Brake lock up far too easy - open wheelers and megane

All 60's cars and GT cars are fine. They are really good. But I have never learned to drive the open wheelers in rF2 except the 60's. I could never drive Formula Renault. Then ISI formulas came, and they were even worse. Now I'm really trying to learn how to drive F2 and they are much better, but still I can never, ever, at any speed or in any situation use more than 50% of my brake pedal. It will lock up in a second and the next I'll be out of track...

So, is this normal for the crazy high downforce cars or is it a G27 probem? Oooor, is it only my wheel? (wich works pefectly with 60's cars and GT cars)

I use to lower brake power a bit (90-95%) but that's not enough. I don't want to lower too much.

 

Problem lies in your pedals, problem is that there are no any brake feel really, so you just need to learn how much you can press pedal to lock wheels, where as in reality you need to apply more force to brake more. I have heard squashball mods and some purpose made rubbers to put into pedals to make brake feel better, using such would make braking a lot easier.

I use 100% with F2 when I rarely drive it, braking is such that you hit brakes and immediately start backing off from brakes. Not sure how much downforce has to do with it, but after initial kick it is certainly less than 50% that I use, even initial kick hardly ever is flooring the brake, at higher speed and colder brakes I can push more of course, you still stop really quick and when learning to adjust brake so that you are at edge of lockup car does stop faster than my brain realizes and I slow then too much.

I have used 80-85% too, but it is not so good with colder brakes.

Dreaming from load cell liquid brake thing continues, I have seen such and I know how to contruct such except for electronics part, I even have spare brake mastercylinder and I could take one car to parts where I could get pedals etc, but electronics part and not so good hand skills are limiting realization of this dream, however that is what should provide the best feel.

 

The downforce disappears quickly when you hit the brakes, It's all about how you manage the brakes after the initial press.


I have some rubber jammed in my G25 brake and for me it feels much better.

@jtbo I have been looking into Load cells and tbh it doesn't seem too expensive to do yourself. You can grab a Cell from E-bay for a few bucks. They sell them for Weighing platforms and scales. The electronics seem fairly simple with a small amplifier. I have seen button boxes for sale with Load Cell input.

If you want to use a proper master cylinder then you might want to look at Pressure Transducers instead of load cells. Hook it up to a caliper aswell and it would feel awesome

tbh I think a pressure switch under the pedal would work almost as well.

 

If you watched the last grand prix in Korea, you'll notice that the McLarens were locking up the inside front on a regular basis. It is a tricky thing to manage.

The technique, as described above, is to go 100% on the brakes at first. They won't lock up because the down-force gives the tyres plenty of grip. As you slow down, the wings have less air rushing over them, producing less down-force and therefore less grip. Now you need to start to come off the brakes to maybe 50%, then 25% and so on. Also turning in will put more weight on the outside wheel and less on the inside, so this compounds the issue. Good luck.

 

I have G27 pedals. I can 'bury my foot' in the brake pedal of the Formula 2, gradually releasing as the downforce becomes irrelevant and you're left with pure mechanical grip. With the Meganes, once the brakes and tyres heat up, I can also brake really hard. With all RF2 cars, my brake pressure is never set to less than 90%.

 

I have APelettric load cell in my G27 brake pedal,and I can brake with all my force(30kg) and I,rarely,lose the F2!
My braking was improved a lot with this mod but it needs a long learning curve(it's all about muscular memory)! I really advice this mod to every one!

 

WTF!? When braking from high speed (+250 km/h) I can use like 70% for a half second, and then release to maybe 20%

When track is green I have to use less than 20% at any speed. Well it should lock easy but I think this is too easy. This is when I have only 88% brake power too. I also move brake bias 60-40 to not loose the rear when locking up.

 

With a proper setup(not only the brake bias) and after some laps you can brake with all your power!it happens in real life too.
Consider that in the modern F1,the drivers have to put on about 150KG on the brake pedals when they have to scale from the seventh gear to the first/second gear!

 

I've got those freaky DFGT peddles, and they aren't too bad if in the in-game ffb setup I set their sensitivity to 20%. Otherwise I can't control brake lock up on any vehicle even with garage set up brake pressure set as low as it will allow,

 

spot on Jim the sensitivity is what will help i have mine at 30% no lock ups brake at 85% pressure. also it helps if you are getting to much wheel spin drop the acc sensitivity. mine 40%. this is for F2 cars.

 

I think there may be some that have never adjusted controller input in a flight sim.
If you watch the graph, when you lower sensitivity - it turns the straight line into a curve. You still get full use at full pedal, but at 50% pedal depression you are really getting less than the 50%. It just reduces the pressure for those less sensitive pedals.

It' easier to learn how much to press pedal than it is to learn how much not to press pedal. (real intellectual statement, but true). LOL

 

Now I'm courios as I have the same pedals, and I use them at 90-100% of sensitivity. After some laps and when the breaks are hot enough it works pretty good, even though in some corners I have to be very careful but it's still easily controllable

 

I find it is just track dependent, as with the R3.5 on Estoril, I'm probably at 98%. Very rare that it locks and it would usually be coming up to the apex if I get it a bit wrong. Around Mid-Ohio, I run maybe 96%.

The F2 at Mid-Ohio, I started off with 83ish% while I was learning the track but now I'm bringing it up. Anything over 90% though, and I find the step in pedal pressure to be pretty hard to deal with coming from flat out to 2nd gear with no downforce. Maybe with more time I would get used to it. I guess the fact that judging pedal pressure with the stock G25 pedals is pretty hard plays a part too.


I haven't experimented with changing the pedal sensitivity either, as having the pedal response linear makes the most sense to me.

 

If you think about it Minibull, in real cars, most of the stopping power is in the last half inch of pedal travel, so setting sensitivity to where this happens with your pedal set would be more realistic.

 

Yep, I'll give you that
If I think of the brakes on my motorbike, small brake pressures have a lot more movement that compared to when you are near max braking potential (i.e. rear wheel starting to lift). A very progressive system.

Well, this will be a nice thing to try out tomorrow.

 

Pedal mods add that rubber to brake pedal and as rubber is very progressive by nature it should also work really well, add tampered sensitivity to that and one might actually get quite decent brakes with not huge amount of trouble.

I really need to look into proper brake at some stage, but there is too much other stuff meanwhile to do. However braking is the most interesting part of driving fast, probably because it is so hard to get right

 

The F2 is the only car I find that locks up too easily.

 

According to the real drivers, the 2012 F2 in real life is really easy to lock the rear tires as they are all doing it.

 

Then I think my mechanics *beep*-ed up, and fitted my rear tyres at the front end of the car.....

 

I've had the same issue but I found a fix for me, all I do is before leaving the pits I re-calibrate the min and max of my brake pedal. I find this sorts out my instant lock up issue, let me know if this helps you too please?