better safe than sorry?

In W3 I have noticed that 90 degree turns and other sharp turns are very abundant in most of the tracks..However I just to recently realized that you don't have to put on the airbrake to get through one you just have to have the right timing. However this was in Vector and Venom modes..I have played a small dose of Rapier and know it might be possible to make some turns w/o the airbrake..But in a crucial race when there is the second place craft right behind me and if I make one mistake on the last lap its over, is it better to slow down and take the turn w/ the brake, or blast through w/o the brake, with the possibility of hitting the wall and loosing speed, but in the end, gaining more speed by making the turn...Do you get what I'm saying? This oppurtunity has come before and I braked, and the craft smashed into me depleting most of my energy and then another craft locked onto me w/missiles and I was done for :cry: . So this is very aggravating so if someone could help me with this it would be greatly appreciated.. I just need some type of guide as to (when to use the airbrake) and (when not to use it)...Thanks

Thanks again- Pirhana59

Although airbrakes can slow you down, their correct usage is to aid steering, not reduce speed. That's the reason why you have a left airbrake and a right one. They work better if you just tap then (just one of them) slightly before the turn. I never ever use both brakes at the same time. I don't know if others do it with succes, though.

In case you doubt if a turn should be taken without braking I'd say go for it. Finding a good racing line is usually faster than braking but it is true that some tight turns will be faster if you can corner thanks to a slight tap in the brake.

Anyways, airbraking is something one must learn by himself. Some pilots here even use a technique of counterbraking (left brake for some right turns and viceversa) but I don't really use it.

PRACTICE LEADS TO PERFECTION !

The answers are hidden in xEik's signature -

"PRACTICE LEADS TO PERFECTION !"

Amen to that xEik!

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for me, air-brake steering is a necessity in the upper speed classes, but you should always use the minimum possible. as xEik mentions, in addition to using brake steering in the normal way, there is a technique of using the normal steering controls in combination with the outside brake to avoid oversteering. this is particularly handy when using the on-off digital steering of the D-pad. it can save you from crashing into the inside wall when the curve straightens out. but it isn't something you normally use; there are only a few places where it works. i only use it on two corners of the 12 courses in wo3. and not always there. i suspect that if my timing were more accurate, i wouldn't need the technique, but my personal jury of one is still deliberating this case.

part of the reason that brake steering is more needed in high-speed classes is the fact that the ships have more excess power which allows for more spontaneity in reaction to other ships actions, particularly on the first lap, or on the last lap when you're lapping the sluggards who are holding you back from your new world record time. ;) but in the slow classes, the ships have so little acceleration that any departure from the perfect line is going to cost you a best time, so you might as well re-start.

all these remarks apply to single-player mode, but when racing against live opponents, the competition is about winning the race instead of best times, so every control possible must be used even in Vector class. [not that one is likely to be racing experienced opponents in the slow classes, but against novices, yeah. or against old guys like me with no reflexes]
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for rapier and phantom there are no hard and fast rules about when to brake, imo, it depends entirely on the ship and your racing style. But I think you should avoid hitting walls at all costs: as far as I know there aren`t any places where its faster to hit the wall than to miss it, (apart from this being a very ugly thing to do), and also every wall-bang takes away a big chunk of very valuable boost-juice. So with this in mind its probably better to be a bit over-cautious if anything at first, learn how to fly a perfect lap, at least in theory, get the feel of the corners and when you`re in control all the way round you can identify places where you can go faster and just as safely without braking. Maybe I`m too cautious, but once you get to the fast rapier ships I`d say start slower and build up speed rather than go off like a maniac and never learn anything. :) Also experiment with pitch control, it makes an enormous difference and cuts down on the places where you`ll need to brake. Hi Fumii is a great one to practice all kinds of nose up/nose down moves, I think. I need to practice that one more myself though.... :oops:

As far as the other ships go, after you overtake them on rapier and phantom the important thing is to be clean through the next few corners so they don`t even get a chance to blast your tailpipe and play wall-pong with your helpless wallowing icaras. Brake if you want to, but don`t hit a wall. On some long straights its worth using some boost to get away, or saving a shield or cloak for it if you know its coming.

welcome to wipeout, by the way. :D

and if you see a copy of wipeout 3 SE, you must buy it: you get an extra eight tracks plus more prototypes. Its the mother of all wipeouts.

Well, I keep repeating it but so far few people have gone into it the delicious technique of counterbraking, as I call it.

Many a time when I see a sharp bend coming I use my brake and steer and find myself going too much in one direction. In some corners it's almost impossible to avoid either crashing against the wall of the opposite side or the walls of the side you're trying to curve (speaking phantom only here, by the way). If you use your other airbrake (the one of the opposite direction) too after you've used the correct one you can almost make perfect corners even in the really nasty bits. Of course it does reduce your speed more than would making a perfect move round the bend, but it helps avoiding serious collisions and usually won't let you down...

V.

I think I know what you mean, Vasudeva, I do something like that quite unconsciously really. The best example I can think of is the first corner on Sagarmatha: a little bit of right airbrake just before you go in seems to make room somehow for the bend to the left and quick right again. If I don`t do it there`s a high risk of hitting the wall as I enter the tunnel. The tap of the brake in the "wrong" direction seems to increase the amount of swing you get on the ship, and improve the angle in another way to just taking a different line, if I`m not imagining it.

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Pirhana59: i have the impression that you're in North America; if so, in case it hasn't been mentioned elsewhere, WO3 SE is only available in the PAL version, so you will need to get a modchip for your american NTSC console, or acquire the european/australian PAL hardware
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@ Lunar

Yes, exactly! Finally, someone who appears to understand what I'm talking about! I was beginning to become afraid that my English had become unintelligible. Which wouldn't be a good thing. :)

V.

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jeroen: i thought i mentioned that in my first post on this thread [fourth post overall]
*sniffles*
i am so misunderstood
;)
[not to mention so needy of credit and approval]
[and psychoanalysis]
;)

hee hee Lance

has there ever been any research as to whether playing wipEout excessively causes nerve damage or psychological disorders? in that case, I don't think I'm any better off than you are! ;)

V.

Well, the back of the box for Fusion states:

[Warning: Operation of A-G craft and devices places abnormal levels of stress on nervous and pulmonary systems, which can result in one or more of the following physiological symptoms: Pupil dilation, uncontrolled endorphin release, and sleep loss. Do not exceed recommended daily dosage.]

Whether 'devices' refers to the games is unclear; but I say we should test this. I'll go first! :D *goes to fire up wip3out*

And what *is* the recommended daily dose? They're clever enough not to mention and let us ruin ourselves! Woe! ;)

V.

On 90 degree turns at Rapier and Phantom class, pushing down on the d-pad / control stick to raise the nose of the craft as you go in to the corner makes a big difference too - in effect it shortens the length of the ship, leaving you more room to manouvre.

Jmoid is absolutely right there, I've always used that tactic on Rapier, and when I can, on Phantom (I'll admit, Phantom is still too fast for me sometimes, I have a hard enough time just getting the left/right thing right without going into sensory overload).

I try to use the airbrake as little as possible, I mean, if I can make it through a corner without using it, then why use it? :wink: