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I tune a lot, my garage is a continual state of flux and flow. I am quite proud of the fact that my garage so closely emulates the universe(chaos and order depending upon your point of view), but I cant claim to get much accomplished. I do use a tuning calculator, the one that I carry around with me in my head at all times. It is prone to many errors and erroneous ideas but it is the one I like to use. It keeps me interested in the game as I can tweak and try things out, if I had some magical calculator that popped out perfect tunes for "me" every time, I think the game would be quite boring.

I have a general idea of what goes on when I tune a car, I use telemetry and the feel of the car and leave it at that. I follow with great interest the tuning  discussions on tuning daught net, but it is really hard to get a grip on them at times. I like to see and try what other people have tuned, to see how it all works, I figure the more I try the more I will learn.

I am enjoying the fact, albeit a very expensive one, that build is just as important as tune in FM3.

I have a base tune that I start with much like Reno's, actually very much so that I found it interesting because we had not compared them. I have spent a good month developing it and Reno already had it. It would have been much easier if he had just given it to me in the first place.

[RenoWrench]

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That is pretty funny Warped.  I basically extrapolated my current base tune from FM2 and the fact that small changes make a bigger difference in FM3.  I've noticed a pretty substantial difference in how the car feels with just a couple clicks of bump or ARB.  It's all about balance I guess.

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[Damping]

Damping
Here are some basic tuning thoughts and mantras that I have picked out of a damping discussion thread at tuning daught net to help remind me of what I am doing.Damping Discussion

These are from the very helpful folks over at tuning daught net; Discussion by Spiny anteater, feuerdog, Fit4aking et al. Thank you very much.

"you adjust bump for how the track moves the car around, and you adjust rebound for how the car moves around on the track,...or something like that."

another way of looking at it:
    * rebound - driver input and grip
    * bump - road surface and traction

"By softening the rear rebound(and/or stiffening the front rebound) you allow the rear to be more transient(less stable), which promotes weight transfer oversteer.
By stiffening the rear ARB you are adding steady state(mid-corner) compliance(grip) to the front, again promoting oversteer."

"control the end of the car where the weight is"

Springs 40% of total weight
ARB's in the 36-40 range
Dampers 8.0 and 4.0 (Rebound and Bump respectively)

Again these are just personal reminders for me of that discussion, I reccommend reading the thread.

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That is pretty funny Warped.  I basically extrapolated my current base tune from FM2 and the fact that small changes make a bigger difference in FM3.  I've noticed a pretty substantial difference in how the car feels with just a couple clicks of bump or ARB.  It's all about balance I guess.

I think I had a base tune in FM2, but when you get old it is hard to remember such things and that would take away the fun of starting all over again with the new game. It might have saved me a month of playing around with things.

I too am really liking the fact that a tiny bit of change can make a world of difference.

[RenoWrench]

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The discussion in the damping thread was pretty eye opening and very helpful.  I was starting form scratch last month as well but when it finally started coming together I noticed that the numbers were similar to FM2 but with stiffer springs and rebound settings.  As far as I can tell the Diff is the same.

It seems like the "extreme" tunes (super soft with crazy ARB settings) don't work so well anymore, not that I mind I never really liked any of the 1/40 ARB cars.

Anyone that hasn't checked out the damping discussion should take a few minutes and peruse some of the discussion.

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[To rim or not to rim.... that is the question?]

To rim or not to rim.... that is the question?

In FM2 rims were mostly a way to get the last little bit out of your PI, a way to take off a few pounds or add a few pounds so you could squeeze in that last upgrade you felt you needed. I never really used them as a performance upgrade.

In FM3 I have had a similar approach of adding rims mostly for looks. I have usually picked out one of the heavier rims that can be painted in a size that looked good on the car and still allowed me to add the upgrades I wanted. The trade off between the performance gain in tire stiffness and performance loss via weight gain has been pretty even with cars losing or gaining only a point or two in PI. As I continue to tweak and maximize builds I have changed that approach on a couple of cars. With my F class Miata I was able to lose quite a bit of weight through dumping uneeded parts and rim size. The result was a slight gain in acceleration and no noticeable detriment in tire wall performance.

Now should I use this approach on more of my cars or not? The next car I tried it on was my E class, E-type Jaguar. The thought was that it was suffering a bit in the acceleration end and that working with a similar build as the miata may help. My Jag though has a bit of a handling oddness that I would not describe as oversteer or understeer but of a swimming feeling as if you are driving through molasses. It is as if the suspension is slow reacting. Using smaller rims only made the problem worse. With small rims my suspension settings were probably about 20% above these settings:

Springs 40% of total weight
ARB's in the 36-40 range
Dampers 8.0 and 4.0 (Rebound and Bump respectively)

I tend to run my suspensions a bit softer than I think most tuners so for me to have a car set so stiffly is very unusual. It improved the feel but it did not go away. When I went back to bigger rims the feel of the car was much better and I have been able to drop my suspensions settings back down into the top end of the above listed ranges. The car feels very good now and has much improved performance with only a hint of the mushiness which seems to be part of the general personality of the car but no longer detrimental to its performance.

Rim size does now seem to affect the performance of the car than it did in FM2, which begs the question even more of "to rim or not to rim, and by how much?"

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[F Class:]

Basic build ideas.

F Class:

Brakes - Stock or street - stock are fine, street can give a bit more braking and less chance of lock up for minimal PI. Many cars come with at least street anyway. The only F car I have with more brakes is my miata and only because of it not wanting to reach 200. It can be at 198 and you -1lb and it goes to 199, if you are at 199 and -1lb it goes to 201,  add more brake and it goes to 200.

Suspension - Race - I almost always use race suspension for tuning adjustments, but many cars are fine without it and if you are trying to get the maximum speed then less suspension will do.

Anti-rollbars - Race front and rear - again for tuning adjustments. For a minimal PI hit you can get some car balance adjustments, especially nice if you are not using the race suspension.

Transmission - Sport - FD adjustment. Race transmission is usually a pretty big PI hit and not necessary.

Weight reduction or Tires - I usually go with weight reduction then tires or a combination of both in handling cars. In F class a handling rating of 5.0 is decent for almost all tracks, less is fine if you are building for speed.

Rims - I usually use a minimum of the heaviest Enkei rim(it is paintable) and rim size to look good on the car. I will go lighter if I can but I build my engine first.

Engine - I build the intake side first then go from there. Build to max PI as close as possible.

Final tweaks - Use rims and drive shaft upgrades to tweak to 200PI

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[F Class]

Cars that are not AWD and do not have an AWD swap:

F Class
2009 Chevrolet Aveo5 LT
2009 Honda Fit Sport
1972 Lotus Elan Sprint
1980 FIAT 131 Abarth
2005 Mazda Axela Sport 23S
1994 Mazda MX-5 Miata
1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
1994 Honda Civic 1.5 VTi
1999 Honda Civic Si Coupe
2009 Citroen C4 VTS
2003 Hyundai Tuscani Elisa
1995 Honda CR-X Del Sol SiR
1987 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA
2001 Mazda Mazdaspeed Familia
1960 Chevrolet Corvette
2009 Renault Twingo Renault Sport Cup

E Class
1968 Shelby GT-500KR
2010 FIAT Abarth 500 esseesse
2003 Mini Cooper S
1971 BMW Motorsport 3.0 CSL
1961 Jaguar E-type S1
1991 Honda CR-X SiR
1969 Ferrari Dino 246 GT
1990 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
2008 Saleen S331 Supercab
1968 Pontiac GTO Hardtop
1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
2002 Acura RSX Type S
1969 Dodge Charger R/T
1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SD-455
1980 Renault 5 Turbo
2000 Honda Prelude SiR
2007 Mazda MX-5 Roadster Coupe
2009 Vauxhall Corsa VXR
2006 Pontiac Solstice
2001 Mazda Mazdaspeed Roadster
2006 Civic Si Coupe
1964 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage
1990 Mazda Savanna RX-7
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS-454
2004 Honda Civic Type-R
2000 Honda Integra Type-R

D Class
2006 Saturn ION Red Line
2005 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Coupe
2007 Honda Civic Type-R
2001 Acura Integra Type-R
2002 Honda Integra Type-R
1991 BMW Motorsport M3 E30
2009 SEAT Ibiza CUPRA
2007 Renault Clio RS 197
2003 SEAT Leon Cupra R
1970 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
2009 Mini John Cooper Works
2004 Honda Mugen Civic Type-R
2004 Mazda RX-8 Mazdaspeed
2006 Vauxhall Astra VXR
2009 Mazda Mazdaspeed 3
2003 Renault Sport Clio V6
1987 Buick Regal GNX
2002 Chevrolet Camaro 35th Anniversary SS
2007 SEAT Leon CUPRA
2002 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Ram Air
2002 Honda Mugen Integra Type-R
2004 Pontiac GTO
2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427

C Class
2008 Vauxhall Monaro VXR
2003 Honda S2000
1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
2007 Saturn Sky Red Line
2008 5 Lotus Elise 111S
1964 Ferrari 250 GTO
2004 Opel Speedster Turbo
2000 Saleen S281
1901 BMW Motorsport M1
1997 Mazda RX-7
2009 Pontiac G8 GXP
1996 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
2004 Vauxhall VX220 Turbo
2009 BMW Motorsport 135i Coupe
1997 Acura NSX
1090 Lotus Carlton
1997 BMW Motorsport M3 E36
1991 Ferrari 512 TR
2004 Cadillac CTS-V
2005 Acura NSX
1992 Honda NSX-R
2006 Maserati GranSport
2009 Lotus Evora

B Class
2005 BMW Motorsports M3 E46 Coupe
2008 Maserati GranTurismo
2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS
2008 BMW Motorsport Z4 M Coupe
2002 Lotus Esprit V8
1994 Ferrari F355 Berlinetta
2009 BMW Motorsport M5 E60
2005 Honda NSX-R
2006 Lotus Exige Cup 240
1999 Shelby Series 1
2008 BMW Motorsport M3 E92
2001 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish
2007 SEAT Leon Supercup
2005 Honda NSX-R GT
2005 Aston Martin DB9 Coupe
1965 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe
1984 Ferrari GTO
2006 Saleen S281E
2009 Jaguar XKR-S
2009 Ferrari California
2009 Cadillac CTS-V
1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C
2002 BMW Motorsport M3-GTR
2010 Jaguar XFR

A Class
2004 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
2005 Esperante GTLM
1995 Ferrari F355 Challenge
2002 Ferrari 575M Maranello
1999 Ferrari 360 Modena
2008 Aston Martin DBS
2001 TVR Tuscan S
2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2010 Corvette Grand Sport
2003 Ferrari Challenge Stradale
2005 TVR Sagaris
1966 Ford GT40 MkII
2009 Lotus 2-Eleven
2004 Ferrari F430 -
2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
1987 Ferrari F40

[Warped Passage]

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My biggest, among many, weaknesses in racing is braking. It relates to two things, a lack of feel, and control with the left hand and not being able to make my fingers work correctly and hold the controller. Forget trying to use the manual clutch, I have tried and even tried different controller setups and I cannot get my left hand to brake, steer and clutch. It can barely steer and brake. I really should take the time to switch to the wheel but not having a place to leave it set up and not wanting to be slower than I already am until I learn it are the two things that hold me back.

Because of my braking issues, I have found I have a bit of a particular tuning issue. On tracks with sweeping corners, Sedona, Maple Valley etc., I find that I coast many of the corner entries because it is too easy for me to over brake. When you lift of the throttle and turn in on most cars I  get a bit of stutter in the front end. Does anyone have any tuning tips for helping to smooth or eliminate that front end stuter?

[EXOR HotrodOllie]

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My biggest, among many, weaknesses in racing is braking. It relates to two things, a lack of feel, and control with the left hand and not being able to make my fingers work correctly and hold the controller. Forget trying to use the manual clutch, I have tried and even tried different controller setups and I cannot get my left hand to brake, steer and clutch. It can barely steer and brake. I really should take the time to switch to the wheel but not having a place to leave it set up and not wanting to be slower than I already am until I learn it are the two things that hold me back.

Because of my braking issues, I have found I have a bit of a particular tuning issue. On tracks with sweeping corners, Sedona, Maple Valley etc., I find that I coast many of the corner entries because it is too easy for me to over brake. When you lift of the throttle and turn in on most cars I  get a bit of stutter in the front end. Does anyone have any tuning tips for helping to smooth or eliminate that front end stuter?

I cant get my fingers to behave either when using the clutch, I don't know how the other controller guys do it.

I have three controllers, one the steering drifts so I don't use it, the other the brake button is overly sensitive, it applies full brake at less than half travel, and the third (the original) works great, I have full range of button travel for braking and the last 1/8in of travel will start to lock the wheels.  I don't know if it matters but this is the controller I have adjusted the dead zones with initially.

I'm going to assume you have adjusted the dead zones with the controller you use the most.  Do you have nearly full travel of the brake before it locks the wheel?

The problem I see when coasting into a sweeper with out touching the brake is lack of weight transfer to the front, to get the front tires to bite enough to get to your acceleration point.  Two adjustments that may help are diff deceleration and gear ratio.  Setting gear ratio so that you are near the rev limiter coming into the turn will maximise engine braking and transfer weight to the nose when you dump the throttle.  Setting differential deceleration higher will scrub off speed as you enter the turn, again this acts like a brake to the rear inside wheel which will transfer weight to the front outside wheel, but too much can cause off throttle push.

For the D350 TA race at MVS I had to keep on the throttle 60-75 while at the same time lightly brake to be fast into the sweeper.  If I got out of the throttle it would slide in ass first, if I just used brakes it would slow down too much. Point is I had to adapt a technique to get this car to work that tuning alone couldn't do.

[EXOR Metal burn]

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I cheat. That's how. 

Nah, I remapped the clutch to the A Button. So to shift I just press both at the same time. Easy on down shift, Easy to miss on up shift.  Mystery solved.

Just have to use a roll technique. Start on A and roll the tip of your thumb (or side on up shift) to B or X. But same time works too. You'll get so used to it that you won't even think about it, until you miss the A Button and crunch the gears one time. 

[EXOR HotrodOllie]

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Thanks for that bit of top secret info Drift I read your post, ran and got a controller, fondled the A B X buttons, then biffed myself for not thinking of that!  I'll try it for real a bit later, sounds promising.

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Ok, so I tried Drifts method (Thank you BTW)and it is easy to use and get the hang of. Problem is it really seems to mess with my down shifting, either it unsettles the car or does not provide enough engine braking.  The result is slower lap times and consistency problems.  I may need to spend more time with it though.  Give it a try Warped, I think it was layout 1 with the e-brake/clutch swap on.

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I'm not downshifting once the "wheel" it turned. I'm trying to stay in one higher gear if I can. There are a few turns that I get left on because of that.
\
I'm also not really rapid firing it either( except for the R cars). And I find that I can usually go a bit deeper into the brake pedal. I'm still almost braking at FM2's braking levels. It takes a few laps to get it dialed in. If I actually stay in one car long enough, I might be able to come firing at the drop of the green.

[EXOR HotrodOllie]

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I guess I didn't realize how much I depend on the DS to help set up for the turn, your right though, on a single DS turn its fine. W/O the clutch I would bang down two gears late in the braking zone to help with turn in(depending on the car/turn)