How to tune properly?
One thing is for sure, there will be a moment where you will have to upgrade any of your rides. But like with any proper sim racer, upgrades do mean that your car has to be tuned in order to adapt to its new stats properly. If you don't have too much knowledge on how the game works regarding tuning, you can grasp an idea on how to by either reading the information the game gives to you, or if you want a more concise way to know how to tune your cars, follow along this guide.
Introduction
When getting a new upgrade for a car, it's important to set it up correctly. What does this mean in practice? It means that it's pretty important (although not necessarily mandatory depending on what were the upgrades) to go and set up the car according to its new stats.
But how do we accomplish this? Simple, you just go to several race tracks (mix up the kind of circuits you're choosing, since you'll want to make sure to it drive more or less well in most circuits) and do a couple of laps to feel the car's driving experience.
Once your hands are on the steering wheel, try to look for possible issues you car may have, for example: Does the car suffer from heavy wheelspin while driving on first and/or second gear? The car has trouble at any specific point during the turns? Is it possible to keep a high speed for long stretches?
Then, exit the race and configure the car in order to fix the detected issues, and rinse and repeat until the car feels adequate for your driving style.
Tuning is a pretty subjective matter, what works for someone might not be for someone else, hence why it is important to tune the car by yourself, don't ask anyone else to tune it for you. Last but not least, remember that there's no such thing as the perfect setting, so just try to find what works the best for you.
Suspension
Spring rate
- Front: its value will depend on the tyres equipped (softer tyres --> stiffer springs), the amount of downforce the car has, the car's drivetrain, and how powerful it is (powerful engine --> stiffer springs).
- Rear: its value will be relative to the front (stiffer/softer rear --> oversteer/understeer).
If the front springs are too soft and the rear springs are too stiff, the car will lose stability when entering corners. Meanwhile, if the front is too stiff and the rear is too soft, the car will have trouble to turn around corners.
Ride height
| Issue |
Solution |
Negative consequences |
| Lack of stability |
Low front and high rear |
Worse turning ability |
| Lack of turning ability |
High front and low rear |
Worse stability |
| Overall height |
Positive consequences |
Negative consequences |
| Low |
Increased stability on flat surfaces | Reduced stability on bumpy surfaces |
| High |
Increased stability on bumpy roads |
Reduced stability on flat surfaces |
On powerful cars, if the height is pretty low sparks will appear. Not to be worried though, since those are purely cosmetical.
Dampers/Shocks
| Issue |
Place |
Solution |
| Understeer |
Corner entry | Soft front bound and stiff rear rebound |
| Oversteer |
Corner entry |
Stiff front bound and soft rear rebound |
| Understeer |
Corner exit |
Soft rear bound and stiff front rebound |
| Oversteer |
Corner exit |
Stiff rear bound and soft front rebound |
Camber angle
The camber angle helps the car grip better in corners, at the cost of losing traction in straights and uneven tyre wear. It is important to not set up extreme values, since higher tyre wear will be added to the list of consequences of modifying the camber angle.
So in general, you want to have at least 0.5 of camber, but not more than 4.5, because at that point the car's braking distances will be noticeably worse.
Toe angle
| Issue |
Solution |
Negative consequences |
| Lack of stability in straight lines and in corner exits |
Positive toe angle |
Worse turning ability |
| Bad turning ability |
Negative toe angle |
Worse stability in straight lines and in corner exits |
Something worth noting, is that rear toe has a bigger impact on the car than front toe. Regardless of that, if you set up some toe-in or toe-out, the tyre will suffer from some higher wear than without any, so if possible try to remedy the issues discussed below by adjusting the car's height.
Stabilisers
| Highest value |
Impact |
| Front |
Stability |
| Rear |
Turning response |
Brakes
Brakes balance
| Drivetrain |
Highest value |
| RWD |
Front |
| FF |
Rear |
| 4WD |
Rear |
Drivetrain
Limited-slip differential initial
This sets the general severity of the effect of the other LSD values. Make sure to keep this at a value that is adequate for what you're looking for with the other LSD configurations.
Limited-slip differential acceleration
| Issue |
Solution |
| Power oversteer |
Higher value |
| Difficulty to turn at corner exits |
Lower value |
Limited-slip differential decrease
| Issue |
Solution |
| Dive-bombing into corners |
Higher value |
| Difficulty to turn at corner entries |
Lower value |
Remember to set its value alongside the brake balance, since both things are able to fix stability issues while braking.
Gear ratio
- Step #1: move the final gear to the right (or to the required value where this setup doesn't hamper the car's acceleration)
- Step #2: move the auto setting slider to the right, then back left
- Step #3: move the final gear to the left until the point before any of the gears disappears completely from the chart
- Step #4: move the 1st gear to the left
- Step #5: move the 4th and 5th gears to the right
- Step #6: position the 3rd and 2nd gears so the transitions between each gear is as smooth as possible
- Step #7: position the 6th gear
- Step #8: move the final gear to the left if that wasn't possible during step number 3
Others
Downforce
| Circuit |
Value |
| - |
Maximum |
| Test course |
Minimum |
If you're configuring a car that only has an adjustable downforce for the rear, beware of your configuration, since having a value way too high may impact the car's ability to turn into corners.
AYC controller
This component does not seem to do barely anything good. In fact, a high setting makes the car's handling more unpredictable as it can randomly begin to understeer mid-corner.
ASM
Set it to 0, since this assist does nothing but prevent you from actually driving properly and just bruteforce your way to victory without any kind of effort into your playthrough.
TCS
| Type of input |
Value |
| Analog acceleration |
0 |
| Digital acceleration |
1 |
| Digital steering |
2-3 |
VCD controller
Setting it to 10% it will make any 4WD car turn like a RWD one. Increasing its value is not necessary unless the car needs extra stability.