Title Drivers Guide to the Ray FF1600 (2).pdf ✅

DriversGuideto RayFF1600
I n t r o d uctio n This guide is designed to help drivers gain a greater understanding of the key characteristics of the Ray FF1600, and how exploit these characteristics to unlock lap time and consistency in all tracks. This guide is tailored to newer drivers, but the techniques discussed will benefit drivers of all abilities. We will first go over the car handling and driving characteristics, along with key information about the car that is not widely known. Key Information Zero Driver Aids The Ray FF1600 doesn’t come with any ABS or traction control. The low power of the FF1600 means that the absence of traction control is not a huge loss. No ABS on the other hand, makes it extremely easy to lock a front. Control under braking is critical in this car, and will be discussed later in the guide. Capable of Handling large Slip Angles In the hands of new drivers, the FF1600 may feel understeery, however, it does not take much to quickly shift that balance to oversteer. Anything that shifts weight to the front tires makes the car feel alive. It can handle large slip angles (think oversteer) through the corners, and its ability to live with a large amount of rotation makes the Ray a great car for getting to grips with trail braking. Understeery on Exit Car balance can be heavily altered by throttle inputs. Despite being relatively under-powered, getting on throttle in the FF1600 shifts the car balance noticeably towards understeer, making timing your throttle application crucial to avoid running wide on exit. DriversGuidetoThe RayFF1600 Morefree Resources availableon Discord
C a r C h a r a cte r istics This guide will focus predominantly on car handling with the baseline setup. Setup can radically change the feeling of the car. This guide may be expanded at a later date to include more detailed setup discussions. The FF1600 lands in the middle of understeer and oversteer, not so much because it is a perfectly balanced car, but rather, it exists at both extremes, depending on which part of the corner you are in, and how much you are utilizing advanced techniques like trail braking. With effective trail braking, the car can be extremely oversteery on entry/mid corner, yet the balance shifts rapidly to understeer when getting back on the power. Newer drivers will find the car balance to be slightly more understeery throughout the whole corner than described above, but will unlock a more oversteery balance as their driving skills improve. Car Balance Understeer Oversteer 0 10 5 Driveability uncontrollable 0 10 5 I’m using driveability as a measure of how easy this car is to manage for drivers new to sim racing. The fact that the balance of the FF1600 can shift quite quickly between oversteer and understeer makes this car somewhat challenging for newer drivers. Combined with that, the first lap or two on cold tires in this car is treacherous, so care must be taken to avoid an early spin. Despite these challenges, the FF1600 is a rewarding car to drive, and is excellent for (being forced to) quickly get to grips with both identifying, and handling, understeer and oversteer. controllable DriversGuidetoThe RayFF1600 Morefree Resources availableon Discord
Trail Braking Feeling Subtle 0 10 8 Trail braking is one of the most crucial skills to master. Unfortunately, it is also one of the hardest techniques to implement in practice. Having coached probably 60 students at this point, ineffective trail braking is by far the most apparent shortcoming. Students may even be trailing the brake into the corner, but often aren’t actively seeking out the oversteer that accompanies effective trail braking. “Trail brake feeling” is a measure of how easy it is feel rotation/oversteer on corner entry. The more obvious the rotation is, the easier it will be for newer drivers to identify when they are trail braking effectively. The Ray FF1600 can handle large slip angles (oversteer) before spinning out, this makes the feeling of rotating the car under braking very apparent. In cars with lower optimal slip angles (such as GT3), by the time you notice the rotation, you are on the verge of already spinning out. In this car however, the high optimal slip angle gives you much more time to notice, and control, the rotation. These characteristics make the FF1600 a great car to learn trail braking in. Obvious Trail Braking Mastery Simple 0 10 4 Trail brake mastery is a measure of how easy it is to effectively and consistently manage rotation through corner entry/mid corner. Mastering trail braking can be made harder in two ways; 1) Car characteristics/driver inputs that make it easy to “lose” rotation. Rotation can be lost in any way that overworks the front tires on corner entry. 2) Car characteristics/driver inputs that make it easy to get too much rotation in any one moment, IE too much front grip relative to the rears. examples include aggressive steering inputs, particularly oversteery car balance, as well as a brake bias shifted too far to the rear (lower percentage). In the FF1600, it is far easier to get too much rotation than not enough. This makes it (relatively speaking) easier to trail brake effectively. The challenge to mastering trail braking in this car is two fold, one; making sure you are getting progressive, rather than momentary, rotation, and two; ensuring you are not over-rotating to the point of unnecessarily overheating the rear tires. Challenging DriversGuidetoThe RayFF1600 Morefree Resources availableon Discord