GT4: Tuning Information

[Inkil]

Greetings,

Since this game has been available for quite a few months (here in the States), and I have been playing since day one, I have visited these forums pretty regularly to find tips and tricks to car tuning, and found many to be extremely helpful in guiding me to achieving my goals. Last night I found information in the Official Playstation Magazine that I would like to take the time to share with you. Hopefully this will clear some questions that are still left after finding that one thread to help you boost your car, but you cannot figure out why it does what it does.

The overview for each section may be verbatim from the magazine article, and I may take the liberty to shorten it due to the lack of wanting to type so much. All prices are approximately the average, however different car tuners do have different prices.

INTAKE & EXHAUST
Overview:
Dollar for dollar, there is no better upgrade. Along with the racing chip, this is one of the first upgrades you should perform. You will notice significant increast in low-end torque and slightly higher top speeds. However, as you upgrade to better tires, the gains get smaller and smaller. Basically it starts costing more to get increases beyond a certain point.

• Sports Intake and Exhaust - Cost 1,600 Cr. - One of the best, if not the best, bargains in the game. Expect to see a 3% to 5% increase in overall HP
• Semi-Racing Intake and Exhaust - Cost 2,900 Cr. - This kit adds 7% to 10% in HP to your base.
• Racing Intake and Exhaust - Cost 4,800 Cr. - Usually adds 10% to 15% to your base HP. You will definatly notice the difference with this kit.

BRAKES
Overview:
Brakes are often overlooked, but they do make a noticable difference on the track.

• Racing Brakes - Cost 4,700 Cr. - You will notice a 15% to 20% increase in stopping distance. A no brainer for those that like to fly into a turn then mash on the brakes.
• Brake Controller - Cost 10,600 Cr. - This controls the brake balance and is essential for keeping the car on the road during braking conditions.
  • Low Value Overall - Decreases braking power, increases stability
  • High Value Overall - Increases braking power, decreases stability
  • Low Front Value, High Rear Value - Increases oversteer during braking
  • High Front Value, Low Rear Value - Increases understeer during braking

DRIVETRAIN
Overview:
This is the part(s) of your car that gets the power from the engine and transfers it to the ground.

• Transmission - This is the main component that will turn your horsepower and torque into speed and accelleration.
  • Close - Cost 5,600 Cr. - A good first upgrade. Increased top speed and increased accelleration.
  • Super-Close - Cost 5,700 Cr. - Keep in mind that the higher the gear ratios overall, the more wheelspin per engine revolution. You'll notice a 3% to 5% increase over the Close Gear
  • Full Customize - Cost 10,200 Cr. - This transmission is the tuners best friend. You can adjust every gear to meet your needs for any race situation.
• Clutch - This device helps transfer the power from the engine to the transmission.
  • Sports - Cost 1,600 Cr. - Wider diameter clutch will help transfer more power from the engine to the transmission compared to the stock clutch
  • Twin-Plate - Cost 2,600 Cr. - Good for mid-horsepower engines.
  • Triple-Plate - Cost 4,600 Cr. - The additional plate helps transfer even more power, making the car more responsive to the throttle. A "Must Have" for high HP engines.
• Flywheel - This is technically what is used to turn the engine when starting. Stock flywheels are heavy and will reduce accelleration by almost insignificant amounts, however upgrading this will only serve to increase performance.
  • Sports - Cost 430 Cr. - Lets you gain RPM's by reducing the mass working against the rotation of the engine.
  • Semi-Racing - Cost 550 Cr. - Lighter than Sports flywheel, offers less rotation mass to restrict power transfer. Works better with more HP.
  • Racing - Cost 1,000 Cr. - The lightest and strongest flywheel, basically for hardcore race cars only.
• Limited-slip - This is the differencial, this transfers power from the transmission to the drive tires.
  • 1-way - Cost 4,250 Cr. - Adjusts the acceleration slippage. What this means is while you are on the gas, power is being adjusted between both or all drive wheels.
  • 1.5-Way - Cost 4,250 Cr. - Same as the 1-Way, but includes some deceleration slippage. Increases traction a bit by using the engine to help slow the car by keeping the drive wheels working.
  • 2-Way - Cost 4,250 Cr. - Offers an automated, full acceleration and deceleration control over the slippage.
  • Full Customize - Cost 6,300 Cr. - The ultimate differencial. This unit will allow you to modify and control the slippage.
• AYC Controller - This device is only for rally cars, and offers a bit more control over the limited slip characteristics.
• Driveshaft - Cost 2,750 Cr. - A lightweight replacement for the stock driveshaft(s). Offered no noticible increase in performance.

ENGINE
Overview:
This is the powerplant of your car, and since it is the most important part of any car, it is also the most expensive as far as upgrades go. In this section, bear in mind that not all cars will be able to buy every part for upgrade.

• NA Tuning - Normal Aspiration. Engines that use a carburator instead of fuel-injection. There are three stages of upgrade available for NA engines.
  • Stage 1 - Cost 4,900 Cr. - Increases compression ratio by adjusting ignition and valve timing and reducing the head gasket thickness, and changing the exhaust manifold to allow for greater exhaust evacuation. Peak power is increased without sacrificing low-end power.
  • Stage 2 - Cost 12,500 Cr. - Twice the price as the Stage 1, similar changes to the engine, but gives you 15% to 20% more power. You can skip stage 1 upgrade.
  • Stage 3 - Cost 75,000 Cr. - This upgrade while expensive, will give your engine a 30% or more increase in horsepower.
• Port and Polish - Cost 5,500 Cr. - Porting and polishing your cylinder heads creates decent HP gains, however because of the cost to gain ratio is low, plan on using it only on cars you plan on keeping.
• Engine Balancing - Cost 12,000 Cr. - This is the most cost ineffective way to make horsepower. The cost to gain ratio is so low, only do this mod after you have done everything else to your car.
• Displacement UP - Cost 8,500 Cr. - This option may not be available for all cars. What this mod does is increase the size of your cylinder by boring out to the maximum space availible for your engine. It is a good upgrade for cars that can have this option.
• Racing Chip - Cost 1,500 Cr. - This computer chip changes the factory settings of your car to a performance setting. This should be your first upgrade on any vehicle.
• Nitrous - Cost 5,000 Cr. - Increase HP at the push of a button. Nitrous Oxide, when pumped into your engine increase the fuel to oxygen ratio, and produces more power, but it is limited in duration so use it sparingly. Great for drag-racing, or tracks with long straight sections.

TURBO
Overview:
Turbo used the exhaust of the engine to compress the intake air pressure, which in turn increases the amount of oxygen being sent into the cylinders. A car with a turbo charger has an increased output of horsepower for the size of the engine.

• Turbo Kits
  • Stage 1 - Cost 4,800 Cr. - The stage 1 kit offers about 10% overall increase to HP. Most of which is available at low end RPM's, but will be noticed throughout the powerband.
  • Stage 2 - Cost 13,500 Cr. - Stage 2 offers an overall increase of 20%, noticeable at the low to mid range of the powerband.
  • Stage 3 - Cost 42,500 Cr. - 35% overall increase to the mid to high powerband range. Its a good idea to make sure that the rest of the car is up to handling this add-on.
  • Stage 4 - Cost 80,000 Cr. - 125% overall increase to HP. For use with cars with High RPM needs.
• Intercoolers
  • Sports Intercooler - Cost 1,800 Cr. - This radiator like device cools the air supplied by the turbo charger by passing the compressed air through fins.
  • Racing Intercooler - Cost 3,000 Cr. - Larger and more effective version of the standard or sports intercooler.
• Supercharger - Cost 13,500 Cr. - Available only for select NA engines, this device is a crank driven turbine that compresses the air before it enters the carburator.

SUSPENSION
Overview:
Suspension parts are where serious cornering improvements are made. Anything and everything dealing with the cars "handling" characteristics can be adjusted here.

• Sports Suspension - Cost 3,200 Cr. - A good solid first upgrade provides increased dampening and tighter response while cornering.
• Semi-Racing Suspension - Cost 7,400 Cr. - Slightly better version of the Sports model.
• Full Customize - Cost 17,000 Cr. - This kit will allow you to adjust every aspect of your front and rear suspension settings.

You can find a ton of useful tips for suspension tuning in this thread by ///M-Spec. But here are some listed in the article and some from my own experience.

• Damper - Damper bound is the act of the shock absorber traveling up and down based on road conditions.
  • Low Rear Rebound, High Front Bound - Will make the car loose going in to corners. (oversteer)
  • Low Front Rebound, High Rear Bound - Will make the car loose coming out of corners. (oversteer)
  • High Rear Rebound, Low Front Bound - Will make the car tight going into corners. (understeer)
  • High Front Rebound, Low Rear Bound - Will make the car tight coming out of corners. (understeer)
• Toe - This is the amount of angle from center that the tires are. A negative front toe looks like / \ zero toe | | and positive toe \ /. This view is if you are looking from the top down.
• Camber - Camber is the angle of tires from top to bottom, camber is responsible for controlling the amount of traction the tires have for acceleration and turning.
  • Low Camber Settings - Gives more speed in the straights, but makes it very difficult to turn.
  • High Camber Settings - Gives great traction in corners, but lowers straight-away speeds.
• Spring Rate - Controls some of the stiffness and body roll in the car while travelling.
  • Low Value Overall - This makes the car ride more consistantly, and perform with some predictability. Less responsive and tends to allow more body roll, but good for elevation changes.
  • High Value Overall - More responsive feel going into turns by reducing the amount of body roll, but may cause instability by promoting spin-out conditions.
• Stabilizer Bars - These help reduce some of the side-wall flex in tires by distributing the forces on the tires equally between both tires.
  • Low Values Overall - Allows more body roll, reduces the liveliness thru turns, but will be more stable thru the rough spots.
  • High Values Overall - Produces less body roll, increases liveliness in turns, but may allow for instabilities thru bumpy sections or where the car may catch air.

TIRES
Overview:
Tires are the most important part of the car. Without good tires, your car will not be able to perform at its maximum. Tires essentially grip the driving surface an transfer the power from the drivetrain to the ground. In the game, there is a tire for every application from street events to snow and dirt. Which tire you need depends on your preferences.

• Standard Tires
  • Economy - Cost 0 Cr. - These are the standard street tires on many of todays stock vehicles. The offer the right amount of wear, ride comfort, and grip. These tires are good for learning some of the intracacies of sports racing.
  • Comfort - Cost 0 Cr. - These tires are designed with higher grip aimed at cars with high maneuverability.
  • Standard - Cost 0 Cr. - These tires are designed more for performance and less on creature comfort. They have even higher grip than Comfort tires, but may lose stability once you excede the grip range.
• Sports Tires
  • Hard - Cost 5,100 Cr. - Hard compound rubber, low grip, high endurance. Good tire for short sprint races that you may not need to pit on.
  • Medium - Cost 6,000 Cr. - Medium strength compounds offer a good balance on grip and endurance.
  • Soft - Cost 6,800 Cr. - Soft compounds offer the highest grip in the sports class tire, but endurance is much lower than the medium tires. Good for short races that have alot of turns.
• Racing Tires
  • Super-Hard - Cost 8,400 Cr. - Long life racing tires, grip is sacrificed to allow you not to have to pit as often.
  • Hard - Cost 10,500 Cr. - Not as long of a life as the Super-Hard tires, these allow for better grip. On many performance cars a combination of Hard fronts and Super-Hard rears will allow you to drive longer than your competition who may only use one type for both fronts and rears.
  • Medium - Cost 22,500 Cr. - Much like their Sport cousins, Medium Racing tires are a good blend of endurance and grip.
  • Soft - Cost 35,000 Cr. - Soft compounds give good grip, but reduce the length of time they can be driven on before they wear out.
  • Super-Soft - Cost 47,500 - Great tires for time trials, testing, and drag racing. The short lifespan is offset by the amount of grip given to the tires.
• Dirt Tires - Cost 22,500 Cr. - Used only on dirt racing circuits, and even then only available on certain makes of cars. Primarily see these tires on Rally cars, or cars you have set up to run Rally races.
• Snow Tires - Cost 22,500 Cr. - Similar to Dirt tires, Snow tires are used on rally races that require snow tires.

OTHER MODIFICATIONS
Overview:
Other modification section includes weight reduction, VCD Controller, roll bars, and Frame Rigidity Refresher plan

• VCD Controller - Cost 10,500 Cr. - Variable Center Differential Controller allows you to customize the amount of torque transfered to the front and rear tires on all-wheel drive cars.
• Weight Reduction:
  • Stage 1 - Cost 1,200 Cr. - This application removes unnecessary items from the car to reduce weight. Some items that are removed are: rear seats, sound insulation, stereo equipment, air-conditioner units, replaces factory front seat(s) with specially designed racing seats. This helps by increasing acceleration and handling.
  • Stage 2 - Cost 5,500 Cr. - This second application further removes unnecessary weight by exchaning factory body parts with aluminum, titanium or carbon fiber parts.
  • Stage 3 - Cost 22,000 Cr. - This final application exchanges the frame with a carbonfiber shell. The reduced weight will deliver inertial improvements similar to specially designed racing vehicles.
• Increase Rigidity - Cost 30,000 Cr. - By adding in a support cage inside the frame, the car will handle better by reducing the strain placed on the frame by body roll, and torque.
• Rigitidy Refresher Plan - Cost 50,000 Cr. - As a car ages the characteristics will change after the forces of driving are applied to it. With the RRP, the frame is straightened back to as close as the original design specs as possible. This refresh is something that should be done regularly if you race your vehicle a lot.

I do hope that some of this information is of value to you...

As I said at the top of the page, this information was gathered from an article from Official Playstation Magazine Issue 93, June 2005. However I have added some of my own experience into a couple of the spots since the article did not articulate enough on some of the sections.

It is not my intent to display a thread that serves only to show already learned knowledge to experienced driver, but to help those newer drivers with creating thier own settings by informing them of what some parts do. While there are several threads containing specifics for one section of car modification, and even more for specific car settings, none except the threads by ///M-Spec go into detail about the parts. While this is not as extensive as those other threads, it is my hope that it will help you determine the best route to take to get your car in top form.



Inkil

 

[CMcMahon]

So basically you're telling us stuff that we already knew, but not telling us everything (turbos, tires, weight reduction, etc), and you're copying it straight out of magazine?

 

[Scaff]

Welcome to GT Planet and I'm glad you have found the site useful, however I must take issue with a couple of the pieces you have quoted from the magazine.

Racing brakes make NO different to your stopping distances at all, a number of us have blind tested this upgrade and just as in reality racing brakes do not affect your stopping distance if your current brakes are up to the job. Have a look at the GT & Brakes thread for further details and the test results.

I would also argue (and again this has been tested) that the single most effective upgrade (as in biggest gain in lap time for money spent) is to be found in upgrading your tyres. Once again mirroring the real world, unless the four little patches of rubber as up to the job, no increase in any other area is going to give you its full benefit. One of the few upgrades that will give you immediate benefits in almost every area, but particularly in reducing stopping distances (its your tyres not your brakes that stop a car) and raising cornering speeds.

 

[Inkil]

So basically you're telling us stuff that we already knew, but not telling us everything (turbos, tires, weight reduction, etc), and you're copying it straight out of magazine?

I am not only quoting the magazine, I am also adding in my experience, and offering definitions that the magazine does not offer. And if you read further than the first part of the thread, I am not finished writing, just mearly taking a break.

Now, as for your comment about telling you things that you already knew, there are people that have come to this forum that have not yet played, or have not yet begun to learn how to properly modify their car to achieve the best performance without spending money on every item available for a car. Sure it is easy to write a thread that says you need to have this part and this setting for your brand new Skyline, but why does that part do what it does in the first place? Not everyone has played the entire legacy from the begining, and quite a few are just now discovering the beauty and the enjoyment of this game.

If what I am writing is of no use to you, I am sorry, However, I am not writing for the experienced player.

Inkil