About this video

• Video Title: Forza Driving School | Racing Lines and Technique
• Channel: HokiHoshi
• Speakers: Hoki Hoshi
• Duration: 00:12:42

Overview

This video is a tutorial for the game Forza, covering driving techniques and strategies for both road racing and off-road rally. The presenter, Hoki Hoshi, explains various settings, cornering techniques, racing lines, and other driving tips to help players improve their lap times and overall performance.

Key takeaways

• Difficulty Settings: For a balanced experience, it's recommended to start with ABS on and turn it off later for marginal speed gains. Traction control and stability control should generally be off to encourage better car control.
• Shifting: Manual with clutch is recommended for better car control, especially in drifting, but for higher-end cars, clutchless shifting might be faster due to equivalent shift times.
• Road Racing Technique: Emphasizes smooth braking before corner entry, gentle throttle application during corner entry, and utilizing the full road width for corner exit. Avoids late braking and excessive throttle use mid-corner.
• Racing Lines: Differentiates between the geometric line (simplest path) and the ideal line (faster, accounts for car physics). The ideal line often involves later turn-ins and apexes, leading to better corner exit speeds. Forza's provided line is a good starting point but not always optimal.
• Off-Road Driving: Highlights that the transition between grip and loss of grip is a broader zone, requiring smoother driving and more active weight transfer management. Controlled oversteer can be used to assist with turning and speed scrubbing.
• Advanced Techniques: Briefly touches on drafting, trail braking (requires precise control), and feathering throttle/steering inputs to maintain grip and avoid sliding.
• Practice: Recommends practicing with slower cars to learn techniques more easily and utilizing the "Rivals" mode, especially racing against a ghost of oneself, as a primary method for skill improvement.

To provide more detail and nuance, I'll expand on the key takeaways, aiming to capture the depth of explanation present in the original transcript.

Settings Nuances

• ABS (Anti-lock Braking System): The video suggests that turning ABS off can lead to slightly faster lap times if utilized correctly, as it provides a more direct feel and allows for better modulation of braking force, aligning more with a sim racing experience. However, ABS on offers more forgiveness, which is beneficial for players who are still developing their feel for racing lines and braking points. The recommendation is to keep ABS on until a solid understanding of driving techniques is achieved, then experiment with turning it off to potentially shave off those last fractions of a second. The presenter admits to still often using ABS on, valuing the extra forgiveness over the marginal speed gain.
• Traction Control (TC) and Stability Control (SC): These are strongly advised to be left off in almost all scenarios. The reasoning is that disabling them forces the driver to develop better throttle control and weight balance management. This direct engagement with the car's mechanics leads to significantly improved lap times when mastered, as the driver can more precisely control the car's behavior under acceleration and cornering.
• Shifting:
  • Automatic: The transcript notes it's hard to hear, but even for automatic users, switching to Manual (Clutchless) is highly recommended. This setting dramatically improves car control and speed, eventually becoming second nature despite a potentially steep initial learning curve.
  • Manual (Clutchless): Offers better control and speed.
  • Manual with Clutch: While it provides even finer control and enables advanced techniques like "clutch kicking" for drifting, the presenter notes that in many high-performance cars in Forza, the time saved by using a clutch perfectly is often matched by the speed of clutchless shifting. The decision to use "Manual with Clutch" versus "Manual (Clutchless)" is presented as dependent on the specific car and its transmission performance. For cars with near-stock transmission modifications, clutch shifting offers a significant benefit. For highly tuned S2-class supercars, the added complexity might not yield a worthwhile speed advantage.

Detailed Driving Technique Breakdown

• Corner Entry Braking: The core issue for beginners is braking too late, not enough, or while turning. Proper braking should primarily occur in a straight line before the turn-in point. By the time the car is turned, most of the braking should be completed. The presenter mentions "trail braking" as an advanced technique that bends these rules but advises beginners to focus on the fundamental principle of braking before turning. When braking hard before turning, weight shifts to the front tires, maximizing grip for the initial turn.
• Trail Braking Explained: Instead of releasing the brakes completely before turning, trail braking involves smoothly easing off the brakes as the turn-in begins. This maintains some weight transfer to the front wheels, aiding turn-in, and allows for a more gradual transition of weight to the outside tires as the corner progresses. Releasing brakes too abruptly can unsettle the car, leading to a loss of peak grip.
• Corner Entry (The Turn-in): This phase is between finishing braking and reaching the apex. The common mistake is getting back on the throttle too early and too aggressively. This causes the car to drift wide, drastically reducing corner exit speed. The correct approach is to transition from a smooth brake release to a smooth, light throttle application as the turn-in begins, holding off full throttle until after the apex.
• Corner Exit: The goal is to use all available road. Once the apex is reached and the car is straightened out, drivers should transition from the inside of the track to the outside. This maximizes the distance covered with acceleration. Sticking too closely to the inside while still on full throttle can lead to unwanted drifting and loss of momentum.
• General Cornering Principles:
  • Use All the Road: Enter corners from the far outside and aim for the inside apex, then use the entire track width on exit.
  • Don't Drift: Drifting wastes tire grip and momentum. The aim is to utilize grip without exceeding its limits. Smooth steering and throttle inputs are crucial for this.
  • Smooth Weight Transfer: Grip should transfer smoothly from front to outside, then to the rear tires. Abrupt steering or throttle inputs can upset the car's balance, reduce grip, and cause wheelspin. Smoothness is key to maintaining stability and speed.

Racing Lines Explained

• Geometric Line: This is the mathematically shortest arc through a corner, typically involving turning in early and hitting the inside center of the corner (the apex). It's the "easiest" path in pure geometry.
• Ideal Line: This line considers the real-world physics of a car, including weight transfer and tire grip. It often involves a later turn-in and can have a later apex than the geometric line. While it might seem slower on corner entry (as the car appears to be going slower initially), it sets the car up for a much faster corner exit. In racing, corner exit speed is almost always more critical than corner entry speed.
• Forza's Racing Line: The game's visual racing line often defaults to a heavily geometric line because calculating a truly ideal line for every car and corner combination is complex. Following Forza's line is a good starting point, but a skilled driver will learn to deviate from it, plotting their own ideal lines based on car behavior for maximum performance.

Off-Road (Rally) Driving Nuances

• Grip Zone: Unlike tarmac, where grip drops off sharply, off-road surfaces offer a broader "zone" of grip that can be utilized. The transition from full grip to loss of grip is less binary. This allows for more flexibility in driving lines and techniques.
• Smoother is Crucial: Smoothness in weight transfer and throttle/steering inputs is even more critical than on tarmac. Because the available grip is less consistent, abrupt actions will more easily unsettle the car.
• Modified Braking and Turning: While the general principle of braking before turning applies, in rally, drivers can afford to brake slightly later and use controlled oversteer (a slight, intentional drift) to both help turn the car and scrub off speed simultaneously. This effectively blends braking and turning, similar to trail braking but adapted for loose surfaces.
• Anticipation: Knowing the upcoming corners is vital. This allows drivers to set up the car's weight transfer effectively from one corner to the next, minimizing the need for heavy, late braking.

Other Driving Techniques

• Drafting: Explained as reducing wind resistance by driving closely behind another car, allowing for faster acceleration and higher top speeds. Forza simulates this effect.
• Trail Braking (Revisited): Described as a difficult technique requiring very smooth inputs, especially with a controller. The core idea is to brake late and continue to lightly apply brakes as the turn-in begins, gradually releasing them as the apex is approached. This helps maintain front-end grip for better turn-in and a smoother transition into acceleration. It's suggested for those with wheel setups or high controller confidence.
• Feathering Inputs: On controllers or keyboards, it can be hard to make micro-adjustments. "Feathering" involves rapidly tapping or lightly modulating the throttle and steering buttons to maintain subtle control, preventing the car from drifting excessively while still allowing for necessary adjustments.
• Practice with Slow Cars: A crucial tip is to hone fundamental skills by driving slower cars (e.g., C-class Subarus) rather than high-powered X-class vehicles. Slower cars provide more time to react, make deliberate inputs, and truly learn the nuances of racing lines and car control without the overwhelming speed.
• Rivals Mode: This is presented as the single most effective way to improve. Racing against a "ghost" of your own best lap allows for direct comparison and learning from your own mistakes and successes. Setting rivals to players much higher on the leaderboard can also provide valuable insights into their lines and techniques.