The big secret of FM3 Tuning... Brake Pressure?

[Hellisan]

Just curious if you guys are running increased brake pressure on your tunes?

I read pretty early in the game, Jed saying that he was using 115% on all his tunes.  At that time I, myself was also running 110-115 because that's what I did in FM2.  I had a sneaking suspicion that meant he was really running 125... But maybe that's just me being crazy.  

I have a friend that plays this game with nearly numb hands due to a nerve condition and he runs 125% with no problem.  I currently am running anywhere from 115 to 135% depending on the car, what it's used for, etc.  It seems to me that this way you don't have to mash on the brakes.  He and I both notice that we outbrake people pretty consistently in races.

People's natural reaction is "zoMG  I'll lock up the brakes" but I lock 'em up way more at 90% or 100% than I do at 135%.  I don't have to push them and wonder when I'll finally be feeling something.

It makes me wonder what the 3-wides of the world run with their personal tunes... 150%?  175%?  

What have you guys been using?

[barumba]

Hi, Hellisan. I've been adjusting my pressures up from the 90-100 range in stock or calc tunes, up to 110-115 range. This has allowed later breaking with less lock-up. Helps allot with corner entry understeer. I pretty much set all cars that way now. The traction improvement can be seen in the telemetry friction screen. I haven't set higher than 115, but out of curiosity might give that a go.

[Blooze]

I have richocheted around between a setting of 100 - 104 and have settled right squarely on 102 for all cars.  I think this number is more related to the controller/wheel and a driver's use of them than the car and the physics engine.  My use of ABS may make much of this discussion moot.

I seldom push the brake pedal to the floor with my rig, about half way is my guess when I am trying to a shut down like on turn 1 of Catalunya National - for me, the quickest way to shut 'er down is foot clear off the throttle, and down shift as fast as I can without locking up.  Also, I have found a low RPM to be emmense help with a quick shut down.  i.e., you are better off to shift to 6^th gear just before shutting down than entering the shut down with the tach pegged in 5^thgear.

Try this...  get on a long straight, say like one of the ovals and run the car up to a static rpm in 4th gear.   Just cruise at a steady speed.   Now, touch the brake as lightly as possible.  Messing around with this exercise for a while will give you an idea of how much the pressure settings affect or don't affect your ability to stop the car.

Now, how the settings work with extreme values - I cannot tell you.  I can never quite talk myself into pegging out a setting just to see what happens.

$

[Spiny Anteater]

This is one figure I hardly ever change from default. I find 100 gives me plenty of travel allowing a bit finer control over braking (essential considering my left index finger is somewhat slow to react following a break 15 years ago). I might increase it on some of the R1's as more pressure is needed before the tyres lock up, but generally I find 100 is perfect for me.

[Hellisan]

Now, how the settings work with extreme values - I cannot tell you.  I can never quite talk myself into pegging out a setting just to see what happens.

$

Hah... Now can you peg out a setting because somebody tells you it works better?  That's the question lol

[Blooze]

Heh, not any more.  Way back in the Forza I days I did use the sloppy spring tune on my lower classed FWD and AWD cars.  But I have steered clear of the glitchy toons since.  They ruin the game for me.

It seems like most folks got their "thing" as far as the game goes - The Exodus folks don't run with assists.  There's a bunch of folks that consider AWD cheating.   I guess my thing is gliched toons.  I don't like 'em or use 'em.

Now, the only other thing I'm firmly against is anyone who tries to foist their foibles off on others or judges them as lessor citizens for violating their thing.  We don't tolerate that on this site.

$

[barumba]

Hi, Hellisan. I've been adjusting my pressures up from the 90-100 range in stock or calc tunes, up to 110-115 range. This has allowed later breaking with less lock-up. Helps allot with corner entry understeer. I pretty much set all cars that way now. The traction improvement can be seen in the telemetry friction screen. I haven't set higher than 115, but out of curiosity might give that a go.

Blooze made a good point. I do not use ABS, and set my differential deccel quite low, about 1/2 my accel setting, which is also quite low. Usually around 25-30. That probably has a lot to do with no lock up since one complements the other (breaks and diff on deccel). And as he pointed out, I rarely put the brake peddle all the way to the mat. Only when I'm in panic mode and trying to stop from going over the guard rail on a mountain track (btw, it doesn't work, LOL). Like everything else in this game, its about balance. If you run one parameter outside the norm, you will most likely have to run something else outside the norm to counter act the affect. Balance is King. To each his own, since everything depends on build, tune, controls (wheel/hand joystick) and driving style. So many variables, ad infinitum.

Cheers!

[Hellisan]

Oh Blooze.... LOL.   Glitchy?  I'm not a race car driver or tuner.  But I'm sure there are some race cars out there with brakes set at a pretty high pressure... lol.  I too stay away from glitched builds/tunes, I don't know this to be one at all.  200% I would safely characterize as glitchy if it were to work... 125%?  I bet this is a driver preference thing and some guys definitely go way, way higher than stock or default settings IRL.

[Blooze]

I wasn't labeling this setting as a glitch at all.  I was responding to the general flavor of this question...

Hah... Now can you peg out a setting because somebody tells you it works better?  That's the question lol

Which more or less implies that I would give a glitch tune a try.  They all work better, but that is not the issue.  Generally glitch tunes work because the code behind the setting has not established an error handler for out of spec settings and some part of the Physics function does not respond correctly to unreasonable variable values.

As for the higher brake settings - Brake Pressure is one of, if not the only, tuning parameter that is dependent on the user's method of using the controller for its affect on the state of the car.  My use of the brake pedal/trigger is something that has been learned through three iterations of Forza - it is a setting that I am not frivolous with.  I think brake pressure is the most personal of setup parameters, and having found one that works for you, it is not something to be messed with.

So, I am happy for you - you have a setting that works well for you and you like it.  Personally, I found 104 to be too much.

$

[Hellisan]

Oh, o.k. - no, you completely misunderstood me, that wasn't the implication I was trying to get across in any way.  I don't deal in any glitches.  My impression was that most people were going with Forza 2 setups because well... that's what they've always done so I just wanted to bring up the topic.  If I were to find out that there are no (approximations of) 125% braking pressure setups on real tuned cars, I'd definitely go away from it and deal with the mushiness of a realistic setting if need be.  I try to play it straight up.  

It was funny, we recently did a hotlap challenge on Silverstone with 03 Celicas just so my friends and I could try a leaderboard car (we don't allow the real obvious ones in our races etc).  Well, after all the testing and checking we did it seems that most of the best laps done by a celica are in glitched tunes.  As if the car wasn't already superior in and of itself.

[TheJohnNewton]

I never change pressure but I do adjust the balance.