Air Racing Techniques

[Dodge 7,248]

This is a Forum designated for Air Racing Techniques Videos. @Hatch will posting some that know of. Some of the faster flyers may as well.

[Lann 10,838]

Ok, i would like to ask for some advice on racing helicopters. What i do don't seems to work. I press R2  like any vehicle and then I press L3 front to go ahead and not just up. And then I also turn using L3.  I usually wobble alot more than i probably should as soon as I try and turn.  Any advice is much appreciated. 

 

[Dodge 7,248]

@Hatch, @ScottyB, and @kernalhogan are probably knowledgeable on this subject  I'll let them take this one  

[JustHatched 12,103]

On 11/7/2016 at 1:23 PM, Lann said:

Ok, i would like to ask for some advice on racing helicopters. What i do don't seems to work. I press R2  like any vehicle and then I press L3 front to go ahead and not just up. And then I also turn using L3.  I usually wobble alot more than i probably should as soon as I try and turn.  Any advice is much appreciated. 

 

I would have to hop in game to come up with advise, been awhile since I raced a heli and don't remember controls off top of head

[ScottyB 2,086]

On 08/11/2016 at 6:23 AM, Lann said:

Ok, i would like to ask for some advice on racing helicopters. What i do don't seems to work. I press R2  like any vehicle and then I press L3 front to go ahead and not just up. And then I also turn using L3.  I usually wobble alot more than i probably should as soon as I try and turn.  Any advice is much appreciated. 

 

I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but may have some idea. This would be a good time to mention to @djw180 that a Helicopter crew challenge would be good because a lot of people do struggle with helicopters and the crew challenges can help them improve a lot. Something under 2 mins with a few different turns to push the helicopter would be suitable.

 

What I think you mean is that when you start to turn (bank) to the right, it will go to say 45 degrees, and then sway back to 30 degrees or so and will continue rocking for a bit. What's happening is that the chopper can only bank at (just using random angles to explain) a maximum of 35 degrees (think of it as a turning circle) and you've forcefully thrown it into the corner making it go up to 45 degrees (similar to throwing a car around the corner and the back slides out) so the chopper will naturally want to stabilise back to its maximum of 35 degrees and will start rocking back and forth until it's comfortable (like a pendulum/swing that wants to stay upright but you've pushed it so it swings).

 

 That's the basic idea behind whats happening in your situation and it depends on the corner you're taking to how you should handle it. The best way I've found to stabilise it is to use the rudders (L1 and R1). Whatever direction you want the chopper to point, use the same side rudder. So if you're turning right, use R1 to help turn and stabilise it. Alternatively, if you have thrown the chopper around a corner and it's tilting to the right, but you want to straighten it up, use L1 to help straighten and stabilise (like counter steering).

 

The choppers also experience a lot of turbulence which is very noticeable when going in a straight line. Your characters flight stat affects it but all of ours should be full, so that won't be the issue. I don't know how much the turbulence affects speed (for racing) but I handle it by slightly rocking the left joystick (while all the way forward) between centre and slightly to the right. You'll work out a timing to it and learn to read what the chopper is doing/going to do but it's basically counteracting the turbulence that's throwing it around.

 

It is quite hard to explain and really just takes practice but that's why I think a crew challenge would be good and I'd be willing give advice if people were to upload videos.

[Lann 10,838]

Thanks alot @ScottyB will try this and practice! 

[djw180 6,851]

@ScottyB @Hatch @Lann etc

I was thinking of doing a helicopter race for the next crew challenge, starting this Sunday. It that something you'd be able to take part in or give advice if contestants post videos of their own best laps?

[DavidCore89 7,402]

@Banketelli is also a good chopper pilot.

[djw180 6,851]

I meant to write this up a couple of weeks ago but kept forgetting. We did a helicopter crew challenge and this is what I figured out whilst doing that. I can't say this is definitely the way to fly fast, just what worked for me, there may other things I could have have done and some I did may have made no difference.

 

Starting with the basics, just in case some people have different set ups.

• R2 is up, L2 is down.
• Left stick to steer. R1 and L1 to make sharper turns.
• Left stick forwards with R2 makes you go forwards whilst gradually losing a bit of altitude.
• Left stick back makes you slow down.

 

If you can, you want R2 and stick forwards all the time. Doing anything else is losing speed.

If you need to lose altitude quickly you can do L2 & stick forwards, but I found it was usually better to have R2 and L2 & stick forwards to lose a bit of height when that was needed – this of course would depend on the coarse. Some you may need to lose or gain altitude quicker.

As in all racing you go fastest when your travelling in as straight a line as possible. So you want to make turns a smooth as possible and not turn too sharply, unless you have to. (see Bank's video, at the first turn).

If you can, just use the left stick to steer, try to avoid using L1 and R1. If you do need to sharpen the turns then don't hold L1/R1 for too long. I found the helicopter keeps rotating a bit after you release L1/R1 so release them before the turn is complete and that seems to make you faster.

 

The other thing, of course, is knowing the track. You can cut corners quite a bit to the sides and knowing just how far inside a CP you can go and still hit can make your corners much faster. But if it's a race you don't know then you want to make sure you hit the CP because re-spawning to get a missed CP will be race over.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2017 by djw180