Hi, I've TASed
a game or
two with driving.
It can depend quite a bit on the level of realism that the game is simulating.
The term you were probably looking for is "racing line", which encompasses how to optimally approach corners in real-life races. Essentially, the same principles apply to racing or driving games that are realistic enough.
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source)
Racing lines like this are designed to take the broadest curve through a turn, allowing you to maintain the highest speed into the next part without crashing or spinning out. If you can't take a turn at your maximum speed, you also need to brake in advance before starting the turn (this is what the braking point is for), and accelerate again approximately as you reach the apex point.
If the corner is wide enough or you are slow enough that you don't need to stop accelerating in order to take the turn, then focus instead on taking the shortest path possible. If you do lose some speed during turning this way, you'll need to find a balance between this and the racing line depending on how much speed you lose vs how much extra distance you travel.
For less realistic games, you can look into some of the following options:
• As a general rule, the less realistic the game, the more likely you are able to get away with taking shorter paths or turns instead of longer racing lines.
• Hug the corner wall (if available) if it does not meaningfully slow you down or cause damage (in some games like F-Zero X or Gran Turismo it might in fact
speed you up)
• Some older games, particularly fake-3D ones that follow pretty different rules for the X and Z-axis relative to the player, don't really penalize lateral movement at all - in such cases, you primarily want to focus on just holding down the throttle at all points, and just turn enough to not crash out on the sides.
• If a game ignores terrain (or it does not have a significant effect on your driving), see if you can use it for shortcuts. Even in a game like TOCA, it's beneficial on a couple occasions to go through grass or even through a bit of gravel to skip a turn and/or some of the track.
There are potentially a lot more little rules on a game-by-game basis, but this should outline some basics at least.
