Natural frequency in 1.49

[shadow0460]

I think I may have found the root of my suspension issues in this update. I'm not much of a driver but I can fix and tune anything. I could have you winning at Bathurst in an IBM typewriter.
Anyway, I got to digging through the settings. I know what most of them do, except til yesterday, natural frequency. The gist of it is lower equals a smoother ride and higher equals better response. There's a catch, though: the tires already have a natural frequency of their own, which you should match with the suspension. If they're off, the tire has likely resumed its aspect ratio while the suspension is still under vertical motion. This means the suspension is literally slamming a rock hard tire into the pavement versus pushing on a tire that will give and help dampen the impact. If you switch the settings the tire gets mushy. In any case if they're mis matched, when you take weight off that corner, the car will bounce twice.
Sidewall stiffness determines the natural frequency of the tire. Larger tires on smaller rims have more vertical travel available can use a lower natural frequency for a smoother ride. The complete opposite is true also: low profile tires and stiff suspension will make the car more responsive. Also Comfort tires have the lowest natural frequency, then sports, then racing and for those it's way up there. I'd bet setting NF around 1.2 for comfort tires, around 1.8 for sports tires, and around 4 for racing tires would show a drastic improvement with two of the tree tire types.

 

[gti_sdn]

I don't think the spring rates are the complete issue with the latest update, this is straight from the manual which hasn't changed.

・Natural Frequency - Front/Rear
The effective spring rate value changes depending on the suspension type and lever ratio. The natural frequency is a representation of how the ride feels as a result of this. The higher the value, the stiffer the feeling of the ride. The lower the value, the more gentle the ride feels. Matching the natural frequency of the front and back wheels makes for a smoother ride. The natural frequency setting of road cars (with comfort or sports tyres) is generally around 1.1-1.5Hz, and for race cars (with racing tyres) it is generally around 3-5Hz.

What they don't tell you in the game is the lever ratio (Motion Ratio) which would really help with suspension setup. the other thing to consider is Aero. More aero pushing down on the car means upping the natural frequency to stop the aero compressing the suspension rather than pushing the tyres into the ground.

I think what has changed is the dampers and the values for them in some way that they are not controlling the oscillation of the spring and these are what need to be adjusted to correct suspension setups. Also as you say, tyres also now seem to play a bigger part in the whole setup to.