Assetto Corsa Competizione Beginners Setup Guide

Below is a complete beginners setup guide for Assetto Corsa Competizione. This includes a detailed description of every part of your car setup in ACC. And a lot of tips and general setup guides, explaining what you should be changing, and why.

This is the perfect guide for new sim racers, or those who want to start setting up their own car in ACC.

Quick Links

• Tyre, toe, camber & caster setup guide
• Electronics setup guide
• Brake pad setup guide
• Mechanical grip setup guide
• Suspension setup guide
• Aero setup guide
• Solutions to handling issues
• Setup tips & tricks

With the console version of Assetto Corsa Competizione dropping, many console racers are picking up ACC. This has led to an influx of new players, and first time sim racers, which is fantastic for the ACC community!

Jumping in to Assetto Corsa Competizione for the first time is a daunting prospect. There is a reasonably sharp learning curve. From the extremely realistic, and hardcore driving physics. To the daunting driver and safety ratings. There is a lot to get your head around as a new ACC player.

And then there is the scray prospect of customising your car setup. Unlike some racing games such as F1 2020, which bridge the gap between arcade racing and full on simulation. ACC has a much higher amount of car setup options for you to play around with.

If you are jumping in cold, and don’t fully understand how each setup tweak affects the car, don’t panic. A sim racer called Skaven, over at the official ACC forums, has created the ultimate Assetto Corsa Competizione beginners setup guide.

This setup guide breaks down every aspect of your car setup. It will show you how to tweak your car properly, and explain how each tweak will affect your car’s performance.

It also gives you a great understanding of what you should be aiming for, such as ideal tyre pressures and more.

Below is a complete write up of this guide, along with the original guide in its image format. Hopefully this helps, and if you appreciate what Skaven has put together, head over to the Kunos forums and let him know! Link to original post.

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ACC Tyre Setup Guide

Below are the explanations for what each tyre setup section does to the car’s handling. And also what you should be aiming for in a good tyre setup.

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Tyre PSI (Pressures)

You should aim for between 27.0 and 28.0 psi during racing for optimal performance.

Optimal pressure for a wet race is between 30 and 31 psi.

Test your pressures during a race or long practice run, as one of your first setup changes, to ensure you have the right pressures.

Your tyre pressure thought process should be;

1. Ensure your tyres are between 27-28 psi while driving.
2. Use the tyre temperature telemetry to tweak camber and toe setup.
3. If you can’t get your tyre temperatures in to the right operating window, adjust your brake duct settings. Your brake heat also affects the temperature of your tyres.

Toe Setup

The angle of your toe is the angle of the wheels when you are looking from above.

Increasing your toe in will;

• Front
  • Give more stability on turn-in.
  • Cause more turn-in understeer.
• Rear
  • Help stability.

Increasing your toe out will;

• Front
  • Give more responsive turn-in.
  • Casue more turn-in oversteer.
• Rear
  • Don’t even think about it!

Camber Setup

The camber angle is the angle of your tyre when looking from the front.

Negative camber means the top of the tyre is pointing in towards the car. Positive camber means the top of the tyre is pointing away from the car.

Camber enables more tyre surface area to touch the track, giving more grip, countering leaning of the car while turning.

Caster Setup

Your caster angle will impact the stability of your car and how heavy the steering feels. It will also cause your car to steer to self center.

The caster is directly correlated with the wheel camber when wheels are turned.

For example – Higher caster = higher camber when wheels are turned.

Caster is important during braking as well. It determines how cambered wheels react when braking.

When cornering in the middle section of the corner, too much caster will cause you to understeer.

Basically, high caster is good when you are corning in, but too much caster can cause understeer during the middle part of a corner.

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READ MORE – Assetto Corsa Competizione Beginners Guide

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Electronics Setup

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Traction Control

Your traction control setup combats wheelspin by cutting down the engine or retarding the timing of the engine. Too much will slow down the car, but it helps with not spinning out.

Some cars have TC2 settings, it sets the level to which that power is reduced, from TC values.

Driver and engineers feedback suggest that you go on par for both TCs. i.e. TC1 @3 and [email protected] +/- 1 . Don’t try exaggerated values Ike TC1=2 and TC2=10.

ABS Setup

ABS works by modulating brake pressure to prevent locking up.

Pros – Brakes will not lock up
Cons – Longer braking distance

ECU Map Setup

The lower the value, the faster your car and higher your fuel consumption.

• Faster car/more fuel consumption (Value 1 )
• Slower speed, less fuel consumption ( 2, 3, 4… ) Not in Porche
  (ECU MAP Fastest: 8 )

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Brake Pad Setup

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Below we show you what each brake pad value means;

1 – Very aggressive friction coefficient, max braking performance, aggressive disc and pad wear. Pedal modulation can be tricky if out of temperature or as it wears down.

Use in hotlap and qualifying sessions, sprint races and can withstand 3 hours races. Risky and dangerous to use over 3 or 4 hours because the pads will wear down, overheat and lose linearity in brake pedal feel.

2 – Very Good friction coefficient, very good braking performance, good disc and pad wear. Pedal modulation almost always good and linear, good feedback while overheating and gradual wear.

Perfect for endurance racing, but can also be used in hotlap , qualifying sessions as well as sprint races as what it loses in performance, regains in braking modulation and predictability.

The default choice for long endurance races, easily makes 12 hours and can make 24 hours race too with a bit of care. Will also overheat and lose linearity in brake pedal feel when worn out, but In a more predictable way and after much longer stints.

Because of the lower friction, you could possibly use smaller brake ducts.

3 – Moderate friction coefficient, braking zones can be longer in dry, very moderate disc and pad wear. Excellent pedal modulation also in cold ambient conditions, very linear pedal feedback.

Excellent choice for wet conditions and very long endurance races. Very predictable and easy to modulate brake pad. Because of the lower friction, you should use smaller brake ducts.

4 – Extreme aggressive fiction coefficient. Max braking performance, extremely aggressive disc and pad wear, bad cold performance. This is a sprint race pad that can last about an hour but will show worse pedal feel, worse performance and overheating towards the end of the one hour stint. Those kinds of pads are not used in endurance racing, but included for demonstration purposes.

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READ MORE – Assetto Corsa Competizione Wheel Compatibility List

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Mechanical Grip Setup Guide

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Anti-Roll Bar Setup

Your car has both front and rear anti-roll bars, which is a big torsion spring that connects the suspension from one side of the car to the other. They resist chassis roll (lateral), but don’t affect the pitch / toe.

Basics: If the tyres on the front have more grip than tyres on the back, the car will oversteer, and vice versa, car will understeer.

Front Anti-Roll Bar

• Has more impact on turn-in behavior than the rear ARB.
• Soften it to fix turn-in understeer.
• Stiffen it to fix turn-in oversteer.

Rear Anti-Roll Bar

• Has more impact on the on-throttle behaviour than the front ARB.
• Soften to fix turn-out oversteer.
• Stiffen to cure turn-out understeer.

Steer Ratio Setup

13:1 means that you have to turn in 13 degrees for the wheels of the car to turn 1 degree. The higher the first number, the slower the steering is.

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Brake Setup

Brake Bias

The brake bias represents the amount of force sent to the front wheels. More than 50% means that more brake pressure will be sent to the front wheels, and vice versa.

A forward brake bias means more stable under braking. But is can cause turn-in understeer.

A rearward brake-bias means less stable under braking, and can cause turn-in oversteer.

There is an optimum zone, so don’t go too far one way or the other. The default brake bias setup is great, so only adjust in small increments.

Manipulating brake bias during a race helps, but is an advanced technique. It is desirable to adjust it throughout a race because of changing conditions. (i.e. Fuel levels, tyre degredation and track temperature.)

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Suspension Setup

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When it comes to the wheel rate, bumpstop rate, and bumpstop range, the higher the bumber, the stiffer the suspension.

Wheelrate

This is the force needed to compress the entire suspension. Heavier cars generally need stiffer springs. Remember that front engine cars are heavier at the front, so stiffer front suspension is needed.

Bumpstop Rate

This is the stiffness of the bumpstop. A bumpstop is an elastic blocker on top of the suspension.

Bumpstop Range

This determines how long suspension have to travel to hit a bumpstop.

It is important to point out that suspensions are tightly connected with ride height. Changing the ride height may require changes in the suspension setup.

The springs are hugely important to your overall car setup. The softer the suspension, the more grip you’ll have, but having a car that is too soft is a huge disadvantage.

As a general rule of thumb follow these tips;

• Stiffer springs = Better for smoother tracks
• Softer springs – Better for bumpy tracks

Preload Differential Setup

This is a system that gives the ability for the wheels to spin at different speeds and rotate independently of each other. This is very useful when cornering, because the outside tyres have to go further distances compared to the inner tyre.

Therefore the outside tyre will be rotating quicker to maintain contact with the track. This limits the independency of the wheels.

Less Preload

• More agile during turn-in.
• More understeer during corner exit.
• Smoother throttle transition.

More Preload

• More stable during turn-in.
• More oversteer during corner exit.
• Less smooth throttle transition.

The differential only affects the car during a neutral throttle state, and when transitioning on and off the throttle.

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Damper Setup

Bump

Stops the springs oscillation Inward. A higher number will dampen the compression at a slow rate more.

Fast bump

A higher number will dampen the compression at a high rate more.

Rebound

Stops the springs oscillation outward. A higher number will dampen the decompression at a slow rate more.

Fast rebound

A higher number will dampen the decompression at a high rate more.

Dampers control the way energy Is stored and released from the car suspension springs while driving, moderating the movement of the car.

Bump – Setting that controls how quickly suspension springs get compressed while driving over a bump.

More bump value adds more resistance to the spring, lowering the rate of compression.

Rebound – How quickly suspension spring gets back into it’s original state. More rebound, lower speed of rebound.

There are four settings: Slow and Fast for each.

Important – For each damper, the rebound setting should be higher than the bump!

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Aero Setup

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Ride Height

The ride height of the car, front/back, adds to downforce. If
car is lowered too far, it adds to the drag.

Suggestion – Starting with a higher car, keep lowering it until you feel there is no more benefit gained. You must drive and check each adjustment.

Rear Wing / Splitter

Both the rear wing and the front splitter add downforce. Lower the value and you will get a faster top speed, but you’ll have a less maneuverable car, with less grip during cornering. Too much downforce and you will lose a lot of time due to drag.

More Rear Wing: Less oversteer.

Too Much Rear Wing: Less speed and understeer.

More Front Splitter: Less Understeer.

Too Much Splitter: Oversteer.

More Front Wing / Splitter

• Pushes aero balance forward.
• Reduces understeer.
• May increase oversteer.

More Rear Wing Angle

• Pushes aero balance to the rear.
• Increases understeer.
• Decreases oversteer.
• Increases drag.

Brake Ducts Setup

Functionality of the brake duct is to bring more or less air to the brake discs and keep them in a temperature range that can be effective. Setting 0 is a completely closed brake duct and can provoke brake fade ver ver fast, exceeding 1000 degrees.

Never to be used in a real race, but added for simracer’s gratification. Setting 6 is completely open and can keep brakes very cold.

The brake duct doesn’t only change the peak heat temperature but, most importantly it changes how the heat gets dissipated after you release the brakes.

A low setting will keep the brakes hot for a longer period of time after your last braking zone, while a higher setting will not only achieve a lower peak temperature but also cool them down faster.

Ideally you want your front brake HUD to show green or slight yellow at the end of your braking zone and your rear, green. Don’t judge after just 2,3 braking zones. Do a couple of laps and let the brakes do some heat/cool cycles to arrive at a balanced condition.

Also keep in mind that the brake ducts, especially the fronts, get heat from low near the asphalt. That is why they are influenced more by asphalt temperature. This means that you might have the same ambient temperature but an overcast weather will heat the asphalt and thus the brakes, more than a cloudy condition.Also, the water now influences the brake discs, so under rain conditions it is better if you use a lower brake duct settings.

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Solutions to handling issues

All of these solutions below are only suggestions and they are not rules. Try these to fix the issue you are having.

However, delving too far in to any of these can cause stability issues in a different part of your car setup.

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Braking Issues

Loss of control

1. Move brake bias forward
2. Decrease slow damper

Front tyres often lock

1. Move brake bias rearwards

Car pitches too much

1. Stiffen front springs

Nose hits floor

1. Increase ride height
2. Adjust bump stops
3. Stiffen front springs

Excessive locking

1. Reduce overall brake pressure (use with caution)

Turn in issues

Understeer

All speeds:

1. Adjust front tyre pressures
2. Soften front anti-roll bar
3. Increase front toe out
4. Decrease diff coast locking
5. Soften front springs

Mid-high speeds:

1. Reduce rear wing angle or
2. Increase front wing angle

When braking:

1. Move brake bias backward

Oversteer

All speeds:

1. Adjust rear tyre pressures
2. Stiffen front anti-roll bar
3. Decrease front toe out
4. Stiffen front springs

Mid-high speed:

1. Increase rear wing angle or
2. Decrease front wing angle

Lift off oversteer

1. Increase diff coast locking
2. Increase pre-load value

Corner Exit Issues

Understeer

All speeds:

1. Stiffen rear anti-roll bar
2. Increase diff power locking
3. Stiffen rear springs

Mid-high speed:

1. Reduce rear wing angle or
2. Increase front wing angle

Oversteer

All speeds:

1. Soften rear anti-roll bar
2. Decrease diff power locking
3. Soften rear springs

Mid-high speed:

1. Increase rear wing angle, or
2. Decrease front wing angle

Car bounces during weight transfer

When braking, accelerating and turning:

1. Increase slow damper setting

On bumps / curbs:

1. Increase fast damper setting

Other issues

Tyres overheat

All over:

1. Increase pressures
2. Decrease toe value

On inside edge:

1. Reduce negative camber

On outer edge:

1. Increase negative camber

In middle:

1. Reduce pressures

Tyres cold

1. Decrease pressures
2. Increase toe value

Car edgy during weight transfer

When braking, accelerating and turning:

1. Decrease slow damper setting

On bumps / curbs:

1. Decrease fast damper setting

Low top speed

1. Reduce wing values

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Tips and tricks

Ride height

1. Set as low as possible, but avoid grounding car or stalling the aero.

Dampers

1. Bump setting should be lower than the corresponding rebound setting.
2. Try to use the lowest setting that avoids oscillation / bouncing.
3. Can be used to tune the responsiveness of the car.
   1. High values = more responsive
   2. Low values = more stable

Aero

1. Use ride height and rake to generate as much downforce as possible, then trim the aero balance using the wings and / or splitter.
2. Increasing the rake moves the aero balance forward.
3. Run the car as stiff as needed to maintain stable ride height.

Brake bias

1. Front tyres should lock just before the rears for best stability.

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