NASCAR The Game: Inside Line Talladega Setup Tutorial - Part 3

 Talladega Setup for NASCAR The Game: Inside Line - Tutorial Part 1

 Talladega Setup for NASCAR The Game: Inside Line - Tutorial Part 2


Springs and Shocks:
You've dealt with the Michigan Setup at Talladega issue in NTG:IL. You've got the basics of aero, tires, springs, and more down. Now it's time to get down to the nitty gritty details of refining your shocks and springs so you can get to 200 MPH by yourself at Talladega.

You softened your springs to 350 lbs all around to help your car push into the track better, but this is not perfect. In default, the front springs were stiffer than the rear, keeping the nose up and the spoiler out of the air. We made the car faster by softening them overall, but we undid some of the gains caused by raising the front ride height and lowering the rear in the process. So now we want to get that back by further lowering the rear springs as much as we can get away with before the back of the car car is constantly sparking and dragging in the corners.

This gets complicated because once you get this close to the line between super-fast and out of control, you also have to take into consideration the "bump" and "rebound" of the shocks.

The "bump" slows down how quickly a corner the car presses down into the track going in to corners, and the "rebound" slows down how quickly that corner raises back up as you come out of the corner. So when you're softening up your springs, adding bump can help stop your car from bottoming out, and reducing rebound can help make sure it doesn't drag for a long distance if a part of the car does hit.

My personal pre-patch setup for shocks and springs went like this:

Front left:
Springs: 350
Bump: 71
Rebound: 40

Front Right:
Springs: 380
Bump: 71
Rebound: 19

Left Rear:
Springs: 230
Bump: 42
Rebound: 18

Right Rear:
Springs: 300
Bump: 69
Rebound: 14

A few notes - If you are running a post-patch setup, you're going to want to add a few hundred pounds to those rear springs, and pump up the bump on the rear shocks. For my pre-patch setup, the bump was so high in the front to keep that front end sticking in the air longer as I enter the corner. The front left rebound was higher because I found it helped me get off the corner better.

Even pre-patch, with your ride-heights at 8.5 in the front and 7.5 in the rear, this setup sparks and bottoms out in the corners a few times. I didn't mind this. If it bugs you, lower the bump in the front and/or add about 30 pounds to each side for the rear springs. It's a bit slower, but more stable.

When I figure out a good shock and spring package post-patch, I'll be sure to share it here... once I rack up a few wins online, of course ;)