Welcome to the CDA4 wet setup release notes blog. In this page you will find the detailed notes compiled by the team after each session when creating the the CDA4 wet setup variants for each of the GT3’s we currently develop dry setups for. Please carry on reading below to see what our team found:
Ferrari 296 GT3
Wet setup notes:
Heavy wet:
- The heavy wet setup was primarily developed in Barcelona to get an overall feeling of how the car behaves on a wide range of corners. Zolder was also used as an intermittent test track to test compatibility over kerbs and slow speed exits.
- The springs have been set quite soft to get the mechanical grip stronger for a heavy wet track.
- In addition to this, the bumpstop ranges have also been increased. This helps the car go over kerbs without maxing out suspension compression. This reduces variations in the tyre contact patch helping the car maintain grip more consistently.
- Bumpstop rates have also been kept on the stiffer side to make the compression more gradual, since soft springs will tend to make the suspension travel more.
- An emphasis on stiff fast dampers helps the car absorb kerbs at the cost of the some entry response, which is anyways not a top priority for a wet track. The priority is to load the tyres in a controlled manner and hit/stay at maximum grip well before the apex.
- Tyre camber and toe have been adjusted to be slightly more towards the neutral side to maximise tyre contact patch area for braking efficiency. Toe however is kept quite negative on the front and slightly positive on the rear. Even though a negative front toe will tend to saturate quicker on a wet track, with the current camber and damper configuration the negative toe works without saturating too quickly. It also provides good entry response given the car itself has been pushed to a softer combination.
- TC 6/7 is a good ballpark to use while running the car on a wet track.
Medium wet:
- As with the Porsche, the medium wet setup can run higher rear ARB values without sliding much compared to a heavy wet track. Additionally toe and camber values can also be more aggressive in a slightly drier track.
- Apart from these changes, not much else is required to get the car to work well in a less wet track, so based on your driving style and preference both HVY and MED wet setups can work on an endurance race. The MED wet setup may not be ideal for a heavy wet track, but the HVY wet is a viable option if you want a more consistent endurance setup;especially if the race is predicted to have several stints worth of rain.
Porsche 992 GT3 R
Wet setups notes:
Heavy Wet:
- The Porsche dry setup version 1 was used as a baseline to start with the wet setup.
- The main differences lie in the ARB and wheel rate values. The wheel rates have been softened up and the bumpstop rates have also been reduced a bit in order to improve compliance.
- The ARBs however have been stiffened as a stiffer ARB configuration provides better aero stability by limiting roll. The downside to stiff ARBs is that it causes more mechanical grip loss through slower corners. To compensate for this, the dampers have also been adjusted with respect to version 1.
- The fast dampers have been stiffened to provide kerb stability and give more mechanical grip. The slow dampers have been softened to give better entry and exit compliance on throttle. The rear ride height has been dropped so that the car doesn’t snap under braking and has enough traction on slow speed exits.
- At first glance the setup appears like it will understeer but since the car runs at slower speeds on a wet track, the aerodynamic understeer effects are not as prominent and you will hit the apex long before the understeer limit for the car.
Medium Wet:
- For the medium wet setup we have biased more roll stiffness rearwards since the car is running on a slightly more grippy track. The front ARB does not need to be as stiff, since the aero dependency for entry stability is lesser, due to the more grip.
- It is important however to note that entry speeds will be much higher with less wet conditions which is why a front wheel rate adjustment has been made as seen in the next point.
- Since there is a bigger grip for the front tyres, the front spring is a bit stiffer as well, compared to the heavy wet setup.
- Additionally the ride height is run higher since the car can deal with more entry and exit rotation without spinning on the wet track.
BMW M4 GT3
Wet setups notes:
Heavy wet:
- The heavy wet setup was developed in Barcelona similar to the other cars. The BMW is quite traction limited on wet tracks, so the main focus has been to make the car have better low speed grip to maximise exit speeds and improve laptimes.
- Soft rear bump damping and stiffer values for the rest of the parameters in the dampers ensure that the car works well over kerbs and braking performance is predictable and strong.
- Similar to the other cars, the springs are on the softer side for the wet setups and toe values are also optimised to increase grip on turn in.
- The stiff bumpstop rates also help to prevent the suspension from completely bottoming out.
Medium wet:
- The medium wet setup is slightly more agile and runs a higher rear ride height.
- The rear ARB has been stiffened to help the car rotate better in high speed corners.
- In addition to this the dampers have been modified to improve the overall stability in high speed corners, given the car has more aggressive rotation now.
Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO
Wet setup notes:
Heavy wet:
- Max wing, medium rake used. But with a less than maximum splitter to reduce the aero balance change under pitch/roll.
- Cambers lowered to maximise tyre footprint on the track.
- Alignment adjusted to improve traction, using toe-in on the rear.
- Higher TC/ABS settings used on the wet, low grip surface.
- Soft springs and bars to increase available grip.
- Bumpstops tuned to give more stability.
Medium wet:
- Cambers increased as a drier track means increased corner loads.
- More aggressive rake for better rotation.
Qualifying setup:
- More aggressive suspension and aero settings used along with slightly more camber.
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO
Wet setup notes:
Heavy wet:
- Springs softened further, along with high front ride height due to prevalence of water and puddles, along with a slightly lower rear to decrease the roll centre and improve stability.
- Cambers reduced and toes adjusted to give a better tyre footprint in the wetter weather.
- Dampers have also been adjusted to try to improve response on the wetter track.
Medium wet:
- Max downforce, high rake setup used for the wet weather to try to get as much rotation in the low grip scenario.
- Soft springs are used alongside medium roll bars to try to give the maximum grip window possible without sacrificing too much responsiveness of the car.
- Cambers slightly reduced from dry for medium rain settings.
Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Wet setup notes:
Heavy Wet:
- The heavy wet setup follows a similar trend to the other cars with the springs being very soft. In addition to this the ARBs have also been softened in order to maximise mechanical grip. The Aston being a front engined car tends to struggle with entry understeer due to the front tyres being overloaded mechanically and also has traction issues out of slow speed corners.
- The front dampers have been stiffened to maintain enough response on entry but also has enough rebound to maintain rotation from the apex onwards.
- The bumpstop ranges have been increased to improve compliance through bumpier corners across the calender. The stiffer bumpstop rates help in limiting travel range beyond a certain point since the springs and ranges tend to make the car pitch a lot.
- This sort of configuration makes the car mechanically stable but also keeps the car under control mid corner, at the cost of agility, which is the balance that works well for a setup which can work across a wide range of corners.
Medium Wet:
- The medium wet setup uses the heavy wet setup and adjusts in to be more aggressive in behaviour given the track will be slightly drier.
- It runs a slightly higher rake with more toe to help with overall agility and rotation.
Audi R8 EVO 2 GT3
Wet setup notes:
Heavy Wet:
- Low camber used to maximise contact patch in wet weather.
- High Downforce with little rake to make sure stability is paramount in the setup.
- Soft rear springs used to aid traction, along with conservative roll bars and short bumpstops to prevent aero sensitivity under braking.
- Dampers tuned to try and give maximum traction under throttle application.
- TC2 may need to be increased to add on-power stability. ABS may also need to be increased on a per track and wetness basis.
Medium Wet:
- Compared to the heavy wet, the medium wet setup uses slightly more aggressive cambers for the drier track, along with a little less preload to give more rotation on entry where not as much stability is needed vs the heavy wet conditions.
McLaren 720s EVO GT3
Wet setup notes:
Heavy Wet:
- Low cambers for maximum contact patch in heavy rain.
- Soft springs and low preload, along with long rear bumpstops to try to aid traction.
- Max wing and slightly higher front ride height used alongside low front splitter levels to give a stable aero platform.
- Dampers tuned to try to minimise snap oversteer under acceleration.
- TC settings are very temperamental, TC1 set to 5 as a good base to work from.
- Low ARB settings used to maximise grip whilst lowering peak tyre load to improve consistency of traction.
Medium Wet:
- Increased camber due to drier track and higher corner loads with increased speed.
- Small changes to dampers along with a lower front ride height to improve rotation mid-exit on corners.
- Qualifying setup uses slightly stiffer front springs for more precision, and less rear toe to aid rotation. Could be used as a MED WET alternative.
Bentley Continental GT3
Wet setups notes:
Heavy Wet:
- The Bentely is a car which usually works quite well across a variety of situations when it is in its working zone, as seen in very small, and in some cases zero, changes needed between the race and qualy setups apart from pressure adjustments. Similar to this behaviour the car needed quite small changes to get it to work on a heavy wet track. The base dry setup can be used by the rear end might be a bit tricky to handle on some corners.
- The main changes done on the heavy wet setup is to run a softer front ARB, softer wheel rates and a small adjustment to the rear bumpstop range.
- The ARB helps in getting the front tyres to bite into the corners and the lower front wheel rate helps make the car turn in better whilst going into heavy braking zones.
- The increased rear bumpstop range gives the car a bit more compliance when you get to bumpier tracks such as Zolder and Bathurst in corners where you need to aggressively get on throttle and change direction.
- The reason the wheel rates have not been minimised is to prevent the car from bottoming out and risking spinning through some bumpier parts on the calendar.
- The camber values are still run on maximum negative even for the wet track. We found that the running more neutral camber affects the overall grip on entry and mid corner for even the relatively lower speeds seen on wet tracks. If you prefer slightly more traction on the rear you can run a more neutral toe on the rear but it will cause the entry to become slightly unstable due to less overall grip. It is less destructive to fix traction issues than to fix entry stability on a wet setup (without affecting overall vehicle balance, thus working better over a stint), hence the higher camber at the cost of some traction has been chosen. We have instead increased the rear bumpstop range during the setup process to improve rear end grip on throttle. TC can also be used without too much loss in the wets.
Medium Wet:
- The heavy wet setup works quite well on a medium wet track which makes it an ideal choice if the track is going to go through multiple bouts of rain during a race. The medium wet setup is a bit more agile with the toe values being changed to be a bit more taxing on the tyres.
- Expect slightly more response at the cost of operating window size with this setup.
- Overall it is quite a good car to use in wet conditions and works well on most track types.
Honda NSX GT3 EVO
Wet setups notes:
Heavy Wet:
- Mechanical grip is paramount for the Honda in low grip conditions, and with the latest patch on the Honda the excessive roll does not affect aero stability very much. So the current ARB configuration has been decided upon with just enough stiffness provided to give enough initial response into corners.
- The springs are also kept quite soft with enoughs stiffness provided to prevent excessive bottoming out through the wide range of tracks.
- The front low speed damping has been softened slightly with respect to the race fast dry variant for the car in order to give more compliance on entry, given the speeds are not as high into and out of corners. The same has been done with the rear low speed rebound. This helps the car enter with more rotation into corners, with the stiff front bumpstop rate providing a counterbalance to vehicle pitch on entry keeping the rear end stable.
- The extra roll on the car will cause camber gain, which means running a high camber value can cost grip on the inner tyre due to the contact patch size. However this hasn’t had much impact on grip for the Honda. Also there is a small difference in braking distances from this change. If you prefer a slightly safer but slower variant try to run slightly lower camber values.
UPDATE
- Having done some more testing it has been evident that the Heavy wet setup tends to be slightly too aggressive off throttle into corners for some driving styles. In order to make the setup more accessible, a secondary version has been used, named as version 2. This is a more stable but also more understeer induced setup which can be used on a medium wet track as well.
Medium Wet:
- The medium wet setup runs a slightly more aggressive mechanical profile making the car more agile overall. The toe values have also been made a bit more negative which adds to the general speed through the corners.
- The slightly drier track helps make the car more forgiving. The rear ARB has been stiffened too so that the car gets better rotation in high speed corners.
- Theoretically the heavy wet setup can work on a medium wet track but will cause a lot more understeer.
- If the higher rear ARB is too much on bumpier tracks in the calendar, an alternative is to use a lower ARB value and raise the ride height and preload by 1-2 clicks. This helps in regaining the high speed rotation without destabilising the car on bumps.
Lexus RC F GT3
Wet setups notes:
Medium Wet:
- TC settings are user specific, if you have trouble with the loaded TC setting, then increase to TC5 and reduce to suit your driving.
- High wing/rake to give grip and rotation.
- Longer front and rear bump stops to help use weight shift to the car’s advantage in wet weather.
- Soft springs and roll bars to maximise grip.
- Preload increased to add entry stability.
Qualifying:
- Setup uses softer rear springs, more wing and rake, and changes to bumpstops and preload to maximise the balance change on low fuel.
Heavy Wet:
- Based on the Q setup which is aimed around traction. With less camber for more contact patch, changes to toe, and longer rear bumpstops.
Nissan GTR GT3
Wet setups notes:
Heavy Wet:
- Low revs out of corners will give you the best exits due to this cars explosive power delivery.
- Low rake, high downforce used to maximise rear stability.
- Low cambers to give better contact patch in wet weather.
- Soft dampers and bumpstops to aid grip.
- Soft springs and med roll bars to give grip balanced with good response rates.
Medium Wet:
- More Camber due to less surface water.
- Stiffer rear spring to improve rotation now the surface has more grip.
- Adjustments to dampers to suit new car balance.
Qualifying:
- Stiffer front roll bar, softer rear spring, more rake and camber.
Check back regularly to see wet setup notes for cars that are completed as we work through our release list.
