One philosophy that has been working wonders for my online-based setups as of late is a times-table of sorts. Though, as expected, it varies by car.
Most performance cars (as opposed to family cars), have a stock LSD setting of 7:30:15 (with the exception of BMW's and most Ferrari's which have a stock LSD setting of 5:20:10). Which works great... so with Accel/Decel at 30/15 I start toying with the IT (Initial Torque) number. I try to find the one that uses the most grip of both tires while cornering.
Now.. after I find a setting I'm comfortable with, I change the Accel/Decel to 3x/2x the IT. (eg: 7:21:14, 5:15:10, 8:24:16)
Depending on the the drivetrain and the general handling of the car in stock form (whether it understeers or oversteers a lot) i would raise or lower the Accel by 1x. (eg: 7:28:14, 5:20:10, 8:32:16).
Now with all this being said, these are never the final settings of the car, unless it is absolutely magnificent the first time out. I use these numbers as a base from which to fine-tune the individual aspects.
- Too twitchy in corner entry? raise Decel by increments of 1, too much understeer, lower Decel and so forth.
- Too much oversteer while apexing? Raise Accel by 1
- Too much oversteer during corner exit? Lower Accel by 1
Some cars, though, require drastic and often unorthodox methods. For example, my touge-set-up S2000 uses 5:55:5 for LSD settings. Simply because that particular car has such a tight turning circle. The IT@5 helps the wheels lock early in the rev-range and being N/A with 9000RPM redline, at no point will you feel the car is too loose. the Accel@55 is since the car has such amazing handling in stick form, it can make as much use of the high RPM without spinning out as often while exiting tight corners but yet allowing you to drift it on-command. The Decel@5 keeps it always agile and responsive at any speed.
This all varies by driver and you'd have to take your time if tuning a car you intend to run for a competition or regularly in online races. Personally, I have somewhat of a love affair with every car I tune. I run them online against friends, against randoms, and against the AI in professional-mode A-Spec races in Arcade mode until I find that the car is as fast AND FUN as can be. My general tuning philosophy is that no matter what, never forget that just as fast as you want your car to be, it must also be fun to drive for YOU!
All this advice is relative to driver experience and technique. I share my favorite and most developed settings in my tuning garage and though my settings may not be comfortable for every driver, I enjoy sharing my setups and encourage my 'customers' to make whatever changes they feel necessary in order for their technique to get the most out of my setups.
Hope this helped
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