What tracks do you test/ tune on for your cars or different classes of cars?
I use Le Mans, Watkins Glen, and Bathurst gives me top speed, braking performance, and cornering in relatively short laps.
I use Mugello short for testing
I like the long version of Watkins Glen without the chicane, the Nürburgring (first half), and Le Mans (with and without chicanes on the Mulsanne).
I like to use Circuit de Catalunya, it has a bit of everything; a long straight, fast sweeping corners, a slow hairpin, and a chicane.
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For hatchbacks: Maple Valley short and long, Mugello short. For cars hitting B and A class - Road America and Road Atlanta and Brands Hatch. For anything that hits S-class and up: Silverstone GP. Straights, chicanes, slow sweeping turns, fast sweeping turns, and it’s pretty flat. Then I take them for a spin on Spa. For NASCARS - Road America to do the alignment, then all three ovals (three separate tunes), and Sonoma Short (road course tune).
I vote Catalunya also. It’s not a particularly exciting track but it’s technical. And that makes it perfect for testing as you can focus on your driving and telemetry. Also it does have a bit of everything, tight turns and a decent straight. The long sweeping Corners give you more time to see how your camber is working. I have found that you will need to adjust your build for power circuits though.
I suggest staying away from the exciting tracks like bathhurst or road Atlanta until your base tune is done.
it depends…
You can get away with more oversteer on some tracks but will bite you in the arse on tracks with transitions (transitional oversteer)
For all-round tunes i like to use road atlanta full cos that left hand turn (4 or 5 i think? up the hill?) is a good test of the back end of the car being planted.
Personally, Catalunya is best, but also used to use Mugello back on FM4. If I can get back into tuning again, I’d probably use both.
Circuit De Le Sarthe. Has a taste of everything.
Naturally it isn’t foolproof though, the perfect Le Mans setup will still deliver the occasional oversteer moments on other tracks, but that’s motorsport for ya. There is no ‘one size fits all’.
Suzuka, Watkins Glen, Monza, Maple Valley. Mugello is great and deserves its own sentence.
Bathurst, Brands Hatch and Laguna Seca.
I see a lot of people mention Catalunya, but tbh its a bad track for base tuning imo. Its a power track, where acceleration and top speed is required. The cornering sections are open and the track is wide, so it can lull you in to a false sense of security with the cars setup. Spa would be a better choice.
Catalunya isnt a power track. It’s a grip track where handling is the key attribute. A monza tune would struggle so bad a Catalunya.
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The Nürburgring has everything I need for vehicle testing. The Nordschleife is an excellent overall test which favors a mostly balanced setup, and I can immediately start backwards to do a quick top speed check. If I want a quick handling test I’ll run the GP circuit. The track also has all three weather conditions so I can compare how the vehicles handle each discipline.
I never make general tunes. I make acceleration , grip, speed or momentum build/tunes. I then will take the build/tune to the appropriate track.
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Virginia is the best to tune for handling. Its easiest track to get good or perfect turns. A few straights to open it up too
I have two go-to tracks when it comes to tuning my cars, COTA and Rio. If your tune can do good at Rio, it can be ran almost anywhere (more grip oriented tune, might struggle at speed tracks). COTA allows you to tune a car for higher speed transitions, as well as some tighter corners, and has a decent straightaway to test your car’s acceleration and top end.
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Rio is my favorite for scenery and tight corners as well
Mostly Spa or Mugello.
Doesn’t matter.
What matters is the purpose of the car. If you have an idea of the types of tracks that the car will be used, then you can select your favorite tracks that fit that idea.
Example: need an acceleration car? Build and tune it for Sebring.
Need a car that handles but also has top end, use Bathurst or Indy gp or classic
Need a mega grip car, build and tune at lime rock
Need a grip tune for the rain, build and tune at brands hatch
Need a momentum based car that’s more grip oriented, use rio whereas a speed oriented would be at the alps.