Lotus Challenge

With ABS on you don't have to worry about locking up the wheels of your car. ABS isn't designed to make your car stop sooner, it's designed so that drivers still have control whilst braking. It pulses the brake so that you can still steer the car. Because, the wheels are still rotating, they will still have an effect when you steer. When the wheels lock, steering has a lesser effect, as your wheels effectively become four rubber feet on which the car sits.

If you do want steering control whilst braking and ABS is off. You can either pulse the braking (cadence braking) or just apply less braking force. You'll find that the car still slows down but without the loss in control.

Enter the following in the Driver Name screen.

Enter CRAIGSAYS as a driver name.

Without it, the car can spinout, losing you lots of time as you have to get the car back on the road. AS is there to help out in the event that you lose the back end of your car. What it does is it calms the effect of your steering input by limiting it to what you need to keep the car in control so you don't steer into a slide, making it worse. By limiting the steering, the car simply slows rather than spin out.

Because it lets you steer to the limits whilst it's still on, use it to learn how much you can throw the car into each corner before AS has to engage.

If you're a complete driving simulator novice, or you're brought up on a diet of Mario Kart or Ridge Racer, the chances are your braking distance judgment is non-existent. If you're a GT vet, you should be OK. AB takes braking away from the game. When you approach a corner, the car will slow down for you at the same rate as the other cars in the race. If you're racing at a harder Opponent AI level, the brakes will come on later.

The braking is optimized for the racing line, so if you're going wide into a corner, it won't compensate for you. You can over-ride AB if you want and just brake for yourself if you find that it doesn't use enough. Also AB doesn't necessarily use the most efficient braking points. You can out-brake you opponents without it, so it's worth learning not to rely on it too much. It just eases you into the game by taking away the responsibility of braking.