Driving without ABS in F1 24 is one of the more difficult aspects to master as you'll need to manage your brake pressure every corner. Here are our top tips for learning to drive without ABS in F1 24.
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ABS (anti-lock braking system) is a great driving assist in F1 24 for newer players or those who don’t want to worry about locking their wheels during braking. It is however an unrealistic driver assist in F1 24 as real-world Formula 1 drivers do not use ABS. Using ABS can make your lap times slower, so we’d recommend not using it as long as you feel comfortable braking.
The ABS driver assist is a very useful one in F1 24. It lets players brake more comfortably without worrying about locking a wheel, and is especially useful in wet conditions.
The problem with ABS is that when enabled it can make you slower than if you race without it. So if you’re chasing the best lap times or competing online, turning ABS off in F1 24 may be a better option.
In this F1 24 tips guide, I’ll run through our top tips to help you race without ABS in F1 24 faster.
The ABS in F1 24 stands for anti-lock braking system. It is an artificial assist that will prevent your wheels from locking during heavy braking.
Without ABS enabled, as you brake and slow down, you’ll need to reduce your brake pressure to avoid your wheels from locking up. With ABS enabled, you can brake at full pressure for the entire braking zone and let ABS handle the pressure modulation for you.
ABS is designed to check to see if your brakes run the risk of locking up. If the system detects that your brakes are about to lock, the ABS kicks in and automatically reduces the brake pressure to a point which will stop your brakes from locking. All of this is managed behind the scenes, so you won’t notice it happening.
In some cases, using ABS can be faster. It’s faster if you struggle to manage the brakes without locking up. With ABS taking over, you can focus more on your corner entry and your speed through each corner.
If however, you are an experienced sim racer and can manage the brake pressure correctly, driving F1 24 without ABS will almost always be marginally faster.
While driving without ABS enabled in F1 24 can be faster, and it is more realistic and immersive. Learning to drive without ABS in F1 24 is tricky. Below are some of the key parts of braking that need to be learnt to efficiently drive without ABS, along with our tips on how to quickly become comfortable with ABS disabled.
Becoming comfortable with modulating your brake pressure is the key to driving F1 24 without ABS enabled. This is the art of reducing your brake pressure as you slow down and approach a corner’s apex.
As you start braking into most corners you can have 100% brake pressure applied. But as your car slows down, less brake pressure will be required to continue to slow your car. If you have too much pressure applied at slow speeds, you can overwhelm the brakes and they will lock up.
Locking up will cause you to slow down at a slower rate, and can cause you to run wide, understeer and miss the corner. It also negatively affects your tyre wear, so it’s best avoided.
On the approach to a corner, chances are you will want to start steering towards the apex before you fully release the brakes. This is called trail braking and will almost always be the fastest route into a corner.
When doing this, you will need to reduce your brake pressure in line with how much steering input you apply. This is because your tyres only have so much grip available and steering and braking are heavily linked.
Its easier to visualise this link by thinking of your tyres as having 100% of maximum grip that they can use to turn and brake. This 100% can be distributed across steering and braking, but if exceeded will overwhelm the tyres and cause them to break traction.
If you are braking at 100% pressure, you won’t be able to turn the steering wheel. If you are turning the steering wheel at 100% lock, you won’t be able to apply the brakes. While doing a combination of both turning and steering, you have to ensure you modulate one so you can apply the other.
As well as modulating your brake pressure as mentioned above, there are a few other techniques that you can use to avoid locking a wheel in F1 24.
Braking in a straight line where possible is the number one tip for avoiding locking a wheel as well as maximising your braking performance.
If you are travelling in a straight line while braking, all of your tyre’s grip is being used to brake, and none is being used for turning. As soon as you apply any steering input, you are taking away some potential grip from your tyres which can elongate your braking zone.
To optimise your braking performance in F1 24, you should learn the best place to start braking around each track. Braking as late as possible can save you some lap time making you faster around a single lap. However, braking too late can cause you to lock your wheels, understeer or miss the corner apex and lose you time.
When you brake too late, a few things can happen. Either you brake harder for longer which can cause a wheel to lock up. You may have to slow your car down more than normal to make the corner, or you could miss the apex entirely which will slow you down.
Any of these outcomes are not good, especially during a qualifying run or in a race.
Every corner has an absolute braking point which is the distance to the corner where if you brake any later you won’t make the apex without one of the above negative outcomes happening.
During a Grand Prix weekend in F1 24, you get access to multiple practice sessions. These sessions are the perfect place to learn the braking point of each corner, as well as test the limits of the braking zone.
During these practice sessions, it’s recommended to push the limits and brake too late. This way you can learn the ideal braking point for each corner.
The above covers the basics of braking without locking your wheels around any track in F1 24. However, there are a few advanced braking techniques that can help to maximise your braking performance in different weather conditions.
I touched on trail braking a little earlier. But let’s jump into exactly what it is and how it benefits your lap time in F1 24.
Trail braking is the art of starting to trail off the brake pressure on the approach to the corner whilst simultaneously increasing your steering input. This will keep your tyres working hard throughout the whole corner, and it’s faster than separating the braking and turning part of the corner.
Cadence braking is an advanced braking technique that is particularly useful in wet weather conditions in F1 24. It is often referred to as stutter braking which takes its name from the constant on / off brake pressure that is applied and removed during the braking zone.
Cadence braking works by you braking heavily into the corner, and then just before your wheels lock, reduce the brake pressure. Then almost instantly, re-apply the brake pressure to a high level. Continuously do this over and over while you slow.
This technique does seem a bit counterintuitive due to the fact that you will be releasing the brake pedal during the braking zone. However, it works by braking hard and then releasing the pressure and resetting the brakes to avoid lockups.
This is useful in wet conditions due to the ease at which brakes will lock up on a wet track.
The tips above should help you learn to drive without ABS in F1 24. Try to apply the basics of learning to modulate your brake pressure while always braking at the same point each corner. This is the main technique to learn, and then you can apply advanced techniques such as trail braking to improve your braking performance in F1 24.
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Rich is the founder, F1 car setup creator and content writer for SimRacingSetups. With over a decade of experience as a graphic designer, marketing director, competitive sim racer and avid motorsport fan, Rich founded SimRacingSetup.com to share his passion and knowledge of sim racing and Formula 1 with other sim racers. Regularly writes for sim racing website SimRaceReviews.com
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