Racing Games - Setting up you car

[Izza]

Having been playing GT3 and Race Driver on PS2 ages now (plus various other racing games over the years) I find myself constantly battling with this evil little thing called 'understeer'.
I'm sure you all know how icky it is.
What I want to know is how do you dial it out?
I've played around a bit I to be honest I dont really have a clue.
Now I would have though you would soften the front end to generate some mechanical grip and increase the downforce (if available). Am I on the right track?

Do you do things differently for mid-engined cars and front rears?

(oh yeah is could also apply to cars in the real world)

P.S Ted we need a gaming forum here mate!

[big chris]

The only bit of tiddling around i do with the cars are dropping them right on their arses- boy racer style. After that if its understeering, apply handbrake

[BCA]

Certainly on GT3 its worth doing a different set up for each car to get the best out of it. I tend to vary set ups for certain tracks too, although there are a few general settings on some of the cars which are pretty good all round.

What cars are giving you understeer then??

I might be able to help, my driving seems to be pretty diagonal - that said it might just be the way I drive.

A certain PH member *cough* GrahamJ *cough* had trouble with one of my set ups being understeery (Evo7 oversteers all day). I think the usual applies on that one, driver training before any other mods eh Graham?

I really cant wait for GT4 - Nobles/ Caterhams/ Smarts and a TVR Vixen!!! Hope theres a T440R/ T350C/Cerbera Red Rose too.

[dave_s13]

Toca race driver is a bit poo though, the bloody thing counter steers a rear end slide automatically, which takes most of the skill out of it.

[Animal]

Having been playing GT3 and Race Driver on PS2 ages now (plus various other racing games over the years) I find myself constantly battling with this evil little thing called 'understeer'.
I'm sure you all know how icky it is.
What I want to know is how do you dial it out?
I've played around a bit I to be honest I dont really have a clue.
Now I would have though you would soften the front end to generate some mechanical grip and increase the downforce (if available). Am I on the right track?

Always adjust front and rear downforce to suit the track you're on, but use proportionally less rear wing.

After that, you can up the spring rates (stiffer at the front), and soften the front anti-roll bar.

[deltaf]

Try softening the front anti-roll bar settings a little.
This is usually the cause of a lot of understeering problems. You may want to experiment with the spring and damper settings, not to mention the ride heights.

[FourWheelDrift]

dave_s13 said: Toca race driver is a bit poo though, the bloody thing counter steers a rear end slide automatically, which takes most of the skill out of it.

It does it on the PS2 version but on the PC with a steering wheel you have full control.

[Izza]

BCA said:

What cars are giving you understeer then??

I really cant wait for GT4 - Nobles/ Caterhams/ Smarts and a TVR Vixen!!! Hope theres a T440R/ T350C/Cerbera Red Rose too.

Yeah deffo waiting on GT4, aparently 2000 cars and over 100 tracks!!!! I'm looking at gaming sites at the mo for screenshots. urrrrrmmmmmmmmmm drooooolllll


I've clocked GT3 and Race Driver. With Race Driver I adjusted the DF and gears and that was it.

With GT3 it seems every bloody car understeers shockingly. My Esprit Sport 350, sorry make that Sport 1000 understeers and I cant seem to change it. Same with my 900bhp Oreca Viper. Whats with that?
I havent gone softer than "Medium" tyres because the wear rate is shocking!

I dont bother with Evos etc cause they understeer no matter what, and are a bit boring. Although the Mine's Evo 5 (?) is nicely ballanced. Had the RUF CTR2 fully tricked up with about 600bhp and it understeered shockingly. Then played around with the center diff, so the bias is about 15% front, 85% rear, and now she drifts real NICE. Although the Mine's Evo 5 (?) is nicely ballanced.

The Motorsport Elise handles very well, esp with 360bhp.

So, it's soften the roll bars, and front spings, more DF if available.
What about damper bounds and rebounds?

[shadowninja]

could also be that you're carrying too much speed into corners...

[FunkyNige]

If your car is slammed right to the ground, just hitch up the arse end a bit to solve understeer, or put some more downforce on the front/less on the back.

[robp]

How about it Ted? A games forum on PH? For car games only of course

[Graham.J]

BCA said:A certain PH member *cough* GrahamJ *cough* had trouble with one of my set ups being understeery (Evo7 oversteers all day). I think the usual applies on that one, driver training before any other mods eh Graham?

Yeah but you can't powerslide the big corner on super speedway

Your setup on the Evo7 was fine but to get it to oversteer you had to pendulum brake like buggery and really abuse it and even then it gained traction when you didn't want it to.

Each to their own I say, different driving styles etc.

I finished running in my new Motorsport Elise last night so I'll have to try your setup on that too.

[trooper1212]

robp said: How about it Ted? A games forum on PH? For car games only of course

oooh... yes, that would be good.

T.

[rab c]

Have you guys found the F1/Indy car on GT3 yet it blows everything else into the weeds.

[big_treacle]

not really a racing game, but running people over with jeeps on battlefield 1942 is one of my current passtimes. great fun.

[nmlowe]

Any 'Need for Speed' (PC) fans on here?

[MEMSDesign]

What I want to know is how do you dial it out?
I've played around a bit I to be honest I dont really have a clue

I can't say I've got much real world experience at this, and I'm sure Pete Humphries (sp?) will be able to put me right, but from what I remember from university (where I studied vehicle dynamics):

Understeer/oversteer characteristics can be controlled by modifying the way the car transfers load under lateral acceleration. Increasing the roll stiffness at the rear of the car will tend to dial out understeer. On you computer game, this translates to simply increasing the anti-roll setting at the back, and decreasing it at the front. You could also change the spring rates in the same direction (as you suggested). This is what I do in GT3, and it does what it ought to. Some of the cars (FWD) are hard to drive at any speed without extensive remedy in this direction.

[madmike]

Whenever I need to tune a car for a particular circuit, I always follow the same formula for success:

1) Add cool rims (gold plated are best).
2) Body kit with frighteningly low front spoilers. (The more faux intakes the better)
3) Upgrade from 2 wipers to one wiper. (LED type)
4) Huge wing for downforce.
5) Add big ice for improved traction.

What, you guys don't play Max Power the Game?

Mike (Moto GP 2 comes out on Xbox this week...can't wait.)

[MEMSDesign]

deltaf said: Try softening the front anti-roll bar settings a little.
This is usually the cause of a lot of understeering problems. You may want to experiment with the spring and damper settings, not to mention the ride heights.

Yeah, like deltaf said!

DOH.

[pdV6]

BCA said:I really cant wait for GT4 - Nobles/ Caterhams/ Smarts and a TVR Vixen!!! Hope theres a T440R/ T350C/Cerbera Red Rose too.

Have a look at Evo June 2003 (issue 56) pages 132-136, article on Kazunori Yamauchi of GT1/2/3/4 fame.

You can see some of the other cars being filmed in the background of the photos.