JoeDubya

Hi all,
I am thinking my autocross skills would be better if I could get more
practice than real life allows. I am thinking of entering this century and
getting a computerized simulator with a seat and feedback steering
wheel etc. Do any of you up-to-date folks know of a good program
that accurately mimics Corvette dynamics, and hopefully allows car
tuning options like bar/shock/alignment adjustments?
Thanks!
Joe Weinstein

NOSLO6

iRacing has a fully adjustable C6R.

No comment as to whether that might or might not translate to your vette.

el es tu

gran turismo 4 or 5

It did take a decent amount of time to make the car in the game handle like a real vette, but its a safe way to have fun and get a bit better with your driving.

main advantages in running a simulator are that you can test what doing different things to the car (suspension and brake balance, gearing etc) will result in.
this wont be exactly in line with what will actually happen, but it gives you a nice general idea

you can practice shifting

you can practice throttle control

you can learn tracks before stepping foot on them


some of the things to keep in mind when setting the car up in the game are the gearing - you need to set a custom trans to get the gearing for whichever corvette you own
fully adjustable suspension
brake bias controller
the tires should be the crappier ones to more closely simulate what youll actually experience
the active handling and traction control should be turned off (note the previous version gran turismo 4 actually allowed modification of the ah/tc levels which allowed me to dial the car even closer to what I was experiencing in my car)
one last thing i almost forget to mention would be the differential settings - these can also be manipulated to make the car feel a bit more like what youre actually driving

hope this helps!

Bowchickawowow

I have a Logitech G27 Wheel that I use with Gran Turismo 5. The wheel is great and Gran Turismo runs nicely with it (you can modify gear ratios, suspension damping, downforce, camber, caster, toe, etc.) The game has several models of Vettes, including C5Z06, C6Z06, and C6ZR1. I have also heard that rFactor is a good PC simulator, but I have not played it (although a copy came free with the wheel).

SuperL98

Seeing that you are looking at Autocross, you might be interested in this.
I programmed quite a few Add-on Autocross tracks for SimBin's old GTR2.
The nice thing is cheap (legal) copy's of GTR2 are all over the place, and all kinds of user made content is free at Nogripracing.com

http://www.nogripracing.com/

Just about every car and racetrack you might want, if you dig around a little.
You can modify the cars a bit, in the game, or with a little file editing make just about any change to the cars you want.

shakedown067

I've actually enjoyed doing the autocross events on Forza4 on the Xbox360. Sure it's large Barrels vs cones, but I've found I can seriously decrease my times when practicing looking further down the track. I've done this before my last two autocross events and I think it's given me a tad of extra confidence, which is never a bad thing.

I find it's not real enough that you don't get lulled into over-confidence, but can actually help with some minor technique.

93Rubie

Something better than a simulator. Secrets of Solo Racing by Henry A. Watts.

vettehardt

Cool. Tire Rack is my home track! Downloading now.

Thanks.

SoDiezl350

Does everyone use in car camera view? I find I am so much better when viewing the car from the outside, it's rather frustrating.

el es tu

I typically use the traditional "bumper cam" and then sometimes the inside view with the cockpit. while its cool, the main problem is that it really obstructs your view. maybe it would be a bit better with a giant screen or projector...

mesospeedy

I agree that in most cases the cockpit view can obstruct your view a bit. I'm thinking of going with a kinect on forza4. You can use the controller or wheel/pedals to drive and use the kinect so when you turn your head you can look around the cockpit, out the side mirrors and windows etc. Don't know how good it works, just heard you could do that. My cousin doesn't have a wheel setup, but he does have kinect. I'm gonna try the controller&kinect combo and see how it works!

Screamin Z

I would think that if you turn your head you wont be able to see the TV anymore....

This is mine

SoDiezl350

Very slick!

Bink

Wow, what setup is that??

mesospeedy

That is an incredible setup! As for the kinect thing, I thought about that too, but I'm assuming you don't have to turn your head much to see the sides. Guess it depends on how far it let's you look to the sides, I hope to give it a try and find out. Ofcourse I would still prefer a multi screen setup like Screamin Z, but the funds for that are currently being saved to be used on my upcoming Z06 or GS purchase!

Falcon

The only games I've used are Grand Turismo 4 & 5 and no matter what I do I can't get rid of the understeer that seems to be inherent in these games.

These games miss the seat of the pants feel that is required to actually be like a real car. Buying one of those hydraulic seats that tilt to simulate g's would probably be the answer, but the cost would be astronomical for a game.

el es tu

it takes some tuning of the ah/tc (only on gt4 - im not sure why 5 didnt get the feature) to get it to feel the way you want. If I remember correctly, Id lower the oversteer control between 4 and 7, and keep understeer control between 10 and 15 on the c5 z06.

also the alignment settings wont be the exact same as you run on the real car. gt4 was a little closer (i actually used the pfadt alignment settings with good results), but with gt5 Ive done it a bit differently.

one thing i do to get rid of some of the understeer and lack of turn in on gt5 is run .05 to .1 camber out on the front and then reduce the rear (which is always set and .2) until i get the car to rotate correctly. sometimes this means going into negative camber for the rear. i try not to overdo this as it allows for a lot more snap oversteer if you go too far into the rear negative camber

also I increase the rebound (extension) on the shocks front and rear one tick above whatever the compression is set. for fwd cars Ill increase the rear rebound beyond that of the front either along with more compression or just 2 ticks above compression

the differential settings are also a pain to deal with - sometimes Ill just lower the overall torque. if i see that im understeering on throttle application (they love to do this on the rally cars), ill focus on cranking down the accel torque. if the car is understeering while braking and turning in, ill do the same for the decel torque. if oversteering, ill obviously do the opposite.

its best to test with smaller twist tracks like autumn ring mini or midfield. then go somewhere large. what youll find most the time is that you can knock out the lack of turn in and understeer while testing on the shorter tracks, then on the larger tracks like the nurburgring you can see if you have a wee bit too much oversteer, - thats where you can then fine tune it to where you really want it

i agree the lack of a seat of the pants feel and not having pedals/wheel make it very hard to feel out what you should do which leads you to have to think out what your going to do ahead of time to a greater extent with the game

edit: almost forgot gt5 has a steering sensitivity setting that you can mess with as well - ill usually raise it to 1 to 3 depending on the track and car

Screamin Z

Its a setup I made all on my own.. Made out of 80/20 alum extrusion. Stuff is pretty slick. And $$

Thats 3 - 37" TV's and logitech G27 Wheel and pedals. Also a fancy button box. All I use is Iracing.

Bink

Beautiful setup!! Thanks, for the info.

Git Er Dun

What does the button box control? Very cool setup!