Setting up a car my style..
As we get more into our racing some are turning to tuning sites such as http://www.gt5-tuning.com. This site gives a range of in depth tuning specifics per car, often turning a lemon into a racer.
But, I prefer to ‘roll my own’, it may not be faster, but I like that my fettling happens to improve the cars that I drive – and of course, often they’re quick enough! ;o)
So, here are some of the tips that I’m caring to be sharing in terms of setting up a car; they’re more discussion with some reference to GT5, borne of years of being a petrol head and the GT3/GT4 race guides, the former of which was detailed in its tuning guide.
Getting power
Lots of power is best right?
Nope. When racing in a limited race there’s normally a compromise to be had. If you’re using the power limiter (easiest way to limit Performance Points) you can get a couple of shitty side effects:
- Peak power is too low in the rev band. That sounds great, but if you’re mashing the throttle (we all do) then you’ll often end up not being able to get the power down, given our league races TC turned off.
- Torque drops away much faster. Check it in the tuning screen – limit the power and the torque always drops off quicker. So you’re losing something somewhere with this option.
Better is to limit the power mechanically – add things you can take off to reduce the power (or read on for alternatives).
Consider a mid-range turbo rather than a peak power one. This will smooth out your power curve. Turbos are also great at not screwing up the low rev stuff, so a mechanical TC if you like.
If you’re cost conscious, do the cat removal @ $500 credits. It’s the best tuning option for the least amount.
Personally I always start with an ECU upgrade. It raises the rev range and smooths the curve somewhat, and makes other additions better value. Interestingly in GT4 it dropped the peak revs, despite the in-game tuning guide stating the opposite – I often didn’t run an ECU upgrade as I had a much higher revving car.
As I pimp my rides I nearly always put the titanium race exhaust on – but actually the lower specs sound better in the most part. In terms of power curves, they differ, do check.
Power Vs. Weight Vs. PP
In our league it’s often about PP (performance points) with the magic zone being around 587pp. Why that number – ask Baloo about race fixing with his Aston in the last league for an answer... ;o)
But, there are three key factors in PP points:
- Weight.
- Aero.
- Powerrrrrrrr.
Generally speaking it’s better to get to the front first and not have to worry about overtaking. So, a light car with plenty of aero and maybe a bit less power makes for a smart racer. That gets to the corner first(ish).
But...
A track such as Spa or Nurburgring, or anything with a longish straight you’re going to want less aero and more power, weight isn’t such an issue (until you need to stop). For example, the real world Veyron weighs 1888Kg, which is portly compared to a Porsche Turbo’s 1570kg.
So what do I do?
I get my car somewhere in the right power range, then add all the weight reduction I can. This often takes me over the 587pp point. Then I add it back as ballast.
This gives a few benefits:
- Weight is lower in the car – in road cars this is good.
- Balance of the car can be adjusted. E.g. I run ballast in a Ford GT at -17 moving the centre of gravity forwards somewhat.
- I can add more power as I’m running a heavier car.
The downside is that I have to brake earlier into corners. Those following me will attest to my braking early – George had a torrid time following me through Eau Rouge in Spa, I was 20kph slower through the dip.
More power!
When tuning I either run my rear wing (on standard cars) at 5, the lowest, or have no wing at all. If the car handles OK then I don’t add anything extra.
Why I hear you ask... well it’s about that magic 587pp. Less or no wing gives a huge PP reduction - allowing more power...
Racing the other night George and I were running Ford GTs. If I recall he had 458bhp in his Ford, whilst I was running a heady 601bhp. A huge difference really, and not that noticeable in the racing I might add – though I noticed that despite being in the slipstream (and that set to high in-game) he had a hard time catching me on the straights, nothing to do with driving, just outright grunt.
I could do this as I was running a 1300kg+ car with no wing at 587pp. That allowed me to wind on some serious power...
In racing terms (we are well matched) this meant that I had good mechanical grip and power whilst George had good high speed stability and stopping. It made for some interesting racing for sure.
Corner!
Big weight and lots of power is great, but I still need to get around the corners. Everyone has a handling preference, and we use differing systems for driving too (controller/wheel), so that affects this. But...
I like a car that will turn in smartly, but if I floor it will tend to understeer a little unless I lift. Then it’ll flick to oversteer and let me control the slide, and catch it.
My cars also have to be able to cope with bad (very bad) driving, so able to recover from slides etc.
Turn in was the bane of my life with GT5 – all my cars were just barges, and actually I preferred GT4, which allowed front wing with aero upgrades, making them turn in much better. But I found the magic option... (Bet you’re glad you’ve read this far aren’t you).
Suspension setup (from memory!):
Get the race suspension. Anything less is pants.
Ride height – Used to run the front 5mm lower than the back to try and get some downforce into the car. It wasn’t successful, but I still do it. On a car with -25mm possible I won’t go past -15mm on the front, -10mm on the back. Reason is I don’t want the car bottoming out on it’s springs (GT tuning tips tells us this will happen).
Spring rate – around the 10 point. Tuning guides run heavier – race cars are up to 13/14. But a bit softer will allow that progressive lift off oversteer. I try and maintain the same ratio to the original when adjusting – so a car with softer rear, I’ll maintain that. On race cars I leave as is.
Dampers – Both Front/Rear same. Extension – 7. Compression – 6. Some cars I’ll run 6/5 respectively. Depends. I always run the compression lower though. On race cars I usually leave as is, or soften the compression by a notch.
Anti-Roll – Pretty much always 4 front and rear. Maybe 5 on a race car – or I leave as is.
Camber – This was the first step to a car that handles well. Lots of camber is good, too much means a car won’t stop properly. GT4 tuning had it that 4Deg+ meant that braking would be affected. For pretty much any car more on the front is good – as it allows the back to come round a bit.
- On FR/MR/4WD – 3.5/3.0
- On FF – 3.5/2.8
- On RR and stuff that’s tail happy – 3.5/3.2
- On crazy Deep Forest Le Mans car laptime run: 4.5/4.0 – extreme!
- Front: -0.20 This is not as extreme as some, but does give good turn in. More is better most of the time really.
- Rear: +0.20 (standard) or for a FF car I’ll go to +0.18.
Generally speaking the front toe change will give you that delicious initial turn in. Whilst the rear (reducing it) will give you the continued turn in as the back comes out. The camber will give you some degree of control when you turn in too hard/fast or generally lose it.
Diff(icult):
I used to just slap on an adjustable LSD and forget about it. But I’ve found that’s not ideal...
In the most part if you’re 4wd, don’t add it. If you’re <430Bhp, don’t add it. If your car under-steers like soap on a slipway then take it off, or...
As I do, I go back to standard and go to its config screen. This gives me a guide to how aggressive the old LSD was. Then I enable the aftermarket one and set somewhere near the older settings.
Typically it’s something like this for a FR: Initial – 7. Acceleration – 30, Braking – 5.
For a 4wd I turn the front down way low, I don’t really want the front locking up at all.
For FF - Much as the FR really.
Gears:
Not going to go all out on this...
But generally I run the customisable gears. Unless the original is OK. Short ratio boxes aren’t really useful when you’ve added power.
For setup I run the first two gears as long as possible (highest possible gearing) then the last gear (say sixth) I’ll add a few Km’s to the top end. Third – Fifth I’ll spread out, though tend to make fifth close to the sixth gear to get a better drop into that gear – no cruising gear for me!
All the other bits...
For a fun car I often don’t bother with the clutch upgrade - shifting is slower, but more ‘realistic’ in terms of the revs and how they drop.
Don’t forget to change the oil on a new purchase – at least now the oil change will show what benefit the car will get, as there usually is one.
Tyres are racing soft because I have to – you lot run them. But actually racing medium is more fun. Not much less grip and more progressive. If you’re scratching about in a lower powered car I’d recommend them as a racing enjoyment increase!
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So there you have it. All my secrets - not that I'm the fastest person out there - but maybe I've shared an aspect of the game that can become quite enjoyable!
