Which track to use for tuning?

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GuitarHack

GuitarHack

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I enjoy running the Nordschleife, but the distance is killer. I can't test lap time effectively, because it takes 6+ minutes to get around. What shorter track would any of you recommend that has the same characteristics as the Nordschleife?
 
Use a combination of shorter tracks. None of them will have all of the variety you'll see on the ring but they can help you tune for its varying aspects.
Here is a few that might be useful.
Trial Mountain or Deep Forest-help with the elevation changes and rougher track conditions.

Monza or High Speed Ring-Top speed and faster sweepers.

Main thing is to find a couple of fairly short tracks that you learn well enough to be consistent on. Use them to get your basic tune set up. Then go to the track your going to be running the car on and make any fine adjustments needed.
 
Ok thanks for the recommendations guys. Do you have any tips on maybe editing these tracks at all, or should I just use them as is?
 
I agree with trial mntn and deep forest. Then a high speed flat track with a tight hairpin. I use GVS but there are others. That covers about any condition you'll see.
 
I use cape ring.. and its a very good track, but for Flat road tunes.. a Very good tune there, isnt really good on Nurburgring or Trial mountain.. or in deep forest.. you know what i mean?
Tune the car in a track that you know well, and were you are consistent. Then take it to a few diferent tracks and fine tune it.. ;)
 
Simply put.

Whichever track you want to and intend to use the car on.
 
I use lemans. It has heavy braking, long straights, sweeping turns, tight hairpins, chicanes, etc. and a relatively short lap
 
Grand Valley Speedway. Has the light left kink after front straight which tests high speed braking stability while turning before the hairpin. 2 hairpins and a few 90degree turns to test low speed cornering. Uphill S curve to test turn in and stability and how well the car handles a cresting bend. The long sweeper in the tunnel tests how neutral the car is through a higher speed corner. And lastly the high speed right going onto the front stretch which exploits under or over steer very well. As a matter of fact, in practice mode, I can get a sense of the cars over stability and feel from the right going onto the straight through the first hairpin. This track hits so many bases that a tune here works well just about anywhere. Only thing I change is my final gear ratio to set my top speed for a desired track. Good luck
 
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There's no track like it.. closest I would say is Trial Mtn.

That said, I tune on Nurb, because 99% of the time, I race on Nurb. I won't do an entire lap 'till I am fairly happy with the tune. You can use the split times to gauges your progress. After a while, you will have a pretty good idea of what a car at xxx PP should do at each split.

The stretch to the 1st split actually has some pretty good corners for tuning and you can drive backwards to use the back stretch to tune your transmission re: top speed.
 
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It depends what you want the car to be doing, but assuming it is just a general pretty good everywhere tune here is what you do. Go to GVS and drive around until it is pretty much perfect since that track is medium size and has a little of everything. Than go to monza or a track you like that has a really long straight and adjust the transmission so it doesn't redline. Finally a bonus is test it on a oval track like daytona to see if it will stick to the track or spin out.
 
shmogt
It depends what you want the car to be doing, but assuming it is just a general pretty good everywhere tune here is what you do. Go to GVS and drive around until it is pretty much perfect since that track is medium size and has a little of everything. Than go to monza or a track you like that has a really long straight and adjust the transmission so it doesn't redline. Finally a bonus is test it on a oval track like daytona to see if it will stick to the track or spin out.
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Awesome! Thanks.
 
I'm in agreement with Nova. Grand Valley Speedway gets you 90 % of the way there for any track. Scaff's guide points out the things that you should be looking for while at grand valley.
 
I have certain track combinations I use depending on where I will generally use a car.

Deep Forest, Forward and Reverse, has several very tricky corners that really put many cars on the edge of their comfort level and it's a great all around track. I use it as a base for tuning most cars of all PP levels. For the 'Nurb, I'd take a car and tune it here first.

For higher PP cars, Road Course Indy really brings out HP advantages/disadvantages and will tell you if your car will do well on hp oriented tracks and bigger, flatter tracks.

For lower PP cars, I generally use Tsukuba as a test track for flat circuits as it has a good sweeper and three hairpins of various tightness and camber.

Grand Valley East is a short but testy little circuit that also has a couple of tricky corners that will push many a tune to the limit, particularly the esses/short straight/right hander/left hander combination. That sector really tests out the limits of your rear grip and how the car will do under heavy braking while changing direction.
 
I prefer the Top Gear Test Track. It's got the basics for turns, but is not very long. Good for general handling setups. For speed, I use Monza No Chicanes.

P.S. If your car can be stable on braking going into the first turn, it can be stable just about anywhere.
 
GuitarHack
I enjoy running the Nordschleife, but the distance is killer. I can't test lap time effectively, because it takes 6+ minutes to get around. What shorter track would any of you recommend that has the same characteristics as the Nordschleife?
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The Nurb is the best track for all-around tuning, but you're right about lap times.

Laguna Seca or Trial Mountain is probably your best bet, Deep Forest is ok but a little on the short and simple side for thorough tuning.
 
Nurb is the best track to tune the car first in it then second take it to GVS and later Deep Forest to finish the tune .
 

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