Car Setup
The intent of this guide is to provide a way to drive any car in the game at a fun level. Once you find a car that you really like, you can then spend the time
to dial in a top performer. In the mean time here's one way of possible millions that could help find that perfect car. What I found was that any stock car I obtained, I just
could not control it. Keep in mind I'm not a highly skilled driver, however I do think I should be able to keep a car moving forward. Feuerdog's calculations did that part for me. His adjustments
create a nice baseline from which I can tweak to meet my skill/car/track combination. More importantly, it lets me very quickly try out any car in the game, because I found that using the Feuerdog calcs
as a baseline rather than the default stock setup, I could get enough information about the car to decide if I might like it or not. Don't let the stock setup fool you, go back
and try out those rides you tried and skipped because it handled like a tornado. At any rate, here is my attempt at a guide...Good Luck!
Preparations
- First thing you will need to do is determine what class you want to run in. I personally have the best time in the D and C classes, trying to
get every ounce of performance out of cars that I could actually own IRL, but there's no denying the speed and power of the high performance classes.
- Upgrade to the appropriate class, if you are wanting to stay in a particular class remember that you can "down-grade" your PI by a few points or more by adding
heavier tires, aero wings and heavier rims. So if you are hovering on the edge of a class try these to bring you back down.
- Now you are ready to run the Tuning Calculator. Plug in the apropriate values and go test drive your ride!
Tires
Tires win races. Upgrading the tire compound is a must for me, I need to be glued to the road as much as possible. Tire pressure is another key element,
you want your tires to be at 32 PSI (when they are HOT) for optimum grip. Set this by opening up the telemetry window in game after about 5 GOOD laps and see if you need
to bump up your cold temperature PSI up or down accordingly so that you can hit that target of 32 PSI in a race. If you don't driving with the telemetry window up, don't forget that
you can put in some laps then watch the replay with the telemetry window open and grab the data you need for some tuning.
Gearing
Working on a detailed section for this, but in the mean time just adjust your final drive settings depending on the track you are running to either have
faster acceleration or to have a higher top end. You can Benchmark your adjustments to see how you are impacting yor ride by the ratio changes you are trying.
Alignments
Camber
The idea of camber is to keep your tires heating evenly. Check your telemetry to see if that is the case. Camber is greatly imapacted by
the track you are on as most tend to be more left-turn or right-turn dominant. The ultimate goal is to get your tires at 0 camber during turns, hence keeping
as much rubber on the road at all times. Negative camber will lean your tires to the inside, while positive camber pushes the top of the tire away from your ride.
Toe
Toe refers to the inward or outward angles of your wheels. Toe-In brings the front of your tires closer together, and Toe-Out...you guessed it, brings the back
of the tires closer together. Don't over do these settings as it will burn up you tires, but you can make small adjustments to assist your turning response coming off of a straight.
Front Caster
The Front Caster closely relates to the front camber settings as a positive caster will increase the wheels camber at a quicker pace.
Antiroll Bars
Roll bars provide a smooth, stable turning capability to your ride. It's difference between the two settings that balances out the car.
Decreasing front antiroll reduces understeer. Increasing front antiroll increases understeer.
Springs
Springs control how the car's weight is shifted when accelerating, turning and braking. These settings are highly track specific as you want stiffer
springs for a flatter course, while trakcs with uneven surfaces and/or hills you should run a softer spring setup.
RideHeight
Simple, go as low as you can go without bottoming out.
Damping
Bump Stiffness
In general the bump settings should be 50-75% as stiff as the rebound stiffness. Decreasing this setting increases transitional oversteer, while
Increasing it will increase the transitional understeer. (These are built in options to the calculator via the Advanced options)
Rebound Stiffness
Again, this impacts the transitional understeer/oversteer balance going in and out of corners. Decreasing this setting increases transitional oversteer, while
Increasing it will increase transitional understeer. (Also available in the Advanced options of the Calculator)
Aero
I prefer all my RWD vehicles to have a wing, or if I need to hold a car down to stay in a particular class. I like to do everything else on my car, then put
the wing on last and fine tune it for speed/handling needs. You can really bolt a car to the track at the expense of speed with a wing! Also, remember to back and adjust your camber when
you put on a wing. Adjust Camber based on aerodynamic downforce. +.1 camber per 200lbs downforce (EX: if rear downforce is 300lbs, set rear camber to -.7 instead of -.8, etc.)
Braking
In general I stick with the suggested calculator settings on this one. Set brake pressure to 110% with ABS, 90% without ABS. Adjust pressure in 5% increments for best feel or benchmark performance.
Brake Balance: Set brake balance to 47% front. Adjust balance in 2% increments for best feel, stability or benchmark performance. However based on your own lead foot, adjust accordingly.
Differential
I have just followed the suggested calculator settings for this so far.
Conclusion
Well there you have it, hopefully you can find something useful in here! Good Luck on the track! If you know of any other information to include please leave Feedback