Pitching mechanics (?)

[Amorbis]

It's not so much of a shortcut, but you can boost over the straight with the three boost pads for an extra barrel roll by pitching up and using the turbo. That's what I do on Phantom SL/TT, I'm unsure if anyone else uses it.

[H3avyM3tal]

Oh, I know that one. True that I have not seen many people do it, but I do it every time I can. Got it from Beat Zico trophy. pu right before the speed pads where there is a small bump on the road, fly over into the tunnel and make another br.

However, you have to be precise with pitching and turning so you land right on a speed pad at the entrance to the tunnel.

[AnErare]

Pitching may not be too important in general but I feel it does add to anticipating following corners or bumps. It leaves more room to pull off better lines but that may not necessarily mean better times depending on one's chosen line.

There are a few spots though were it certainly matters, aside from the ones already mentioned. For instance where you enter the last straight on Ubermall forward going up the hill, use pitch and see what I mean. You gain fast on ships not pitching over there or pilots who are not going for a BR because you save the ship from almost jumping/catching air and leaving the AG field. Of course there are the places where pitch can cost or gain you a barrel roll but at off camber turns, very short corners and inclines and declines it can be very helpfull indeed. Also at short gaps like on vineta or bumpy corners on Sol 2 it can spare you a marginal to a quite some time, add that up to 5 laps and it may decide your winning goal. That especially goes for non-weapons races where energy is tight and speed efficiency matters the most!

[AG-wolf]

I pitch constantly; I feel like it helps throw the ship into certain corners and prepare for undulations in the track ahead. If you take a long arcing turn like in Chenghou or Sol 2, it helps you immensely if you sort of slightly rock the nose of the ship up and down.

[yeldar2097]

does anybody actually want me to finish my first post or have people got the gist of pitching?

[H3avyM3tal]

^Finish away please, good informative post

[Spece2goin]

yep
finish it please
it's very interesting to see how a good racer play!
there are some tips that i would discover with time, but there, it's a good save.
a way to make progress faster
ty

[lunar]

Yes please finish it Yeldar, it`s very informative.

I think pitching up adds grip for corners, but it`s not always practical to do it maybe. Also it`s essential for many of the skater tricks I think. I wish wipeout hd supported Negcons or that there was some sort of controller more suitable for doing pitch and steering at the same time - such as what actual AG pilots would use. I don`t think they would be using dpads or analogue sticks, even with motion control sensors for pitch.

[IH8YOU]

I'd say pitching on Phantom is critical to keeping ON the track when going downhill - or boosting up one - so you can retain much needed speed. (higher you fly, slower you go, sadly)

Below Phantom, pitching is EQUALLY as important - trust me as I specialize in everything outside of Phantom. (I'm a low-speed-racer) If you want to BR over the tunnel crest on Anulpha pass BELOW Rapier - you MUST pitch up, at EXACTLY the right time - do it, and you can BR every lap there. (no boost required)

Ditto that for the upper deck on the "Zico BR" - or if you're boosting on the upper deck and want to BR over other people before landing on the 4 speed pads. (boost RIGHT at the beginning and nose-up to do this)

Everyone knows the Zico combo link using a boost - don't pitch, and that's not happening.

Coming out of the tunnel on Anulpha in Rapier + (before the left hander with the 3 staggered speed pads) - if you line-arc in the middle, then mid-corner side-shift AND pull back, you can get enough air to BR through the next corner, and because you're clipping the edge of the track (a "shortcut") - you don't have to turn and lose your speed. P.S. Anulpha Pass Reverse - SAME CORNER, you can BR too - just invert the action - swing wide-mid on the corner, side-shift right, pitch back, and BR up into the tunnel.

So pitching important? My opinion? Bet yer @$$ it is.

[XBARNSTERX]

Reading this made me realize how much i use pitch, i use 6 axis its become so natural i dont realize im doing it. Would definitely say it makes a huge difference for some turns, hills and boost jumps etc, id recommend using it. Also have my motion sensor at 100% it that to much not to sure .

[OBH]

Everyones pretty much nailed it, but ill say my 2 cents worth

For me personally, i learnt the art of pitching from a load of speed laps on sebenco. You lose a great deal of time over the many crests if you dont pitch down, so was ideal for me to see how much my time was improving.

once you get to grips with keeping yourself firmly on the track, you can then learn pitching for its 2nd perpose 0 pitching up off crests and barrel rolling

though really all you have to do is watch some of the many top quality videos people have posted, theres LOTS of pitching going on there

[IH8YOU]

OBH youre one of WOHD demi gods, yet you forgot the 3rd rule of pitching! As you crest a hill and br, br, br, BR, BBB RRR only to hear the half-assed wimper of an ''attempted br" as you land one MUST pitch a fit of rage. Thats the 3rd version of pitching. Im an expert in it. No badge yet...

[LOUDandPROUD]

You're a funny guy, Anthony!

[yeldar2097]

forward tracks finished

[ProblemSolver]

Pitching is quite usefull. One can corner a lot better using it. But! It's rather
difficult to maintain stability upon steering and pitching at the same time
using the left analog stick, since one has to control an additional degree of
freedom (pitching) which is directly coupled with steering in this case.
Interestingly, it can be shown mathematically that such systems tend to
be unstable. The same does not hold for the d-pad, because the two degrees
of freedom are decoupled there. It would be a rather nice if we could assign
pitching to the right analog stick! I would swear to increase each of my
ZONE records by 5, at least, with ease. A really precise control of pitching is
missing for ZONE, it would help a lot! But not only for ZONE, I think it would
be an improvement for every race type. Don't forget that a lot of ppl aim with
the right analog stick in other games. Hence, lots of precision to be put to
good use!

[Connavar]

^ Yeah there is that, and also it would be nice to be able to invert LEFT and
RIGHT, so I could use the right analog stick to steer! (and use the d-pad for
weapons).

[yeldar2097]

Well spotted ProblemSolver
the main problem with using the stick is that (as far as i can tell) you can't 100% pitch and 100% steer at the same time. If you could change the steering sensitivty that would be helpful...then again you'd lose quite a bit of control (at least i would).
makes me wish i could use motion...

@conna: would that mean using d-pad to accelerate as well?

[H3avyM3tal]

Too many 'after' in your post, yeldar2097!!! Great post though, so all can be fogiven

@ProblemSolver: I never got the impression that pitching is needed in Zone, because the ship rarely grind the floor, and it never leaves the ag field to take advantage of pitching up. I am interested in why you think it could improve your zone record by that much.

[yeldar2097]

I'll change the layout or something to make it more understandable.

i'll take some screenshots/videos to demontrate

[Connavar]

yeldar, yeah sure the d-pad to accelerate, and as a toggle.
So you push down to accelerate (could remap the button too), then it does it
forever, and to stop accelerating you quickly push down 2-3 times.

The toggle feature would be great even with current controls...