How to Drive Without Traction Control in F1 24

Traction Control (TC) is a big topic of discussion within the Formula 1 community. The realism and driveability of an F1 car in F1 24 can depend heavily on what TC setting you go for. In almost all modern road cars, TC is an outright necessity as it is proven to recover traction and increase car control in slippery conditions. In F1, however, TC is banned. In 2008 TC was outlawed to increase driving difficulty and to make the sport more exciting for both fans and drivers. Therefore, the game’s realism aspect suggests that TC should be turned off to mimic real-world driving conditions. It isn’t quite this simple though. For new and inexperienced drivers to F1 24, turning TC off can seem like an impossible task and takes a lot of time and practice to perfect.

‍

HOW DOES TRACTION CONTROL ACTUALLY WORK?

Traction Control is an electronic system that limits the amount of power from the engine to stop the car from losing traction to the driving wheels (in F1 these are the rear wheels). Wheelspin happens when the car has more power than the tyres can physically provide grip for.

You have more than likely felt this in your road car when the road conditions have been greasy. You put your foot down hardon the accelerator and the car doesn’t want to go. This is because the output power and torque from the engine are trying to rotate the driving wheels faster than conditions allow for. Traction control will then cut in, stopping you from accelerating further until the tyres find grip.

Traction control was introduced as a safety measure in road cars to help drivers improve car control in slippery conditions. TC can be found in some forms of motorsport, such as GT and closed-wheel racing, but is not permitted in F1.

In F1 24, TC is available in three different settings: Full, Medium and Off, with Full being the maximum TC setting and Off being completely off.

‍

WHY IS DRIVING WITHOUT TC BETTER?

Despite making an F1 car more difficult to drive, turning TC off provides several significant performance benefits.

Acceleration and Car Control

Most notably, turning TC off will allow you to accelerate better and control the car at corner exit, especially in slow turns. When TC is enabled, the car can limit the power sent to the rear wheel sand prevent them from spinning. And spinning wheels means the car is not using its full potential of power when the accelerator is pressed. Turning TC off will allow you to decide how much and exactly when the car's full power should be used, which would have been otherwise limited.

Lap Times

Driving without TC can take some getting used to, but the underlying result is that TC off is faster than TC on. All top-level sim racers will strongly advise turning TC off if you want to reach those alien-level lap times. As mentioned before, your acceleration out of slow-speed corners will now be used to its full potential and not be limited by the car's traction control system.

Tyre Wear

Traction control has a direct effect on tyre wear and degradation. A high TC setting will stop almost all wheel spin and will help save tyre life, however, an experienced driver with TC off will be able to better manage their tyres rather than relying on the traction control settings. Using careful throttle application, driving without TC has been shown to improve tyre life while maintaining consistently fast lap times.

‍

TOP TIPS FOR DRIVING WITHOUT TRACTION CONTROL IN F1 24

There are several techniques to consider when learning to drive with TC turned off. Below are our top five tips for driving quickly without TC.

Pedal Control

The most obvious point to consider is that your throttle control now needs to be incredibly sensitive and gradual. In low gears, an F1 car has a lot of torque and can easily spin the wheels in third and fourth gear. Therefore, in slow corners where first, second, third and fourth gear are used, you must gradually squeeze the throttle to keep the rear axle from spinning up. Also, bear in mind that driving in wet conditions will exaggerate this effect, necessitating even more careful throttle modulation.

Graph to show Throttle Application in a slow-speed corner. Red – too hard too early, having to lift because of wheel spin. Blue – the ideal acceleration, later and more gradual.

High vs Low-Speed Corners

As mentioned above, TC has its biggest effect in slow-speed corners, so make notes on each circuit where these corners are and focus on keeping the rear wheels from spinning. The key is to have the car on the limit of adhesion without losing traction. This will take some time and practice to get used to. High-speed corners are less important as the car has less available torque, making it unlikely to break traction.

Aerodynamics

In F1, cars generate a huge amount of downforce. This downforce is caused by the air flowing over the surface of the cars’ bodies, pushing them into the ground. At high speeds, the downforce is much larger than at low speeds. This means that you can be more aggressive on the throttle in high-speed corners and not need to worry about losing rear traction. Slower corners equal less downforce and therefore less grip, which again means you need to be patient and progressive on the throttle.

Short Shifting

A common technique in F1 to avoid wheelspin; short-shifting is the process of changing up the gears well before reaching the RPM redline. This means that the car is not using its full amount of power and can therefore prevent the rear wheels from spinning. By using this technique, you can apply the throttle pedal quicker and more aggressively while still maintaining rear-end stability. For example, in a slow-speed, first-gear corner, you might want to avoid first gear altogether and pull away in second with a short shift to third, enabling you to keep rear traction while accelerating hard.

Same Graph, this time showing RPM and gear changes. Red – oversteer causing a throttle lift. Blue –short-shifting to avoid wheelspin

To gain more insights into improving your virtual driving techniques in F1 24, why not check out our AI-assisted tuition tool trophi.ai here?

Vehicle Set-up

If you find yourself struggling to keep the rear wheels from lighting up there are several vehicle set-up changes you can make to help increase rear traction. Bear in mind though that making changes to the rear set-up can have a knock-on effect on the front of the car.

Rear Camber and Toe

Reduce these to a more neutral set-up. The concept here is to have as much of the tyre surface in contact with the road as possible, improving acceleration. Too neutral however will reduce cornering grip.

Aero Changes

Increasing rear downforce will help move weight over the back of the car, improving rear-end grip. This will have a negative effect on straight-line speed, however.

Softer Rear, Stiffer Front

Making the rear of the car softer, or the front of the car stiffer, will help the rear tyres stay in contact with the road. Making these changes will reduce front-end grip, however. 

Differential Adjustment On/Off Throttle

Lower values here will allow for both the rear wheels to rotate freely. This makes it less likely for you to spin the rears. On the other hand, acceleration out of slow corners will be slightly compromised.

‍

HOW TO TURN OFF TC IN F1 24

Turning traction control off in F1 24 is a fairly simple process.

Open the game and in the main menu screen select ‘Assists’. From here, scroll down to ‘Traction Control’. Now you can select between the three TC modes ‘Off’, ‘Medium’ and ‘Full’

‍

CONCLUSION

Like with all forms of motorsport, making changes to vehicle set-ups can take time to get used to. Practice does make perfect and as mentioned throughout this article there is a significant performance advantage to driving without TC enabled.

Find a circuit you know well, turn TC to Medium and try it out. When you gain some confidence, make the step to turn it off and set some laps. Focus heavily on progression and patience with the throttle. Finding the limits of grip in slow-speed corners is the key to maximising acceleration. Once you start to become more comfortable with the technique, the process will become muscle memory and the amount of throttle you apply will become second nature.

If you liked this article, or think there is something we could have improved on, then please let us know! Send us an email at support@trophi.ai.