BustaWrench › Answers › What is trail braking, and how do you do it in iRacing?
The short answer
Trail braking is coming off the brake as you turn in rather than letting it go all at once. Bleeding the pressure off transfers weight rearward, the nose tucks in, and the car rotates — you are using the release to steer. Squeeze progressively, reach peak pressure early, then come off it smoothly.
Most people think of the brake as a way to slow down. Past the turn-in point it stops being that and starts being a steering input.
As you ease off the pedal into the corner, weight transfers rearward. That is your rotation moment. You should feel the nose tuck, the rear settle, and the steering go light — alive, not twitchy. Get it right and you carry more speed than you thought the corner would take, on a gentle planted arc.
The current tyre model punishes abrupt brake application. You get a yaw moment, or the fronts glaze and you push wide and understeer.
A tyre needs time to build grip. Think handshake, not slap. Squeeze to peak pressure early, then bleed off smoothly. That bleed is the whole technique.
Bias is the split of braking force between front and rear. Too far forward and the car wants to plough straight on when you turn in. Too far rearward and the rear steps out the moment you breathe on the pedal.
Modern iRacing tyres reward a balanced bias: set it so the car settles slightly nose-down under braking without locking the rears. Start around 50–52% and work from there. You will feel the difference inside a lap.
If you are unsure how your particular car behaves on the current tyre model, ask rather than guess — the answer changes slightly car to car.
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