Car setups

I thought I would share some car setup info I have collected over the years.
Below has been posted elsewhere but it is a good quick guide to get you started

Understeer in medium / high speed turns
-reduce the front ride height
-reduce the rear wing

Spin on corner exit under power
-soften the rear slow bump (over doing this setting will produce understeer)
-loosen the rear anti-roll bar
-decrease the differential lock
-increase the front slow rebound
-stiffen the front anti-roll bar

Car looses grip on bumpy areas of the road
-soften the springs
-soften rear slow bump and fast bump

Understeer on corner entry
-soften the front slow bump
-stiffen the rear slow rebound

Oversteer on corner entry
-stiffen the front slow bump
-soften the rear slow rebound

My tires wear out quickly
-reduce toe in or camper
-soften up the springs

Understeer at low speed / oversteer at high speed
-soften front anti-roll
-increase rear wing

Setting up your car for bumpy areas of the track (riding the curbs etc):
Understeer while going over bumps
-Soften the front fast bump
-Soften the front fast rebound

Oversteer while going over bumps
-Soften the rear fast bump
-Soften the rear fast rebound

If your car doesn't seem to notice the bumps
(if your car doesn't notice the bumps it means your car is not settling down fast enough after the bumps)
-you need to stiffen up all fast bump and fast rebound

If your car skates out from the bumps (neither end first)
-you need to soften all fast bump and fast rebound

The differential lock
A low differential lock will mean the outside and inside tires will lock together much earlier - a high differential lock has the opposite effect
power diff is the diff lock under acceleration
coast diff is the diff lock when off the throttle

Camber / Tire Temperatures / Tire Pressures
Tire temperatures should be within a range of 10 across a tire (even temps across the tire is better) eg:112 108 103
-more camber will give you hotter inside than outside
-increase the tire pressure to raise the middle tire temperature

Anti-Roll bars-stiffer front anti roll bar generates understeer
-stiffer rear anti roll bar generates oversteer
-stiff anti roll bars make a more rigid chassi but increase tire wear
-the front anti roll bar should be about 70% more than the rear

Track Bar
- lowering the rear roll centre (or 'trackbar' in V8Factor) increases rear stability under throttle but causes more understeer.
- Raising the rear roll centre improves turn-in but can cause oversteer under throttle

This was taken from GTR but is applicable to rFactor.

Brake pressure
Adjust overall force applied on the brakes. At 100%, full force will be applied to the brakes. When the best percentage of brake pressure is applied for a car for a specific circuit, the brakes are less likely to lock up. Also some game controllers might not do well modulating brake lockup at the 100% setting, so you might need to reduce this to help compensate.

Brake Bias
Adjusts the balance of braking pressure between the front and the rear brakes.The right balance will keep one end of the car from locking up significantlybefore the other. However, you should usually aim for the fronts locking slightly before the rears. Changing this bias will also affect corner turn-in balance.

Brake Duct
Increase or decrease the duct to adjust the brake temperature. Brakes that are either too cool or too warm are less efficient, not stopping/slowing the car as quickly.

Steering Lock
Adjust the steering sensitivity a few degrees. Greater lock yields tighter steering response.

Differential
Adjust the Differential Power and Coast to tweak the distribution of torque to the rear wheels for traction and speed.

Power
Amount, or percentage that is used to lock the inside and outside tyres together when accelerating, as when exiting a corner.

Coast
Amount, or percentage that is used to lock the inside and outside tyres together when you are off of the throttle, as when entering a corner.

Pre-load
Amount of lock built in before any acceleration / deceleration effects take place like in a neutral throttle condition.

Radiator Opening
Adjust the air flow to radiator, which helps cool the engine. The larger the opening, the cooler the engine will run, making it safer to run at a higher RPM.Though a larger radiator opening creates more drag which will reduce top speed.

Water
Temperature of the car's water cooling system. Try to keep this temp under100C. Use a smaller or larger radiator opening to solve problems here. Air temperature extremes can affect this.

Oil
Temperature of the car's oil. Will change during practice and qualifying sessions. Try to keep this under 100C. Tied to the water temp and it's radiator opening.

Rev Limit
The higher the RPM limit, the higher the top speed you can carry.There is also a reduction in engine reliability as the you up the RPM limit. If you set the limiter at maximum and use that limit regularly while driving, your chances of completing a full length race are slim.

Gearing
1st - 7th(Depending on the car type) and Reverse Engine Gear Ratios. Adjust the ratio of each engine gear. Taller gear ratio (smaller number) yields slower acceleration but higher achievable top speed in that gear. Shorter gear ratio (larger number) yields quicker acceleration but lower achievable top speed in that gear.

Symmetrical Setup
(off/on) Automatically match the right and left sides.

Tyre Pressure
Adjust the amount of air pressure in the tyres. Each tyre has an optimum amount of pressure at which it yields the most grip. Decreasing or increasing the pressure from this point lessens the grip. Ideally the optimum pressure is when the centre tyre temp is the average of the inner + outer tyretemps once the tyre gets up to operating temperature (about 85-95C).Additionally, the higher the pressure, the stiffer the car will be as the tyre is really like a spring. This affects car control and handling as well as tyre wear.

Fast Bump
Controls the rapid UPWARD movement of this suspension corner following bumps and curbs. Called "Fast" because the damper is moving *up* (compressing) in a rapid motion, usually above 100mm/sec (use telemetry). So this adjustment controls how a tyre conforms to the road as it's negotiating the leading edge-to-peak of a bump or road undulation. If you find the car pushing to the outside of the track in a "skating" fashion over bumps, then soften (lower) this setting. If find the car floating and changing direction erratically, then stiffen (higher) this setting. When in doubt, go softer

Slow Bump
Controls the mild UPWARD movement of this suspension corner caused by driver input (steering, braking, throttle). Called slow because the damper is moving up (compressing) in a slow motion, usually below 70mm/sec damper speed (use telemetry). Used to affect chassis balance while we are transitioning into, and out, of the corners. Decreasing this number will speed up how quickly this corner accepts weight transfer while we are transitioning. Increasing will slowit down.

Fast Rebound
Controls the rapid DOWNWARD movement of this suspension corner following bumps and curbs. Called "Fast" because this damper is moving down (extending) in a rapid motion, usually above 100mm/sec (use telemetry). So this adjustment controls how a tyre conforms to the road as it's negotiating the peak-to-trailing edge of a bump or road undulation. If you've changed the bump setting, then it's usually a good idea to change this setting in a similar manner.

Slow Rebound
Controls the mild DOWNWARD movement of this suspension corner caused by driver input (steering, braking, throttle). Called slow because the damper is moving down (extending) in a slow motion, usually below 70mm/sec damper speed (use telemetry). Used to affect chassis balance while we are transitioning into, and out, of the corners. Decreasing this number will speed up how quickly this corner gives up - or "sheds" - weight transfer while we are transitioning. Increasing this setting will slow it down.

Springs
Adjust the stiffness of the springs. Lessening the stiffness yields bettergrip but slows response time to driver input. More stiffness makes the car respond more quickly to driver input, but yields less grip.

Camber
Adjust the angle of the wheel in relation to the driving surface. Negative cambermakes the top of the tyres tilt inward towards the centre of the chassis, and helps give better grip through the corners. Though used less frequently, positive camber means that the wheel tilts outward, which gives some stability in a straight line but less grip when cornering. Ideal camber can be tuned by the tyre temps. You want the inner temps about 7-10C hotter than the outer temps,slightly less at the rear. For a road racing car , you will use only negativecamber. The amount is dependant on the type of suspension the car has and the amount of roll resistance (springs + anti-roll bars) utilized in the setup. The stiffer the roll resistance the less negative camber you need. The less efficient the suspension the more negative camber you need.

Caster
Adjust the degree the tyre leans forward or back at the top of the wheel. Caster increases or decreases directional stability. Positive caster provides the directional stability, yet too much positive caster makes steering more difficult. Negative caster requires less steering effort but can cause the car to wanderdown straights.

Packers
Adjust the number of packers. Extra spacers put in to adjust how soon the bump stops come into play to limit downward travel of the chassis. The more packers, the sooner and more effective the bump stops will be at limiting travel,but can cause chassis instability over bumps and heavy vertical G-force corners -like Spa's Eau Rouge. Use only if necessary as a last resort to avoid chassis scraping.

Ride Height
Adjust how high the bottom of the car is off of the ground. The lower the ride height, the less suspension travel, and the lower the car's centre of gravity will be. Adjusting the ride height too low can make bumpy tracks tricky because the car is more likely to bottom out.

Front Splitter
Adjust the level of downforce applied by the splitter. Adds front-end grip at speed. The higher the number, the more air the front wing deflects, the more downforce and drag (slowing top speed).

Rear Wing
Adjusts the level of downforce at the rear of the car, and the main adjustment for Aerodynamic balance. After deciding on a front splitter for the track type, you use the rear wing to dial-in the aerodynamic balance. Total amount of adjustments are 10 for NGT cars and 12 for GT cars. For splitter setting "1" you need a setting of 4-7. For Splitter "2" you need a setting of 8-12. Keep in mind that the more rear wing setting used the more aero drag you will have, slowing top speed.

Anti-roll bar
Adjust the stiffness of the anti-roll bars in the front/rear of the car. Keeps car from rolling excessively through the turns. This aids in camber control for the tyres so we don't have to run excessively stiff springs or camber angles. It also gives an easy way to adjust over/understeer balance. The stiffer a specificanti-roll bar is, the more weight transfer that end of the car will handle and cause that end to loose traction sooner. So stiffening the front will tend towards understeer (front will wash out) and stiffening the rear will tend towards oversteer (rear end will come around).

Toe-In
Adjust the degree the front of the wheels angle towards or away from each other. This affects the directional stability and initial turn-in, but too much toe in any direction can slow the car down with increased rolling drag. On the rear, usually you want toe-in (positive settings), as toe-out (negative settings) creates instability. On the front, usually you want a slight amount of toe-out (negative numbers) as this helps turn-in. Too much toe-in in either direction can cause understeer and tyre wear. This is not a major setup tweak. Suggest you leave these at the defaults.

The differential lock
A low differential lock will mean the outside and inside tires will lock together much earlier - a high differential lock has the opposite effect
power diff is the diff lock under acceleration
coast diff is the diff lock when off the throttle

Just to confirm my understanding of the above, low numbers would simulate a locked diff and high numbers would simulate an open diff?

David Paterson wrote:The differential lock
A low differential lock will mean the outside and inside tires will lock together much earlier - a high differential lock has the opposite effect
power diff is the diff lock under acceleration
coast diff is the diff lock when off the throttle

Just to confirm my understanding of the above, low numbers would simulate a locked diff and high numbers would simulate an open diff?

Even though I posted these up from elsewhere, I didn't necessarily read these right through!
The way I have always understood it is that low lock (0%) would be like an open diff, and higher lock (100%) would be a locked diff - which is opposite to what has been stated.

In some high powered cars I have run a softer power lock so the rear wheels don't "bite" out of a corner. I may get one wheel spinning, but I'm still getting good traction and can stand on the gas earlier (And you can adjust the power so the wheel spinning is reduced anyway).
I then have a slightly higher coast as this settles the car and helps with braking. (However too high and the diff then controls the car and has a negative impact with turn in).

Growler has basically sussed it, but I'd just like to add that "a low differential lock" (I'm assuming this is regarding the Pump setting) doesn't affect the speed of the differential locking.

Pump setting is like initial torque. Easiest way to explain it is that 0% is an open diff when stationary, and 100% is a full spool.

The diff preload setting is what controls the rate of application. So if you run 0% pump but 100% power with low preload, the wheels will lock straight together when you touch the accelerator. More preload will slow that transition down, making the transition more gradual and saving you from snapping into a mad drift.

You should probably snap into a mad drift though. It makes you look cool!

Dave wrote:You should probably snap into a mad drift though. It makes you look cool!

Ha! Love it!