posted 06-10-2001 10:16 AM            

GASMANS RACING AND TUNING TECHNIQUES

"GasMan - Master of online race psychology with lethal intent"

What the...? Bit long innit?

To answer the first question, this is a piece of work that has been in the pipeline for about a month now. It includes a lot of information that many people will know and many will not. There are hints and tips peppered thoughout which will help you in some way hopefully. We have here two sections to this long post. First we have the Racing Techniques section. This includes a lot of information on driving and styles involved in GT2. The Tuning Techniques are basically as the title says. There is a lot of information in amongst these words so please let me know of mistakes, errors, etc. By doing this we can hopefully build up a pretty good techniques manual of sorts to help everyone in the future. Apologies for the length but it had to be done to get everything across the way it was designed to. The size of the actual text is a way to reduce the length of this aswell. The entire writing here is for Gran Turismo 2 and is no way relevant to any other games using these settings. Based purely on GT2. The post was made here in the Online Racing Forum as it was geared towards that side of the game rather than the general use of GT2.

"I didn't always want to be a GT2 online racer you know. I wanted to be...
A lumberjack. Leaping from tree to tree."

Come on my little beauties, let me space you out a little...
one more line. Perfect.

RACING TECHNIQUES

"Don't know where we're going;
'Cuz the rowers keep on rowing;
And they really aren't showing;
Any signs that they ...are ...slowing!"

Let's discuss the different styles of driving people have for a minute. Styles vary a great deal between racers. Some are advantageous to one and poor for another. To clarify a little statement comes in handy here... One mans rubbish is another mans treasure. That means that while one style may be run by one racer it may not maximise your own abilities. 'Get on with it' I hear you say. What I'm getting at here is that while I'm trying to be complete in this I will no doubt miss things and even ignore things. These little tips and tricks are sometimes helpful and mean the difference between success and mid-pack finishes in the online racing world of GT2. The last time I tried a similar guide like this it all went pear shaped. The document itself was poorly structured, presented all wrong and to top it all off I never received one hint or tip from anyone that could help enhance a future version (i.e. this one). So take note, any little piece of info or technique you use whether I put it in here or not, I want to hear about it. Email me with it gazlee@ntlworld.com and I'll try and get a more useful document produced. Back to the business at hand then.

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Back to Basics

First things first, your method of control. This may not seem that important but believe me it makes the world of difference. The best way to control your car is to use analog steering and acceleration with manual transmission. I have heard of people using the NegCon to great effect and having tremendous success with it. Mr Tim and Star are two of them. Equally the dual shock controller works just as well. I have no doubt that there will be other types of controller that are used. If you are using pure digital I suggest slowly changing over in stages. Manual transmission -> Analog steering -> Analog acceleration.

Using analog steering you can regulate the amount of steering input and make finer adjustments to the cars course. Likewise analog accel and braking will allow you to maximise the performance of the car through and approaching turns, corners, straights, chicanes. The ability to use analog steering and acceleration/braking is something to be proud of and to learn.

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Controller Configurations

Before we go on to discuss actual methods involved within racing and using the controllers we need to just mention a few points about controllers and button configurations. Several people use configs that are different to the usual dual shock sticks or X and square buttons. This doesn't mean to say that they are wrong in their use. They are comfortable with these alternate methods. In talking with many friends I've found out that people sometimes like to use R1 as an upshift button and R2 as downshift. Likewise the same situation with the L shoulder buttons. You can sometimes find an alternate to the regular X accelerator button on digital... why not try using the R1 button as the gas? Attach the brake to the X button. You never know, it may just feel more comfortable.

But what about the Negcon? It has different sensitivities and values with various strange button allocations. Shoulder buttons as shifters, maybe up and down on the d-pad as shifters or even left and right? Works for a lot of people, maybe you should try it. For accelerating some folk use the II button on the negcon so they can 'heel' the I button as the brake without losing too much speed in lifting your finger off of gas to brake and vice versa.

The following link discusses various different values to use with the negcon and different button configurations and ways to get accustommed to the controller. Very useful information for anyone interested in making the shift to full analog capabilities with a Namco neGcon. Namco NeGcon thread.

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Drive-trains

With racing there comes different styles as we've seen but what really dictates these styles? I can honestly say that my own personal style of driving changes depending on the drive-train format. Let's look at these drive-train things more closely. The drive-train configuration is basically the type of car you are using with regards to engine and wheel drive. So we have front engine, front wheel drive (FF); front engine, rear wheel drive (FR); mid engine, rear wheel drive (MR); four wheel drive (4WD); and rarely seen/used, the rear engine, rear wheel drive (RR). With each drive-train comes alternative characteristics and handling traits.

FF is traditionally seen as the easiest drive-train to use. Personally I disagree with this assessment. By using FF the car relies on its front wheels to both steer and produce movement sent from the engine. As a result you can lose speed and traction when turning. To regain that grip you must apply weight shift to the car (discussed next). Therefore when using FF it is even more important that the car and steering is smooth and not jerky and ragged. Easing off the steering as you exit the turn will amass a huge amount of speed than you would think possible.

FR is one of the more common drive-trains used for race cars and allows huge amounts of power to be used. The main problem with FR is the wheel-spin that can be caused as a result of too much power in the engine. When driving using an FR car you will find that you have to take the entry of the corners easier as when you get back on the gas the car may have a tendency to slip the rear around and thus swap ends - spinning out. Quick reflexes are the order of the day with a concentrated mind that can correct any mistakes the millisecond that they occur.

MR cars are usually superb through corners. Handling is pretty good but when you get an MR car wrong it will punish you. As usual precision in steering is the way around this and respect for the car. That may sound daft but when you are gentle with the car you will notice a remarkable difference in the car and its handling. 4WDs are the easiest of the lot and can be handled in any way you wish. Unlikely to lose control and very easy to correct if it does happen. RR are for me unknown territory so I can't comment on that type of drive-train.

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Weight Shift/Transfer

When trying to type this up I racked my brains trying to figure out exactly what I was forgetting and when I thought about it I realised it was one of the things that I came to take for granted and just accepted as part and parcel of car racing and driving. That factor being weight transfer. To fully understand cornering, acceleration, braking and race physics you have to look at the cars weight distribution and the effects it has under various situations on the car and its handling characteristics and performance. At stand-still, a car will have its weight distributed equally over the wheels. When the car is put under acceleration all of the weight is shifted from the front to the rear thus giving the rear tyres more grip. In an FR car this is perfect for starts and of course powering out of corners. When turning a corner the wheels will lack grip and thus understeer unless the weight is shifted to them for a brief moment allowing them traction and grip to cope with the corner. Therefore to get the weight back to the front you have to slow the car down by braking thus throwing the weight to the front of the car and giving the steering wheels that bit more grip allowing the car to get around the corner fast without understeering. These are the basics of weight shifting/transfer. Please refer to the manual that came with GT2 for a more detailed and frankly better description. It does a far better job than I have done here.

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Manual Transmission

This has been covered before in ISoRT but for the sake of completeness I am going to go over it again. Initially manual transmission (MT) seems awkward and nothing but a nuisance. This is where many people give up and go back to automatic transmission (AT). Me being stubborn I wouldn't let this put me down and beat me to submission. I put in extra effort to learn MT and now I couldn't even contemplate running a car without it. But what are the advantages of using it? Is it really worth all that effort? To sum up the advantages in a few simple choice words I'd say 'more control'. In using MT I have found that I can get a car up a hill a lot quicker by selecting a lower gear and using all the rpms that the engine can dish out. I can use a higher gear to gain a little extra traction and control when accelerating. Corners can be taken at a higher speed due to selecting gears rather than coasting because at has put you in the wrong gear. You can sometimes brake a second or so later by engine braking. (Shifting down a few gears and then braking allowing the engine to help in slow the car down by reducing the power). Overall I'd say take the time to get to know MT. In the long run it's worth it.

But how do you go about learning it? For me it was a matter of trial and error. After using it for a few hours I could determine when to shift and what was the best way to take corners and chicanes with regards to braking and shifting using a combination of downshifting and engine braking. My advice is to take a car like the Mini Cooper and get a setup for it that you feel comfortable with. Then switch over to manual transmission and take it to a track like Laguna Seca. By using this course you will learn to deal with using extra power heading up hills. Using higher gears for traction at the corkscrew and learning to downshift quickly for the last turn will help immensely and supply you with the necessary practice needed for a huge range of possibilities in the game. In terms of manual transmission and the techniques needed... Laguna Seca has it all. Experiment with the gears and changing them to higher and lower gears. Don't race with the target of getting a fast time but to get used to the transmission and gear changes. Then slowly start speeding up and eventually after a few hours practice you'll be using MT well.

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Acceleration and Braking

Mentioned a few moments ago was the analog capabilities of GT2. Analog acceleration and braking can help a great deal with regulation of braking power and engine power being delivered to the wheels in relation to the drive-train type. By gently increasing the gas by small increments you will find that the car will produce less wheel-spin and it will progress in a smooth manner. for a practical example where analog acceleration would be useful is the long gradual left hander at Apricot Hill shortly before the long downhill straight. By holding the gas at certain point you will have a steady acceleration pace and the car will most likely stay at a decent pace too. Immediately you have gained time by not pulsing the accelerator and tapping brake if you were using digital. Braking is another thing that can be used to great effect. As an example we'll take the first left hander in sector 2 at Laguna Seca. By gently applying the brakes the car can slow down enough to take the corner without resorting to full braking power as you would need to do in digital. the advantage here is that you already have gained a few km/h (or mph) by not jamming the brakes to the floor.

But what about digital acceleration and braking? We can't be totally lost using it can we? Personally although I'd love to get used to analog gas and brakes I just can't get aquainted with it. So I have a few little techniques I use while racing that most likely you know but we'll go over them. When accelerating and I wish to keep a constant speed the best way is to pulse the accelerator at a constant rate. Again we take the Apricot Hill left hander as an example. On the approach I'd set up the car for the turn and brake down to a speed where i want to remain constant, after that i continually press the accelerator. Not quite tapping, more of a push. Maybe once a second for a few tenths each time. That keeps the car going at a smooth rate. Not as precise or neat as analog but it does the job in its crude and peculiar fashion. When braking the car can be slowed quicker by engine braking (mentioned earlier) and tapping the brakes. Essentially what happens when you press digital brakes the wheels lock after a short while and the car just slides on regardless of what happens. Whereas you can tap the brake and it simulates a regulation of braking similar to the gas mentioned earlier. Test this out at Seattle Short. Brake at the exact same spot using the same car with different styles of braking. It's almost guaranteed that the car will be stopped quicker by using the tapping method. Another useful method is that of using both gas and brake at the same time. A quick tap on the brake while still on the gas is sometimes just enough to scrub off those few km/h (or mph) that will allow the car to flow through the sweeper. Also keep in mind the coasting technique. Just lift off of gas and the car will slow on its own accord. This method comes in handy at times.

Many of these methods can be mixed and swapped around at various corners, areas, chicanes, etc. It's just a matter of finding a method comfortable and good for the situation at hand. If you master these skills and techniques you should be well equipped to handle most situations involving gas and brakes with digital controls. There isn't really much more to say about analog gas and brakes. They really speak for themselves and is just a matter of practice (and for me - patience).

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GasMans Golden Rule

It's all about exit speeds. The key to fast times is not the amount of speed you carry through the corner but the amount that you carry out of the corner. When you consider tracks such as Rome Full you will realise that this is a key piece of information that must be followed to keep up with the pace. For example take the last turn, you could be heading into it slowly but have an exit speed of just over 130km/h. By the time you get to the first sector you could have first sector time of 10.2xx. Compare this with a lap where you approach the last corner fast and try and maintain the speed though it compromising the exit speed to 120km/h. At the first sector split the time could end up being a 10.7xx easily. By taking this information it is easy to see where a few seconds can easily be obtained. 10km/h in this case is equivalent to half of a second over the shortest sector of that lap. Can you imagine the time gained over the entire lap if the exit speed is maximised? Easily a few seconds at most.

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Basic Cornering

So what's the big deal about cornering? You just turn the steering and point the car in the right direction, correct? Yes and no. Simplified yes that is it but when you are racing technically and with full commitment to gain the fastest times available this is wrong. There is so much more to the puzzle than simple point and gas. To show how a corner (any corner as a matter of fact) is taken it will be best to lay out a simple basic procedure to follow. Many of you will know this like the back of your hand but it helps to go through things as revision and refresh the techniques in your mind. Ideally you are wanting to stick to the racing line. The traditional thought is that the racing line is the best way through a turn. I tend to agree with this to a certain extent but in corners like the first one at Grand Valley or the last one at Red Rock I have to say that an alternative line is a better, faster and more efficient way of tackling the corner and gaining more speed for the upcoming sections on the course - exit speeds again. Basically there are a few steps to tackling your routine corner.

• Line the car up - Setup the car so that you enter the corner at a nice and easy angle through the turn with as little steering input (theoretical anyway) as necessary.
  
• Slow the car down - Using any or a mixture of the techniques discussed earlier slow the car down for the corner rather than during the corner. Again focus on exit speeds and maximising them.
  
• Turn into the corner - Depending on the car drive-train this or the next step can be in the opposite order. Slowly ease the steering to the required degree of movement and let the car flow through the turn rather than jerking it and scrubbing off speed. A smooth motion will allow you to maintain speed and precision. Try and clip the apex of the turn as close as possible.
  
• Back on the gas - Getting back on the gas as soon as you start the turn or shortly before will allow you to exit faster and maintain a reasonable speed throughout the corner and in some cases constant acceleration through the turn.
  
• Exiting the corner - Ease the steering back out to align the car straight again. Sometimes letting the car drift to the outside of the turn will give the driver more room to smooth out the turn rather than chugging at the steering.

Those few steps can be applied to many, if not most, of the corners in GT2. Sometimes slight alterations to the general tradition racing beliefs is required. For instance, as mentioned earlier with hairpins leading onto long straights, it is best to make the apex a lot later in the turn. Taking these sort of corners wide initially and having an almost straight line through the last three quarters can gain a lot of time on the following sections of the course.

An important point to note is that of the smooth factor. By using smooth steering and easing the steering inputs rather than jamming on full lock you will find time in the turns and become more confident in approaching any form of a turn.

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Advanced Cornering

Having covered basic cornering and including the way to tackle most corners there doesn't seem like much more to add. I decided to add this advanced cornering heading to make things complete as there are a few corners that cause problems most markedly chicanes. These type of corners can be a right royal pain sometimes but if taken correctly and the right mindset is used when approaching them then they can be discarded as easily as sweeping corners. (although chicanes like Laguna Secas Corkscrew demand your respect). The key thing to do when tackling a chicane is to ignore the fact that it is two corners leading into each other and tackle it as one turn. By setting the car up properly the first section can almost be taken as if it was not there. To show what I'm talking about it would be best for me to describe an actual chicane in the game. Let's take Apricot Hill Reverse and let's look at that dreaded chicane. Following the guidelines listed above we approach the turn. Approaching from the far left of the track we slowly at the same time set the car up for the turn and brake to get through the chicane as quick as possible. Slightly turning the car to the right we have the car at the desired speed and it is pointing over the kerbing on the right for the right section of the chicane. As we nail the kerbing on the right we slowly ease the power back on and steer to the left just clipping the kerbing on the left. The result? By setting the car up and slowing for the corner we were able to take the chicane almost as one corner in a smoother line and by disregarding the apexes of both sections of each turn making the chicane. To top it off we managed to keep good speed and of course exit with a good amount of speed.

That chicane however is nothing when compared to the complexities of the chicane known as the Corkscrew found at the Laguna Seca track. With a twist and a downhill section this chicane could have been created as the passageway to hell itself. It really is that evil... if you don't know how to tackle it. When approaching this turn line the car on the far right of the track and brake when necessary. (different cars require various braking points). Using manual transmission shift to a gear where in a normal situation the car would bog down. Manouvre the car so that you can almost take the entire turn in one direct line. Trial and error is the order of the day here as each car handles differently. By using a higher gear the driving wheels will be gaining traction through the mid point of the turn. As you pass this point shift down a gear so that you can get out of the turn quickly and use the cars acceleration. By using this shifting technique you are stabilising the car, maintaining control through the corner and of course gaining that necessary acceleration and speed for the exit.

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License Tests

The secret to many of the good, fast, successful drivers in online racing at the GTF is the tendency for them to have tweaked their abilities through the license tests via many hours of practice. As much as many people hate these tests, they are in fact a source of excellent tutors and practice. If you can go fast in the license tests then you have an advantage when you hit the race track. Many racers have raced these tests and drove to their limits to achieve record times. These times can be found in the GT2 License Test Database that Mack so kindly hosts and keeps running. Have a look at the tests and the records. Give them a quick shot and then continually practice on them when you have no other commitments in real life or in your virtual GT2 racing career. Trust me, the practice and effort you put in to these tests will turn out to be of benefit in the long run.

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Counter-Steering/Opposite Lock

The art of counter-steering is something which can be a vital part of the package of a driver in GT2. Some cars are smooth and forgiving whereas you might get the odd car or two which is so powerful that it likes to slip out of the friction circle and attempt to spin. In its simplest form, counter steering is when you steer the opposite direction to the way the car is heading so that you can keep it in control and not spin out or lose control. The most extreme example to give would be the beast that is the TVR Speed 12. Try driving that around a corner. Chances are that when you get half way through the turn and put the power down the car starts to spin. To keep the car from spinning in a full circle and to keep it pointing in the correct direction you will find that it is usful to steer in the opposite direction so as to counter the spin. Turning left, about to spin? Try a touch of turning right or maybe even full lock depending on the situation. It's a tricky thing to get completely right but practice and numerous rally races will help out here. You will find that counter-steering is useful skill to know and have in your arsenal when you venture into the rally mode of GT2.

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Power Sliding

So then, what's a powerslide? Simply? It's a sideways manouvre through a corner without losing any speed. That's glamming it up a little but the premise in powersliding is the same. Essentially it is when you kick the rear of the car out via dabbing the brakes, sharply turning and then jamming on the accelerator. The car will go into a slide into the corner. To continue the slide through the corner you must use tact agility on the brakes and accelerator to keep the speed as constant and as high as is possible while using varying degrees of counter-steering to keep the car heading in the direction you want it to go in, i.e. the exit of the corners. A perfect power slide would be where the car loses as little speed as possible and obtains good grip upon the exit of the corner with no loss of speed. Ideally a slide should be performed on the edge of what is known as the Friction Circle. Check the GT2 Driving Manual you received with GT2 for more information on this subject.

Power slides are impressive beasts on replay when you can finally achieve them on a consistent basis. It's easy to initiate a slide, what's difficult is maintaining it through a corner. The general consensus is that powersliding is a good technique to be the holder of as you can get through a corner quickly and in style. In GT2 it has style but honestly? It doesn't cut the mustard in the quickness of lap times. Just my own personal opinion and advice here but I think a grip style would be more beneficial to work on than a finesse and style technique such as power-sliding. It is good to show off right enough.

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Sports Tyres

So, we arrive at the more realistic side of GT2. The sports tyre. With these boots attached to your car GT2 treats you differently. You have to be careful with your racing line and braking styles. Certain techniques are needed to drive a car to its potential under the use of sports tyres. Braking zones are significantly larger than when using racing slicks. The car doesn't have as much grip as you would expect and thus the braking is vital in turning good lap times. A small tip that seems to come in handy is to pulse the brakes. For some reason the car seems to respond and slow down a lot quicker than if you just jam down on the brakes. I believe this is because under full braking power the wheels are locking, the tyres are just sliding across the ground with no grip at all causing the momentum of the car to continue. It might be wise to remember that the grip is lower so certain corners have to be taken slower on your sports tyres.

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Simulation/Control/Real-Life Tyres

Aha! Now here is where we delve into the mysteries of real life and where GT2 shows us how good its physics engine really is. Can you really take a corner at 70 mph? Yeah? Try it with these babies strapped to the legs of your car then. I can guarantee you will fly off the course and hit the barrier. As with sports tyres the grip of the car is significantly reduced. What you have to remember is the reduced grip and the essentials of driving. When you are braking using these tyres be sure to brake very early and to turn in soon. When you get back on the gas the car sometimes has a tendency to understeer. Again, the best advice I can give in my limited experience with these tyres is to pulse the brakes, in fact pulsing the gas is useful to achieve certain levels of speed and performance through some turns. Gears are quite useful when using these tyres. Some cars have different peak power and this can help in steering the car around the corners. I know, you think I'm mad but hear me out. When you are approaching a turn and you have slowed started turning in but the nose of the car is sweeping to the outside of the turn, you are almost certain to lose speed if you brake. The solution would be to shift up a gear and pump the gas every second or so. Chances are that the lower revs will allow the car to gain more grip on the surface and bring the nose around back onto the racing line and allow you to get the power down for the subsequent section. Using sim tyres is interesting and fun (and frustrating until you can figure them out). All aspects of real life racing and phyics of race cars an the world in general come into play. They must be abided by for you to become successful. Not to mention, constant practice always makes perfect.

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Freaky Physics/Ground Effects

These effects are different styles of racing from the norm. They were stumbled across by many people over the last year and have been researched thoroughly by Grampa1951 (or gramps as he is now known). Gramps argues that what we term freaky physics is actually an effect in racing known as the ground effect. He discusses this subject in the following Freak Physics Discussion (Freak Physics Discussion 2) and continues his research with several others in an informal spot race called Freak Show... Slot Cars at Red Rock. There's some interesting reading in there with methods on how to tune and race cars that are setup and designed to run with these Ground Effects. The race thread and discussion thread are ideal complimentary partners as a complete database of the cars that can achieve times and performance on Red Rock Valley Speedway. These cars can induce Ground Effects at other tracks including, Grindelwald, Deep Forest, Laguna Seca and several other courses in part. To continue any discussions on these effects it would be wise to follow them up within either of those threads.

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Rally Racing

With GT2 came the rally mode which many believe to be a superb mode on its own. Me personally? I could never get used to rally racing, I suck at it in fact. But I know the basics to discuss it a little. Plus I've had a lot of help and advice from friends over the past year or so on this mode. When you are driving in rally, the car will slide. No matter how hard you try it will always slide, no question. There is no escaping it and when you take that into account you can come to terms with the almost unique handling of the rally mode. The main piece of information that can be dished out here is that you must treat the car as if you were driving using simulation tyres. You must brake early and turn in early to make the exit properly. If you turn in at the point where you would on tarmac you will find yourself drifting as you reach the apex and you will slide off of the racing line most likely into a wall or barrier.

To prevent this from happening brake firmly and strongly prior to the turn in. When you do turn in it is sometimes wise to just tap the brake while turning which will dip the nose of the car into the corner a little further and give you a little more room to manouvre on the exit of the turn. Again during the turn it is wise to use techniques mentioned previously such as pulsing the accelerator or coasting the car around. Each car capable of rallying behaves differently and the methods are varied. Powersliding can be beneficial through several corners where grip driving is best through the shallower turns. As with the sports and sim tyres rallying is an art in itself that requires finesse and practice.

As you can see from this fairly crap section on rally racing I am inept at rallying so if anyone would like to revise this section or add any pointers I would be more than happy to add them in, just drop me an email at my address and I'll get back to you on it.

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That's It?!

That is the beginnings of the knowledge required to become a successful and fast racer in GT2. To make that step up to the next level in your abilities you must put effort and hard work into it. In time you'll gain experience and that combined with this knowledge and information can be used to devastating effect. Please let me know if I'm missing anything here or if I've made mistakes and such. As of this moment in time that is the last drop of information that I can squeeze out of the depths of my brain. If anything new pops up I will be sure to keep you all informed. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Comments, criticism and suggestions are most welcome and encouraged.

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Come on my little beauties, let me space you out a little...
one more line. Perfect.

TUNING TECHNIQUES

"Uhmm... Houston? We have a problem.
Mr Blue Blob the Mechanic has been kidnapped...
Eh... by a big hand"

This sort of stuff doesn't really come natural for me so please bear with me until I start making sense. The best way to go through tuning and its relevant settings and effects is to present a walkthrough or procedure to let you follow. We'll have one (or two) of those later on but for now I want to concentrate on the actual function and relevance of each setting and/or modification.

Spring Rate : The springs are there to allow the car to return the wheel to the original position whilst allowing some sort of travel between the wheels and chassis of the car itself. Having soft springs allows the car to travel over bumps and uneven surfaces and make the journey that bit smoother. With stiff settings the car will be more noticeably unstable over uneven terrain and bumpy surfaces but the advantages are that the car will become more responsive, due to the unsprung mass (the body) being less able to move around relative to the sprung mass (the wheel, and suspension) and will upon acceleration gain speed more quickly due to the maximum weight transfer occurring more rapidly due to the reduced travel per unit of weight. Generally the stiffer the faster. (that is the best way to remember it). Settings wise, to induce oversteer you want the rear springs to be stiffer than the front. Likewise, understeer is induced by having stiffer front springs, because when a wheel is connected via a stiff spring, less weight can be transferred to it, so it has less grip, but changes in direction can be more rapidly transferred to the body of the vehicle.

Ride Height : This is the value(s) used to determine the distance the actual body of the car is off of the ground. Generally a low value means the car will be stable and responsive. The downside is that on bumpy tracks the car can start bouncing too much on the track. To remedy this, increase the value. A larger value at the rear of the car produces oversteer and increased acceleration at the initial point of accelerating. A point to note about the ride height settings is that with the minimum front value and the maximum rear value, the car will have a slight advantage over a normally level ride height value. The car will accelerate faster and gain speed better. The downside is that the car can become very unstable depending on the accumulation of the other settings. GT2 doesn't accurately model the effects of ride height so it is sometimes of benefit to lower the ride height all the way and you might actually get away with it.

Dampers/Damping : Damping occurs within a shock absorber so that the energy transferred to the unsprung mass (the tyre/wheel/brakes/suspension assembly) by a bump is not just passed on to the sprung mass (the rest of the car). Without damping you would have a spring, not a shock absorber. A variety of means are used for damping, but all use friction. Elastomeric shocks use the inherent properties of elastomer, air shocks restrict the flow of air out (compression/bound) and in (rebound) of the shock body, coilover shocks usually resrict the flow of oil out (compression/bound) and in (rebound) of the shock body. I'll use coilover shock for illustration. When you drive over a bump, the spring is compressed. This forces oil out of the shock body, through the damping mechanism, usually through some form of valve or shim (good for speed sensitive damping). Having passed over the bump the spring will rebound. Oil will then be drawn back through the damping mechanism, usually through a different circuit. In both directions, the forcing of the oil through the damping mechanism converts some of the kinetic energy into heat, reducing the kinetic energy transferred from the unsprung mass to the sprung mass. Increasing the compression damping reduces body roll, and subsequently weight transfer effects. It makes the car feel like it is more stiffly sprung. Rebound damping stops the spring kicking back, and makes the car feel less wallowy. However too much rebound damping can cause the car to pack down, reducing the available travel.

Bound Dampers : The bound and rebound settings on a car are there to help control the pitch and roll approaching and during cornering. The bound setting controls the rate at which the damper compresses when you touch the brakes so by giving the bound setting a higher value you slow down the rate of travel or if you decrease the bound value the faster it will compress. The smoothest way to approach and execute a corner is by keeping the whole car as level as possible throughout the whole turn. When travelling at high speed there is a greater force acting on the car when you touch the brake pedal, therefore by increasing the bound figure you will prevent the nose of the car from diving. If the nose dives too much you will end up with the rear of the car excessively high. This moves the weight off the rear tyres which means you now have reduced grip to travel through the turn which will be dangerous in a rear wheel drive car as the driven wheels now have little grip and the chance of spinning will be increased.

Rebound Dampers : To the same degree the rebound settings are just as important as the bound settings and need to be matched together to work properly. The rebound setting will control the rate at which the damper decompresses. The pitch of the car is equally affected by controlling the front diving as well as how fast the front comes back up when you take your foot off the brakes. The higher the rebound setting the stiffer the damper is when returning to it's normal position. The purpose of this is too make sure that the car doesn't swing back and fourth when on and off the brakes keeping the maximum amount of grip on the track and not in the air. If you set either the bound or rebound too high then it will affect the braking distance of your car. The most effective braking is done by transferring as much weight as you can to the front wheels whilst keeping the rear of the car as close to the ground as possible. Setting the bound/rebound too high will mean that you will restrict the amount of damper travel and thus affect the amount of weight you can transfer so you will need longer to stop or a lower cornering speed to eliminate understeer or oversteer depending on FWD or RWD.

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Camber : With no camber on a flat surface the wheels will make contact 100%. With a slight bit of camber the angle of the wheel is changed and as a result the coverage of the wheel on the ground is reduced. i.e. less grip. Initially this seems bad but when turning the car the camber value allows the wheel to align with the ground and its camber will mean the wheel and ground make full contact. Thus more grip is produced and a faster time through the corner. Increased camber means better grip through corners. A higher front value induces oversteer. One thing to take into account with camber is the fact that it can increase grip. If you have a car that likes to slip its rear out every so often (oo-er missus), it is sometimes useful to increase the rear camber to counter that effect and stabilise the car again. I have in the past came across settings which look almost radical yet the car handles superbly. A Mazda RX-7 handles a little better under power with engine mods attached if it's camber values are around 0.8/1.2, trust me, it works.

Toe : This is similar to camber but on a different level. Toe means the wheels can be already angled towards the turn thus causing resistance during straight sections but allowing the car to turn in and out of a corner initially at greater speed and more responsively. The sketchy diagram below shows what position the wheels are in when viewed from above in various values of toe.

//==\\ - Toe-out - negative number (Positive toe)
| |==| | - Zero Toe
\\==// - Toe-out - positive number (Negative toe)

Positive toe will allow the car to have a quicker reaction when entering a corner at the initial point. Negative toe will slow the response down a little. There has been much discussion on the values of toe and the exact effects that a value inducts on the car. It has been decided that toe out (negative number) in GT2 will give the car more bite out of the corner and thus more grip. The diagram above is a reflection of the theory of the way GT2 treats toe. Real life values of toe are slightly different and are in fact almost reverse of what I have stated here. To be sure, test it and see what your own conclusions are. We're still not 100% sure what is going on here except to say that negative numbers help steer the car better. Read up on some of the links related to toe and determine the correct values for yourself.

Stabilisers : These settings are handy for altering the balance of the car without making too much of a fuss around the more technical aspects of the car and its suspension. Generally the higher the front stabiliser the more oversteer that is induced. (or more properly, the less understeer is found).

Brakes : Settings to the brakes only come into effect obviously when the car is under braking. By setting the front value higher than the rear the car will have a tendency to turn in when you brake. This can be helpful if you find the car wanting to head straight ahead when you need to turn the car. It is sometimes useful to use a softer setting on higher powered cars to stop the brakes locking. With a lower value the brakes will not be applied as powerfuly and thus the chance of locking the wheels is reduced and of course there will be less sliding through the corners... which is 'a very bad thing'.

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Downforce : Low downforce means more speed but less grip. High downforce is 'grippier' but slower. In GT2 it doesn't make too much of a difference. Normally the best values to use are right at the maximum that these values can go to. No real advantage can be gained from low downforce under regular GT2 racing conditions. If however you are racing under a course such as the Test Course it may be wise to remove some of that downforce. With less drag the car does in fact have a higher top speed. This is simply because of the length of the straights on the test course. Again, under a regular GT2 race and its conditions downforce should be set near maximum.

Traction Controller : Simply put this device controls the traction. (sorry I couldn't resist). There have been discussions in the past questioning if the setting here actually helps at all. The mere existence of the controller is normally enough to reduce any wheel-spin and gain more grip. No real value has been found from fiddling with this setting. Traction control is only really needed in the high output cars, especially the Speed 12. It will help most cars off the start line by reducing the amount of wheel-spin. Sensors located on the hubs will send a signal back 100 times a second monitoring the speed of each wheel. If it detects a sudden increase in speed then it will decrease the amount of power to that wheel and transfer it to those that have grip. This does help the Speed 12 when exiting corners by limiting the wheel-spin when you hit the power-band and get a sudden burst of acceleration.

Stability Controller : Another one of those devices with a question mark over it. The existence of it helps but not the values used. Generally the higher the setting the less roll the car has. Really this is very closely linked to the bound and re bound settings. The stability controller measures excessive body roll during cornering and electronically stiffens each individual damper to keep the car as level as possible through the bend. This reduces any sudden weight shift in the car which would upset the balance and grip and potentially cause you to spin.

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Limited Slip Differentials : LSD helps the car when pulling away and during cornering. It does this by making sure that the driven wheels both rotate at the same speed. Without an LSD turn in too fast to a tight bend and you will spin the inside wheel through loss of traction, which ultimately scrubs speed and time when you exit the bend. Alternatively the LSD will help the car to corner as well. However by making the near side wheel turn slower than the offside wheel when cornering you will hook the car round to the right meaning that you can enter the right hand bends at a faster speed than without the LSD. Really it's a compromise on the type of circuit your racing at whether it consists of mostly left or right hand bends.

LSD Initial : This purely dictates how much the values stiffen or loosen the differentials. A higher setting will maximise the biggest acceleration and deceleration values and a lower setting will have the reverse effect.

LSD Acceleration : A lower setting will mean the wheels spin more independently of each other and a higher value tightens up both wheels which will increase the grip especially when you pull away. Also, by delivering the same amount of power to each driven when pulling away you will help the car to pull off in a straight line and reduce any torque steer (the effect of the car pulling to the left or right under acceleration depending on which of the driven wheels has more power).

LSD Deceleration : This is the complete opposite of the Acceleration settings and will help the control and turn in of the car under braking. A higher setting will tighten both wheels up delivering the same amount of power to each. The result of a higher setting will be that the car will now have more turn in force and will decrease the chance of spinning. However set the gearbox differential up too tight and on a rear or front drive car you will cause understeer because the back will want to push the front on mid corner.

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Gearing and Ratios

The gearbox settings can be quite a daunting prospect when setting up the car. By pulling all the individual elements apart it makes it really easy. The higher the auto slider the slower the acceleration but the higher the top speed. The settings are individual to each and every circuit as a tight and twisty circuit like Autumn Mini will mean you should run a gearbox with short gearing or a low autoset. Take the car out onto the circuit chosen with a standard autoset of say 15. The fastest way is by keeping the engine in the power band, as much of the time as possible. The gearing is very important in achieving this. Each gear has an individual value, all of which are controlled by the final ratio. A lower final ratio will also increase acceleration but reduce top speed. As every car has a different power-band the gearbox should be tailored to suit each engine. Starting with a final value of 3.400 and an auto set of 15 it will act as a good basis to run the car around the circuit. If you find you're not even close to using the all the revs in the top gears then bring down the auto-slider until on the fastest part of the circuit you are using the maximum amount of revs without hitting the rev-limiter. Once you are happy with the general setup of the final ratio and auto-slider you can now touch the individual gear settings. Each bend will have an optimum gear to get you through the fastest without running off the circuit. If you're approaching a right hand bend and you're just having to use fourth because third is on the rev-limiter it will mean fourth will drop you away from the power-band. Take the setting for third gear and reduce its value. This will now mean that it will change from second into third lower down the revs thus giving you more available speed through the turn, maximising your speed and letting you change into fourth at the right point. Shave just one tenth per corner by maximising the gearing and you've possibly saved yourself a second per lap.

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Power-Torque Graph

Right-o, so what's all this about powerbands and rev limiters? Basically the powerband is where the engine of the car is working at its best. It's where the performance of the engine will be at its most optimum. Figuring out where your car needs to be revving to be in the powerband is fairly easy. You go into the settings screen, and select one of the engine options such as turbo, na tune, or any other engine modification. There will be a small graph in the bottom left of the screen with lines going through it. This graph shows exactly where the engine works best and where the ideal shifting point is located. Using this information gleamed from this graph it can be put to use in racing and tuning.

The orange line on the graph represents the horsepower that is used as the revolutions per minute (rpm) are increased. The blue line shows the torque at relevant rpms also. To represent what exactly each value means we'll take a car we'll be using as a tuning example later on. Get a hold of the Lancia Stratos and fully mod it up. Everything you can get a hold of until you are left with a race bodied nifty wee car. Enter the settings screen in one omode or another and bring up this graph. Examine it for a scond or two. Looking at the blue line on th egraph we can see that the torque is at its peak at roughly 35kg/m (confirmed by the text to the right of the graph) across the space of 5000rpm to about 7500rpm. This means that if you have your gears set up to be within this range you will be running the engine at its best performance possible.

Now, the orange line. Simply this shows you the point at where the power tapers off in each gear and ultimately the best place to shift gears. In this example it can be seen that it peaks at just before 8000rpm. Using this data you can go and test shifting and you'd end up shifting better at roughly 7900rpm. The car will acclerate pretty well and hold good speed through the range of 5000 to 7500rpms.

Looks difficult but when you break it down like that it is quite simple to understand and will without doubt help you in setting up your gears which we will glance upon in the later example in the Stratos at Midfield Raceway. Check it out for more information.

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Tuning Procedure

One thing that I found when I came to get deeply involved with GT2 was the settings. As much as I tried to understand them I couldn't. I looked all over the web for info to help and I found guides but not a procedure. I wanted to be shown a practical example. Something I could follow along with and actually have hands on experience. The various guides that have floated around these very forums are great for actual reference but they are very vague in the procedures to follow. Many people will say that there is no procedure to follow, just instinct and experience will guide you. Me being the devils advocate I had to disagree and prove this wrong. How do newcomers learn to tune these cars? Is there some big secret we're missing? Therefore I've decided to do what I needed when I was trying to learn, I'll try to put down the basic procedure and then follow it with an example or two. Keep in mind that the steps involved in tuning your car depend on personal preference. Different people do it different ways. Therefore the way that I do things will most likely differ from what other more experienced racers/tuners will do. The info in the next few sections all come from the depths of my mind and my limited experience as a tuner and racer. Keep in mind this is the work of an amateur tuner, others may correct me and I'd like for them to contribute to this.

• Stock testing - Take the car around the track for a quick spin. Feel how it handles, where it could be improved. Does it respond quick enough? Are the gears causing problems on the straights? Just give yourself a general feeling of the car.
  
• Alterations - Just adjust some values that you think might need changing. Not drastic changes, but small changes the you feel would make the car better.
  
• Testing - Again take the car out and see how it feels after the changes made.
  
• Repetition - Repeat these two stages a few more times or until you get the car in the general area of the way you wish it to handle.
  
• Gears - Alter these so that you can get as much out of the gear box as possible.
  
• Fine-Tuning - This stage consists of altering the values and tweaking them to get the best performance out of the car you are using.

Okay, not a great procedure but it is the general one that I follow. (Many more guides and procedures can be found in the links section, browse around, some good stuff in there). There are other people that would recommend altering the gears first before the suspension or changing one thing at time and running countless laps to see if that setting made any difference. They may be right but for me that procedure above has worked, and worked reasonably well for me. But let's actually put that information into practice, let's see if the theory holds water.

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Quick Examples
Example 1 - [R]Mazda RX-7 Type RB '97 at Red Rock Valley Speedway
Example 2 - [R]Lancia Stratos at Midfield Raceway
Example 3 - Rally Tune (To be completed)

Example 1 - Mazda RX-7 Type RB '97 at Red Rock Valley Speedway
Let's not use a low powered car. After all we want to know how to tame the rear wheel beasts that cause us nightmares. Correct? Exactly! We want to take a car that oversteers and kicks like a mule and put it on a track where this kicking is most evident. So what car will we use? We'll use a fully modified Mazda RX-7 Type RB '98. Everything possible, but not the LSD, traction control and stability controller. Red Rock Valley will be the track used. So let's take our car out in stock form. I'll list the following as steps.

• A quick spin around the track in stock settings show a few things. First, the car has an awful tendency to understeer at inopportune moments. It also seems to want to spin when you get to the lower gears and get the power on. Another thing immediately obvious is that the stock gearing just isn't going to cut it. So, we move on...
  
• Whack the downforce up to max on both the front and rear. Change the autosetup in the gears section to say 15. Let's see how that works out.
  
• Hmm, the car is immediately more stable. The gears seem to be working at the minute but we still have that nasty understeer at the exit of the corners.
  
• Back to altering a few settings I immediately put the ride height to 89/135 to see if we can get good acceleration from this little tuning trick. Maybe the car will work maybe it won't. It's down to testing it. We want the car to be a little more responsive as well so I put the dampers on both bound and rebound up to their maximum values of 10/10.
  
• Another run around the track reveals what? The car still understeers slightly but it isn't as bad. Why? The car is now more responsive due to the dampers. We're also getting out of the corners faster due to the ride height setting. An explanation for this ride height setting? Basically with a high rear value the car when accelerating throws all of its weight to the rear. When this weight hits the rear it pushes the suspension and thus gives the wheels more traction on the track. Hence faster acceleration. Take note, this ride height trick doesn't work all of the time, only on a few select cars.
  
• We need the car to be a little more responsive which means we need to stiffen up the springs. We want to keep the balance of the car as it is at the moment until we are happy with the cars response times and reactions. So add 10.0 to each spring setting. This means the car springs are now 18.6/16.5.
  
• Try another run. Result? Very responsive. Almost exactly as I would want the car. Problems? Understeer and a nasty tendency to oversteer mid corner. Let's use the stabilisers to eradicate that effect.
  
• Set the stabilisers to 5/6 and see what happens. A few laps show the effect has almost disappeared. Normally the stiffer the settings the better so we'll increase this to 6/7. Another quick test reveals that those settings work just as well as the softer settings. Still not happy with that understeer problem. So stiffen the rear springs so they are harder than the front. Maybe try 18.6/19.0?
  
• Another spin in the car shows the setup is working very well indeed. The corners are being taken at a higher speed. Maybe slightly slow on the straight due to the camber but nothing a few tweaks won't help. Maybe try without camber?
  
• No, definitely needs camber, the car doesn't stick as well in the corners without it. Set the camber back to default.
  
• Let's try fiddling with the gears. I suggest the final ratio should be changed to get just a little more acceleration. Change it to 4.110. Maybe the fourth gear needs a little tweak to ensure getting around that first corner at the best rpms available.
  
• At this stage it is down to fine tuning the car and seeing what the best settings are. If you want to go the stable and consistent way then soften the springs up a little to get the car to behave better. But, if you are wanting to go the fast and risky route, which I did, then fiddle around with the camber, gears and springs.

I spent another half an hour on the car getting the setup just the way I wanted it and produced a fast lap of 1:05.117 with room for improvement. The final settings were as follows :

Spring Rate : 18.0/19.3
Ride Height : 89/135
Bound Dampers : 10/10
Rebound Dampers : 10/10
Camber : 0.9/0.8
Toe : 0/0 (didn't find any merit in changing these - maybe personal preference though).
Stabilisers : 6/7
Brakes : 12/12 (No need to change, perfect as they are).
Autosetup 15 then :
1) 2.811
2) 1.920
3) 1.267
4) 0.930
5) 0.735
F) 4.110
Max Downforce.

The result is a setup that can produce consistent fast time if the car is run at the speeds the setup was designed for. It may be slightly unstable but that was the compromise between fast and stability. I went for fast. That quick example is by no means the only way to tune a car. In fact I probably did things the wrong way around. Used the wrong technique but as I said previously, it has worked in the past and it continues to do so for me. Use that information at your own risk. We'll move on to a couple other cars now that are different form this one.

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Example 2 - [R]Lancia Stratos at Midfield Raceway
The Lancia Stratos will be or little project this time out and we will be focussing on stability and gearing rather than outright speed. Get a hold of a Lancia Stratos and add all the modifications that you can except for Traction, Stability and Limited Slip Diffs. We'll take the car to the arcade disk and give it a few runs around Midfield Raceway and see if we can get it good enough to handle the bumpiness and instability at the Horseshoe turn in sector 3.

• A few runs around the track in stock settings and you can see immediately that this car needs a good kick up the backside for it to be even remotely enjoyable. The gears are lacking, the stability is poor in turns and very slippery but it needs to have that oversteer tuned out of it.
  
• Back in the settings screen we turn the downforce up to its maximum values of .42/.70 and we need to sort the gears out temporarily. Set the final gear ratio to 4.110 and then change the autoset to say... 13? Okay, we'll just soften the rear spring rate to 4.0 to see if the oversteer and sliding is reduced any.
  
• Still too twitchy but better in some respects. The top end of gear 5 seems to be okay for the course but 3rd seems to be hitting the rev limiter too soon on the Horseshoe with fourth feeling as if it is bogging down too much. Do we go to fix the gears or the stability? Stability. Gears are important but we can't judge them properly if the car is spinnng on every second corner. Lower the ride height to the minimum to see if we can instill some sort of ease on the suspension. Try altering the dampers both bound and rebound to reduce the oversteer. Say maybe 9/7 and 9/7.
  
• Woah! As slippery as a bar of soap in the communal prison showers. We'll reduce the dampers down a bit to see if the stiffness is the problem... try 6/5 and 6/5 also a good idea is to remove the camber values to 0.0/0.0.
  
• Definitely not as tail happy but sector three in the Horseshoe is a nightmare. Might be worth considering increasing the rear camber value to see if we can instigate some form of grip and soften the rear all around. Bound to 6/4, rebound to 6/4, springs to 4.1/3.5.
  
• Interesting, very stable for the most part and actually a nicely driving car now. Sector three is not great as the Horseshoe turn always seems to jostle the rear about too much. The solution is to soften the rear suspension again. Again we'll lower the rear springs and see what that brings. Down to 4.1/3.0 and the car seems quite good and at a good starting point for fine-tuning.
  
• So far the cars handling is perfect for me. Others may like to tighten it up a little more but I always like the car on that edge of control so that if you get the line wrong you'll know it. The gearing is the next task. Third gear isn't hitting where we need it to go when we want it. It needs to have a little better topend. Not as bad as I first thought though. Fourth seems to be slowing though, needs more acceleration. 2nd gear is okay for the last left hander into the tunnel at the end of sector 3. Fifth is fine and first is never used so we'll just give it as much top end as we can without interfering with the other gears. A quick fiddle with the values to get the following...
  1) 2.633 (Makes first faster at the top end)
  2) 1.935 (default setting, no need to change)
  3) 1.350 ( Just slightly faster so we can take the horseshoe perfectly)
  4) 1.075 (bit more acceleration and compensation for 3rds better top end)
  5) 0.817 (perfect as it is, enugh room if we get a good run out of sector 3)
  F) 4.110 (value we previously set)
  
• After another test we can see that 3rd needs slightly more top end to get it around and out of the Horseshoe at optimum speed and power without sacrificing anything during a shift. We'll set that value to 1.330. 5th gear 'sounds' as if it is bogging down but it appears to keep speed and accelerate okay. No need to touch it at the moment.
  
• Another few laps and we can see that the setup is good enough to use. Possibly a good starting point to fine tune it to your own style or to make it faster. What you have now is gears that are in the right range for several of the turns and the handling is reasonable and a good sight better than stock settings.

[This message has been edited by GasMan (edited 07-08-2001).]

IP: Logged

posted 06-10-2001 10:26 AM            

Nothing spectacular. The main contents listing still refers to the relevant part on the actual post at the GTF. Didn't get around to sorting that one out unfortunately. Apologies for the advert popups. I'll be transferring it to my own space from my own ISP, NTLWorld.

What I'd like to know is of any suggestion and ways in which to lay the site out. As it is? Each section have it's own page? Each paragraph have it's own page? Different style of presentation? Colour scheme? More images?

posted 06-18-2001 09:27 AM            

Most likely I will abandon the idea of a separate site. I haven't had any comments so I'm guessing it was a poor suggestion.