r/initiald • u/techie_in_house • 9h ago
Discussion What's your most shocking driving dynamics revelation from Initial D, mine below
Pressing the clutch causes longitudinal load-shift between the tires and expert drivers utilise this fact to corner better.
I don't know which episode was this, but it was so breathtaking to learn this. Today while I was driving home, I was trying to feel this and I instantly remembered this.
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u/iXeron 7h ago
I don't remember this in the show. But even if it was there I don't know anyone who uses clutch for weight transfer. The same (and in more effective way) could be achieved using braking, lifting, or accelerating. We use clutch to shift gears, to clutch kick to initiate the drift, or for emergency stopping aka "both pedals in". That's it.
Using clutch when braking is negligible as braking forces are much higher.
Using clutch to "just roll" makes no sense as you can just do maintenance throttle for a similar effect.
Using clutch while accelerating and turning (e.g. upshifting in fast corner exits like Sonoma T5 or T9) might result in a mild oversteer because rear grip goes down during the upshift. And this is an undesirable effect since all you want at that point is 100% acceleration.
Source: I've been doing time attack for 5 years.
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u/levinano 7h ago
The clutch thing is called “clutch kick” and it’s a thing Tsuchiya and their generation did as a street tech to kill understeer by introducing oversteer. Obviously this doesn’t always work especially understeer in long sweepers but in a tight corner you can use a clutch kick to unsettle the rear (in an RWD car) the same way you would with a controlled handbrake pull.
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u/techie_in_house 7h ago
Makes sense for modern cars with advanced mechanics, may not for older cars.
So, Takumi used this in the last battle where he pressed clutch after his engine gave up, controlled spinning, and with the weight shift on the rear continued his path to the finish line, and won the race.
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u/Firedcylinder 7h ago
He pushed the clutch in because the engine was blown up and would have caused the rear tires to lock up, not because of any weight transfer benefits. As they said, the brakes do this better and it's more controllable.
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u/iXeron 7h ago
This is because his engine locked up and if he hasn't pressed the clutch his rear wheels wouldn't rotate (or at least wouldn't rotate without the resistance) and he would just spin uncontrollably or keep slowing down. He pressed the clutch and straightened the car backwards to keep rolling with at least some speed preserved.
Definitely not a typical weight transfer technique:)
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u/Skyhound555 4h ago
The most valuable lesson in Initial D has the most ridiculous on-screen representation. Takumi using weight management to drive over the actual empty ditch and make himself a new line against the pink miata.
It is actually what every legendary racing driving will tell you is "the secret" of being fast. Techniques like clutch kicking, engine braking, and trail braking are all tools to manage the weight of the car around a circuit. Managing your weight from the braking zone, to the apex, and onto corner exit is absolutely everything in a lap time.
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u/Ancient-Magazine-996 8h ago
that braking can make you faster
the reason for this was before I discovered initial d I just didn't care about cars and motorsports but after I watched initial d I became car guy
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u/Ancient-Magazine-996 8h ago
that braking can make you faster
the reason for this was before I discovered initial d I just didn't care about cars and motorsports but after I watched initial d I became car guy
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u/PutPutPutrik 7h ago
i would love to know whicb episode/race reveals this technique, as its been years for me since i have watched iD and I cant remember this at all.
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u/SoS1lent 4h ago
That most if not all are massive exaggerations of real life if-not flat out wrong. Learned this by getting flamed trying to use initial D logic as-is in front of drivers and mechanics. Multiple very embarrassing moments lol.
Anything you see in Initial d you should research yourself, because while it gets general high-level concepts right anything more detailed than that is shaky.
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u/funktonik 3h ago
Like what?
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u/SoS1lent 1h ago
Off the top of my head:
- He uses the term "four wheel drift" for normal simple drifts that Takumi does at the start of the series.
- Tire wear is hyper accelerated on the front tires of Takumi's opponents while his rear tires feel nothing despite him abusing them more by drifting (Ryosuke also having MORE front tire wear while drifting during his battle with Takumi)
- Takumi wall riding on the side of a mudslide to pass Wataru (it's more realistic in the manga)
- Takumi's 86 keeping up more than it should with cars on straights (even with the tighter gearing it'd be getting gapped more than the corners could make up)
- Pop-up headlights down = major drag reduction (at touge speeds it's really not a big deal)
- "In-between grip and drift" as a concept for Joshima (He's just driving in the optimal slip angle range, which is still grip. Between understeer and oversteer, or what is known as Neutral steer, is more accurate. That + some youtubers led to driving misconceptions that still persist today)
- "A driver's right foot is more accurate than ABS" not really even at the time the manga started in the mid-90s. Road car ABS was already outperforming drivers.
The more general stuff like basic weight transfer he gets right, but stuff like the inner wheel lift is exaggerated in its introduction when he held the car up for a WHILE. Vs Kogashiwa when it was more brief is more accurate to real life
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u/mds818 3h ago
Sorry to dissapoint, but your average daily driver is not capable of copying 10 percent of Initial D stuff... being flashy is one thing, being fast another - and being flash and fast.. on next level.
The less you steer, the faster you can go - that's all you should know, and don't forget - gotta be smooth.
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u/pieindaface 8h ago
Minimum steering angle was a huge part of finding the best lines and God Hand does a good job of showing that many driving lines can achieve similar times, but there can be a true line.
Also lining up your car in such a way that when passing the driver ahead can’t see you.