How Fast Drivers STEER Using Their FEET...

If you want to drive fast in sim racing, being able to rotate the car is of paramount importance. Many newer drivers in Gran Turismo or Forza believe this is done using just the steering wheel, But that couldn’t be farther from the truth., and by doing so they’re making themselves slow in Racing Games…

Fast drivers are able to turn the car without the steering wheel - and it’s a vital technique to squeezing out as much time on a lap as possible.

But what do I mean by rotation? If we look at a car from a birds eye view, and jab a pin through the middle of it, the car will spin around the centre point. When you steer in a car, this is effectively what you are doing. *helicopter sound take off*

Most drivers, when turning into a corner will let off the brakes, and feed the steering wheel into the turn. But, doing this, they are relying purely on the front tyres to get into the corner. Which, is not only slower, but it also increases tyre wear.

Some corners require more rotation, especially the slower breed. And, this simple act of rotation using the wheel won’t cut it. We need a new method to gain more rotation, so we can get through the turn more efficiently.

These fast drivers actually steer or rotate the car using the pedals, just as much as they do with the wheel. I know that it sounds foolish, but it’s true.

Look at this, I’m going to lock my wheel to just 100 degrees of rotation. Not a lot at all, especially to get through a tight turn. We approach it at some serious speed, and not much steering to work with, we won’t get through the turn in a million years.

However, with the technique I’m about to show you, we can get through the turn with absolutely no issue. Well maybe more issues than I expected whilst writing this script… But we managed to get farther than no pedal steering nonetheless. It might not be pretty, or particularly fast. But, it’s a proof of concept. Here’s the amount the car rotated with pedal steering compared to just wheel steering.

So how can you steer using the pedals, and get the car to rotate more dramatically? There are a couple techniques you should master. *three way split*

As we brake, the weight of the car is shifted forward, and loaded onto the front tyres. As we discovered in my “Why SMooth is faster video”, this extra load of weight gives the tyres more traction. – thus making the car turn better.

But as soon as you left off the brakes, most of this extra weight is removed. So instead of lifting off, then turning in. WHat i want you to try is turning whilst braking.

Enter the braking zone, and slam on the anchors, and as you start to lift off the brakes, turn the wheel into the corner. A general rule of thumb is the more steering you use, the less brakes should be applied.

You’ll notice that the car turns into the corner much faster this way, or in other words, there is more rotation happening due to this shift of weight, and because we’re blending both steering and braking actions, this technique usually allows you to brake a lot later. And all of this combined equals faster lap times. If you hadn’t worked it out yet, this technique is calledtrailbraking.

But, it’s not only on the entrance to a corner that we can steer using the pedals. Say you enter a turn, and you notice you’re starting to understeer whilst on the accelerator. This is because whilst accelerating, the weight is moved to the rear tyres, meaning the fronts don’t have enough traction to steer.

What you can do in this situation is lift off the throttle. Once again moving the weight to the front tyres, allowing you to rotate the car mid corner. This is called blending the throttle. If you want more rotation, be more aggressive with this blend, less? Be more gentle.

Just like this gentle transition, into my next video, in which we discover whether drifting or gripping is actually faster…

Hit the like, and maybe even subscribe button if you enjoyed the video!

MY SIM RIG:
▶Cammus Wheel Base
▶Fanatec Shifter
▶Fanatec CSL Elite Loadcell Pedals

[sfyner]

No matter how much times i watch these videos when it comes to driving i forget all of it lol

[boifixed]

yeah my trail braking looks like this:
1.brake before corner
2.turn in
3.oh shit its understeer
4.procced to kick the brake (amount of kicking depends on the corner)
5.exit corner

[Clumrat]

You also could've mentioned using the throttle to help rotate the car. Sometimes using less steering and more gas will actually turn the car better. This is especially apparent on mid and rear engined cars.

[AnekoF]

I don't even know if you going to read this comment, but your video actually help a lot. That "why smooth is faster" video made me improve my lap times much more.
Because i was driving aggressively, i always ended up oversteering the car, thus making me lose time and/or positions. After learning how to drive smoothly, that rarely happens.

[alexgraff]

Can we take a moment to appreciate the master work of editing in this videos??

[proloxx]

NO WAYY HE USED MY SONG WINDOWS BREAKCORE AT THE BEGINNING MY LIFE IS COMPLETE

THANK

[keveronni]

Watched because of the edit, Stayed because of the quality content. This is amazing 👍🏻

[afiqueshafon]

Feels like a "God Foot" tutorial session. Basically a GTR R34 drifting moment in touge.

[pasteghost]

00:34 that edit with the Vietnam huey helicopter vibe was so subtle. Bravo, bloke, bravo. What a choice.

[DoThingsYk]

I saw a video of this dude drifting his car back and forth with using just the pedals. Thats what brought me my interest to this video. It didnt really answer my quesrion but it was so interesting and well demonstrated that i wanna watch more

[brodytanner]

My favorite way of cornering is a 1999 mr2 with sport tires and letting the car swing and fall through the corner. A little throttle and smooth as butter. If I have to steer past 100 degrees, I'm falling off the road.

[tannermace]

I like the editing on this video, very fast paced and somewhat comedic. Thanks for all the time you put into these videos!

[Turbo_Freak]

I usually already know the techniques you show in your videos because I just do what I feel the car needs so I use this techniques without knowing it, but I still like to watch your videos because they help me explain this techniques to my friends because I don't know how to explain it, I just do it.

[guillermoguillermo]

This is the reason why I like the ferrari 488 gt3. It is son fun at the ring breaking a bit late and make it turn in with the brakes but if you hit a curb you will end up giving the inside barrier a lil kithz

[thatboi]

I love how he technically gets to his promised answer every video (not clickbait) but sometimes he makes weird statements toward the beginning that give the wrong idea entirely (“able to steer the car without using the wheel”, where it should be “using less wheel”) for dramatic effect, which feels like clickbait when you realize what he actually means.

[TrashPandaPirate]

I got a thrustmaste t300 back in December but due to college i hadn't had much time to dedicate to racing on it till recently. Im not the fastest but also not the slowest usually. Ive been doing the mx5 cup car racing in assetto corsa and everything you share has become very helpful when i remember it and apply it correctly

[Swizer_]

Your editing improved a lot, is amazing and satisfying

[ElShotte]

OMG the string between the brake pedal and steering wheel that pulls it out when you turn the wheel is brilliant. I need to start training with this. In regards to the video, I always went by the following:
Good drivers maneuver the car with the steering wheel.
Great drivers maneuver the car with the steering wheel and pedals.
Excellent drivers maneuver the car with the steering wheel, pedals, the car's weight and the curvature of the road.

[TheMASTERshadows]

No one gonna say something about the editing skills ? it's mental broo

[thecevi]

This is one of the core ideas how to steer a motorbike and I also think it’s much more apparent when riding a bike on street vs car on street so this is the way I learned steering with throttle.