Help a beginner understand car set-ups ...(pretty please)

[INDUS]

Hello - i'm driving GTR EVO a lot and enjoy it, especially the legends pack for Race 07.

The setup screen is a mystery to me.

I read around the forums, but all of it assumes a knowledge just a few steps over my head.

I wonder if a car/driving lover would take the time to explain a few of the basics - like what effect does changing 5 or 6 of the basic parameters do , and even do I take the value up or down for the desired effect ?

I'm looking to corner better - and i usually drive on Spa and Laguna Seca.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Senad Subasic]

Hiya :welcome:

This PDF could help: http://www.racedepartment.com/race-setups/3511-racedepartment-setup-guide.html

 

[INDUS]

Yes, it did! Thank you ..:drink:

 

[Benedikt Wegmann]

I can recommend the book "Speed Secrets" by Ross Bentley. It also deals with car setups to a level sufficient for setting cars up in Race but more importantly it deals with driving technique and understanding the car, tires and track.

 

[Marian Zelenka]

It's not as easy as it looks. You need also XD plugin at least to see some car's parameters. And program like Motec to see the rest. But I don't have luck with that program. My sim doesn't send good data or something.

 

[Senad Subasic]

It's not as easy as it looks. You need also XD plugin at least to see some car's parameters. And program like Motec to see the rest. But I don't have luck with that program. My sim doesn't send good data or something.

You don't need anything, you can drive around the track and see if you like it better with the changes . XD is pretty useful, but not necessary.

 

[Dennis Phelan]

You don't need anything, you can drive around the track and see if you like it better with the changes . XD is pretty useful, but not necessary.

Absolutely !!! Once you start making changes you will begin to see which parameters have the most effect and how they matche your driving style. The worst thing you can do is to rely on other peoples setups, IMHO.

 

[Nick Brooke]

Yes this is for rFactor but most of it transposes across to any race game tbo. I been using it for a week or so and its helped me no end.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/cbarnett/SetupMatrix.html

 

[INDUS]

So much to learn - that's what I like about simming . I need the discipline of trying only one thing , and then doing 3 or 4 laps before making another adjustment.

I'm digesting all this slowly, but I have a feeling it's a long road to understanding.

Thanks very much for the responses chaps.

 

[Marian Zelenka]

You don't need anything, you can drive around the track and see if you like it better with the changes . XD is pretty useful, but not necessary.

Yes, but as in reality, not the best handling car is always the fastest. Besides, you need to check your ride height and dampers.

 

[Dennis Phelan]

Changes in shock settings can be felt in the car and observed in the speedometer while in corners and at the end of straights. Replays are a great way to see brake lock and ride height. If you use telemetry, you might miss all this good stuff.

 

[Senad Subasic]

Yes, but as in reality, not the best handling car is always the fastest. Besides, you need to check your ride height and dampers.

Well, he can also... look at the lap times before and after the changes?

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Not forgotting tyre wear, fastest lap isn't always the fastest race pace. A lot of times yes but one needs to remember the length of the race too. But from my experience, the changes are little between qualy and race setups, adjusting drive style can help more.. But getting use to cooking tires in sprints is not a good thing in the long run.

can be useful tool, i got some deep problems in driving style sorted out but it took a lot of work. It rendered all my precious setups, a considerable amount of work, completely useless. After that there's usually very little that i change from the default SimBin setups.. 2-3 clicks stiffer rear springs, 2 clicks more front ARB, increase steering lock, decrease diff lock and i'm good to go. It's very helpful to know what to do in setup but adjusting driving style is 10 times more effective than any setup change. Well maybe the final gear ratio is as important but still...

 

[Rupe Wilson]

This is a loverly little tool http://www.race2play.com/special/setup_tool

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

This is a loverly little tool http://www.race2play.com/special/setup_tool

Hmm, an idea.. With Excel and a little tinkering there is a possibility to load car setup from the game to spreadsheet for absolute values and then apply info from R2P setup tool to it (or make a new setup tool, it's not that complicated..)

 

[Rupe Wilson]

Its a loverly little tool, But first ive got to understand what the cars doing.

"(or make a new setup tool, it's not that complicated..)" Way to complicated for me

 

[Jim Cole]

So Rupe, have you been able to make any progress on your learning about car setups and how to tell when to adjust things?

 

[Rupe Wilson]

I understand the theory, but dont always see the effect on track. Unless i know the track theres no point doing much to a set up,

Ive looked at other setups from RD and some dont make any sense at all to me, i drive the car to look at how the tyres heat up and after 6 laps i just dont see it. So i tried some in time trail and the setups are very good compared to a default setup.

Ive been tampering with the Volvo p1800 on Curitiba from the Retro Dlc on my pc and my driving style its a very tail happy car when comming out of slow corners and loves to drift on the longer cornes. I now have a loverly handling Volvo that i can drive out of slow corners and drive through the long corners (less sideways) i have more stable tyre readings and have reduced the tyre wear if my reading are correct

Still very unsure about toe in/out on RWD cars, i seem to be able to go to the max on the front -100 and +100 on the rear and dont seem to see much difference in the lap times ( as it says in most "setup guides")and dont notice much difference in handling)

Tyres,Caster and Camber seem to make the biggest difference as it all does, But i think ive still got to learn the track, Iknow where im going and know where to brake, but thats only the half of it,


You can have the best setup in the world, but if you keep crashing or going off its a waiste of time, if the car in front is alot faster than me and i try to follow at his speed ,the chances of me crashing go up (drive to my limits or the cars, not to the guy in front)
you can always watch his lines on a replay later....http://www.racedepartment.com/race-setups/60641-volvo-p1800-retro-curitiba-07-a.html#post882786 Any advise is welcome,

if you want a nice read (Jean-Pierre Blanchy:doublethumbhttp://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Advanced_Driving#Tires


Love this comment "Remember that the largest variant is the driver. Period. A good driver can drive very effective in bad cars. A bad driver can mess up very good and forgiving cars. Blame yourself for handling problems before you blame the car and go to changing it's setup. When you do make changes, make them small -- one small step at a time. Make a step -- check the outcome, than decide whether to make another change."

 

[Ray Lilley]

Hi Indus

I am a noob to sim driving. 10 weeks of 4-6, and more, hours a night reading and driving. I have only driven the first 4 tracks of the WTCC 07 class, so far, hoping to learn and, improve, my driving and set-up skills.

I have done so much reading that my head is in a mess. Do I know what to do with all this knowledge to improve performance, ..No! Just one thing makes sense; keep as much rubber on the road as is possible at all times while trying to maintain the optimum operating temperatures.

A lot of people offer good advice and, little bits of each make some good sense. Translating it to the track is another thing.

I am simply waiting for the moment when it all falls into place. (Please hurry!)

However, if I had to give advice it would be;

a) If you use an analogue device read ..

http://www.racedepartment.com/content/1424-like-strong-force-feedback-think-again.html
by Niels_at_home

and...

http://www.vmso.net/downloads/VMSO_MoTeC/FAQ/GTR_2_MoTeC_i2_Pro_Manual_User_ENG_Part_2.pdf.
Although this is more to do with Motec analytic software, there is a section on page 2 that shows the various input graphs for a particular sensativity setting of the pedals.

b) Drive a track on a single race line until boredom sets in. Only once you know, without thought, how the car responds in any particular area will you notice a difference to the changes you make.
Watch faster drivers! The turn-in point of a corner may appear wrong but, is an overall faster line for an upcoming series of corners.

c) Visit here http://www.turnfast.com/technical. I found this link last night in a single lined post in a similar thread to this. I spent 6 hours reading through the site. As a compilation of information it made more common sense than all the fragments I had read so far.

...RayL12

 

[Tim Meuris]

question:
What's actually the best way to start tinkering with the setup?:
-using the simbin setup
-or using the default setup

(I always start from the simbin setup, but maybe it's better to start from the default setup... I don't know... )