Tuning Lotus Elise Suspension

  • Thread starter Rybbie
  • 13 comments
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Hey Guys,

New member to the site, GT4 addict. I've only got about 37% done and 52 cars.

I'm still learning the ropes when it comes to suspension tuning, so I was hoping maybe people here might have some suggestions/help to offer.

The car in question specifically is the Lotus Elise 111R. One of my fave cars in the game. I've maxed it out. Full power, all tranny options, all weight reduction, roll cage, spoiler, etc...

This car is a real moster! A great giant killer too. The only problem I really have with it generally is that it can be a beast to control, especially at high speeds; so, I've been messing with the suspension tuning trying to get the car balanced.

Procedure has been this: turned off ASM, put Trac control to max, put downforce to max. Current settings are as follows:

Front Rear
Spring Rate 6.7 kgt/mm 12.5 kgt/mm
Ride Height 95 mm 95 mm
Shock Bound 8 8
Shock Rebound 8 8
Camber angle -1.5 -1.0
Toe Angle 0 +2 (in)
Stabilizers 4 4

I know some of these settings are really unconventional. I started out with the spring rates roughly equal, but the rear kept tearing loose on me. Ride height, I started out with lower, but raised to make it a little more maneagable. Shock Bound/Rebound I haven't messed with yet. Camber angle, started out higher but adjusted lower because the car seems to have plenty of oversteer. Toe, I added the toe to the rear because the car was squirrely at high speeds. The stabs, I had higher but again, I'm just trying to tame this beast.

The car seems to handle pretty well at this point. It's a dream at low speeds, but high speeds is where the trouble is coming in. The toe in helped a lot, but if one wheel goes off the track at all; I have an almost impossible time trying to get the car back on the track and stable. Also, oversteer becomes more evident at high speeds, even though the car seems very well balanced at lower speeds (100-0).

What do you guys think of the settings I have and what wou you change? The next thing I plan on fiddling with is the shock settings, namely lowering them somewhat to make it a little more forgiving.

Obviously, a big part of the "problem" is that I have ASM turned off and the downforce ratcheted up all the way, but I figure if I tune it for the most difficult conditions possible, it'll only get easier to control by turning on the ASM to some extent (I hate ASM, but this car might need it :-P) and decreasing the downforce. Should I consider messing with the front/rear weight balance?

With the current settings, my best run at the Nurburgring is a 7:27 (without nitrous), but during that run I hit the wall twice, nosing into it and losing about 50 mph one of those two times. I'm guessing without better settings the car should be capable of much better than that...

Anyways, all help is greatly appreciated!
 
the thing u have wrong is that under high speeds theres a lot of air pushing up to ur car causing u to "lift", lower to about 5-10mm from the lowest and the rear 20-30 from the front. toe is good, but u need camber, which means more traction on the floor. better tires help, and so does stab 5/5. camber of 2.7/1.4 might work better, oversteer is fine, is much better than understeer. harder suspension, as in 10+ could also work in ur facvor. try lsd, im sure the 111r has lsd. oh yeah, asm off is great, but tcs on all the way!!?!?!?!?!? u ok there? try none or like 1-3, that could kill u if u over do it


djaft3rb3ats
 
Okay, hold up one secound...

All this other stuff is not realy what you need... just jiberish...

Your front SR is fine, lower the back to about 8.5...

Your RH is fine, lift the back about 3 number over the rear for this car...

Your bound and rebound are too high, drop it to 4/6 (front) 5/7) (rear)...

Cambers are both too low, 2.5 (front), 1.6 (rear) more of this means you'll stick more... until a certain area, then it looses it effects...

Toe, take it off now, you'll see it'll work in a bit (if not you can keep 1, but no more) it's bad for tire wear and isn't realy intended for high speeds...

Stabs, 5 (front), rear is fine

What you realy want to keep you back end in check is your LSD settings... Try 16/44/17...

Your TCS could probably do at 5 or so... but no more then 7

Give it a try and let me know what you think... if you have any questions, ask away, but be carefull of what you take in... Later Ed
 
There is a recent and similar thread already started. You can find it here:

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=65412

Also, you absolutely don't need any TCS with this car - you don't need any nannies at all. I expect most of your problems are the suspensions settings. I would check the other thread. Personally, I suggest you try my settings which you'll find posted over there using the Sport Suspension instead of the racing suspension. The Elise is very light, making the racing suspension is too stiff except for the smoothest of courses. I spent hours trying to win a race on the ring with the racing suspension and just kept bouncing off the track, switched to Sports and won the race first try.

Good luck! You're right, it is one very nice car, my favorite in the game so far.
 
panjandrum
There is a recent and similar thread already started. You can find it here:

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=65412

Also, you absolutely don't need any TCS with this car - you don't need any nannies at all. I expect most of your problems are the suspensions settings. I would check the other thread. Personally, I suggest you try my settings which you'll find posted over there using the Sport Suspension instead of the racing suspension. The Elise is very light, making the racing suspension is too stiff except for the smoothest of courses. I spend hours trying to win a race on the ring with the racing suspension and just kept bouncing off the track, switched to Sports and won the race first try.

Good luck! You're right, it is one very nice car, my favorite in the game so far.

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've pretty much got it set up where I'm pretty happy with it now.

New settings:
Front Rear
Spring Rate 6.7 kgt/mm 11.0 kgt/mm
Ride Height 91 mm 94 mm
Shock Bound 4 5
Shock Rebound 5 6
Camber angle -1.7 -1.5
Toe Angle 0 +1 (in)
Stabilizers 5 5

Also, put the limited slip to the settings you suggested (helped a lot), dropped the TCS to 3 (I only had it set high to isolate the suspension probs, didn't want wheelspin confusing the issue any), set the downforce to 15/25, and adjusted what I think the biggest problem probably was; the brake balance settings, to 24/13. I had them set evenly before and the car pretty much went unstable under hard breaking. Car handles like a dream now. Just threw down a 7:12; but I'm sure with a good driver the car should be capable of mid/low 6's. I'll have to throw some softer compound tires on it than the racing mediums I have on there right now; that should also help a lot...

Anyways, thanks again, I may also try just switching to the sports suspension after reading some of the posts in the link that was posted :eek:
 
Rybbie
Hey guys,

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've pretty much got it set up where I'm pretty happy with it now.

New settings:
Front Rear
Spring Rate 6.7 kgt/mm 11.0 kgt/mm
Ride Height 91 mm 94 mm
Shock Bound 4 5
Shock Rebound 5 6
Camber angle -1.7 -1.5
Toe Angle 0 +1 (in)
Stabilizers 5 5

Also, put the limited slip to the settings you suggested (helped a lot), dropped the TCS to 3 (I only had it set high to isolate the suspension probs, didn't want wheelspin confusing the issue any), set the downforce to 15/25, and adjusted what I think the biggest problem probably was; the brake balance settings, to 24/13. I had them set evenly before and the car pretty much went unstable under hard breaking. Car handles like a dream now. Just threw down a 7:12; but I'm sure with a good driver the car should be capable of mid/low 6's. I'll have to throw some softer compound tires on it than the racing mediums I have on there right now; that should also help a lot...

Anyways, thanks again, I may also try just switching to the sports suspension after reading some of the posts in the link that was posted :eek:

Nice settings. 👍 After a LOT :crazy: of experimentation these were the ones that worked best for me for me too. :cool: The only difference is that I stuck with the standard differential and I only went with Stage 2 weight reduction, any more and found that this already paperweight car was just too skittish while cornering. Funnily enough I seem to remember exactly the same problem with that other Lotus in GT2 that would never behave properly in full race dress as a result...

Edit: In fact forget the weight reduction handling is better without any at all :P
 
WTF??? I tried these settings with R5 tires, and the back end of the Elise is all over the place!! I had to apply opposite lock 50+ times on my lap of Nurburgring, and I couldn't go below 6'50 - the car seems to have abundant grip, but it just oversteers wildly all the time.

What kind of 'ring times have you people done with the 111R? It should be able to dip below 6'30 if there was a setup that kept the rear end in check...
 
Here's a repost of some Elise settings I came up with a while back that may help:

______________________________________________________________________

Just to add another 'take' on tuning the Elise, here's the set-up I spannered for a full-dress 190 on S2 tyres (the only shiny kit not bought was weight reduction 3 and she's running NA and not Turbo).

Code:
<pre> <font size=2>
       DRIVER            Sukerkin        GEARING                 LOGGER DATA
       STYLE Driving Force Pro           A/ Final   Tranny       1     
       CAR           Lotus Elise 190     B/ Auto     Trick       2     
       CIRCUIT       R246                C/ Final    3.570       3     
       2 WHEELS ON TRACK      YES                                4     
       SLIGHT TOUCHES         None                               5     
       BHP                    255        INDIVIDUAL GEARS        6     
       WEIGHT KG              609        1st         2.931       7     
                                         2nd         2.036       8     
                                         3rd         1.501       9     
       SPRINGS           8.4 ~ 12.6      4th         1.166       10    
       HEIGHT             81 ~ 81        5th         0.954       11    
       DAMPERS B           2 ~ 3         6th         -----       12    
       DAMPERS R           5 ~ 8                                 13    
       CAMBER            3.5 ~ 2.5                               14    
       TOE              -1.0 ~ +2.0                              15    
       STABALISER          2 ~ 6                                 16   
       BRAKE BALANCE       7 ~ 5                      Logger/total   
       LS INITIAL          0 ~ 7                                  PEAK   KPH
       LS ACCEL.           0 ~ 28                             
       LS DECEL.           0 ~ 28
       DOWNFORCE            N/A                                           
       ASM                  0/0                           [b]HOT LAP  [/b] 
       TCS                   3                             
                                                                        </PRE>

I find her very stable and driveable now whereas before she was lift-off oversteer death waiting to happen :eek:.

Hope that these're of some use to someone (tho' of course the usual proviso's about driving styles apply :D).
 
TurboJ
WTF??? I tried these settings with R5 tires, and the back end of the Elise is all over the place!! I had to apply opposite lock 50+ times on my lap of Nurburgring, and I couldn't go below 6'50 - the car seems to have abundant grip, but it just oversteers wildly all the time.

What kind of 'ring times have you people done with the 111R? It should be able to dip below 6'30 if there was a setup that kept the rear end in check...

Try a downforce of 15 / 30. I still drive the Elise almost exclusively with the stock or sports suspension, the above-mentioned downforce values, and I have absolutely zero problems with the rear-end. Grip when I want, drift when I want, absolutely my ideally balanced car.

I've never tried the Elise around the ring with R5s. A LOT of cars handle a little funny with R5s. Some cars (*cough* Ford GT *cough*) even start to handle wonky with tires as soft as R3s! As a general rule, I use whichever tire will get me two laps on the Ring without wearing out, so on the Elise, this is the R3. On R3s I'll usually turn laps on the Ring between 6'45 (on a *really* good run) and 7'00 (if I blow at least one corner, which I usually do).

Good luck!
 
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