Poll: Who here tracks their car w/ traction control + PSM turned on?
 

I drove a couple of track days last week, including a PCA event for the first time in over a decade. I needed to get checked out for Group A and the instructor busted my balls about running with traction control / PSM turned on -- nannies, babysitters, diapers as some folks like to call it. Whatever.

Here's the deal. I've spent my fair share of time driving / racing cars w/o traction control, yaw control, or ABS. I have nothing to prove. But to appease the instructor, I turned it off for the day just to prove a point. I alternated some sessions ON / OFF and my lap times were only slightly better with it turned OFF. Admittedly, driving the car was more fun but -- for me -- it feels irresponsible and unnecessary for lapping my $$$ daily at a DE event.

The TC / PSM on the Porsche is really quite good IMO. If you're driving well, it doesn't intervene. It's common to fully drift the car around a turn w/o not so much as a peep from the system. There are times when TC will kick in when hard on power out of a turn. I wish we could turn off just the TC and keep the PSM (yaw control) because I really don't care about a little bit of wheel spin out of a tight turn -- fun actually -- and it slows me down when TC kicks in to intervene in such scenarios. PSM is a different story. If that’s kicking in, time to call it a day. (I’ve had it kick in exactly once in over a year -- and it was a legit mistake.)

In my view, there’s nothing wrong about driving w/ TC / PSM turned on as long as you’re not relying on it. Again, if PSM kicks in you messed up really bad and probably time to call it quits or at least take a break. If TC is kicking in, it’s probably a sign you can be a smoother w/ inputs -- kinda like having a coach sitting in the passenger seat. Since TC defuels / applies brakes, my fastest lap times are my cleanest w/ no TC intervention. Some folks have suggested that TC makes you faster which is simply not the case -- explain to me how defueling / adding bake makes you faster.

I'll even go so far to say that driving with TC / PSM turned on can make you a better / faster driver in a scenario where driver is not approaching limits out fear of loosing car. Hooray. Driving w/o TC / PSM but what are you really learning? How to drive a line? If having it ON gives you that safety net to push your boundaries, then I'll argue you should turn it on. You're better off driving near the limit w/ it ON than comfortably below the limit out of fear of crashing your car or worse. IMO, if you're not pushing your limits, don't waste your time & money going to the track.

All that said, I drove w/ TC / PSM turned off the following day at another event for a couple of reasons. Why? As mentioned, the car is more fun to drive. Is that enough reason to keep me driving with it off? We’ll see. Probably will depend on track & conditions. Pacific Raceways + Rain. Yes. Damn right I'll have it turned ON.

Poll. When lapping, do you drive with TC + PSM turned ON, OFF, or Both? Be honest. I’ve seen people claim they have it off but it’s pretty obvious when TC / PSM or similar intervenes on a car viewed from behind.

Always keep it on for DEs. I'm out on the track to enjoy my GT3 as safely as possible. Think it's a bit irresponsible for an instructor to be chiding his/her student about using PSM/TC. For autocrossing where the speeds are far slower, I turn everything off. My times are quicker and its more fun sliding the car and improving my understanding of car control. Perhaps if the DE was on a circuit like Paul Richard where there is huge run off areas I would be comfortable without PSM.

It's my understanding that PSM may be on working without the light illuminating - is that correct?

off+off (just to make sure, I have disconnected the yaw sensor behind the center console)

if the car is new to me, on+on

after 5 laps, TC off PSM on

after 10 laps, Off & Off

I do get the argument for leaving everything on though. Bragging rights are worth very little, PSM/TC on vs off is only a modest difference in laptime, and the systems do save you from $$$

That said, if you are engaging the electronics very regularly, you are probably chewing up your brakes and tires. And could probably do with some coaching

I have a lot of track driving experience, but the GT3RS is new to me this year. My first DE I left the TC on. Stable, but it seemed very hard on rear brakes. Now that I am more used to the car, with 5 DE's, I turn it off. One of the tracks that I go to needs to slide the tail to rotate the car in a couple of corners, and you have to have TC off to do that.

That said, I'd say that your instructor was out of line. I might suggest to a student that he try the car without the TC, but only if he felt comfortable driving the car that way, and was willing to consciously back off 5-10% while learning it. Our job as instructors is to build students skills and confidence, and give them an enjoyable experience. Not to abuse them for not being studs.

Jon

No such things on my 6GT3, but plan on leaving them on for my first event, Sears Point, with my GT3 RS.

this is like trying to learn to ride a bike with training wheels -- sure, you get to tour the neighborhood but you look like a pussy.

I'm ok with that. I've driven my 6Gt3 in the rain on NT-01s at Laguna Seca when 90 percent of drivers stayed in paddock/garages.

:)

I think it should be based on comfort level and experience. If you are not 100% comfortable in the car, leave it on. If you are and/or have a lot of seat time, experiment. If you can't feel what the car will actually do at the limit, how do you ever learn to react to it? I thought that was why we take our cars to the track in the first place: to learn. Well, that and reaction similar to smoking crack ;)

off in dry track, on in wet.

If they're really driving poorly or are zero time beginners I might suggest they turn them on but otherwise it's up to them. I would never tell them to turn them off- that's a liability I don't need.

As for me they're off.

I'm at an intermediate level so always ON for the time being. Once I get more comfortable with the car then I start to turn it off on tracks that I have a lot of experience on in dry conditions.

The guy that works on my car (who has raced Porsches semi professionally) said that if you turn on the Sport mode that the limits of the PASM get pushed up versus Sport mode off...is that true?

I turned them off about a yr ago when I first got to solo. It was too soon to do that. Let's just say I got an expensive lesson for free.

Now that I have learned a lot more I turn them off when I am very focused. The car feels a lot better to me w/o them. It seems like when they are on it's intervening when I don't need it to.

Well said. A couple of data points worth noting:

When Excellence tested the 997.1 GT3 on track with Johannes Van Overbeek behind the wheel he said after trying both settings he ended up leaving the TC on, noting that the threshold was set so high that if it did intervene you had already screwed up your lap. To your fist point, a pro like Van Overbeek won't even notice its on.

After DE'ing for several years I went to Bondurant for my racing license where we drove C5 Vettes with some sort of electronic TC or SC. I was complaining to my instructor that it kept interfering and slowing me down. He then jumped behind the wheel and went faster than me with no intervention what so ever. I then approached the rest of the school adhering to your second point, I used it like a coach during my solo driving sessions. If it kicked in I knew I did something wrong and used that lesson to improve.

If you use the aids and they don't kick in, congrats you can drive like a pro, won't matter if they are on or off. If the aids kick in more than a couple of time over a 30 minute session so you turn them off, you'll look cool but won't learn much and a DE should be about learning.

In a race though I would certainly turn them off. I don't like to be surprised by a sudden cut of power. One exception though, during a rain race once I plugged back in the PSM in my 996. I was racing against a bunch of air cooled guys (a handful in the rain) and took a slow and steady approach - just stay on track and wait for attrition. It worked out well and resulted in a win from 3rd on the grid. Of course that approach did absolutely nothing to help me become a better driver in the rain, so I sacrificed a learning opportunity for a cheap plastic trophy. And I am guilty of being pleased with that decision even today. :)