Best Track for Testing Tunes? (Besides Nurburgring)

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Bhowe83

Bhowe83

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Bhowe83
I've been tuning in GT5 and GT6 for a while now, and I've always hated the Nordschleife for tuning. It's just too long of a track to see if changes you make are actually any faster or not.

So what track, besides the Nurburgring is your preferred testing track? I tend to use Silverstone and Fuji, as they both have a good combination of fast sweeping turns and short, tight rhythm sections. Plus Fuji has a mile long straightaway that is really good for testing speeds out as well.
 
I used to use Brands Hatch GP, but recently I've been loving Spa a lot more, there's everything you need in there for tuning and testing.
 
Silverstone International

  • It's very short, so easy to be consistent and see small lap time differences.
  • Hard braking zones and light braking zones.
  • High speed corners, slow speed corners.
  • Long corners, short quick corners.
  • A little bit of elevation change in T4 area.
  • Longish straight.
  • And again, it's short.
 
Spa and Cape Ring for me. Sometimes Monaco and a few other tracks for more specific setups.
 
I do a lot on Nurb GP-F, Spa and Suzuka. GP-F has some great corners and a bit of everything with the exeption of a long straight, which Spa has as well as some great high-mid speed corners. Suzuka is really good for working on direction changes through the esses and I find if a car is quick round here it will be on most circuits.

But the best advice comes from @rams1de, use the tracks you are most comfortable and a consistant with. It will allow you to focus more on the tune than the track that way
 
i like to test on Spa but it's a little bit too long and you can easily be bad on the newer section (2nd part) so time is not consistent
nurburg F is nice, rough track nice low and high speed corners, good top speed
I always forgot tsukuba but it's a good tracks for testing, really short, nice corners combination, really cool for testing handling and traction at low speed
Redbull ring is not bad too for traction and high speed cornering

so Nurburgring F for high speed, Tsukuba for low speed, redbull ring for an overall performance test (for time consistency)

but after those test grounds, i always goes to Suzuka or Spa for a last check against my own personal best times
 
Ascari for me for everithing above 500pp, mainly for three reasons:

1/ It's a test track !
2/ It combines a lot of different curves
3/ It requires a good stability, especially in the last section so any car stable enough for Ascari will be stable enough for other tracks in the game.

I think the third point is important. I previously used Nurb GP and sometimes Silverstone and had troubles bringing cars tuned there to less "flat" tracks.

I test on Autumn ring for 400pp and 450pp cars... for less scientific reasons. It is just because it is a cool track to drive with those cars.
 
TGR_Kefran
Ascari for me for everithing above 500pp, mainly for three reasons:

1/ It's a test track !
2/ It combines a lot of different curves
3/ It requires a good stability, especially in the last section so any car stable enough for Ascari will be stable enough for other tracks in the game.

I think the third point is important. I previously used Nurb GP and sometimes Silverstone and had troubles bringing cars tuned there to less "flat" tracks.

I test on Autumn ring for 400pp and 450pp cars... for less scientific reasons. It is just because it is a cool track to drive with those cars.
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I agree 100% it has practically every kind of corner you need to worry about and has a couple of good straights for speed testing. I only wish I knew it well enough to use, it would save so much time instead of having to change tracks every so often.
 
iainoflo85
I can't believe no-one has said Trial Mountain yet . . .

I guess all these new tracks have rendered it obsolete.
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I love that track soooo much, Deep Forest too. I just prefer to tune on real world tracks for the variety of surfaces. Most of the Original Tracks are just too smooth. Although I do make an exception for Grand Valley Speedway, Running that in both directions gives a tune a pretty good workout.
 
Tune the car at the track you intend to run it at (specific tune for each track)

If your looking just to set the car up for a general all round tune i personally find suzuka east , nur gp-f , twin ring (full) great for general tuning
 
Recently I've been using the full Red Bull Ring as there's a couple of nice long straights as well as some fairly difficult corners and breaking areas to get the hang of. Trying to get a decent lap without running wide in the many run off spots is quite a challenge.

Other tracks that I use tend to be, Willow Springs, Brands and Apricot Hill.
 
I like using Suzuka and SSR5 (SSR5???).

Pretty much all the cars I tune are 450-550pp street cars on sports tires.

I settled on those two tracks, as I just really enjoy driving them, and now know them very well, so I find it easier to feel changes when making adjustments.

I find both tracks are pretty good at forming a stable car that can change directions smoothly and consistently, as on both tracks, there are very few times when you are not turning or changing direction.

I'm starting to really like Ascari as well, but I'm still in the process of learning that track, so I'm not as consistent on it.
 
First I tune my car at Monza to get an idea of top speed, high speed stability & braking capability. Then when I have it set up for Monza I take it to Tsukuba to fine tune it for any understeer it might have on low speed corners. After that's all set up I take it back to Monza one more time to see if I can beat my previous lap time when I started.

When it comes to the Nurbring I find that for me I need a set up specifically for the ring. That set up that is stable at the the ring might not be stable for other tracks. There is so many hills and bumps and corners that you have to sacrifice some handling for better stability. It's a compromise. My set ups for the ring normally utilize soft springs, soft dampers, semi-low ride height, and stiff anti-roll bars.
 
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Mini Stiggy
I (and the people I race with) have found that if you use a Bathurst setup on any other track, it will understeer a lot. That why I don't use it for testing.
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I only took my '13 Focus ST that was tuned at Bathurst for a run in the National Championship in A level yesterday & found the same conclusion as you: understeer :irked:
Naturally it was fine at the Bathurst round but a bit lazy in the front-end at the other tracks, especially round 2 at Apricot Hill.
 
Ascari seemed to have alot of grip, this meant cars that seemed 'sorted' after being setup there would fall apart on other tracks. Shame, Ascari is a great driving track, but wouldn't use it as out and out setup track.

Trial Mountain was always a great test of a setup, if a car turned well, was stable and tyres were good, then you knew the setup was well sorted - only needing minor tweaks rather than a complete overhaul to cater for other needs (required at other tracks).
 
TGR_Kefran
Ascari for me for everithing above 500pp, mainly for three reasons:

1/ It's a test track !
2/ It combines a lot of different curves
3/ It requires a good stability, especially in the last section so any car stable enough for Ascari will be stable enough for other tracks in the game.

I think the third point is important. I previously used Nurb GP and sometimes Silverstone and had troubles bringing cars tuned there to less "flat" tracks.

I test on Autumn ring for 400pp and 450pp cars... for less scientific reasons. It is just because it is a cool track to drive with those cars.
Click to expand...

I just spent some time on Ascari for the first time, and agree with everything in Kefran's post. They threw everything imaginable in Ascari, so you'll want to spend some time learning it, but once you do, it should make for a great test track.
 
Laguna Seca. Its my favorite track and I know it very well, therefore I am very consistent there.
Also use Tsukaba, Grand Valley and Spa from time to time.
 
I personally use Ascari, I remember from what I think was a Top Gear episode, they said it had a range of famous corners thrown into it as well as some high speed sections letting you test out everything you'd need for tweaking your motors! :D
 

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