Yes. onRails is built entirely around driver feel, not data. You describe what the car is doing, understeer or oversteer, which phase of the corner, how severe, and it returns a specific setup change. There’s no telemetry import, no data trace to read.
Why feel-based works
How confidently you can drive a car at the limit matters more than what a data trace shows, and feel is the thing a trace can’t fully capture. onRails is built on that premise: instead of asking for lap data, it asks the same three questions an engineer would ask a driver, what’s happening, when, how bad, and matches your answers to a setup change.
How you describe the feel
- Condition. Understeer or oversteer, described in plain terms like “rear unstable under braking” or “not turning under acceleration,” not raw numbers.
- Phase and direction. Entry, apex, or exit, and whether it’s happening in left or right corners, using the Corner Wizard.
- Severity. Mild, moderate, or severe, so the recommendation matches how much of a problem it actually is.
That’s the whole input. No lap file, no telemetry overlay to interpret.
The bigger picture
This is the same driver-feedback approach covered in How Do I Learn Race-Car Setup Without Telemetry?, built into a tool that answers back with a specific change instead of leaving you to work out the fix yourself.
Related questions
What if I can’t tell exactly what the car is doing?
Start with the broad description, understeer or oversteer, and pick a severity that feels roughly right. The phase-and-balance framework gets more precise as you narrow it down with the Corner Wizard’s direction and phase options.
Does it need to know my exact tire pressures or spring rates?
No. It doesn’t require your current setup values at all, it works from behavior and returns a change relative to wherever your setup currently is.
Is this the same as the In-Race Engineer?
The In-Race Engineer is the live, in-session version of this same feel-based approach. See How Can I Get Setup Advice Without Leaving My Sim?