To me, it seems like the tuned set-ups feel completely unrealistic & if you follow a tuned car around the track its movements look unconvincing.
Not sure if it looks unrealistic, but it sure looks very ugly, all cars with their bottom's up đź‘Ž
I don't see it as a war at all. It's just a normal discussion. Anyone can disagree with anything that anybody says! We both agree that car setups are good in general, but not for SCC, until at least they fix the ride height problem.
But the only point I can't agree with is that using car setups makes the field closer. Like I said previously, all of the default setups are soft ones, and most people would agree that the softer settings are the easiest ("most comfortable") to handle, as you can more easily ride curbs, bumps, get traction, avoid understeer/oversteer etc. If setups are allowed, myself and many others will max them out, whereas most wheel users and some pad users will use varying amounts. So looking at the grid as a whole with setups, it would be more likely to give varying levels of user performance, in my opinion.
I'm not sure pad users have an advantage in controlling cars with extreme setups, all depends a lot on the driver's way of ... driving. It's funny that I usually find Jeff's setups completely wrong, can't keep his car on the track, and Jeff thinks the same about mine, i.e., he thinks they are undriveable.
Considering we both use wheels (same model and all) that's tells you a lot. We just don't drive the same way, even if the end result (lap time) can be very similar.
Anyway, I agree that forcing everyone to use default setups is good and really does a lotto even the field, providing more exciting, fun racing.
You may remember, Alan, that I used to host lobbies in TRD3 (always liked to be "in command"
) and that my lobbies featured, very often, GT Lights, Classic F1 cars Mercedes and touring cars - not DTM, the other class featuring Morgans, among others. It was rare for me to go for the everyone's favourites, the Clio Cup cars. And NEVER I allowed setups. Maybe because I didn't have much time to play, so no time to try and test setups. But the racing was always good, and fun.
I'm not against setups. But, in all honesty, I prefer to race where they are not available. The last GT5P event that made me play that game was a F430 + Suzuka + forced stock setup + N Tyres event. Unbearable for pad users, from what I was told, but it was a blast and I didn't miss setups for a bit.
Anyway, I don't feel (never felt) GT setups to be handicapping to those that don't have much time to test cars. Because gtplanet has an impressive list of tuners that not only excel at their job, but also like and want to share everything they find, and get pride from people using their setups and winning races with them. So, you have all the info you need, and lots of options to choose from. It is not the same in SCC. No tuners exist here and, with a few honorable exceptions, everyone is very secretive about their setups and what they findings are. Honestly, I don't appreciate such behaviour, but of course I respect it.
Back to Bullie, what I think is happening to you (finding it more difficult to be on the race-pace, if I understood correctly) is that you changed from pad to wheel recently. It is not easy to change one's control method (I am sure that if my wheel broke and I was forced to go back to the pad now I would be all over the place) and you will need time to adjust to the wheel. But, if you want my opinion, it's clearly time well spent. Not because you will become faster than you can be with the pad, but because you'll get much more enjoyment from the racing experience the wheel provides.
)
(Seriously... 3 x 20 laps with longer rest times between races)
That said, the majority seemed to feel it had some merit so I've decided it's worth it to give it another go for the 365 GTS4 event.
) , but there were some other drivers who took my cautious driving on the first lap as an opportunity to push through & pick up places. In the end the starting grid at Riveira didn't count for much because almost everyone rammed the wall & spun at some point or other! 
but i guess it's Jeff's call...