Finding the Perfect Tuning Setup

[Xanonymous]

There are a lot of great tuning setups in these forums (btw - thanks a lot, everyone) which often provide completely different characteristics. Just as in real life, there are many ways to tune a car's 'personality' - you can tune for neutral behavior to make it more comfortable/easy to drive, or you can choose to take it to the very edge of its capabilities, which often makes it a bit more 'nervous' and difficult to handle. Either way, you usually seek to improve your lap times when tuning the car.

Once you have found a rough tuning direction/setup that you are comfortable with (neutral/oversteer/understeer, grip vs. top speed etc.) the difficult task of fine-tuning the little details to perfection begins. This usually means you alter a value in the tuning screen and then go to practice mode to test it on the track you're currently tuning for. Here you are guided by two things: Your personal gut feeling about the tune and the lap times you are able to achieve with it.

Both factors are subjective: Your gut feeling might tell you a tuning setup has improved while it actually slowed you down, and your lap times are a result of how well you know the track and your current level of concentration and overall form, which means they may not be directly related to the current tuning setup at all.

The solution to this dilemma is a simple one: B-Spec Bob.

Due to his rather 'robotic' nature, B-Spec Bob tends to deliver a very consistent performance not influenced by human frailties such as lack of concentration or form. He will put down lap after lap with pretty much the same level of enthusiasm (or lack thereof) and is therefore the perfect test candidate for fine-tuning car setups. But there is a catch: Unlike GT4, GT5 currently does not allow B-Spec Bob in Practice or Time Trial mode, and races naturally cannot provide the environment required for proper testing.

I think this is a glaring oversight on PD's part that should be remedied as soon as possible in an upcoming game patch. Consequently, I added this suggestion to GTPlanet's GT5 feedback section and invite you to support this idea with your vote:

http://feedback.gtplanet.net/forums/96709-gt5-feedback/suggestions/1550955-b-spec-practice-time-trial?ref=title

Thank you.

 

[Adrenaline]

B-Spec Bob tends to deliver a very consistent performance...

Do you own the same game I do?

 

[Paulie]

Do you own the same game I do?

I'll agree to that, it's very true that Bob can't possibly be used in any way to tune a car.

 

[Xanonymous]

Do you own the same game I do?

Dunno, but since v1.06/1.07 my Lvl 35 Bob has improved a LOT and manages to pull pretty consistent times on most tracks.

 

[budious]

Driving the car gives me a lot of feedback that Bob might otherwise ignore, like snap steering, surface vibration, certain response issues that testing with AI driver alone may be missed. Bob could be useful for some control tests to set performance benchmarks, but he's not a substitute for you driving the car yourself.

 

[Xanonymous]

Driving the car gives me a lot of feedback that Bob might otherwise ignore, like snap steering, surface vibration, certain response issues that testing with AI driver alone may be missed. Bob could be useful for some control tests to set performance benchmarks, but he's not a substitute for you driving the car yourself.

And that's exactly what I would like to use him for. Of course you still need to test the initial tuning setup yourself, but when it comes to adjusting the +- 0.001 details, Bob can probably show you consistent lap time differences over e.g. 10+ laps. I noticed this on Indianapolis with a stock ZR1 RM - after I did a rough neutral/oversteering setup for myself additional slight changes to toe, camber, springs etc. that for me were hardly noticeable as improvements enabled Bob to decrease his lap times consistently (which eventually also made Bob win the American Championship).

 

[Z1-AV69]

Bob can help. At high levels and on a constant level of "heat" they do very constant laptimes. But I see the problem that Bob has his own driving style which will not be the same as yours. For example: Bob will avoid "overdriving" a car (going faster into corners and still make it round at the price of a short lack of control). I personally like setups that allow this overdriving (because they are made for regaining control) and I'm faster with them. Bob will never do this and therefor miss the point of such a tune.