Advanced Setup Matrix

This document is intended as a quick reference guide. It is not supposed to include detailed explanations. Nor is it supposed to be my soap box. Refer to the source material, if you want more detailed explanations of what's actually going on. Virtual racing is a fantastic hobby, and is certainly not for everyone. However, if you have the patience to stick with it, you will find it very satisfying.

I set this up to help me solve specific tuning problems with driving simulations. That is, sometimes I'll get in a car I don't know, or on a track with some extreme(ish)/odd situations/corners (Knutstorp), and I want a quick reference to see which adjustments I should be fiddling with.

This was originally a paraphrase of the setup guide in the back of the handbook from EA's F1 2002, but I have added sections from a few online sources, and given credit when I did.

For actual explanations of various bits, I highly recommend you read RacerAlex' Avanced F1 Setup Guide (http://watcher.drivingitalia.net/index.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&lid=23)

NOTE: This was based on information from a variety of sources, and is supposed to be a general purpose tool, so not all items apply to all cars.

Link to the PDF version for download, and printing.

I certainly take responsibility for my work. If you find erroneous information, or think I should add something, email me: cbarnett[at]yahoo[dot]com?subject=Setup Matrix

Topic (and what it might affect)

Gearing (speed, and acceleration)
Brake Duct Size (engine cooling, and speed)
Engine Rev Limit (horsepower, reliability)
Engine Brake Mapping (fuel consumption, and snap oversteer)
Radiator Size (engine cooling, straight line speed)
Steering Lock (turning circle, and control)
Differential Lock (stability, [snap] oversteer, and understeer)
Wings (grip, tyre wear, top speed, oversteer, and understeer)
Anti-Roll Bars (grip, surface handling, corner exit, tyre wear, responsiveness, oversteer, and understeer)
Weight Distribution (oversteer, and understeer)
Brake Bias (stopping distance, braking stability, snap oversteer)
Camber (grip in corners)
Caster (turn-in, oversteer, understeer, corner stability)
Toe-in (turn-in, tyre wear, top speed, and stability)
Tyre Pressure (grip in corners, tyre wear, understeer, and oversteer)
Ride Height (bottoming out, understeer, and oversteer)
Packers and/or Bump Rubber (bottoming out, understeer, and oversteer)
Spring Rate (bumpy surfaces, grip, tyre wear, responsiveness, understeer, and oversteer)
Bump Damping (tyre wear, bumpy surfaces, grip, nervousness, understeer, and oversteer)
Rebound Damping (tyre wear, responsiveness, corner entry, and exit, understeer, and oversteer, chassis roll)
Simulating understeer, and oversteer with the brake, and/or throttle
Simulator Controls (Steering wheel, pedals, etc)
Links
Glossary
Section

Action

Effect on Balance

Other Effects

1

Gearing

1.1

Lengthen Gears

None

Increase potential maximum speed; decrease acceleration.

1.2

Shorten Gears

None

Decrease potential maximum speed; increase acceleration

2

Brake Duct Size

2.1

Increase

None

Increase engine cooling; decrease straight line speed.

2.2

Decrease

None

Decrease engine cooling; increase straight line speed.

3

Engine Rev Limit

3.1

Increase

None

Increase horsepower; higher engine temperature; lower reliability

3.2

Decrease

None

Decrease horsepower; lower engine temperature; higher reliability.

4

Engine Brake Mapping

4.1

Increase

Decrease oversteer under negative throttle

None

4.2

Decrease

Increase oversteer under negative throttle

Reduces fuel consumption; low numbers can exacurbate snap oversteer, if you suddenly lift in a corner.

4.a

Engine Brake Mapping will affect how much the engine helps slow down the car - lower numbers result in MORE engine braking, which also uses less fuel. The downside is that the engine only slows down the driven wheels, which can cause a braking imbalance between high and low speed.

From the rFactor ReadMe

5

Radiator Size

5.1

Increase

None

Increase engine cooling; decrease straight line speed.

5.2

Decrease

None

Decrease engine cooling; increase straight line speed.

6

Steering Lock

6.1

Increase

None

Decrease turning circle; coarser steering control

6.2

Decrease

None

Increase turning circle; finer steering control

7

Differential Lock

7.1

Increase Power and Coast

Increase understeer in corners

None

7.2

Increase Power

Increase understeer under postive throttle

More stable off the line

7.3

Increase Coast

Increase understeer under negative throttle

More stable under hard braking

7.4

Decrease Power and Coast

Increase oversteer in corners

None

7.5

Decrease Power

Increase oversteer under postive throttle

Less stable off the line

7.6

Decrease Coast

Increase oversteer under negative throttle

Less stable under hard braking

7.7

Increase Pump (4WD)

?

Front wheels pull more than rear

7.a

Preload affects how quickly the transition between power and coast differential occurs. If you used a preload of '1' and slammed the throttle down you would get a very quick transition to whatever your power percentage age was, the reverse would happen with taking the throttle off. With a higher preload the above effect would be a lot more gradual.

TKD in the RSC rFactor forum (http://forum.rscnet.org/showpost.php?p=2626021&postcount=24)

People tend to use the words "understeer" and "oversteer" when describing the effect of the differential lock. In reality, oversteer is truly the only thing you are actually adjusting. It's only because a lack of oversteer naturally moves the car closer to an understeer condition that understeer is used as a descriptor at all.

RacerAlex' Avanced F1 Setup Guide (http://watcher.drivingitalia.net/index.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&lid=23)

8

Wings

8.1

Increase Front

Increase oversteer in corners

Increase front grip in corners; increase front tyre wear; decrease straight line speed.

8.2

Increase Rear

Increase understeer in corners

Increase rear grip in corners; increase rear tyre wear; decrease straight line speed.

8.3

Increase Front and Rear

None

Increase grip in corners; decrease straight line speed.

8.4

Decrease Front

Increase understeer in corners

Decrease front grip in corners; decrease front tyre wear; increase straight line speed.

8.5

Decrease Rear

Increase oversteer in corners

Decrease rear grip in corners; decrease rear tyre wear; increase straight line speed.

8.6

Decrease Front and Rear

None

Decrease grip in corners; increase straight line speed.

9

Anti-Roll Bars

9.1

Increase/Stiffen Front

Increase understeer in corners

Decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase front tyre wear; more responsive handling

9.2

Increase/Stiffen Rear

Increase oversteer in corners

Decrease grip exiting corners; decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase rear tyre wear; more responsive handling

9.3

Increase/Stiffen Front and Rear

None

Decrease grip exiting corners; decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase front, and rear tyre wear; more responsive handling

9.4

Decrease/Soften Front

Increase oversteer in corners

Increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease front tyre wear; less responsive handling

9.5

Decrease/Soften Rear

Increase understeer in corners

Increase grip exiting corners; increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease rear tyre wear; less responsive handling

9.6

Decrease/Soften Front and Rear

None

Car may bottom out more often; increase grip exiting corners; increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease front and rear tyre wear; less responsive handling

10

Weight Distribution

10.1

Adjust to front

Increase oversteer

None

10.2

Adjust to rear

Increase understeer

None

11

Brake Bias

11.1

Adjust to front

Increase understeer while braking

Front wheels can lock up, increase braking distance, reduce snap oversteer

11.2

Adjust to rear

Increase oversteer while braking

Rear wheels can lock up; increase braking distance; increase snap oversteer (swap ends)

11.3

Adjust to centre

Some oversteer while braking

Decrease braking distance; may cause snap oversteer, depending on front/rear weight distribution, wing, etc.

12

Camber

12.1

Increase Front

None

Increase grip in corners... to a point

12.2

Increase Rear

None

Decrease grip in corners... to a point

12.3

Decrease Front

None

Decrease grip in corners... to a point

12.4

Decrease Rear

None

Increase grip in corners... to a point

13

Caster

13.1 Increase Decrease understeer Decrease turning radius; Increase oversteer in fast corners.
13.2 Decrease Increase understeer Increase high speed corner stability.
14

Toe In

14.1

Increase front (positive)

None

Improve turn-in; increase front tyre wear; decrease straight line speed

14.2

Increase rear (positive)

None

Improve stability; increase rear tyre wear; decrease straight line speed

14.3

Decrease front (negative)

None

Decrease turn-in; increase front tyre wear; decrease straight line speed

14.4

Decrease rear (negative)

None

Decrease stability; increase rear tyre wear; decrease straight line speed

15

Tyre Pressure

15.1

Increase Front

Increase understeer

Decrease grip in corners; decrease front tyre wear

15.2

Increase Rear

Increase oversteer

Decrease grip in corners; decrease rear tyre wear

15.3

Increase Front and Rear

None

Decrease grip in corners; decrease front and rear tyre wear

15.4

Decrease Front

Increase oversteer

Increase grip in corners; increase front tyre wear

15.5

Decrease Rear

Increase understeer

Increase grip in corners; increase rear tyre wear

15.6

Decrease Front and Rear

None

Increase grip in corners; increase front and rear tyre wear

16

Ride Height

16.1

Increase Front

Increase understeer in fast corners

Car may bottom out less often

16.2

Increase Rear

Increase oversteer in fast corners

Car may bottom out less often

16.3

Increase Front and Rear

None

None

16.4

Decrease Front

Increase oversteer in fast corners

Car may bottom out more often

16.5

Decrease Rear

Increase understeer in fast corners

Car may bottom out more often

16.6

Decrease Front and Rear

None

None

17

Packers and/or Bump Rubber

17.1

Increase Front

Increase understeer

Allows front ride height to be reduced without bottoming out

17.2

Increase Rear

Increase oversteer

Allows rear ride height to be reduced without bottoming out

17.3

Increase Front and Rear

None

Allows ride height to be reduced without bottoming out

17.4

Decrease Front

Increase oversteer

Car may bottom out more often

17.5

Decrease Rear

Increase understeer

Car may bottom out more often

17.6

Decrease Front and Rear

None

Car may bottom out more often

18

Spring Rate

18.1

Increase/Stiffen Front

Increase understeer

Decrease grip in corners; decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase front tyre wear; more responsive handling

18.2

Increase/Stiffen Rear

Increase oversteer

Decrease grip in corners; decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase rear tyre wear; more responsive handling

18.3

Increase/Stiffen Front and Rear

None

Decrease grip in corners; decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase front and rear tyre wear; more responsive handling

18.4

Decrease/Soften Front

Increase oversteer

Increase grip in corners; increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease front tyre wear; less responsive handling

18.5

Decrease/Soften Rear

Increase understeer

Increase grip in corners; increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease rear tyre wear; less responsive handling

18.6

Decrease/Soften Front and Rear

None

Increase grip in corners; increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease front and rear tyre wear; less responsive handling

19

Bump Damping

19.1

Increase/Stiffen Front

Increase understeer in bumpy corners

Increase front tyre wear

19.2

Increase/Stiffen Rear

Increase oversteer in bumpy corners

Decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase rear tyre wear

19.3

Increase/Stiffen Front and Rear

None

Decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase front and rear tyre wear; nervous and unpredictable handling

19.4

Decrease/Soften Front

Increase oversteer in bumpy corners

Decrease front tyre wear

19.5

Decrease/Soften Rear

Increase understeer in bumpy corners

Increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease rear tyre wear

19.6

Decrease/Soften Front and Rear

None

Increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease front and rear tyre wear

20

Rebound Damping

20.1

Increase/Stiffen Front

Increase understeer during corner exit, and entry

Increase front tyre wear

20.2

Increase/Stiffen Rear

Increase oversteer during corner exit, and entry

Increase rear tyre wear

20.3

Increase/Stiffen Front and Rear

None

More responsive handling

20.4

Decrease/Soften Front

Increase oversteer during corner exit, and entry

Decrease front tyre wear

20.5
Decrease/Soften Rear

Increase understeer during corner exit, and entry

Decrease rear tyre wear

20.6
Decrease/Soften Front and Rear

None

Less responsive handling

20.a

Slow damping affects the weight transfer of the car's sprung mass (chassis pitch and roll) on the springs; fast damping controls the springs response to the deflection of the car's unsprung weight (the tire/wheel/hub assembly reaction to bumps)

RacerAlex' Avanced F1 Setup Guide (http://watcher.drivingitalia.net/index.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&lid=23)

21

Simulating understeer, and oversteer during cornering with the brake, and/or throttle

21.1

Increase Brake

Decrease Understeer

This applies to a car that is neutral, or understeering slightly going into a corner, and has a forward brake balance. As you apply brake pressure, the weight balance moves forward, the front wheels gain a little more traction, and the nose points in more. Too much understeer cannot be corrected in this manner.

21.2
Decrease Throttle

Increase Oversteer

If you lift sufficiently during cornering, the rear tyres will break traction, and the rear end will come round. If you do this carefully, you can use this tool to point into the corner. For this to happen, you do need to be carrying enough speed, and you do need to lift a little quickly.

21.3
Increase Throttle

Increase Oversteer

As long as there's enough torque available at the time, you can make a car's back end step out during cornering. You can take advantage of this by lowering the gearing, so you're in the meat of the power band during the corner in which you'd like to induce oversteer.

21.a
These are the essential components of 'trailbraking' and using them as such requires a good touch, and sufficiently sensitive hardware, in a simulator, to feel, and control the effects as they happen. You also have to get the other components balanced so the car doesn't 'snap' around on you, and you have to have enough cockpit time to know what you're feeling, and predict what will happen.

22
Simulator Controls (Steering wheel, pedals, etc)

22.1
Increase Axis Travel/Decrease Sensitivity

None

Reduce apparent nervousness; Allow a finer degree of control.

22.a

This is, of course, a matter of personal taste. However, after consulting with a number of hard-core gamers, you are looking for as much control, and as much feeling as you can get. When talking about first person shooters, the general advice was to set the mouse sensitivity as low as you can stand. This takes some getting used to, but pays dividends in accuracy, or so I'm told. As this applies to driving simulators, you want as much steering wheel travel as you can stand (It will take getting used to.), and as much pedal travel also. This may seem counter-intuitive, but think about it: You don't want minor twitches to have large effects, and you want to be able to make the finest possible adjustments during maneouvering. With force feedback equipment, this lets you set more, and stronger forces, thus allowing you to feel more of the road without having the wheel ripped from your hands.

Note that some drivers turn off the software that comes with the equipment, preferring instead to use the in-game controls alone to set the force feedback, button mapping, and so on. This is also a matter of choice, and possibly system resources, but you may lose some features by turning off the manufacturer's control software. Note also that some controller software has one effect, and the in-game adjustments are overlaid on the system settings, so turning off the controller software requires retuning the in-game settings.

23
Links



Caveat

Inclusion of a link in this list is by no means an endorsement. However, I am certainly not an authority on racing chassis tuning, and some of these guys might be. Also, some of these links are quite simulator-specific, so get what you can out of them. I do, on the other hand, wholeheartedly support anyone who would take the time to write something to help the community, and post it for all to read;-)

My personal preference is to drive a car that feels like a real car, and have a setup that might be usable in the real world. Suffice it to say that alien setups are, for the most part, unrealistic. They'd either rip the tyres to shreds, break components, or actually injure the driver. The common response is "We don't drive those cars; we drive these cars." so you decide.

 Yahoo! search for 'trailbraking' I didn't like any of the explanations I found, so read them all, and practise, practise, practise.
 Racer Alex' explanation of real F1 tuning This is a wonderful, if large, article with pictures. It is in PDF format only, as far as I can tell.
 Old Farts Racing - Driving Tips Includes Car Tuning 101. Great place to start.
 Building a Setup for Grand Prix Legends Paul Jackson's detailed HOWTO. Great place to go second, but some of it is a bit GPL-specific.
 TKD's post on 'preload' This is a single forum post, so it may disappear, or move. Tell me if it does, please.
 JohnP's guide to setting up a GTP car A forum post once again, and linking to two downloads, a text version, and a MS Doc version. This is very specific to GTP, and N2003-based simulations, and some of it is quite alien.
 The Physics of Racing Old Fart's presentation of Brian Beckman's famous work. This is math folks, so take a week off before you start reading.
24 Glossary (My definitions to clarify some of this document. Email me, if you disagree.)
 
Simulator
Software and/or hardware that simulates something from the real world, as opposed to a game which subordinates reality to gameplay, regardless of how good the underlying software is. Need For Speed, and Project Gotham Racing are not simulators.
Physics Engine
That part of the software the controls the simulation of real-world physics
Alien
Someone who drives faster than should be possible.
Alien Setup
A setup that is impossible, or unusable in the real world, or one the takes advantage of flaws in the simulator's physics engine.
Gentleman Racer
Someone who would rather let you by, than put you in the wall while you try to make an incredibly stupid pass.