DSJ: Vol 13 - '03 BMW M3 CSL

Alright. We got plenty of factory power on tap, and some pretty decent handling already. Let's make it better.

I'll probably require a few days to get a decent base setup contructed. Right now I have nowhere to setup my DFP (just moved into my dorm, so room is still in shambles), and I haven't played GT4 in months. So it'll take a few moments to reacquaint myself.

Hopefully someone else can get the ball rolling for me.



👍

I generally love the new BMWs with tall and soft suspension and slack LSD settings. They have more than sharp enough turn-in... this usually helps them lean into drifts a bit more, giving them a smoother feel when going sideways.

Gonna get into specifics for this one when I'm off work in 8 hours

Ok, here goes:

First impressions
The car feels very smooth when gripping, especially on S tires... but for drifting it's not that hot as it comes. I felt that the rear end was too keen on gripping mid drift, and it didn't kick out fast enough on entry. Front end seemed very sweet though, so my main objective for now would be to destabilize the rear.

The setup, Mk. I
The power output seems sufficient even though I prefer to have a bit of punch. It delivers a fair amount of HP stock, but the power band is quite narrow and the torque figures are relatively low... I'll stick with stock power for now though, and just added a sports exhaust for better noise

Next up: drive train and transmission. All upgrades, as usual. Because of the narrow powerband, so nailing the gear ratios is crucial... It seems like no less than autoset 12-13 works for most tracks. I did try a couple of LSD configurations, but I'll settle on a very loose setup for now (as predicted).

Suspension: As I was trying to destabilize the rear, I took the same approach here as have been successful on my race cars earlier... That is, keep the front end close to default figures and loosen the rear quite a bit. I also raise the rear camber slightly to help loosen the rear on entry. Stabilizer tuning TBC.

The figures
N1 Tires, all around
Weight reduction stage 3
Sports exhaust
All drivetrain upgrades
Full custom suspension
- Springs: 10/5.2
- Height: 105/114
- Bound: 7/3
- Rebound: 8/5
- Camber: 1.6/1.4
- Toe: 0/0
- Stabilizer: 1/1
Full custom LSD
- Initial: 10
- Accel: 20
- Decel: 7

The verdict
Although still a bit hard to "kick out" fast enough, it feels a lot looser and easier to hold sideways now. I'm still unsure about LSD and stabilizer settings, but the suspension in general seems to work as intended. The car is also very responsive mid drift to both braking and countersteering, but I'd like to be able to push it a bit more with the throttle.

As it is now, it's very sensitive to power and steering inputs.. it's also dependant on braking to increase the angle. Precise and subtle throttle and countersteering is required. I'd also like to make it a bit more "tossable" and forgiving if possible.

All that being said, I was able to pull off 4-5 clean laps back to back on Grand Valley, Apricot Hill and Midfield without much fuss (including linking the "hard" parts every time) but since it's still likely to grip when angles get low, I suspect it may be a bit tricky around tracks like Deep Forest. It's perfectly capable of drifting long sweepers, but I notice a tendency to pull inwards making my exits a bit shallow. Maybe destabilizing the front as well might be in order.. or just a power hike.

This is the first time I have done this, and I'm am not that great at setting up cars in GT4. So sorry if sounds like I don't know what I am talking about.

I took it out for a spin with just N2 tyres as my only modification on Deep Forest. I get what Ske said about the car not kicking out fast enough. It was quite slow to get the drift going and hard to get any high drift angles. I did get some alright drifts, on the tight and long corners. I did notice it was very hard to handle and I spun it a few times. My skills are nowhere near Ske's though.

Then I bought Full Transmission upgrades , Full Suspension, Weight Reduction Stage 3, Sports Exhaust, Brake Balance Controller and Increased Rigidity.

I then took it out for another spin, changing no settings. I could notice a difference. It seemed more easier to drift and better response. I could drift mostly all corners in Deep Forest. It was better, but not great.

I went into the settings, messed around and this is what I've got:

Weight Reduction Stage 3
Stiffness
Sports Exhaust
N1 Tyres
Brake Balance: 3/8
~Full Suspension
~Spring Rate: 10/12.6
~Ride Height: 90/100
~Damper Bounce: 7/3
~Damper Rebound: 8/5
~Camber: 1.6/1.4
~Toe: 0/0
~Stabiliser: 1/1
Full Transmission Upgrades
Custom LSD
~Initial Torque: 10
~Acceleration: 20
~Deceleration: 7
Driving Aids: 0

Conclusion

It was even more easier to drift after these settings were made. I know I copied most of Ske's, but I am new to this. It felt easier to start the drift and I could hold the drift for longer than before. It was still tough to handle sometimes. I think with some good settings it would be a great drift car.

This is my attempt on this awesome car. As usual I tune this car for grip driving first. Using my initial setting, I find this car has strong understeer at mid corner and very sensitive corner entry, it will go wild at corner entry and will refuse to turn at long corner. It also has strong understeer when braking. It is undrivable for me.

After I tweak the damper, stabilizer and BBC, the car feel more drivable now. It will turn with no surprise and will continue turning at long corner. Although I think my tuning is a bit excessive, the car has slight understeer on push/lift throttle, and little oversteer at mid corner now. And I don't know how to properly tune BBC, so BBC can still be improved.

Next, I try to balance the way the car go sideways with camber. At 0.0/0.0 camber the car rear will slide more than front, making the car turn around during drift. This could be usefull if I want to do full lock countersteer drift, but since I want zero counter drift, this is not preferable. I want to reduce the lateral grip of the front tire. After a while, I found that 1.2/0.0 is the right amount for me.

The result of my tuning is now the car would be easier to handle at corner entry and will allow some long, low angle, zero counter drift on deep forest.

I tried Ske's setting. I think Ske's setting is good for creating big angle drift. But since I am not good at countersteering, Ske's setting is a bit too snappy for me.


My setting for BMW M3 CSL

Part List:
oil changed, racing suspension, Triple plate clutch, stock flywheel
brake controller, FC transmission, Variable LSD
N1/N1 tire

Suspension
-Spring Rate: 5.2 / 5.2
-Ride Height: 114 / 114
-Bound: 1 / 10
-Rebound: 1 / 10
-Camber: 1.2 / 0.0
-Toe: 0 / 4
-Stabilizers: 1 / 7

LSD
-Initial: 5
-Acceleration: 30
-Deceleration: 15

Downforce
Amount: - / -

Driving Aids
-ASM Oversteer: 0
-ASM Understeer: 0
-TCS: 0

Brake Controller
-Brakes: 1 / 8

Transmission
move final drive to 5.500, after that move auto setting to 8

Ballast
-Weight: 0
-Location:0

Hi there I"ll give this a shot...DFP tuned simulation

I think Keeping the balance of the car was important so here are my settings
I used road tires and Apricothill Raceway as a test track. Car is Stage 3 weight, Port Polished, Engine balanced, and roll caged. Car has 421 hp after all mods

Upgrades...
exhaust= Racing
Racing chip = Sports
Brakes = Racing
Brake controller equiped set @ 7F/3R
Suspension = Racing
Set @
Springs 12.4 F/ 10.6 R
Ride height 68F/ 68R
shock bound 6F/6R
Shock rebound 7F/7R
camber 2.0 F/ 1.0 R
stabalizers 7F/6R

Transmison custom set @13 auto
Clutch= Triple Plate
Flywheel= Racing
Carbon Driveshaft = equip
lsd Custom set @ 10 initial torque, 40 Accel, 20 Decel



I found that this setup gave the stock demeanor but allowed the tail to drift nicely...try it out! DKING

It's a shame that not many people have posted on here. I think it's a great idea, get more experience tuning a wide range of cars. I know that I could do with some more experience and knowledge on how to tune my drift cars. Maybe it's just the car that it doesn't interest enough users.

I'll take some blame for that. I started this DSJ before I had a spot to setup my wheel, and now I'm more focussed on getting the WDS running smoothly, and doing my stupid Computational Methods for Thermofluids assignment.

I've decided to boycott university today though (I'm feeling like poo), so I'm gonna try to refine the setup I started a little further.

Thats cool BL, I realize that alot of people would be busy with other commitments. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

By the way, that assignment sounds crazy.