s faster. Tuning is key, also, I tend to run sway bars of the stiffer side, like 75% and stiffer, I tend to run Diff’s i nthe 35-40 range in accel, and 30-40 range on decel, but everyone is different. Mostly, its just dedicating yourself to the game. Those fast people, are fast, because they log a lot of Forza time.
ME? I used to be like that. Now, I spend a lot less time enjoying Forza, and a lot more time enjoying RL.
I use a standard controller does this hurt me. should i buy a wheel if so which one is the best and not cost to much.