What's up with the Stock Car (diff)?

Avoletta and XTRMNTR,
many thanks for your excellent contribution, that setup feels great with the 2017 stock cars.

Can you elaborate something similar for the 2020 version? I tried replicating the same settings but with the newer car the oversteer on exit is not solved.

Thanks again

 

U can try yourself if u want.

Little help, nighttigers setup guide for pc2.

 

Wow, I think that shows how well you had already adapted to the unstable mess that is the default 2017 Stock Car!

On a more serious note, if you drove the same car in AMS1, what was your perception of it? From what I remember (and recently tried to refresh my memory ) it handled pretty much like it was on rails for the most part, feeling like it had huge amounts of downforce. There was some leeway when the back end would start to slide a bit, enabling the driver to use throttle-induced corrections mid-corner if necessary; if you went just the slightest bit beyond that, however, it used to bite back quite hard.

Of course my modified setup is still far away from the described on-rails handling it used to have in AMS1, but I think it is actually getting closer. In any case, I rest my point that the default setup is definitely too unstable. Besides, I would argue that making the car easier and more predictable to handle would be one of the main points of adjusting the setup (unless it slows down the car on a given track, of course). Consistency being key and all that.

So true. That would be really helpful. Even as someone who used to fiddle with every available setup option in games like the Gran Turismo series way back, I tend to forget the intricacies of some of the options unless I am regularly making use of them. Plus modifying some options doesn't feel nearly the same from one sim to another. Ultimately there's no substitute for actually trying every setup change on track yourself.


@Pacchia Haven't tried working on the 2020 one yet, sorry. I will try to make some time for that today, but I gotta get my real car to the repair shop first...

 

@Pacchia Okay, so I just tried to get the 2020 Stock Car (Corolla) to work, and after several hours of testing these are my results so far:



Thoughts on some of the settings:
1. Steering Lock was increased from 20 to 21 because I was doing all of my testing at Brands Hatch GP, and the default steering lock left something to be desired.
2. I decreased the front anti-roll bar from 140 to 120 and increased the rear ARB from 10 to 20. This seemed to enhance both turn in behavior as well as enable higher speeds throughout high-speed corners.
3. Rear toe-in was changed from 0 to 0.1 in order to facilitate better turn-in behavior. The car was understeering in most corners, and this helped to fix that.
4. Slow Bump and Rebound were increased by one tick each, for both front and rear. With the car having a rather soft setup and a lot of weight, this made the steering slightly more direct without unsettling the car when going over bumps. Changing the spring rate is unfortunately not possible from what I can gather, and neither is lowering the ride height below 60mm.
5. Brake pressure and rear brake duct opening should be self-explanatory. Feels much better this way and also makes sure the rear brakes not suffer from low temps all the time. Closing the rear brake ducts down as far as 30 or even 20 percent might be possible as well, just haven't tried yet.
6. Ah, finally we're talking differential settings! The first step was reducing the Preload from 100 (I think?) to 30. I tried different values like 20 or 40 as well, but 30 seems to be the definite sweet spot for now. Combined with the Power and Coast Ramp settings at 55 and 35 respectively, this serves to make the behavior somewhat predictable and a little more stable on corner exit. The number of clutches has also been increased to 8 (from 4) because I felt that this made the overall LSD behavior a lot smoother and more natural.

So, what does the 2020 Stock Car drive like with these settings?
Well, it still slides around quite a lot. These settings were also not necessarily the fastest during my test runs, but a decent compromise between understeering and a lack of stability. Getting the car pointed into the corner may require a combination of trail braking and lift-off oversteer, and you may want to have a look at the Coast Ramp and Rear Toe In settings if you're not happy with it.

Ultimately, this car heavily relies on mechanical grip, and as such the car will slide around a lot until enough pressure has built up in the tires (even more so if your tires are still cold). It's more of a "driver's car" than its predecessor it seems, rewarding drivers who have a good feel for riding right on the edge. Makes sense considering the 2020 rules I guess, so apart from some default setup oddities I'd wager the vehicle isn't too far off from its real counterpart.


By the way, is there a big difference between the Toyota and the Chevy? It's been a few days since I last tried the 2020 Chevrolet, and from what I remember it feels pretty much identical to the Toyota... So I wouldn't be surprised if these settings also worked just as well for that one.

 

First af all, thank you for sharing your experience, appreciated!
Toyota and Cruze are only bubbles that share the very same frame/specs from 2017.
2020 keeps the same engine/gears/suspension(*) but is less aero, with higher minimum ride height.
The car is slower than the previous spec IRL (and ingame).
(*) Not sure about suspension changes other than RH

 

A in-game link next to each setup settings to a specific page would be great
Joking aside, I wish those settings tips would be included in AMS2 when hovering the mouse over settings. Also, having the Engineer was a great idea for those of us who are not "setups" gurus..

 

I have this feature, if i go with mouse over settings. My left Hand pulls the Smartphone out the pocket and search the right Foto which i make from pc2 tooltips

For this forum its useless, because the Text is in german, otherwise I would have uploaded them.

 

So... if I'm not mistaken, the latest update introduced some changes to the Stock Cars, correct?

Decided to give both the 2019 and 2020 ones another try today. Loaded Campo Grande (a track I am, admittedly, not that familiar with), chose the 2020 Corolla, reset the setup to default and went on my merry way.

Conclusion: The car's handling is utterly abysmal, at least until the tire pressure is close to 1.5 bars per wheel. It's wobbly, unstable and way too oversteery. And it jumps up and down like crazy on this track. After a couple of laps I loaded my previously posted setup as seen here.

My speed immediately improved by seconds. Not just tenth, not a second, but several seconds. The default setup just doesn't inspire any confidence in the car, although it does get slightly better around 1.5 bars of tire pressure as mentioned before.
In my opinion the default setup should be similar to my settings; though it is more prone to understeering through the slowest and tightest corners it is straight-up faster and more stable everywhere else.


Afterwards I gave the 2019 Stock Car another shot. This one seems to have improved, alright. Still, my previously posted setup is still more stable and easily at least one whole second faster on Campo Grande (despite being developed using Brands Hatch GP). But at least it's a step in the right direction.

But the 2020 Stock Car... I don't know. It seems way too different to the previous generation, and that's considering the rule changes. I'm curious if we will see any further improvements to this car.

 

Thanks again, going to try the new version with you setup then...

By the way, Campo Grande is a bitchy little track

 

It is, don't remember it being this bumpy in AMS1. But what gets me most is the lack of track-side objects, it's just so much flat space. I kinda like having reference points and stuff around the track. Especially when cockpit view is still so bumpy (and doubly so on tracks like this).

 

Very interesting thread! Has the default setup changed in the meantime? I love these cars but they are much more difficult to drive in AMS2 compared to 1. How did you learn to change setups like this? I wish to learn as well. Good idea if there would be more in game info.

 

Good question. I haven't spent much time with AMS2 lately, and none with the Stock Cars, so I can't comment on their current status. Will definitely check them out once I can, though.

Different for sure, at least with the default setup. Though from what I remember the 2017 version can be made similar to its AMS1 counterpart through setup changes.

Well, I can only speak for myself here - others probably have a much better and deeper understanding of each part.

Reading up on how to set up (virtual) race cars is a good idea. There are some great guides out there. Even if they are usually written with a particular sim in mind, the basics apply to all of them.

Generally speaking, having an idea what part does what and how changes affect the basic behavior of a vehicle is a great help. Having some understanding of physics also never hurts, that's for sure.

That being said, since the same settings don't necessarily feel the same in different simulations, trial and error is required for a better understanding of the sim in question. Changing one setting in Assetto Corsa may yield somewhat different results compared to what the same change would do in AMS2, for instance.

Anyway, I absolutely agree about the need for more information for each setting. Even if it isn't an in-depth explanation, a basic one should still make a lot of difference for those who aren't on a first name basis with each single bolt and nut of a car.

 

With the last 2 updates the Stock Car has changed immensely to the better. Even with the default setup it is incredible stable now. I drive it now without making changes to the diff.

 

Your observation is for both 2019 and 2020, or just the former?

 

For me, the 2019 always felt pretty good. It was the 2020 that had some issues but after the last 2 updates it feels great.

 

Today its all ok. Cars are great.

 

Turn 2 @ Montreal with the stock car V8 and the back just comes round randomly without any warning no matter how gently you press the thottle pedal. Still not fixed........

 

I dont find them overly stable even with only minor setup tweaks