CAR BALANCE
Now that we have an overview on the major suspension components and what they do, we can talk about car balance. Most of us are already familiar with the terms understeer and oversteer, but let's start thinking about them in a different way now. With an understanding of how tires produce tractive force and why, let's define understeer as when we are putting too much download over the front tires and oversteer as too much load over the rear tires.
When a tire gives up, the car will begin sliding with the end that loses traction first leading the way. If the front end of the car loses traction first, your ability to steer the car may decrease --you turn the wheel, but the car won't turn. This is called understeer. If the one of the rear tires give up first, your car may begin to yaw into the direction of the turn. The tail end of the car sticks out and you may find yourself spinning. This exciting looking situation is called oversteer.
Neither of these situations is the fastest way around a corner. Big tail out oversteer may look exciting and on the edge, but you have lost a significant portion of your grip when this happens, and you will always end up cornering slower than if you were just at the edge, rather than over it. Remember from our tire discussion that a tire produces maximum grip when it is just barely slipping.
So how do we fine tune car balance? The first important concept before you tune is to understand the goal: to get all four tires working to turn the car. This probably sounds like a simple concept with a simple solution, but it is complicated by the second important concept: everything you do to a suspension is a compromise between two conflicting requirements.
As a general rule, making one end of the car softer will decrease roll resistance on that end, promoting better grip on that end.
Conversely, making one end of the car stiffer will increase roll resistance on that end, decreasing grip on that end.
Thus, on a car that is understeering a lot, reduce the spring rate and shock rate in the front or increase same in the rear. If you want to use your sway bars to help trim, stiffen the rear bar while softening the front bar.
The important thing to remember is there are always trade offs when using spring rates to trim car balance. Going to a lower spring rate (softer) on one end of the car to promote better grip may work to a point. But after that point, you will need to deal with increased body roll possibly changing suspension geometry or the possibility of bottoming out on bumps. These effects can hurt you in the long run.
Finally, understand that just because the car feels good doesnt necessarily mean you are going any faster. Sometimes you will simply have to accept certain handling traits of a car and change your driving style.
For example, say you have a car that understeers heavily. You have already made the front softer by reducing spring/shock rates. You decide the car is still not turning in quick enough, so you make the rear much stiffer by maxing out spring/shocks. You also go full soft on the front sway-bar and full stiff at the rear. Now the car is very loose and you find you can easily rotate it simply by adding throttle and powersliding all the way around the turn.
In this case the car may be more fun to drive, but it is unlikely youll gain any speed through the corners. Powerslides feel good because you feel more in control of the car, but in this case, all youve done was compromise grip on the rear in order to deal with the front end washing out. You have, in effect, lost total grip. It is important to know when you can trim the car balance to gain time, and when the car simply has no more to give. Sometimes, you will have to come to terms with the limits of tuning and simply adjust your driving.
BRAKE BIAS
This is an often overlooked but critical part of the tuning process. Maximizing your braking performance is just as critical as getting every last horsepower out of the powertrain. Unfortunately, properly adjusting brake bias is a daunting task in GT3 because there is virtually no way to tell which tire is locking up first under braking.
The goal is simple: each tire must do its fair share of slowing the car down. Ask the front tires to do too much and they will lose grip and you will understeer at corner entry. Ask the rear to do too much and they will lock up, causing the rear to get very light. Do this in a corner, and you suddenly have a trail braking oversteer situation perhaps even leading into a spin.
All else being equal, you will want to set your front brakes slightly higher compared to your rear brakes. This is because under braking, much of the weight transfers to the front tires, which carry the most burden of slowing the car down.
When braking and turning in at the same time (aka trail braking), you will want the car to be stable, with perhaps a slight amount of oversteer to help rotate the car into the turn.
With this in mind, begin tuning by setting both front and rear to maximum and testing the cars behavior. Ive found the easiest way to do this is brake into a high-speed turn like Turn One at Apricot Hill or Midfield. If the rear end starts to slide out under braking, try lowering brake bias on the rear until the behavior gradually lessens to an acceptable level.
On certain tight courses, such as Complex String or Deep Forest, you may want the car to rotate under braking to help set up for the next tight turn. Raise and lower the rear bias to suit each course.
The brake bias has no effect on brake power. Too high a front setting will cause under steer into a low-speed turn under brake lock. Too high at the rear will induce over steer.
Now that we have an overview on the major suspension components and what they do, we can talk about car balance. Most of us are already familiar with the terms understeer and oversteer, but let's start thinking about them in a different way now. With an understanding of how tires produce tractive force and why, let's define understeer as when we are putting too much download over the front tires and oversteer as too much load over the rear tires.
When a tire gives up, the car will begin sliding with the end that loses traction first leading the way. If the front end of the car loses traction first, your ability to steer the car may decrease --you turn the wheel, but the car won't turn. This is called understeer. If the one of the rear tires give up first, your car may begin to yaw into the direction of the turn. The tail end of the car sticks out and you may find yourself spinning. This exciting looking situation is called oversteer.
Neither of these situations is the fastest way around a corner. Big tail out oversteer may look exciting and on the edge, but you have lost a significant portion of your grip when this happens, and you will always end up cornering slower than if you were just at the edge, rather than over it. Remember from our tire discussion that a tire produces maximum grip when it is just barely slipping.
So how do we fine tune car balance? The first important concept before you tune is to understand the goal: to get all four tires working to turn the car. This probably sounds like a simple concept with a simple solution, but it is complicated by the second important concept: everything you do to a suspension is a compromise between two conflicting requirements.
As a general rule, making one end of the car softer will decrease roll resistance on that end, promoting better grip on that end.
Conversely, making one end of the car stiffer will increase roll resistance on that end, decreasing grip on that end.
Thus, on a car that is understeering a lot, reduce the spring rate and shock rate in the front or increase same in the rear. If you want to use your sway bars to help trim, stiffen the rear bar while softening the front bar.
The important thing to remember is there are always trade offs when using spring rates to trim car balance. Going to a lower spring rate (softer) on one end of the car to promote better grip may work to a point. But after that point, you will need to deal with increased body roll possibly changing suspension geometry or the possibility of bottoming out on bumps. These effects can hurt you in the long run.
Finally, understand that just because the car feels good doesnt necessarily mean you are going any faster. Sometimes you will simply have to accept certain handling traits of a car and change your driving style.
For example, say you have a car that understeers heavily. You have already made the front softer by reducing spring/shock rates. You decide the car is still not turning in quick enough, so you make the rear much stiffer by maxing out spring/shocks. You also go full soft on the front sway-bar and full stiff at the rear. Now the car is very loose and you find you can easily rotate it simply by adding throttle and powersliding all the way around the turn.
In this case the car may be more fun to drive, but it is unlikely youll gain any speed through the corners. Powerslides feel good because you feel more in control of the car, but in this case, all youve done was compromise grip on the rear in order to deal with the front end washing out. You have, in effect, lost total grip. It is important to know when you can trim the car balance to gain time, and when the car simply has no more to give. Sometimes, you will have to come to terms with the limits of tuning and simply adjust your driving.
BRAKE BIAS
This is an often overlooked but critical part of the tuning process. Maximizing your braking performance is just as critical as getting every last horsepower out of the powertrain. Unfortunately, properly adjusting brake bias is a daunting task in GT3 because there is virtually no way to tell which tire is locking up first under braking.
The goal is simple: each tire must do its fair share of slowing the car down. Ask the front tires to do too much and they will lose grip and you will understeer at corner entry. Ask the rear to do too much and they will lock up, causing the rear to get very light. Do this in a corner, and you suddenly have a trail braking oversteer situation perhaps even leading into a spin.
All else being equal, you will want to set your front brakes slightly higher compared to your rear brakes. This is because under braking, much of the weight transfers to the front tires, which carry the most burden of slowing the car down.
When braking and turning in at the same time (aka trail braking), you will want the car to be stable, with perhaps a slight amount of oversteer to help rotate the car into the turn.
With this in mind, begin tuning by setting both front and rear to maximum and testing the cars behavior. Ive found the easiest way to do this is brake into a high-speed turn like Turn One at Apricot Hill or Midfield. If the rear end starts to slide out under braking, try lowering brake bias on the rear until the behavior gradually lessens to an acceptable level.
On certain tight courses, such as Complex String or Deep Forest, you may want the car to rotate under braking to help set up for the next tight turn. Raise and lower the rear bias to suit each course.
The brake bias has no effect on brake power. Too high a front setting will cause under steer into a low-speed turn under brake lock. Too high at the rear will induce over steer.
