turned the wheel in the opposite direction to keep the car going in a straight line (almost like a rally car).
This was surprising to me because I had never seen that technique used in Formula One before - I know it happens all the time in other motorsports (such as Karting and Rallying) but not Formula One. These days that type of oversteer on the exit of a slow 1st gear turn would rarely happen (due to the traction control) and even if it did happen the drivers couldn't do much to correct it because the grooved tyres simply don't have the grip required.
So I don't believe opposite lock is a viable way of correcting oversteer in real F1 today but does it work in the game? Well, I gave it a good try but I have to admit there was only mixed success;
Making sure traction control was turned off I loaded up a Monza Test Day and headed onto the track - Monza is a useful circuit for testing this sort of thing because it has a very wide (and very long) main straight, and there is plenty of room for error. I exited the pits in 1st gear and instantly set about trying to cause the rear wheels to spin.
My first few attempts at correcting the oversteer were useless as I simply wasn't reacting fast enough to the cars behaviour and I wasn't playing with the throttle correctly, but it didn't take long before I started to have some success. I stopped the car on the main straight, pressed the clutch, put it into 1st gear, applied a healthy amount of revs with the throttle pedal and then let go of the clutch button - it didn't take long for the rear wheels to start spinning (almost instantly) but by holding the steering wheel at the centre position the car would often go forward for quite a distance before the oversteer actually started to kick in. At this point it became very difficult but there was still time to use opposite lock if I reacted fast enough the sometimes I was able to keep the car going in the direction I wanted it to.
I mentioned 'mixed success' earlier though because that's exactly what it was - on more than half of the occassions I tried this technique I was too slow to react (or I used too much throttle) and the rear end came around. I did learn that by shifting up to 2nd or 3rd while the wheels were spinning often made it possible to keep the car going forwards for longer but it still wasn't perfect - not something you would want to purposely try on the exit of a tight turn. When you take into that this test was done on a flat stretch of tarmac (without curbs, bumps or elevation changes) it makes you realise just how difficult it would be to use opposite lock to correct oversteer while driving an actual lap of the circuit.

It might all sound a bit crazy to some people because in the theory I was out there literally trying to do 'bad starts' (or starts that would be considered very bad if you did them at the start of a race), but at the same time I did learn some new information about how the car behaves in extreme conditions and how far it can be pushed before the limit is reached. I certainly recommend other people try a similar test if only to realise how important it is to have good throttle control - to have enough ability with the accelerator to know when you have reached the limit and not to go beyond it. If you have this technique perfected you should never need to think about opposite lock because you will never cause the oversteer that would require it.
*(There is a short replay of my oversteer/opposite lock Monza test attached to the High Gear forum - OppositeLock-NoTC.zip).


9.7. Side Note - 'The Differential Lock';

You will find the 'Differential Lock' setting in the car setup pages and you really should have an idea of what it can be used for (it is adjustable between 0% and 100%).

During most of these driving techniques I have talked a lot about throttle control; lifting the throttle slightly and applying it early on corner exit - the Differenial Lock setting changes how the throttle is applied to the wheels when in the process of application (acceleration) or lifting (deceleration). It effects whether you get oversteer when you lift the throttle and also how much oversteer you get when you apply the throttle.
To put it simply;
At 0% you will get a huge amount of oversteer if you suddenly lift the throttle (under braking, mid corner etc) but the car will have very good traction from the wheels when you are accelerating.
At 100% the car will be extremely stable if you were to fully lift the throttle under braking but it won't give you as much traction when accelerating on corner exit.

So it really comes down to what you prefer and what you can cope with. You will often find that most of the fastest drivers have the Differential set between 15% and 25% because they can easily handle the oversteer they might get under braking (applying some throttle under braking to counter it) and they want as much traction as possible under acceleration (I normally use 20% Differential myself).
However if you are really struggling when you brake and the car seems to spin all the time (before or during turn-in) it might be better if you to use 50% Differential Lock or above (unfortunately this will compromise your traction out of corners).
Of course it is better to simply learn the advanced techniques (such as throttle under braking) and then you can use a very low Differential setting and gain the benefits of extra traction when you accelerate - this is almost always the best way to go for improving lap times.
In the past some people might have downloaded a setup with a 10% Differential (without even looking at it) and then wondered why they were spinning all the time when braking; hopefully this will give some insight into the situation and also encourage people to actually look at what values a particular downloaded car setup is using.

I have explained the 'Differential Lock' setting here as I think it is a very important setting to understand (even for complete beginners) but it is explained in much greater detail in the RacerAlex Advanced Setup Guide (along with all the other car setup options). You can find a website link at the bottom of this guide - I highly recommend you use it.


9.8. Gear Selection;

One thing I've noticed a lot since I started driving F1 sims is the huge difference between gear choices. You would assume every corner has a standard gear which is perfect and everyone else will be using that same gear but this just isn't the case - lots of people have their own preferences which are different from the norm.
Obviously some of this can come down to the gear ratios in the setup and the amount of wing one driver is running compared to another (you would expect differences in gear choice in this situation) but I have often found differences even when two drivers are using exactly the same setup.
I used to use the 1st gear quite a lot in the slower corners and chicanes but looking at the 17 tracks available in F1 Challenge now I can only see 7 turns where I would even consider using 1st gear. Only 7 turns out of 17 complete circuits.. this is not very many at all.
The reason my gear selection has changed is simply due to discussion with other drivers - finding out what gears they are using and realising that it is normally possible to carry more speed through a corner than I ever thought. In the past I used to find that the faster drivers were sometimes using 3rd gear for the same corner where I was using 1st! This is a huge difference and obviously now that I am more experienced in this area (and I'm willing to try a number of gears for each corner) I have improved my lap times a lot.
Another benefit of using a higher gear for certain corners is that you use a lower RPM through the apex while still maintaining a similar (or better) speed than you would have with a lower gear. This is especially useful when riding curbs or negotiating particularly difficult corners because there is much less chance of spinning when you have a lower RPM (less wheel spin) and because you are using a higher gear than normal you can often carry more speed through the apex. This technique can slightly hurt acceleration on the exit of a turn (due to the extra time it takes for the revs to get up in a higher gear) but the benefits of extra stability and extra speed carried into the corner are usually far greater; And if you really feel it is hurting your exit speed you can simply downshift as you pass the apex (without lifting the throttle) and you will hear the lovely sound of high revs again. There are differing opinions on this 'exit downshift' technique - some people believe that the slight cut in speed you cause when you shift gear means it isn't worth downshifting on the exit and it is better to simply stay in the higher gear and give the RPM time to increase. It really depends on how well you can carry speed through the apex - if you are capable of carrying more speed all the way through the corner because of the higher gear (from turn-in, to apex, to exit) then it isn't really worth downshifting, but if you mainly use the higher gear for stability reasons and you aren't as good at carrying the extra speed through the corner it is probably better if you downshift on the exit to boost your acceleration.