Hey all,
I built a 190E for C and B class Alps Festival. I didn’t use one of the many available tunes/builds that are out there because I wanted to tailor it to my strengths and weaknesses as much as possible. I also wanted to learn how to tune too. I figured there was about a million of these things in the game, so I had plenty of comparisons to judge how I was doing. The C class is ok, but I think its simply underpowered. I got it up around 500 on the leaderboard, but a couple of other drivers that are better than me made it up into the top 200 with it. I’m more concerned with the B class version though. As of an hour ago, I hit #197 on the leaderboard and I’m really not that good. Obviously, the tune is pretty good and is covering up for lack of skill to some degree. Overall, I’m thrilled with how good the car runs.
Here’s the thing… There are two spots on that course that I now have problems with the rear end letting go that I never had before. It could just be a matter of me getting the car to move faster so its exposing them now, but they didn’t exist before. If I could somehow tune them out, I know I’d run at least a second faster and probably break the top 100 with the car.
The first is on the long first sweeping turn. I’ve improved my times by about 6 seconds in the last week or so, so I know I’m coming into that turn much faster than ever before. What happens though is I brake, downshift, back off the throttle, and keep the car as far inside on the turn as I can. Right at the Apex I would always get back on the throttle all the way and never had an issue. Now, after I get back on the throttle all the way, near the very end of the turn (I’m back on the gas all the way for a good bit as its well past the apex), the rear tires let loose completely and I either lose control or I have to back off the gas a lot. What I’ve been doing is taking the turn wider and pumping the gas through the turn and that keeps the tires from letting loose. I know there’s a half a second there, at least, to be had if I can just get those tires to not let loose. Any suggestions?
The second is a weird one. The sharp downhill turn right after the tunnel. I take the turn no problem and about halfway down the hill, if I keep the car near the yellow line and full throttle, the tires will let loose really bad. I’m not even turning when it happens. I’ve been getting around this by either of two ways. Keeping the car far inside there (which is the wrong line) and the tires hold fine. The other is keeping it out by the yellow lines and to pump the gas like I do on the first turn. Both are costing me time that I want to recover. I always was able to stay completely on the throttle there without an issue. I know I’m moving at a much faster speed now though.
The car handles perfectly throughout the rest of the course. I can push it as hard as I want and there are zero issues. There’s still time to be made up elsewhere, but that’s all on me and my driving, not the car. I added the roll cage recently as a way to help the problems but it doesn’t seem to be doing much. I was using Race tires, but needed the PI to add a supercharger so I switched to Sport. That, I think, is what has improved my times more than anything. I could go back to Race tires, but I don’t want to lose the power as its really helping me get up the hills much quicker. These problems didn’t show up at all when I made the change with the tires. As I’ve adjusted my driving to having more power, my times have increased. The more my times increase, the more these two things become an issue. If I back off some, its all good, but my times suffer dramatically.
Any thoughts on what to try to get rid of these issues? I can throw the open source tune/build up if it helps, but I don’t have it in front of me. It is shared in the game though, only without the roll cage. Oh, and I drive with TCS & TCM both off. I use manual with no clutch and ABS.
