Formula cars in rFactor 2 hard to drive

Marcus Battaglia

Marcus Battaglia

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So I am a big fan of F1, have been since I started watching it in 1990. I have all ASR 80s and 90s cars, love them all and feel they drive great. Same for the 60s and 70s cars.

I have been trying out lately the Renault 3.5, ASR 2017, GP2 and other more modern Formula cars. I have them for Assetto Corsa and AMS 2 as well, and have always loved them there, and never had any handling issues.

But in rFactor 2 I simply can't drive them. I can drive a lot of GT3, GT 3, LMP and other cars with no problem at all, but these more modern Formula cars I can't even get a lap in without spinning. It seems that the gas pedal is waaayyy too sensitive and even a little tap makes the car spin. Same thing for breaking, if you don't do it in a perfect straight line, I sense the car spins way too easily as well.

So my question here is: is there some (basic) setup that I am not doing right, which is causing this? I assume rFactor 2 has one of the best (if not the best) handling of all sims, so I assume these cars are fine, and I am the one doing something wrong.

As a starting point: I have stiffer front suspension + ARB, and softer in the back (which I assume should reduce this oversteer effect). Not sure about the differential, I set it up like I do in AC (power % about half of the coast % - 15% - 30%) or anything else that might be causing this.

Any help here would be VERY much appreciated!
 
My guess is that yo need to re-calibrate the controls in rF2. (I drive most cars on default so I can speak about car setups).
You shouldn't be spinning every lap, try the ISI IndyCAR 2014, Formula ISI, Marussia and F1 FRT 2013, S397 McLarens MP4 and SM GP3 from the workshop.

may be post your rF2 control setups to see if someone can pin point any issues.
 
Marcus Battaglia said:
So I am a big fan of F1, have been since I started watching it in 1990. I have all ASR 80s and 90s cars, love them all and feel they drive great. Same for the 60s and 70s cars.

I have been trying out lately the Renault 3.5, ASR 2017, GP2 and other more modern Formula cars. I have them for Assetto Corsa and AMS 2 as well, and have always loved them there, and never had any handling issues.

But in rFactor 2 I simply can't drive them. I can drive a lot of GT3, GT 3, LMP and other cars with no problem at all, but these more modern Formula cars I can't even get a lap in without spinning. It seems that the gas pedal is waaayyy too sensitive and even a little tap makes the car spin. Same thing for breaking, if you don't do it in a perfect straight line, I sense the car spins way too easily as well.

So my question here is: is there some (basic) setup that I am not doing right, which is causing this? I assume rFactor 2 has one of the best (if not the best) handling of all sims, so I assume these cars are fine, and I am the one doing something wrong.

As a starting point: I have stiffer front suspension + ARB, and softer in the back (which I assume should reduce this oversteer effect). Not sure about the differential, I set it up like I do in AC (power % about half of the coast % - 15% - 30%) or anything else that might be causing this.

Any help here would be VERY much appreciated!
Click to expand...
try adding more front suspension packaging (i'm not sure if this the exact word but i'm pointing towards front bumpstop make touch sooner to suspension)
On other hand could you please tell in details where the car is not behaving properly,info like what kind of corner is it fast ? does it have bumps ? elevation? or just say what corner number on given circuit.
I want to take this opportunity to test my knowledge to see if it works for others or is it just a placebo for myself.
 
Hi Marcus

It seems that you have covered some of the issues that cause snap spins/oversteer with adjusting ARB's, coast diff's etc. Keep playing with the front(stiffer) and rear(softer) ARB until you can turn corners without the end coming loose. Maybe some obvious suggestions here but perhaps you haven't tried them yet. If you find as you mentioned that the gas pedal is too sensitive you can lower the Throttle sensitivity in the Controls-controller settings. With high HP cars you really need a light right foot and try not to pin it until the car is squared up out of corners.

With braking sounds like you might be locking up you can lower the brake pressure in the car setup menu and adjust it until you rarely lock up the brakes. You can also adjust brake sensitivity same as throttle sensitivity but try pressures in setup first. Also you can adjust the brake bias to the rear a click or 2 if you're spinning usually means your fronts are locking up. GT3's etc usually have ABS so you can stomp on the brakes with out the fear of locking up but modern high downforce cars are a little different and usually require some trail braking. Hard on the brakes initially slowly releasing as you loose downforce to avoid lock ups.

One last thing is GT3's and other cars have larger steering wheel range/rotations 540 degrees for example. The controller settings have an option called Vehicle Set which you can select that puts a check mark beside it and then the wheel rotation is set to the specific car your driving. Modern open wheelers usually have much less rotation approx. 270 degrees to 400 or so for places like Monaco. So check that setting. Modern open wheelers require much more precise and less wheel turn to corner so would be prone to over steering and losing the back end. I have unchecked vehicle set and put higher (450 degrees etc.) steering wheel range in the controller settings at times for some cars that I wanted more steering rotation to drive better.

You probably already know all this but hopefully something here can help you finish a lap without a tank slapper:D

Cheers
 
Don´t asume a mod is good just because its made for rf2. Reiterating what boxer said, try the official cars first; the tatuus pack is a good place to start. Also GT3s are way easier to drive than open wheelers, you always need to be more delicate with the gas pedal on the latter.
Edit: lowering the sensitivity of your throttle could help.
 
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Thanks guys!

So, regarding my control, setup, I have a FANATEC CSL Elite with the brake pedal loadcell kit. My wheel configurations for rFactor 2 are:
SEN = auto
FF = 95
DRL = -2
FEI = 40 (any more than this and my wheel starts shaking all around)
FOR = 100
SPR = 100
DPR = 100
BLI = off
SHO = 90

My ingame FFB settings change a bit car by car, but I usually go with the screen shot I've attached.

I have made a short video showing the problems, both on slow and fast corners (fast corners my rear just gives away). I don't have this problem with 80s and 90s Formulas though (like the ASR mods).

F1 ASR 2017:


I tried the GP3 Formula and found it way too stable, as if it had TC and ABS. So I decided to try the Formula 2 2017:

And 2nd attempt:

All videos with default settings.
 

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I´m saying this without having tried out the mods myself but in the first video it looks like you steered a bit too hard, though it´s difficult to tell without the moving steering wheel. Adding downforce to the car could also help there.
Last video you definately pushed the throttle too hard too early, though the car should probably just spin out instead of almost rolling. Again, reducing the throttle´s sensitivity could help you out here.
And for reference, here´s Hamilton´s pole lap from 2017. Notice the smooth throttle input and the small corrections when he floors it:
 
The ASR mods are not realistic, many of them are six or seven seconds faster in Interlagos than what real-life lap times at the time would have suggested. ASR has added tons of extra mechanical grip that shouldn't exist.

If you want to make the gas pedal less sensitive, you need to tweak the bottom left throttle sensitivity slider in your controller settings page (the one you have at 100%, I would suggest lower at minimum to 70%, perhaps even 40-50%).
 
Mitch9 said:
I´m saying this without having tried out the mods myself but in the first video it looks like you steered a bit too hard, though it´s difficult to tell without the moving steering wheel. Adding downforce to the car could also help there.
Last video you definately pushed the throttle too hard too early, though the car should probably just spin out instead of almost rolling. Again, reducing the throttle´s sensitivity could help you out here.
And for reference, here´s Hamilton´s pole lap from 2017. Notice the smooth throttle input and the small corrections when he floors it:
Click to expand...

Thanks! I think it is actually a combination of things, from what I am reading and from the video you have shared.

First, I'm used to the 2020 RSS Formula Hybrid car in Assetto Corsa. Not only do 2020 cars have much more downforce than the 2017, but I believe AC is less realistic than rFactor 2.

Second, from the video I see that Hamilton uses higher gears in many corners than I do, which I assume helps him reduce wheelspin due to torque/power.

Last, I think I do need to reduce throttle sensitivity a bit for these Formula cars.

Will try this out and let you guys know.
 
Main problem from where you come from is the "easiness" that those "sims" give you controlling an F1 car. As it's obvious a F1 car is hard to drive and in rF2 you need to change setup a lot before you feel confortable behind the wheel...
 
You need to take care with the throtle, when you drive these cars.
The steering wheel is very important, too, when you reduce gears. If you are turning the wheel and reduce to 2nd or 1st gear, is easy to spin.
It's important to do trail braking when you are braking and turning.
In short, it is important not to be aggressive when accelerating, reducing gears and braking.
 
I drive almost only F1 cars in RF2 and can only say that I find them by far the best in RF2. But it takes a lot of time to get used to it, the throttle and the brakes are hard but it just takes time. Once that is exceeded, driving is more fun than anywhere else, so stay tuned ;-). The Formula Isi 2012 are well suited for testing
 
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