Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 172: Toeing the Line

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 172: Toeing The Line

In the previous post, I looked back on QFC41 and how it began and concluded. In retrospect, that challenge taught me an extremely important lesson: toe-in angle adjustments (added in the Ellisbury update for Automation) are just as important to a good suspension tune as other suspension settings (camber angles, spring/damper rates, and sway bar stiffness) have always been. With that in mind, here's a brief explanation.

To adjust your car's toe-in angle, open the suspension tab (third from the left on the bar at the bottom of the screen) in the trim section of the car designer. There, you'll find the toe-in angle settings on the second row of the suspension tuning panel. In general, increasing the toe-in angle at either end will make the car more stable by inducing understeer, while decreasing toe-in angle at either end (or even reducing it to a negative value, which is described as toe-out) will make it more responsive by causing oversteer. With the basics dealt with, I'll now show you a few examples.

First up is the suspension tune for a front-engined, rear-wheel drive sports coupe. With its engine mounted as far aft as possible, it has a natural tendency to oversteer, and as such, I gave both axles a positive toe-in angle to improve drivability.

Above: In a rear-wheel-drive car, increased toe-in angle (up to a point) can be helpful in maintaining stability.

Next is the suspension tune for a front-wheel-drive hatchback. Due to its inherent tendency to understeer, I had to dial it out with a small amount of negative toe-in angle (effectively slight toe-out), thus making it feel more nimble in the corners.

Above: The suspension tune for a front-wheel-drive car should have some negative toe-in to counteract any understeering tendencies.

In general, camber and toe angles should be set to ensure a drivability rating of 100% (as shown on the low-speed steering graph), to avoid an unnecessary bias towards excessive over- or understeer. However, older cars may have a lower maximum drivability threshold, above which they begin to exhibit these undesirable tendencies; to find the exact value, you should open the high-speed steering graph (the third button from the left in the second panel on the suspension settings screen), and adjust toe angles accordingly, without generating any over/understeer warnings.

In short, toe angle is an important element of car setups in Automation, and one that us Automationeers are glad to be able to adjust ever since the Ellisbury update introduced the ability to do so.