OK, folks, instead of jumping into a random installment of Gran Turismo, I figure I'd give you all a brief tutorial on how to pick up and play this game. These lessons hold to true to not only this game, but any racing sim made. Enjoy.
Gran Turismo is a simple game. Pick a car, pick a track, drive it around that track as fast as you can, finish in first, and get paid. Now, to most, this may look simple. Well, that's why I'm here. If you're not gonna listen to me, so be it, but when you fail to get you B-Class License, don't come running back to me. Changed your mind? I thought so. Enough dilly-dallying, let's race.
Before you step into a car, you have to understand the fundamentals of driving. Even at the most advanced levels, a car is only capable of doing three things: Accelerating, Braking, and Cornering. It's possible to do two of these at the same time, except accelerating and braking since you can't speed up AND slow down. During a race, you should be doing at least one of these functions at ALL times. Otherwise, you're just coasting, and you're not accomplishing anything. That only occurs when you've hit the brakes too early. Then again, better safe than sorry, right? Understanding how the car behaves during each of these is key to putting together "the perfect lap."
--Acceleration
Acceleration is when the car is propelled forward. Simple, right? During acceleration, the car's weight shifts to the rear tires. If you paid attention in Drivetrain Class, you'd know what this means. But, you didn't, so I'll help you out.
Take a car with a drivetrain labeled "FF." The first letter denotes where the engine is in the car, in this case, the front, and the second letter denotes which wheels are the drive wheels, the wheels that actually move the car forward. So, we have here a front-engine, front wheel drive car. "FR" means a front-engine, rear wheel drive car. "MR" means mid-engine, rear wheel drive car (it's not really in the middle, per se. The engine is behind the back seat, but in front of the rear axle, so it's considered mid-engine. Confusing yes, but let's move on). 4WD is the only exception. This means that the car has four drive wheels, not just two.
Now, let's take an "FF" car and an "FR" car and compare them during the acceleration process. Since the weight shifts to the rear, an FF car is going to have trouble getting any type of grip. This hinders its acceleration, and you'll experience a lot of wheel spin. It looks cool, but not if you aren't going anywhere. In an FR car, the weight is shifted onto the drive wheels, which in turn, give you more grip, so you get a better launch from the gate. The same could be said about an MR car, and 4WD cars are monster accelerators anyway.
--Braking
Braking is the term for slowing the car down. During this period, the car's weight is shifted to the front, increasing the grip of the front tires. What does that mean? Better cornering, my friend. However, it is possible to get too much weight up front, and this will make it difficult to steer into the corner. This is know as "understeer," as opposed to "oversteer" where the car's back end tends to push out. Controlling oversteer produces a "drift," and is usually done in FR cars. FF cars are prone to understeer due to the excessive weight from the engine, transmission, AND drivetrain located at the front of the vehicle, putting great stress on the drive wheels.
--Cornering
Now for the most important aspect of racing. Without good cornering, you'll find yourself going through many "agricultural expeditions." Then again, braking late can lead to the same thing. Anyway, cornering is when you turn the car. The cars weight shifts to the outside wheels during a corner. Example, you turn left, weight shifts to the right. This doesn't change at all between drivetrain types. Now, when you combine cornering with either acceleration or braking, the cars physics begin to fluctuate greatly. Here's an example:
Let's say a car has a perfect 50/50 weight ratio. This means that the cars weight is distributed evenly, 50% in the front, 50% in the back. You're braking into a left hand corner. Braking shifts the weight forward. Let's give an arbitrary weight distribution of 60/40. Steering left shift weight to the right, let's say, 40 left/60 right. Each individual wheel is undergoing various amounts of stress. Both the left front tire and the right rear tire undergo equal duress, approximately 25% of the car's weight. The left rear tire contains the least weight since all of the weight is forced to the front and the right of the car. Controlling the car under these circumstances is a bit tricky, but crucial when pushing it to the absolute limit.
Now, the thing to remember is that no two corners are alike. How you attack each corner depends on numerous factors, including the car, any elevation change, the length of straightaway between corners, how sharp the bend is, and much more. One thing that does stay constant, however, are these three terms, entry, apex, and exit. Now, as you approach a corner, you won't be able to take it at full speed. not many of them anyway.
We apologize for the crudely drawn pictures. Our artist is on a leave of absence.
The simplest and safest way to go through a corner is to brake in a straight line, then release the brakes and enter the corner. This obviously is known as the entry. The apex of the corner is the inner most point of the corner. When you're out, accelerate away. This is the exit, duh. Utilizing this technique, the car doesn't have any awkward moments and is much easier to control. This is also the best way to learn a course layout.
Once you've gotten used to the car and track combination, or your driving skills allow you to do so, you can start what's known as trail braking, which is braking past the entry point of a corner.
This let's you carry more speed into a corner, shaving precious fractions of a second from a corner. However, be careful not to brake too late, otherwise you'll ruin your racing line. Racing line.....let's talk about that.
Your racing line is your path throughout a corner, series of corner, track, whatever. No matter what you're driving, there's an optimum racing line, or "THE racing line."
The red line shows the inside-most line. Its the shortest distance around the corner, but it's also incredibly slow. The blue line shows a line hugging the outside of the bend. You're traveling somewhat faster, but you're taking the longest route around the corner. The green line shows the optimum path around this corner. You're average speed is much higher, and the distance traveled is less than that traveled taking the blue line. Basically, it entails you entering the corner from the outermost point and turn in. Exactly halfway through the corner, you reach the apex which is the innermost point of the corner. When you exit, you want to hit the outermost point again. This is known as the "Out-In-Out" approach. To put it in (somewhat) simpler terms, you want to make the largest possible radius throughout the corner.
However, if there's a long stretch of straightaway ahead, you want to make sure you leave the corner with as much speed as possible. This is possible if you alter the racing line just a bit.
The green line shows your standard Out-In-Out approach. The blue line shows a later turn in point and a later apex. The resulting line means you spend a bit longer going through the corner, but your exit speed is slightly higher, giving a higher top speed on the straight, and in turn, lowering your lap time. Isn't racing fun?
Now, all of these theories are only valid assuming every corner is isolated between straights. This isn't always the case.
This set of turns is known as an "S" curve, or a chicane. The blue line shows what the racing line would look like if we followed the previous rules of Out-In-Out driving. The red line shows a much faster way through the corner. In this particular situation, it's best to cut through both corners (keeping all four wheels on the tarmac of course) with as straight a route as possible. This maximizes speed entering, traveling through, and exiting the corner.
Now, it would be impossible to diagram every corner possible simply because there's too many examples to give out. Some corners may have you enter at a downhill angle, exiting at an uphill angle. Some corners may start off with a wide radius, then turn sharply forcing you to brake during the cornering process. Some corners feature banking, which essentially looks like a bowl of sorts. All of these affect the car in some way, forcing you to rethink how to take a corner. Once you get used driving on different circuits, you'll find yourself mastering race tracks within just a few laps.
Now, all of this sounds like actual racing theorycraft, and it kinda is. But Gran Turismo is as close as you're ever going to get to strapping yourself into a Nissan R92CP Race Car and going wild at Laguna Seca, and the developers made sure that you get as realistic an experience as possible.
I think that's enough of the basics for today. I think you're ready to take on the road. Press "X" to begin.
Yeah, the pics were over the top, but they add a certain flare you know? It's like, "WOW, look at......those lines......those poorly drawn lines."
We haven't even scratched the surface. Just wait until we start modifying cars.
