I'm just starting out with this game, trying to figure out what buttons on my xbox controller do what movements. When I look up what "roll" means online the answer I always find is banking left or right. But while doing the "Training" section of the game it tells me what stick to use for roll and all it does, if I press to the stick to the left, is that the wing dips down. There is no turning. The only way to turn is YAW and I don't know how that can be the only way to turn. It moves at a snails pace. It takes well over a minute to do a 360.
Is YAW the only way to turn? and I wrong in what ROLL means?
Welcome to the Elite Galaxy commander!
Indeed yaw is slow and roll and pitch are fast. That's why the ships in Elite are steered by using quick successions of roll and pitch. If you want to turn to the right you first roll 90 degrees to the right and then pitch up until the nose is pointing where you wanted to go. Since there is no gravity in space there is no need to roll back and level the ship (unless you fly close to a planet's surface but that's for later).
You've probably already found most of the resources listed below. If not, have a look at them and in any case don't hesitate to ask questions here in the forum.
In-game help is available in the form of menu links to the Pilot's Handbook and the Codex (right-hand cockpit panel 1st tab).
For a very good beginner's guide see:
An in-depth beginner’s guide to Elite: Dangerous.
Tutorials covering all aspects of the game, many of them in the form of YouTube videos, are available from
ED Tutorials.
There is a wealth of useful information available in these forums spread out over hundreds of threads. Thanks to commander
@Alec Turner you can access all of that information and more via a single thread:
Alec's best of the forum (and elsewhere) [v2].
Here is a good guide on
the background simulation (BGS) that simulates the economical and political changes caused by player actions in inhabited systems.
Also check out the
inara.cz and
eddb.io websites with (almost) realtime info on practically everything in the game.
The
coriolis.io and
edsy.org websites let you design your ships before buying them.
There are many more
Tools and Websites created by fans that make life in the galaxy better.
And last but not least, the
Elite Dangerous Wiki contains extensive information on nearly all aspects of the game.
o7