How to tune properly? [WIP]
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 [WIP]
When getting a new ride for a car
If you’re just getting into tuning, it can be difficult to know which settings to start with, and what to test for. Everyone has their own preferences, and what works for me may not work for you.
The most important step is to try the car before making any suspension and LSD changes, and make observations. Make sure to set up the gearbox, increase downforce and turn down ASM and TCS first. How well does the car turn around wide corners? Does the car lose composure when entering slow sharp corners? Does the car feel unstable when exiting?
You’ll also need to check your car’s tyre wear rate to see if it wears through its front or rear tyres faster. I usually test this in the Tokyo R246 race in All Japan GT Championship Amateur, as it’s a 5-lap event on a relatively long track. Make sure the car has the right tyres equipped before tuning the suspension.
Your choice of track to test your settings on will also make a big difference. From the Run and Settings option in your garage, you have a variety of tracks that you can drive on. This is the most efficient way to tune and test your car.
Each of them will test the car in different ways; Laguna Seca’s sharp corners will reveal any power oversteer issues while the car exits corners in 1st gear and 2nd gear, Midfield Raceway tests the car’s ability to make fast wide turns, and Apricot Hill’s sharp elevation changes will throw off any car with loose springs or stiff dampers. To ensure the car is well-prepared, I suggest driving the car on at least two of these tracks.
Tuning is an iterative process, and you’ll likely need to revisit settings constantly as one change can affect another. This is especially true for spring rates and camber. Keep in mind that it’s impossible to have the ‘perfect settings’, as a car can drive well on one track but have problems on another.
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 [WIP]
has,thecar'sIssue drivetrain,Solution Negative consequences Lack of stability Low front and howhighpowerfulrearitWorse isturning(powerfulabilityengine-->stifferLack springs).of turning abilityRear:its value will be relative to theHigh front (stiffer/softerand low rear--> oversteer/understeer).If the front springs are too soft and the rear springs are too stiff, the car willloseWorse stability whenenteringcorners.- 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
- 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
- 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
| Overall height |
Positive |
Negative |
| Low |
Increased stability on flat |
Reduced stability on bumpy surfaces |
| High |
Increased stability on bumpy roads |
Reduced stability on flat surfaces |
Therepowerful cars, if the height is pretty low sparks will appear. Not to be worried though, since those are no major performance drawbacks to a low ride height, as Gran Turismo 3 does not simulate ‘bottoming out’. However, increasing the ride height can also help the car’s ability to absorb bumps while reducing unpredictability during sudden elevation changes. This is useful for bumpy tracks or rally. Some cars get disturbed easily by curbs and bumps, and need a higher height.
Some powerful cars will constantly produce sparks with a low ride height. This is purely cosmetic and doesn’t slow the car down, though it makes it more difficult to see properly when driving in chase cam.
The front-rear bias will affect the car’s horizontal centre of gravity. A low front and a high rear moves the centre forward, increasing stability while also making the car much more difficult to turn. A high front and a low rear moves it back, making the car easier to turn but also more likely to drift or spin out.
However, a ride height bias can affect traction, resulting in a change of acceleration. For example, setting a high front height on a powerful RWD will move the centre of gravity closer to the rear wheels, putting more weight onto them and reducing wheelspin. Doing the same on an FF will put less weight on the front wheels, increasing wheelspin.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 [WIP]
The Initial value determines the general severity of the effect. If you wanted the LSD to activate fully during acceleration, for example, set this and LSD Acceleration to 60. Otherwise, keep this at a balanced value, depending on what Acceleration and Decrease are set to.
Limited-slip differential acceleration [WIP]
The Acceleration value determines the effect while the car is accelerating. If the car experiences power oversteer, raise this value. If the car is difficult to turn while accelerating out of corners, decrease this value.
Limited-slip differential decrease
| Issue |
Solution |
| Dive-bombing into corners |
Higher value |
| Difficult 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
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, as it 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.