The art of driving:
In this guide I’ll run through the different types of car and brush over how to set-up your lovely automobile.
Car types
There are 5 car types in the game, indicated by the rather cryptic lettering FF, FR, MR, 4W and RR. Each has it’s own driving style, benefits and flaws as follows:
Non-power parts:
Suspension - sports, semi-racing, full-racing
Sports Suspension costs between 3000 and 3300 credits, and is really a non-part. Adding this will lower your car, and stiffen a few other suspension components (as a lowering kit from your real-life vehicle's manufacturer would), but gives you little control over the specific strength of those components - you can adjust the "Shock Absorbers" and have a limited control over Camber.
Semi-Racing Suspension costs between 7000 and 7600 credits. It lowers your car yet further and stiffens/strengthens other suspension parts as well. It gives you a little more control of the settings of your car, allowing you to now adjust Ride Height and Stabilisers, as well as increasing your influence on Camber.
Full-Racing Suspension is the part of choice but is pricier at 15000-20000 credits. This gives you complete control over your suspension settings - you can now strengthen springs, change the ride height to it's absolute minimum (45mm is the lowest setting in the game, but not applicable to all cars), you can control the Bound/Rebound rates of the Dampers (rather than the one-size-fits-all "Shock Absorber" setting before), alter Toe and Camber to obscene levels and stiffen the stabilisers to a higher level than previously.
Sports Brakes.
Sports brakes will cost you somewhere between 4500 and 4800 credits (the XJ220 Road Car's Sports Brakes cost 5000, but it's a one-off). The game
gives you some long-winded blurb about anti-fade and carbon pads and blahblahblahblahblah. All we really care about is that Sports Brakes stop you quicker
than the normal car's brakes.
Some Sports Brakes are better than others - the three Aston Martins all get the strongest brakes (but they have huge masses to stop) - but all Sports Brakes
are stronger than the normal brakes for that car.
Brake Balance Controller.
This will cost you between 10000 and 10800cr, and controls the amount of braking force sent to the front/rear of the car - a key component in setting up a
car's handling into a corner.
Clutch - Single, Twin-plate, Triple-plate
All the uprated clutches quicken gearchanges - the more plates the quicker the shift. Single plate clutches cost 1500-1800 credits, twin-platers cost 2500-2800 credits and the all-singing, all-dancing triple-plate clutches cost 4500-4800, so really it's not worth wasting the money on the cheaper versions - one more race will bring you in range of the triple clutch...
Flywheel - Sports, Semi-Racing, Full-Racing
Similar to the clutch of Clutches, in the purposelessness of the lower order. All three allegedly increase acceleration (with the possibility of increasing engine deceleration on hilly bits in cars with crappy engines) - although to be entirely honest you wouldn't notice a tenth difference even in a 1000m drag race. Sports for 400-480cr, Semi-Racing is 500-650cr and Full-Racing is 900-1100cr. Can anyone say "False economy"?
Carbon Driveshaft
Another alleged acceleration-enhancer - this replaces the normal driveshaft in FR/4WD cars (although isn't available for all of them) and costs 2500-3250cr
Transmission - Sports, Semi-Racing, Full-Racing
Two of the most useless, and the most useful of the parts you can buy. Sports Transmission shortens the gear ratios of your car, Semi-Racing Transmission shortens
them yet further, but neither of them allows you to adjust the ratios at all. So by buying these "lesser" spec parts, you're simply setting the gearbox at the same level for all tracks - Test Course or Monaco. Needless to say, this sucks - and for 5500-6000cr for Sports Transmission and 5500-5800cr for Semi-Racing I wouldn't bother - and I certainly wouldn't bother "upgrading" from one to the next, as it's a complete waste of money, and about as much of an upgrade as arm amputation.
The Full-Racing Transmission is superb and at 10000-11000cr is a great way to spend your hard-earned credits. This 'box allows you to set every gear from 1st to 6th (if you didn't have a 6th before, now you have) in steps of 0.001, Final drive ratio (the linkage from gearbox to drive/halfshaft) in steps of 0.001 and the "Auto" option, which you can set in up to 20 steps between "Wide" and "Long" to get the game to set your ratios for you.
Limited Slip Differential (LSD) - 1-way, 1.5-way, 2-way, Full Customise
More tricky than you could imagine, just to explain. Basically a LSD limits (hence the L) the slip (hence the S) of the inside wheel when cornering. And it's a differential (hence the D... Hurrah!). This can be active when accelerating only, or during both acceleration and deceleration.
1 way LSD is active only in the accelerative phase - very good for FF cars, but with a tendency to make the car bite into the corner a little when you lift off the accelerator.
1.5 way LSD can be adjusted in strength for the acceleration stage, and left fully active for the deceleration.
2 way LSD allows you to vary the LSD in both acceleration and deceleration.
Fully Customised LSD allows you to vary the LSD in both directions independently and in the initial force applied.
Lightweight - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3
Lightens your car - and must be done sequentially. You cannot buy LW3 if you haven't already bought LW1 & LW2. The stages cost 1000-1500 for LW1 (three cars - the
Zondas and the Viper GTS-R can only receive LW1 and they cost 23000-25000), 5000-6000 for LW2 and 20000-23000 for LW3. The weight reduction varies, car-to-car, but typically by LW3 (or LW1 for those Zondas and the GTS-R) the car will be 11-15% lighter.
Active Yaw Controller (AYC)
This is only available on a few Mitsubishi Lancers - the EvoIV GSR, EvoV GSR, EvoVI GSR, EvoVI GSR TME (and TME Stripe) and EvoVII GSR - and typically costs 8000cr. The system controls how much power goes to each side of the car - left and right - during turning.
Variable Centre Differential (VCD)
Available on most 4WD cars in the game, the VCD controls where the power is diverted to - front or rear wheels. The stock setting is 30% - 30% of the power goes to the front wheels. This system costs 10000-10500cr, but is absolutely essential on most 4WDs you intend to race.
Tyres - Simulation, Sports, Racing, Dirt-Racing
Fairly self-explanatory. All road cars come with "normal" tyres as standard, but you can fit these other tyres to improve performance:
Simulation - Don't so much improve performance as shag it up. Designed to simulate "real" tyres (got to wonder what those "normal" tyres are simulating then) - driving with these is like driving on ice after any other tyre in the game. Don't race the AI with these tyres - save them for 2 player games, or just seeing how a car ought to
handle in real-life. Cost 5000-7000cr (whereas my real tyres cost me £30).
Sports Tyres - grippier than the sim or normal tyres, but nowhere near the race tyres. A good start, and can pull 2-3s off your laptimes. Cost 5000-7000cr.
T2 Super-Hard/Super-Slick - the cheapest of the racing tyres. Also the least grippy, but the longest lasting. 10000-11000cr
T3 Hard/Slick - stickier than the T2s - and so more expensive - but slightly shorter life. 13000-14000cr
T4 Medium-Hard/Medium-Slick - stickier than T3s, with a shorter life (see a pattern?). 16000-17000cr
T5 Medium - middle of the road. Stickyish, durableish (gibberish). All race cars have these as standard, and F1s get only these tyres. 22000-22750cr (23000 for the Stratos, if you can get it)
T6 Medium-Soft - this is pretty much the softest tyre you can get away with in tyre wear races, and then only just. 27000-28000cr
T7 Soft - Not as sticky as the T8s, and nearly impossible to use in tyre wear races. The least used tyre of all... 34500-35500cr
T8 Supersoft - Stickiest of all, but won't last a lap in tyre wear races. The only tyre to use for hotlaps. 47000-48000cr
Dirt Tyres - The only tyres that allow you to drive on the rally tracks. They cost 22000-23000cr - but it'd be easier just to grab a rally car which has them as standard.
Power Parts:
Muffler - Sports, Semi-Racing, Racing
The Sports Muffler represents nearly the best value for money of all power tune parts - 1500-1700cr for a 4-5% power gain. The Semi-Racing Muffler costs 2800-2950cr and nets you a 6-8% power gain. The Racing Muffler is the part of choice though, 4500-4900cr gets you 8-10% more power. Note that all the mufflers will change the sound of your car - the clue is in the name...
Port Polish
Pointless and expensive (5000-5800cr for 2-3% power gain). The game says it's "essential for normally-aspirated and supercharged engines alike" - which translates as "if you want maximum power, you need it". If you're pushing for records, or flush with cash, don't bother. If you're strapped and fitting your car with the best bits you can afford, afford something else.
Engine Balance
Makes Port Polish look like a bargain. 10000-14000cr for a 1-2% power gain (yes, you read that right) - I wouldn't bother unless you wouldn't notice 14 THOUSAND credits vanish from your funds (I remind you that an entire Toyota Sprinter Trueno is only 13550cr).
Displacement UP
In real-life a fairly basic exercise and performed quite often. In GT3 you can only do it on a few cars (the two Civics, the Mini and all the normal Skylines with the Nismo R32 and R34). 8500cr a time, 3-4% power gain.
Sports ROM
In real-life a fairly basic exercise and performed only on cars which have an engine management system. In GT3 you can chip anything, including a 1969 Mini Cooper and a Ford GT40. Honestly. 1000-1800cr for a 3-4% power gain is good value though and it should be done on all vehicles but one. That one vehicle is the VW Beetle 2.0 - as it will not only REDUCE horsepower, but make the car functionally incapable of picking up revs between 1000-2500rpm.
NA Tune - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3
One of the two "major" tune parts in GT3. Each stage provides more horsepower than the last, but you don't have to buy them sequentially - you can strap on an NA3 to a virgin car quite happily (virgin? Strap-on? I need a break...).
NA1 costs between 4600cr and 5200cr but will provide anywhere between 5-39% power gain, depending on the car.
NA2 is more expensive - 11500-14000cr - but can give you 11-75% power gain. That's 14000cr for 75% more power - in your face, Engine Balancing!
NA3 is grossly expensive - 65000-85000cr - but can give the car 22-111% more power (one exception is the Trueno SS, which gets only 5% more power)
Intercooler - Sports, Racing
A fairly limited part - most cars in the game can receive some form of turbo tuning, but few can have an intercooler fitted too - these are usually the highest powered 4WD cars (with a few exceptions). The Sports Intercooler adds 4% to the power rating for 1500-1900cr, which is pretty good value. The Racing Intercooler will add 8% for 2500-3250cr, which is even better value - so don't bother with the sports.
Turbo Kit - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4
The biggest tune part of all. Again, each stage adds more and more power, but don't need to be bought in order. The stage 4 is the most expensive and most powerful.
Stage 1 costs 4500-5000cr and will add between 5% and 95% power - that's nearly a doubling of your power for the price of a used Mini...
Stage 2 costs 12500-14500cr and will add 16%-125% power.
Stage 3 costs 40000-45000cr and will add 29%-130% power - with one exception. The Alto Works gets 221% more power for 40000cr, the largest power gain for any part in the game. Ouch!
Stage 4 costs 75000-90000cr and will add 82%-194% power. This isn't always a "good thing" though - in real life some of these cars would need a rebuild after each race (and likely to be only a drag race), and handling some Stage 4 turbo cars is tricky to say the least.
Oil
An unlikely factor - but all-important. An oil change on a stock, broken in car (or the equivalent prize-car, as they already come broken in) gives roughly 5% more horsepower to it. Once a car is in it's run-out phase - at about 500km - you need to keep the oil fresh, or you can suffer a 5% horsepower deficit.
If you're working to a budget - like at the beginning of the game - the order of importance of parts goes like this:
When tuning cars be aware that pressing the triangle button while a component is highlighted will remove any changes to that component and restore it to the value it was at when you entered the settings screen. Also note that the L1/R1 buttons will reduce/increase any setting by 10 units (so 1.0 degree of camber, 0.010 in gear ratios, etc.) - this is pretty useful, especially for gear settings. I recommend you save the basic settings of each car as a backup, or "Last Known Good" setting - it's possible to go badly wrong very quickly and end up with an undriveable car.
Suspension:
Spring Rate - The stiffness of your springs determines how the car’s weight will shift during acceleration, braking and cornering. The stiffer the springs are, the better a car will stabilise in any given weight-shift situation - however stiffer springs react to uneven road surfaces too. You'll notice that the race cars in GT3 have stiffer springs than you might expect - this is due to the high level of downforce produced by the cars. They need stiffer springs to prevent the car from "bottoming out" on the road surface (downforce is effectively extra load). You may also notice that the rally cars have softer springs - they use the exaggerated weight-shifting this produces to provoke oversteer through the tighter corners.
Generally speaking, the stiffer the front springs, the better a car reacts to cornering/braking, and the stiffer the rear springs, the better it reacts to acceleration. Almost all cars in the game work best with stiffer rear than front springs, however you may like to test cars with grossly disproportionate spring settings to observe the
handling trends of the car better.
Ride Height - Low = fast, high = slow (thanks to the Bernoulli principle). This setting generally ought to be as low as you can get away with - but the lower you go, the stiffer you must set the springs and dampers, to prevent the car from bottoming-out (anyone know why Ayrton Senna died?). Bumpier tracks - anything that would compress the suspension, like raised kerbs on road courses, the tramlines on Seattle - generally require higher settings.
Damper Bound - This setting controls the speed at which the springs will compress, as a result of weight shifting on. This is tied in very closely with the Rebound (expansion) setting. The higher the setting, the quicker the springs compress, so effectively allowing the weight transfer quicker - again the higher the setting on the front, the better the car's stabilisation during braking and the higher the setting at the rear, the better the car's stabilisation for acceleration.
Damper Rebound - This setting controls the speed at which the springs will relax, as a result of weight shifting off. This is tied in very closely with the Bound (compression) setting. The higher the setting, the quicker the springs recover to their normal state. Higher setting at the front allows better acceleration, higher setting at the rear allows better braking.
Tying the settings together, rebound ought to be set at at least the same level as bound, if not higher. Low rebound levels cause oversteer, low bound levels cause understeer, high rebound levels cause understeer and high bound levels cause oversteer.
Shock Absorbers - This setting, on the sports/semi-racing suspension, is exactly the same as Damper Bound.
Toe - Toe governs the amount that wheels point to one another. A toe setting of zero indicates that the wheels at that end of the car are parallel, a positive toe setting (toe-in) indicates that the cars tyres point in such a fashion that a line drawn out from each would meet in front of the car and a negative toe setting (toe-out) indicates that the cars tyres point in such a fashion that a line drawn out from each would meet behind the car (what a long sentence). The rear toe setting generally has a greater influence on the car's characteristics than the front toe setting. Toe-out allows for better cornering, toe-in for greater stability in a straight line.
Camber - Camber is the vertical angle of the tyre. Negative camber - where the top of the wheel is further away from the car than the bottom of the wheel is incredibly stupid, and only ever seen when you've crashed a car (in real-life, that is). The more positive you set the camber, the better the car handles during a corner - but too high camber will give your brakes problems. Higher rear camber than front is rarely a good idea, as it will make the car understeer more.
Stabilisers - There is a vague similarity in the settings of these to the settings of the springs - although the two components don't work the same way. The stabilisers act to tie the springs/dampers on opposite sides of the car (lift the bonnet of some cars, and you'll see a big metal bar going from one suspension support to the other). If you stiffen the front stabiliser will increase oversteer, increasing the rear stabiliser increases understeer, but again stiffer stabilisers makes for a poorer ride on rough roads and street tracks.
Brakes
There is a lot of misinformation about the brake balance settings. The numbers do not represent an absolute braking force, but a proportion (hence brake balance). A 9/9 setting ought to be identical to a 1/1 setting. In most road cars the greatest proportion of braking force is required at the front, so almost always the front setting should be higher than the rear.
LSD Settings:
Initial - Increasing this increases the response of the LSD - it makes the car a lot more stable on the straights, but, by limiting the slip on the outside wheel, can make the car more difficult to turn. Higher settings will make front-drive cars understeer and rear-drive cars oversteer.
Acceleration - Increasing this increases the effect of the LSD during acceleration - the higher the setting the straighter the wheels will try to be on acceleration. This will cause the car to understeer during acceleration if front-drive and oversteer during acceleration if rear-drive.
Deceleration - Increasing this increase the effect of the LSD during deceleration -the higher the setting the straighter the wheels will try to be on braking. High front settings will cause oversteer, and high rear settings will cause understeer.
Gear Ratio:
In GT3 each gear ratio can be adjusted by an almost impossibly small amount, including the final drive ratio. To make things a little easier there's also an "Auto Setting", which you can set from "sports" (close ratios) to "wide" (long ratios) - the lower the Auto setting, the closer the gears are, so the quicker you can accelerate, sacrificing top speed, and the higher the Auto setting, the wider the gears are giving poorer acceleration but better top speed (for those irritation Test Course races). This is the recommended gear settings for novices, or those who are just not confident enough - it's a perfectly acceptable method.
There exists in GT3 a thing called the "Tranny Trick" - this works because the game records two Final Drive ratios - the number on the screen and "Final Drive @ Auto Setting" - the Final Drive value that was set when the Auto Setting was set. The trick works like this:
Other Settings:
Downforce - More downforce = more speed through corners. Go as high as you can ALWAYS with this - but you may have to adjust suspension settings to compensate for the increased load.
AYC - Only a problem if you have a Lancer GSR. Basically, the higher the setting, the harder it is to turn the car - this may seem dumb, but it's a pretty useful rally tool, especially in situations where the car is "light" or yumping. I can't offer much advice with this setting, as I rarely, if ever, use it. However all the other control system work best with a low setting and only passive action over the car. AYC should be no different.
ASM - The "stability" system is designed to help stop your car spinning. Unfortunately, it blows, bites, sucks and hums. ASM almost always causes understeer and, because of the nature of the cars that might spin, this graduates very quickly to "snap" oversteer. This setting should be OFF - always. It doesn't matter if you're a "pro" or a totally novice, using your tongue to drive. ASM = 0.
TCS - TCS - the traction control system - is a more useful aid. It's designed to prevent you applying too much acceleration force to the car, by limiting throttle input when the tyres are spinning. Again this system is more useful on low levels - set it too high and you're effectively allowing the computer to accelerate for you, and it can cause understeer and hamper corner exit speeds. I have this set on 1 for almost all cars, although more stable cars, FFs and lower-powered race cars can get away with a zero setting. The TVR Speed 12 is the only car I set TCS to 2 with.
VCD - Variable Centre (I'm ENGLISH) Differential governs where the power goes in 4WD cars - front or rear. The setting is expressed as the percentage of power going to the front, and can be set from 10% - 50%. Most 4WD cars in the game understeer badly under acceleration, which can be cured by setting less of the power to the front. I can't think of a single 4WD car in the game I have VCD on where it isn't set to 10% - this gives a much more FR-like car, but with a little more grip.
Troubleshooting:
How do i gt mi car to weelie plz itsrilly importnt (sic)
This is a tuning/settings guide, not a "cheat your way to success in 1 easy step" guide. If you really MUST wheelie, wall-ride, mow the grass and so on, GT isn't for you - take it back to the computer store and go next door to get some Play-doh.
The AI/Computer cars pull away from me - what can I do to keep up with them?
The AI cars suffer from the beginner tuner's problem - they're often tuned in horsepower, but nothing else. The easiest, cheapest way to keep up with - and pass - the AI opponents is to buy some new tyres. You don't even have to buy full-racing tyres (although you'll need to eventually) - sports tyres give you enough of an advantage in the corners. Most people will splash out on expensive and needless power parts, probably because they've seen "The Fast And The Furious", but without tuning the other parts of your car - like the gearbox and brakes - most of what you buy is wasted. Imagine dropping a 500hp Viper engine into a Ford Fiesta - the power is increased 9 times, but the top speed is still only 120mph because that's what the gearbox says. And then imagine trying to stop the car with 10" discs (and drums on the back)...
Where can I get some NOS - I saw 2F2F and...
Fuck off.
Can you give me your settings for (insert car name here)?
Yes, but what use would they be? Settings are non-transferrable in the most part. I set my cars up to handle the way I like them to - you might find the settings completely useless for you (and bear in mind that my favourite car to drive is the stock TVR Speed 12 - now imagine having every car in your garage handle like that, but without the acceleration...). I drive week-in week-out with some of the best GT3 drivers there are and most of the time I can't use their settings at all.
My car over/understeers too much - what can I do to change this?
A-ha, NOW you're getting somewhere. Here's my checklist - try driving the car again after each alteration. If it works, and the car drives to your satisfaction, stop there:
Understeer
Test Course...
Toe & Camber to zero, downforce as low as possible, widen the gears. Run a qualifying run to make sure you won't bounce off the rev limiter for the entire race (if soe, lengthen the gears), or run out of steam long before the theoretical top speed (some road cars even lose speed in their top gear - shorten the gears). Remember the tranny trick (from the settings guide)? Use that and you only have to fiddle with the Final Drive ratio to perfect your gearing. Some cars don't like the Test Course - the F1s in particular, as they are aerodynamically shite - but you can get 230mph out of a P001 or F094/S just by doing this. More than enough to stay ahead of the field in the Formula GT Championship.
Pro Vitz/Yaris Series...
Another case of gears. If you have your Yaris/Vitz fully upgraded then you're running the same car as your AI opponents. If you remove the understeer as above, then you'r running a car that can get out of corners quicker. The AI Yaris is the same on any track it drives on - whether it's Test Course or Deep Forest. By optimising your gearbox to each track (tranny trick, run qualifying, change Final drive as desired, lather, rinse, repeat) you're at a distinct advantage. This goes for any other one-make series: Clio Cup; Tuscan Challenge; Elise Trophy; etc.
My VW Beetle won't accelerate. I put on all the mods...
There's your problem straight away... Read the parts guide - it says "Sports ROM... it should be done on all vehicles but one. That one vehicle is the VW Beetle 2.0 - as it will not only REDUCE horsepower, but make the car functionally incapable of picking up revs between 1000-2500rpm.". Take off the chip and your car will not only accelerate better, but have more horsepower - in the case of this one Beetle ONLY.
Does the carwash/wheel rims have any effect on my car's performance?
No.
Any other tuning/settings questions, feel free to aks me and I'll add them as appropriate.
Go back to the GT3 index.