Hello all! I would like to know how I can create a suspension gemoretry file. What tools do I need to create the suspension of the Renault R26 car for example? Is somewhat easy to create PM files once you got the tools, or it takes a lot of time?
I assume you are talking the F1 car and not Megane? TIME, if accuracy is your focus and you are data limited. We were warned with rf1 not to muck about in the pm if we didn't know what we were doing. I took that as a challenge. With the pm files you are locating points in 3d space relative to the wheel center. It isn't that hard, but doing it accurately can be difficult. What tools?
rF2? There's a physics spreadsheet in the dev section on the S397 site that will generate a chassis file. If you want to do a pm file just start with an existing one and modify it. Understand how the different files are related first, and I'd recommend creating a spreadsheet to generate the various figures to reduce errors. Other than that, a text editor and a calculator and learning about suspension geometry.
I always have to refer to GTR2 & rF1, but there was a small app/tool that would let us visualize the suspension pts and the relation to the car body and tires. Has there ever been something like that for rF2?
The physics spreadsheet has a stab at that - but only in plan view and it can get somewhat visually confusing if elements sit stacked in a particular dimension. While we’re on this subject - and I know it has been briefly touched on before in fairly vague terms - am I correct in thinking that the spreadsheet uses absolute reference points - whereas the outputs that go into the chassis file are all relative to the spindles? If so, where/what is the baseline for the spreadsheet positions so that I can attempt to translate existing chassis figures into the spreadsheet?
The same tools can be used to help make a .pm file and then convert it into a chassis file for rF2, though at least one of those tools isn't happy in modern versions of windows. The spreadsheet does visualise the positions, and works well enough once you get the hang of it. The spreadsheet itself is a bit lacking in terms of analysis and 'design' (editing numbers directly isn't much fun and prone to error) so you end up either trying to find other solutions or adding to the spreadsheet. The chassis file has body positions as absolute, too. Constraints will have offsets relative to the appropriate bodies, but that's pretty unavoidable. The main relative figures are those defining the pushrod connection points in the HDV. Often the 'hard' part is going from some other reference which has suspension components relative to the wheel, to absolute figures for the spreadsheet. If you have absolute figures already then you're halfway there.
In rfactor2 I recommend you use the integrated tool: Ptool There you can load a chassis file, see how the A-arms geometry looks and save your changes.
