What kind of Monza lap times do people have out there with F355
Challenge (I have the PS2 version, although I don't know if there is
any significant difference with the DC)? The best I've been able to
do so far is 1'53"781, but I've got to believe that it is possible
certainly to get under 1'50". I haven't had a completely 100% clean
lap (I'm finding I'm tending to brake a little late and skidding a bit
going into the chicanes, although I'm really trying to push it and
keep at full throttle as much as humanly possible in the straights).
I haven't fooled around with the car setup too much - just adjusted
the rear wing from 1.50 to 1.00 - that seems to have reduced the
downforce a bit and gives some more speed in the straights. It does
make the chicanes a bit trickier though - it is easier to slide and
lose grip, particularly in the Variente Ascari. The manual describes
the ride height as affecting roll, understeer/oversteer. Does anyone
know if adjusting it has an effect on downforce/grip?

Boy - with F355 even a relatively simple track like Monza is *not*
easy - even when you have a good line, going into places like
parabolica you have to be real careful on the throttle until you get
onto the straight, otherwise you'll understeer and drift out too far.

My best (in the "Great Driver Challenge" mode) is a 1:55:something. Are
you using a wheel or a PS2 controller? I'm using the controller so fine
turning adjustments are next to impossible. I usually end up tapping
the stick repeatedly, especially on Parabolica.

I checked the manual to see what the various Car Settings do and it
seems like most of them effect understeer/oversteer; I saw no mention of
downforce or increasing/decreasing acceleration/top speed. Also, I'm
sure my starts could be better as, just like with steering, braking and
accelerating are all-or-nothing with the regular controller.

I set the ride height to the minimum and didn't see any obvious changes
off the start. I thought a lower ride height would increase
acceleration or top speed but saw no evidence of it. I may crank it up
and see what happens...

I love the game. The Great Driver mode is a lot of fun with one
complaint: it seems sometimes when a car hits me (IMHO), I get penalized
10 points. One of these days I'll get a wheel. I have one for the PC
and it's a blast, and totally necessary for F12002/F1C.

- TN

Ian Maione wrote:

Just spent an hour and got a 1:54:991 on Monza in Arcade Driving mode.

I put the rear wing deg to 0; seemed to help a little.

I then tried GDC mode and got 980 on Monza (GRRRRRRR!!!). On a side
note, the game doesn't seem to be saving my GDC results but does save my
Arcade times. It does remember that I have a Bronze on Suzuka Short
and a silver on Monza for GDC though. Odd...

I wonder if 360 Challenge is on the way?

- TN

Thanks for all the info!

I will most likely treat myself to a PS2 wheel when GT4 comes out and
see how I do in F355 then.

I still really like it and will keep at it with the regular controller
until GT4.

- TN

Ian Maione wrote:

It's a good few years since I played it on the DC but I remember it understeered
pretty much whatever you did until you dialed out a bit of rear toe which
sharpened it up nicely, don't over do it though! Too much rear toe out
makes the handling interesting......... (well, do try it once!)

I think I used to run at minimum ride height, if my memory serves it
does handle better but doesn't like the kerbs at long beach much.
I adjusted the wings from circuit to circuit, max at long beach, min
at monza, again it does make a difference.

In fact I think F355 has rather lovely physics for a DC. Rubbish
collision detection though.


HTH

Paul

"Paul Laidlaw" <paul (AT) nospam (DOT) plaidlaw.screaming.net> wrote


That is interesting - I have never driven a real F355 (I guess the
closest I can come to that type of RWD car is my old RX-7), but I
would have expected a powerful RWD car like that to naturally tend to
oversteer rather than understeer. I wonder if it is true to the real
car in that respect.

I haven't driven one either but apparently they do understeer in stable cornering.
Of course you can provoke oversteer but the natural tendency is understeer.



Paul

"Paul Laidlaw" <paul (AT) nospam (DOT) plaidlaw.screaming.net> wrote

I have a hard time getting an intuitive grasp sometimes of how some
of these changes would translate into oversteer or understeer. With
rear toe-out it's hard to visualize what that would do to the tendency
of the car to turn - I guess I'm not that great at that type of
physics.

By reducing the rear downforce to minimum I managed to cut a few
tenths off - I managed a 1:52:828 lap. Boy it is not that easy to cut
down lap times - I don't think I've run a perfect lap, but I've run
quite a few solid ones. I guess I will try adding some further
suspension modifications next and see how that helps.