Since so many of you are getting the patch through the means that are becoming available, and since the patch is aimed to reward realistic setups, Now is probably a good time to offer some details of what is currently "realistic" in WC circles. These are some guidelines I gave to the Beta team during the patch development process, with some additions and clarification:

Everyone, Since there seems to be some question about what is "realistic", let me give you some very general guidelines:

1. Look at the Jasper setups. But look at them in the unpatched game, cause the patch alters the front spring rates of existing setups.

2. If you want, write down what the unpatched game has for spring rates in the Jasper setups, bring a Jasper setup to the patched version of the game, and reset the spring rates. Knock the RF camber down to about -1.5, and you'll have a driveable but tight rather realistic setup.

Rules of thumb for "home grown" realistic setups:

3. Any oval with average speed of 180 mph or higher will have nose weight around 50.8%. (In game, I get 50.7% to work nicely in many places. The 150-170 mph ovals will have it around 50.3-51.7%. Short tracks & road courses, 50.0-50.5%. This is about 0.3 less than what you might see on a real scaled Cup car, because they're weight without the driver. NR2003 weighs them with the driver. A WC driver sits where about 45-47% of his weight is on the front, a slight majority then is at the back.

4. Any oval with banking 12 degrees or flatter can have equal front springs. Steeper banking will usually have a stiffer RF. Figure about 100 lb of TOTAL front spring increase (left and right added together) for every degree of banking above that. Figure also, oh, about 100 lb of split for every three degrees above 12, but be ready to go plus or minus 50 on that.

5. Any oval with banking 12 degrees or flatter MAY (or may not) have the RR spring as stiff as the RF, maybe even a bit more.

6. Rear spring split: The only generalization here is that the LR is never stiffer than the RR. Spring split is all over the road; as long as it's positive split, anything goes.

7. ear bar: get by without a rear bar, except at road courses. If you want better turning with "realism", raise both ends of the track bar, or drop your wedge. 47% wedge in post-race measurement is not uncommon.

8. Front bar: Big honkin' bars everywhere except the short tracks and road courses. Big starts around 1-5/8", but you ain't really big honkin' till you go 1-3/4". For the short tracks, expect 1.5" do be a practical maximum, 1.125" to be a practical minimum.

9. Track bar: split of zero to 1.5" typical range and yes it can be split EITHER way, except at the plate tracks.

10. Caster: 2 left 4 right is run pretty much everywhere, it can vary about half a degee either way. Increase it where you really want to throw the car around.

11. Shocks: More rebound than compression is universal. The way the shock settings are scaled in the game, having compression 2 steps numerically higher that rebound will still fit that scenario.

12. Toe: Zero at plate tracks, positive toe-out elsewhere, usually 1/16" (faster tracks) to 1/8" (slower tracks). Dover and Bristol might see even more.

13. Tires: There are so many more tire codes in real life than in the game, and this area is too sensitive to my job such that I can't go into it here. I will say that if you're going to try to drive realistic setups (which I heartily encourage), the very realistic proctice of having the RR tire pressure 2-3 psi below the RF, and the two left sides equal, has worked nicely for me.

These are only guidelines. There are many opportunies to deviate from these, and still be "realistic."

Here is a setup for Las Vegas that conforms to these guidelines and runs pretty nicely.

You can use it as a very approximate building base to extrapolate for other tracks:

1.625" front bar. 500LF 550 RF Springs. 300LR, 475 RR Springs. Track bar 9.75" Flat. Camber +6 LF, -1.5 RF. 50.7% Front weight. 49.5% wedge. Caster, 2 deg LF, 3 deg RF.

It's not a "maxed out" setup. You can be more aggressive with it and still be "realistic".

And the nice thing is, you'll be much more competitive in the patched version of the game by using more realistic parameters.