I don't know if this is already in development and before I say this, no I'm not a noob looking for flashy style when I drive (although thats a plus!)

No what I want to talk about is adjusting wheel offsets and diameters for performance purposes. Camber, Spring, toe, caster, and tire psi have already been covered by this talented team. But, adjusting contact patch and grip on that level of customization would be a great plus. I'm not talking about a wheel tweeker but a in pit diameter adjuster.

Lets get some opinions because with enough good points the next version may just have this feature.

Thanks,
Goose

We use to have offsets but people would just set the track width as wide as they could and this often meant that the tires would protrude through the body work when lowered or under compression loads. In the end the track width was set to be as wide as the bodywork would allow.

As far as wheel diameter, I can't see how you would gain a performance improvement as larger wheels are heavier and thus add weight and rotating mass. Just like the track width everyone would soon settle on the diameter that worked best and having it be adjustable would again be of no use. Grip is less effected by diameter then tire width and for every car there is an ideal size/width to give optimal grip with minimal weight and drag.

LFS is about racing with nearly equal cars and thus it is a drivers skill that determine outcome, having adjustments that alter vehicle performance has never been part of the LFS approach.

It's a nice idea but I do not see how it would enhance LFS in a meaningful way.

I understand the point your trying to make... We shall see.

I can't see any race teams changing the diameter of their wheels and tires in the pits. Tires are all provided by the tire manufacturers at race meetings, and don't change throughout the weekend. This suggestion would decrease realism without adding anything really intriguing, I think.

A valid opinion, but I believe there is still more room for comments.

Lets think of on some of the key things that make an LM car different from a GT2 car or lesser. And we are speaking in terms of over all performance not power.

elements of a race machine.

I really think that this thread can branch out to other improvements as far as dynamics... Please even if you don't agree comment if you feel there is something you would like to add, hope to see you all on the track.

Quote from Gimpster :

As far as wheel diameter, I can't see how you would gain a performance improvement as larger wheels are heavier and thus add weight and rotating mass.

Is aluminium/composite materials realy heavier than rubber?

Diferent diameter would make sence for the "stock" cars(street racers), used in both drag, cruise, drift, and rally.
Diferent amount of rubber stretch(lower diameter, higher profile, higher diameter, lower profile) would give +/- usefull in diferent use of the car(my opinion anyway :P )

Hehe, big fat rear tyres for drag Would be cool, just like the old patch V tweak days

Quote from =Wolf=[NO] :

Is aluminium/composite materials realy heavier than rubber?

Maybe but not by much, however a larger diameter wheel also means a larger diameter tire. Any time you go larger you increase total mass if you do not also reduce total volume of matter. Given the same wheel and tire design a larger diameter one will always weight more. This increase in weight is small up until the point where the total wheel/tire diameter or width is increased at which point it ramps up faster.

Also while it is true that a wider tire will also increase the potential grip as the contact patch grows but you also have increased drag due do the increase of the tires cross section as it tries to push through the air. This increase in drag effects lowered powered vehicles more then high powered ones. This trade-off is there for the choice between cornering grip vs top speed and acceleration. In the end most racing sanctioning bodies set limits on wheel/tire size and width options for a given class.

I think it could be a good idea to implement this to LFS.

Adding yet another element to LFS racing, either you choose grip or top speed. It wouldnt need to be that many configs really, maybe 3 sets for racing and 3 for rallycross.

Like 3 sets of different rims.

16" 17" 18" for racing.

14"(14" for lower class cars [GTi class or less]) 15" 16" for rallycross.

And maybe 3 different withs for the rims.

This way you could choose both the amount of drag you want due to the with, and also how stiff tirewalls you want, like 18" would have stiffer sidewalls, and 14" would have softer ones.

There should also be the option of choosing different configs for front and rear.

Quote from Gimpster :

(...) Just like the track width everyone would soon settle on the diameter that worked best and having it be adjustable would again be of no use. (...)

Looking by that point of view, almost all setup options avaliable on LFS are of no use, with a best value for each track. You could say that most of them depends on the user's driving style, but in this case, the argument would fit on wheel dimensions too.

Not that I'm an engineer, but from what I know:
The smaller and lighter wheels are the best, for lower unsuspended mass, but the minimum diameter depends on the brake disks. And the size of the tires are defined by their capacity to dissipate heat. That's why Nascars have small wheels and fat tires (low brake usage, high speed and heat), and GTs have big wheels and thin tires (high brake usage, medium speed and heat).

I do see your point. I am sure that some measure of fine tuning could be accomplished with the option of several different wheel/tire size/width combinations so long as they are restricted to what might be appropriate for each individual car. Like in most racing series there are imposed limits.

Larger wheels = low profile tires, low profile tires = good steering.
Also, heavy wheels are not always bad, ass they add inertia wich is god for high speed tracks.
I would like anyone to show me a car, factory tuned for more performance, like BMW M, Mercedes AMG or Audi S/RS cars that come stock with small rims.

Quote from Gimpster :

Maybe but not by much, however a larger diameter wheel also means a larger diameter tire. Any time you go larger you increase total mass if you do not also reduce total volume of matter. Given the same wheel and tire design a larger diameter one will always weight more. This increase in weight is small up until the point where the total wheel/tire diameter or width is increased at which point it ramps up faster.

Also while it is true that a wider tire will also increase the potential grip as the contact patch grows but you also have increased drag due do the increase of the tires cross section as it tries to push through the air. This increase in drag effects lowered powered vehicles more then high powered ones. This trade-off is there for the choice between cornering grip vs top speed and acceleration. In the end most racing sanctioning bodies set limits on wheel/tire size and width options for a given class.

Why do racing cars tend to have bigger wheels than (standard) road cars then? Surely if it the above was true, then racing cars would run on little black cylinders 2 inches in diamater and a metre across...

Quote from Crashgate3 :

Why do racing cars tend to have bigger wheels than (standard) road cars then? Surely if it the above was true, then racing cars would run on little black cylinders 2 inches in diamater and a metre across...

Big wheels are bling and small but wide wheels just look silly. Duh.

However, I like this idea.

Also a "old" looking steer wheel and a little more big in lx4 or 6 whould be blast,

Like this





Dont know why dev dont make a "Replica" of the old looking steering wheel...
The moder one is ok and looks good, but knowing the lotus or catheram , they have that old looking steering wheel