Good stuff here and I wish I could take credit but I found this on a random GT3 japanese translated page.......
Springs
Springs are supposed to keep the tires on the road and not losecontrol. But if the settings are too soft or hard, weight transfer isscrewed up, as well as understeer/oversteer. Springs can have a lotof positive and negative effects, depending on what you do.
If both springs lean more towards stiffness, then these are theeffects: reduced grip on bumpy roads, reduced body roll, and increasedhandling. If both springs lean more towards softness, then the effectsare the opposite if the springs stiff: increased grip on bumpy roads,increased body roll, and reduced handling.
If you stiffen the front springs, more understeer will be induced. Thesame thing goes if you soften the rear ones. More oversteer will beinduced if you soften the front springs or stiffen the rear ones. Forcars with a lot of understeer, you shouldn't give it more oversteersince it'll probably be easy to spin out.
Weight transfer is also affected if you change the springs. If thefront springs are softened, front weight transfer is increased greatlywhen you brake. It may be good for a FWD car since it's front engineand front wheel drive. If you soften the rear springs, rear weighttransfer is increased greatly while accelerating. It would be good fora RWD or 4WD car, since the rear wheels are used, road grip isincreased while accelerating.
You shouldn't really use the springs for balance, since you need tohave the perfect settings so it could be right. The stabilizers arebetter for turning and road grip. Weight transfer is just tooimportant to use the springs, but if you're good enough, you mightwant to use the springs.
Ride Height
Ride height is the height of the bottom of the car from the ground ona straight paved surface. The lower the ride height, the less weighttransfer there is during acceleration, braking, and cornering. Thismakes it more stable and since there is less weight transfer, corneringis improved.
If the ride height is too low, you will lose control if you're goingtoo fast when you go into a bump or jump (bottom out). You can stiffenthe springs and/or dampers to get rid of this problem. Ride heightshould only be adjusted on smooth courses, otherwise you'll have a lotof trouble cornering.
You shouldn't really mess with the ride height unless you know whatyou're doing. The car is usually fine as it is. You can usually justadjust the settings until you find what you think is best.
Shocks (Dampers)
The dampers (Shock Absorbers or simply just Shocks) dampens the"swinging" of the springs. The shocks are very important when cornering.
Damper Bound:
This affects the stability and handling of the car. The stiffer youmake the Bound Damper, the more responsiveness the car has because weight transfer is more tolerable. If it is too stiff, stability is screwed upon non-smooth surfaces. If it is too soft, handling is terrible.
Damper Rebound:
(Affects entry and exit of corners.) This affects the entry and exit of corners, as well as turning. Toreduce understeer when turning, you can soften the front or stiffen therear. Also, to reduce oversteer, stiffen the front or soften the rear.
Camber
Camber's the angle the tires make with the road, it's measured indegrees. The grip of the tires to the road depends on the camber angle.Zero camber angle is supposed to have the maximum grip, but in realityit doesn't because a small negative camber makes the tires tiltinward, so when you turn, the tire is aligned perfectly with the road.It is aligned perfectly with the road as it is on a straight road withzero camber. In order to achieve maximum grip while turning, you need to have some negative camber.
Stabilizers
The stabilizers are similar to the springs in what it does. Thestiffer the front and rear, the more responsive handling is. But thiscan screw up the stability on bumpy surfaces.
While the softer the stabilizers, the less responsive handling is, although it gives more stability on bumpy surfaces. If you soften the front or stiffen the rear, understeer is reduced.Likewise, if you stiffen the front or soften the rear, oversteer isreduced. However, do not over-stiffen/soften the front or rear because it can have a negative effect, especially if you try toreduce understeer. Fishtailing can become quite common and may leadto spin outs. But if you reduce oversteer too much, you may not beable to take the turns as easily, and if you turn too hardly, it isvery easy to fishtail or spin out, so be careful.
Brake Balance
The purpose of the Brake Balance is to adjust the power of the brakes when braking. In order to reduce oversteer, increase the frontor reduce the rear. You can also reduce understeer if you reduce thefront or increase the rear.
You would want a little higher front brake balance than the rear, in most cases, because you won't oversteer while turning, thus making it easier to turn without spinning out or fishtailing.
Gear Ratios
The final gear is the most important, but the other gears can beused to adjust acceleration and gear changes. The lower the number,the more max speed there is. The higher the number, the less maxspeed there is. Remember, though, the higher the max speed, the more acceleration is reduced. Likewise, the lower the max speed, the more acceleration is increased.
For courses with a lot of corners (not many straight surfaces for acceleration), you would generally want faster acceleration, so you would increase the number. But for a course like the Test Track,you would want a higher max speed, so you would decrease the number.
I've gotten E-mail from people asking me how to increase the max speed even further after getting fully tuning-up their car, and after putting the gear settings to their lowest because some cars seem to only be ableto go up to 220 MPH or so. What I'm about to tell you will make thecar's max speed exceed the amount you think is the max possible.
Well, go to the Machine Test and choose 'Max Speed' to test your car's max speed. Go to the Settings, go to the Gears Settings, and put all of the gears to their lowest and start the test. See your car's max speed and if you want to increase it even further, quit and go back to the Settings. Push [Start] while highlighting one of the gears to return it to its default settings, and change the gears to their lowest settings again. Take the test again and the max speed should have either increased or decreased.
Now quit and go back to the Settings once again. You see the option all the way at the bottom of the menu with the gears? Well, select it and move it to the right a few, then push X or O to accept. Then push [Start] and it'll return to its default number. Go to the gears and make them the lowest possible. Take the test again and the max speed should have increased.
Note: Don't do this for all cars since the higher your max speed, the less acceleration you have. You can also only do this for the final gear afterwards
Downforce
This is the aerodynamic force that pushes the car down to the road. The higher the front and rear are, the more grip during cornering is. That also makes the car more stable, since it sticks to the road more.But this decreases speed on a straight surface because a lot of weight it put down on the car. The lower the front and rear are, the less grip during cornering is, although speed is increases on straight surfaces.
You can reduce understeer by increasing the front or decreasing the rear. Also, if you decrease the front or increase the rear, oversteer is reduced. The faster your car is going, the more downforce effects your car.
Toe
Similar to the camber, except somewhat different. It is the angle of the tires together. Zero toe means the tires are parallel with each other. A positive toe causes the tires to be more outward towards each other, while a negative toe makes the tires more inward to each other.
If you use a negative toe for both the front and back, handling is increased, but if the angle is too low, handling will be messed up.If you use some negativaty, handling is increased because the tires lean inward and when you turn, the tire are perpendicular to the ground, just like what camber does.
A positive front toe or negative rear toe reduces oversteer, while a negative front toe or positive rear toe reduces understeer
If you keep a positive camber and make some negative toe, the tires will lean inward some and grip and stability will be increased to acertain extent. When you turn right, the right wheels will be aligned perfectly to the ground but the left wheels won't. Likewise, when you turn left, the right wheels will be aligned perfectly to the ground,but the right wheels won't be.
When you turn right, the left tires will be aligned perfectly to the ground, but the right wheels won't (if the left tires even stay on the road). Similarly, when you turn left, the right tires will be aligned perfectly to the ground, but the left wheels won't (if the right tires even stay on the road).
On a straight road, grip and stability to the road are perfect. Butwhen you turn, well, that's different. It is more difficult to turn than if you made the toe somewhat negative.
Limited-Slip Differential
The limited-slip differential is composed of LSD during initial torque, acceleration, and deceleration. If you get this for an FF, youyou only get the 'Front' sets. If you buy this for an RR or FR, you receive only the 'Rear' sets. As for a 4WD, both 'Front' and 'Rear'sets are received.
- Initial Torque
FF: If you soften it, responsive handling is reduced, but there is less body roll as well as more stability. Stiffening it results in increased responsive handling, but increased body roll and less stability.
FR/RR: By softening it, responsive handling increases, although body roll increases as well and less stability. By stiffening it, responsive handling decreases, even though body roll decreases and stability increases.
4WD: By softening the front, responsive handling is reduced, but there's more stability and less body roll. If you stiffen the front, responsive handling is increases, but you get less stability and more body roll. Stiffening the rear results in less acceleration, although you get more stability. If you soften the rear, you receive more acceleration, but in return, you get less stability.
- Acceleration
Grip to the road is increased while accelerating, but stability is reduced while braking. When braking for a corner, the car is hard to handle, but when you exit the corner, it works very well. This can be fixed by adjusting the LSD Deceleration.
A high setting gives you fast acceleration, but handling is reduced. A low setting gives you low acceleration, but handling is increased.
- Deceleration
Grip, stability, and turning ability are increased while braking.A high setting gives you great grip, stability, and turning ability while braking, but all that stuff is reduced while accelerating. Alow setting reduces grip, stability, and turning ability while braking, but that stuff is increased while accelerating. Fix thisproblem by adjusting the LSD Acceleration.
Springs
Springs are supposed to keep the tires on the road and not losecontrol. But if the settings are too soft or hard, weight transfer isscrewed up, as well as understeer/oversteer. Springs can have a lotof positive and negative effects, depending on what you do.
If both springs lean more towards stiffness, then these are theeffects: reduced grip on bumpy roads, reduced body roll, and increasedhandling. If both springs lean more towards softness, then the effectsare the opposite if the springs stiff: increased grip on bumpy roads,increased body roll, and reduced handling.
If you stiffen the front springs, more understeer will be induced. Thesame thing goes if you soften the rear ones. More oversteer will beinduced if you soften the front springs or stiffen the rear ones. Forcars with a lot of understeer, you shouldn't give it more oversteersince it'll probably be easy to spin out.
Weight transfer is also affected if you change the springs. If thefront springs are softened, front weight transfer is increased greatlywhen you brake. It may be good for a FWD car since it's front engineand front wheel drive. If you soften the rear springs, rear weighttransfer is increased greatly while accelerating. It would be good fora RWD or 4WD car, since the rear wheels are used, road grip isincreased while accelerating.
You shouldn't really use the springs for balance, since you need tohave the perfect settings so it could be right. The stabilizers arebetter for turning and road grip. Weight transfer is just tooimportant to use the springs, but if you're good enough, you mightwant to use the springs.
Ride Height
Ride height is the height of the bottom of the car from the ground ona straight paved surface. The lower the ride height, the less weighttransfer there is during acceleration, braking, and cornering. Thismakes it more stable and since there is less weight transfer, corneringis improved.
If the ride height is too low, you will lose control if you're goingtoo fast when you go into a bump or jump (bottom out). You can stiffenthe springs and/or dampers to get rid of this problem. Ride heightshould only be adjusted on smooth courses, otherwise you'll have a lotof trouble cornering.
You shouldn't really mess with the ride height unless you know whatyou're doing. The car is usually fine as it is. You can usually justadjust the settings until you find what you think is best.
Shocks (Dampers)
The dampers (Shock Absorbers or simply just Shocks) dampens the"swinging" of the springs. The shocks are very important when cornering.
Damper Bound:
This affects the stability and handling of the car. The stiffer youmake the Bound Damper, the more responsiveness the car has because weight transfer is more tolerable. If it is too stiff, stability is screwed upon non-smooth surfaces. If it is too soft, handling is terrible.
Damper Rebound:
(Affects entry and exit of corners.) This affects the entry and exit of corners, as well as turning. Toreduce understeer when turning, you can soften the front or stiffen therear. Also, to reduce oversteer, stiffen the front or soften the rear.
Camber
Camber's the angle the tires make with the road, it's measured indegrees. The grip of the tires to the road depends on the camber angle.Zero camber angle is supposed to have the maximum grip, but in realityit doesn't because a small negative camber makes the tires tiltinward, so when you turn, the tire is aligned perfectly with the road.It is aligned perfectly with the road as it is on a straight road withzero camber. In order to achieve maximum grip while turning, you need to have some negative camber.
Stabilizers
The stabilizers are similar to the springs in what it does. Thestiffer the front and rear, the more responsive handling is. But thiscan screw up the stability on bumpy surfaces.
While the softer the stabilizers, the less responsive handling is, although it gives more stability on bumpy surfaces. If you soften the front or stiffen the rear, understeer is reduced.Likewise, if you stiffen the front or soften the rear, oversteer isreduced. However, do not over-stiffen/soften the front or rear because it can have a negative effect, especially if you try toreduce understeer. Fishtailing can become quite common and may leadto spin outs. But if you reduce oversteer too much, you may not beable to take the turns as easily, and if you turn too hardly, it isvery easy to fishtail or spin out, so be careful.
Brake Balance
The purpose of the Brake Balance is to adjust the power of the brakes when braking. In order to reduce oversteer, increase the frontor reduce the rear. You can also reduce understeer if you reduce thefront or increase the rear.
You would want a little higher front brake balance than the rear, in most cases, because you won't oversteer while turning, thus making it easier to turn without spinning out or fishtailing.
Gear Ratios
The final gear is the most important, but the other gears can beused to adjust acceleration and gear changes. The lower the number,the more max speed there is. The higher the number, the less maxspeed there is. Remember, though, the higher the max speed, the more acceleration is reduced. Likewise, the lower the max speed, the more acceleration is increased.
For courses with a lot of corners (not many straight surfaces for acceleration), you would generally want faster acceleration, so you would increase the number. But for a course like the Test Track,you would want a higher max speed, so you would decrease the number.
I've gotten E-mail from people asking me how to increase the max speed even further after getting fully tuning-up their car, and after putting the gear settings to their lowest because some cars seem to only be ableto go up to 220 MPH or so. What I'm about to tell you will make thecar's max speed exceed the amount you think is the max possible.
Well, go to the Machine Test and choose 'Max Speed' to test your car's max speed. Go to the Settings, go to the Gears Settings, and put all of the gears to their lowest and start the test. See your car's max speed and if you want to increase it even further, quit and go back to the Settings. Push [Start] while highlighting one of the gears to return it to its default settings, and change the gears to their lowest settings again. Take the test again and the max speed should have either increased or decreased.
Now quit and go back to the Settings once again. You see the option all the way at the bottom of the menu with the gears? Well, select it and move it to the right a few, then push X or O to accept. Then push [Start] and it'll return to its default number. Go to the gears and make them the lowest possible. Take the test again and the max speed should have increased.
Note: Don't do this for all cars since the higher your max speed, the less acceleration you have. You can also only do this for the final gear afterwards
Downforce
This is the aerodynamic force that pushes the car down to the road. The higher the front and rear are, the more grip during cornering is. That also makes the car more stable, since it sticks to the road more.But this decreases speed on a straight surface because a lot of weight it put down on the car. The lower the front and rear are, the less grip during cornering is, although speed is increases on straight surfaces.
You can reduce understeer by increasing the front or decreasing the rear. Also, if you decrease the front or increase the rear, oversteer is reduced. The faster your car is going, the more downforce effects your car.
Toe
Similar to the camber, except somewhat different. It is the angle of the tires together. Zero toe means the tires are parallel with each other. A positive toe causes the tires to be more outward towards each other, while a negative toe makes the tires more inward to each other.
If you use a negative toe for both the front and back, handling is increased, but if the angle is too low, handling will be messed up.If you use some negativaty, handling is increased because the tires lean inward and when you turn, the tire are perpendicular to the ground, just like what camber does.
A positive front toe or negative rear toe reduces oversteer, while a negative front toe or positive rear toe reduces understeer
If you keep a positive camber and make some negative toe, the tires will lean inward some and grip and stability will be increased to acertain extent. When you turn right, the right wheels will be aligned perfectly to the ground but the left wheels won't. Likewise, when you turn left, the right wheels will be aligned perfectly to the ground,but the right wheels won't be.
When you turn right, the left tires will be aligned perfectly to the ground, but the right wheels won't (if the left tires even stay on the road). Similarly, when you turn left, the right tires will be aligned perfectly to the ground, but the left wheels won't (if the right tires even stay on the road).
On a straight road, grip and stability to the road are perfect. Butwhen you turn, well, that's different. It is more difficult to turn than if you made the toe somewhat negative.
Limited-Slip Differential
The limited-slip differential is composed of LSD during initial torque, acceleration, and deceleration. If you get this for an FF, youyou only get the 'Front' sets. If you buy this for an RR or FR, you receive only the 'Rear' sets. As for a 4WD, both 'Front' and 'Rear'sets are received.
- Initial Torque
FF: If you soften it, responsive handling is reduced, but there is less body roll as well as more stability. Stiffening it results in increased responsive handling, but increased body roll and less stability.
FR/RR: By softening it, responsive handling increases, although body roll increases as well and less stability. By stiffening it, responsive handling decreases, even though body roll decreases and stability increases.
4WD: By softening the front, responsive handling is reduced, but there's more stability and less body roll. If you stiffen the front, responsive handling is increases, but you get less stability and more body roll. Stiffening the rear results in less acceleration, although you get more stability. If you soften the rear, you receive more acceleration, but in return, you get less stability.
- Acceleration
Grip to the road is increased while accelerating, but stability is reduced while braking. When braking for a corner, the car is hard to handle, but when you exit the corner, it works very well. This can be fixed by adjusting the LSD Deceleration.
A high setting gives you fast acceleration, but handling is reduced. A low setting gives you low acceleration, but handling is increased.
- Deceleration
Grip, stability, and turning ability are increased while braking.A high setting gives you great grip, stability, and turning ability while braking, but all that stuff is reduced while accelerating. Alow setting reduces grip, stability, and turning ability while braking, but that stuff is increased while accelerating. Fix thisproblem by adjusting the LSD Acceleration.
