rec.autos.simulators

--
Pat Dotson

Interestingly, that one lap used up about 10% of
the tires.

There was another post awhile ago telling how
to decrease the tire wear.  Honestly, I think
I like it the way it is.  The tires don't wear
quickly unless you skid.  I have a feeling that
tire wear at this track is closer to reality
than the stock N4 tire wear settings.  If
oval tire wear was set like this, you'd see
a much different driving style.  I think it
would be a more realistic driving style.
--
Pat Dotson

Interesting, Pat...if you get a chance, could you run enough laps to burn
the
tires right off the car and tell me how many laps that was?  The tire wear
is
much higher than normal (to reflect future N4 road-course modifications),
but if you think it's more realistic, I'd like to see how well it does...for
example,
how many laps at Sears/Glen do you get b4 the tires fall off the car?

Cheers!

Jan Kohl
The Pits - 6 years and counting
http://www.theuspits.com

Just guessing, if I really lean on the tires, they would be
gone in 10 laps.  That is with a lot of skidding/sliding,
like most hotlaps are done.  I'll try it real quick to
confirm and get back to you.

I think it would be relevant to know what a realistic
lap time for one of these cars would be at this track
in real life.  I'd like to try running that lap time
consistently and see what the wear does.

As far as Glen and Sears, seems like you could go through
a whole tank of gas pretty easily if you aren't pushing
it.

--
Pat Dotson

tirewear at St. Jovite is way off. About 5 times what it should be.

You may wish to change the track_tire_wear parameter in the track's
track.ini to something between 0.90 and 1.0. It's currently set to 4.5,
which is wrong.

A good racelap is probably a 1.40, an excellent one a high 1:39. Qual laps I
don't know, haven't tried qual engine.

Achim

don't believe him ;-)

Tires start getting weaker even during outlap - you won't even have full
grip on the first timed lap. You can easily try and set track_tire_wear to
1. Your first hotlap (where normally there should hardly have been any
tirewear yet) will be faster than in the original setting, indicating that
in the original setting even on a moderately driven outlap you burn tire.

Driving the 1:43 laptimes Pat suggests, the tires will indeed be gone in
less than 10 laps, and that's certainly not realistic. If I remember this
correctly, at Sears I can do around 18 fast racelaps before the tires go
yellow and/or need to be changed. Track_tire_wear at Sears is 0.95. I'd go
for a value of 1.0 for this value :-)

Achim

What I thought was cool about how much tire wear there is
at St. Jovite is that when you spin or slide sideways
for a long time, the tires are basically shot.  With
normal N4 tire wear you could just keep going without
much effect.

Maybe N4 needs a steeper curve between slides within
reasonable slip angles, and slides at greater slip angles.
--
Pat Dotson

I also like the current settings. It gets us out of the hotlapper mentality.
It is almost like a endurance race now - who is quickest, smoothest and
easiest on equipment and tires.

I agree that N4 doesn't perfectly calculate _all_ parameters which affect
tirewear. But IMHO, overall it's a good compromise. I can clearly feel the
tires become more slippery at Watkins Glen or Sears every two or three laps
laps, although I give high priority to smooth driving.

Maybe locked brakes and hard slides don't have the effect they should have
(especially since you don't get a pad (correct term?) in the tire), but I
think trying to introduce this through increased general tirewear would
reduce overall realism WRT tirewear and race strategies.

Achim

hotlapping mentality never works in N4, as tirewear _always_ is an issue.
Those who preserve the tires better always will have an advantage, unless
you set the race distance to a very low value. Everything above 5 laps at
St. Jovite will already make tires an issue (at fast speeds) even if you set
the tirewear parameter as I suggest it (and what the other N4 roadtracks are
set to).

With St. Jovite's original setting, tirewear becomes an issue on lap 2 even
when you drive cleanly. IMO, good grip should be there for one or two fast
laps. At St. Jovite's original settings, in Qualifying you have less grip on
the first timed lap than you have on the outlap, if you drive the outlap in
a way that brings the tires up to any raceworthy temperature.

Maybe overall tirewear in N4 doesn't take into account some parameters in
the way it should take them into account, I don't know that, but I think St.
Jovite with tirewear set to between 0.90 and 1.00 will be a realistic
racetrack allowing for realistic strategies and driving.

Achim

"Joachim Trensz"
           I believe we Yanks refer to that as a 'Flat Spot'  i.e.  "he
flat-spotted the tars."
dave henrie

Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
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Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
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Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
GPLRank - under construction...

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Achim