sukerkin
Hi Rk
Interesting set-up suite there (also, very interesting background info :envy:!).
A couple of questions. First, don't you find the ride too 'skittish' with the Damper Bound so high and the Spring Rates so soft? Second, with such a large disparity between Front and Rear Ride Height, do you have any problems with corner entry and general braking instability?
I will admit that my tunes have gradually slid from what I felt was an allegory of "practical" real settings, to what has by now become pure simulational "fiction"; but, mysteriously, they still somehow work. I will also concede that there are probably better in-game suspension settings, and you possibly have them, but I believe I have found factors that superceed ideal spring and damper rates. I will share my discoveries through your very astute questions, they point to the center of these "kinks" in the game physics. Before I start I want to affirm that I often test very slight variances meticulously, on such things as camber changes, brakes, I often make one click difference and go back out to test; and will do this into the wee hours when I am "nailing" a tune.
The ride may indeed be more skittish than necessary, but I don't think so. Furthermore I have long suspected the damper sliders to be relative, rather than absolute in GT4, the implication being they serve to "flavor", rather than define the ride. This is not an argument to prove the case, but please bear with me.
Early on, doing incremental testing with a lap ghost at Deep Forest, I learned my best laps were made when my damper settings were very close together, like, 6/7, 6/7; or 6/7, 7/8. The more I tried to make the dampers "realistic", the more wildly my car would gyrate when I lost control through upset, collision, whatever. That was my first clue: (in GT4) balance trumps suspension response. I had read somewhere that you need to keep settings close to preserve balance, and that seemed to hold true. I started all my tunes with an eye towards as similar settings as possible from front to rear.
Later, now tuning at Nurburgring, I made another discovery doing incremental spring adjustments: the settings I was meticulously learning as optimal could also be derived through a very simple formula, add the front and rear spring rates and divide by 2. I am sure it seems stupidly obvious from there, but remember I was clicking my way to these same settings, one tenth of one kgt/mm at a time. So now I had the magical algorithm. You may say my brake settings are all whacked, and my dampers are duds, but I know how to get the arcade/test spring rates for any car; and I believe most of the other settings fall under the category "to suit".
Still with me? About ride height, credit goes to you on this one, actually. I was having trouble with an Elan on The 'Ring, I could not get it to stay on the road above 125mph (200kph) and I tried absolutely everything (kitchen sink in the boot, on the carbs, etc.). Then I clicked on your link for the sequence on the GTR. From there it was on to an irritating explanation of why there is a vacuum over the LMP's, he was wrong, but something he said about chassis canting clicked. I remembered one or two prize cars that came with ride height pre-canted. Well, I tried it on the Lotus and of course it worked, the little sucker was topped out at 175 (280) and solid as a Panoz, well almost. The end result being and to answer your second question: chassis downforce trumps most dynamics except suspension bottoming.
30mm seems to be about the optimal and, oddly, if you have the front at ideal ride height (for suspension travel, in race cars it's usually default), there is always almost exactly 30mm left to raise in the rear
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) and do have a suite of settings but I'm at work right now so I can't assist directly. If no-ones helped out by tomorrow I'll try and remember to bring them with me and post them up.
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wings is downforce. I know there is no front dam or channeling fins under the rear, fact is, chassis DF is in the algorithm, so, cant it or eat dust (or grass). This tune will comfortably handle the 170mph (374kph) top end I've set the gears for; if you don't believe me, just take your own tune set and raise the rear 30mm (this one has 50). Don't forget to leave enough room under the front to make it through the landing after the Quiddelbacher rise though...
