F1 2011 Wet setup

[Craig Whitmore]

Has anyone come across a method to set a car up for the wet?

I have reasonable dry setups, but I just can't seem to sort them out for the wet. In Career legend without assists, I'm consistently about 6 seconds of the pace car.

The method I am using at the moment is:

Adjust front & rear wings to maximum
Drop all gearbox speeds by about 3 each
Add 2 to front & rear ride height.

But I think this method isn't particularly good.

An example, I am doing Canada. In dry practice, I can get a 1:12 without too much fuss. In wet quali, all I can get is 1:19 and the pace car is around 1:14. Last place is 1:17.

I'd appreciate any suggestions, thanks.

 

[Chris Preston]

Look through here http://www.racedepartment.com/f1-2011-race-setups/ and see if anything matches what you need, I find the majority of them to be helpful and improve my lap times maybe they'll do the same for you.

 

[John Robertson]

yes you could try looking through the set ups...although a lot of the ones with good times are also exploiting stiff springs.

I set my car up similarly to you in wet conditions with some changes:

I set wings to max, for added down force when accelerating and braking
I set brake strength to medium, to keep from locking my wheels up
I usually set the anti roll bars a little higher with a stronger back end, if you're running 6/6 dry try 7/8 in the wet
I set my ride height up 2 on front and rear
I always leave my suspension at 7/7 so that stays the same
I increase the gears by a lot, this will actually help you with accelerating since you won't be torque steering all over the track
I run my camber in the middle for dry, to get good acceleration out of turns and to maintain traction, but in the wet it helps to have this far left, for added stability
I run my toe far left in the dry, for added response, but in the wet it's good to have it far right for added stability

Try this out and let me know how you get on. Also keep in mind there are some issues with the AI performing abnormally well in intermediate conditions, getting close to dry lap times while the track is fully wet. They also seem to be able to pit for dry tires earlier than they should.

I won easily enough against Legend AI at a GP mode race in turkey though, it rained for 20 laps out of 29, and my inters were dead by lap 13 so I stopped for more...none of the AI stopped but their lap times did start to fall, I was more than 2 seconds a lap faster than the leaders by the time they switched to primes. It seemed too early to stop for me though and I waited till lap 23 and pitted for options, again I was much faster than the AI once they warmed up. So if their pace seems unmanageable try to at least stay on the lead lap or alter strategy, you still might be able to win it.

 

[Michael Brown]

Here's what I do:
Max out both wings
Move brake balance to 51 Front 49 Rear
Brake pressure medium
Soften roll bars, with the front stiffer
Raise ride height one or two clicks
Shorten gears
More negative camber
More toe in

The idea here is to reduce responsiveness, so the car is less twitchy and more stable.

 

[Cheztah]

I had trouble with my set up for canada aswell in the wet. I like a car the oversteers and is pretty twitchy, most i could manage was 1.19's in the race. i got half way through and after 1 to many spins i quit the race.

I came back the next day and tweaked setup to be more understeer and more traction, I was easily putting in 1.16's consistently without anywhere near as much concentration as the 1.19's the day before.

This is with force india in race conditions.

 

[Craig Whitmore]

I will give the suggestions a go, they do sound like better sense than what I have been doing.

I do look at the setup directory on here, although there is quite a few good dry setups, there are very few wet setups. I also believe that I can make better lap times by tweaking the car to how I like it to feel and as such, I don't have any setups that are exactly the same as the ones listed in the directory.

I also started the game, using 11/11 setups and i'm trying to slowly remove these for real setups and I don't believe that 11/11 is the best option on all tracks, I have tested. Anyway, the 11/11 springs discussion is for another thread.

 

[Miroslav Davidovic]

you need a good wet setup in rain but one thing i figured out yesterday is also the throttle saturation, if you have a wheel.
if you play around with the throttle saturation between 5-25% it also helps a lot in the wet. (logitech g 27).
i don't feel very good with this solution because it feels like i have TC on but i am able to catch the legend AI in the wet without assists.
just try it out and you will see what i mean. i'am still playing around with that. would be nice to hear something about this from other users.

 

[John Robertson]

you need a good wet setup in rain but one thing i figured out yesterday is also the throttle saturation, if you have a wheel.
if you play around with the throttle saturation between 5-25% it also helps a lot in the wet. (logitech g 27).
i don't feel very good with this solution because it feels like i have TC on but i am able to catch the legend AI in the wet without assists.
just try it out and you will see what i mean. i'am still playing around with that. would be nice to hear something about this from other users.

It's all about feel, I like having a little more saturation so I don't have to move my feet as much, plus it makes me feel a little more in tune with the car...the throttle in game matches up with what my head is saying my feet are doing

 

[newcomer]

you need a good wet setup in rain but one thing i figured out yesterday is also the throttle saturation, if you have a wheel.
if you play around with the throttle saturation between 5-25% it also helps a lot in the wet. (logitech g 27).
i don't feel very good with this solution because it feels like i have TC on but i am able to catch the legend AI in the wet without assists.
just try it out and you will see what i mean. i'am still playing around with that. would be nice to hear something about this from other users.

One of the best recommendations ever ... 10% is fine with me - Thanks!

 

[scotters]

Good thread. I wasn't sure of the concept of wet setups.

Have used your tips on my blog John & Michael, I hope that's ok (have credited you both). If there's anything else that you think i can add to the post please let me know (http://f1racing.nickscotney.co.uk)

 

[John Robertson]

that's totally cool with me man, but you should change "tire pressure" to "brake strength" as there is no adjustment for tire pressure xD

 

[scotters]

I thought in the care setup the option was Tyre Pressure. WHOOPS! Could have swarn it was that.

 

[John Robertson]

unfortunately you can only change tire compounds, not tire pressures. CM want to be realistic but not that realistic.

 

[scotters]

MY bad. I just read pressure and assumed tyres. All changed on my blog now

 

[Craig Whitmore]

Ok, so in the last 3 gp's on career mode that I have done, I've had another 2 weekends of rain to test the wet setup tips.

I am very pleased with outcome, in general, I've managed to get a much better transition of dry to wet setups.

One issue that I am still in a conundrum about is the wheel camber. Some tracks, in dry, I have maximum camber set, all the way to the left. When it rains, I obviously can't move this any further to the left. All that I do, is put 1 click to the left on the toe in, is this a normal strategy?

 

[John Robertson]

Ok, so in the last 3 gp's on career mode that I have done, I've had another 2 weekends of rain to test the wet setup tips.

I am very pleased with outcome, in general, I've managed to get a much better transition of dry to wet setups.

One issue that I am still in a conundrum about is the wheel camber. Some tracks, in dry, I have maximum camber set, all the way to the left. When it rains, I obviously can't move this any further to the left. All that I do, is put 1 click to the left on the toe in, is this a normal strategy?

putting the front camber to the left will improve stability in corners, in the wet this is a good thing
I always set the rear camber more to the right or the center, this gives you more traction and stability.
The toe settings alter how responsive your car is, I think you should have this set to the right so that it makes your car more stable.

 

[Michael Brown]

Looks like mine and John's setup conflicting gearing tips. While I prefer short gears for more acceleration, he prefers longer gears for better stability. With shorter gears comes more acceleration. I use shorter gears since higher wings makes me slower. But shorter gears means the car is more sensitive to the gas pedal, so pressing it slightly could spin the wheels. With longer gears, this isn't an issue, just make sure you still max out 7th gear at the end of the longest straight. It's the same idea as taking a slow corner in 2nd gear rather than 1st. Sure, acceleration is reduced, but the car is easier to control and you'll save the tires. So use the longer gears if you're learning throttle control.

For roll bars, I set mine softer to increase body roll and stability. A stiffer front will make the car understeer, which is my preference. Although I sacrifice responsiveness, I'm willing to because I prefer lots of stability in wet conditions.

As for my brake balance settings, I always have more front braking to keep the car stable under braking. My brake balance is set to the rear in the dry, but in the wet rear brake balance causes me to spin on the turn in.

Also, let me clarify grip and traction.

Grip is what keeps the wheel from sliding. Driving in the wet, on the dirty part of the track or on runoff areas will reduce grip.

Traction is determined by how much of the tire is within contact of the road. More contact = more traction. Driving over bumps and kerbs reduces traction because part of the tire leaves the road. More traction gives more grip, but more grip does not give more traction.

Edit: Always glad to help, Scotters.

 

[Michael Brown]

Sorry double post