- StintLab records a pad lap exactly like a wheel lap: it reads the game's telemetry, not your controller.
- Look for three things: throttle shape out of slow corners, minimum speed against a faster lap, and brake-point spread lap to lap.
- Steering, braking, gearbox, ERS and DRS assists and the racing line are recorded and matched; ABS and traction control are not — keep them the same yourself.
- Practise one corner at a time and judge changes by the exit, over three clean laps.
What a pad changes, and what it does not
A trigger is an analogue input, like a pedal, but with a fraction of the travel. A few millimetres of thumb is the whole range from nothing to full throttle, so small differences in pressure turn into big differences in the input the car receives. The same goes for steering on a stick. The result is inputs that tend to be quicker, more on-off and harder to repeat exactly.
What does not change is where the lap time is. The corners, the braking zones and the exits that cost a wheel driver time cost a pad driver time too. So the method is the same — find the expensive sections, understand them, drill them — and telemetry is, if anything, more useful: it shows habits a pad creates that you cannot feel.
Throttle: the shape out of slow corners
The throttle trace out of a slow corner is the most revealing trace a pad driver has. Three shapes turn up again and again:
None of them is automatically wrong: a stab is quickest if the car can put the power down, and traction control changes what “can” means. What matters is what the speed trace does next. If you reach 100% earlier than a faster lap but your speed down the next straight is no higher, the rear tyres or the traction control are taking the difference — and a squeeze that arrives at full throttle a little later may be quicker. A sawtooth usually means the entry was too fast or the car was not straight enough when the power came in; fix the entry, and the exit calms down.
Compare exits over the whole next straight, not at the apex. The lap comparison guide shows how the delta keeps climbing after a slow exit.
Brake: the point matters more than the peak
On a pad the brake trace often goes straight to 100% and comes straight back off, particularly with ABS. That is normal, and it makes peak pressure the least interesting number in the braking table. What matters:
- The brake point. With little trigger travel, repeatability comes from where you brake more than from how. StintLab shows how much each corner's brake point spreads across your laps, and the session debrief names the least repeatable corner when its spread reaches 10 m — in the example session, one corner's spread was about 16 m.
- The minimum speed. Pad drivers often brake “to be safe” and over-slow the car. A minimum speed 5–10 km/h under a faster lap's, with the same brake point, is the classic sign — and it is exactly the pattern in the worked braking example.
- The release. Coming off the trigger all at once can unsettle the car at turn-in. If the corner feels nervous, try releasing over a longer distance and watch the minimum speed.
A pad driver's checklist
| In the traces | What it often means on a pad | What to try |
|---|---|---|
| Same brake point as a faster lap, lower minimum speed | Over-slowing: braking to be safe | Release earlier; carry more speed to the apex |
| Brake-point spread of 10 m or more | No fixed reference; thumb pressure varying | Pick a visual marker and commit to it every lap |
| Throttle to 100% early, but no more speed on the straight | Wheelspin, or traction control cutting power | Squeeze instead of stab; compare exits over the whole straight |
| Throttle on, off, on through the exit | Correcting a slide | Slow the entry slightly so the exit is calm |
| Long stretches at partial throttle on a fast corner | Unsure of the grip | Compare with a faster lap: is full throttle possible there? |
Assists, and comparing fairly
Assists change the lap, so comparisons across different assists measure the assists. StintLab records six of F1 25's assist settings with every lap, from the game's session data, and only matches laps whose settings agree:
| Assist | Recorded with each lap | Used when matching laps |
|---|---|---|
| Steering assist | Yes | Yes |
| Braking assist | Yes | Yes |
| Gearbox (automatic or manual) | Yes | Yes |
| ERS assist | Yes | Yes |
| DRS assist | Yes | Yes |
| Racing line | Yes | Yes |
| ABS | No | No — keep it the same yourself |
| Traction control | No | No — keep it the same yourself |
So a lap driven with the racing line on is never offered as a target for one driven without it, and a manual-gearbox lap is never chased against an automatic one. ABS and traction control are the gap: StintLab cannot see them, so it cannot warn you. If you are testing traction control, run each setting as its own session and note which was which.
Practising on a pad
- Baseline first. Eight to ten laps at a pace you could race, one car, one track, fixed assists.
- Let the data pick the corner. The practice plan ranks your three most expensive sections against a faster lap — work on those, not on the corner that feels worst.
- One change, three clean laps. Brake point, release, or throttle shape. Judge it by the exit and the next straight.
- Change controller settings like a setup. The game lets you adjust how the pad's inputs are mapped. Change one thing at a time and compare runs, never single laps.
The full method is in how to get faster in F1 25.
Questions
Does StintLab know I am using a controller?
No. It reads what the game broadcasts — speed, pedal positions, steering, gear — and the game does not say what device made them. A pad lap and a wheel lap are recorded the same way.
Can I compare my pad laps with a friend on a wheel?
Yes, if everything StintLab matches is the same: car, track and layout, weather, session type, game version, telemetry format and assists. The comparison will show where they are faster; their input shapes will look smoother than yours, so learn from the where and the minimum speeds more than from copying the pedal traces.
Should I turn traction control off?
Off gives you more control and more ways to lose the rear; many pad drivers are quicker with some traction control for a long time. Measure it: a baseline run with each, same car and track, and compare typical laps. StintLab does not record traction control or ABS, so run them as separate sessions and note which was which.
Why is my brake trace always at 100%?
Because the trigger is fully pressed. That is normal on a pad, especially with ABS. The braking table then tells you more through the brake point, zone length and minimum speed than through peak pressure.
Is steering recorded?
Yes — steering input is saved with every trace sample in the lap file. The lap viewer charts speed, delta, throttle, brake and gear; steering stays in the file for anyone who wants to analyse it.