What are some tips to making sharp turns in NFS Carbon?

Question

Installed NFS Carbon yesterday. And while playing the Canyon Duel, a familiar thought popped up in my head, the same thought that appeared a decade ago when I first played this game. I don't know the correct technique to making sharp turns with a speeding vehicle. I haven't completed many racing games, only NFS Most Wanted (2005), NFS Carbon and some portion of Test Drive Unlimited. So I am pretty much a noob when it comes to racing games.

To put things into perspective, I would like to share my technique:

I mostly use the normal brakes rather than the handbrakes. When a turn is coming up, I leave the accelerator, turn the vehicle in the desired direction and then press the brakes (normal ones). I allow the speed to reduce to an extent such that the car makes the turn without bumping into the wall, leave the brakes and then jam the accelerator. But this method does not seem to be very efficient as my competitor usually makes a better turn and over takes my car. I did try the same logic with handbrakes some times. Felt that my car turned a little faster but I couldn't get a hang of it. Also, most of the times my car lost a lot of speed meaning I wasn't using it correctly.

So, how can I make sharp turns in NFS Carbon without losing much speed? (without using the speed braker)

PS: I use a XBOX 360 controller with my PC to play racing games. My cars usually have grip types rather than drift ones.

Answer 1

I notice that you didn't mention about gears anywhere in your question. In order to turn efficiently without losing speed, you'll need to manipulate the gears. MT is always faster than AT, given similar skill. That's because AT shifts the gear too early, which reduces your top speed. You'll also want to have drift types for such corners.

There's no one-trick for all types of sharp turns, so without showing the exact corner/curve you're trying to turn into, I can only give you my personal technique to tackling every turn for the first time. This will need to be adjusted depending on the type of car and the exact corner:

When approaching the corner, I would jam my normal brakes (not handbrake) and turn, while dropping my gear by 2. You should not need to turn too much or the car will end up in oversteer and your bumper might hit something. When you feel your vehicle stabilising in mid-turn, you can move your gear back up by one and continue from there.

Answer 2

One strategy I used successfully in Need For Speed is to also follow the racing line. Start at the outside portion of the turn, pass the inside portion at the middle of the turn, and finish at the outside again.

In this way, you effectively reduce the sharpness of the turn and thus can follow this path at a greater speed.

Answer 3

How I would go about turning is that I will put on the brake before the corner, let go of the brake then turn in the desired direction. When you're in mid turn (about to exit), put on your accelerator (gas). You can do some light acceleration while turning, but preferably you don't. The brakes and hard acceleration usually stop you from turning correctly, so braking before the turn is how I counteract that; that is if you don't want to drift, which you don't as you have grip tyres and you mostly can't on canyon duels without mods.