GR Yaris Driving mistakes and tipps

N

Nanth

New member
Joined
Apr 19, 2023
Messages
13
Reaction score
9
Hello fellow GRY drivers,

Since today I got into a situation I need to ask you guys here, this is maybe a good opportunity to start a driving mistakes thread.

Now to it:
I was on a B-Road on the counryside today going maybe 100-120km/h cant remember, driving quite fast but not completely bonkers.
It was a slight left longer curve which, in the middle, (I was on the gas a bit) I thought I was too fast and stepped on the brakes. In that moment the beautiful bottom of the yaris tried to overtake me. I manage to catch it... what did I do wrong?

Thanks you guys.
 
When you brake you move all the weight of the car over the front tires. The rear goes light.
By braking while cornering the rear will swing out, because no weight is pushing it down, so it has no sideways grip anymore. This can also happen by just lifting the throttle while cornering (off-throttle oversteer or lift-off oversteer).

Ideally one keeps the car's weight center neutral while cornering by staying slightly on throttle through the corner. Slow in, fast out :)
 
By jumping on the brakes mid-corner you put all the weight on the front, de-stabilising the rear. It’s just physics. Otherwise known as lift-off oversteer. Ideally at this point, stay on the power or come off gently. Jumping off and / or braking will get the back end out if you’re near the limit.

If you’re really in trouble you need to stamp hard on the brakes and turn in hard - this should counteract the oversteer, producing under steer as the front tyres will loose grip if asked to turn and brake at the same time. The last bit I learnt from our drive limits day last month 😁.
 
Now I understand. Got a little bit too excited when going into the corner I guess, because the GRY just feels like its glued to the road, but chickened out in the middle of it. Guess the old saying who brakes looses is true sometimes. Thanks for the advice guys.
 
bencollins4 said:
By jumping on the brakes mid-corner you put all the weight on the front, de-stabilising the rear. It’s just physics. Otherwise known as lift-off oversteer. Ideally at this point, stay on the power or come off gently. Jumping off and / or braking will get the back end out if you’re near the limit.

If you’re really in trouble you need to stamp hard on the brakes and turn in hard - this should counteract the oversteer, producing under steer as the front tyres will loose grip if asked to turn and brake at the same time. The last bit I learnt from our drive limits day last month 😁.
Click to expand...
That was my biggest take away from the drive limits day!
 
Either feather off the throttle, or stomp the brakes hard while temporarily have front wheels straight to scrub off a chunk of speed (during ~0,5-1s) and then letting go of brakes and continue turning.

With training you can also left foot brake gently (while still on throttle), this keeps diffs 'engaged' and stabilises car, and keep on balance with the steering. My preference with this car.
 
Last edited:
bencollins4 said:
If you’re really in trouble you need to stamp hard on the brakes and turn in hard - this should counteract the oversteer, producing under steer as the front tyres will loose grip if asked to turn and brake at the same time. The last bit I learnt from our drive limits day last month 😁.
Click to expand...

I inadvertently did this in a fairly large FWD Buick many many years ago. Coming around a corner and through what I thought was just some water flowing across the road but was actually ice under the stream of water, the car just stopped turning-- front end plowed dead straight. I turned the wheels more and hit the brakes-- just the reflexes.
Suddenly the tires-- the front tires-- had grip again and the car spun 180 degrees across the other 3 lanes of traffic, ending up perfectly faced the other direction in the far on-coming lane.

Probably looked cool as shit, which is also the manner in which my pants nearly filled.

Fortunately it was late, there was no other traffic, and I was lucky as hell.
 
Onehp said:
With training you can also left foot brake gently (while still on throttle), this keeps diffs 'engaged' and stabilises car, and keep on balance with the steering. My preference with this car.
Click to expand...

Left-foot braking will also help keep the fronts from locking, keeping ABS from even getting involved. Plus, if done well it generally provides smoother inputs than just jumping to the brakes. It's great for reigning in understeer but it also allows a smoother transition to braking and smoother weight transfer. As Onehp says, it makes it easier to keep things balanced.

A Nürburgring-prepped Suzuki Swift absolutely dances with left foot braking.
 
bencollins4 said:
If you’re really in trouble you need to stamp hard on the brakes and turn in hard - this should counteract the oversteer, producing under steer as the front tyres will loose grip if asked to turn and brake at the same time. The last bit I learnt from our drive limits day last month 😁.
Click to expand...
Sorry but this is really bad advice. There is a chance you will get understeer, more likely the weight transfer will make the front grip even more and you will have the rear end of the car litterally overtaking you as you turn in hard. I.e. the exact opposite of what you're trying to achieve and bloody dangerous on a public road!
 
Onehp said:
Sorry but this is really bad advice. There is a chance you will get understeer, more likely the weight transfer will make the front grip even more and you will have the rear end of the car litterally overtaking you as you turn in hard. I.e. the exact opposite of what you're trying to achieve and bloody dangerous on a public road!
Click to expand...
Don’t want to start an argument here but we all received the same advice on the drive limits day and I can confirm that it works. This is a bail out option though, and won’t help you make it around the corner smoothly, it’s how to just stop the car rather than end up in the ditch.

Back to the original post, you don’t even need to brake hard mid corner to cause problems, even lifting off if you’re right on the limit will cause oversteer. My first car was a 205 GTi and although it nearly killed me twice, it taught me not to trail brake and to brake in a straight line and maintain a steady throttle through the corner. Of course once you get a bit more confidence and it’s safe to play around, you can use it to deliberately get the back out and tighten the line.

I strongly recommend the drive limits day or a novice trackday with tuition, you will learn more in 5 minutes than 5 years on the public road working it out for yourself. It might also save your car, insurance premiums and even your life one day!
 
Steve said:
Don’t want to start an argument here but we all received the same advice on the drive limits day and I can confirm that it works. This is a bail out option though, and won’t help you make it around the corner smoothly, it’s how to just stop the car rather than end up in the ditch.

Back to the original post, you don’t even need to brake hard mid corner to cause problems, even lifting off if you’re right on the limit will cause oversteer. My first car was a 205 GTi and although it nearly killed me twice, it taught me not to trail brake and to brake in a straight line and maintain a steady throttle through the corner. Of course once you get a bit more confidence and it’s safe to play around, you can use it to deliberately get the back out and tighten the line.

I strongly recommend the drive limits day or a novice trackday with tuition, you will learn more in 5 minutes than 5 years on the public road working it out for yourself. It might also save your car, insurance premiums and even your life one day!
Click to expand...
My point is not that it can't work, but it needs proper training off the road (just as left foot braking). If done wrongly you might very well end up with the very opposite (on paper, the very same instruction on how to initiate a drift), so it's very important with proper execution with an either/or result depending on execution.
 
Onehp said:
Sorry but this is really bad advice. There is a chance you will get understeer, more likely the weight transfer will make the front grip even more and you will have the rear end of the car litterally overtaking you as you turn in hard. I.e. the exact opposite of what you're trying to achieve and bloody dangerous on a public road!
Click to expand...
Thanks for your views but this isn’t something I made up. It’s tried and tested by some extremely skilled drivers and as has been said above by Steve, it works! We all tried it and had the same experience so not something I would advocate practicing on the road but if in a lot of trouble, it works. Yes, we were all pretty amazed too.
 
bencollins4 said:
Thanks for your views but this isn’t something I made up. It’s tried and tested by some extremely skilled drivers and as has been said above by Steve, it works! We all tried it and had the same experience so not something I would advocate practicing on the road but if in a lot of trouble, it works. Yes, we were all pretty amazed too.
Click to expand...
Like I wrote above, not saying it does not work, I'm saying it's bad advice to the OP on the road without proper practice of the technique. We're de facto saying the same thing, but the advice is different ;)
 
Also missing in the discussion above, in the track limits day were all stabilisation systems off?
And for the OP @Nanth , what setting were you in? ESP and to lesser degree Expert mode will try to correct any oversteer and understeer....

Number one advice is of course, don't drive faster then your talents. Second is, no faster then ESP talents, which are obviously left on then. Or you practice a LOT so you are your own "anti skid system" and you don't need to come here and ask what to do...

And to that last statement, I add that no human can beat a ESP system at high speed, which is capable of braking individual wheels, so be carefull before considering switching systems off....

Any other advice @AdvEvo?
 
Thanks @GR-Admin.

With all systems on, the NOOB advice is don't be afraid to brake hard, so activating ESP and 'simply' look and steer away from whatever you're trying to avoid.

In expert mode, general advice is to do braking with front wheels pointing as straight as possible. Expert will catch unintended oversteer to a degree, be prepared to countersteer a little but don't overdo it. Ideally you should have praciced this quite a lot already, being an 'expert' and all.*

All systems off, general advice is you should have already practiced any scenario not once, but a thousand times ;)



Edit: *For me expert refers to that an expert driver can drive the car to its limits without activating the ESP system in expert mode. Outright drifting/rallying excepted obviously.
 
Last edited:
I always drive in expert mode even in standard traffic just because it deactivates the stupid emergeny braking system which is pretty annoying.
 
Forget about switching off the driver safety systems, they won't cut in on a normal road unless you are doing something stupid, or are out of control. Different thing on track - but you were not on a track. From my limited knowledge and practice, always arrive at the corner at the right speed and gear, in other words do the braking before the corner, not during because it unbalances the car - even a GRY, accelerate slightly while going through it, and maybe a bit harder out. The car is prone to lift off oversteer and it happens fast with no warning. Use the lower gears and the revs on B roads - you shouldn't ever need to use anything above 4th. The steering is much sharper and the chassis more alive in lower gears on a twisty road. Best use 50/50 or 30/70 for the twisties. You can actually do all sorts of fine adjustments using the throttle and brakes once you are used to the car - but you are maybe not there yet.
 
Onehp said:
Thanks @GR-Admin.

With all systems on, the NOOB advice is don't be afraid to brake hard, so activating ESP and 'simply' look and steer away from whatever you're trying to avoid.

In expert mode, general advice is to do braking with front wheels pointing as straight as possible. Expert will catch unintended oversteer to a degree, be prepared to countersteer a little but don't overdo it. Ideally you should have praciced this quite a lot already, being an 'expert' and all.*

All systems off, general advice is you should have already practiced any scenario not once, but a thousand times ;)



Edit: *For me expert refers to that an expert driver can drive the car to its limits without activating the ESP system in expert mode. Outright drifting/rallying excepted obviously.
Click to expand...
Glad you’ve come around to the idea that braking hard might not be such a bad idea after all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top