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| TOE TUNING FOR FORZA MOTORSPORT 3 |
| Allrighty then, here I am at the threshold of trying to describe advice for tuning something that I don't have in front of me, so I'll have to (out of necessity) rely upon my FM2 experiences, and go with the basic assumption that real world physics will apply to our tunes in Forza Motorsport 3. |
| Anyway, as for toe, how should we use it in our tunes? |
| Let's break it down in terms of drive types: |
| Rear Wheel Drive - RWD Front Wheel Drive - FWD All Wheel Drive - AWD |
| What we need to be cognizant of is that RWD cars generally turn in better on entry and are prone to oversteer on turn exit. |
| Here's a little insight into toe settings for RWD cars: |
| "Toe settings at the rear have essentially the same effect on wear, directional stability and turn-in as they do on the front. However, it is rare to set up a rear-drive race car toed out in the rear, since doing so causes excessive oversteer, particularly when power is applied." |
| 'Smithees race Car Technologies' - http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/theory/align.html |
| I'm a personal fan, and have a bias towards RWD cars, especially of the mid-engine variety. On pretty much all of my RWD set-ups I'm going to mimic the sentiments of the above quoted text and toe-in my rear wheels. As we improve our driving, we can set our cars up for more oversteer. The fastest guys in Forza prefer a little power-on oversteer in their set-ups. Even my track instructor likes a car that oversteers a bit when the throttle is applied. 'Throttle steer' helps get the car to rotate better. The faster we get the car to rotate, the sooner we can put the power down on corner exit. Rear toe-in helps us put the power down! |
| As for front toe, for the most part, unless you have a rare instance where you have a RWD car that understeers badly on corner entry, I've always been in favor of a neutral toe setting in the front although a slight toe-out in front can have it's advantages. The only time in FM2 I've toed-in my front wheels is at the Nurburgring. There aren't a lot of really tight turns, relative to the high speeds that are generated on that track, which is mad fast and will benefit from increased straight line stability. |
| FWD and AWD cars I treat essentially the same up front. Firstly, I'll say that FWD cars (in my opinion) are a waste of time and I don't prefer them, but AWD cars are quite popular in Forza Motorsport. In either case, due to the fact there are driven wheels at the front axle, both are prone to understeer and benefit greatly from a bit of front toe-out. If this means a sacrifice of some straight line stability, this is something we should be willing to live with in exchange for much needed turn in. |
| As for toe in the rear, I would not toe-in the rear wheels on a FWD or AWD car. I'd run neutral toe and utilize my Anti roll bar and suspension settings to try and get the rotation I need. I'd only toe out my rear wheels as a last resort on an AWD car. Power on oversteer on turn exit can be a good thing, so from this perspective, toe out might work in an AWD car and is even more help with a FWD car. But personally I'm not a big FWD guy, so as far as AWD goes, I'd try to take advantage of any lack of turn exit car rotation and compensate by ramping up the rear acceleration setting on my Limited Slip Differential to power through the turns. My feeling is that neutral rear toe will allow me to put the power down more effectively with less tire scrub, while allowing my LSD (acronym) to get the rear end rotation I need to power out of a turn. Your AWD driving style should vary from when in your RWD cars. In an AWD car, and their tendency to push, 'slow in and fast out' is even more applicable for fast laps. |
