So I've recently been lurking around the tuning area here, and have noticed lots of people have been having trouble with the MP4-12C. When I first drove the car, I noticed a few problems; it had a tendency to understeer, would skip around over bumpy ground, and is very unstable when braking after a small hill/crest. This all seemed to be down to the lack of grip on the front end, which would never seem to behave itself - it felt very skittish. Around high speed corners, some rough terrain would send the car understeering towards the outer edge of the corner. What it desperately needed was some downforce for the front end, but this isn't available at the GT Auto store.
To get around this, I decided to alter the cars natural 43:57 weight distribution to make it closer to the 50:50 figure. This can be achieved by inducing a very large amount of ballast weight to the front end. 172kg to be exact, at position value -50 (right at the front). This is a huge amount of weight, and although having this large amount of ballast gives the car a more solid feel, it ultimately negatively affects the performance. This is countered by performing the Stage II weight reduction on the car. In addition, performing the window weight reduction also reduces the cars tendency to understeer on direction change (if only slightly). With these two weight reductions combined, the car now weighs exactly what it was when stock - 1350kg. However, the weight distribution will now be much closer to the 50:50 figure.
The tune needed to help to absorb the bumps and rough terrain, as I was primarily tuning this car for the 'Ring. As a result of this, all of the figures for the ARBs, dampers, and spring rates needed to be very low. The tune is below;
Ride Height | F (-14) | R (-10)
-------------------------------
Spring Rate | F (10.0) | R (10.0)
-------------------------------
Dampers (Ext.) | F (2) | R (3)
Dampers (Comp.) | F (2) | R (3)
-------------------------------
Anti Roll Bars | F (1) | R (1)
-------------------------------
Camber Angle | F (-1.0) | R (-0.7)
-------------------------------
Toe Angle | F (-0.05) | R (0.02)
-------------------------------
Limited Slip Differential | 15/10/20
-------------------------------
Brake Balance | F (4) | R (6)
-------------------------------
Ballast | 172kg | Position (-50)
-------------------------------
Weight Reduction | Stage II/Windows
-------------------------------
Downforce | Wing #1 | Angle (22)
Tuners comments: Car is very stable and no longer 'skips' around. No tendency to understeer on bumpy ground or rough terrain. Tiny tendency to understeer on low speed direction change. The car works best on racing slicks.
Tuners tips: For high speed corners (120+ mph), lift off the accelerator completely on turn in. Immediately get back on the throttle - should be off-on in quick succession, in time with the turn in. Keep the throttle on about 20% for every corner, lift off for direction changes and again, immediately back on the throttle. For jumps/hills/crests, wait until the car has settled before hammering the brakes.
Please tell me what you think of the tune, and provide any suggestions to improve it. Lets make the McLaren MP4-12C as good as it ought to be, once and for all.
My PSN ID is Sena_R, so you might see me at the 'Ring for a race some time!
To get around this, I decided to alter the cars natural 43:57 weight distribution to make it closer to the 50:50 figure. This can be achieved by inducing a very large amount of ballast weight to the front end. 172kg to be exact, at position value -50 (right at the front). This is a huge amount of weight, and although having this large amount of ballast gives the car a more solid feel, it ultimately negatively affects the performance. This is countered by performing the Stage II weight reduction on the car. In addition, performing the window weight reduction also reduces the cars tendency to understeer on direction change (if only slightly). With these two weight reductions combined, the car now weighs exactly what it was when stock - 1350kg. However, the weight distribution will now be much closer to the 50:50 figure.
The tune needed to help to absorb the bumps and rough terrain, as I was primarily tuning this car for the 'Ring. As a result of this, all of the figures for the ARBs, dampers, and spring rates needed to be very low. The tune is below;
Ride Height | F (-14) | R (-10)
-------------------------------
Spring Rate | F (10.0) | R (10.0)
-------------------------------
Dampers (Ext.) | F (2) | R (3)
Dampers (Comp.) | F (2) | R (3)
-------------------------------
Anti Roll Bars | F (1) | R (1)
-------------------------------
Camber Angle | F (-1.0) | R (-0.7)
-------------------------------
Toe Angle | F (-0.05) | R (0.02)
-------------------------------
Limited Slip Differential | 15/10/20
-------------------------------
Brake Balance | F (4) | R (6)
-------------------------------
Ballast | 172kg | Position (-50)
-------------------------------
Weight Reduction | Stage II/Windows
-------------------------------
Downforce | Wing #1 | Angle (22)
Tuners comments: Car is very stable and no longer 'skips' around. No tendency to understeer on bumpy ground or rough terrain. Tiny tendency to understeer on low speed direction change. The car works best on racing slicks.
Tuners tips: For high speed corners (120+ mph), lift off the accelerator completely on turn in. Immediately get back on the throttle - should be off-on in quick succession, in time with the turn in. Keep the throttle on about 20% for every corner, lift off for direction changes and again, immediately back on the throttle. For jumps/hills/crests, wait until the car has settled before hammering the brakes.
Please tell me what you think of the tune, and provide any suggestions to improve it. Lets make the McLaren MP4-12C as good as it ought to be, once and for all.
My PSN ID is Sena_R, so you might see me at the 'Ring for a race some time!
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love my f1 too... got 2, one carbon black, and the other has been done to look like the f1 lm, with 700bhp. it makes such a difference with the downforce
