| Section | Action | Effect on Balance | Other Effects | |
| 1 | Gearing | |||
| 1.1 | Lengthen Gears | None | Increase potential maximum speed; decrease acceleration. | |
| 1.2 | Shorten Gears | None | Decrease potential maximum speed; increase acceleration | |
| 2 | Brake Duct Size | |||
| 2.1 | Increase | None | Increase engine cooling; decrease straight line speed. | |
| 2.2 | Decrease | None | Decrease engine cooling; increase straight line speed. | |
| 3 | Engine Rev Limit | |||
| 3.1 | Increase | None | Increase horsepower; higher engine temperature; lower reliability | |
| 3.2 | Decrease | None | Decrease horsepower; lower engine temperature; higher reliability. | |
| 4 | Engine Brake Mapping | |||
| 4.1 | Increase | Decrease oversteer under negative throttle | None | |
| 4.2 | Decrease | Increase oversteer under negative throttle | Reduces fuel consumption; low numbers can exacurbate snap oversteer, if you suddenly lift in a corner. | |
| 4.a | Engine Brake Mapping will affect how much the engine helps slow down the car – lower numbers result in MORE engine braking, which also uses less fuel. The downside is that the engine only slows down the driven wheels, which can cause a braking imbalance between high and low speed.
From the rFactor ReadMe |
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| 5 | Radiator Size | |||
| 5.1 | Increase | None | Increase engine cooling; decrease straight line speed. | |
| 5.2 | Decrease | None | Decrease engine cooling; increase straight line speed. | |
| 6 | Steering Lock | |||
| 6.1 | Increase | None | Decrease turning circle; coarser steering control | |
| 6.2 | Decrease | None | Increase turning circle; finer steering control | |
| 7 | Differential Lock | |||
| 7.1 | Increase Power and Coast | Increase understeer in corners | None | |
| 7.2 | Increase Power | Increase understeer under postive throttle | More stable off the line | |
| 7.3 | Increase Coast | Increase understeer under negative throttle | More stable under hard braking | |
| 7.4 | Decrease Power and Coast | Increase oversteer in corners | None | |
| 7.5 | Decrease Power | Increase oversteer under postive throttle | Less stable off the line | |
| 7.6 | Decrease Coast | Increase oversteer under negative throttle | Less stable under hard braking | |
| 7.7 | Increase Pump (4WD) | ? | Front wheels pull more than rear | |
| 7.a | Preload affects how quickly the transition between power and coast differential occurs. If you used a preload of ’1′ and slammed the throttle down you would get a very quick transition to whatever your power percentage age was, the reverse would happen with taking the throttle off. With a higher preload the above effect would be a lot more gradual.
People tend to use the words “understeer” and “oversteer” when describing the effect of the differential lock. In reality, oversteer is truly the only thing you are actually adjusting. It’s only because a lack of oversteer naturally moves the car closer to an understeer condition that understeer is used as a descriptor at all.
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| 8 | Wings | |||
| 8.1 | Increase Front | Increase oversteer in corners | Increase front grip in corners; increase front tyre wear; decrease straight line speed. | |
| 8.2 | Increase Rear | Increase understeer in corners | Increase rear grip in corners; increase rear tyre wear; decrease straight line speed. | |
| 8.3 | Increase Front and Rear | None | Increase grip in corners; decrease straight line speed. | |
| 8.4 | Decrease Front | Increase understeer in corners | Decrease front grip in corners; decrease front tyre wear; increase straight line speed. | |
| 8.5 | Decrease Rear | Increase oversteer in corners | Decrease rear grip in corners; decrease rear tyre wear; increase straight line speed. | |
| 8.6 | Decrease Front and Rear | None | Decrease grip in corners; increase straight line speed. | |
| 9 | Anti-Roll Bars | |||
| 9.1 | Increase/Stiffen Front | Increase understeer in corners | Decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase front tyre wear; more responsive handling | |
| 9.2 | Increase/Stiffen Rear | Increase oversteer in corners | Decrease grip exiting corners; decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase rear tyre wear; more responsive handling | |
| 9.3 | Increase/Stiffen Front and Rear | None | Decrease grip exiting corners; decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase front, and rear tyre wear; more responsive handling | |
| 9.4 | Decrease/Soften Front | Increase oversteer in corners | Increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease front tyre wear; less responsive handling | |
| 9.5 | Decrease/Soften Rear | Increase understeer in corners | Increase grip exiting corners; increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease rear tyre wear; less responsive handling | |
| 9.6 | Decrease/Soften Front and Rear | None | Car may bottom out more often; increase grip exiting corners; increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease front and rear tyre wear; less responsive handling | |
| 10 | Weight Distribution | |||
| 10.1 | Adjust to front | Increase oversteer | None | |
| 10.2 | Adjust to rear | Increase understeer | None | |
| 11 | Brake Bias | |||
| 11.1 | Adjust to front | Increase understeer while braking | Front wheels can lock up, increase braking distance, reduce snap oversteer | |
| 11.2 | Adjust to rear | Increase oversteer while braking | Rear wheels can lock up; increase braking distance; increase snap oversteer (swap ends) | |
| 11.3 | Adjust to centre | Some oversteer while braking | Decrease braking distance; may cause snap oversteer, depending on front/rear weight distribution, wing, etc. | |
| 12 | Camber | |||
| 12.1 | Increase Front | None | Increase grip in corners… to a point | |
| 12.2 | Increase Rear | None | Decrease grip in corners… to a point | |
| 12.3 | Decrease Front | None | Decrease grip in corners… to a point | |
| 12.4 | Decrease Rear | None | Increase grip in corners… to a point | |
| 13 | Caster | |||
| 13.1 | Increase | Decrease understeer | Decrease turning radius; Increase oversteer in fast corners. | |
| 13.2 | Decrease | Increase understeer | Increase high speed corner stability. | |
| 14 | Toe In | |||
| 14.1 | Increase front (positive) | None | Improve turn-in; increase front tyre wear; decrease straight line speed | |
| 14.2 | Increase rear (positive) | None | Improve stability; increase rear tyre wear; decrease straight line speed | |
| 14.3 | Decrease front (negative) | None | Decrease turn-in; increase front tyre wear; decrease straight line speed | |
| 14.4 | Decrease rear (negative) | None | Decrease stability; increase rear tyre wear; decrease straight line speed | |
| 15 | Tyre Pressure | |||
| 15.1 | Increase Front | Increase understeer | Decrease grip in corners; decrease front tyre wear | |
| 15.2 | Increase Rear | Increase oversteer | Decrease grip in corners; decrease rear tyre wear | |
| 15.3 | Increase Front and Rear | None | Decrease grip in corners; decrease front and rear tyre wear | |
| 15.4 | Decrease Front | Increase oversteer | Increase grip in corners; increase front tyre wear | |
| 15.5 | Decrease Rear | Increase understeer | Increase grip in corners; increase rear tyre wear | |
| 15.6 | Decrease Front and Rear | None | Increase grip in corners; increase front and rear tyre wear | |
| 16 | Ride Height | |||
| 16.1 | Increase Front | Increase understeer in fast corners | Car may bottom out less often | |
| 16.2 | Increase Rear | Increase oversteer in fast corners | Car may bottom out less often | |
| 16.3 | Increase Front and Rear | None | None | |
| 16.4 | Decrease Front | Increase oversteer in fast corners | Car may bottom out more often | |
| 16.5 | Decrease Rear | Increase understeer in fast corners | Car may bottom out more often | |
| 16.6 | Decrease Front and Rear | None | None | |
| 17 | Packers and/or Bump Rubber | |||
| 17.1 | Increase Front | Increase understeer | Allows front ride height to be reduced without bottoming out | |
| 17.2 | Increase Rear | Increase oversteer | Allows rear ride height to be reduced without bottoming out | |
| 17.3 | Increase Front and Rear | None | Allows ride height to be reduced without bottoming out | |
| 17.4 | Decrease Front | Increase oversteer | Car may bottom out more often | |
| 17.5 | Decrease Rear | Increase understeer | Car may bottom out more often | |
| 17.6 | Decrease Front and Rear | None | Car may bottom out more often | |
| 18 | Spring Rate | |||
| 18.1 | Increase/Stiffen Front | Increase understeer | Decrease grip in corners; decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase front tyre wear; more responsive handling | |
| 18.2 | Increase/Stiffen Rear | Increase oversteer | Decrease grip in corners; decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase rear tyre wear; more responsive handling | |
| 18.3 | Increase/Stiffen Front and Rear | None | Decrease grip in corners; decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase front and rear tyre wear; more responsive handling | |
| 18.4 | Decrease/Soften Front | Increase oversteer | Increase grip in corners; increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease front tyre wear; less responsive handling | |
| 18.5 | Decrease/Soften Rear | Increase understeer | Increase grip in corners; increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease rear tyre wear; less responsive handling | |
| 18.6 | Decrease/Soften Front and Rear | None | Increase grip in corners; increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease front and rear tyre wear; less responsive handling | |
| 19 | Bump Damping | |||
| 19.1 | Increase/Stiffen Front | Increase understeer in bumpy corners | Increase front tyre wear | |
| 19.2 | Increase/Stiffen Rear | Increase oversteer in bumpy corners | Decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase rear tyre wear | |
| 19.3 | Increase/Stiffen Front and Rear | None | Decrease grip on bumpy surfaces; increase front and rear tyre wear; nervous and unpredictable handling | |
| 19.4 | Decrease/Soften Front | Increase oversteer in bumpy corners | Decrease front tyre wear | |
| 19.5 | Decrease/Soften Rear | Increase understeer in bumpy corners | Increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease rear tyre wear | |
| 19.6 | Decrease/Soften Front and Rear | None | Increase grip on bumpy surfaces; decrease front and rear tyre wear | |
| 20 | Rebound Damping | |||
| 20.1 | Increase/Stiffen Front | Increase understeer during corner exit, and entry | Increase front tyre wear | |
| 20.2 | Increase/Stiffen Rear | Increase oversteer during corner exit, and entry | Increase rear tyre wear | |
| 20.3 | Increase/Stiffen Front and Rear | None | More responsive handling | |
| 20.4 | Decrease/Soften Front | Increase oversteer during corner exit, and entry | Decrease front tyre wear | |
| 20.5 | Decrease/Soften Rear | Increase understeer during corner exit, and entry | Decrease rear tyre wear | |
| 20.6 | Decrease/Soften Front and Rear | None | Less responsive handling | |
| 20.a | Slow damping affects the weight transfer of the car’s sprung mass (chassis pitch and roll) on the springs; fast damping controls the springs response to the deflection of the car’s unsprung weight (the tire/wheel/hub assembly reaction to bumps)
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| 21 | Simulating understeer, and oversteer during cornering with the brake, and/or throttle | |||
| 21.1 | Increase Brake | Decrease Understeer | This applies to a car that is neutral, or understeering slightly going into a corner, and has a forward brake balance. As you apply brake pressure, the weight balance moves forward, the front wheels gain a little more traction, and the nose points in more. Too much understeer cannot be corrected in this manner. | |
| 21.2 | Decrease Throttle | Increase Oversteer | If you lift sufficiently during cornering, the rear tyres will break traction, and the rear end will come round. If you do this carefully, you can use this tool to point into the corner. For this to happen, you do need to be carrying enough speed, and you do need to lift a little quickly. | |
| 21.3 | Increase Throttle | Increase Oversteer | As long as there’s enough torque available at the time, you can make a car’s back end step out during cornering. You can take advantage of this by lowering the gearing, so you’re in the meat of the power band during the corner in which you’d like to induce oversteer. | |
| 21.a | These are the essential components of ‘trailbraking’ and using them as such requires a good touch, and sufficiently sensitive hardware, in a simulator, to feel, and control the effects as they happen. You also have to get the other components balanced so the car doesn’t ‘snap’ around on you, and you have to have enough cockpit time to know what you’re feeling, and predict what will happen. | |||
| 22 | Simulator Controls (Steering wheel, pedals, etc) | |||
| 22.1 | Increase Axis Travel/Decrease Sensitivity | None | Reduce apparent nervousness; Allow a finer degree of control. | |
| 22.a | This is, of course, a matter of personal taste. However, after consulting with a number of hard-core gamers, you are looking for as much control, and as much feeling as you can get. When talking about first person shooters, the general advice was to set the mouse sensitivity as low as you can stand. This takes some getting used to, but pays dividends in accuracy, or so I’m told. As this applies to driving simulators, you want as much steering wheel travel as you can stand (It will take getting used to.), and as much pedal travel also. This may seem counter-intuitive, but think about it: You don’t want minor twitches to have large effects, and you want to be able to make the finest possible adjustments during maneouvering. With force feedback equipment, this lets you set more, and stronger forces, thus allowing you to feel more of the road without having the wheel ripped from your hands.
Note that some drivers turn off the software that comes with the equipment, preferring instead to use the in-game controls alone to set the force feedback, button mapping, and so on. This is also a matter of choice, and possibly system resources, but you may lose some features by turning off the manufacturer’s control software. Note also that some controller software has one effect, and the in-game adjustments are overlaid on the system settings, so turning off the controller software requires retuning the in-game settings. |
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