It seems as though optimum pressures in GTR2 is 200kpa, presumably for soft and hard slicks. Optimal tyre temps are around 80C-90C. Don't like them on 100C, as the car tends to slide alot.

I noticed from my corrected speed trace in Motec the difference 40kg makes. Especially during acceleration out of corners. Needless to say, I did manage going under 1 sec difference as opposed to my first few tries. Luckily when I reloaded the save, track temps were in the 23C range, so I dropped in petrol and got my quali down to 0.5 sec off my best open practice time.

Hehe, guess I shouldn't complain then about 1sec... Where exactly is the weight put on the car? I'd assume somewhere central, but having a weight penalty can be worked around to a small degree.

Like pitting after every 5 laps or so and 20liters of petrol...

That's true, but can 40kg really make such a huge impact? Okay, my racing line is up to crap now, but 1 sec for only 40kg's is a tad rough. That's like half a man's weight...

Does anyone know just what impact weight penalties have on the performance of a car?

I noticed almost 1 second off my laptimes when going from Open Practice to the championship, with 40kg penalty. Can 40kg really make such a difference?

Beside engine temps, I also think the handling of the gears play a vital role. So, going from 6th gear back to one, just dropping all the way will also reduce engine lifetime if exercised on a long race. Mind you, I always use full radiator opening.

Can someone confirm if the brake ducts add to engine cooling in some sort of way?

The replay is quite handy, as I can gauge brake glow, racing line with an overhead camera angle and then to check ride height and where grounding occurs.

I used the template from blimeygames, and under suspension worksheet, there will be a "Susp %" tab. If you are not using the template, create a new worksheet, and in this worksheet create a histogram. In the channels field, add damper velocity FL/FR/RL/RR. Next, make sure the high/low box has bump as positive, and the boundry is set to 25.0. When finished, open a log file and it should show the four dmper velocities in one graph. If it's showing a bar graph, press s to toggle to different modes. Same applies for any bar graph, s will toggle to different graph layouts.

I use the line graph, as opposed to bar graph to gauge damper spec.

The important thing with dampers is that the two rear wheels look identical (symetrical), aswell as the front wheels. Hence the use of the 4 dampers on one page in Motec.

Next, from GTR Motec Guide 1, you have the following guide:

-160 to -80 is fast rebound
-80 to 0 is slow rebound
0 to 80 is slow bump
80 to 160 is fast bump

-400 and 400 are restrictions of Motec in sampling, so seeing them from time to time should be okay.

One can't use the graphs solely for damper setup, as the feel of the car is more vital here. So, with bump settings you should address straight line bumps, and rebound you want to address corner disturbances and the horrible sensation of accelerating on a curb and washing out.

Start point would be to set all dampers to 1, and then start with bump (slow and fast) by increasing 3 clicks at a time, testing and noting the feel of the car. Do this, until the car snaps too much on bumps, and then drop by 2 clicks on all 4 wheels. Do the same for rebound, but notice only the feel of the car around corners. Same applies, that when the car feels too stiif around corners with bumps throwing you off line or curb go from nightmare to hell, drop by 2 clicks.

Now, you should have equal settings all round, and now only do you use Motec to see where major differences are to be found. If for instance the rear wheels experience an upward spike from the line graph in the -80 to 0 range, it means that you need more slow rebound, while a sudden downward spike indicated less slow rebound on the rear wheels. The same applies for all wheels according to the -160 to 160 def above. Remember, the line should be symmetrical for both wheels on the same line (rear left and rear right and fron left and front right).

The aim of dampers is not to get them in the 0 travel state, but more importantly to have symmetrical line form both sides of the 0 line. It's impossible to get them all in 0 travel state, but the closer the better. Also keep in mind, that with bar graphs, if you exeprience ALOT of red portions, then you're springs are not tight enough (the dampers work off the spring - so the velocity of the dampers roughly correlates the travel of the spring). If you have little red peaks, then you can use dampers to cure that. First make sure that you're spring stiffness is addressed, before tampering with dampers (I test with all 4 dampers on each wheel at 1, and lastly I use dampers for that extra 1 sec off a lap time).

After some deliberation, and a frustrating weekend with a damn Monza setup, I came to the following conclusion:

Doing a guide will help immensely, but I can very seldom add or enhance what might be said elsewhere.

The only thing I can truly suggest is to know each setting and what it does, in other words: know what setting aims to achieve and the possible side effects of using a setting.

For example: I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Anti Roll Bar has a completely different purposes than just increasing oversteer and understeer. At the back, a hard ARB will result in worse traction mid corner than a lower setting. Why? Becuase the ARB stops roll, it stops the inside tyre extending into the road, and this causes the outside wheel to carry all the weight and hence better turn, BUT worse traction. Possible solutions to this can be to work with the Power side, but you still have bad wheel contact. But just lowering the ARB, increases your traction at the expense of some body roll, and I could gain up to 1sec per lap.

A car setup is a collection of compromises between different settings. As such, using one single setting excessively can and will result in you obtaining a desired effect, but at the expense of something else. From this it's evident: to get the perfect car setup, you need to know the whole equation where certain elements will aid your desire, but it might also work against you - to understand each setting, in the positive plain and the negative plain, will allow you to reach a compromise and close to the perfect car setup.

I think a thread should be open for setup related questions, but for the present time I'm going to leave the guide as other people sum it up nicely, and I will post my favourite links as soon as possible to excellent reading matter.

http://www.fiagt.com/newsitem.php?key=1124

2007 FIA GT season race dates

Seems as though GT racing is following F1 trend for next year..... Now, all we need is confirmed teams and some modders out there... 

Wiki is a good idea, but I will still do a word doc / pdf that covers an a-z guide, which can be used as reference - in other words, something printable and usable in one go.

I just want to do a guide that explains in visual format the working of all settings, and then bridge the gap to motec. Most of my writing will be based on the first GTR guide (with the original authors' persmission ofcourse).

I noticed that how one interprets a guide differs wildly, and by adding visual/graphical elements, I will just reinterpret it into something much more accessible.

Doing the guide will be hard based on the following:

1.) I'm busy finishing up my degree, and that along with work related matter results in quite some strain (I'm a control systems engineer in a very popular company)
2.) With me being a perfectionist, I might take too long in doing a guide
3.) What I can write, largely is just a reinterpretation of what I have learned (and I'm still learning)

Why I would consider doing a guide is

1.) I believe alot can be learned from such a guide, and the GTR experience taken to another level - without using Motec in GTR 2, alot is being missed (one can still enjoy GTR2 without motec though!)
2.) Whereas most guides tell you how to use settings in GTR, very few actually explain in full detail why and how certain settings work - I would strive to combine these two elements
3.) Doing a guide will just take me deeper, and learn me more...

What I will do, is create a word doc, which I will periodically update as I move along. This allows for stuff to be added periodically, and also allows for constructive scrutiny. The end result will be a comprehensive guide, with community input.

I will ponder a good structure for writing, and will present the basic outline the weekend IF my dialup is working again... From there, we can start working on a guide that will answer, and aid the Motec understanding. This might turn out to be quite an interesting few months... 

Thanx for the link. Maybe a post (sticky) can be created for cool links on GTR2 mods and addons?

With a wheel lock up, brake bias and pressure is always covered first. If you still get lock ups after that, that's excesive, then only do you look at suspension, dampers (damper % in Motec using the project from blimey web site).

For instance, under heavy braking in a straight line for a 1st gear corner, with 54F and 46R, the car balance is shifted to the front with the high front break setting, and with a low wing the rear actually rises (not off the road) and so the rear tends to lock up as the rear has less grip. How can I counter it? Maybe increase the wing angle to force the rear down and cause more grip, or increase rear suspension, or change my breaking line and time spent at 100% breaking.  Bumps play a huge role, with some 1st gear corners and the potholes they have. Use Motec to select that part of the track where you experience wheel locks, and analyse your damper %.

I don't promise anything, but I'll start working on a motec type guide and how to setup certain, not all, things using a default setup and where it ends. My spare time is very limited due to work... :-(