Fishtailing
- Thread starter MasterGT
- 4 comments
- 3,094 views
- 285
- Oxfordshire
- Bread_45
In my experience, depends on the car. Some of the American muscle cars I used on the 1/4 mile drag mission fishtailed like hell off the line - and this is with the steering dead centre, which to me means either the track surface has imperfections modelled and/or torque steer is modelled.
In general use on a normal track, it means you have power oversteer (FR or MR car) coming out of a corner but then also the fishtail oscillations. The oscillations occur because the driver is trying to correct but ends up being out of phase with the car and overcorrecting.
The way to tune out the oscillations could be either to make the suspension and/or dampers stiffer, or softer. It depends on the driver. If the driver feels he's getting no reaction to his inputs, then there's a delayed blobby reaction and the car swings, then you need to stiffen. If the car feels very twitchy and any correction snaps at you instantly then it's too stiff, stiffness can also make using the kerbs unsettling. Very stiff cars can start to slide but show no body roll which is hard to interpret through a TV screen - in real life you'd feel the side of the seat pressing into you. Front toe can be part of this since it changes steering sensitivity feeling.
You can also try general oversteer reduction methods to prevent the fishtail from starting. So softer rear springs or bar, fiddle with dampers (complicated), rear toe in, Lower LSD Accel, and/or keep the LSD Initial Torque value close to the Accel value. A bigger IT/Accel split makes a difference between on and off throttle which can feel "on/off" or "snappy".
One thing that has helped me is driving style, it varies between cars but: when she starts to lose the back end, don't always lift off the gas and countersteer (my first instinctive reaction) - it can be too much and send you into a flick drift the other way. So maybe countersteer but keep the throttle where it is, or hold the steering steady and gradually release the throttle just a little bit.
Out of interest what car did you have fishtailing? Was it very high power? Turbo?
In general use on a normal track, it means you have power oversteer (FR or MR car) coming out of a corner but then also the fishtail oscillations. The oscillations occur because the driver is trying to correct but ends up being out of phase with the car and overcorrecting.
The way to tune out the oscillations could be either to make the suspension and/or dampers stiffer, or softer. It depends on the driver. If the driver feels he's getting no reaction to his inputs, then there's a delayed blobby reaction and the car swings, then you need to stiffen. If the car feels very twitchy and any correction snaps at you instantly then it's too stiff, stiffness can also make using the kerbs unsettling. Very stiff cars can start to slide but show no body roll which is hard to interpret through a TV screen - in real life you'd feel the side of the seat pressing into you. Front toe can be part of this since it changes steering sensitivity feeling.
You can also try general oversteer reduction methods to prevent the fishtail from starting. So softer rear springs or bar, fiddle with dampers (complicated), rear toe in, Lower LSD Accel, and/or keep the LSD Initial Torque value close to the Accel value. A bigger IT/Accel split makes a difference between on and off throttle which can feel "on/off" or "snappy".
One thing that has helped me is driving style, it varies between cars but: when she starts to lose the back end, don't always lift off the gas and countersteer (my first instinctive reaction) - it can be too much and send you into a flick drift the other way. So maybe countersteer but keep the throttle where it is, or hold the steering steady and gradually release the throttle just a little bit.
Out of interest what car did you have fishtailing? Was it very high power? Turbo?
- 1,987
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- MastrGT
Thanks for your useful feedback. You gave me some ideas to work on.
The car, the Sprinter Trueno S.Shigano, still has problems, but I have improved it, a bit.
The car, the Sprinter Trueno S.Shigano, still has problems, but I have improved it, a bit.
Last edited:
- 285
- Oxfordshire
- Bread_45
I don't yet have that car in GT7, but from vague memory in previous GT games there were a few cars (the Shigeno 86, Caterham Seven, and Isuzu Bellett GTR I think) which could sometimes be helped by running relatively medium springs and then a large front bar with minimum rear bar (so in GT7 terms something like NatFreq 1.8/1.8, ARB 6/1 on SH tyres). Sometimes even softer rear springs too. These cars are all very light for road cars (the Caterham is practically a shopping trolley with an engine!), which may have had something to do with it.
The ARB disparity should make the car understeer horribly unless you mash the gas to slip the rears, but these cars remained relatively OK even at light or no throttle and could still be throttle steered very nicely, which I guess is fitting for that particular 86. Of course, the new physics in GT7 may not like the same settings, but it could be worth a try.
The ARB disparity should make the car understeer horribly unless you mash the gas to slip the rears, but these cars remained relatively OK even at light or no throttle and could still be throttle steered very nicely, which I guess is fitting for that particular 86. Of course, the new physics in GT7 may not like the same settings, but it could be worth a try.
- 1,987
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- MastrGT
Yes, you name some good ideas, bread82. We did some adjustments, including a stiffer front ARB, after the first race that helped to improve handling. My rear was already at 1.
My car could still lose the rear end on sweepers, and it snapped quite a bit, too, so there is more work to do. Thanks.
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