Here is a break down of my recent challenge tune for the R3 #77 Subaru Imprezza for the Ring . I was told by quite a few people it was one of the best tunes they had driven on the Ring , so i thought i would share how i went about tuning the car . By no means do i reckon its the best way to tune a car , but i find it produces a balanced car , driveable by most drivers . . .
First off , the numbers , Front settings first and the Rear settings follow
Tyres
28.5 / 28.5
Gears
FD 4.80 1. 1.83 2. 1.19 3. 0.92 4. 0.78 5. 0.68 6. 0.59
Camber
-1.1 -0.9
Toe
0.2 -0.1
Caster
5.7
A.R.B’s
12.30 10.00
Springs
392.0 408.0
Ride Height
3.3 3.5
Rebound
6.8 6.4
Bump
1.7 1.6
Downforce
400 560
Brake
Bias 47% Pressure 140 %
Differential
80% Acc 70% Dec
My tuning style is mainly produced by experience and a little bit of formula . Most of my values are derived from using " ball park " numbers as a starting point and then tweaked until i feel happy with the outcome . I shall go through each section and try to explain the " method in my madness " lol .
I always start off by setting my Springs using a formula i found during the days of Forza 3 . I posted the formula on the Challenge thread previously on the actuall challenge thread in the Racers section of the Forum , so if you wanna read it , thats where it is . It also can be used as a ball park figure , i have added / removed more weight to the springs occasionally , proportional to the weight distribution percentage of that particular car if i felt the outcome of the formula was a bit light / heavy .
Next i set the Differential . The settings of 80 Acc and 70 Dec were a new set of settings for me . I have been experimenting with this side of tuning lately and was quite happy with this setting . I usually have a setting of 30 Acc and 5 Dec for the Ring as it is quite twisty in certain sections and i have found this lets the car turn quite well in tight , fast corners .
Next i do the Anti Roll Bars . With a car that is heavier at the rear , i make the Front setting higher than the Rear and the reverse if the front is the heavier than the rear . I always start off with 10 and 12 . As i said b4 , these are my ball park numbers . I usually start off with a few laps of Catalunya School , get the tyres up to temp , judge how the car is handling round through the chicane and long corner at the end of the lap . I will then add .3 to the front setting to stiffen up the rear suspension and do a few more laps and compare the steadiness of the rear axle under acceleration through the corners . When i find a sweet spot i have a couple of options . If the course has a section of a fast chicane ( Nurburg GP for example ) , i will add 10 % to the values to stiffen up the car until im happy with the performance and maintain the balance between front and rear axles . Or i can leave it as it is . I always fine tune this result in accordance with the characteristics of each track .
99 times out of 100 i will have my Cambers at -1.1 for the front and -0.9 at the rear . If the temps are within a reasonable balance across all 4 wheels i will leave the car at these settings . Its usually only FF cars with a high wieght distribution % where i need to adjust the cambers .
For Toe settings , i start out with 0.1 front and 0.0 rear . This is a pretty stable setup . I usually adjust these settings once all the other adjustmenst have been made . I make slight adjustments to these settings , rarely , if ever , i go above 0.2 and -0.2 .
For the Caster i go with 5.7 as a starter , if once things are going ok with the build and the drive , i usually leave it as it is and move on to next settings which is the ride height . I normally go one tap above min ride height at the front and 0.2 / 0.3 higher at the rear . This is just my own preference tbh . I used to believe it would create extra grip ( as in real life cars ) but i have been told by a source who knows more about tuning than myself that this effct is not replicated in the games physics .
The dampening section is one i am still learning tbh but like i say , i use my experience and feel for how the car performs to set the numbers . I use settings of 1.4 and 1.5 for the Bump , rising up to 2.4 and 2.5 and three times up to five times in increments of 0.5 the Bump value for the rebound settings . Its pretty much trial and error and is probably the one setting that takes the longest to fine tune for me . As with the ARB 's , which ever end is the heaviest , the opposite end of the car gets the higher initial Bump setting .
Downforce is an arbritary setting dependant on the course and type of car . Here i used approx 40% of the available downforce . I used a relatively high amount to try and make the car more stable for those not used to the course ( Nurburgring ) . The car itself is stable at even using 25 - 30 % ( my normal settings for the Ring )
Braking Bias , through experience is set around 47% . The amount of pressure is dependant upon personal preference . I found 140% is good enough for the tune .
Fine tuning the Gears is another area im learning . I try to match the individual gears to their peak performance and then the adjust them slightly according to the track . With a long track like the Ring it was impossible to get every gear spot on ,on this occasion i tuned 2nd gear to try and get the best run through the tight twisty section after the Carousel through to the uphill right hander leading on to the dips wher the car leaves the track leading into a very tight right hander .
So , thats it basically . I start out with a ball park tune and fine tune it dependant upon the track characteristics . Heres the base tune for this particular car . The base tune itself handles fine tbh but a little fine tuning doesnt hurt . . .
Tyres
28 28
Gears
All stock settings
Camber
-1.1 -0.9
Toe
0.1 -0.0
Caster
5.7
ARB
12.00 10.00
Springs
As per formula
Ride Height
3.3 3.5
Damp
Bump 1.5 1.4 Rebound 4.5 4.2
Downforce
30 % available to front and rear
Brakes
47% Front Bias 140 Pressure
Differential
80% Acc 70% Dec
Feel free to add any comments , observations to the thread , im always looking for tips and advice on tuning . As i mentioned at the start , i know it aint the best tuning method , its just mine 