What is the best track to test cars?

  • Thread starter yoman297
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Tsukuba in case time is precious
Nordschleife or Nürburgring V layout for a thorough test (after all it was build up as a track which tests all different situations you can get in. You gotta need to know the track though..)
 
I use the top gear test track
Its a short and demanding track with alot of different kinds of corners that provoke under/oversteer and you can use the runway to see its top speed
 
JEMcG
The Ring. Obviously.
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This^^

There's a saying that goes like this: if a car is good on the Ring, it's good everywhere.

This track really has it all. Long straights, some very fast corners, difficult cambers, crests, heavy braking zones, uphills, downhills, blind corners, tight hairpins, a very fast and tricky compression. It even has a couple jumps.

It's the perfect place to hone your suspension, gear ratios, differentials, and aerodynamic balance.

That being said, every track has it's own ideal-setup.

But the Nordschleife is the perfect place to tune a car for a good allround setup.
AND you can experiment with wet setups aswell.
 
StefanBellof
This^^

There's a saying that goes like this: if a car is good on the Ring, it's good everywhere.

This track really has it all. Long straights, some very fast corners, difficult cambers, crests, heavy braking zones, uphills, downhills, blind corners, tight hairpins, a very fast and tricky compression. It even has a couple jumps.

It's the perfect place to hone your suspension, gear ratios, differentials, and aerodynamic balance.

That being said, every track has it's own ideal-setup.
Click to expand...

Not really.

The Nordschleife is far too bumpy for any modern track and far too much time can be won through sheer speed. On the Nordschleife you usually want to rise the suspension to allow for enough travel, and run a softer setup alltogether. Downforce is mainly for Straight-line stability and camber compromises your braking efficiency. Tampering with the LSD will give you traction, sure, but maximum force will be reduced, too.

Don't believe the marketing Nordschleife hype ;)
 
i find that the ring is the best...and its great fun! but i find that i alter the gear ratios to better drive outta the corners, but on other tracks, youd need more speed rather than acceleration...but its good for the suspension!
 
Dont agree with the guy who said tokyo, great track but very smooth surface. Good corners though and awesome straight into the 90 right :)
 
berty1979
Dont agree with the guy who said tokyo, great track but very smooth surface. Good corners though and awesome straight into the 90 right :)
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You know I totally forgot the Tokyo track. The corners in the second half have a very good flow to them though!
 
I made a TT on course maker and I use Nurburgring and Laguna Seca for most if not all my testing. Sometimes I use Monaco if I remember (the grand hotel hairpin is a real treat for breaking and handling issues ((my opinion)
 
Bomb the ring!! :P
I love fuji f due to long straight tight slow and fasr corners and fast corners.

But really, wherever you feel most comfortable. For example (braces for flaming) i hate the ring. I cant get a rythm because it is too long and i have the same problem remembering it :P so i use fuji and trial mountain etc, places i like and can run similar lap times consitently. Otherwise a comparison of set ups will easily be flawed :P

Or just do what i do, learn the ride heights and cambers for a car that works and then just use that everywhere :P works a charm
 
hawkeye122
Mid-field raceway, Long straights, varied corners... Oh wait....

I use Trial Mountain or... The Top Gear Test Track.
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MAN I MISS THAT TRACK!! BRING IT BACK PD!

I use Deep Forest Raceway for my testing since MR is sadly missing.... :grumpy:
 
I like laguna, get the car quick tuned so its good enough there and its good enough at any other track it seems...just change your tranny top speed.

The tune wont be good enough tho at Nurburgring but its a good starting point for tuning at Nurburgring I think.

Suppose it all depends on how finely tuned you want your cars and how much time you want to spend doing it.

I was very suprised how well my Dodge Ram truck I tuned in specifically at Cape Ring North for a seasonal TT and placed 9th handle at Nurburgring. I thought it would suck. Being on comfort soft tires...I assumed it would be a huge wreckfest but it was awesome. I just adjusted 6th to be as high a gear as possible and all of Nurburgring felt as flat as a pancake. Super smooth brand new pavement feel. I still have no clue why. lol
 
ItsHim
Not really.

The Nordschleife is far too bumpy for any modern track and far too much time can be won through sheer speed. On the Nordschleife you usually want to rise the suspension to allow for enough travel, and run a softer setup alltogether. Downforce is mainly for Straight-line stability and camber compromises your braking efficiency. Tampering with the LSD will give you traction, sure, but maximum force will be reduced, too.

Don't believe the marketing Nordschleife hype ;)
Click to expand...

Wow.

I guess all the major performance car manufacturers has fallen for that hype aswell.
Better call Walter Röhrl and tell him he's been wrong all along huh?
 
^^Exactly^^ Whats he on about?

The Nurburgring and deep forest for me.

The Ring for obvious reasons and Deep Forest because it has a nice mix of corners. The last corner is the real test though. If you can take it with little or no braking, you're on to a winner.
 
The ring is the obvious choice but I'd say laguna seca, or tsakuba (I know I know) for smaller cars... It's quick and easy to judge. Anything under a minute is good, anything under :55 is awesome. Fastest time I have so far is :51.xxx in the Audi r8 LM racecar.
 
My personal is Grand Valley full. It has lots of terrain changes as well as tight curves and a fairly long straight. I use Trial Mountain for short track testing. I do agree with most that Nurburgring is a good track for testing suspension because of the types of turns but as I said IMHO Grand Valley is the best all around track for set-up for any track.
 
Hai-123
I'd love to see Apricot Hill in GT5 again, it was my testing course before. Somehow I was addicted to it since GT2, loved the 200km endurance race there.

As it is not in the game, I use Grand Valley and sometimes Trial mountain. If I'm happy with the car there, I take it to the ring for a few laps as a final test
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I also really liked Red Rock Valley. Great course for testing, IMO. Short course, long straight, lots of high speed corners, and that one really slick corner that was really useful for fine-tuning the suspension settings.

GT2 had a lot of great tracks; I wish they were all in GT5
 
"test" cars?

I currently try to drive all my cars especially new additions. I was pondering what are you favourite tracks to use for this purpose?

I would like to add I've just started driving "properly" with limited aids (abs only mostly) and manual so I'm not that good
 
I like Tsukuba, but it's a special track so it's not the best track to tune a car. However when I want to test a car for the first time I go there because I know the track like the back of my hand.
 
Mh. I Test my Cars on German Tracks. For example Hockenheim or Nurnburgring.

Hockenheim because i drived on it in Real Life and know the Track well :)
Sadly GT hasn't the Track :(

Nurnburgring because it has everything and its difficult to Drive.

Hope i helped a little Bit and my english wasn't Bad :P
 
Thanks for the response and sorry for not searching however I wanted to add the fact of my newly made poor driving credentials.

I think I'll try trial mountain for a bit, then possibly nurburgring only problem is its length and I think I would make too many mistakes to gauge the car.
 

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