Noob looking for advice on how to build and tune fast cars

Most of the content I've seen on YouTube and elsewhere is quite old, so I was hoping someone here could point me to a good guide or provide some direct tips on how to effectively build and tune a car from factory stock to something that performs well on a track or drag strip. The problem I am running into now is that simply selecting the biggest engine and all the "best" parts ends up with the final product being completely unwieldy and just a terrible car overall.

I understand that individual part choices are going to be dependent on the exact model, desired use and many other factors. However I think there should probably be some high level tips... like "never pair this part with that part" or "this is the gearing you want to use for track performance" type advice.

Any thoughts for me?

 

Well, you have to compromise either way. So if you build a drag car, chances are that it can only more or less go fast in a straight line and won't corner great. If you're building a trackday car, it should go around corners well and not lose too much speed when doing so, but it probably won't be running any 8-second times on the drag strip.
This will probably be my longest post ever.
I usually make more track configs than drag ones, and while I'm no expert on this stuff, I guess I can try to give you some basic advice. So the criteria for a good track car build are along the lines of:

• Can go around corners faster than stock
• Can go in a straight line faster than stock
• Can accelerate faster than stock
• Stable when cornering (won't spin out, skid easily, etc.)

Now, the first upgrade you might want to make is by switching out the stock radiator for a high-performance one, because with all the engine upgrades later, your factory radiator probably won't be able to keep the temperatures in check. An oil cooler also won't be a bad idea, although a) not all the cars have this option and b) you probably won't need it unless you're building a seriously high-performance vehicle.

Engine and transmission upgrades: ok, so this is more of a "play around with it until you hit a sweet spot" step. One thing you should keep in mind is that the engine and the transmission have to complement (or compensate) each other for the best track performance. Let's take 2 very different engines: Gavril's big-block 423cui/6.9l V8, and Ibishu's 2.0l inline-4.

Obviously, the Gavril V8 has a much bigger displacement than the Ibishu i4, so this means that the former can make more low-end torque, but the latter can reach higher RPMs safely. The V8 usually starts getting overrev damage (this is bad) around 6000 RPM, but the i4 can rev all the way up to (or even beyond) 8000 RPM with a Stage 2 long block. On the topic of blocks: heavy duty or ultra heavy duty engine blocks tend to produce more torque at low RPMs, and they're also a good option if you are planning to use a lot of forced induction, for example high-boost turbochargers. Stage 1, 2, and 3 engine blocks tend to produce more power at high RPMs, and they produce more power overall. Stage 2 and 3 blocks can also support higher RPM limits that lesser ones may not be able to.

When using a big turbo, keep turbo lag in mind. A bigger turbo needs more time to spool up, so you might experience quite some delay before the turbo pumps out the maximum amount of boost. This is why cars with big turbos produce most of their power at higher RPMs near the limiter. Supercharged engines tend to produce most of their power and torque across more or less the whole power band, due to the way they work. This is why superchargers are preferable in drag racers, since you can have all that torque and power from the get-go.

Transmission: I legit know close to nothing on automatic or dual-clutch transmissions, so this bit will be purely focused on manuals/sequentials. I think the game has 5-speed and 6-speed options for both manual and sequential gearboxes. Either way, they have a lot of similarities:

• flywheel: lighter flywheels mean faster RPM climbs, or revs
• final drive ratio: so this is basically the ratio of the number of revolutions your wheel makes per minute relative to the number of revolutions your driveshaft makes per minute. Put it simply, higher ratios are what people refer to as "short gears", and these provide better acceleration at the cost of top speed per gear. Lower ratios are what people refer to as "long gears", and these provide a higher top speed per gear at the cost of acceleration. This is why the hillclimb versions of certain cars have a very short final drive, and the top speed Bolide has a very long final drive.
• if you have a race track with lots of long straights (eg. Nurburgring), you might want to think about a lower final drive ratio, or at least more gears with a moderate ratio each. If your track has lots of corners and not many straights (eg. WCUSA racetrack), you can probably get away with shorter gears.

Tires: go with race tires, if that's an option.

Aero: like @Agent_Y said, the faster your car goes, the more downforce you'll need to keep the car stable around corners and in general. On cars that have a hillclimb version, like the '88 Pessima, Sunburst, and the Wendover, you can install the Nomi GTRX aero kit, which gets you just about the most downforce you can get without using mods. For tamer builds, a Nomi GTC wing might be good because it's adjustable. Generally, the rule of thumb is that a greater angle of attack (aka downward-sloping angle) means more downforce.

Suspension and differential tuning, wheel alignment: I can't exactly explain those well as they're more complicated, but these links may help you:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BeamNG/comments/shz7ar/want_to_learn_how_to_tune_in_beamng_my/


hope this helps!

 

Hey, hello
It really depends on your disciple of racing, circuit racing will demand different tuning than drag racing per se
But I would recommend Ermin's video on tuning the suspension if you Chase laptimes
Besides this, what Agent said

 

Don't use race parts if you are starting out or driving on the streets, the less tuning options there are, the better it will be for you while learning, since you probably don't know what it all is and how it affects driving. Reduce the possibility of making a tuning mistake as there is a lot to be made.
Don't go for the most power possible either, only increase power when you can drive the car reliably, start with handling.
Race steering, brakes, gearbox, diffs and body parts won't negatively affect you but add more unnecessary options that won't help unless you are setting up a race/offroad/drag car or just want it there.

Take a stock car then make it look nice and have decent power, not too much, that's the simple part. Depending on you, AWD is a good start, FWD the easiest and RWD the hardest for tuning and drivability.

Use advanced wheel debug app to get precision wheel alignment and adjust it to suit your driving style. You will need to look up how wheel alignment affects the handling so you know what to do and why, it's not as difficult as it looks. Other useful apps are torque/power graph, weight distribution and gearing graph that shows each gears top speed. VERY USEFUL APPS!

There is nothing more important than wheel alignment, 0% camber/toe is not what you think it is. The guy in the video above knows what he is talking about but can't see what he is doing with the adjustments and his advice is quite advanced with suspension advice. Definitely watch that video again when you get the hang of things a bit more as he explains things really well.

https://suspensionsecrets.co.uk/adjust-tune-toe/
https://suspensionsecrets.co.uk/camber-2/
https://suspensionsecrets.co.uk/caster-2/
Scroll down to the "effects of tuning" section and start there. When you got wheel alignment and caster, head to suspension. When you understand all that, you can build any car to do anything, improve its handling very easily and identify from a short drive exactly what is wrong and how to fix it. Every beamng vehicle is amazing to drive when set up FOR YOU.

That's the not so dark art of car tuning and a great link to understanding the effects of what you are doing. Hopefully some useful advice for becoming better at simple tuning. Google things you don't know. EVERYTHING matters in beamng, even the engine mounts.