Motor Town: Behind The Wheel ULTIMATE TUNING GUIDE [by milk

Introduction

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In this guide you will learn the basics for tuning as well as some tips and tricks to get your car ready for the track or street. Keep in mind tuning mainly means to make the car fit your driving style as best as possible. My recommendation may not fit your driving style and results may vary.

Feel free to request tuning setups for specific cars in the comments!

Powertrain

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Coolant RadiatorFor now there're only two types of radiators that can be installed into all (almost?) all cars: the basic radiator and a large size radiator.

Large size radiator:

A larger radiator helps to cool down the motor when driving in high RPM for a longer period of time. This means, if you accelerate and drive at high speeds a lot, you might want to consider installing a larger radiator. Large radiators are often used when trying to reach the highest top speed of a car. They're also useful for drifting, to help not overheating when cornering in quick succession.

Basic radiator:

For racing however, a large size radiator isn't always needed. With a proper racing style, the engine should never come near the heat limit. In rare cases it might be necessary, but most cars do just as fine with a basic radiator.

Why would you not install a large size radiator anyway? It adds 3kg of weight to your car. It doesn't sound much at first, but considering sometimes every millisecond counts, every kg does as well.

IntakeShort intake

A short intake makes the engine respond quicker to the throttle. In general, it will make you accelerate faster, but will also take a cut off your top-speed. This can be countered with a lower final-drive which will be explained later.

Long intake

A long intake will slow the acceleration down, but top speed is increased. As far as I know it also increases torque, which helps to haul cargo through different terrain or mountains (please correct me in the comments if I'm wrong).

EngineEngines determine how much actual power your car has, but it will also add a lot of weight. Just a one-level higher engine will affect the handling very noticeably. Engines really need to be picked with thought in mind. The V12 400HP might always lead to the highest top-speed, but you won't always be the fastest on the streets/tracks with it.

Taxi-Driving:

You will need a compromise between speed and handling. Both need to be well balanced if you want to successfully deliver urgent-comfort passengers in full satisfaction. Too much acceleration may it make much more difficult after a corner to accelerate without spooking the client. This is up to any car by it's on and really requires experimentation and practice.

Trucking:

You should choose your engine depending on the weight of your cargo. A stronger engine will drain much more fuel and especially with the huge tanks that trucks have, it can take quite a big cut off your overall trucking-income. Bigger is not always better.

Racing:

The engine should be selected depending on the track and the car of course. For a small track like Olle-Speedway it rarely makes sense to put a 400HP engine in your car. Some cars also simply handle bad if the engine chosen is too big or powerful. Some of the best laptimes on Ansan-Raceway have been made with 340HP engine. With the racetracks currently in game it's mostly important for cars to handle well and be able to corner fast.

TurbochargerTurbochargers will give a boost in power in higher RPM. The car's acceleration might feel slower at first, but will noticeably get faster when gaining speed. So far I haven't found a scenario where I wouldn't install a stage 1 turbo. The weight gain is completely topped by the gained power. If anyone knows a reason to not install a turbo, please let me know.

TransmissionThe choice of your transmission determines how many gears your car has and also the specific gear ratios. As far as I know torque-converter transmissions are more suited for strong and heavy vehicles, such as the Mitage or the Mammoth.

More gears: slower acceleration, higher top-speed

less gears: faster acceleration, lower top-speed

On smaller race-tracks it can make sense to consider smaller transmissions like 4-gear or 5-gear. If you go through many gears in a short time without a longer straight at some point you probably have to many gears.

Final-drive ratioThe higher the number, the shorter your gear becomes.

higher ratio: faster acceleration, lower top-speed

lower ratio: slower acceleration, higher top-speed

It's important to setup the ratio according your driving-needs. Generally you should ensure, that you can reach the last gear. It doesn't need to hit the limit, but somewhere close to that will make fuel use of the engine. On track-racing your setup should prioritise a compromise between top-speed and acceleration. During the fastest part of a track you should be close to limit your revs. If the track has many corners, it can be favourable to choose faster acceleration over top-speed and driving part of the track reving at limit. Experiment!

DifferentialsDifferentials can be quite hard to understand. I'm not an expert myself, but overall you can say: differentials manipulate power transfer between wheels to avoid wheel spin and to ensure equalling distribution. Depending on FWD, RWD or AWD you'll find either front-(FWD), rear-(RWD) or front-center-rear-(AWD)differentials.

Suspension

The suspension determines how the car will handle. There are some general rules, however, it also has a lot to do with the driving style. Suspension is THE way to personalise the vehicle and tune it to your needs.

A general rule of suspension tuning is:

Go as stiff and low as possible, WITHOUT compromising handling.

Suspension can be very stiff and low on even racetracks.

Suspension should be higher and softer on uneven racetracks.

Anti-roll-barsAnti-roll-bars regulate how much the drive-train will tilt/roll. Stiffer ARB will reduce body roll of the car chassis which helps staying in control when taking corners in quick succession. Reduced body roll will decrease the weight-transfer and therefor also the weight-difference between wheels.

A stiff ARB will be counter-intuitive on uneven-terrain / offroading. The tires might not be able to keep contact with the surface anymore, reducing overall grip.

Suspension-springSuspension springs determine how much force is needed to compress the spring. The heavier the vehicle, the stronger the springs. Soft springs will help staying in control when crossing uneven terrain. However, it will also increase body roll and reduce overall speed in corners.

Which also means, that a stiff setting can help in corners, since weight-transfer is reduced and grip increased.

However, setting it too stiff will lead to bad handling and the vehicle may become bouncy.

Suspension springs should always be aligned with suspension-damper.

Suspension-damperSuspension-damper and suspension-spring work hand hand. The damper kind of regulate how the springs behave and reduce bounciness. Softer dampers will lead to more reactive springs while harder dampers will reduce the wiggle-room of the springs.

You can see yourself best if you setup soft dampers and very stiff springs. See how the vehicle behaves and turn the setup around. This should help giving a feel of how these two components affect the vehicle.

Suspension ride-heightA lower vehicle will have an easier time in corners, since the center of mass is lower and the lever-force on each wheel is decreased. Overall weight-transfer is reduced.

However, uneven terrain will make the car uncontrollably if the suspension is too low.

Wheel-spacerWheel-spacer further help reducing body-roll and distributing forces on the wheels. For taller vehicles it can also help prevent to flip it.

Angle-kitAngle-kits increase the possible turn-in of your wheels. This can be especially useful for very long vehicles to make them easier to manoeuvre in tight spaces. Race-cars don't really benefit from it, because it won't increase the speed you can have in a corner.

Other

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Brakes

The heavier the vehicle the higher base-value of the brakes. Which also means that brake-upgrades become much more noticeable the heavier your vehicle is.

In rare cases stronger brakes can also help in racing. For me I found out, that stronger brakes, don't help and decelerating faster but rather lock the wheels. Though AWD vehicles seem to benefit from upgraded brakes generally.

Aeroparts

So far aeroparts seem to be only cosmetic. They add a lot of weight to your car, so a modded vehicle might not be a good choice for hotlapping. However, since it increases weight, it can help to reduce jump-height of the car, making it feel like it's more glued to the surface. Cornering however will most likely be slower with any sort of bodykit installation.

Tuning Setups

Here you can browse through various setups I've made through my Motortown journey.

WR in the title means, a new overall best has been achieved with this car/setup.

Title-syntax is as following:

vehicle || achievement-tag_racetrack/purpose || optional: date

# Enfo GT || WR_AnsanRaceway || 29-06-23

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PowertrainSuspension

Setup:

Radiator: Basic

Intake: Short intake

Engine: V8 320HP

Turbocharger: Stage 1

Transmission: 6 Speed Sports

Final-drive-ratio: 4.0

Front-LSD: 1.5 Way-clutch-pack LSD (50,30)

Rear-LSD: 1.5 Way-clutch-pack LSD (50,30)

Center-LSD: 1.5 Way-clutch-pack LSD (50,30)

Brakes: 200%

Anti-roll-bar front: 200%

Anti-roll-bar rear: 200%

-spring: 500% (front and rear)

-damper: 500% (front and rear)

-ride-height: front: -8 | rear: -7

Wheel-spacer: Stock

Angle-kit: Stock

Tire: KM2-45

Wheels: Zager

# Cora || Cruising

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PowertrainSuspension

This setup is made to be stable as possible, while maintaining high speeds. It can be quite snappy sometimes, but it helps a lot to avoid unexpected traffic and the like.

Setup:

Radiator: Large-size-radiatior

Intake: Short intake

Engine: V8 320HP

Turbocharger: Stage 1

Transmission: 6 Speed Sports

Final-drive-ratio: 3.73

Rear-LSD: 1.5 Way-clutch-pack LSD (50,30)

Brakes: 200%

Anti-roll-bar front: 200%

Anti-roll-bar rear: 150%

-spring: 500% (front) | 200% (rear)

-damper: 500% (front and rear)

-ride-height: front: +3 | rear: +5

Wheel-spacer: 100mm

Angle-kit: Stock

Tire: KM2-45

Wheels: Vista

Aeroparts:

I've chosen a heavy body-kit for the Cora. It'll make cornering slightly harder, but jump-height is decreased - perfect for fast get-aways or street racing.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2993554945

ULTIMATE TUNING GUIDE [by milk_TRL] New setup!