Where to start with suspension set up?

I have decided I need to learn how to set up the suspension on cars, I can usually do a basic setup without too much difficulty gears, brakes, toe and camber, overstear/understear but when it comes to suspension setups I've no idea where to start!
Any suggestions for a good car and track to start with? I had thought of Brands Hatch as it has quite a bumpy road surface & kerbs, It's a track I like & know it well so wouldn't have to learn a new track but any car/track combo suggestions would help.
The information given in the game for each part of the suspension is very good but what it doesn't help with is "where to start" with specific problems, eg: Rumble strips that cause you to oversteer or lose control etc.
I have found that default setups are very good and with a few tweeks to gears, toe, camber, brakes etc I can lap consistently, it's only when I try pushing for faster laps that it's apparent that I need to do more to the setup and that usually means the suspension.
I have tried messing with suspension settings but not having much success usually ends in frustration. I don't believe I'm the only one with these problems in simracing and think it's a good reason many people leave sims and go to more arcade games for their racing fix.
Any advice or links to easy to understand "where to start" on suspension setups would be a great help.

Thanks for reading and any replys.

 

Im no expert but...
Easy simple advice I can give is hard suspension = over steer, soft = under steer, you will have to work out whats best for each track and find a balance that suits your style
Take that into consideration and should give you a slightly better understanding, if you want to dig more advanced into this sort of thing there is a great load of info on Race department forum but try not to let it exploded you head
http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/assetto-corsa-car-setup-guides.99049/

 

http://www.turnfast.com/tech_handling/handling

I found this guide somewhere in this forum. Springs, shocks, ARBs amongst other parts explained. Cleared up some things for me. Hope it will help.

Cheers

Edit: it doesn't cover advanced race suspensions settings though. It is focused on road/trackday machines tuning. Good read IMO anyway

 

Thanks guys I've got a free day today so will try printing off these guides and settle down for a day of suspension tweeking.

 

Thanks for the help, I think it's going to be a long night trying to get my head round these suspension settings.

 

You could also check this post http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/basic-setup-guide.79655/#post-1700065

Ive also have something similar with Aris suggestions added txt.

 

This has always been my problem with attempting setups. I've read the guides that explain what all the individual setting do in isolation but there's never been a process to follow, so I've always been afraid that I'm ruining any benefits by making changes elsewhere.

I understand changing gear ratios maxing out on the main straight from doing setups in kart racing pro but it was easier there as you only had one gear and didn't have to worry about individual gear ratios and an overall gear ratio.

Having a guide that says start here, then do this, and so on is very helpful, thanks Aris.

 

I read from someone (i think it was Luca), that adding Caster is a must for drifting. I haven't actually found any cars in AC that allow you to adjust Caster, are there any?

 

this helped me understand setup.

 

Somewhere to download setups?

 

I recommend you to check Race Department forums, there is a section for Assetto Corsa setups there, I hope it helps
http://www.racedepartment.com/forums/assetto-corsa-setups.116/

 

This was of course made for rFactor, but the same principles still apply across any sim with a competent physics engine.

http://www.rfactor-league.com/TuneToWin/TuneToWin.swf

 

That's the first step right there. You need to feel what the car is doing (and ac is rly good at that, unlike some other that give a bloory image) and then you need to have a vision what the car is doing in a better world.

That might take some time. You almost need to be reluctant to feeling any pleasure from the car until you have handled it in the garage first. Let's be clear here, its a waste of time to drive something that is underperforming out of optimum.

Make a plan. You need a basic template which corners will you prefer. Slow or the fast ones. And ofc FF FR and RR layouts all need a different template. You'll get there with time.

Now let's handle the issue you've proposed. Obv the suspension is compacted from springs(wheel rate), arbs and the dampers. For your case you need to know that fast dampers are directly connected with ur issue. To balance it out you will need to work on those sooner or later. But u also need to know the springs. That is the starting point. Watch where the mass goes and if you want to add more of it then stiffen it. That will remove sloppiness. If there's already too much mass there and the car is too reactive or too jumpy then remove it. As a general rule of thumb for making the front heavier you get understeer. Now you can figure out the oversteer is opposite and the rear is also opposite in the way it works from the front.

Maybe you would want to make notes of things that worked. I've only done mental notes and there's so much more to it, but if ur commuted then paper notes will really help. Setups work in unity. Remember that. There's always more solutions to an issue but if you pick one it always leads to a path.

 

easiest way to fine tune suspension (or any part of a car) is ofcourse using MoTec .. haven`t try the MoTec app for AC but in other sims it is than usually just a matter of few laps to have it spot on .. good for start: http://www.scribd.com/doc/58128451/How-to-Set-Up-a-Suspension-Time-Histogram-v2

 

I was looking for a setup for McLaren MP4-12C GT3 in Imola.

In that link, when i use those setups, AC don´t valid.

Thanks

 

That's probably because the suspension height is too low, try changing it on the setup and everything should work fine.

 

Not mentioned a lot is the problem of aero downforce and springs. On cars where downforce is important (formula cars, GT2 etc) instead of softening the spring/antiroll bars/dampers/packers etc to gain grip it is sometimes important to keep these values high enough that downforce from underbody and front/rear diffusers remains high. On fast, bumpy track, rock solid suspension that gives stable low ride height will net you more grip than trying to optimize (softening) springs for bumps. (ps: the lower downforce from ride height can come from both too low and too high height, although the too high comes up more often.)

Whenever you change a suspension element that influences ride height it will change not only the downforce but also camber and toe! (and things like lowering spring travel, thus hitting bumpstops earlier) So keep that in mind when evaluating the changes. (For example the grip increase you feel when lowering the rear suspension does not mean simply lower rear = more grip, rather it's most likely that the camber change due to lowered rideheight influenced the balance change the most.

And on topic of things connected with each other, springs and dampers come to ming: whenever you change springs the dampers should go in the same direction too. That is, you soften the car, then you want less bump/rebound damping and vice versa. (dampers are in a sense dynamic springs, softening springs makes dampers relatively harder, changing how they work on a given track.)

So experiment a lot but stay vigilant and don't jump into conclusions too quickly, or you will get confused really fast
Have fun learning

 

Thanks a lot Aris for this! For me as an absolute setup tweaking novice (also not natively English speaking) this is most understandable guide so far! I have a free weekend and looking forward to try go deeper into the setups tweaking. I understand the car dynamics and weight transferring, but so far I was not clear where to start exactly and how to proceed further, especially street cars vs racing cars. Really appreciated!