I hardly notice any effect from suspension tunings

[Kool Mode D]

I've been playing around a lot with the suspension particularly and I have to say after recording lap times with different setups on different cars that I hardly notice any difference in handling and therefore lap times. I change ride heights, camber, spring rate etc and I honestly don't notice any changes to the handling of the car. The time difference between laps of different suspension setups are negliable.

Am i doing something wrong? How do I unlock the potential of properly tuning the suspension of a car?

 

[mafia_boy]

Are you running any aids like ASM or TCS?? If so, remove them then drive it. You will see the changes then. Many of us tuners who have garages spend hours making the changes so that the car can perform so much faster and handle very well on different circuits. We even have competitions to show which tuners or tuning garages have the most skill around.

What car are you running incidentally?? We can probably help some more in one way or another if you let us know.

 

[shoman]

he has to have atleast ams...that makes the car slow and neutral, with some oversteer. Take that stuff off, and watch the car go from understeer to over and back again

 

[Kool Mode D]

I've been tuning my red NISMO Skyline GTR R34 which has 534bhp and I've been testing it on Suzuka circuit because it has a variety of different corners. The car has no TCM or ASM on and is fitted with Racing mediums on front and rear. I do 3 laps on each setup.

Everything such as suspension, brake balance etc are on default. I only modify one or two things on the suspension. Here are the records

I modified the camber so the Camber front is set 4.0
2.07.241
2.04.689
2.07.688

Toe angle Rear only -4
2.04.892
2.04.923

Camber front 4.0
Spring rate front 10.8
2.09.409
2.08.218
2.05.014

 

[SaberFire]

Try adjusting the spring rates. I think for a Skyline it's a hard front and soft back, right? Or have I just gone arse about face?

Either way, even a few clicks left or right should make noticable differences.

 

[mafia_boy]

I've been tuning my red NISMO Skyline GTR R34 which has 534bhp and I've been testing it on Suzuka circuit because it has a variety of different corners. The car has no TCM or ASM on and is fitted with Racing mediums on front and rear. I do 3 laps on each setup.

Everything such as suspension, brake balance etc are on default. I only modify one or two things on the suspension. Here are the records

I modified the camber so the Camber front is set 4.0
2.07.241
2.04.689
2.07.688

Toe angle Rear only -4
2.04.892
2.04.923

Camber front 4.0
Spring rate front 10.8
2.09.409
2.08.218
2.05.014

Racing tyres dull the effects of what you want to feel. You can stick R5's on, full downforce and make the most pig understeering car still handle. Try it with S3's or even N3's to notice the changes.
Also, one change won't always fix it, it's usually a combination of spring rate/damper/camber/toe & stabiliser. LSD settings make a difference as does ballast and VCD settings. But from the times you're showing, it's obvious to me to see that the spring rate change made the car worse overall, not getting into the 2.05's and being the slowest over 3 laps by a mile. The Toe Angle change helped the car the most, being a consistent 2.04 runner.

Don't expect to beat your PB's by 3-4sec a lap if you have a great setup, but expect to be 3-4sec a lap slower if you stuff the settings up.

 

[PAPPACLART]

I tend to only notice different handling characteristics after using a particular setting on a car for a long period of time, like 30 laps then changing for another set up, the cars then feel totally different. It's pretty amazing.

As an example, pick a standard 05 Impreza, do 30 continious laps as fast as you can, then go and find a tune, and the car will feel very different after doing 30 laps in a standard car.

 

[sukerkin]

One thing to comment on too is whether a wheel or a DS2 is being used? The latter irons out a lot of subtleties.

 

[Kool Mode D]

One thing to comment on too is whether a wheel or a DS2 is being used? The latter irons out a lot of subtleties.

I'm using a dual shock 2

 

[Skygrasper550]

I'm using a dual shock 2

both wheel and dual shock 2 (DS2 for short) are fine, you'll still feel the car's handling with a DS2..,

no wonder you hardly feel any effects from suspension tuning, you're using racing tires, those tires have high grip levels.., over here, us tuners commonly use S3's (Soft Sports Tires) for tuning, because that compound gives pretty good grip and at the same time you can really feel how the car handles, and this brings out the effects of the suspension setup.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

You can still feel through racing tires, but you have to push the car much harder to really notice changes. Therefore sports tires work better for initial tuning of the suspension, then a change to racing tires and final shakedown if the goal is ultimate handling.

 

[sukerkin]

you'll still feel the car's handling with a DS2..,

Not to such a great extent, however; as one of the features of the DS2 is going from lock-to-lock steering angle in such a short travel.

One of the hard parts about transitioning to using wheel is getting used to the much great granularity of the steering inputs but it does mean that subtle aspects of suspension changes 'come through' the interface more clearly.