The problem I had with understanding damper behaviour was to confuse the stiffness of the suspension (controlled by the springs) with the effect of the dampers which control the rate at which the springs compress/decompress. When tuning dampers you should always be thinking in terms of weight transfer.
Dampers control the rate of weight transfer in an accelerating/deccelerating car. For example, a braking car wants to pitch its weight forwards, onto the front springs. The rate at which it is allowed to do this is controlled by the front damper bound (FB) and rear damper rebound (RR). If a fast FB setting is used the car will be allowed to pitch it's weight forwards more rapidly under breaking ie. there is more weight on the front springs than the rear. If all springs are equally stiff this will mean that the front tyres have more grip than the rear tyres, causing the back end of the car to swing out (oversteer/unstable/drift). A fast RR setting must also be used to allow the car to rapidly take it's weight off of the rear springs and transfer it to the front. On the other hand, if you use slow dampers the weight will not transfer to the front as quickly under breaking and the weight will be more evenly distributed between front & rear springs/tyres, stabilising the car (understeer/stable/racing).
Looking at the opposite behaviour, an accelerating car tries to pitch its weight rearwards, onto the rear springs. The rate at which it is allowed to do this is controlled by the rear damper bound (RB) and front damper rebound (FR). In this case using fast settings the weight is transfered quickly to the rear springs/tyres and the rear has more grip than the front, giving stable turning (understeer). Fast settings mean more grip at the front than the rear (oversteer).
I believe that a high numerical setting in GT3 will produce rapid damper behaviour in the bound stroke, but slow movement in the rebound stroke. I will do some testing and post again to confirm - there seems to be considerable confusion on this point, especially since the in-game advice is misleading/incorrect. I assume that the physics engine of the game is sound and that it is therefore possible to extract fast rebound from the dampers in some way (which may or may not mean higher numerical settings).
I anyone else wants to try this out i suggest testing a car with very soft springs, a high ride height and a lot of power. Use rapid braking and accelerating and watch the movement of the car body during replays (forwards/rearwards pitch).
Dampers control the rate of weight transfer in an accelerating/deccelerating car. For example, a braking car wants to pitch its weight forwards, onto the front springs. The rate at which it is allowed to do this is controlled by the front damper bound (FB) and rear damper rebound (RR). If a fast FB setting is used the car will be allowed to pitch it's weight forwards more rapidly under breaking ie. there is more weight on the front springs than the rear. If all springs are equally stiff this will mean that the front tyres have more grip than the rear tyres, causing the back end of the car to swing out (oversteer/unstable/drift). A fast RR setting must also be used to allow the car to rapidly take it's weight off of the rear springs and transfer it to the front. On the other hand, if you use slow dampers the weight will not transfer to the front as quickly under breaking and the weight will be more evenly distributed between front & rear springs/tyres, stabilising the car (understeer/stable/racing).
Looking at the opposite behaviour, an accelerating car tries to pitch its weight rearwards, onto the rear springs. The rate at which it is allowed to do this is controlled by the rear damper bound (RB) and front damper rebound (FR). In this case using fast settings the weight is transfered quickly to the rear springs/tyres and the rear has more grip than the front, giving stable turning (understeer). Fast settings mean more grip at the front than the rear (oversteer).
I believe that a high numerical setting in GT3 will produce rapid damper behaviour in the bound stroke, but slow movement in the rebound stroke. I will do some testing and post again to confirm - there seems to be considerable confusion on this point, especially since the in-game advice is misleading/incorrect. I assume that the physics engine of the game is sound and that it is therefore possible to extract fast rebound from the dampers in some way (which may or may not mean higher numerical settings).
I anyone else wants to try this out i suggest testing a car with very soft springs, a high ride height and a lot of power. Use rapid braking and accelerating and watch the movement of the car body during replays (forwards/rearwards pitch).