SCC - Ferrari 348 Challenge Series - Series Complete - Results Posted!

[Biggles]

Wha ...?! Gets us all excited about the close-up ... & then nothing!

 

[jjaisli]

Guys, please. I appreciate the discussion but I really don't want to have this thread policed and/or edited. I went through the trouble to create a social group for this kind of off topic discussion. Let's move it there.

 

[GTP_DEVIE]

Wow!!! Awesome times from you guys. 👍 Going to play with my set up a little and see if I can find some lost time. Looking forward to racing you all at Virginia. Steve.

 

[bullie77]

If it was possible to forget that I HATE VIR, this latest practice sessions made offline for setup tweaking + your daily lap times on the leaderboar, assure that I wouldn't forget about it!

1'33''85! This is my best time and I possible can't figure out where will I find another extra 3 seconds to be in the highs 1'30''s.

Any suggestions?

My setup is:

Ride Height - Front: full - / Rear: full +
Roll Bars - Hard/Hard
Springs - Hard/Soft
Dampers - Soft/Soft
Camber - full negative F/R
Toe - almost full negative F/R

Question: all the turns, except turn 1 and the one uphill leading for the track short version, seems to be made in 3rd gear. Is this consistent to your experience?

 

[hm66]

If it was possible to forget that I HATE VIR, this latest practice sessions made offline for setup tweaking + your daily lap times on the leaderboar, assure that I wouldn't forget about it!

1'33''85! This is my best time and I possible can't figure out where will I find another extra 3 seconds to be in the highs 1'30''s.

Any suggestions?

My setup is:

Ride Height - Front: full - / Rear: full +
Roll Bars - Hard/Hard
Springs - Hard/Soft
Dampers - Soft/Soft
Camber - full negative F/R
Toe - almost full negative F/R

Question: all the turns, except turn 1 and the one uphill leading for the track short version, seems to be made in 3rd gear. Is this consistent to your experience?

Hi bullie
Asume your driving with a wheel,try breakink early for the corners so you have time to put it in the right gear that you need for the corrne.I found that it is faster.you need to be off the breaks when you start to turn in,and gently apply the trottle to the point when you can fell the car start slidinhg.The uphill turn I take in 2th.Hope it helps.

And now for some serius stuff.
Today I thought I'll do some laps,and when I checked my settings I say thatt my ridehight in the back was on 0.60.Then I thought "oh *****"maby that was why my laptimes was so fast yesterday when I was playing new_soul.I put it back(just clicked it left 1 click and it went to 0.29 and then to the right to 0-30.
Started some timetrail and after some laps I was down to the same times as yesterday.
Then I had a series of great laps and I was able to set my best lap with 1:28.07.Yes that is right,Just 0.01 sec of alan's time.
On the next lap I was up on that time and when I got to the straight I was about0.25 sec up.Here is the strange part.When I crossed the finish line the time was 1.28.80 and I thought **********.Then I went on and when the time got back on the screen I was 0.7 up on my best time?And now when I play timetrail it show my best time as 1.28.80 but on the leaderboard it's 1.28.07.Go figure.
Oh and I wrote the other day that I had done around 170 laps all togetter on VIR.That is far from right.I had 209 offline and 370 online.

 

[jjaisli]

Hmm, that is strange. I thought Vompatti's problem might have just been a one-off and corrupted data file from the game freezing while he was doing liveries. But now I started to wonder if there isn't a bug. When I went to practice on Wednesday night, the car felt 'different' somehow and I was getting a lot of wheel spin and oversteer exiting slower corners. When I went back into the tuning screen I saw that I had 'soft' anti-sway bars both front and rear. And I can't remember selecting it.

It's the only time I can remember that something like this has happened to me. But from now on, I'm going to write down my settings and recheck them before and after my sessions.

Oh and I wrote the other day that I had done around 170 laps all togetter on VIR.That is far from right.I had 209 offline and 370 online.

HA! Now I don't feel so bad.

 

[Biggles]

Well, I had a go at VIR last night. After about 15 laps I was close to, but still not equal to my previous PB. I exited the TT & went to the set-ups screen. I'll confess that my "tuning" was pretty much completely abritrary - "I'll try this & this & this".

My first lap knocked 1 second off my previous PB. By the 10th lap I had knocked off another 1 sec, leaving me at 1.31.06. My guess is, that fiddling around with the tuning might result in knocking off another second, leaving me an acceptable 2 secs behind the alien times.

I don't know about a tuning bug, but is anyone else encountering this: although there are a few screens I can activate in the leaderboards section, I can't access any of the 348 Challenge screens, & if I keep trying, I eventually get a frozen screen & have to "force-quit" the game?

 

[Alan_G]

A few days ago, during an online race, I did a 1'28.40. When I had a look at the leaderboard later, it showed a 1'28.39. I'm pretty sure they don't do any kind of rounding of laptimes, as we would have all seen it before.

 

[jjaisli]

It's a clear cut case of being faster than you think you are Alan.

 

[new_soul]

A few days ago, during an online race, I did a 1'28.40. When I had a look at the leaderboard later, it showed a 1'28.39. I'm pretty sure they don't do any kind of rounding of laptimes, as we would have all seen it before.

The same thing is with FC.


Its the ICE Hockley World Cup and i cant find time to practice, pluss the summer days are finally here in LV ...

..very impressive lap times, from Henrik and Alan, keep it up guys 👍

 

[Alan_G]

My setup is:

Ride Height - Front: full - / Rear: full +
Roll Bars - Hard/Hard
Springs - Hard/Soft
Dampers - Soft/Soft
Camber - full negative F/R
Toe - almost full negative F/R

I'm running soft springs F/R. Hard front doesn't give much/any pace, and just makes it rough over curbs.

Is there a particular reason to run maximum negative toe? This will make the car very lazy turning-in to corners. I know I said toe doesn't make much difference for raw pace, but I suppose that's only for me personally; when I tried negative toe, I just did some things a bit differently to keep the pace. If you try positive toe, you may find more pace.

1'33''85! This is my best time and I possible can't figure out where will I find another extra 3 seconds to be in the highs 1'30''s.

Any suggestions?

Using this map: http://www.faasst.com/Images/VIRMap.jpg , here's some ideas:

You mentioned about gearing - for turns 1, 4, 7 and 14a, I use 2nd gear. Actually I might change 14a to 3rd gear (seems like a better option now that I think of it).

Don't sweep out wide exiting turn 1, and through turn 2. Hold on to the apex of turn 1 even when the curb disappears, just for a few extra metres, get on the throttle, and never sweep out past the middle of the track. With this kind of car (weight, traction, cornering speed) I suppose it's just slower covering the extra distance out wide with not much benefit through better acceleration.

Try to slingshot 'Nascar Bend'. Clip the apex (don't use curb) and when you do so, be on maximum throttle. If you can't be on maximum throttle as you catch the apex, then the line is wrong, or else you're carrying too much speed in.

The 'Snake' section is generally not flat out; well, 5a is not flat out, but the rest can be. It's better to feather the throttle through here and get the line right, rather than risking those curbs.

With turn 7, similar to turn 3, don't turn in too early; get a late-ish apex in 2nd gear, this time around 50% throttle. Can't do full throttle as it gets light over the crest. But it's essential to be on the throttle early up the hill; maybe 20-30% before the apex. You can really only get on full throttle when you've cleared the crest.

Turns 10 and 11 are never flat out. Just stick to the apexes. Sacrifice speed for getting the lines right.

The chicane at 12a is always a bit of a lottery. The best approach is to straight-line it with plenty of speed. Take plenty of the left curb, without pointing too far left (otherwise when you land you might end up on the grass on the left on the exit). The best thing is to avoid steering inputs as you attack the curbs, otherwise you'll get unstable.

Double-apex 14a: I use 2nd gear here. Clip the 2nd apex, and take low enough speed to stay near the right hand side before turn 15.

Upshift to 3rd gear before turn 15. The curb here ends before the apex; aim to clip the white line on the inside, taking a nice slingshot out.


I think Henrick mentioned before; "slow in, fast out". Most of the time, the priority is on a good exit speed. Also, fast times are not ragged-edge, sliding laps. Sliding generally slows you down, and it's unstable. A little powerslide can be okay sometimes, but only if the acceleration is as good as is when not sliding. If you've got opposite lock when exiting the corner, then you're losing time in the acceleration zone.

 

[bullie77]

Hi Alan! Thanks for the tips!

I have however some questions/comments/answers about your ideas:

I'm running soft springs F/R. Hard front doesn't give much/any pace, and just makes it rough over curbs.

Is there a particular reason to run maximum negative toe? This will make the car very lazy turning-in to corners. I know I said toe doesn't make much difference for raw pace, but I suppose that's only for me personally; when I tried negative toe, I just did some things a bit differently to keep the pace. If you try positive toe, you may find more pace.

The negative toe-in is result of me experimenting extreme settings to find out my pace. I agree with you about the effects (overall) they'd produced in your lap times: I managed consistent 1'34'' laps either on maximum negative and positive toe settings! Obviously that's not the place to find for those extra seconds...

Don't sweep out wide exiting turn 1, and through turn 2. Hold on to the apex of turn 1 even when the curb disappears, just for a few extra metres, get on the throttle, and never sweep out past the middle of the track. With this kind of car (weight, traction, cornering speed) I suppose it's just slower covering the extra distance out wide with not much benefit through better acceleration.

This is one of the hardest spots to me - to nail the exact braking point entering turn 1. I believe the ideal would be close (or even in) the 100 meters sign.

Try to slingshot 'Nascar Bend'. Clip the apex (don't use curb) and when you do so, be on maximum throttle. If you can't be on maximum throttle as you catch the apex, then the line is wrong, or else you're carrying too much speed in.

With turn 7, similar to turn 3, don't turn in too early; get a late-ish apex in 2nd gear, this time around 50% throttle. Can't do full throttle as it gets light over the crest. But it's essential to be on the throttle early up the hill; maybe 20-30% before the apex. You can really only get on full throttle when you've cleared the crest.

What do you mean exactly with 'slingshot'?

The way I feel its best to approach turn 3 is with a early brake (just after straighten up the car after that fast left between turns 2 and 3), in order to point the car towards turn 3 apex.

Another challenge to me is how to approach correctly turn 4. Seems faster with a hard late brake and downshift to 2nd gear in order to nail the apex right.

 

[Alan_G]

This is one of the hardest spots to me - to nail the exact braking point entering turn 1. I believe the ideal would be close (or even in) the 100 meters sign.

I brake no later than around 140m. Aim for just beyond halfway between the 200m & 100m boards.

What do you mean exactly with 'slingshot'?

This means faster, straighter exit than entry.

There's been some suggestion of not braking & turning at the same time. Really, there's so much time to be found by braking & turning at the same time. 'Nascar Bend' is a good example. A lot of the time I find I'm braking right up until the apex. Hard braking is done in a straight line, and as you turn in, release to around 40% brakes if necessary. I say "if necessary" as you may not need braking & turning on that approach. So the point is, next lap round take more speed in (either brake a bit later, or for less time initially), so that you require braking to keep on the same racing line as you turn in.

Similarly with turn 1; I brake hard up to the turn in point, and then release to around 40-80% brakes for turning in. If I get it perfectly the way I want, I end up gradually releasing the brakes right up to the apex, where I get off the brakes and immediately onto around 10-20% throttle.

 

[MannyMoenjack]

A quick point to avoid confusion... In the SCC world Negative Toe means this...

\------/ (Front wheels of car) This results in faster turn-in, but less stable in a straight line.

In the real world Negative Toe usually means exactly the opposite. As toe is usually measured by the distance between the front of the tires.

So Alan when you suggest that negative toe makes the car sluggish to turn in you're using the real world referrence correct? ( i.e. this: /-----\ )

 

[Alan_G]

In the setup menu, I put the toe maximum to the left, and on track it seemed sluggish on turning in. I put it back all the way to the right, and it appeared more responsive on the turn-in. I could be wrong, but it appeared to have that affect.

Do you think it's the opposite in SCC from what you feel on track, or maybe from looking at the wheels where the car is displayed in the seutp screen?


* * *


Did a couple of online races with GTP_DEVIE. He's got some great pace - will be a strong contender. Just reminded me how difficult it will be to overtake on this track. This is why anyone in the mid 1'29s or better has a great chance to win; if you can get in the lead and make no mistakes, it's really really tough for anyone behind to overtake.

 

[MannyMoenjack]

In the setup menu, I put the toe maximum to the left, and on track it seemed sluggish on turning in. I put it back all the way to the right, and it appeared more responsive on the turn-in. I could be wrong, but it appeared to have that affect.

Actually with the slider full left (negative), they should respond more quickly to steering inputs, but (and this is the key) they will have less stability and grip, and the rear tires will tend to push them (understeer).

With the slider full right (positive), the two front wheels are actually rolling on lines that intersect which makes that pair of wheels very stable and when you turn the wheel, the rear of the car tends to rotate around that very stable pair of wheels. However, it takes more rotation of the steering wheel to actually induce a turn. (i.e, poorer steering response)

The difference is probably not important here as most people probably think about it the same way you do, but knowing that the pair of wheels that has more positive toe will be more stable can be helpful in tuning.

Did a couple of online races with GTP_DEVIE. He's got some great pace - will be a strong contender. Just reminded me how difficult it will be to overtake on this track. This is why anyone in the mid 1'29s or better has a great chance to win; if you can get in the lead and make no mistakes, it's really really tough for anyone behind to overtake.

The making no mistakes part will be tough for me... I find this track to be much more difficult to be fast on than Mt. Tremblant. The last turn before the Start/Finish straight is so difficult to be consistent on that it might provide some passing opportunities on the straight. The hairpin at the other end is really the only other good place I can think of.

And yes I found out how quick Devie was earlier in the week. If he hadn't made a big mistake on the last lap I'd never have caught him. (a fact he quickly pointed out to me)

 

[Biggles]

I don't know about a tuning bug, but is anyone else encountering this: although there are a few screens I can activate in the leaderboards section, I can't access any of the 348 Challenge screens, & if I keep trying, I eventually get a frozen screen & have to "force-quit" the game?

I didn't get an answer to this. Is anyone else having this problem? I also found that last night I couldn't enter the tuning screen. This is starting to get me worried that I might have a game-save corruption problem. Any suggestions anyone?

 

[vompatti]

I don't know about a tuning bug, but is anyone else encountering this: although there are a few screens I can activate in the leaderboards section, I can't access any of the 348 Challenge screens, & if I keep trying, I eventually get a frozen screen & have to "force-quit" the game?

Even though my game seems to be The Bugfinder, I haven't encounter this. So I don't have big words of help either. Only thing that I've noticed, is that quick movements inside the game menus makes the game freeze easier. If it hasn't quite loaded the current page already, or image of the car or something and I start to rush to the next menu already then there is a much bigger risk of freezing. But I doubt that is the case with you, if it happens every time.


Alan, nice tips, but you forgot to tell us how to drive corners 16, 17 and 17a!

 

[jjaisli]

Actually with the slider full left (negative), they should respond more quickly to steering inputs, but (and this is the key) they will have less stability and grip, and the rear tires will tend to push them (understeer).

With the slider full right (positive), the two front wheels are actually rolling on lines that intersect which makes that pair of wheels very stable and when you turn the wheel, the rear of the car tends to rotate around that very stable pair of wheels. However, it takes more rotation of the steering wheel to actually induce a turn. (i.e, poorer steering response)

The difference is probably not important here as most people probably think about it the same way you do, but knowing that the pair of wheels that has more positive toe will be more stable can be helpful in tuning.

Yes but in SCC it's EXACTLY the opposite of what it should be. So however you want the car to respond, in relation to the above, just do the opposite. I was looking at the Eutechnyx boards and I'm surprised nobody ever posted this. Somebody better get cracking. I guess I'll volunteer. I can already hear it. It's jjaisli again--for GOD sakes, what does he want THIS time?

I didn't get an answer to this. Is anyone else having this problem? I also found that last night I couldn't enter the tuning screen. This is starting to get me worried that I might have a game-save corruption problem. Any suggestions anyone?

There may be some corruption somewhere. I notice some nights it takes a while for the leaderboard times to appear and the spinning circle in the bottom right keeps turning. But refreshing it a 2nd time usually brings it up immediately. But I'm assuming that's not the same issue you're having?

 

[Biggles]

There may be some corruption somewhere. I notice some nights it takes a while for the leaderboard times to appear and the spinning circle in the bottom right keeps turning. But refreshing it a 2nd time usually brings it up immediately. But I'm assuming that's not the same issue you're having?

No. It's not entirely consistent - sometimes I can access a few leaderboard record screens before it freezes. But last night, for the first time, it wouldn't let me into the tuning screens either. I then tried starting the game under a different user & was able to get into the 348 Challenge Leaderboards - briefly - until it again froze.

I'm beginning to suspect ...



sabotage!

 

[hm66]

HI guys
I think my setup maby been corrupted when I set those time(I dont know just yet)
I reset my setup and then applyed it to another livery and now I'm running high 1:28.
So unless there's also something wrong with this setup I think this is my naturraly speed.

 

[arvore]

No. It's not entirely consistent - sometimes I can access a few leaderboard record screens before it freezes. But last night, for the first time, it wouldn't let me into the tuning screens either. I then tried starting the game under a different user & was able to get into the 348 Challenge Leaderboards - briefly - until it again froze.

I'm beginning to suspect ...



sabotage!

Yeah it is the revenge of the Mandolin Racing Club members for their elder member betrayal and breaking the supreme rule-Being Slow
That way you are deprived of seing your new great-1,29,xx-P.B 👍

P.S: I'de like to believe that those nail settings tips I gave You had something to do with it...

 

[MannyMoenjack]

Yeah it is the revenge of the Mandolin Racing Club members for their elder member betrayal and breaking the supreme rule-Being Slow
That way you are deprived of seing your new great-1,29,xx-P.B 👍

P.S: I'de like to believe that those nail settings tips I gave You had something to do with it...

Jeez Biggles! What are you doing? Mid-1:29's! That's not "Grandma driving"! You'll ruin your reputation if you keep doing that!

 

[jjaisli]

Well, I just ran about 50 laps in total between this morning and this afternoon. About 1/3 in the wet. I made a few small adjustments to my setup (probably making it a hair slower) but I feel more confident and I'm actually feeling much better now. I still made some mistakes but I no longer feel so 'lost' as I did this time last week.

 

[MannyMoenjack]

Well, I just ran about 50 laps in total between this morning and this afternoon. About 1/3 in the wet. I made a few small adjustments to my setup (probably making it a hair slower) but I feel more confident and I'm actually feeling much better now. I still made some mistakes but I no longer feel so 'lost' as I did this time last week.

I wish I could say the same. The rhythm of this track just isn't sinking into my thick skull the way the previous tracks did. I have laps in the 1:30's - high 1:29's but they're mixed in with 1:31's and even 1:32's. I'm comfortable with the setup so I'm just going to have to practice when I get time and hope it sinks in.


PS. I would like to have official permission to have nitrous oxide installed on my Ferrari 348 Challenge... because it's just too 🤬-ing slow...

 

[jjaisli]

I wish I could say the same. The rhythm of this track just isn't sinking into my thick skull the way the previous tracks did. I have laps in the 1:30's - high 1:29's but they're mixed in with 1:31's and even 1:32's. I'm comfortable with the setup so I'm just going to have to practice when I get time and hope it sinks in.


PS. I would like to have official permission to have nitrous oxide installed on my Ferrari 348 Callenge... because it's just too 🤬-ing slow...

Denied.

Don't worry Manny, my laps aren't all that consistent either. I was able to string a few laps together in the mid 1:30s and even managed a few consecutive laps in the high 1:29s but it takes a lot of concentration. And my PB (1:29.03) was really on the edge. To do a lap in the 1:28s you REALLY have to thread the needle. If tried to do laps like that every time I'd just end up losing more time and probably going off.

 

[Alan_G]

Hmmm. Manny, so what about combinations of +/- F/R toe, and -/+ F/R toe? When you said above about the effects of the slider "all the way to the left", are you talking about just F, for F & R?

 

[MannyMoenjack]

Hmmm. Manny, so what about combinations of +/- F/R toe, and -/+ F/R toe? When you said above about the effects of the slider "all the way to the left", are you talking about just F, for F & R?

I'll quote what I wrote on the Car Tuning thread when arvore asked the same question...

It's a little different, but not a lot...

Positive Toe (slider to the right) on the rear will stabilize the back wheels and give you more grip, but will increase your turn radius. Too much positive toe may mean you'll find your car going wide into corners.

Negative Toe on the rear will help the car rotate (like 4-wheel steering on some cars), but you give up some stability and grip and too much negative toe on a twisty track will cause a lot of oversteer.

These things are fairly easy to understand.

The hard part is trying to figure out how to best set both front and rear settings for a particular track. Large (positive or negative) toe settings also can make the car unpredictable and hard to control when you hit curbs, so that's also something to consider.

I've tried a bunch of combinations for this track trying to get a good balance of nimble turn-in and cornering grip and the best seems to be moderate toe out on the front (slider to the left) and a slight toe in at the rear. That brings the nose of the car into the turns quickly while keeping the rear from stepping out. Also, avoiding the maximum toe settings (fully right or left) lets me use the curbs without upsetting the car. You'll also probably want to adjust your camber settings slightly front and rear, after you set the toe.

I finally was able to put together about 40 laps tonight all under 1:32 and with most in the mid-1:30's. Like Jeff, I set my camber settings back from the max-negative so that I'd have better consistancy and it helped a lot.

 

[chilledant]

Howzit.
Looks like you all been having fun. I have been really busy with work and training.. Got me a MX again, Racing enduro's. Anyway will leave the online racing to the pro's have fun.
Ant.

 

[NihilismOnToast]

Hi folks.

This is my third day of being the proud owner of SCC and I thought I'd prepare myself for next Sunday's race. I've been doing laps of Virginia and I seem to not be able to do better than a 1:43:XX. I was just wondering if you guys had any tips on how to get that time down. I'd be happy with a 1:35:XX but I just can't seem to find those elusive seconds. The corners that seem to catch me are Nascar, Uphill and Roller Coaster. I either play things too conservatively or else fly off the track. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'm using a DFGT, vanilla car settings, all assists off, Steering Sensitivity at Medium, Pedals and FFB at High.