Be Faster Through Corners in F1 22 – Definitive Cornering Guide

With the new F1 22 game, there have been some big changes to the car’s handling model. This is in part due to the new regulations for 2022. Cars are now heavier and have much less aero generated from the front and rear wings.

These changes make the cars in F1 22 feel a little clunkier through some of the slower corners. If you’ve raced previous Formula 1 games, you won’t need to fully re-learn how to drive the new F1 22 cars. But you will need to re-adjust your driving style slightly to get the most performance out of this year’s car.

This guide will run through some of the best techniques to improve your cornering in F1 22.

Learn the ideal racing line

The ideal racing line is the part of the track where you should position your car through a lap to ensure you’re travelling at the fastest speeds at all times. This almost always positions the car on the opposite side of the track to the upcoming corner.

A racing line will shorten each corner by seeing you cut across from the outside of the track, to the inside at the apex, and then back out to the outside as you exit the turn. This will limit the amount of speed you need to remove as you approach a corner.

If you stick to the ideal racing line throughout a whole lap, you will have the potential to put in optimal lap times. Below is a sample racing line through a single corner.

Braking zone

The braking zone, portrayed in the image above in red is the part of the corner where you’ll apply the brakes to slow down. The braking zone starts before you turn into the corner. The aim is to use the braking zone to slow your car ready to turn into the apex.

While braking you’ll ideally be travelling in a straight line to maximise your braking efficiency. In most scenarios, you should apply 100% brake pressure at the start of the braking zone, and reduce your brake pressure as you start to rotate your car into the corner. This technique is called trail braking.

I’ll talk about what trail braking is exactly and how to perfectly trail brake a little lower down in this guide.

Turn in

The turn-in point of a corner is where you start to turn your steering wheel to move across the track and towards the inside apex. Generally, you will have reduced brake pressure applied at this stage to allow you to turn.

You will want to turn your car in to try and touch or ride just over the inside kerb. This is the part of the corner called the apex. Try to turn in a single smooth motion. The smoother you rotate the car, the more balanced your car will be throughout the whole corner.

Corner exit

The corner exit is the part of the corner after the apex. This is where you will start to reduce your steering input and start applying throttle. You will start to drift away from the inside of the track towards the outside whilst you apply as much throttle as you safely can.

It’s important during this stage of the corner to manage your throttle so you don’t break traction and start to oversteer. If you accelerate too early while you still have steering lock applied, you can easily spin your car around.

Try to gradually apply the throttle on the corner exit as you straighten the car. Ideally, by the time the car is straight in most scenarios, you should try to be at or close to 100% throttle.

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Perfect your steering inputs

As mentioned above, applying smooth steering inputs are crucial to maintaining balance within your car. Any form of erratic steering input or multiple stabs at turning the wheel will increase the chance of your car losing stability or breaking traction.

Smooth steering

Throughout every lap in F1 22, you will want smooth inputs with every application. Smooth throttle management, smooth braking and smooth steering.

Sharp steering inputs especially can cause your car’s weight balance to move quickly. This isn’t a good thing, as the momentum change of your car’s weight shifting can cause instability.

Smooth steering in F1 22 will minimise the aggressiveness of any weight balance shift. This will help keep your car stable throughout any action you undertake.

Read about how to be faster in F1 22 in more detail

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Don’t brake too late

Braking late into a corner sounds like a good idea. In theory, if you brake later you can overtake cars in front and increase the amount of time you’re spending at high speed. However, this can have a negative effect.

If you brake too late into a corner, you risk missing the apex and going off of the racing line. This could mean you’ll have to slow down more than if you would have made the apex. It can also put you out of position and slow to start accelerating down the following straight.

This technique can lose you more time than you gain from braking late.

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Learn how to trail brake

Trail braking in F1 22 is a technique that involves easing off the brake pedal on the entry to a corner whilst starting to apply steering input. This combination of braking and steering can help maximise your tyre’s performance potential at all times.

If you brake, then lift off of the brake, wait and then start to turn, there is a moment when you are essentially coasting into the corner. This coasting where you aren’t applying any brake or steering input is not working your tyres to their maximum potential.

By combining the two, you ensure your tyres are being worked fully at all times.

Trail braking is extremely helpful to help reduce your braking point, and it also helps reduce understeer at certain corners. If you try to turn your steering wheel in F1 22 whilst braking hard you will notice your car doesn’t turn overly quickly. You’ll experience understeer and potentially lock a front wheel as it becomes overloaded.

Below is a sample corner along with the actions that I would perform on the approach and during the corner.

Corner Entry – Braking

• Brake at full pressure at the corner’s braking point
• Maintain full pressure as much as possible without locking any wheels until you want to start turning

Corner Entry – Turning

• Start to lift off the brake pedal gradually
• Start to turn into the corner when brake pressure is lower than 50%
• Brake pressure should be between 35-50% as you start turning
• Decrease brake pressure to 15-25% midway toward the apex
• Keep gradually releasing the brake pressure to zero just before the apex
  • The amount of brake pressure you need to keep applied varies from corner to corner

Mid Corner

• Your brakes should be fully released by the time you hit the apex
• Start to look at hitting the apex and focus on your acceleration out of the corner

For a more detailed explanation on trail braking in F1 22, read our guide on How To Brake Better in F1 22.

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Maintain a high minimum speed

Your minimum corner speed is the lowest speed you will reach when travelling through a corner. This is normally at or just before the corner’s apex. A lot of time can be found if you keep your minimum speed as high as possible.

If you can be faster travelling through a corner, you have a very good chance of being quicker than other drivers around you.

To keep your minimum speed high you’ll want to look to do a few things;

• Follow the ideal racing line through a corner as this is generally the quickest path through any turn.
• Trail brake efficiently to reduce having to slow down as much before turning.
• Increasing your aerodynamic setup can increase your cornering speed.

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Perfect your acceleration

Another very important part of being faster through corners in F1 22 is to manage your throttle control perfectly. Good throttle control coming out of corners can really help you have a good chance of overtaking or defending down any straight which follows.

Avoid wheelspin

Avoiding wheelspin is one of the most crucial parts of managing your corner exit in F1 22. If you apply full throttle when exiting a corner, chances are in most scenarios you will break traction and possibly spin your car, especially if accelerating from a low speed.

Instead, you will want to gradually apply the throttle while you get up to speed. In some corners, such as really slow hairpins, you’ll need to accelerate so gently to avoid wheel spinning. Every split second spent spinning your wheels reduces the time to get up to speed. It will also wear out your rear tyres much faster.

Throttle control out of corners does take time to learn, and you have to feel out most corners individually. When in doubt, applying lower amounts of throttle as opposed to applying too much throttle is a good way to learn a corner.

If you apply too much throttle straight away on lap one of learning a track in F1 22, you risk losing control of your car. Instead, applying too little throttle, while it will make you slower, does allow you to gradually build up speed lap after lap.

You can keep increasing the amount of throttle and how soon you apply it each lap until you reach the limit for a particular corner.

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Practice in all weather conditions

Simply put, eventually, in F1 22 you will face a race where it is raining to some degree. And when that time comes, you should try to be prepared and know how to corner in the rain in F1 22.

Driving in the rain requires a lot more finesse and delicate inputs compared to the dry. This is because you have much less grip in wet conditions, even if it’s only raining a little bit. Some key tips to remember when driving in the rain in F1 22;

• Your braking zones will be longer so brake earlier into corners
• You’re more likely to lock a wheel, so reduce your brake pressure sooner
• Your rear tyres will spin easier under acceleration so be gentle on the throttle
• You can’t carry as much speed through a corner, so you’ll have to be slower through each turn

Across a race weekend in career mode or My Team mode, you will have access to three practice sessions. And the weather can change throughout a race weekend. You may find that one or more of your practice sessions has wet weather.

In this situation avoid skipping the session, and instead put in as many laps as you can in the wet conditions. This will allow you to adjust to the increased braking distances and lack of grip that rain brings in F1 22.

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Summary

Hopefully, some of these tips will help you corner faster in F1 22. There is a lot of extra lap time to be gained from mastering your cornering technique, so try to practice these techniques above throughout your F1 22 career.

If you are interested in more detailed F1 22 guides, check out the detailed articles below on how to become faster in F1 22.

• How to be faster in F1 22 guide
• How to be better at cornering in F1 22 guide
• The best racing wheels for F1 22
• How to create the perfect car setup in F1 22

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