WARNING: this is pretty much just all my opinion and little (or none) is based on scientific evidence or hardcore research.
Recently, I have been messing with tire parameters in an attempt to create a realistic-ish tire. To me, the stock Kunos tires lack longitudinal grip, and contrary to what some people believe, it feels as if many tires, aside from the racing slicks, flex and slip too much. In my test a few days ago, I was attempting to create a somewhat extreme performance summer tire. Namely a 200TW. I started by raising the DX_REF number from .85 to .90. The DY_REF was at .80. Immediately I noticed 0-100 kmh (AccelTest app) times were quite a bit faster. Naturally, the tires spun in first gear, have a satisfying chirp in second, then hooking fairly well. This felt fairly reminiscent of the real thing, as even on cold tires and an unprepared surface, the real car will not spin much into second gear. Previously, the .85 DX_REF created an almost uneven feel in performance. The car would spin nearly all the way through second on fully warm tires.
Next, I did some drifting. I found that the car behaves much more quickly during snap oversteer, but if you counteract naturally, the car slides very much like the real thing. If you ease out of a drift, very little correction for snap oversteer is necessary. I always felt that the stock Kunos "semislick" tires made drifting a little too easy.
Another bonus topic I would like to talk about is FLEX_GAIN. If you watch the the tire flex of most, if not all, Kunos semislick tires, you will quickly see they flex just a little too much. This also contributes to the slightly strange sliding characteristics of the tire. By upping this number, the tire gains sidewall strength, and therefore initially slides less. However, under sliding, it behaves as though it breaks away suddenly, similar to a tire with hard sidewalls (Hankook RS4, PS4S etc).
I have noted that both these changes actually introduced liftoff oversteer to some degree. Before, the car would understeer. Now, when you lift off, the car goes into a somewhat disturbed state, acting somewhat floaty until the weight settles again. If you're not careful, you can get yourself into trouble fairly quickly. Keep in mind, I was working with a front engined, RWD car.
As I stated in the warning above, this isn't entirely based on facts, it is more of an opinion. I'm posting this here to maybe see if anybody feels the same way. Thank you if you read this far!
Recently, I have been messing with tire parameters in an attempt to create a realistic-ish tire. To me, the stock Kunos tires lack longitudinal grip, and contrary to what some people believe, it feels as if many tires, aside from the racing slicks, flex and slip too much. In my test a few days ago, I was attempting to create a somewhat extreme performance summer tire. Namely a 200TW. I started by raising the DX_REF number from .85 to .90. The DY_REF was at .80. Immediately I noticed 0-100 kmh (AccelTest app) times were quite a bit faster. Naturally, the tires spun in first gear, have a satisfying chirp in second, then hooking fairly well. This felt fairly reminiscent of the real thing, as even on cold tires and an unprepared surface, the real car will not spin much into second gear. Previously, the .85 DX_REF created an almost uneven feel in performance. The car would spin nearly all the way through second on fully warm tires.
Next, I did some drifting. I found that the car behaves much more quickly during snap oversteer, but if you counteract naturally, the car slides very much like the real thing. If you ease out of a drift, very little correction for snap oversteer is necessary. I always felt that the stock Kunos "semislick" tires made drifting a little too easy.
Another bonus topic I would like to talk about is FLEX_GAIN. If you watch the the tire flex of most, if not all, Kunos semislick tires, you will quickly see they flex just a little too much. This also contributes to the slightly strange sliding characteristics of the tire. By upping this number, the tire gains sidewall strength, and therefore initially slides less. However, under sliding, it behaves as though it breaks away suddenly, similar to a tire with hard sidewalls (Hankook RS4, PS4S etc).
I have noted that both these changes actually introduced liftoff oversteer to some degree. Before, the car would understeer. Now, when you lift off, the car goes into a somewhat disturbed state, acting somewhat floaty until the weight settles again. If you're not careful, you can get yourself into trouble fairly quickly. Keep in mind, I was working with a front engined, RWD car.
As I stated in the warning above, this isn't entirely based on facts, it is more of an opinion. I'm posting this here to maybe see if anybody feels the same way. Thank you if you read this far!
