Go Faster - 4 Weight transfer part 1 at game&track YT channel

Hello fellow simracers!
Today on the Game&Track YT channel, I choose the "worst" possible combo to talk about one of the trickiest possible subjects in car handling. Weight transfer part 1

In this first part, I show you the influence of soft versus stiff springs in a car's behaviour and driving technique.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Often in the video you will hear me say that the weight transfer with whatever setup I'm using is the "same", but the velocity is different. As I also explain in the video;
THIS IS A WRONG AFFIRMATION! But really helps us visualize what happens and decide how to setup the car. It will help us even more later with dampers and such.

Things are much more complicated than "weight transfer is the same, but faster"... but we don't care. It's safe enough to act as if the amount of weight transfer is more or less the same, but the speed of the transfer occurring is faster or slower. It's a mind trick and honestly I think it works very well in order to visualize in your mind what is happening
Ok? So the first one that says "hey but the weight transfer is not the same amount blablabla, roll blablabla, pitch yaddayaddayadda, rollcenters CoG, mumblemumblemumble... gets a ban
No not really, but you see how complicated it is? Stick with me and you'll see later why it's better this way.
Right. As I said, that's already a pretty difficult subject to understand and to explain, let alone doing so while you drive a hard combo. But I insist talking and driving because IMHO is more authentic and shows you my workflow.

The 2nd most important thing to understand from this video. There is never a easy rule, it's always a compromise. You must find a range and move in there. Not too much of that and not too little of this. Watch the video and you'll understand

So, there you go, enjoy the Ford Escort RS @ Zandvoort and have mercy at me!

 

lol wut? I wasn't much impressed if I didn't re-drive your previous videos and knew, how well on the limit you are driving and how meaningful your laptime deltas actually are.
You just did 2s+ just by stiffening the suspension in 2 steps? Yay.

But I don't even need to recreate your setups, I already know the problem I'll be left with: How the heck do you "feel" what can be improved in the first place? Especially suspensions. First I can't really tell what is wrong, and even if I could I don't find the correct switch. Trying to extract what you said in your first laps:
- too much steering amplitude
- missing apexes all the time (lol that's something I can relate to)
- entry oversteer (?)
- mid corner understeer (?)
- too much weight transfer / body pitch during braking, ok this one I could see in the replays. Can I "feel" this as well?

 

Thank you so much guys, your feedback, comments and sharing means really a lot to me!

@Minolin first you need to be at a state when you can lap a car in a circuit constantly without big driving errors. This first part is very important. So apply all we talked about in the 1st driving lines video.
Once you are in this state, then become VERY critical to the car. Divide the turn in different sectors and analyze it as much as possible
- Braking straight. Does the car brakes stable? Does it move around? Does it lock front or rear axle?
- Entry point. Does the car oversteer? Understeer? Is it because you're on brakes? Are you off brakes? Does it points where you want it to be? Does it moves away (in or out) of where you want it to be? If you miss the point, is the car willing to follow your extra inputs and change direction towards where you want it?
- Mid corner apex. Are you close to your apex? Are you oversteering or understeering? If you're not, can you give extra input and the car follows?
- Exit corner. Can you give gas early? if yes, what happens next? does it oversteer? does it understeer? is the gear too short? too long?

Do this for every single corner and take note of everything. You could post it here if you like and we can discuss. At first it is going to be a pain in the ***, you'll get confused and you'll have to note every single thing... but as you do write down everything, things gets more clear and you start to understand more and more, up to a point when you don't need to write everything down. It's all experience, but you need to practice well, with a target to achieve something. Otherwise it's just plain practice and no gain.

 

I'll gladly accept this invitation and bring my notes. My consistency is ususally within +-0.1s, not bright but should be enough to tell about repeated situations.

Yes this is probably my problem. I improved so much over my time around here, but some pieces (like setups) I never really found any attack surface. Thanks so much for going further here

 

Good catch on the line from T2 to T3.
3 reasons, from least to most important
- As you said car without ABS is easier/better to brake in a straight line.
- Too little space to move on the outside, and too small braking zone. I would lose more time and do more meters go to the outside for negligible gains
- Track camber. I'm not talking about the suspension camber, but the actual circuit/asphalt inclination at this point of the track. It pays to stay inside and keep your car inside the camber for the turn. If you go outside, the camber is "strange" and you actually have problems re gaining the apex. Try it and see the difficulty.
It is more or less a similar analogy of Vallelunga's "Semaforo" turn (T11) . Drivers "in the know" stay in the middle of the circuit width and do not go outside.