EDIT 8.7.2018: .ODS version updated to v0.996b, new archives available. Excel version is unchanged. This was caused by BadGrrmmr and CastrolGT noticing that the Toyota GT-One models weren't showing up correctly (thanks guys!), after investigating this it turns out that Open-/LibreOffice use a different kind of alphabetical ordering than Excel, requiring these cars to be before the GT86 models in the list.
EDIT 14.6.2018: Update to v0.996, cars from the Spirit of Le Mans added, changed total "heave rate" column to show current damper critical rate (doesn't include 3rd spring, still gotta use the graph for that...).
EDIT 2.5.2018: Update to v0.995, Ferrari 488 Challenge added, fixed rear spring selector sometimes showing the wrong number of spring options.
EDIT 13.3.2018: Added .zip and .7z download links.
EDIT 9.3.2018: Version 0.99 released, added missing DLC cars, improved calculations on cars with varying motion ratios, added an optional "roll frequency with swaybars included", but it's not super accurate so don't treat it as gospel.
EDIT 21.02.2018: Just a heads up that I'm back here on the forums and an update to the calculator IS coming in the future. Also I've added a link to the old thread in this post so you can reach my old videos easier.
EDIT 3.10.2017: Version 0.96 released, fixing rear 3rd spring functionality (copy error while converting from my internal sheet)
EDIT 3.10.2017: Version 0.95 released, fixing heave motion ratio issues on various cars
Ye olde thread, with ye olde videos!
Here ye, here ye, the preliminary version of the suspension calculator for Project CARS 2 is upon us. I haven't had time to prepare anything for this release other than the calculator itself and some very basic instructions. In the near future I intend to make some videos explaining it a bit more, but those of you familiar with my work on the Project CARS suspension calculator of yore can get a start on it now, as well as those clever enough to figure it out by themselves. =)
The download link be here:
Project CARS 2 Suspension Calculator v0.996(b) for Excel and OpenOffice/LibreOffice Zip
MD5 for Zip: F29A37691EC492658CDE11376EDB6A6C
Project CARS 2 Suspension Calculator v0.996(b) for Excel and OpenOffice/LibreOffice 7Zip
MD5 for 7z: D03ED8B5A12478EE4C83201393032871
The archive has the calculator in two formats, .ods and .xlms. The ODS version works great in OpenOffice for me, but not in LibreOffice (macros don't work), and the Excel version works in Excel, as you'd expect (EDIT: Except apparently people are having trouble opening it up in Excel versions before 2010. I can't confirm since I don't have access to multiple versions, but people have reported having issues with it).
The calculator has changed appearance somewhat, but the functionality is more or less as before: Use the GREEN cells to adjust values, read the metrics from the top (suspension frequencies) and bottom (critical damping ratios), check the graphs for a general look of the situation.
Step 1 is to select a car. Do this by selecting the cell with the name of the car and opening up the dropdown list (it's a bit behind the Reset button on OpenOffice since the layering in it is stupid).
Step 2 you hit the Reset button (as long as your macros are enabled), this will reset all the values to "default" settings (should be the same as Stable, but can be a bit out of date).
Step 3 adjust springs. See the frequencies to the right of the springs? That's how stiff the car is, no matter what the numbers on the springs are (this has to do with motion ratios and weight distribution). Two cars that have different weight but the same frequency are equally stiff. It's common for racing cars to have at least 10-30% stiffer front end for sharp front end response and good rear traction. Softer increases mechanical grip, harder makes things sharper and more stable aero wise. Non-aero race cars tend to be in the two, three Hz range, med aero cars (like GT3) tend to be in the 2.5-4.0 Hz range, for high aero cars sky is the limit (you want a solid aero platform on them and don't care about mechanical grip as much). Note that in Project CARS 2 some cars have third springs that act only for up and down motion (the opposite to swaybars that only act for roll), so you can differentiate between the two. For example you can make the car softer for cornering by using soft springs in the corners, but still able to support the aero load by adding 3rd springs to stiffen up that side.
Step 4 adjust dampers. I'll add more to this, but for dead simplicity try to stay between the blue lines in the graph, towards the stiffer side. Below center is bump, above center is rebound. The further away from center you go the stiffer you are. For the "critical damping at 3 in/s" number, something like 70-90% critical for rebound and 40-70% critical for bump is a good range. I usually go with about 80% critical for rebound and 50% critical for bump.
Rules of thumb:
Stiffer = less grip, and vice versa, for springs, swaybars and dampers alike. There are exceptions but as long as you're within the guidelines this is generally true. A notable caveat is aero, you want to make sure that works as well as possible.
For stability, make the front stiffer than the rear in all categories, but don't exaggerate.
Try to avoid compensating one area with another. If your springs are much stiffer at the rear and you compensate by stiffening the dampers and swaybars at the front, you'll usually create a car that can react unpredictably in different situations. Some cars like road cars though do this by design in many cases, for other reasons. Rarely any need for that in racing.
Don't go below average of 50% critical on the damping, the car will take a long time to settle down from bumps.
Going beyond 100% critical on the damping means you're making the suspension slower at getting back to a neutral position. You might want this for a very stable aero platform on an open-wheeler, but it's generally not a great idea for mechanical grip.
For circuit racing it's common to have the rebound damping significantly stiffer than the bump damping. Exceptions exist though, like some GT3 cars that want to work the tyres hard with stiff bump damping. For rally and uneven surfaces you usually want to go with stiff bump and soft rebound. Experiment with different bump/rebound biases to find your own style!
Front wheel drive cars are just wacky and have insane setups, don't try to apply rear wheel drive logic to those!
People have done and continue to do weird stuff in real life, so don't be surprised if a default setup looks odd in the calculator. I talk in generalities and approximations, sometimes a seemingly weird solution can work great.
The Lotus 38 has a very asymmetric construction, not just asymmetric settings. That's why I split it into two halves.
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