Tuning Advice

[PhantomGinn]

A600 2007 Ford GT500
Hp: 503
Tq: 483
Weight: 3155
Cost:  88,850 Cr
QR: 190.729 (Average QR for the class is 190.547)

Build:
Street Oil and Cooling
Race Platform and Handling
Race Transmission
Race Driveline
Race Differential
Race tire compound
285/40/18 Front, 325/35/18 Rear
TSW Trackstar 4 wheels
Forza front splitter and rear wing

Tune:

Gearing: FD 3.73;2.89/1.99/1.51/1.20/1.00/0.85

            Front                                Rear
Tires:     28.5                                 29.0
Camb:   -0.9                                  -0.7
Toe:       0.1                                   0.0
Caster:   5.4
ARBs:     9.30                                  8.20
Springs:  635.5                                563.5
Ride H:    4.9                                   5.0
Rebound: 7.1                                   6.3
Bump:     3.6                                   3.2
Aero:      100                                  200
Diff:Accel 42%, Decel 20%

[PhantomGinn]

Both tunes were set up initially using the calculator. Though they aren't the best in my garage, they are fun to drive (for me anyways), and they are 1%'ers on most tracks, usually in the 7,500 to 1,000 range.

I race using a controller, no assists but braking lines, manual transmission without clutch. Let me know what you think, and if you have any ways to improve them. I also have some cars I want to put up here, but they are more expensive to play around with (an S class Nissan R390 and an A class Shelby Cobra 427), and with FM4 coming out in a little over a month, I would understand if y'all would want to hold off on those.

Oh, and an interesting tidbit, since using the calculators, I have been about a full second faster than my previous setups almost completely across the board. I even got the Koenigsegg CCGT to be nearly easy to drive with the calculator, which has been a project of mine since FM3 came out.

[PhantomGinn]

Also, posted up two tunes on Fit4aking's free tune list on the fm.net boards, an SLS AMG and an LF-A.

[Blooze]

I own neither of these cars so have nothing to compare them to.  (currently hip deep in finishing up my new profile before the fm4 rollout.) 

Just looking at the the setups posted, I see nothing that jumps out at me and makes me wonder, "Now why did he do that?"...

...except...

...what are you tire pressures after they reach operating temp?  Specially on the Mustang?

$

[PhantomGinn]

If I recall correctly they are in the 32 psi range, but I'll run them today to be certain.

[PhantomGinn]

After three laps at Catalunya GP, the S2000 had pressures of 31.8/31.7 Front, 32.4/32.5 Rear. Front and Rear could use more camber; front had even temps across the tire, rear ran maybe 5 degrees hotter on the outside. Temps were in the low to mid 180s

For the GT500, same track, same number of laps, 32.4/32.1 Front, 32.5/32.0 Rear. About a 10 degree difference across the front left tire, with outsides a hotter (need more camber). Rear left has a 5 degree difference, with the outsides hotter again, also needs more camber. Front temps are around 210-200, Rears are 197-192.

[Spiny Anteater]

It sounds like you're getting pretty close. The main difference I can see to my tunes is that your ARBs are much softer... but then again they're not that different to Blooze's usual figures. I wonder if that's one reason why you're getting hotter temperatures on the outsides of the tyres, particularly since your camber values are pretty much in line with mine (typically -0.7 to -1.0, although I'm currently running an MC12 with -0.4 at the rear).

Other than that, differences seem very minor. The diff settings on the S2000 seem very loose, but it may be that that's how you prefer them. Similarly, I've usually run my bump settings around 4.0 ever since FD suggested that as a baseline many, many months ago. Do your cars feel "bouncy" at all with the settings you have? If not, no need to worry - it's fine. If so, you might want to bump up the bump a little.

[PhantomGinn]

I haven't had too many problems with the cars being overly "bouncy," but I'll definitely keep an eye out for that. I went ahead and moved the bump to 4.0 (kept the 50% ratio as well with rebound) just to see what it will do, still playing around with it now. After some further runs, I increased the diff settings by 50%, its a bit tighter now (it was a little too loose, though my setups tend to lean in that direction), and I upped the ARBS by 25%. I noticed the fronts now run slightly hotter on the inside, though the rears are still hotter on the outside. I didn't realize they played that much of a role in tire temps, but it makes sense; a stiffer roll setup would prevent the tires from rolling too much on the outside edges. I'll definitely need to adjust those on the Cobra 427, its camber is something absurd with its soft ARBs, somewhere near 2 degrees, which is a little on the high side.

[PhantomGinn]

Ran it with the new settings, it is much easier to control, less prone to oversteer, still enters corners well. The new numbers are as follows:

Tune:

Gearing: FD 6.00
            Front                                Rear
Tires:    29.0                                  29.5
Camb:   -1.1                                  -0.8 -1.1
Toe:       0.0                                   0.0
Caster:   5.0
ARBs:     7.9   10.90                        7.9 10.90
Springs:  415.5                                415.5
Ride H:    4.9                                   5.0
Rebound: 6.0  8.0                            6.0 8.0
Bump:     3.0     4.0                         3.0 4.0
Aero:      100                                  200
Diff:Accel 22%36, Decel 8%15%

[Blooze]

After three laps at Catalunya GP, the S2000 had pressures of 31.8/31.7 Front, 32.4/32.5 Rear. Front and Rear could use more camber; front had even temps across the tire, rear ran maybe 5 degrees hotter on the outside. Temps were in the low to mid 180s

For the GT500, same track, same number of laps, 32.4/32.1 Front, 32.5/32.0 Rear. About a 10 degree difference across the front left tire, with outsides a hotter (need more camber). Rear left has a 5 degree difference, with the outsides hotter again, also needs more camber. Front temps are around 210-200, Rears are 197-192.

Well, I'm quite surprized.   

I thought the delta P across the front / rear would be quite a bit larger than that.

Good job!  It looks like you're getting a handle on it.

$

[PhantomGinn]

Thanks! I'm still tweaking things with the advice from Spiny, so with any luck I can get the car quicker still.

[Spiny Anteater]

Glad to hear it's worked out for you. I always get a dread feeling when I give someone advice that I'm going to send them off down a blind alley

[PhantomGinn]

Haha no worries, no blind alleys this time.