Pacenotes in your navigation app: corner calls like a rally co-driver

What the app says

A call consists of direction and sharpness, often with an extra word: “Right three, long”, “Left two, tightens” or “Hairpin right”. The sharpness comes from the corner radius of the planned route. On the 65.6 km Bergisches Land loop from the home page you hear “Left two, tightens” at kilometre 32.9.

6 is fast, 1 is tight

The scale runs from 6 (fastest corner) to 1 (tightest corner), with the hairpin below that. A 3 is the typical country-road bend, a 6 is a sweeper that needs hardly any steering. The number tells you how sharp the corner is, not how fast to take it. The app deliberately gives no speed or gear advice, because that depends on vehicle, tyres, wet roads and skill. If you do not know the numbers, the settings hold a legend that explains every call.

Extras and chaining

“Long” means the corner drags on. “Tightens” warns that it gets tighter than it starts, “opens” says it gets wider. When two corners follow directly, the app joins them with “into”: “Right three, long into left five”. One call covers three corners at most, and the app only says “into” when the corners really flow into each other.

When the call comes

The call is meant to end about four seconds before the corner, so at higher speed it starts earlier. Below 25 km/h and on straights the app stays silent, otherwise city traffic or a jam would mean constant chatter. Turn instructions come first: if the app is speaking a turn instruction or has just finished one, the corner call waits. It uses the voice output of the navigation and stays silent when you mute the voice.

What is left out on purpose

A corner at a junction has the same radius as a hairpin. So the app does not call corners right at real turns, there you only hear the normal turn instruction. Extras such as “over crest” or “caution” do not exist: in rallying they come from the recce, and from map data alone they would give false confidence. The calls rest on the geometry of the route and do not replace looking at the road.

Switch on, pick a level, listen first

You switch the feature on in the settings under “Corner calls”. Three levels decide which corners you hear: “Tight only” (1 to 2), “Balanced” (1 to 4, the default) and “Every corner” (1 to 6). Hairpins come at every level. A listening test with a play button speaks a call in the voice of the navigation, so you do not hear it for the first time in the middle of a corner. The calls come in the app language.

Ladder in the cockpit, card in the car

In the navigation cockpit a ladder next to the speedometer shows the next corners: the next one large with its distance, the following ones smaller behind it. Red means tight, green means fast. The ladder keeps working with the voice muted. With Android Auto the car display shows the next corner as a coloured tile, as long as corner calls are on at the phone.

The device does the maths

The phone works out the corners from the geometry of the route, without a server. That suits twisty roads, which often have dead spots: the app calls corners with offline navigation too. When the app recalculates the route, it builds the calls for the new route again.

What it costs

Corner calls are a Premium feature, on the phone and in the car. Without Premium the “Corner calls” setting shows a locked row that leads to the Premium screen. The Curvy profile and Android Auto as a whole are Premium too. During the beta everything is unlocked. After that Premium is paid, the purchase runs through Google Play and Google Play shows the price.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a navigation app with pacenotes like in a rally car?

DriveBattle for Android calls corners like “Right three, long” if you want it to. The feature is off by default and you switch it on in the settings. It is part of Premium.

What do the numbers in the corner calls mean?

6 is the fastest corner, 1 the tightest, with the hairpin below that. A 3 is the typical country-road bend.

Do the corner calls work without internet?

Yes. The device works out the calls from the route itself, with offline navigation too.

Does the app tell me how fast to drive?

No. The number says how sharp the corner is. The app deliberately gives no speed or gear advice.

Why do I not hear any corner calls?

The feature is off by default. When it is on, the app stays silent with the voice muted, below 25 km/h, on straights and for corners right at turns. At “Tight only” you only hear corners 1 to 2.

Are the corner calls part of Premium?

Yes. Corner calls are a Premium feature, on the phone and in the car. During the beta everything is unlocked.