how do you drive this crazy thing

Reduce Drivatar difficulty, turn off brake assist and ABS (it can gain you a few extra seconds a lap), and Stability Control. Set the steering to 'Simulation'. Leave the braking line on until you've got used to the majority of the tracks. Turning these off
will also gain you more in XP per race.

 

If you're just getting started with FM6, and haven't done much sim-style racing, I recommend that you run with the following assists enabled:

• ABS
• STM
• TCS
• RACING LINE FULL (ALWAYS ON)

If you're having trouble in career, hop into free play and pick a lower level car like an E or D class, and just practice trying to stay on the racing line, watch the color...blue means full throttle, orange generally means get off the throttle, and red
means get on the brakes. This is not like a Need For Speed type game where you can just keep the throttle pegged and power slide through corners and expect to come out on top.

A few general pointers:

• "slow is fast", as in, sometimes you just need to slow down more to set yourself up better coming out of a corner. Going slow coming into a corner allows you to be fast coming out. This is generally more desirable than going fast into a corner and being
  slow coming out, especially if that corner is followed by a long straightaway.
• Your gas and brake "pedals" are analog...treat them as such, and not simply as on/off switches. Losing the rear of a high powered rear wheel drive car coming out of corners? It may be a simple matter of slowing down how quickly you apply the throttle.
  
• Be smooth with your inputs. Much like when driving a real car, whipping the wheel left and right, jamming on the gas and jamming hard on the brakes are good ways to end up in a ditch. Keep your inputs smooth and under control, not jerky and erratic, and
  watch your lap times tumble.
• Practice, practice, practice! Use the rewind feature liberally. I know a lot of guys who've been around a while scoff at the idea, but it really is an invaluable tool for learning a track and figuring out the best line through tricky sections.
  

 

Brother I was in the same boat as you when Forza 1 first came out. It's a matter of getting used to it and learning.

A Few tips:

• Every car is different and thus they all handle different, since you're having difficulty I would recommend sticking to AWD vehicles the Mitsubishi Lancer and the Nissan GTR. Bot are great vehicles to handle. American muscle RWD vehicles and LMP cars are
  more difficult to get used to, but they are a blast once you learn how to drive them.
  
• Just as every car is different so is every turn, the more you play the more you will memorize each track and its turns. If you can drive the Nordschleife without crashing you can drive any track.
  
• Because you're new use the line assist and TCS and ABS
• Learn to apply pressure on the triggers just as you would in real life. IE: For harder braking hit the brake trigger real hard, but this might cause the tires to lock and thus you will slide.
  
• DO NOT ever lock the tires as mentioned above, you will learn this as you go
  
• Hit the brakes BEFORE you enter a turn (every turn is different so use your own judgement)
  
• DO NOT brake and hit the gas pedal at the same time. Like I said brake
  before you enter a turn and hit the gas pedal as you're coming out of it.
  

Those are some tips i can give you. Like i said when I started playing this game i sucked and had to use every assist available. I got better with time. I can now drive the Lotus E35, manual with clutch and no assists on the Nurburgring at full speed
without crashing. It is way fun. Forza is the reason I got addicted to racing games.

 

I seem to be doing good so far, so I am enjoying Forza 6, I will see as time goes on.

 

Glad to hear youre enjoying Forza 6 Boomer... it really is great once you get used to everything... I know I still slam on the brakes instead of slowly pressing them which sends me skidding often..

 

The beginning of the game is much harder than the rest, once you beat career, gets much easier. I was having trouble coming in 3rd and I have played since FORZA 2. Later on once you have beaten the career, you can finish first all the time, with almost no
tuning necessary. I usually come in fist place the first lap, may sound crazy, but it's true. fight now, drive later.

 

Metal10957

It sounds like you need to increase the difficulty level to give you more of a challenge.

 

Interestingly enough, I've found that the drivatar difficulty is not consistent across game modes. If I'm in Free Play, for instance, and use the same difficulty which I find to be challenging in career, I'll be blowing the doors off everyone by the end
of the first lap. So I wind up having to bump it up a notch or two to keep things interesting.

AI seems to be inconsistent between career and some of the showcase events as well, but I haven't really tested my suspicions enough to say one way or another.