Suspension settings?

[jeffgoddin]

It seems like suspension is the most important characteristic in the handling of a vehicle, and I'd like some feedback on my take on it so far. Yes, I've read through old threads, so no need to go into the same kind of detail, just let me know where I'm not really getting it.

So, I'm still focusing on FF cars, fully tuned, and basically here's what I do for the first run:

Springs: leave at stock settings, though I'm tempted to nudge front up 5-6 clicks and rear 3-5.

Height: drop to minimum: I've heard that GT2 doesn't actually model the bottom of the car and there's no risk of bottoming out. I haven't noticed any negative consequences of reducing height to minimum, so let me know if you know otherwise, please.

Dampers: Bound 8 front, 7 rear; Rebound 7 front, 6 rear or 6 front 5 rear

Camber: leave front at stock 2.0, increase rear to 1.5

Toe: drop rear to -.05

Stabilizer: increase front to 4, leave rear at 3

Also, LSD: at stock but drop acc to 25

DF: set both at about 40

After running, if I find oversteer still, I may drop LSD acc to 17, increase front DF to max and reduce rear to 36 or so, increase rear camber to 2.0 and perhaps front to 2.5, add front toe of .05, and increase spring rates, in roughly that order. If it find the FF to have oversteer with my default settings, or to steer very well/hoppily responsive, I'll drop front camber to 1.5-0.5 to increase power, and increase acc LSD to stock 36, hoping to gain some speed while relying on my driving ability to still get me through the turns in order to get better lap times.

My thinking is that FF tend to understeer, so I want to keep the rear loose to allow it to swing around as much as possible. I notice however a lot of commentary about what I feel are extreme or max settings, like stabilizers at max, Bound and rebound at max, LSD min, etc, so I feel like I'd like to hear the thinking behind that. Also, it just feels like the cars should respond in more subtle ways to suspension adjustments, and so I expect that the programmers made it so that intermediate values for bound/rebound and stabilizers are more ideal, rather than min/max values, but I don't really know.

And am I too conservative about camber and toe? Can I safely drop racing DF to gain speed? Hard to say. After really working through all the FF I plan to take the best performers and rework them through all the different settings to see what really produces the best overall results.

Any thoughts? Thanks!!!

 

[Parnelli Bone]

It seems like suspension is the most important characteristic in the handling of a vehicle, and I'd like some feedback on my take on it so far. Yes, I've read through old threads, so no need to go into the same kind of detail, just let me know where I'm not really getting it.

So, I'm still focusing on FF cars, fully tuned, and basically here's what I do for the first run:

Springs: leave at stock settings, though I'm tempted to nudge front up 5-6 clicks and rear 3-5.

It really depends on the car, even in GT2. A lightweight front-drive Civic hatch is gonna handle different from a middle-weight Integra, which will handle differently than a heavy Taurus or Intrepid. You can't just leave stuff stock (or even generically give a few clicks) if you want the best performance from each car; you'll have to experiment to find what's best for you & the machine.

Limited-slips make a huge difference (in combination with suspension tuning) in GT2, as well. Brakes? Not so much...not for fthe majority of front-drives anyways.

Height: drop to minimum: I've heard that GT2 doesn't actually model the bottom of the car and there's no risk of bottoming out. I haven't noticed any negative consequences of reducing height to minimum, so let me know if you know otherwise, please.

RIght. PD didn't model bottoming-out in GT2 (like they did somewhat for GT) but you still have to figure that some tracks are bumpier than others, which still affects the way each car (even front-drives) will be able to tackle corners.

Dampers: Bound 8 front, 7 rear; Rebound 7 front, 6 rear or 6 front 5 rear

Camber: leave front at stock 2.0, increase rear to 1.5

Toe: drop rear to -.05

Stabilizer: increase front to 4, leave rear at 3

Also, LSD: at stock but drop acc to 25

DF: set both at about 40



After running, if I find oversteer still, I may drop LSD acc to 17, increase front DF to max and reduce rear to 36 or so, increase rear camber to 2.0 and perhaps front to 2.5, add front toe of .05, and increase spring rates, in roughly that order. If it find the FF to have oversteer with my default settings, or to steer very well/hoppily responsive, I'll drop front camber to 1.5-0.5 to increase power, and increase acc LSD to stock 36, hoping to gain some speed while relying on my driving ability to still get me through the turns in order to get better lap times.

Yes, this is what I was referring to, earlier. Each car will need further tweaking to find the best settings.

My thinking is that FF tend to understeer, so I want to keep the rear loose to allow it to swing around as much as possible.

Some cars (even front-drives) in GT2 have a rear-end that sways out with oversteer naturally mid-turn, while others feel tighter in this regard. Again, it all depends on the situation. Sometimes you may want a car that feels oversteery, while other times it can actually damage handling because if the rear is too loose, it means the front-end will sometimes struggle with traction and/or grip as it tries to compensate with the rear's recalcitrance.

I notice however a lot of commentary about what I feel are extreme or max settings, like stabilizers at max, Bound and rebound at max, LSD min, etc, so I feel like I'd like to hear the thinking behind that. Also, it just feels like the cars should respond in more subtle ways to suspension adjustments, and so I expect that the programmers made it so that intermediate values for bound/rebound and stabilizers are more ideal, rather than min/max values, but I don't really know.

In the first Gran Turismo, maxing-out settings really made a difference for some cars (in a bad way). In GT2, it's been proven by Sucahyo (wherever he is) that PD watered-down the possibilities of errant max settings. A 10 in GT2 would be perhaps a 7 in GT, for instance. Something like that. I'll try to find the exact results he found.

This was (my opinion) mostly a way to make the game a bit friendlier to the average gamer, which really SUCKS! I'd rather have more of a tuning challenge, even if I'm just messing with an Alto Works.

And am I too conservative about camber and toe? Can I safely drop racing DF to gain speed? Hard to say. After really working through all the FF I plan to take the best performers and rework them through all the different settings to see what really produces the best overall results.

Any thoughts? Thanks!!!

"Your results may vary", as the saying goes. You may find that for some cars, your mild camber may work fine. In other situations, you'll need to be more extreme. Personally, I try and use as llittle toe as possible, because it can hurt lap times. I only use it if I absolutely need to tune-out a difficult trait and nothing else seems to be working.

 

[jeffgoddin]

Thanks for the considered response!

It sounds like not straying too far from these standard settings I use could be why I can't seem to get some of these vehicles to handle well no matter what (mainly the big US models like Taurus, Intepid, Avenger...) I'll go back and try them again with max stabilizers, more camber, higher springs.

Also, in general it seems I should feel more comfortable trying camber up to 5 if I still feel that a car should be turning better.

And maybe I could try maxing out acc LSD in some cases. I still never mess with init or dec LSD. Init is just when not acc'ing or dec'ing, right? So perhaps setting it closer to acc value will keep the car handling consistently thu turns as I tap, tap, tap... Still not sure when to mess with dec LSD.

And as far as setting a car up higher from its minimum height on the bumpy courses, as I've read in several posts, I'm just not sure I guess which tracks are the bumpy ones. I know some of them have the side strips I have to jump across to maintain better turning radii. In these cases, having a higher car setting would allow the tires to go up and down more over the strip so I don't jump and have better traction? Does this also apply to the tracks where you tend to catch air in places where you also want to be able to make steering adjustments (just after last S in tahiti...)?

Thanks again!

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Front-end camber in a front-drive really shouldn't get more than 3.0, unless you're rallying or something perhaps, but there's always that rare exception... Rear camber, on the other hand, can be kicked out more. I remember some FFs that I tuned would have 3.5 or more, especially if the car was tall (like a Demio). These taller cars tend to lean more than lower ones, you see, so this helps keep those rear tires more in contact with the road under extreme cornering.

Accel LSD is only being used if you're on the gas. Decel comes into play while braking, which is most important for cars that get very nervous and swivelly when braking (mid-engine cars, for instance). Initial LSD is sort of an overall effect that you'll feel mostly when coasting thru a turn, mid-corner, perhaps. A very high initial setting will cause the car to feel very stable and hard-to-spin, but also hard-to-turn as well. That's a basic rundown and there are always exceptions to the rules.