Your tuning method

[sejtur]

Hi!

I play the GT series from the third one on, and I never really know how to tune my car so that it becomes genuinly faster. I have taken some setups from here, and they worked pretty good, my times improved. But I want to be able to tune my car by myself. I have tried tuning cars myself ofcourse, but it didn't work out so well.

My question is: do you have any method or tricks that you do when tuning? And in which order do you treat all aspects? And do you have examples of where you significantly improved your laptime?

 

[clacksman]

I start with gearing and then do suspension ... but that's actually rare to start from scratch now as I have so many leftover setups.

I don't really have a method I don't think ... other than work on the part of the lap where the car doesn't seem to be working right.

There's a tuning guide here at planet somewhere.
edit: here we are, typed "tuning guide" into the search.
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=104034&highlight=tuning+guide

👍

 

[HaylRayzor]

I throw a "generic" tune in the car (weight to min, power to whatever will make the PP limit, min aero to start, lower it, stiffen the springs and shocks a notch or 2, put in a little camber, a little toe, and set my preferred 5 4 brake bias, ABS and TCS to 0.)

Then I set the gears to what I feel a particular track will need. I don't like to use 1st gear at all so I set 2nd so I have good pull off the slowest corner on the track, then set the other gears so I stay on the torque curve when I shift. 6th or 7th I set to redline about 10mph faster than I think I'll get on the longest straight (extra 10mph for drafting). Other gears spaced between. If the engine is peaky I'll set my lower gears closer so that I accellerate as fast as possible, then a jump to high gear.

Then test laps.

Tweak the shocks and dampers if the car is too tight or too loose in the slow sections. Maybe crank in a little aero if the tight or loose problem is at higher speeds. I pay careful attention to shift points so that I never have to shift in the corner. Maybe play with the brake bias if I want to change the characteristics during braking. Less brake overall if it's locking up. More rear brake if I want the car to rotate more on braking. Less rear if the rear steps out too much on braking. Maybe set ABS to 1 if the car is just out of control on braking. More or less damper if I want to change the turn-in balance. More or less spring if I want to change the mid-corner balance.

 

[Qbert55]

I throw a "generic" tune in the car (weight to min, power to whatever will make the PP limit, min aero to start, lower it, stiffen the springs and shocks a notch or 2, put in a little camber, a little toe, and set my preferred 5 4 brake bias, ABS and TCS to 0.)

Then I set the gears to what I feel a particular track will need. I don't like to use 1st gear at all so I set 2nd so I have good pull off the slowest corner on the track, then set the other gears so I stay on the torque curve when I shift. 6th or 7th I set to redline about 10mph faster than I think I'll get on the longest straight (extra 10mph for drafting). Other gears spaced between. If the engine is peaky I'll set my lower gears closer so that I accellerate as fast as possible, then a jump to high gear.

Then test laps.

Tweak the shocks and dampers if the car is too tight or too loose in the slow sections. Maybe crank in a little aero if the tight or loose problem is at higher speeds. I pay careful attention to shift points so that I never have to shift in the corner. Maybe play with the brake bias if I want to change the characteristics during braking. Less brake overall if it's locking up. More rear brake if I want the car to rotate more on braking. Less rear if the rear steps out too much on braking. Maybe set ABS to 1 if the car is just out of control on braking. More or less damper if I want to change the turn-in balance. More or less spring if I want to change the mid-corner balance.

Hi,

Just got the game myself so noob postage here.

Can you expand on bolded above? Specifically, what helps you determine how you will set the + or - for the toe Front/Rear? Same with camber...what helps you determine how far you will go on that?

Thanks a ton in advance...currently working on my S Class and want to get all golds like you have.

Cheers!

I've been reading thru a ton of threads/tunes

 

[panjandrum]

Well, for me one of the biggest attractions of the GT series is that the cars handle something like they do in real life. So I leave the suspension setups close to stock most of the time. I really enjoy hopping into different cars and feeling them respond very differently. When I do tune a car I try to do it in a way which keeps the personality of the car intact. For example I don't throw 200lbs in the front of a Yellowbird to reduce lift-off-oversteer, I just learn to drive the car instead. Obviously when trying to meet a PP value in GT5P I have to play around with power, weight, and tires, but still I leave the suspension pretty close to stock. I should mention though, that I do change the braking power and balance to something reasonable. I think PDs got the stock settings there completely wrong.

So basically, I prefer to "tune the driver, not the car." Much more challenging and fun IMHO.

 

[Dragonistic]

I generally set the power, weight, and downforce as a starting point, as changing these later on will effect almost everything else that is done. Most of the time I opt for minimum weight, then high downforce where possible (but I don't usually tune to any set PP value, I tune for myself and try to bring out the cars highest potential handling wise) then I add or even remove power to wherever I feel handling will benefit as well as drive.

After I've done that, I used the power/torque graph to set up the gearing, test it on the track, then usually adjust the final gear as fit. Similarly, I don't like re-doing tonnes of set ups for each track and car combo, I like a one-size fits all so I can spend more time enjoying the car.

Then I'll move on to the suspension, usually putting a generic set of numbers on a car, guesses from experience depending on the car itself, and then tweak each section bit by bit. The best way to learn is tweak each setting individually, one at a time, and see what the results are of say, increasing front camber, then decreasing front camber. It takes a long time, but eventually you'll learn exactly what each setting will change, and you can then tune quickly and effectively once you learn which car types, like AWD, MR, FR etc. benefit from certain set up styles.

 

[NLxAROSA]

I would really advise to read Scaff's guides mentioned in one of the posts above. They describe very accurately what the settings do in game.

Also, set yourself a goal before you start tuning: what do you want to achieve? Do you want to create a setup that's blisteringly fast during hotlaps (but not necessarily stable), or do you want to create a tune that's really consistent and forgives driver error, or etc. etc.?

Then take the car for a few laps without changing anything (maybe adjust to the required PP level if necessary). Analyze what behavior you like and hate about the car in question. That will, besides getting to know the car, give you a good idea of what to adjust.

 

[sejtur]

Thanks for all the advice! I will try it out and look at Scaffs guide.

 

[HaylRayzor]

Hi,

Just got the game myself so noob postage here.

Can you expand on bolded above? Specifically, what helps you determine how you will set the + or - for the toe Front/Rear? Same with camber...what helps you determine how far you will go on that?

Thanks a ton in advance...currently working on my S Class and want to get all golds like you have.

Cheers!

I've been reading thru a ton of threads/tunes

I personally like to start with +0.10 toe in front and 0 in back for ff and fr cars. For mr cars I start with +0.20 in the rear. That gives a good feel to me. I don't mess with it much after that.

Camber I adjust using the traction bars. I use the minimum setting at front and rear that gives me the highest reading on the cornering bars. I usually don't move it after that.

Scaff's guides give a really detailed explanation of toe and camber (and everything else). Keep in mind that the guides were written for gt4 and the toe settings are reversed in gt5p.

 

[Qbert55]

I personally like to start with +0.10 toe in front and 0 in back for ff and fr cars. For mr cars I start with +0.20 in the rear. That gives a good feel to me. I don't mess with it much after that.

Camber I adjust using the traction bars. I use the minimum setting at front and rear that gives me the highest reading on the cornering bars. I usually don't move it after that.

Scaff's guides give a really detailed explanation of toe and camber (and everything else). Keep in mind that the guides were written for gt4 and the toe settings are reversed in gt5p.

Thanks for the reply.

Yup, I read thru Scaff's guide a good while ago for GT4...looks like I should to a refresher none-the-less.

Hey...at least I have the whole weekend to get them S golds!

TGIF!