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About Me
I got into GT with GT5. At that point I knew very little about cars and racing. I remember stepping foot into the Ford GT40 in GT5, putting my foot on the gas and having the car spin in a circle. I thought wooooow. I tried it again and again it spun in circles. Certainly I felt pretty embarrased by the whole episode. So I went back to the more manageable cars an began to learn to drive. Finally I was able to get into the more powerful cars having learned throttle control and cornering. Yet, I was still getting my butt beat on the track. In addition there were a lot of cars I just could not handle. RUF BTR & Yellow Bird, Amuse S2000 GT1 Turbo just to name a few. Why? They needed to be tuned. My tuning in GT5 was vitrually non-existent and no I didn't use anyone elses tunes either. I spent a lot of time in arcade mode competing against the AI. My favorite thing to do was once I found a new car that I liked I'd race against the AI at Nurburgring 24hr or La Sarthe.
Then came GT6. With 6 I decided I was going to accomplish two goals 1) more competitive racing and 2) be able to drive the cars that have difficult handling out of the box. That means tuning. Once I started I found I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of it. The learning about it which I am still doing and probably will for a very long time. I've also discovered it can be very frustrating as well. To get the car inside the ballpark of excellent handling only to struggle to fine tune it. That feels a lot like this:
. However, to finally get a tune right is very 
!!!MY Tuning Philosophy
My philosophy will probably evolve over time as I learn more and become more adept. Currently I subscribe to Natural Performance point. I want to keep the car as close to it's "stock" state as possible. Yes, most street cars are in need of customizable suspension, LSD and tranny to be tuned for handling and speed. However, I don't want to change a cars power, weight and PP if at all possible. I want the finished product to be as close to stock as possible including the PP. I just want the car as fast or faster then someone using driving aids with great handling. Unless I'm doing a seasonal tune with a car I'm most likely not going to use again then I will do an oil change every time. After the oil change if the cars PP is 517 I would tune it to 525. If it's 555 I will tune it to 550 as long as I don't have to reduce power below 100%. If I can just add balast or swap out a part to get to the lower number I will. If I can't get there without going below 100% then I'll go up to the next multiple of 25. In this case it would be 575.
The End Game is to have a "stable" of quality tuned cars in PPs from 300-700 for online racing. If I jump into a room and the PP is 525 then I want to have 4 or 5 cars already tuned to 525 that I can choose. Cars that will be competitive.
Now, I've learned alot by reading a ton published by this guy: Motor City Hami. He seems to have done a ton of testing on various aspects of tuning. He's developed a methodology that is hard to argue with for the most part. His strategies have a solid foundation and I am seriously considering switching to his style. However, I do plan to compare. I want to see if what I'm doing is competitive with his methods. If they are not then I'll be using a lot more of what Hami does because I will have proven it works significantly better than what I'm doing. Though it's going to be hard for me to get away from wanting to keep a car as close to it's natural state as possible. I don't want to turn a Lambo Diablo into an Aston Martin Vantage. I want to somehow maintain the essence of the car. If it's a fat pig I want it to feel like it's a fat pig as I'm driving around the RING clean. If it's got lightening acceleration I want to "feel" that as well. Gran Turismo is mostly about the cars. Every indication is that racing is a secondary aspect of the game. The game is about experiencing the cars in their natural state. Here is a prime example. The first time I drove the Ferrari 458 Italia my reaction was Wooowwww amazing! It was a heady, giddy experience. Then I saw the video from Top Gear. Jeremy, I think that's his name had the exact same reaction and the car behaved on Top gear exactly like it did in the game. I don't want that to change with a tune.
Tuning Strategy:
Since I've stated tuning, I've definitely learned a thing or two.
The cars I select to tune are primarily for racing online. Although every now and then I'll come across a car that I want to do something different with. The VW Bettle for example is a car that I just want to load with power and see what it does.
After selecting a car to tune these are the first things I'll do with it:
Look See Phase
This is wanting to get a feel for the car. To see what it can do prior to tuning. Gives me a performance baseline.
1) Drive the car on any track online just to get a feel for her. If you are planning to race online then you have to tune online. The experience of driving the RUF Yellow Bird in both environments really brought out the difference between them. In arcade the Yellow Bird was not nearly as difficult to handle as it was online. Going around the long turn two at Nurburgring GP/F track in online the loss of traction was much more significant then it was in arcade.
2) Do an Oil Change.
3) Add or subtract necessary parts to get it to the desired PP. Keeping in mind I want to maintain 100% power.
4) Add a customizable transmission. Do a transmisison tune using the Praiano method. This is going to be faster then leaving the transmission stock.
5) Drive the car online using SRF & traction control set to 5 (default). I learned during a seasonal that using SRF & traction control will actually yield lap times that are going to be just as fast or faster than a tuned car provided the handling is somewhat decentr. This will give me a another baseline to shoot for or to get beyond.
The Tune
1. Of course I remove SFR & traction control and take the car out to Nurburgring GP/F track. I'll put the customizable suspension & LSD on it. I use this particular track because I feel it has just about most things we'll see on any track.
- From the starting line it's a high speed straight where you can just get into 5th gear before turn 1.
- Turn 1: Slopes downhill and is angled to the right. The first place you'll get lateral weight shift.
- Turn 2: Constant velocity 235 degree left hander going downhill a great place to spin those outside wheels.
- Turn 3: about 115 degree left hander constant velocity heading to a right hand S where it's difficult to get back up to speed without overshooting the track. Between 3 & 4 most cars want to spin.
- Turn 4: tight low speed right hander. This will tell you how tight your car is if it can't make the opposite rumble strip. Short 3rd/4th gear straight into 5.
- Turn 5: 110 degree lefthander. Just like the other turns you'll know for sure if you have loss of grip. It's down hill 2nd/3rd gear
- Turn 6: 80-90 degree right hander down a bumpy hill that will test your camber and toe. Its 1st/2nd gear and very tight it you want to get a accel heading to a long straight. Goes uphill.
- Turn 7: comes at the end of a 4th/5th gear straight. It's 180 deg 1st/2nd gear going to a 3rd/4th gear uphill turn. It starts the trek back uphill.
Turn 8&9: the famous Shumacker S. This turn takes some learning. GT5 had a test on it. If your camber or toe are off you will definitely know it going through here. If you car is too stiff/loose in the hips or your springs/dampers are too hard you'll know it. Its uphill. Tap the breaks just before you throw the wheel over, then power through the turn. 5th/6th gear before the next turn.
Turn 10: 110 degrees back down hill. It's a somewhat tight 2nd/3rd gear. Another good test of our overall suspension & LSD. Angled and down hill.
Turn 11: short, tight righty. Goes back uphill. Just about identical to turn 6. Leads to a long 5th/6th gear straight uphill.
Turn 12: High speed soft right. About 25-35 degrees. If camber/toe is off it'll want to slide into the grass on the left.
Turn 13/14: A left/right very tight S 1st/2nd gear. Just about have to be perfectly tuned to get through here without hitting either of the rumbles. If you are you'll make some seconds.
Turn 15: Right hander about 100 degrees. Defintely a place where understeer/oversteer on decel will show up. Long straight leads back to starting line.
2. I had been going low with ride height next. However, going to start using Motor Cities technique. Which is to see how far a split he can get then going low until the effects are negative.
3. Brakes. The first turn being downhill on an angle will test your brakes and balance. If I don't need to add racing brakes I won't.
4. Next it really depends on what's happening with the car. Most likely it'll be an increase in the roll bars. Followed closely by adjustments to the LSD until I can eliminate or significantly reduce wheel spin and get the car handling reasonably well. I've found most cars roll too much. By taking out some of the roll you get a reasonble handling car just about right off the bat. However, in addition to R
Finally for fine tuning I will carry it onto the Nordschleife. If I can "push" the car (drive it hard) there with a clean, fast laps then the car is ready.
I look forward to providing well tuned cars for you to use!
Sincerely,
Eddie
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