There's something really wrong with my S2000

[Xera]

Steering is delayed and it's extremely twitchy. It feels like I'm driving a tank. Are there any upgrades that make it worse ? (I have all Tier 1 an 2 upgrades with some Tier 3 ones, haven't touched tuning)

[Tydo]

Upgrades do not make any of them worse, except in the sense that more HP can make the car harder to keep under control.

First off, can i assume that you have been in the optons and have diabled:
breaking assist
steering assist
?
Else you should.
I also recommend: stability control: OFF, antilock brakes:on, traction control:low.
You can get most of that from the preset called Experienced.

In this particular case, honda s2000, you really need the T2/3 brakes + T3 suspension + T3 drivetrain(gearbox tuning) + T2/3 tires, and the wider wheels and go into tuning. Or get another car.

Just going from Tier2 to Tier3 handling mods (left engine/turbo at tier1 upgrade) and a bit of tuning, i shaved more than 10s off the time on Spa GP, and now it is merely slippery and spinout prone.
I did have to stiffen the sway bar a lot, from the default very soft setting. Suspension was pretty middle of the road by default so that got a few changes for corner/steering performance as well.
If i really did some tuning&testing it could probably be pretty decent for its weight & tier, but it is just no R8quattro/R35specV/Reventon.

In general about tuning, you have to understand that the default settings (without tuning and upgrades) are pretty close to the "civilian" factory settings for city/highway/countryroads driving far from the speeds that they might be capable of.
Some of those defaults are very comfort and "grandma" friendly and need big changes for getting around a track at high speeds. It is less bad with tier3 and 4 cars, but tier 2 and tier 1 cars like that S2000, they are far from set up for racing.

[Xera]

Originally posted by Tydo:

Upgrades do not make any of them worse, except in the sense that more HP can make the car harder to keep under control.

First off, can i assume that you have been in the optons and have diabled:
breaking assist
steering assist
?
Else you should.
I also recommend: stability control: OFF, antilock brakes:on, traction control:low.
You can get most of that from the preset called Experienced.

In this particular case, honda s2000, you really need the T2/3 brakes + T3 suspension + T3 drivetrain(gearbox tuning) + T2/3 tires, and the wider wheels and go into tuning. Or get another car.

Just going from Tier2 to Tier3 handling mods (left engine/turbo at tier1 upgrade) and a bit of tuning, i shaved more than 10s off the time on Spa GP, and now it is merely slippery and spinout prone.
I did have to stiffen the sway bar a lot, from the default very soft setting. Suspension was pretty middle of the road by default so that got a few changes for corner/steering performance as well.
If i really did some tuning&testing it could probably be pretty decent for its weight & tier, but it is just no R8quattro/R35specV/Reventon.

In general about tuning, you have to understand that the default settings (without tuning and upgrades) are pretty close to the "civilian" factory settings for city/highway/countryroads driving far from the speeds that they might be capable of.
Some of those defaults are very comfort and "grandma" friendly and need big changes for getting around a track at high speeds. It is less bad with tier3 and 4 cars, but tier 2 and tier 1 cars like that S2000, they are far from set up for racing.

Alright, thanks. Problem is, I've completed all the T1 challenges without a single problem except the Time Trials. I still have to complete those but I just can't get past the second one since the car's impossible to drive now. I really don't remember having any of those issues before.
I also checked again and I don't reeeally have /all/ the upgrades. (Whoops)

I'll take a few screens.

[Tydo]

Might want to get another car entirely for 2 of those. They are so twisty and with very tight 180 turns. I used Audi's for it back when i did it. The S3 has AWD and that got me through a lot.

If you want to bend the rules a bit and move to tier 3 fast, there is a rule-glitch that you can exploit.
A tier 1 car that has undergone the Works conversion, it still eligible in tier 1 races, despite being much better than any upgraded T1/T2 cars you compete against. Once you have that, then you can basically smoke all of Tier 1 and Tier 2 with ease with the exception of drifts.
Just have to farm some of the Tier 1 events for cash for a while.

[Z3PHYR]

Hi, if you are having troubles with Time Trail events i suggest you an AWD car because of its traction and acceleration which are essential for these events.

You can easily own any race (Tier 2 -except Region restricted events-) I personally like Nissan Gt-R (R34) beacuse it dominates every corner and that car sticks to the road. You can consider buying the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII or Lancer Evolution X (they are cheaper). I prefer the new one (EVOLUTION X) because it has WORKS upgrade.

Racing Parts are expensive but they are worth it. The more you buy parts the more your car transforms into a beast. Racing parts make your car illegal for street because they made for Tracks not streets. (I know it doesn't have anything to do with this article). For example, Wide Tires, Nitrous Oxide and Longer Final Drive. -these parts does not affect viusal of the car but you can feel the difference when you are driving.-

Also you should try playing with manual Transmission, when you approach a corner and instead of braking so hard just let your feet off the gas tap brakes gently and gear down.

Do not forget to tune your car too, you should change gear ratio, suspension stiffness and differential and trust me they help A LOT but you have to find the perfect settings so be patient because it takes a little time (by the way you can get tips by pressing "8" in the tuning menu if you don't know what you are doing.)

Hope this helps and happy racing ;)
HAVE FUN!!!

[Xera]

Originally posted by Z3PHYR:

Hi, if you are having troubles with Time Trail events i suggest you an AWD car because of its traction and acceleration which are essential for these events.

You can easily own any race (Tier 2 -except Region restricted events-) I personally like Nissan Gt-R (R34) beacuse it dominates every corner and that car sticks to the road. You can consider buying the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII or Lancer Evolution X (they are cheaper). I prefer the new one (EVOLUTION X) because it has WORKS upgrade.

Racing Parts are expensive but they are worth it. The more you buy parts the more your car transforms into a beast. Racing parts make your car illegal for street because they made for Tracks not streets. (I know it doesn't have anything to do with this article). For example, Wide Tires, Nitrous Oxide and Longer Final Drive. -these parts does not affect viusal of the car but you can feel the difference when you are driving.-

Also you should try playing with manual Transmission, when you approach a corner and instead of braking so hard just let your feet off the gas tap brakes gently and gear down.

Do not forget to tune your car too, you should change gear ratio, suspension stiffness and differential and trust me they help A LOT but you have to find the perfect settings so be patient because it takes a little time (by the way you can get tips by pressing "8" in the tuning menu if you don't know what you are doing.)

Hope this helps and happy racing ;)
HAVE FUN!!!

I tried playing the very first races with the tuned S2K and I just can't even finish 3rd, even after tuning it. The steering is just incredibly delayed and twitchy, both with a keyboard and a controller.

[Z3PHYR]

Hi, I am assuming that your controls are messed up...

You can try adjusting Steering Deadzone option in Controls section that is located in OPTIONS. Put steering deadzone to the lowest or to the highest and try it.

Also tuning a car is not easy you have to know what you are doing and all cars are different than each other they have different aerodynamics and some are heavy and some are not. Some have more torque and horsepower (which causes oversteer).

For example you need stiff suspension for more straight and less bumpy roads and soft suspensions for more bumpy roads with lots of ups and downs. Tire pressure is a little confusing because you can't exactly make it ideal for every track so I set the front tires' a little lower than the back ones ( by the way I don't set them very high, they are usually a little lower than normal -close to low-).

If all else fails try putting everything to default in the OPTIONS and open a QUICK RACE and select a STOCK car or just simply buy the cheapest car (I think it is Toyota Corolla)

Finally, do you have a decent PC or laptop? Because you are playing a Simulator which requires a good performance so try reducing graphics a little (put AA to x2 and turn off V-Sync. Motion blur is only for visual pleasure so I put it to low and my resolution is set to 1280x720. I have my textures resolution and other stuff set to High)

Hope this helps...
Have fun and happy racing. ;)

[Tydo]

Originally posted by Z3PHYR:

You can easily own any race (Tier 2 -except Region restricted events-) I personally like Nissan Gt-R (R34) beacuse it dominates every corner and that car sticks to the road.

Just cant let that stand uncontested.
In this game, ignoring Tier4, "Works" and other super/race cars:
Audi R8 quattro when you want roadglue (tire upgrade + wider wheels upgrade).
While the Nissan GT-R specV (=faster, lighter GT-R) has some more power and is better where handling means less than cornering and braking power, it is quite a bit heavier and has a very different (and higher) centre of mass, which makes it less of a cornergod.
But yeah on some tracks the GTR is just plain faster due to the raw HP advantage. Personal example, for me it is about 2 seconds faster on the Spa GP.

On the other hand, the R8 brakes amazingly once you get a good setup and the lower mass is easier to get through corners - there is simply less inertia that needs to be shifted in a new direction, so you can push a bit harder without grip slipping.

Eventually you graduate to Tier4 and get the Zonda R, but that is whole different ballpark and does not have AWD. Once you have that, you win everything. When you can keep it on the road ;)

Originally posted by Xeraser:

I tried playing the very first races with the tuned S2K and I just can't even finish 3rd, even after tuning it. The steering is just incredibly delayed and twitchy, both with a keyboard and a controller.

I could make some shadowplay recordings this weeked if you are interested, but it mostly comes down to a good tuning setup. Out of the box the s2k does feel like it oversteers, specially compared to so many of the others that feel very understeered until agressively tuned.

In any case i'd like to race both of you if we can find some common ground.

ps: you never got around to posting those screens you talked about.

[Xera]

Originally posted by Tydo:

Originally posted by Z3PHYR:

You can easily own any race (Tier 2 -except Region restricted events-) I personally like Nissan Gt-R (R34) beacuse it dominates every corner and that car sticks to the road.

Just cant let that stand uncontested.
In this game, ignoring Tier4, "Works" and other super/race cars:
Audi R8 quattro when you want roadglue (tire upgrade + wider wheels upgrade).
While the Nissan GT-R specV (=faster, lighter GT-R) has some more power and is better where handling means less than cornering and braking power, it is quite a bit heavier and has a very different (and higher) centre of mass, which makes it less of a cornergod.
But yeah on some tracks the GTR is just plain faster due to the raw HP advantage. Personal example, for me it is about 2 seconds faster on the Spa GP.

On the other hand, the R8 brakes amazingly once you get a good setup and the lower mass is easier to get through corners - there is simply less inertia that needs to be shifted in a new direction, so you can push a bit harder without grip slipping.

Eventually you graduate to Tier4 and get the Zonda R, but that is whole different ballpark and does not have AWD. Once you have that, you win everything. When you can keep it on the road ;)

Originally posted by Xeraser:

I tried playing the very first races with the tuned S2K and I just can't even finish 3rd, even after tuning it. The steering is just incredibly delayed and twitchy, both with a keyboard and a controller.

I could make some shadowplay recordings this weeked if you are interested, but it mostly comes down to a good tuning setup. Out of the box the s2k does feel like it oversteers, specially compared to so many of the others that feel very understeered until agressively tuned.

In any case i'd like to race both of you if we can find some common ground.

ps: you never got around to posting those screens you talked about.

I'll have to reinstall the game and all. Had to wipe my HDD and I forgot to backup some of my games. (I'm on my SSD now) When I do, I'll create a new profile and race with a stock S2K. I'm SURE it'll be easier. (I completed the first two series with the S2K ONLY)

[Tydo]

Originally posted by Xeraser:

I'll have to reinstall the game and all.
When I do, I'll create a new profile and race with a stock S2K. I'm SURE it'll be easier.

There is some truth in that, but it is not so obvious.
The game bumps up the type of car and the upgrades/performance of the competition to try to match the performance rating of your chosen car. This become really really apparent in Tier 4.

So, mostly you are not getting much of a advantage from taking the HP-increasing upgrades.
At least not until you can afford to max them out and have the handling upgrades to make use of it.

Like i mentioned earlier, get the handling upgrades first.
Mostly you want to skip: engine, race exhaust, nitroboost, turbo.
What you really want first: tier2 or tier3 tire upgrades. Wider wheels. Upgraded brakes, including the master brake cylinder upgrade. Do not underestimate the power of braking dangerously late.

For tuning, the suspension upgrades are mandatory. You can skip the tranmission upgrades initially.

Anyway, for reference.
Tier1, timetrial campaign (3rd and final part of tier 1).
1st, Tokyo Club, 53.320, Honda S2000
1st, Autopolis Lakeside, 1:05.630, Honda S2000
1st, Ebisu Circuit South, 35.500, Honda S2000

Those were pretty easy. Had some difficulty with the last event, losing rear grip -> drifting in corner -> overturn -> requiring brake/countersteer and losing speed.

With my usual game settings.
2nd, Rustle Creek, 22.520 Honda S2000
AI clocked in at a bit above 22.4.

With 'traction control' set to high instead of low and turning 'stability control' to on:
1st, 22.160, Honsa S2000.

With the game set to hide the bad characteristics of the S2K like that, i could easily shave off some significant time on that small oval track.
Which is not really surprising. But I would take the Nissan 350z any day over the s2k (if you want to avoid the 2 german AWD Audis). The greatly superior handling is worth the extra weight.
You know, really, the s2k is bit like a watered down lightweight Dodge Viper, but with much sharper steering. And that drives like poop too. It might go fast on straights, but that is about it.

Upgrades used:
Tier1 upgrades: all
Tier2 upgrades: all but engine & turbo
Tier3 upgrades: all but engine & turbo
'aerodynamics' tab: only took cockpit upgrades, 1 and 2.
'race parts' tab: seamwelded chassis, brake master cylinder and wider wheels.
Final stats: handling stage 3 / weight 1286kg / 372HP / Torque: 474 Nm / 'car rating': 6.48.

Last words on this:
For that last track and small tracks in general, use a accelleration setup. This is even true for all the Tier3 cars. The listed times are with a "middle" setting very close to default. Even so, I could probably shave off second or two by using a much more accelleration focused tuning of the transmission, to get a really easy win.
This is casual trackracing after all. Short races without tire wear, fuel worries or car damage.