Understanding Traction Limitations

At this point you already know that we have a limited amount of traction in the car. We can either decelerate at its full capacity or rotate at its full capacity, but it's impossible to do both at the same time. The most common mistake, especially if you're starting in games that forgive you or simulators that have assists in everything or cars with a lot of ABS, is to brake 100% and then start turning while maintaining that 100% brakes. This is the worst mistake and you have to get rid of it right away.

The String Theory: Basic Concept

The string theory is the most simple way of explaining how you should add steering as you release the brakes. Just imagine that there is a string connecting the side of the wheel to the brake pedal and as soon as you start turning that string pulls the pedal up. But of course that would create a quite linear relation and only that does not tell you exactly what is the ratio of release. How much should you turn and how much should you release accordingly. You have cars with different steering ratios, you have different brakes. The string theory is just a simplistic way to help you understand the concept. But then in the future we're going to use more complete ways to know exactly how much we should release, how much we should turn and so on.

Building Muscular Memory Through Exercises

Before you get any more advanced, you have to make sure that you have a good muscular memory and that you can actually do at least a few baselines just like the exercise we did with the brakes. Remember, braking 1% braking 2, 3, 4 and applying quickly and applying slowly, we have the same thing here. So let's do a few exercises to make sure that you have the muscular memory, at least you have a nice range of things that you can do so you can actually do them when needed.

Understanding the Driving Pattern

Now the main benefit of these exercises to give you an idea of what is the spectrum of relations between the steering and the brakes that we will mostly use. 95% of the way you drive is going to be very similar, it's going to have the same pattern. You start braking and then you start turning as you release the brakes and then as you unwind the steering, if you're coming from a corner into another corner, you start reapplying the brakes in the inverted relation. So what you really want is to create a trigger in your brain where whenever you brake hard, you relax your hands and whenever you start adding force, adding input, you release the brakes more.

Exercise 1: 90 Degrees Ratio

Now for now we're just going to create this behavior in your brain. It's like super linear, smooth and we can create different ratios. So the first ratio is going to be simple, 100% and then release all the way until you reach 90 degrees and say 1%. So 90 degrees, 1%, 0 degrees, 100%. Then we do that to the other side. Same thing, do it back, apply. That's it, that's it. Just do that a few times.

If you feel that's a little bit weird, if you like starting to turn and then you're not releasing and then you start releasing after, that's a mistake. What I want to do is be precise, boom, boom, right away, right away initially and then hit perfectly. Then back, same ways like it's related and then like that. You really want this to be perfect right away.

Exercise 2: 180 Degrees Ratio

And then we're going to do exactly the same thing, but with 180 degrees when we reach 1% brake. So we're going to brake 100%. Now we start turning, boom, 180 degrees, 100% brakes. On the way back. See, I made a mistake there because I reached zero steering before I reached actual 100% brakes. Of course, it's just an exercise to improve your precision, to improve how it feels. Because in a way, this should be a natural reaction for you. See, you should do that fast. Now 180 degrees. See, no, I'm not pressing 100% brakes. This is very heavy in my pedal.

Exercise 3: 45 Degrees Ratio

You can even do that with less steering. So 100% and then 45 degrees by the time you hit. And again, boom. There you go. If you do that to 45 degrees to 90 degrees and to 180 degrees, that's already a very good spectrum. You will already have a much better vocabulary or things that your muscles can do that your brain understands that you can apply while driving.

Exercise 4: Partial Brake Pressure

Now, we can also do that with less brakes. So 50% brakes. And then that. And then 50% brakes. That was a little bit more than 50% and then this. So just feel it. Like what I want you to do is to get used and comfortable with this because when you're driving, you're going to do that a lot.

Importance of Comfort and Relaxation

And you have to be so comfortable with it here. So when you get on track and you try it while trying to manage the balance of the car while trying to manage the line while trying to manage the down shifting while trying to manage like so many things. This has to be easy. If you're struggling with the sensitivity in your muscles, everything else is going to be much, much, much, much, much more difficult to do. Try this. Feel comfortable. Remember, same thing what we did with the brakes. Relax the shoulders. Relax breathing. Boom. It has to be easy. It has to be easy. Reapplying brakes. Then more.

Critical Mistake to Avoid

You should never, ever, in any situation do this. This is the worst thing you can do. If you want to lock the phones and go straight or spin or whatever, like the car is going to go all over the place. If you add a lot of brakes and a lot of steering at the same time, never do this. People panic and they do this. Oh, I went too wide. Don't do this. Don't do this. If you're going wide. Oh, I went wide. See? I went wide. Okay. I'm going to brake more and then turn more aggressively at a lower speed. But if you're going wide and you do this, of course, these exercises about the steering ratios don't have a very practical application when you're driving because when you're driving, you're measuring your speeds, you're trying to get more rotation, less rotation. You're trying to hit the lines, you're trying to hit the apex.

Advanced String Theory: Brake Release Based on Car Rotation

So just trying to do these ratios while driving is very difficult. Naturally, what happens is if you brake too early into a corner, you will realize that you are slowing down more than necessary and you will want to release the brakes more. Now, because you're releasing the brakes more, you have less weight on the front tires. And when you start turning into the corner, there is a lot less rotation. So the car actually understeers more if you brake early. This is a natural thing.

If you brake later, then what happens, you feel that you are faster. So you're going to want to maintain more brakes into the corner. But you are still trying to do the same line. So you kind of turn the same. Now you're turning the same, but you're carrying more weight on the front tires. So naturally, you get more oversteer because there is more weight amplifying how much rotation the front tires are able to offer to you.

So as you can see, just because we brake in different places here, our string theory ratio is already different. We are kind of turning the same, but we're braking a lot more. So the exercises I showed you, we're just to give you an idea of how that should feel more or less. But when you're actually driving, you should look for different cues to guide your driving inputs. And this is where we get into the advanced string theory.

Understanding the Key Difference

So the string theory is steering input versus brake release. Now the advanced string theory is going to be different, because now we are not relating the steering to the brakes. We are relating the brake release to how much the car is rotating. So now we're not thinking about the steering. Of course, the steering is still gonna be in the mix, but now the cue for releasing the brakes is how much the car is pointing.

So now the amount of lateral grip that you get, the amount of rotation that you get, is your cue to how much less longitudinal grip you're going to ask from the car by releasing the brakes. So the string theory, you release your brakes according to how much you turn. But the advanced string theory, you release your brakes according to how much the car turns. And this is magical. This is super important, because now even with a little bit of steering, you can already see that the car is oversteering, and that is already your cue to release the brakes.

Why Advanced String Theory Matters

Because if you were to only rely on the idea of string theory, and you get into oversteering, you're still only releasing the brakes when you turn more. But if you're oversteering, you're way over like you're already spinning. But if you feel the rotation of the car instead, this is already a cue for you to release your brakes. And for this to be possible, you have to relax your hands. You have to communicate with the force feedback, you have to see what's happening with the visual rotation of the world, according to your car.

So if the world is rotating too much, that means you're getting a little bit of oversteer. And then you generally get both at the same time, you see that things are rotating more quickly, they're expected, and you get the force feedback. So if you relax your hands and pay attention to the visual rotation of the world, then you have a cue for how much rotation you're getting, and that is also a cue for how much you want to release the brakes.

Practical Example

This is a very good example here, I start turning into this corner, and I drop the brakes a little bit more quickly without adding any steering. So the reason I'm dropping the brakes without adding steering is because I got a little bit of oversteer. So I dropped the brakes according to how much rotation the car gave me, not according to how much I was steering. Remember the traditional string theory, you release the brakes according to how much it turned, but here I'm releasing the brakes according to how much the car is rotating. So make sure you're not death gripping the wheel, because this is going to be essential for you to work on the advanced string theory techniques. We have a full lesson about light hands technically coming up.

Inverted String Theory: When Already Rotating Before Braking

Now 99% of the corners, we brake on a straight line, decelerate as much as possible, and then we start the string theory. But there are some corners where you are already rotating before you start braking. And the right approach with the steering the brakes into these corners is what I'm going to call the inverted string theory. You literally do the opposite, you are firmly turning to the corner, and you're not braking. As soon as you start adding brakes, you have to relax your hands more.

The more you brake, the more you relax your hands, and then the force feedback brings it back for you. Of course, if you have an entry level wheel with a not a lot of force feedback, then you have to do the unwinding yourself. But if you do have the force feedback, just by relaxing your hands, according to how much you press the brakes, will already make the steering go back to the ideal positioning, allowing you to stay on the limit as you do this in a short transition.

Example 1: Left-Right Transition

You can see the inverted string theory in action right here. I'm firmly turning to the left, and then as soon as I start braking, now I'm relaxing my hands, the force feedback is bringing the steering toward the center, and then I'm adding more brakes. So I reach peak brakes with zero steering while I'm doing that transition. I'm going from left to right, and as you can see here, left 90 degrees steering, just a little bit of braking. Then as I add more brakes, I reach the peak braking and zero steering during the transition.

And now I'm doing the regular string theory, where I release the brakes as I turn more into the corner. So as you can see, inverted string theory here, because I'm starting to brake and decreasing the steering, and then regular string theory here, because I'm releasing the brakes according to the steering.

Example 2: Soft Car Suspension Management

And then one more example here, same thing. I start braking a little bit, I'm still turning, right? So I'm starting to relax my hands, and adding brakes slowly, because this car is soft. So if you brake very fast, and just go back with the steering very fast, there's not enough time for the suspension to regain the balance. So what you need to do is doing in a slower motion, just as if you were doing an inverted string theory.

So inverted string theory right now, adding brakes slowly, while the steering is coming back to a straight line, then peak braking, and then regular string theory right now. So I'm releasing the brakes according to how much I'm turning the steering, and according to how much the car is rotating as well.

Adapting to Understeer and Oversteer

When the car is understeer, the traditional string theory kind of works best, because you are not getting the rotation anyways, right? So we're kind of like forcing the car a little bit. So it's going to look a lot closer to the traditional string theory, where you're releasing the brakes according to how much you turn.

If the car is oversteer, then it's gonna look a lot more like the advanced one, because if you just keep braking in turn regularly and do that X in the brake trace, you're just gonna get way too much rotation. Both can be very useful. The goal of this course is to give you the tools, and you see what works best for you, and how you can really get that light bulb and understand what's happening with the car.