This guide exists so you can build your own setup without paying someone on Gumroad for their VDC tune, or copying one blindly off YouTube with no idea what you're actually changing. Everything here comes from 14 years of compiled sim drifting knowledge and real testing — not automotive engineering school. There will be edge cases where something isn't perfectly optimal. But using this document, you should be able to build a very solid setup. Most info is based on VDC but applies to any well-made car pack.
Tyres
Tyre pressures are the most straightforward setting in the game. Tyres produce maximum grip when they're at their optimal heat and optimal pressure simultaneously. You can monitor both live using the Tyres App while driving.
Anti-Roll Bars
The anti-roll bar (also called a sway bar) connects both sides of your suspension together. When cornering, it causes the inner wheel to compress at the same rate as the outer wheel rather than operating independently.
| Setting | Value Range | Handling Character |
|---|---|---|
| Low ARB | 0 – 5,000 | More weight transfer, increased sensitivity |
| High ARB | 10,000 – 15,000 | Reduced transfer, added stability |
Front Axle
A low front ARB makes the front end very precise and "pointy" — great for accuracy but can feel twitchy. A high front ARB introduces understeer into the nose. This is actually useful on tracks with large entries, or when you want to do backwards entries — a low front ARB on these tracks can cause the rear to follow the front too aggressively and spin you out.
Rear Axle
The rear ARB is your primary side-bite adjustment. High rear ARB removes grip, makes the rear step out more willingly, and lets you initiate drifts easier — at the cost of snap and twitchiness on transitions. Low rear ARB adds lots of grip and mid-corner drive, but transitions become harder to trigger and initiation requires more effort.
| Rating | Front Range | Rear Range |
|---|---|---|
| Soft (Low) | ≤ 75 N/mm | ≤ 40 N/mm |
| Hard (High) | ≥ 105 N/mm | ≥ 65 N/mm |
Front Springs
A soft front spring maximises front grip but can feel numb and twitchy — similar to running zero front sway bar. It also drops the nose. A hard front spring reduces twitchiness, adds some natural understeer, raises the front, and improves road feedback. Too stiff and the front will start bouncing over bumps.
Rear Springs
A soft rear spring gives strong forward bite — under throttle, weight is driven directly into the tyre which also improves launch. A hard rear spring makes initiation easier but costs forward grip, preferred on lower-powered builds. Too soft and the rear may bottom out under heavy throttle, causing a bounce.
Think of ride height as ballasting — it controls where the car's weight naturally wants to sit. It affects handling more than most people realise.
| Configuration | Weight Bias | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Front higher than rear | → Rearward | More rear grip, better forward bite |
| Rear higher than front | → Forward | More front grip, snappy / unstable rear |
| As low as possible | Low CoG | Maximum overall grip (ideal when track allows) |
Some tracks spawn cars on uneven surfaces, making your suspension readings look asymmetrical even when your settings are symmetrical. Average the left and right values mentally to find your true effective setting:
Camber
Front Camber
More negative camber = more grip at higher steering angles. At full lock you'll have better grip with more negative camber. At zero camber you have maximum grip at centre steering. Will's default is around −6.5°, but this varies by car depending on maximum angle and caster. Never run positive front camber unless you want the car to feel broken.
Rear Camber
Ideally you want 0° while under throttle — this gives you the maximum contact patch on the ground. The problem: many chassis like the S-chassis, E36, and E46 gain negative camber when squatting. To compensate, add +0.5° or more positive static camber so that when the rear squats under power, it returns to zero.
| Setting | Value | Primary Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Front Toe | −0.3° (typical) | Better turn-in, more leading-wheel angle |
| Rear Toe (positive) | 0 to +0.30° | Stability and rear grip |
| Rear Toe (negative) | max −0.25° | Snap on transitions — use carefully |
Front Toe
Negative toe (toe-out) improves turn-in and adds angle to your leading wheel at full lock. Around −0.3° is the safe starting point. More negative gives more angle but adds understeer and sloppiness at centre steering. Positive front toe only adds understeer and reduces leading-wheel angle — don't use it.
Rear Toe
Positive toe in the rear adds stability and grip — keep it under +0.30° or you'll start getting "rear understeer" at angle. Negative rear toe makes transitions snappier but there are better tools for that, so it's not a recommended primary adjustment. Cap it at −0.25° regardless.
As your suspension cycles through its full stroke — from full extension to fully compressed — it dynamically changes your camber and toe values. Most chassis follow this general pattern:
| Suspension State | Camber | Toe |
|---|---|---|
| Full Extension | Gains Positive | Gains Positive |
| Full Compression | Gains Negative | Gains Negative |
Use the Suspension Dev App on the right side of the screen while driving to watch your live camber and toe values change throughout the suspension sweep. Some chassis barely move; others shift by a full degree or two of camber. You may need to adjust ride height to optimise your contact patch at the exact point in suspension travel where the car spends most of its time.
Dampers
Imagine two people kicking the same rubber ball with identical force — one on dry land, one underwater. The land kick sends it much farther and faster. Replace water with damping and kick force with spring rate. Damping doesn't change how much force your spring applies to the car — it controls the speed at which your springs can move.
Bump damping controls how fast your suspension can compress. This governs: how quickly the rear squats under throttle, how much the front dives under braking, and how the car responds to kerbs and bumps.
Will's approach: very low rear bump so the rear reaches full squat as fast as possible without oscillating. Front bump around 50% of maximum — enough to prevent the nose from diving too hard when lifting off throttle or left-foot braking.
Rebound damping controls how fast your suspension can extend. In the rear: high rebound makes the car hold its drift longer and want to transition less — the rear "hangs on." In the front: rebound controls how fast the nose rises when the rear squats. High front rebound slows the nose rise, which directly affects how the car feels during launch and how long it takes to reach full squat under throttle.
General Settings
Brake bias is massively underrated. It completely changes how left-foot braking (LFB) behaves mid-corner — and most people never touch it.
| Bias | LFB Effect | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| ≤ 64% | Car loses angle while LFB | Prevents over-rotation when chasing close |
| 65% | Car stays neutral while LFB | General use — WOTS, VDC, DWG, Gravy Garage |
| ≥ 66% | Car adds angle while LFB | Adding angle while matching lead car's speed |
Your drift gear should be long enough to cover most of the track without needing to shift, but short enough that you're nearly hitting the rev limiter and throttle response feels snappy on and off power.
Longer Ratio
The car floats wider, achieves higher angles, and maintains more speed. The tradeoff: worse engine response off idle and more clutch work required to spin the tyres — especially for small-displacement turbos that need to be kept in their powerband.
Shorter Ratio
More forward bite, crisper throttle response, easier powerband access. The tradeoff: lower achievable angle and risk of the car straightening if tyre speed starts approaching actual vehicle speed.
| Setting | At 0 | At 100 |
|---|---|---|
| Diff Power | One wheel spins under throttle (open) | Both rear wheels locked at same speed on throttle |
| Diff Coast | Both rear wheels fully independent off-throttle | Both rear wheels locked at same speed off-throttle |
| Preload | Very little torque difference needed to unlock | Large torque differential required to unlock |
Diff Power controls snap on throttle during transitions — anything below 100 reduces on-throttle snap. Diff Coast does the same off-throttle. Preload sets the torque threshold to open the diff; if Power or Coast are set to 100, preload is irrelevant as they can't unlock regardless.
If you've made it this far and you're actually reading the changelog notes — thank you. Genuinely. I don't think I could leave this community even if I tried. Sim drifting has been such a big part of my life for so long, and I hope this guide actually helps you get the most out of your setup. I hope you're doing well.
— Will Hurst (Gone.) // hiimgone