Boomer

A very good thread. I tend to forget that a lot of people grew driving frontwheel drive. Punching the gas in a rear wheel drive car as you enter a corner is always a nono unless you are racing or playing, with a lot of room. I bought my first frontwheel drive car in 1984, a Honda Prelude. I grew up with powerslides and opposite lock steering so I know what to look for when the rearend comes around on you.

Those of you should continue to use the VDC, if you don't, go some place safe where you won't run into anything and practice, a high powered rearwheel drive car can spin 360 degrees on you if you use the wrong technique going around corners fast. Its fun if you know and dangerous if you don't. Learn the car's limits and you can turn the VDC off and have fun, not accidents.

koolzero

iTrader: (14)

One thing the van wasn't in front of me the van was coming into my lane I was about to T-Bone the Van so I had to drive around the front of him to avoid hitting his front bumper. I think that had a little to do with me spinning out, because I swurved in a circle and it helped catapult me into the spin

Like the saying goes hind sight is 20/20 "Keep VDC on and you won't have these problems". I'm glad I have a second chance to not make the same mistake twice.

Sorry this topic has been driven into the ground (no pun intended)

Safe Zing everybody!

Chebosto

iTrader: (43)

woooo.....




ok. maybe this give me second thoughts about taking VDC off.




i was starting to get ANNOYED by it....

much to learn i guess.. about RWD..

this aint Gran Turismo. :P

ares

iTrader: (2)

THat game rocks, tho now after like a year I can stop trying to win the stupid Z. I have a real one!

damn Im gonna go play it tomarrow anyway.... damn you. one day when I rule the world you will be executed slowly...

(Ive been watching family guy reruns, classic stuey line, sorta...)

someone

Derr, On ramps and off ramps late night style!! There's 3 sets of em connecting 2 roads near my house, if you hit one right you can do all 6 continually as long as you want....Sooo much fun in my friends stooK I can't even imagine how it will be in teh Z.....

Have you ever drifted? If not read up on it, practice and then you'll be a drift a holic

rai

I'd like to point out to be careful even with VDC on. remember TC or VDC can't make traction if it doesn't exist like an oil spot or wet leaves or ice/snow. there was a post about a guy smashing his car with VDC on in the snow. I think the VDC is nice to have but if it's wet or if you are going too fast into a corner VDC can only do so much to help you.

Have fun and drive safe.

Vlad

sp Ralf and Montoya aren't really race drivers, right. Not at last USGP

Schatten

Not necessarily so, and I would be careful to make blanket statements myself about tires and their sizes. It comes down to the actual tire itself - how its built and how soft it is. Some tires have strong sidewalls and you will not feel the sidewall flex at all. Some tires are chatty and will talk you all the way through squeaking, while others will grip grip grip and then break. These aren't even brand dependent, it will also be model dependent as well.

However, I can agree to a certain extent with 19" wheels, or even 20" wheels - which might just a be a bit heavy as it is, the sidewall is very slim and will roll even less with road tires (non r compound).

I would be comfortable saying that in a passenger car - say a Caddilac or even a Taurus for example - would have tires that are harder and will have a flexing sidewall - all for comfort in mind - not really performance.

Vlad

Aren't you forgetting something? Go to the empty lot... at night... I have better recepy to get a feel of turns.

How about 100000 people at 2pm? Check F1-2002 for PC.

Just yesterday I've spend couple hours in F1 driving school. Trying to get through the turns 1-5 of USGP in Indy. 179 tries, to be precise. With all the drivers aid off. My time is still 25.3 and good/average/poor for that sector is 23.5/24.5/29.

Of course it's not real, but it gives you pretty real feel. Except G-forces, of course. And after 179 tries I've got pretty good idea how smooth the driving should be. One wrong movement on gas/brake pedals and you are out spinning. The only way to get through turns fast is to be at right speed at every point, and change speed smoothly, so you keep good traction all the time.

The game is also very good way to answer your "what-if". It's very precise in modelling of high speed driving and results of your mistakes. For example, watching F1 sometimes you wondering why they don't drift through that corner? They would be so much faster! Now I know, that if you do that in that corner. You'll lose your traction, spend a second recovering from spin, spend one more second trying to get traction back, and then your out-the-corner speed will be 3 times slower than it should be.

steve c

That has little if anything to do with the issue here.

Personally the first thing I do when I get into my M coupe is turn the traction control off. I want to be in control of my car at all times, regardless of what the computer says.

As someone stated above most of you probably came from a front wheel drive low horsepower background. I would suggest participating in some local auto-x events and if possible getting some seat time at a few roadcourse events with an instructor. Learn how to drive properly and understand why the car does what it does in various situations. The physics you will pick up on a race track can be applied on the open road and will result in your being a better and safer driver, with or without the idiot button left on.

NowUZme

No I have not drifted yet (to my knowledge). If you have any links in particular that you think are good to read up on, it would be appreciated.

Though I don't know what it is precisely, it sounds like the kind of thing that will cause me to buy new tires at a much greater frequency than driving and never drifting.