5 Easy Tips To Race Without The Dynamic Racing Line

The Dynamic Racing Line within the F1 2019 game is a great tool for learning the tracks. It shows you the rough racing line throughout the whole track, along with the braking zones and when you can accelerate.

We would highly recommend enabling this when you first jump in to the game, or want to learn a new track. In fact we do suggest using it in our Beginners Guide To F1 2019.

However it shouldn’t be used as gospel. The dynamic racing line doesn’t show you the fastest way around the track. It instead shows you a good suggestion of where you should place your car. The braking zones wont push you to the limits or allow you to put in the fastest lap time.

If you rely too heavily on the racing line you wont ever be able to maximise your lap time. You may also become too dependant on the line to tell you when to brake, rather than memorising the best line.

The only way to truly memorise a circuit is to disable the dynamic racing line entirely.

Learn The Circuits

One of the keys to being able to disable the dynamic racing line is to learn the circuit. While the racing line is still enabled you need to try to learn the track rather than solely relying on the racing line. By driving the same circuit lap after lap you should soon start to learn the order fo the corners and where to place your car during the lap.

Try to memorise which corner comes after which. You can do this by paying attention to environmental cues. Learn to look for marking around the tracks and pieces of landscape such as bridges or particular trees.

By learning which corner comes after which, you will then be able to place the car on the right side of the track on the approach. This is crucial to being able to get the best line around a corner.

After a few laps, either in a grand prix weekend, or during a time trial, you should start to learn the rough layout. Once you disable the racing line you will be on your own to decide what part of the track to be on and when.

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Distance Marker Boards

Your best friend when deciding when to brake for a corner are the distance marker boards. Most corners have these on the outside of the approach. And they generally increase in 50m increments.

Whilst the braking line is still active try to line up the braking zones with track marker boards. Do this by watching when the line turns red. This is the indicator to brake. As you approach a corner and you see the line turning red, look to the outside of the track to see if there is a track marker board.

There might not be a distance marker board which exactly lines up with the start of the braking zone. This is OK. If there is a marker board just before or just after the braking zone you can learn to brake just before or just after the board.

Even if the braking zone starts half way between two marker boards, you will know to brake roughly half way between the two.

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Environmental Cues

There wont always be a marker board to reference, which is why you should also take note of other environmental cues. There are a few places around most tracks where your braking point will be at the exact same time as you pass under a bridge, or pass over a change in tarmac.

For example, the entry to the hairpin at the Canadian grand prix has a braking point just as you pass over the change in tarmac colour. And in Monza, you can use the bridge just before the second chicane as your braking point.

Whether you are approaching a corner looking for a track marker, or an environmental cue, you should be able to have a single point of reference for every corner.

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Pushing Your Limits Approaching Corners

One area where driving with a dynamic racing line will slow you down is the inability to push the boundaries. Generally, the racing line will tell you to brake before you really have to. It will show a small area where you ease of the throttle and start to apply the brake.

In reality, you want to be braking at almost 100% pressure the moment you lift off the throttle. This will reduce the empty space where the racing line tells you to lift and coast.

By reducing this dead space, you will decrease your overall braking distance, and in turn be able to brake later in to a corner.

You will only really learn this when you turn off the racing line. The racing line, as good as it is at aiding your learning of the track, it will teach you bad habits, such as coasting in to corners.

When you are confident enough to turn off the dynamic racing line, you will quickly be able to push the boundaries and find extra lap time. Braking later and pushing the limit will also aid your overtaking during races. As being able to brake late is a key skill when overtaking.

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Knowing Your Car’s Limitations

Whilst pushing the limits of the track is great, you still need to be aware of your car’s aerodynamic limitations.

We always say to new players that you only learn the limits of both the car and track if you overstep them. To learn the latest point to brake around a corner, you need to push beyond your normal limit, meaning you will probably miss the apex or come off track.

When you know this limit you can reel it back a bit until you start to consistently hit the apex of the corner.

As well as knowing the track limitations, your car has limitations of its own. If you put too much force through your car or ask too much of it, you will lose traction and the car will de-stabilise. This limit can be experienced if you brake too late and try to turn the car whilst braking. You will almost certainly lock at least one of your front wheels. At the same time, if you accelerate too hard or too early whilst still turning your rear wheels you will lose traction at the rear.

The best way to learn your car’s limits are to drive a practice session in a grand prix weekend. We wouldn’t recommend trying to learn the limits in time trial mode, as the car handles differently to an actual grand prix weekend.

During a grand prix weekend your car will be much more likely to oversteer than during time trial. And a lot of this is down to the tyres, fuel load and track conditions. The best thing to do is disable any form of car damage, and just drive lap after lap.

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Practice

As mentioned in the point above, practice is your friend when trying to learn to drive without the dynamic racing line in F1 2019.

We would recommend keeping the dynamic racing line on for 10-15 laps around a circuit. By this stage you should be remembering the track layout, and spotting certain markers around the track. As soon as you are remembering where to brake and which corners come in which order turn the racing line off.

Your first few laps without the racing line may be a little wild. But don’t panic. Try to remember the markers on the side of each corner, and remember which side of the track to be on coming out of a corner. These two important elements are key for you being able to drive a clean lap of any circuit without the racing line assist.

Once you are able to drive a few laps at any speed without any mistakes you will be able to start pushing the limits of both track and car. At this stage you should feel confident enough to participate in a grand prix weekend race.

Competing in races against AI will only enhance your understanding of the track as you will be able to follow other cars and see their positioning around the track and through the corners.

As you progress you will be able to up the AI difficulty bit by bit and improve your lap times. You may also look to create a custom setup to further enhance your lap times. If you do, read our comprehensive F1 2019 car setup guide.

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