Where to Begin with Sim Racing Setup (iRacing)

Getting your sim racing setup right is a challenge. In this video, we take a look at how sim racers should start to think about their driving to begin to develop their car's setup.
The onboard footage is from one of the students of the Driver61 Sim Racing MasterClass, who had a question about where he could find time and whether or not his setup in iRacing was correct.
Our head coach, Scott Mansell, breaks down his thoughts about a direction for the car's setup.
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#simracing #setup #iRacing

[@2Negativecool]

It never escapes me that I get to listen to a true professional racer and instructor provide tips on how to race better. My thought during this whole video, "Holy crap, this analysis is free." .. THANK YOU

[@sorenkaden8615]

Dunno if you guys gives a shit but if you guys are stoned like me during the covid times then you can stream all the new movies on instaflixxer. I've been watching with my brother for the last couple of months =)

[@daltonwill4218]

@Soren Kaden yup, have been watching on instaflixxer for since november myself :D

[@waynedunbar4087]

Great info, Scott! i would love a series on each of the different setup components and how their individual adjustments affect the car. I have always struggled with setup issues and would feel more confident making adjustments if i knew what they ultimately did. Absolutely love your real world and sim driving videos! Keep it coming, Driver 61!

[@巻木トリスタン]

there are guides all over the internet, www.racedepartment.com/threads/assetto-corsa-car-setup-guides.99049/ this is one but if you read what the setups says you will understand easily though most of sim racing drivers uses telemetry system for setups, in iracing and assetto corsa works similar just read what they do and everythinng works the same more in the front means more understeer, more in the back means more oversteer just be aware of the rest i mean tyre temperatures, too high and you will lose time, too low and you will lose lap time, also undertand how to heat your tyres.

If you are using the graphic car to record, use the CPU, it helps a lot with frame rate. Also, lower bitrate

[@vsm1456]

why CPU?

[@mayaneko1094]

@@vsm1456 The CPU can normally generate videos with a better quality. But on the other side it's a heavy task for the CPU as well and it can cause problems for other programs and games, which are CPU-heavy. So if the game runs fine with the CPU, then it's a good idea to take it. If the game starts to stutter while recording, then the GPU should be preferred. For professionals it might even be interesting to use a 2nd PC for capturing the 1st PCs video signal.

[@HoshinoMirai]

Why not a capture card? If they are planning on doing this for the longer term, I think it would be the best to use a standalone device dedicated to recording

[@halosam2963]

@@HoshinoMirai They may not be able to afford one. Capture cards tend to be pricey. Thus they would need to rely on either their CPU or GPU for video recording.

[@dalowryda]

Ya looks like the game video is run on a potato

[@BobbyDuwitz]

These videos have taught me so much without even having to try, the information just sticks. I’d love to see you analyze your own iRacing races, though I understand why it’s helpful as an instructor to talk about others’ techniques and their issues.

[@KasaiHasuki]

The stuttering of the footage is quite distracting but the information is top notch as always

[@driver61simracing10]

Ah, sorry about that. I'll try OBS next time.

[@MrDeapGamingMedia]

I usually tell people to mess with the alignment before exploring the suspension, because the car default setup is usually very balanced out of the go. If the car start to be unstable from having better grip, you know it require some suspension change.

[@alexroyal2267]

Brillant explanation as usual, clear even for a non english mother language like me, thx.

[@Snoooo]

Amazing stuff, I learned and finally understood some things I've been struggling to understand! Thanks a lot Scott!

[@pmacfto]

Brilliantly explained as usual and all in a pretty short vid. Great detail on the global and specific changes.

[@jake5285]

Thank you for this video, I loose so much time using the wrong set up!

[@11jdstein]

I would appreciate a video before making changes, show which changes to make - including the actual settings changes - and after, just to better understand the practical side of your theories, which are understandable and helpful, thank you.

[@kevve019]

I love your video's! But I have a question about this topic.. your seeing that in some corners the pause to wait for the car to settle... If I see this (and i know absolutely nothing about setups), I'm seeing: "oh, he steers to early and correct his approach to apex..." How to you know the difference of trying to steer in early or a setting that isn't right???

[@Kungfujoe1110]

This is a great video - I really appreciate the use of an open-wheeler. I had to laugh a bit though. I just came off a season in the Formula Renault 3.5 - the idea of getting rear stability in that car is a dream. That particular car on iRacing might be the most difficult one on the service. I learned more about the deficiencies in my right foot using that car than I could possibly describe. Granted, the driver displayed seemed to have great right foot control, but finding stability in the rear of that car felt nearly impossible for me for pretty much the entire season. We're on to the Williams F1 this season though, so the FR3.5 is a not-so-fond memory at this point. I'm curious Scott, suppose I analyzed my lap and decided I'd like to increase the stiffness of the rear suspension. I check my rear ride height (say it's 1.200"), I then stiffen my rear springs a couple clicks, and my ride height will surely increase (If I had to guess/remember correctly, probably to something like 1.250"). Should I then use the (iirc) spring perch adjustment to bring the rear of the car back down to ~1.200"? I'm hoping to translate this information into tuning the F1 car, as our season starts tomorrow and I'm having some stability issues with it (presently around my driving technique, I think I'm too aggressive with the wheel, but then that makes me think I might be fighting it too much, which could point to some understeer issues on entry)

[@sirdrinksaiot415]

Thank you very much scott,i really need this.

[@Kawicat55]

you should do a video on how how i drive on iracing with the v8s. ive had the car turn in under brakes and i still have the wheel straight. idk if thats just my braking or the setup

[@mateerdei1275]

Great stuff. Keep it coming.

[@Switch_X_Back3884]

Could you do a video on Tyre pressures. Bc in F1 2020 they have tyre pressures now. And thats a big deal. Need help. Bc of you i get to within 1.1-1.5 secs of the World Records on the Ps4 and ive been racing in only since March 2020. My learning curve has been changed dramatically bc of your videos and in-depth explanations. Thank you so much. I might get on the F1 ESports level one day. ALL bc of you Scott. Thank you soooo much. Cheers

[@TimurIskhodzhanov]

Why do you say the stiffness of the rear suspension doesn't matter at turn in? The total weight on all four corners is almost constant, so if the front dives down, the rear jacks up. It's the same thing as during accelerator, just flipped the other way.

[@viperion_nz]

How do you know whether to stiffen the front springs, or whether to increase the front slow damper?

[@vsm1456]

front springs settings work every time the front springs are affected, while front slow bump settings only affect compression phases (corner entries)

[@chuckystang]

I still find way more handling advantages can be had with trying to get optimal FFB settings which still with my DD1 continues to be a pain because literally I find I need different settings per car per track per sim. It just becomes too much. Then add in set up changes... forget it, Im out

[@walt350z]

Great video

[@akosbalogh5813]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't going on the throttle and than turning more cause the tyres to slide and create even more understeer?

[@Dioptra333]

I feel like iRacing has far too much frontal grip under load, hence all the recent concern on snap oversteer.

[@Switch_X_Back3884]

Could you do a video of following a car your trying to catch and pass. You are closing in, putting pressure on the driver infront of you he makes a mistake and somehow I seem to follow and make the same mistake. I seem to do it quite often. So, we go into a corner the driver tries to cut the corner too much to create a gap and I seem to follow, and I dont close in or make the pass down the following straight. I just seem to follow the car in front of me a little too much Instead of concentrating on my racing line. Please help Scott

[@mrnighthawk285]

So its not all about changing tires only?

[@SolaireGamingPT]

Great video. I would love a setup guide for the car and tracks of the F1 2020 game.

[@taylorjohnson3777]

Realsport101 dot com has some searchable setups for f1 2020. That’s where I’ve been going

[@zindc31]

Hi. What would your suggestion be. When I turn in, the car doesn't turn in enough unless I apply light throttle. Gte m8 iracing. Cheers

[@zindc31]

Just to add. I have to break a bit earlier than rest of field to compensate for my very early add of throttle to turn in properly. If this makes sense. Lol

[@vsm1456]

@@zindc31 if I understand correctly, you see understeer while the car is only loaded laterally and is neutral longitudinally. I'd try reducing LSD coast settings. or stiffen front slow bump and soften front slow rebound (to keep both wheels in good contact with the ground). or maybe soften front sway bar and springs. I can be wrong though

[@thomasgoodwin2648]

Is there some kind of priority/rules of thumb list on order of adjustments? For example, it's probably better to adjust aero and suspension before playing with gearing too much since the goal is to optimize power settings at lowest and highest speeds. Obviously you want to look at big ticket adjustments before doing fine tweaking, but assuming I had to start a setup from scratch, how do I identify the best adjustments to make those big ticket gains vs. which adjustments I need to get that extra 10th? Thanks as always for the AWESOME content. One of the greatest beauties of racing is that no matter how much you know, you still have a LOT to learn!

[@lingSpeed]

After getting the basics in order (right tyre compound and pressures, fuel load, very general downforce levels, engine limiter, etc), the big ticket gains are the ones that enhance your driving style, while the "extra 10th" changes are increasing the cars innate pace. It's very hard to give rule of thumb on the "big ticket" ones as that's completely down to particular driver skills. So you have to experiment for yourself. The thing about setups is that just like any other difficult topic "hard work pays off". And imho it's virtually impossible to be eased into it, heck this video is as "basic" as it can be and already Scott is contradicting some of the main channel teachings just to lower the entry bar enough so you can get your feet wet. But if you really want to be faster, the easiest way is to dive head first and be serious about it. Rules of thumb will only make you feel good for a short time and then you will grow out of them and be in the same position needing more guidance and only marginally faster.

[@TheCorrectionTroll]

I'd love to know how to submit footage to be analysed for these videos, is it a patreon thing?

[@madzangels]

No man just use any free video capturing software - if you have Nvidia graphics card just use Nvidia software to record

[@DirkFedermann]

You really should invest into something different to watch/record the videos. The onboard is stuttering and is hard to watch.

[@pmacfto]

I really noticed in this vid and thought maybe it was just due to the low res vid being posted first but looking back at other videos and it is quite noticeable

[@i2nupman]

It's a video submitted by a user for analysis. That 15fps is pretty hard to watch.

[@driver61simracing10]

Yes, I'm struggling with this. I used Quicktime, but I'll try with OBS next.

[@harrynicholls9872]

Y this running at 10 fps, did u record this on a potato

[@zukacs]

I've been watching F1 for 5th season, but still can't understand if someone took corner good or super good or just bad. In many other sports its easier to spot good plays, any tips or maybe a video what to look for? Thanks

[@ivanbaumans1687]

I like these series a lot, and the real driving instructional videos too.Valuable info, unfortunately, sims often react completely differently to setup changes than expected. You can figure out what you want the car to handle like, but getting it in the sim is a complete other story. You cannot implement 1 to 1 the changes you would do on a real car in a sim car. It takes a lot of trial and error at first to begin to understand what the changes do on that particular car model, with that particular tyre model. Then you will get faster at adapting the car. Until the next tyre model / car model change, and you can start over again. It is ennoying ass hell, particularly when you spent weeks preparing for big race, made the setup to your liking, and then Iracing pops up a new update...and everything goes to the bin, because that car doesn't handle the same anymore. And as Murphy is always around.....they push the update 5 hours before the race!!! Keep up the excellent work Sir!!!

[@ihababbas9863]

You are a hero

[@SnoDawg]

Hell setups won’t do shit if you have crap frame rates like in the video. WTF ?