F355 Monza times

What kind of Monza lap times do people have out there with F355 Challenge (I have the PS2 version, although I don't know if there is any significant difference with the DC)? The best I've been able to do so far is 1'53"781, but I've got to believe that it is possible certainly to get under 1'50". I haven't had a completely 100% clean lap (I'm finding I'm tending to brake a little late and skidding a bit going into the chicanes, although I'm really trying to push it and keep at full throttle as much as humanly possible in the straights). I haven't fooled around with the car setup too much - just adjusted the rear wing from 1.50 to 1.00 - that seems to have reduced the downforce a bit and gives some more speed in the straights. It does make the chicanes a bit trickier though - it is easier to slide and lose grip, particularly in the Variente Ascari. The manual describes the ride height as affecting roll, understeer/oversteer. Does anyone know if adjusting it has an effect on downforce/grip? Boy - with F355 even a relatively simple track like Monza is *not* easy - even when you have a good line, going into places like parabolica you have to be real careful on the throttle until you get onto the straight, otherwise you'll understeer and drift out too far.

My best (in the "Great Driver Challenge" mode) is a 1:55:something. Are you using a wheel or a PS2 controller? I'm using the controller so fine turning adjustments are next to impossible. I usually end up tapping the stick repeatedly, especially on Parabolica. I checked the manual to see what the various Car Settings do and it seems like most of them effect understeer/oversteer; I saw no mention of downforce or increasing/decreasing acceleration/top speed. Also, I'm sure my starts could be better as, just like with steering, braking and accelerating are all-or-nothing with the regular controller. I set the ride height to the minimum and didn't see any obvious changes off the start. I thought a lower ride height would increase acceleration or top speed but saw no evidence of it. I may crank it up and see what happens... I love the game. The Great Driver mode is a lot of fun with one complaint: it seems sometimes when a car hits me (IMHO), I get penalized 10 points. One of these days I'll get a wheel. I have one for the PC and it's a blast, and totally necessary for F12002/F1C. - TN Ian Maione wrote:

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> What kind of Monza lap times do people have out there with F355 > Challenge (I have the PS2 version, although I don't know if there is > any significant difference with the DC)? The best I've been able to > do so far is 1'53"781, but I've got to believe that it is possible > certainly to get under 1'50". I haven't had a completely 100% clean > lap (I'm finding I'm tending to brake a little late and skidding a bit > going into the chicanes, although I'm really trying to push it and > keep at full throttle as much as humanly possible in the straights). > I haven't fooled around with the car setup too much - just adjusted > the rear wing from 1.50 to 1.00 - that seems to have reduced the > downforce a bit and gives some more speed in the straights. It does > make the chicanes a bit trickier though - it is easier to slide and > lose grip, particularly in the Variente Ascari. The manual describes > the ride height as affecting roll, understeer/oversteer. Does anyone > know if adjusting it has an effect on downforce/grip? > > Boy - with F355 even a relatively simple track like Monza is *not* > easy - even when you have a good line, going into places like > parabolica you have to be real careful on the throttle until you get > onto the straight, otherwise you'll understeer and drift out too far.

Just spent an hour and got a 1:54:991 on Monza in Arcade Driving mode. I put the rear wing deg to 0; seemed to help a little. I then tried GDC mode and got 980 on Monza (GRRRRRRR!!!). On a side note, the game doesn't seem to be saving my GDC results but does save my Arcade times. It does remember that I have a Bronze on Suzuka Short and a silver on Monza for GDC though. Odd... I wonder if 360 Challenge is on the way? :) - TN

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> Ian Maione wrote: > >> What kind of Monza lap times do people have out there with F355 >> Challenge (I have the PS2 version, although I don't know if there is >> any significant difference with the DC)? The best I've been able to >> do so far is 1'53"781, but I've got to believe that it is possible >> certainly to get under 1'50". I haven't had a completely 100% clean >> lap (I'm finding I'm tending to brake a little late and skidding a bit >> going into the chicanes, although I'm really trying to push it and >> keep at full throttle as much as humanly possible in the straights). I >> haven't fooled around with the car setup too much - just adjusted >> the rear wing from 1.50 to 1.00 - that seems to have reduced the >> downforce a bit and gives some more speed in the straights. It does >> make the chicanes a bit trickier though - it is easier to slide and >> lose grip, particularly in the Variente Ascari. The manual describes >> the ride height as affecting roll, understeer/oversteer. Does anyone >> know if adjusting it has an effect on downforce/grip? >> >> Boy - with F355 even a relatively simple track like Monza is *not* >> easy - even when you have a good line, going into places like >> parabolica you have to be real careful on the throttle until you get >> onto the straight, otherwise you'll understeer and drift out too far. > >

F50 GT <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<vFQ8b.70143$[email hidden]>... > My best (in the "Great Driver Challenge" mode) is a 1:55:something. Are > you using a wheel or a PS2 controller? I'm using the controller so fine > turning adjustments are next to impossible. I usually end up tapping > the stick repeatedly, especially on Parabolica. > I'm using the Logitech GT Force wheel. I find it weird trying to play racing games with the controller - I think it completely takes away the realism of driving to use one. The GT Force is pretty good, although there are a couple of oddities. The first is that there seems to be a bit of background "noise" from the force feedback sometimes, even when you are stable driving down a straight. I'm not sure if this is intended or not - when I play GT3, this doesn't happen, so I'm assuming it is the game and not the wheel. The other thing is that the steering seems to have a bit of a dead spot in the middle - but overall it is still good. Has anyone out there tried any other wheels with F355? > I checked the manual to see what the various Car Settings do and it > seems like most of them effect understeer/oversteer; I saw no mention of > downforce or increasing/decreasing acceleration/top speed. For the rear wing configuration, it does indicate this affects downforce and drag, which makes sense. I guess in theory more rear downforce should also tend to make the car understeer a bit more, but I'm not sure about that. My experience with reducing the wing angle was that it definitely gives you better top speed. Interestingly though, the wing change definitely seems to give me better top speed on the straights, and although I am now getting consistent laps times in the 1'53"s, over the first two sectors I am pretty sure I am doing even better than that. It is in the third sector, particularly in Ascari and parabolica, that I am giving some of that gain back. I think what may be happening is that the reduced downforce has made the car understeer a bit more, so that I can't take the Ascari chicane and the first part of parabolica quite as fast without the car getting squirrely and skidding. I think what I may try next is to try to adjust camber or ride height to try to generate a bit more oversteer and see if I can compensate for that. Part of the fun for me is trying to understand how the setup affects performance and trying to come up with setup changes on my own that work. One thing I would have liked to have been able to tune is gear ratios - when I drive the Monaco track with the F1 car in GT3 I found adjusting the gear ratios makes a huge difference. > Also, I'm > sure my starts could be better as, just like with steering, braking and > accelerating are all-or-nothing with the regular controller. > I find being able to make fine adjustments is critical - that could very well make a huge difference. For example, going down the first straight onto the first chicane, I am full out on the throttle, and then I am full on the brake to get down to a speed that I can take the chicane. Then you are using quick steering movements to get the car on the right line, and feathering the throttle to get the car through the chicane. I find the same kind of thing is crucial on the two Lesmo curves - once you are on the line, you are really feathering the throttle to guide the car through the curve as quickly as possible until you can go full throttle again. > I set the ride height to the minimum and didn't see any obvious changes > off the start. I thought a lower ride height would increase > acceleration or top speed but saw no evidence of it. I may crank it up > and see what happens... In real life lowering the ride height ought to increase downforce, not reduce it, so I would expect it to reduce top speed instead. That is because a lower ride height results in faster air flow under the car, which creates a force which pulls the car into the pavement. This is why F1 cars ride so incredibly low to the ground - even a couple of millimeters can make a huge difference in the ability of the car to corner at high speed. It is quite possible this aspect is not accounted for in the physics model.

Thanks for all the info! I will most likely treat myself to a PS2 wheel when GT4 comes out and see how I do in F355 then. I still really like it and will keep at it with the regular controller until GT4. :) - TN Ian Maione wrote:

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> F50 GT <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<vFQ8b.70143$[email hidden]>... > >>My best (in the "Great Driver Challenge" mode) is a 1:55:something. Are >>you using a wheel or a PS2 controller? I'm using the controller so fine >>turning adjustments are next to impossible. I usually end up tapping >>the stick repeatedly, especially on Parabolica. >> > I'm using the Logitech GT Force wheel. I find it weird trying to > play racing games with the controller - I think it completely takes > away the realism of driving to use one. The GT Force is pretty good, > although there are a couple of oddities. The first is that there > seems to be a bit of background "noise" from the force feedback > sometimes, even when you are stable driving down a straight. I'm not > sure if this is intended or not - when I play GT3, this doesn't > happen, so I'm assuming it is the game and not the wheel. The other > thing is that the steering seems to have a bit of a dead spot in the > middle - but overall it is still good. Has anyone out there tried any > other wheels with F355?

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> I haven't fooled around with the car setup too much - just adjusted > the rear wing from 1.50 to 1.00 - that seems to have reduced the > downforce a bit and gives some more speed in the straights. It does > make the chicanes a bit trickier though - it is easier to slide and > lose grip, particularly in the Variente Ascari. The manual describes > the ride height as affecting roll, understeer/oversteer. Does anyone > know if adjusting it has an effect on downforce/grip?

It's a good few years since I played it on the DC but I remember it understeered pretty much whatever you did until you dialed out a bit of rear toe which sharpened it up nicely, don't over do it though! Too much rear toe out makes the handling interesting......... (well, do try it once!) I think I used to run at minimum ride height, if my memory serves it does handle better but doesn't like the kerbs at long beach much. I adjusted the wings from circuit to circuit, max at long beach, min at monza, again it does make a difference. In fact I think F355 has rather lovely physics for a DC. Rubbish collision detection though. HTH Paul

"Paul Laidlaw" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<bk599a$pe6e1$[email hidden]>...

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> It's a good few years since I played it on the DC but I remember it > understeered > pretty much whatever you did until you dialed out a bit of rear toe > which > sharpened it up nicely, don't over do it though! Too much rear toe out > makes the handling interesting......... (well, do try it once!) > > Paul

That is interesting - I have never driven a real F355 (I guess the closest I can come to that type of RWD car is my old RX-7), but I would have expected a powerful RWD car like that to naturally tend to oversteer rather than understeer. I wonder if it is true to the real car in that respect.

> That is interesting - I have never driven a real F355 (I guess the > closest I can come to that type of RWD car is my old RX-7), but I > would have expected a powerful RWD car like that to naturally tend to > oversteer rather than understeer. I wonder if it is true to the real > car in that respect. I haven't driven one either but apparently they do understeer in stable cornering. Of course you can provoke oversteer but the natural tendency is understeer. Paul

"Paul Laidlaw" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<bkann3$re3po$[email hidden]>...

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> > That is interesting - I have never driven a real F355 (I guess the > > closest I can come to that type of RWD car is my old RX-7), but I > > would have expected a powerful RWD car like that to naturally tend to > > oversteer rather than understeer. I wonder if it is true to the real > > car in that respect. > > I haven't driven one either but apparently they do understeer in stable > cornering. > Of course you can provoke oversteer but the natural tendency is > understeer. >

I have a hard time getting an intuitive grasp sometimes of how some of these changes would translate into oversteer or understeer. With rear toe-out it's hard to visualize what that would do to the tendency of the car to turn - I guess I'm not that great at that type of physics. By reducing the rear downforce to minimum I managed to cut a few tenths off - I managed a 1:52:828 lap. Boy it is not that easy to cut down lap times - I don't think I've run a perfect lap, but I've run quite a few solid ones. I guess I will try adding some further suspension modifications next and see how that helps.