F197 car setup

[wodonnell]

Please can someone give me a decent setup for Buenos Aires. I am falling foul of my self imposed 107% qualification rule and am having trouble making the grid in Expert mode.

[Mr.S]

what car are you in? I actually sometimes (just on that track) start a race without qulifying and race around with different setups to see where im lacking, i find that a higher down force setup works best, plus use soft tires.

[wodonnell]

Currently in a Benetton.

I'm not very good at setting cars up. Usually I just add a bit on the front wing to give me more turn-in, and then take a load off the back as that doesn't seem to affect handling too much on a dry track, but gives me a better top speed.

Already on soft tyres but the best I could manage was 1'19s and I need to knock a couple of seconds off that just to qualify!

Its annoying as on some circuits I can do really well. My best so far at Expert level was causing 7 cars to not qualify.

[Minardi fan]

Argentina is a complete ***** on F1'97. It's one of the few tracks I am STILL utterley hopeless on, the others being Spain and Japan.

[Mr.S]

Hey I just remembered something, how do you qualify? Do you actually wait out the entire hour or do you just do 12 laps and finish when you finish? I have noticed in that game that if you actually wait the entire hour the other cars times are always several seconds slower! At Monaco the difference meant about 10 grid positions, 20, to 10, I was in a McLaren by the way. This should at least put you on the grid.

By the way, are you doing full race distance on all the races? Just Wondering.

Hope this helps, it took me forever to figure that one out!

[Minardi fan]

Yup, they get progressively faster as the hour goes on. I prefer to wait the whole hour doing 3 or 4 laps every so often. If you quit it they get ridiculously fast times. If you do the whole hour it's perfect.

[Toth]

Well Wodonnel, getting a good setup is about the only aim I have in a racing game. In the 1 year that I've been playing F1'97 I've raced on 2 circuits, monaco, twice to see what's it like and all the rest on Spa. I think I've got the setup for qualifying right now (if it's dry). Guess the next project will be buenos aires. I've got to fix the computer first so I will start next week. I could send you a first test setup in about, oooh, say 3 months.

[wodonnell]

I tried a couple of things this afternoon...

First I starteed a qualifying session and immediately quit to see what the time was. M Schumacher set a 1'12.7

Next I started a session and let it run for half an hour. When I went back to look, M Schumacher had done a 1'13.0. I did my laps and the pole time was approx 1'12.3!

I tried doing it as I usually do, just running all my laps at the start. After I had done about 3 laps, Schumacher set a high 1'12. As my best was only about 1'18 that would have not got me into the race.

I did notice that if I aborted a lap and came into the pits, I got a 1'16, so I could cheat a bit, but that defeats the object. Also, I know that F197 ignores either in laps or out laps (not sure if this is a rule or a "FEATURE"). I know in the past that I have done out laps which were faster than my flying laps but the times didn't get counted.

I messed about with the setup quite a bit but nothing resulted in a significant time-gain :-(

I just don't see where the computer cars are getting the speed from. I am a full 2 seconds down in sector 1 which only consists of a right hander and a lefthand hairpin! I could reduce rear wing but then I can't get through sector 2. Grrr!

[Minardi fan]

I always come across the same problem. Even just the first sector I am already way off the pace. The only way to get an even remotely decent lap time is to cheat by belting it up the pit lane which is, as pointed out, quicker than completing the track otherwise.

Where the AI cars get their speed from is beyond me too.

[Minardi fan]

My other problem being that my disc is temperamental and usually refuses to load Argentina and Austria - due I think to a scratch received from my brother.

[G-R]

Hmm, I'm not sure what my set-up is off the top of my head, but I think I have got around argentina in the williams in 1:12.*** or either a 1:14.*** WITHOUT taking to the pitlane. I'm pretty sure of that.

[Minardi fan]

Eeee gads man! Be you in Thrust 2 or something???

I did around 50 laps at Argentina yesterday and came up with a best time of 1.17.387, NOT going up the pit lane. I was in Nakano's Prost. The first sector is crucial in getting a good lap, and I only got it right once. Making up time in sector 2 is easy enough, and in sector three you need to skip lightly over the chicane's kerbs.

[Mr.S]

I might be able to help soon; I just started a championship and will be there in about an hour.

The only thing i can suggest is do races on the track, just to learn it. That’s how I perfected Albert Park, (just raced it yesterday on professional in a Williams, within 5 laps i had a 12 second lead!), i also raced around Brazil with Berger to practice for my championship and clocked a 1:11.751, this is at least four seconds faster than me previous best!

-Oh ya, you probably already did this, but set the break bias to 60/40 and put the SMALLEST discs on, also try breaking early for certain corners, then accelerate all the way through.

[wodonnell]

What effect does changing the brake bias have? I didn't mess about with that cos I didn't really know what it would do.

I still have the "standard" 28mm discs. Again, does changing them affect performance. I would guess that 30mm would work better at somewhere like Monza where you need to brake from very high speed? Then again I have never noticed any significant degradation of the brakes. Maybe it only starts to kick in after more than 20 laps.

I had noticed that as I progressed through the season I have started braking earlier than I used to anyway. I don't think it was a conscious decision, but braking early seems to have cut quite a bit off my lap times. This is probably where I am losing most time at Buenos Aires. I tend to brake too late for the hairpin after the Fosters sign and then brake either too early or too late for that blind chicane. I guess finding a braking point to that corner could be the key to the whole circuit.

1'17 is about the best I have managed. I tend to do an OK first sector, look at the time and then go straight on instead of turning left.

[Mr.S]

Well... when you brake a car pitches forword, putting the weight on the front wheels, unloding the rears. If brake bias is set 60/40 then you brake more on the front wheels were the weight is.

If you use smaller discs I brake alot better, they also dont lock up as easy, they dont last as long though, but they dont seem to fail in this game.

Well any way try what i suggested, it helped me.

[wodonnell]

I knew the theory, I just wondered if it actually applied in the game.

I would have thought that it would be better to set it to 40/60, that way the back would slow down more and there would be less chance of spinning the car.

I have been battling with a succession of dodgy controllers today so haven't really been able to try anything properly. For some reason all my dual shock controllers seem to pull the car to the left. Its a bit odd as most of the tracks are clockwise so I would have thought if anything the controller would pull the car to the right. My X button got stuck on one controller which basically meant my throttle stuck!

My only other options are to use my wheel (which would mean learning to use the thing), or a non-dual-shock controller, which doesn't seem to want to calibrate itself properly :-(

[Minardi fan]

Tourist and I always have the brake discs on 24mm no matter what the track - it simply gives better braking.

In reference to using the Dual-Shock, I would seriously recommend using the digital pad. I despise the analogue controller with great vehemence, and refuse to use it - my Playstation is an older one which came with the original, and still far superior pad. For the necessary control you need digital - analogue is too unpredictable, and reliable sources inform me it is hopeless on F1 '97.

I did another load of testing today at Argentina and came up with a best lap of 1.15.678 in Villeneuve's Williams, 24mm brakes, otherwise default set-up.

I think I could have gone a bit faster in sector 1, but I did sectors 2 and 3 the fastest they could possibly done, I am sure!

Can anyone beat the 1 minute 15 second barrier????

[Minardi fan]

Oh, Tourist always used to mention the fact that on F1 '97, the analogue controller always pulled the car to the left. We thought it was just his controller but it seems to be a common problem.

[G-R]

Oh god what are you talking about? To get fast times you MUST use the dualshock steering bit. otherwise you're not going anywhere.

And, for referance, the fastest time I've got around brazil is a 1:06.6 or soemthing in our atlasF1 F197 championship.
I'll see if I can have a go at argentina tonight and get faster, I'm sure I can

[Minardi fan]

Analogue gives you absolutely no contol whatsoever over what you are doing with the car.

The digital pad always has been and always will be the best form of controller.

[Mr.S]

I'm with MinardiFanatic on this one, the digital is the best form of controller, at least for racing.

G-R how the hell did you manage a 1:06, what car what set-up, and how long did it take you to get to that speed?

And if the bias is set-up to 40/60, you get better turn in to corners but it is easier to lock the rears then, so I only do that on stop and go tracks.

[wodonnell]

I did a short test with the brakes this afternoon.

I set the bias to 100% on front. When I tried to turn into a corner the car went straight on.

I then set it to 100% on the back and the car spun very easily.

Isn't this the wrong way around? Shouldn't it spin easier when there are no brakes at the back?

Regarding analog vs digital, I think that people who started out using digital pads probably prefer to stick with them whereas people who first got the dual shock pads will TEND to stick with the sticks. Its just a matter of personal preference, like the driving position is.

[Minardi fan]

I agree on the point about analogue versus digital. Once you are used to and very confident with one form, to switch to the other takes an awful lot of time and practice. Digital will always be my preference.

By the way, does anyone else shiver with terror at the thought of analogue buttons for the PS2???? Just think of how many times you will screw up in MGS 2 because you tapped the square button a bit too hard.

Grrrrrrrr.

[G-R]

Oi, I got a 1:13.7 around argentina in the williams.

For brazil, use 0% downforce front and back. It's ****en hard at first, but then you get used to it. It's the fastest set-up there is. Getting the right lap isn't easy either

[G-R]

BTW, anyone interested in racing in a "online" F197 racing series. So far, this is the only one going around in the world! Well, I think so anyway.

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[Edited by Administrator on 30th June 2000]