Maximum vs. Minimum Downforce

[Exorcet]

I heard somewhere (Will find the source) that the standard veyron, IRL is capable of well over 400, nearly 450, Just the drag prevents it from reaching it.

I can't make sense of this.

Drag is what limits the speed of 99% of cars. It doesn't make sense to give a top speed figure without drag, because the car would have infinite top speed (theoretically).

 

[Nismo34]

Was just an example to show how much drag affects cars IRL.

 

[Exorcet]

Is that the speed limited by friction with the ground/between components? And do you have a source?

Ignoring that it only has 7 gears and tire friction, the Veyron producing 1000 hp would always have a force accelerating it. At 253 mph it's around 1260 lbs of force (about .3g acceleration). At 450 mph, around 708 lb (.17g)

I don't really know what's normal for tire friction you if you have a source on that, it would be great, thanks.

 

[Nismo34]

I have tried looking for the source but at this current moment it remains hidden. I will continue to try and find it.

 

[esoxhntr]

on nurburgring, it's been my experience that, given equal PP levels low/no downforce will typically beat high downforce. ie. sacrificing power for DF. it's a HP track.

 

[KC_073]

I can't make sense of this.

Possibly it's talking about how the car is geared - i.e. max RPM in top gear would give a speed higher than the drag-limited top speed of the car. Could be for fuel economy, noise, acceleration, whatever.

 

[FishHunters]

Going to try one more test. Same set up, max vs. min DF; this time on Daytona. In theory the min DF should murder the max DF. However, I get the feeling that won't be the result. I will also use a car with over 1000HP like the Minolta and a car under 200HP just to see what the results would be using cars at the extreme ends of the spectrum.

 

[Exorcet]

Perhaps try an intermediate downforce setting as well.

 

[FishHunters]

Perhaps try an intermediate downforce setting as well.

Good idea!

 

[Stevisiov]

I've always run with maximum downforce as it seems much more beneficial than the loss of drag for any car other than the RedBull X1

 

[FishHunters]

I've always run with maximum downforce as it seems much more beneficial than the loss of drag for any car other than the RedBull X1

Which is exactly what I've been doing since I first ran this test! Increases your handling which offsets the (minimal) loss of speed!

 

[Stevisiov]

Which is exactly what I've been doing since I first ran this test! Increases your handling which offsets the (minimal) loss of speed!

Indeed, it's not entirely realist, but hey.

 

[Scotracer]

It's still not correct. The Ferrari F1 cars go far too fast with max downforce - they can easily top 200mph with max wings, and that just isn't/wasn't the case.

Just because they got the qualitative side of things right doesn't mean the numbers are.

 

[FishHunters]

Just because they got the qualitative side of things right doesn't mean the numbers are.

Whole heartedly agree!

Because of that now the question becomes how much does tuning help and how accurate is it?

I know it's only a game and I've no problem with the current state of things with the cars (big problems with aspects of the game). There's just so far you can go with a console and with a simulation. In other words not bashing PD for this aspect of the game. They did a marvelous job with the physics overall; and the physics is what makes the game.