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Bump Dampening

Definition: The damping (or softening) of the suspension as the wheel nears the car.

It has been my experience that, in general, anything other than 0 is slower. As such, on vast majority my setups this setting will be 0. There is one valid reason for setting this to something other than 0 however. Higher values will results in a more stable and controllable setup. If you don't mind giving up a little on lap time, you might find setting these to higher values will improve your consistency. However, what I suggest doing is using the higher value to get consistent, then taking it off. When you do, I think you will find that your lap times will significantly increase, enough to make up for the slight loss in consistency.

Rebound Dampening

Definition: The damping (or softening) of the suspension as the wheel moves away from the car.

Same as above.

Spring Strength

Definition: A measure of the relative stiffness of each spring.

When it comes to handling, this is probably the most important setting in the game! It is also one of the most complex to understand and has to be adjusted for every track. There are a few general rules however which apply to all tracks.

The main reason for adjusting springs strengths is to control weight transfer on acceleration and deceleration. There are two types of weight transfer, front to back, and side to side (usually called body roll).

With regard to front to back weight transfer, the theory is to put more weight on the rear tires when accelerating. When you get on the gas, you want the back end of the car to squat and the front end to stand up thereby transferring weight to the rear tires. To accomplish this, your front springs should be stiffer than your rear springs. If you set the springs this way symmetrically (left and right the same), you will achieve maximum straight-line acceleration. If you set them asymmetrically, you introduce body roll.

This is where it starts to get complicated. By introducing body roll you can do a number of different things with the handling. I'm not sure how best to explain all these different things, so I will concentrate on just the things I actually use.

In general, I prefer a setup which employs a diagonal roll putting the most weight on the right rear tire coming off the corners. To accomplish this, I use a softer left spring on the front and softer right spring on the back. On acceleration, the majority of the weight transfer is front to back (due to front springs being stiffer than rears overall), but the left front comes up just a little higher and the right rear goes down just a little lower. This cause the right rear to get a little more bite than the left rear which causes a slight pull to the left (which is what you want coming off the corner onto the straight). The amount of the difference between right and left springs controls the overall handling of the car.

On the front springs, a larger difference in left and right springs will cause the car to be more responsive going into the corners (less push). I will admit I'm not exactly sure why this is so. In theory, you would want a softer right front spring, not left front spring. That way, when you get off the gas and the weight shifts to the front end, the right front would drop farther causing it to dig in a little better and facilitate better turning. I have tested that theory and it does work that way. However, I still find it to be faster to use a stiffer right front spring than left front. The main thing to remember is that the larger the difference in front springs, the less push you will have going into the corners. As a general rule, I use a maximum of 10 difference in front springs.

On the rear springs, a larger difference will cause the rear end of the car to be tighter going into and in the middle of the corner. This one I can explain. When you start to turn, weight naturally moves from the left side of the car to the right side. With a softer right rear spring than left rear, more of that weight is transferred to the right rear tire which causes it to get more bite. The larger the difference in the rear springs, the greater the effect, the tighter the car will be. Keep in mind however that the more you increase the rear springs the less the front to back weight shift will be causing a decrease in acceleration speed. If you get too low on rear springs, you will introduce a "boaty" feel to the setup which is detrimental to handling. As with front springs, I use a maximum of 10 difference.

A few words with regard to setting springs for different tracks. There are two main types of tracks, full throttle and not. On full throttle tracks, the front to back weight shift becomes much less important. Therefore, as a general rule, you want the front and rear springs to be closer to the same. On all other tracks, acceleration is everything! Therefore, you want a very large difference between front and rear springs to maximize acceleration.

One other general rule related to springs. Softer front springs cause the car to be more responsive going into corners, but costs you some speed on acceleration. The key is to find a good balance between the two.

One last comment with regard to springs. Just like tire size, springs and gears are highly connected. When you change springs (especially rear springs) you almost always have to change gears. Also, asking for someone's gears without knowing their rear springs is useless. If you don't believe me, try running a few laps on any track with your current setup. Then, make a large (greater than 20) change to the rear springs and run it again. You will find that your acceleration and top end are completely different.

Travel (in)

Definition: Determines the length of the spring at full extension.

As best I can tell, travel amplifies the effects of spring strength. In general, you want front travel to be higher than rear travel. This causes the car to have more weight on the rear and increases the effect of front to back weight transfer. Higher travel also equates to more bite on both the front and rear. Therefore, if you have a high (greater than 10) stagger on the rear springs, but are still loose going into the corners, try increasing the rear travel, same goes for front springs.

This is another area where I need to do more experimenting.