Tire Load Indicator - How does it work?

Motor City Hami

Motor City Hami

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MotorCtyHamilton
Thanks to Nicktune and Shirakawa who were actually smart enough to read the in-game manual, I think the debate about what the tire load idicator does is now over. Below is the description. Feel free to continue to use this thread to discuss how you plan to use it for tuning and/or if you find it helpful or just a big gimmick.

6-16 Tire Load Indicator In-game description:

"These four circles represent the four wheels, as viewed from above (the tp of the screen is the front of the car). The gray circles represent the tires' maximum grip, while the constantly changing white circles represent the amount of grip currently being used.

When these circles are pushed to their maximum during corning, braking and acceleration, this shows that more of the tires' grip is being used. Gaining a better understanding of how far the grip of your tires can be pushed will allow you to improve your driving performance and reduce lap times.

When you drive over protruding curbstones etc, the circles for the corresponding tires will flash red. This shows you that the supension for those particular tires is bottoming out. Bottomed out suspension can affect a car's behavior under extreme conditions, so it can be helpful to take careful notice of these alerts."
 
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Vol Jbolaz
Flashed red for me and I thought I had the TCS turned off. Guess I should double check.
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For me like that too. I had no TCS I'm sure. Perhaps it indicates too heavy an impact for the suspension (setting)?
 
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Well, I assumed it was TCS as it appeared usually in the last corner of HSR with the FGT.. I think I shall check too, later.
 
I don't think the dot turning red is an indication of lost traction. I took five cars to the Top Gear track and tossed them around to lose grip. Zero red in the center dot yet all four tire wear indicators were glowing.

I did just try my FGT with TCS 1 and could get one tire to turn red if I really tossed the car. You might be on to something with TCS. I didn't have time to try cranking TCS way up. Can someone else try?
 
Hey guys so I checked this out for an hour or so, and here is what I took out of this...

1. Intended for tuning suspension
2. Inner circle = when suspension is fully extended
3. Outer circle = when suspension is fully compressed
4. White circle = current tire load, this changes with road surfaces and car weight shift

So road surface changes cause the suspension to compress, if the car suspension is not tuned properly you might compress suspension beyond its limit thus causing bottoming out... this is when the red circle comes in.

I did my runs without TCS so this has nothing to do with that. You can test this by fully decreasing the ride height, or doing anything else that might cause bottoming out, and then go and run over hard bumps... you will easily see lots of red circles.

This is something I would turn off during a race, and only use it while tuning.
 
jkmayol
So road surface changes cause the suspension to compress, if the car suspension is not tuned properly you might compress suspension beyond its limit thus causing bottoming out... this is when the red circle comes in.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. I only saw the red circle on a very heavy, banked turn, and on the outside rear wheel. Not where I would expect the traction control to kick in.
 
jkmayol
Hey guys so I checked this out for an hour or so, and here is what I took out of this...

1. Intended for tuning suspension
2. Inner circle = when suspension is fully extended
3. Outer circle = when suspension is fully compressed
4. White circle = current tire load, this changes with road surfaces and car weight shift

So road surface changes cause the suspension to compress, if the car suspension is not tuned properly you might compress suspension beyond its limit thus causing bottoming out... this is when the red circle comes in.

I did my runs without TCS so this has nothing to do with that. You can test this by fully decreasing the ride height, or doing anything else that might cause bottoming out, and then go and run over hard bumps... you will easily see lots of red circles.

This is something I would turn off during a race, and only use it while tuning.
Click to expand...

This is what it feels like to me.

The red icon with an "!" in the middle flashes when driving over curbs or when the suspension is suddenly compressed rapidly. Whenever the red icon flashes, that corner of the car felt really stiff.
For example the deep dip in Fuchsröhre on the Nurburgring causes all four wheels to flash red for a split second from bottoming out.
 
Actually, a fellow Finn came up with a likely explanation. Red flash in the center indicates the suspensions compression to the point where it hits the bump stop.
 
Motor City Hami
- Comfort hard tires didn't allow for the circles to grow much before losing grip. They would grow just over half way, then lose grip. Also, under extreme hard braking, the front indicators didn't grow much.
- Racing soft tires didn't slide for me until the circle was maxed in size. It almost touches the outter ring before letting loose. Plus, under braking, the front circles grew lots and the rears shrank.
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case 1: your suspension is too stiff at that ride height for comfort hards (for shlitz and giggles, soften it up [comp dampers & springs] or lower the car and see if the circle grows more in relation to the outer circle)

case 2: your suspension is just right at that ride height for racing softs. the front growing under braking (compression on front) and rear shrinking (extension on rear) make sense.

i think the load indicator can show you suspension travel and how much of it you are utilizing before the tires give up. ie. the closer you are to the outer ring on compression before you lose grip, the better. conversly, the closer you are to inner ring on extension before you lose grip at that end, the better.

(maybe). :D
 
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so, can a car now be driven at night, with no headlights, relying solely on instrumentation? :) (ILS)

these suspension/tyre load indicators will totally be welcoming for the aspiring tuner in all of us.
 
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I didn't try it much, I've yet to see a purpose for it, meaning something it offers that I can't get without using it.

My guess is it's there to show people how weight transfer works or something along those lines.
 
I can't drive and look at this four circles. we need an open space like TGT to test it ,with different configuration of brake , dampers , springs... Can be very interesting . i think it would be more util to know about the part of the tire is heating more, inside ,middle , outside, to help to regulate the camber for example.
 
Ah ha! You can watch the tire load indicator dots in race replay. Still not convinced what the red inner dot means. Leaning to bottoming out.
 
Motor City Hami
Ah ha! You can watch the tire load indicator dots in race replay. Still not convinced what the red inner dot means. Leaning to bottoming out.
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When the dot goes red it means the suspensions is bottoming out. It happens when the car goes over jumps or under hard braking into banked corners. The car also exhibits tell tale signs of bottoming out when this happens.
I also believe it is more of suspension loads gauge because the expansion of the circles is greater with softer tires and the spring rate changes how much the circles expand. I plan on doing a full test on this later.
 
savage388
When the dot goes red it means the suspensions is bottoming out. It happens when the car goes over jumps or under hard braking into banked corners. The car also exhibits tell tale signs of bottoming out when this happens.
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+1 to this. Playing with the FGT and had it lowered -5 front and rear racing the High Speed Ring seasonal. Red seemed to indicate bottoming out. I raised the car back to zero front/rear and getting much less red dots. Plus, the car is carrying more speed through the corners at the higher setting. Just found one way I will use these indicators. Ride height and maybe a look at shock damping/spring selection.

Looks like no more slammed cars with super stiff springs in spec 2.0?
 
I agree with the consensus here where the small circle = extension, large = compression and red = bottoming. This looks like it will be a useful tool for tuning suspension that can be turned off once your done with car setup. 👍
 
Motor City Hami
Looks like no more slammed cars with super stiff springs in spec 2.0?
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Maybe not. I haven't noticed it until spec 2 but when the car bottoms out the car most control is lost. I've noticed that even with a fairly stiff spring rate trail braking with racing softs under higher loads causes the car to bottom out and really oversteer on entry.also on exit there is much more transfer to the rear outside tire which starts as understeer and leads to snap oversteer on bumpy tracks or with a little too much throttle, even with Awd cars.(tested with 07 gtr pre spec 2 tune) So I think slammed stiff cars are here to stay but there are new variables to consider when setting up the suspension. I think pd saw that and gave us the new indicator to help.
 
Well this sounds awsome to me, we finally have a way to tell for sure the car is bottoming out, and how the suspension is reacting. No more guessing if bottoming out was the problem. Any one try messing with the roll bars and see if you can make a diagangle change?

Also i didnt notice this yesterday, ill mess with it after work today. If it dose what i think it dose a large chunk of my life might dissapper now.
 
I don't think it's actually related to the suspension bottoming out but rather a shock indicator.

Tires get hit with too much load, it flashes.
 
It is a tire load indicator, intended to show how much weight each tire has in any given moment. It's not related to the suspension travel, although red dots light up when suspensions (not the chassis) bottom out.

In some ways it reminds me of Enthusia's VGS indicator, only much worse and less clear to use:
(in Enthusia it was about tire stress/grip rather than load)

 
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SHIRAKAWA Akira
It is a tire load indicator, intended to show how much weight each tire has in any given moment. It's not related to the suspension travel, although red dots light up suspension (not the chassis) bottom out.
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I am still trying to determine that. Should I be viewing these as tire load or suspension movement up and down with a bump stop bottoming out. Not every time I got the red dot did I see sparks under the car in chase view. But I also never got the situation that Rotery Junkie described of shocking the tire. Clip a curb on the inside at high speed and no red dot, just some wiggling of the white circle. The red dots always show up for me when the car is under hard load, the tire circles are almost maxed.

I am still trying to determine whether we should be looking at the red dots as:
- end of the suspension travel, hitting the bump stops
- bottoming out
- simply tire load idicator and red means you've hit infinity and the tire is maxed

My test with the FGT and raising the ride height helped eliminate the red dots. I don't have it 100% figured out yet.
 

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