Let me guess... you own a G27 or other low torque wheel? Cause indeed the steering rack based FFB in the game with linear tyre forces (Fxyz and Mz) isn't suited for that, but it's perfect for the higher torque wheels.
Personally I just use the default settings and I am completely happy with it, but that's with a CSWv2. The only dislike I have are that the tyres are too soft, so I always jack up tyre pressures by at least 0.2 bar all-around every time (for radial tyres at least). This for me improves road surface feedback as well as removes any death wiggles and tank slappers. This because it increases sidewall strength, which acts like a rubberband. If that rubberband gets tensioned to far it tends to snap back and throw the weight back and forth to the tyre on the opposite side.
So the best thing to do is have a rigid tyre that still is able to reduce initial bump impacts but transfers most through to springs and shocks.
Some cars have suspension settings that try to compensate tyres that have weak sidewalls. So the too stiff suspension (often stiff dampers) can cause a reduction in grip when just increasing tyre pressure a bit, because the tyre can't follow the contours of the road well.
The stiffer the tyre is though, the more critical the right suspension settings become. So it's always a balancing act between tyre pressures, damper rates and spring rates to get the most grip on a certain track. One thing is for certain and that is that you don't want any sudden weight transfer to end your race too early.
An example from real life:
0:15 - BMW (black): low tyre pressure. Results in no road feedback in the wheel, making it hard to judge entry speed. He's going to fast and the honking tyre noise comes from the sidewalls. The low tyre walls and the car pushing towards the outside corner causes the sidewalls to 'buckle'. Meaning he is driving on his sidewalls, which aren't meant for grip and the noise should be a warning. He should have let off on the throttle pedal, instead he gets tank slapper as the sidewalls spring the weight back to center (as I said... they are like rubber bands). It looks like the grass and loss of grip is the cause, but the loss of grip only causes the tyres to be relieved of pressure and they pop back into shape.
0:45 - Ford: Too high front tyre pressure for the camber angle used, plus too high entry speed. I think this result is obvious. Too much camber gives a reduced contact patch during cornering, too high pressure for the angle further reduces the patch size. If your entry is too fast than all is lost. Only way he could have recovered is if he disengaged the clutch so the car is free rolling and nipping the brake pedal to reduce speed. This because with free rolling you free up the remaining tyre performance that was used up by the engine torque on the front wheels, than you can use that little freed up performance to nibble away some speed with the brake.
In this case the driver just fully braked as he got scared and off he went.
1:10 - Mazda MX5: Setup is too oversteer centric. The rear of the car probably has a too stiff ARB that prevents roll and independent working of the rear suspension. Which means that he simply used traction at the rear.
1:25 - BMW (grey): Again low tyre pressure at the front, but higher than the black BMW from earlier. If you look closely the car doesn't loose control as he hits the grass, but it takes a while again. Just enough time for the tyre to spring back. You can even see the front left tyre bump and compress the suspension as it happens. Also the guy might be helped with a stronger front ARB.
1:40 - Monster Seat Leon: Can't see what happens here, so won't judge.
2:00 - Nissan Skyline R34: This car is setup well and responds well. The driver just loses it on the grass when he hits a bump, which simply throws the weight of this heavy car around a bit too much, especially since he keeps using full throttle like an idiot.
2:20 - Subaru? (blue): The owner installed a lower kit without new dampers. This causes the extreme wobble noticible as he comes to a halt. He didn't use the wrong tyre pressures, but he just overcooked it. As he hit the grass the dampers couldn't dampen the impact and well... wibble wobble.
2:50 - TVR: Just overcooks it... nuff said. It is interesting to see how much grip front tyres have but that the rear tyres refuse to follow at this speed. As Jacky Stewart once said, you need to treat a car like a horse. Basically the smoother you are with it and the more you simply ease a car into a corner, the better it will respond. If you suddenly have to corner the car isn't prepared to react and you get what happens to this guy.
3:20 - Audi: Why can't the expensive Audi follow the Citroen Saxo? Too much rear camber if you look closely. The Saxo has zero or near zero camber. Also the Audi has a slightly higher entry speed (5-10 kph higher) which worsens his situation. He also seems to be an unexperienced driver, because in the way he corrects the car it shows that he's in shock and just correcting the car on feel of where the weight transfers to in the car. Hence you see him steer left and right.
3:40 - Opel Kadett C (red): This is properly a case of the wrong rake on the car. The car has an equal front and rear right height, which has zero degree rake (or height difference). Due to the fact that a drift car hangs a lot in its rear suspension, and that this suspension compresses, the car's rake changes to a rearward rake. Which also means all weight hangs in the rear suspension instead of having that ideal 50/50 distribution. The front just loses momentum due to lack of weight moving it along, and the rear rotates around it. If the owner lowers the front a bit he can probably make that angle work with that speed and length.
3:55 - BMW stationwagon: No clue what the heck happened here, but the driver in the Silvia was frightened for sure. Nice car control from the Silvia with a nice 360.
4:12 - Nissan (grey): Driver drift error.
4:40 - BMW: Nibbled the grass while trying to drift. Ooops!
4:55 - Nissan Silvia: Nibble nibble
5:05 - Nissan: Overcooked it.
till 6:30 - drift cars: Driver errors causing a dirty track in the end with a double spin-out as a result.
6:40 - Mini: Just overcooked it.
6:50 - BMW (grey purple rim): Too low tyre pressure causes the driver to
think he has more grip. He goes into a corner with too much speed and ends up in a drift during a non-drift event. Later this will cause another bigger issue as talked about earlier.
7:10 - Ford: This guy has tyres with a high sidewall, but with low tyre pressure. He doesn't hang in his suspension as you'll see that the suspension doesn't decompress much on corner exit (look at the rim-fender gaps). Again like the BMW guy he still
thinks he has enough grip, but in fact his sidewall has buckled already and he is running over the tyre's limit. The result is obvious.
7:22 - BMW (grey puple rim again): This guy is the local hero it seems. Throws the car into the corner, but as you'll see at exit the car wobbles on the tyres. This death wobble can sometimes cause a spin-out or in certain situations it can give you a tank slapper. In the end, this is not a stable car for driving at the limit or do consecutive drifts with.
7:50 - Guessing a red Nissan: Death wobbly, low tyre pressures. Nicely setup car otherwise.
8:10 - Same car: The end... higher entry speed, the full weight is basically on one tyre and bye bye. He simply overcooked it.
End - White MX5 and Silver Scoobie: Both have a little too low tyre pressure. They hang fully into their tyres and they are nice and stable rides looking at how they react through the corner. However, they overestimate the tyre performance and again
think that these low tyre pressure are creating more grip. As a result they corner too fast. The MX5 could have made it by reducing throttle, but the scoobie goes in far too hot and he even has a tank slapper as a parting gift.
Ah sorry, I like to analyze crashes like these. It is for me a chance to learn about car setup and especially on how I can identify errors in my car's setup in real life or in-game.
In real life i've only been experimenting with tyre pressures. My car original came with old type Michelin Pilot Sport in 1999, but I now (anno 2015) only have Michelin Energy Savers under it. I found that the sidewalls were too soft and with the recommended tyre pressure of 2.2 bar (normal load) and 2.4 bar (full load) all-around the bead of the tyre would part from the rim during cornering, especially round-a-bouts.
These days I run 2.6 bar normal and 2.8 bar at full-load. I put in 2.8 bar by default now because of transporting a kid and all the other stuff now. So the car is loaded more than normal (which is 1 driver + 1 passenger max). So it's quite a difference from the pressures my manufacturer gave 15 years ago. Tyres have evolved, but those recommendations were only made at that moment for the manufacturer's OEM tyre.
In the end with all this jibba jabba (always wanted to say that once) I just wanted to say that both in game and in real life tyre pressures matter, and that these settings can be more than just a simple increase or decrease of grip. It effects weight transfer, communication through the wheel and it even can effect you as a driver into thinking you've got more grip than you actually have.
So experiment a little with tyre pressures and don't be too afraid to try some settings in real life, especially in dry conditions. Just be sure to drive safe in real life and don't look for the limits of your car in the same way those drivers in the youtube video did. Trees and ditches are closer to the public roads than those tyre walls after all.
/rant
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