Welcome to the Mercedes AMG GT4 release notes blog. In this page you will find the detailed notes compiled by the team after each session when creating the fast and safe variants of the new CDA3 AMG GT4 setups. In addition, a complete list of the driver and engineer combinations for each track is present so customers can see which driver and engineer worked on that circuit when looking for setup trends.
Brands Hatch
- Brands Hatch poses the interesting challenge of having to get enough rotation into all the high speed narrow corners in the final sector, but still requiring enough stability into the downhill braking zones of sector 1.
- In addition to this the car requires enough rotation on exits but also needs enough grip on off cambered low traction corners. The bumpstop rates have been set relatively lower and the differential preload has also been dropped by a bit.
- This gives enough rotation into the sharper 90 degree corners with sufficient grip to not ping the traction control too often. However this adds inherent understeer mid corner. To fix this the dampers have had to be stiffened quite heavily on the rear suspension. This combined with the high ride height and low wing gets the car through the fast corners.
- The stiffened dampers also control vehicle pitch which makes the car quite stable into the first corner.
Misano
- The setup, being one of the earlier releases, uses the Barcelona setup as a baseline. With the Barcelona setup being in a good working range for higher downforce and mechanical balance, not many changes were required to get the car working well around here. Mechanically the setup is quite similar, but the wing has been decreased quite a bit.
- The reason for decreasing the wing is that the car initially understeers quite a bit with the Barcelona setup as a base. With little leeway in terms of ride height and with the rear spring not being changeable on the car, dropping the wing was the alternative solution to tackle exit understeer. In order to stabilise the car on entry and to generate better rear end control just after the exit, the differential preload has also been increased.
- With the lower wing, a slightly lower rear ride height has also been used to ensure that the car doesn’t lose rear end grip on slow/medium speed exits.
- Testing has been done with even lower wing than what has been currently saved as the fast setup, and despite being potentially a few hundredths faster, the car tends to be more inconsistent. Making it more consistent with ride height changes costs a lot of agility in slow speed corners and hence this lower wing has not been chosen as an ideal race setup.
Nurburgring
- The setup runs quite a low wing value with slightly higher ride than recommended for the same, in order to optimise entry rotation into narrow high speed corners.
- The front ARB has been stiffened compared to other tracks, to balance out this high speed rotation. The differential preload and bumpstop rates for the rear have been chosen to have the optimal compromise between grip on the kerbs and medium speed rotation.
Paul Ricard
- As the second track in the update process, Paul Ricard uses the Barcelona setup as a starting baseline. The main change observed is in the aerodynamics of the car. Paul Ricard typically needs a medium downforce setup but usually for front engined cars and slightly lower rear wing value can also work.
- Along with a lower rear wing and ride height the preload has also been increased to ensure stability into the fast right hander at the end of the back straight. The ARB configuration is basically untouched from the Barcelona setup with this configuration being highly beneficial for improving front end mechanical grip.
- In order to improve traction lost from the higher differential in medium speed apexes, the front rebound and rear bump dampers have also been softened. This helps in mechanically loading the rear tyres and maximising the exit speed.
- The chicanes at the beginning of the track slightly destabilised the vehicle with the initial configuration, so the front bumpstop rate has also been softened.
- For the safe setup the front bump damping has been increased significantly to ensure extra stability off throttle and under braking into the fast right hander at the end of the back straight. If this feels too intrusive to vehicle pitch, consider dropping the front bump damping by a few clicks. An alternative is to also increase the rear wing to give the car better stability all around.
Silverstone
- Base setup taken from Zolder (driver preference).
- Higher rake and less wing used to try to improve high speed rotation as much as possible.
- Lower preload and stiffer rear bumpstops used to minimise power-on understeer, moreso at higher speeds.
- Medium-Stiff front springs used to increase responsiveness to improve turn-in given the fast entry nature of the corners at Silverstone.
- Dampers tuned for improved response on entry and exit.
- Safe Setup uses more conservative roll bars and bumpstops to give more predictable traction out of turns.
- Qualifying setup runs a more aggressive aero setup for maximum 1 lap performance.
Spa Francorchamps
- High Rake, medium wing setup used for Spa and its fast, flowing nature.
- Stiffer roll bars used due to high cornering speeds.
- Stiff rear bumstops used to reduce squat under acceleration.
- Reasonably low preload, to give rotation but keep some stability on entry.
- Safe setup uses stiffer front springs for entry stability and precision in direction changes.
- Quali setup uses more aggressive roll bar and wing angles along with some tweaks to dampers to prioritise eliminating understeer. Could be used for low-fuel races, but probably not recommended on high fuel runs.
Suzuka
- Zandvoort setup as Base for Suzuka, a few setup options tried but this gave the best balance to start from for grip vs performance.
- Similar nature of S1 at both tracks means minimal changes have been needed.
- Rake has been increased to give a little more high speed rotation.
- Bumpstops adjusted front and rear to counteract the rake change, stiffer at both ends to reduce dive on entry and squat on exit, helping both stability and rotation.
- Safe setup uses a less aggressive rear bumpstop and stiffer front springs to give a more precise and predictable feeling setup.
- Qualifying setup uses the Fast base with some damper changes for 1 lap performance.
- Driving tip – Short shift for the exit of Spoon to minimise wheelspin onto the back straight, no noticeable time loss compared to full revs in 2nd gear.
Zandvoort
- Base setup from Hungary Qualifying setup.
- More aggressive rotation was needed, so a softer front spring, and more aggressive dampers and bumpstops were added to the car to give more entry “bite” and less understeer on exit.
- Safe setup changed to try to improve the predictability of the car on entry. To do this, the car was stiffened overall in springs and bumpstops at the front, and some damper increases around the car. This has lessened the effect of pitch/dive to take away some sensitivity of the fast setup without losing much in the way of lap time.
- Quali setup a much more aggressive and edgy feel, prioritising rotation.
Zolder
- Base setup was the Imola Race setup. We adapted to this circuit reducing one step the rear wing and compensating with lower rake, making the car less understeery at the same time as faster in the straights.
- For the safe setup we reduced the ride height a little bit more, as the rear would stabilise easier. Then we moved the camber and toe a slightly bit to keep a mechanic more stable in the corner.
- A change in the damper aimed to improve the traction in the corner exits and reduce the understeer under braking.
- For qualifying a change in spring rate was aiming to move the balance due to the effect of the fuel.
Barcelona
- With the AMG GT4 having very few parameters that can be changed to optimise car performance it is paramount to use slightly more extreme values to get the best performance. The Watkins Glen setup from the CDA3 American DLC pack was used as a starting point.
- Baseline runs were done with the mid ranged wing present on the setup and then a balance was determined. Higher wing values were then tested. In order to get rid of the accompanying understeer from the higher wing angle, a softer front ARB has been used with respect to the older Watkins setup.
- The dampers have been adjusted for aerodynamic stability through fast corners. The front rebound has been significantly increased to maximise front end loading from mid to exit and the rear bump has also been increased for maintaining a higher rake. The rear rebound is relatively softer with the front bump being stiffened to prevent excessive roll (which has been caused by the lower front roll bar).
- The rear bumpstops however are not being run as stiff as before in order to improve traction given the rear damping of the car has generally been stiffened. This slightly overdamped rear/underdamped front setup provides a more responsive driving experience with the car only tending to snap on very tight slow speed corners. The safe setup has been adjusted to tackle this one disadvantage in the faster variant.
- The quali setup generally requires more oversteer to be induced due to the fronts being more mechanically stressed however this is not possible once you reach a very high rear ride height. An alternative to induce a bit more oversteer is to add preload and then soften either the front bump or rear rebound damping in order to get the vehicle to once again pitch enough into corners.
Donington Park
- The fast setup uses a very low wing value to improve rotation through the higher speed corners. The rear suspension has been heavily stiffened with a low ride height to work well with the lower downforce.
- For the safer alternative a much higher wing value and ride heights ensures that the car is more forgiving in high speed. However it can catch you out on slow speed
- Apart from these changes it generally follows the same meta similar to other tracks. The bumpstop ranges are set very low and the ARBs are run relatively stiff.
- The stiffer front ARB helps in getting the car to stay responsive into corners and balances out the lack of rear end grip as a result of lower wing.
Laguna Seca
- Hungary used as a base setup
- Caster lowered (driver preference FFB), but not a detrimental amount.
- Front roll bar softened to increase mid corner rotation.
- Increased front spring used to accurately position the front end on such a narrow track.
- Rake increased for more dynamic rotation.
- Dampers adjusted to give more movement on entry to aid corner speed.
- Safe setup uses increased wing and some bumpstop changes.
- Qualifying setup uses more aggressive springs and bumpstops for ultimate performance
Kyalami
- Setup from Watkins Glen used as a base.
- Slightly higher wing and stiffer front spring used to reduce oversteer in the final phase of corner entry.
- Dampers re-tuned to reduce power-on understeer.
- Bumpstop rates tuned for better balance.
- Safe setup uses softer rear roll bars and less rake for stability especially under braking.
- Qualifying setup uses some damper changes to give a better balance on the limit, can be used as a race setup.
Hungaroring
- Oulton Park base used, due to narrow and twisty similarities.
- Front bumpstops softened to help with entry rotation.
- Rear bumpstops also softened to aid with better traction on exits. Could be softened further if needed.
- Dampers adjusted to increase response at turn-in.
- Preload increased to stabilise rear and aid traction.
- Brake Bias adjusted to minimise understeer under braking.
- Safe Setup uses more conservative roll bar, and rake settings, along with some minor bumpstop adjustments to prevent over-rotation.
- Qualifying setup uses slightly stiffer front springs to improve precision on a 1 lap run vs a lower grip window.
Monza
- Minimum wing used for maximum straight line speed. This will help with overtaking/defence in race situations.
- Lower rake than most tracks due to the lower wing and minimising drag.
- Balanced roll bars used to help with stability mid corner on lower wing values.
- Safe setup uses slightly more wing for stability and less aggressive bumpstop settings.
- Qualifying setup uses a softer front spring, but slightly higher rear wing along with some bumpstop changes for the best laptime.
Imola
- For this track Misano was used as a baseline since it has corners of similar radius. However, with tighter corners made it suitable to increase the rake. It was found an optimal rake value in 125 mm of rear ride height, since higher than that gave a rear too snappy.
- We modified the damper to try to corner controlling the front, by reducing the front bump, but also increase the rear stability under braking
- For the safe setup we kept a lower rake and reduced the camber of the four wheels, aiming with that, less lateral weight transfer and more control of the car.
- For the qualifying setup the rear struggled during corner exit, so it was necessary to reduce the rear bump damper and increase the front rebound damper to make smooth again, especially exiting Tosa.
Mount Panorama
- For this car in this circuit we kept the tendency of using minimum wheel rate that maximises the performance in the corner exit
- For the race setup we used 4 wing to improve the control of the corner entering up the mountain section. We tweaked the dampers to improve the stability in the high weight transfer corners
- To improve the stability in the race safe setup, we reduced the ride height slightly, making it easy to control in the change of direction.
- For qualifying we benchmarked the low wing 4 against a wing 5, which would give the vertical load to compensate for the weight loss. This last actually worked better, improving the sectors in corner entry and exit.
Snetterton
- Hungaroring setup used as base due to similar tight and twisty nature.
- Wing decreased to give more overall rotation at higher speed.
- Rear rebound softened to give more rotation on entry, this can be used as a good tuning tool in this car.
- Rear bumpstops are stiff to give less power-on understeer.
- Preload decreased to give more rotation, though this is at the sacrifice of entry stability.
- Safe Setup uses Softer rear roll bar along with Damper changes to give safer entry and exit behaviour.
- Qualifying Setup uses more aggressive roll bars and stiffer front springs.
Oulton Park
- Soft spring rates used for undulating surface common at Oulton Park.
- High Rake and aggressive rollbar settings used to try to minimise the inherent understeer present in the AMG GT4.
- Dampers tuned to try to maximise exit rotation whilst at the same time keeping a reasonable amount of traction.
- Safe setup uses less rake and other minor changes to maximise stability.
- With light fuel the car gets ‘bouncy’ in the rear, so a softer rear bumpstop rate is used in the qualifying setup to try to calm this down for better laptime.
Watkins Glen
- Compared to previous setup, dampers have been adjusted to give more rotation on entry and exit of corners.
- Rake and wing also adjusted for better performance mid-corner at high speed.
- Roll bar on the front lowered to improve mid corner grip and rotation.
- Bumpstops on the front tweaked alongside the roll bars to limit roll.
- Safe setup uses stiffer front springs and damper adjustments to improve stability.
COTA
- The setup runs a very low wing, using a similar approach as used at Misano. The baseline used to begin with however was Barcelona. From this point the wing has been trimmed down and the ride height has been adjusted accordingly.
- The traction has not been much of a problem with this car across most tracks, however particularly around COTA the tyres tend to heat up and cool down more erratically. Hence the rear bumpstops have also been softened a bit to balance out the rear grip in slow speed corners.
- The ride height is run significantly lower for the given wing angle to help with this traction and for entry stability. The differential preload has been increased quite a bit to regain high speed post apex rotation.
Indianapolis
- The quali setup is basically the race fast setup with less fuel. The balance of the car is very similar to the race setup despite less fuel load, which means that the general balance of the race setup (excluding massive tyre wear) will stay the same throughout the stint. The front tyres having slightly higher temperatures than the rear will tend to wear quicker, so consider gradually biasing the brakes rearwards through the stint to maintain the same balance until having to pit.
- The track despite being quite slippery still works well with a stiffer rear ARB and stiffer rear bump settings.
- This has been accomplished by running a slightly lower rear bumpstop rate and a much lower rear ride height. The wing level has also been adjusted in toder to get the car to rotate well out of the final corner.
- The setup is quite on the edge in terms of overall rotation so an accurate line must be taken to get the fast setup to work well through the track. Since the quali setup has a very similar approach and feel to the fast race setup it is worth having a look at the onboard video to see the appropriate lines to take through the various corners on the track.
Team List
| Driver/Engineer Combination | Track |
| Hubert Szymanski/Saiduth Ramesh | Barcelona |
| Luka Berk/Rob Taplin | Hungaroring |
| Amedeo Dekeyser/Miguel Jimenez | Imola |
| Taariq Adam/Rob Taplin | Kyalami |
| Hubert Szymanski/Rob Taplin | Laguna Seca |
| Amedeo Castorino/Saiduth Ramesh | Misano |
| Amedeo Castorino/Rob Taplin | Monza |
| Amedeo Dekeyser/Miguel Jimenez | Mount Panorama |
| Luka Berk/Saiduth Ramesh | Nurburgring |
| Amedeo Castorino/Saiduth Ramesh | Paul Ricard |
| Chris Hack/Rob Taplin | Spa Francorchamps |
| Amedeo Dekeyser/Rob Taplin | Suzuka |
| Luka Berk/Rob Taplin | Zandvoort |
| Amedeo Dekeyser/Miguel Jimenez | Zolder |
| Hubert Szymanski/Saiduth Ramesh | Brands Hatch |
| Hubert Szymanski/Saiduth Ramesh | Donington |
| Luka Berk/Rob Taplin | Oulton Park |
| Amedeo Castorino/Rob Taplin | Snetterton |
| Amedeo Dekeyser/Rob Taplin | Silverstone |
| Luka Berk/Rob Taplin | Watkins Glen |
| Aidan Walsingham/Saiduth Ramesh | Indianapolis |
| Aidan Walsingham/Saiduth Ramesh | COTA |
