Skip to main content

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
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 [WIP]

    This

  • Front: its value will depend onsets 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

The Initial value determines the general severity of the effect.effect If you wantedof the LSD to activate fully during acceleration, for example, set this andother LSD Accelerationvalues. Make sure to 60. Otherwise, keep this at a balancedvalue value,that dependingis onadequate for what Accelerationyou're andlooking Decreasefor arewith setthe to.other LSD configurations.


 

Limited-slip differential acceleration [WIP]
  • its willdependon 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

    • 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

    ofdecreasethisvalue.

    Front:Issue
    		 Solution
    Power oversteer
    		Higher value
    Difficult to turn whileat acceleratingcorner outexits
    		 Lower corners,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
    • 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, 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.

Back to top