BY MOTOR CITY HAMI
This guide is for people who get the most amount of fun in GT5 from the driving, not tuning. There are a million other guides out there that try to explain every tuning option and what it does, but few that are simple enough for the average Joe who just wants to drive. I hope that this is a helpful guide for throwing a quick tune on a car and getting to the driving fun. You can obviously fine tune beyond my recommendations here (as I do on cars that I plan to use often), but not everyone is into that level of tuning effort. I don’t’ claim to have the fastest tunes around, but I can, very quickly, get rid of the push that all cars in the GT series seem to have. In A-Spec, I normally buy a car, change the oil, add sports soft tires, full suspension, a limited slip differential and then go racing. That’s it. I am now racing in the upper levels of A-spec and entering races with 100 hp less than the AI cars, just to make it more of a challenge. In short, my simple tuning starting point has been working very well for me. I just thought that I would share.
Below is my method for “quick tuning” that seems to improve nearly all cars in GT. You will see the setups that I use, by vehicle type (FF, FR, MR, 4wd) as my starting point. If I only plan to use the car for one or two events, I don’t spend any more time than this on that car. Only my special cars receive any more tuning attention from me.
Before I get to the tunes, you need to know a bit of information about Limited Slip Differentials in the game. For some reason in GT5, the LSD rules. It acts like a “super tune” and seems to over ride all other adjustments. Have you ever built a car and tuned it for max front grip (softest springs, softest sway bar, soft tires, lower ride height, toe out, good camber) and least rear grip (heaviest springs, heaviest sway bar, hard tires, higher ride height, max rear tow out, zero camber) and the car still pushed? I find this really frustrating. Although the game has tuning tips built in that claim these adjustments offer more front or rear grip, often, very little happens, even with very aggressive changes. How can I max out the settings and still have a car push?
Add the LSD and this all changes. A properly set up LSD will make the rest of the tuning adjustments come to life. There are three LSD settings; initial torque, acceleration sensitivity and braking sensitivity. If you truly are one of those people who just want to drive, read the next sentence then go back to playing the game. I start every car at 10 Initial, 25 accel and 15 decel, then fine tune the LSD from there.
If you want to go a little deeper on tuning, read on. Let’s go into a little more detail. Take your car to the track with these initial settings. Run two laps and pay attention to the car’s attitude entering the corner, coasting through the middle of long corners and exiting corners. Does the car spin the inside tire on corner exit? Is it squirrely in the braking zone or does it try to spin out on turn in? Does it push on entry and you can’t get down to the apex? Does it push on exit when you get back to the gas or does it try to spin out at that point? Take that knowledge read on.
Fine tuning initial torque: Initial torque determines how much work the LSD will do. I find that cranking this number way up tends to make cars push more. If you are smoking one of the two drive tires while exiting corners, increase this number. If not, leave it alone at the default 10. Here is where I tend to end up if I am fine tuning. FF cars under 400 hp set at 8. Most cars under 800 hp set at 10. Cars over 800 hp set at 15. I never set this higher than 15. As stated, most of my cars are at 10 because I believe that LSD accel and decel have a larger affect on overall handling.
Fine tuning braking sensitivity: This number affects the car anytime you are off throttle; braking zone down to apex and coasting through a corner. If the car is really loose in the braking zone or tries to spin out on turn in, raise the braking sensitivity number. If the car pushes on entry and you cannot get down to the apex, lower the number. I tend to make changes 5 increments at a time, then go back to the track for two laps.
Fine tuning acceleration sensitivity: Accel affects the car anytime you are on throttle; primarily apex through corner exit. If your car pushes when you get back on the gas, lower the accel number. If the car tries to spin out while on the gas on exit, raise this number. Again, I tend to make changes 5 increments at a time, then go back to the track for two laps.
That’s it. I can improve a car with my standard 10, 25, 15 setting and can fine tune a car in 15 min, two laps at a time. Getting the LSD right will make the other suspension adjustments all work as the game says they should work. Below are my suspension setting starting points by vehicle type. There is really no need for me to explain fine tuning of the suspension because 20 or so other tuners have done a great job explaining how these should work. I hope this was helpful.
FF Cars
Initial Torque 8
Acceleration 15
Braking 12
Ride Height: front -10, rear -10
Springs: front 8, rear 12
Damper extend: front 4, rear 6 (relative to the spring rate)
Damper compress: front 2, rear 5 (relative to the spring rate)
Anti-roll Bars: front 3, rear 5
Camber: front 2.5, rear 2.0
Toe: front -0.25, rear -0.25
FR Cars
Initial Torque 10
Acceleration 25
Braking 15
Ride Height: front -10, rear -10
Springs: front 12.5, rear 10
Damper extend: front 7, rear 5 (relative to the spring rate)
Damper compress: front 5, rear 4 (relative to the spring rate)
Anti-roll Bars: front 5, rear 3
Camber: front 2.5, rear 2.0
Toe: front -0.25, rear +0.20
MR Cars
Initial Torque 10
Acceleration 25
Braking 15
Ride Height: front -10, rear -10
Springs: front 12.5, rear 12
Damper extend: front 7, rear 6 (relative to the spring rate)
Damper compress: front 5, rear 5 (relative to the spring rate)
Anti-roll Bars: front 5, rear 4
Camber: front 2.5, rear 2.0
Toe: front -0.25, rear +0.20
4wd Cars
Electronic sensing center diff 30 front and 70 rear
Initial Torque 10 both front and rear
Acceleration 25 both front and rear
Braking 15 both front and rear
Ride Height: front -10, rear -10
Springs: front 12.5, rear 12.5
Damper extend: front 7, rear 6 (relative to the spring rate)
Damper compress: front 5, rear 5 (relative to the spring rate)
Anti-roll Bars: front 5, rear 4
Camber: front 2.5, rear 2.0
Toe: front -0.25, rear +0.20
OR SEE IF YOU CAR IS IN THIS DATABASE
http://www.gt5-tuning.com/index.php?title=Category:Models
