CLK racing car -- best tune Grand Valley?

[Dunninla]

Yes, I have searched under "clk tuning" and several ways but I keep getting results I don't even know what they are...

so, I am an average driver getting mostly bronze and a few silvers on the license tests.

I finished GT3 in 2002, and just got GT4 five weeks ago. I'm at 21% completion... almost always using a car better than the AI cars...

I am using the normal PS3 hand held controller. We have a Driving Force Pro wheel which my daughter prefers but I don't have the time to learn to use it, plus we don't really have a proper setup where wheel and pedals are propely positioned... so I make due with my thumbs

Now, using the usual cheating like wall riding, I have taken my CLK racing car to first place at Seoul, New York, Tokyo 246, and super speedway. I only have to win Grand Valley, and then mess up the 2nd place car at the beginning of race 10 to win the World Championship.

I don't know how to tune the CLK, only try changing the auto transmission from 12 to 11 to 10 to see what works best. I have the downforce at max and driving aids at max. I use medium front/hard rear tires.

I run laps of 139.5 and 140 most of the time, but the slightest error and I'm up to 142, 143, which is about half the laps. The Sauber Mercedes and Nissan 92 cars run 142 lap 2, then 140 in the following laps. I cannot seem to put togther 11 good laps to beat them... I just don't have the great focus and calm nerves (mostly a nerves issue) for 11 perfect laps (using the hand controller).

So, I'm thinking maybe I can gain a second or two by good tuning? Does anyone have what they think is the optimal tuning for the CLK racing car for Grand Valley?

Thank you.

 

[Dunninla]

I just tried Duck's tuning and I'm way slower to the first sharp turn and can't bump the Nissan 92 anymore which is key to getting rid of one competitor... duck's tuning for some reason makes me have a much slower hole shot.

 

[mafia_boy]

Have you and do you continue to perform oil changes on the car during the GTWC series?? It's the simplest way to gain better performance, giving you 5% extra power to a brand new CLK (around 40hp). During the series you will need to go and change oil a couple of more times to maintain maximum performance (1 change every 3 races is sufficient, 1 change every 2 races if you're super fussy). This should help you. 👍

Also, look at your tyre choice, as it can be critical. Most of us look at R2's allround, or an R3/R2 or R2/R1 combination and pit at the right time.

 

[Dunninla]

How do you change oil during the series??

 

[Hyst]

Don't kill me if this doesn't work as I haven't played GT4 in a long time but after each race I believe you have the option of exiting, and when you try to do so a pop-up should come up asking you if you simply want to exit the championship with intents to return or whether you want to quit the championship completely. Just leave for a second and do and oil change.

 

[mafia_boy]

When the grid line-up is there in each race, you can back out of the race area without needing to quit the championship, it will say "do you want to exit (you will restart here when you return)". They are seperate options, the quit championship and back out icons (quit championship is in the middle, and back out is the normal exit icon).

While you are scooting around GT World, you will see a yellow sign flashing "You are still in xxxx" up top. If you try to go to a used car lot or to a manufacturer or anything else other than your Home or GT Auto, it will ask you if you want to return back to the race series you are still currently in, to which you can go yes or no at anytime.

*added bit* Hyst tree'd me.

 

[zed300]

Spend the time to make a dash/cockpit, it will give you seconds per lap.
Unless your one of a few freaks that are completely in a league of their own, who can use a controller and drive faster than everyone else that uses a wheel
Seriously spend the time look at some of the cockpits in the related threads, and you dont have to spend a lot of money. Just a few bits of timber a few screws (oh and a plan and a tape measure wouldn't go astray either){sorry jokes again [slaps wrist]},and a week or two practicing using the wheel, and those times "will" tumble.

Good luck:tup:

 

[Dunninla]

OK, thanks everyone.

I will change the oil tonight and see what difference that makes.

I think the fundamental issue is that there is only so much control one can have at higher speeds when using the hand held controller. It is probably worth 1-2% faster times to be able to use both feet plus a wheel instead of the controller where gradual turning requires a vice like grip on the controller, which requires my entire upper body to sqeeze the controller between my two hands... which is counter-productive to fine motor movements like modulated gas pedal, modulated braking, and modulated turning. So I end up, like most controller users, pulsing the gas instead of half-depressing the X button, oversteering instead of properly steering, slamming on the breaks at the last second or pulsing the brakes, etc.

As to the cage, well, She Who Must Be Obeyed would not want the "office" transformed any more than it is now with the little kiddie table to which the Driving Force Pro wheel is currently attached (OK for my 5' daughter, but doesn't work for me).

Bottom line is that for me to win races using the PS2 controller, I really need a car that is 2-3 seconds faster per lap than my opponents, allowing me to win while still having poor control over the finer aspects of driving, and because of my larger arm and chest muscles gripping the controller to stabilize it, having my fine little finger muscles spaz out sometimes and brake too late on some turns or miss my line because I've over or under steered with my left thumb.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Relax and use the analog sticks. Don't worry about being massively precise.

 

[Dunninla]

Relax!!

Try relaxing when the Sauber or RC92 is always one second behind you waiting for the slightest error in brake timing to go flying by on my inside! The CLK Race car is many things but nimble through curves and hairpins it is not!

Actually, relaxing is precisely the problem... in order for my left thumb to properly steer with the left analog stick up thingy, the controller must be firm and stable in my hands... i must sqeeze it tightly with my left hand 2,3,4 fingers, which makes my thumb being relaxed kind of hard..

How do you stabilise the controller so that your hand and thumb especially can be relaxed?

Do you also mean I should use the analog stick for the gas pedal instead of the X button? I havent don't that since 2002 when I assigned gas to the right analog stick, taped if forward, and ran the Escudo around the superspeedway for 100 miles to win an F90.. (or was it an F86?) in GT3.

 

[PF]

Are you using the right analog for accel/brake? This actually makes a huge difference, because you don't need as much steering to correct the inevitable mistakes that come with a DS2.

However, I'd say that the best option would be to man the ____ up and use that DFP. I started using the 2-analog method through necessity, and found it so easy to adjust that I felt really humiliated for not doing it 2yrs earlier. DFP would be easier to adjust to than that.

 

[Dunninla]

Can you describe how to use the right analog stick? is it both gas and brake (forward is gas, rest position is neutral, backward is braking? I will have to try it tonight.

 

[Dunninla]

PS. What is DS2?

 

[Austin343]

I don't have advice for you that answers the question in the title, but I will say that if you must use this car, your best option may simply be to abandon the championship or skip this race, and come back to it once you've completed it. This will be of benefit because you can enter and exit the championship to get specific lineups, which after a console reset will always be the same. Entering and exiting the chamionship (to exit, hit "abandon race" once the grid has loaded) about 10 times will get you a lineup with only one moderately fast car, the Toyota GT-ONE, and four slow cars, and you shouldn't have as much trouble beating that.

I hope all that made sense. Let me also say that you are not using an easy car; it's a popular choice for 200 point races in this championship, which (according to the game, at least) is supposed to mean the race is hard.

The DS2 is the DualShock2, the controller you're using. I have always use the analog sticks and find them excellent, although admittedly I've never seriously tried to learn the buttons. The right stick is indeed up for gas, down for brake, and neither in the middle. It is, of course, an analog control, and IMO you get better sensitivity for throttle than with the X button.

 

[PF]

DS2 is the standard PS2 controller.
Yes, that's how to use 2-analogue.
Pls don't double-post. Use the edit function at the bottom-right of the post to add something rather than start a new post. Otherwise the mods will yell at you. Feel free to PM me if you have any newbie questions, though you seem to be okay.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Also, you don't need to reconfigure buttons any more to use the right analog for throttle/braking. I don't see why you have to have a firm grip on the controller though, you should just let it rest in your hands, middle fingers going towards the center, bent slightly, ring and pinky curled around the "legs" of the controller, and index fingers of course hovering over the trigger buttons.

 

[PF]

Also, you don't need to reconfigure buttons any more to use the right analog for throttle/braking. I don't see why you have to have a firm grip on the controller though, you should just let it rest in your hands, middle fingers going towards the center, bent slightly, ring and pinky curled around the "legs" of the controller, and index fingers of course hovering over the trigger buttons.

Am I the only one to find this mildly arousing? OK, maybe I am...

 

[Dunninla]

Well, it is *kind* of amusing.

I think I probably represent a lot of people who play the game, but never found a website to talk about it until years later. It never occurred to me to use the right analog stick for the gas pedal. I'm pretty sure when PS2 first came with GT3, it said to use the X for gas and the square for brake.

Well, home now to try out this cheap new trick of an analog gas pedal.

 

[viperin]

I have also noticed that in your original post you said you had driving "aids set at max".
I think is causing most of your problems.
Turn off ASM and at best only have TCS @ 1 or 2.

You will find the Car much easier to drive and it will certainly be more nimble.
Others more qualified can offer specific tuning advice but I find in general raising the ride height and softening the springs usually helps a lot.
Also play around with ballast weight and placement, this can sometimes make a Car much more stable.
Play around with the settings and try things out before committing to the Race.

Personally I use the Left Stick for Steering, R1 for Throttle and Triangle for braking.
I also follow the "Slow in, Fast out" School of driving.
In other words get all your braking done earlier than you think you should and do it in a straight line.
You cannot expect to jump on the brakes at the last minute ( thereby locking up the wheels and losing steering input ) and be fast and smooth through the turns.

There is a lot more to expand on with this, but that is my two cents worth for now.
Good Luck.

 

[Dunninla]

viperin, yeah, last night I realized I just have lousy driving habits. I do tend to wait until the last possible moment to brake.... so it's full throttle, then slam on the brakes. With my driving habits I'd need a car a full four seconds faster than the AI cars to win a race.

So last night I tried a different method -- take my thumb off the gas for a half or full second before braking. It makes for a much larger margin for error, and helps me relax a little.

I'm also realizing the line of the car, and the weight transfer through esses is much more important than the tenth of a second I might save by late braking. You lose ten times as much time with a poor line, or from skidding, than is gained through a last second slamming on the brakes.