Help w/ Esprit 350 for 24 Hours at the Ring

[Mr.ThunderMakeR]

Well Ive decided to use the Lotus Esprit Sport 350 to A-Spec the 24 Hours of Nurburgring event after testing just about every touring car in the game and not being able to get a competitive race. Im looking to get lap times in the range of 7'12-7'15. Bone stock, the best I could do was 7'29.5 on R1 tires. Looking to address what I figured were the problem areas, I added a FC racing supension, racing brakes, the brake controller, and a wing. I also added the rollcage and will most likely add a FC transmission since the stock gearing requires gear changes at some odd places on the Ring.

Well after testing with the new parts, I noticed the car was now extremely unstable at high speed and under heavy braking. Hoping to tune out the oversteer, I experimented with softer rear suspension settings. Yet everything I did seemed to make the problems worse. Running out of ideas, I decided to try the opposite and went with softer front, stiffer rear. For whatever reason, this works and actually reduces oversteer. Am I wrong, or is that the opposite what should be expected?

Anyways, Ive finally arrived at these settings:

Suspension:
Spring 6.5F 9.2R
Ride Height 110F 110F
Bound 4F 5R
Rebound 6F 7R
Camber 2.0F 1.0R
Toe 0 0
Stab 3F 4R
Brake Cont: 6F 3R
Downforce: 28F 30R

This gets me a lap time of 7'15.787, but Id like to take at least a sec or two off that time. In general, I would like the car to ride smoothly and be able to handle the bumps on the ring easily. Id also like the car to be a little more forgiving, since Im going to be A-specing the entire 24 hours and it gets a little easy to lose your concentration on these long races. Any suggestions on how to achieve this?

Edit: I also have a question about toe settings. The in-game description says rear toe in will increase straight-line stability while Scaff's suspension guide says to use front toe in. Which one is it?

 

[Greycap]

you've added the rollcage... oh well, let's try to get around it.

Try out softer dampers, I've found bound 3/4 and rebound 4/6 to be a good set to use. It would also make the car handle the bumps better. Maybe a bit softer front stabilizer, too.

About the toe, front toe in gives sharper steering response but may cause understeer once you've turned in. Toe out reduces the response a bit but the tendency to understeer mid corner is reduced. Rear toe in makes the car more stable in a straight line, toe out makes it turn easier but can also turn it into an oversteering handful.

- R -

 

[Mr.ThunderMakeR]

Thanks for the damper settings. Im starting the race today, Ill let you know how it goes.

As for the rollcage, I was under the impression that it was necessary for the 24 hour races.

 

[Kent]

One thing I felt worthy of noting was the idea mentioned here...

I decided to try the opposite and went with softer front, stiffer rear. For whatever reason, this works and actually reduces oversteer. Am I wrong, or is that the opposite what should be expected?

While you will find a few people on the site who are convinced the settings work in reverse, I will provide you a different reason for this change in behavior (which in my opinion also makes more sense then a mistake by PD).

The Esprit is a MR car.
With this in mind, GT4 is subject to weight distribution just like real life in many ways. One of those ways is seen when it comes to spring rates in relation to engine placement.
It is true that generally speaking "stiffer means less grip and softer means more grip."

However, when the weight of a car is not properly supported the characteristics of the car's behavior may change radically and often it changes in highly unpredictable ways.

With all the weight in the rear-end and softer rear springs, it could be possible for the weight to be improperly supported and in turn, the weight will shift more dramatically giving the feeling of increased oversteer.
Once that weight is properly supported the shifts of weight can be reduced because the increased resistance to the weight provided by the springs.

So basically...
Keep in mind where the engine sits and remember that the weight needs to be properly supported before any sort of predictable, reliable behavior will result from suspension changes. 👍
(this philosophy also explains why stock spring rates are so often set as they are)

 

[daddyy]

Get a different car like the Minolta Toyota Race Car!!!!!!!! TUNED

 

[Mr.ThunderMakeR]

Get a different car like the Minolta Toyota Race Car!!!!!!!! TUNED

The Minolta would be just a bit of overkill for this race, just a bit.

But yes a different car might have been a good idea. Im on hour 16 right now of the race and Im absolutely sick of this car. I probably should of spent more time tuning it but I suck at tuning so oh well. The car is so friggin unstable at certain parts of the track its ridiculous. At high speed, the slightest bit of steering input causes the car to pull sharply to the side. At certain points of the track, the car will instanteously jump towards the side of the track all on its own and its almost impossible to correct this without completely spinning out. This happens mostly in high speed sections. In particular Schwedenkreuze, Fuchsrohre, the Pflanzgartens, and Tiergarten are extremely unstable points.

I cant even make 5 laps without completely spinning out several times. Around hours 12-13, I wasted so much gas by spinning out that I ran out of gas in the second Pflanzgarten and went from a 2 min lead to being 1'30 behind the Audi TT touring car. Now at hour 16, Ive just barely gotten a 40 sec lead back on the Audi. While I have to admit its been an exciting race, its all for the wrong reasons.

To make matters worse, the monsoon season just started off with a big storm last night. Luckily my PS2 didnt lose power but it was close a few times. It made for some tense racing as the thunder rumbled outside and the lights flickered in my room. I was also a little bit afraid of being electrocuted through the PS2 controller (can that actually happen?). Anyways, I have 8 hours of racing left and its still cloudy out this afternoon. Im hoping I can make it through without the power going out.