In my very long and unnoticed simracer career I always enjoying creating my own setups. But just recently I started using asymmetrical values for camber, toe and dampers, with good results, at least on hotlaps and short races. I wonder if you people use asymmetrical setups sometimes too. What are the pros and cons of it? I'd like to read your thoughts about it.
Really depends on the car and the race conditions. Some tracks demand a lot from tyres and suspension for one given side of the car. I rarely, if ever do that, except for Oval racing or tracks with a very, very clear bias to one side. In AMS2, i'd mention as examples the BrasÃlia and Curitiba outer rings.
The pros and cons? Asymmetric setups are best when most turns are one direction, when the braking and acceleration are gentle and progressive and when the race has a rolling start. They aren't so beneficial in a standing start, when the corners are generally both directions and when the brakes and throttle are applied at the threshold of adhesion. Jacques Villeneuve introduced asymmetric setups into F1 in 1996, I believe, and some tracks benefit more from it than others. High downforce cars benefit more than low downforce cars because the aero has more effect on tyre adhesion than pressure and camber. I experimented with asymmetric setups in GPL but found that performance under braking, especially in traffic, was impeded. It's okay if you're expecting to brake progressively into the 'Diabolica' but not when trying to outbrake someone into the first Lesmo. The Roco, for example, would benefit as a high downforce car at tracks like Goiania Outer, Brasilia, Cascavel, etc. but the different directions would mean using different setups per track and AMS2 isn't yet geared up for that.
Every track treats each of the tires a different way, therefore I typically evaluate each tire on a stand alone basis. For the dampers, you can get away with symmetrical more, but ~50% of the time they will be different as well.
I've never felt the need for asymmetrical setups until I ran an online race at historic Kyalami in a copa truck. Left front tire just would not cool down!
