iRacing 296GT3 Ferrari Car User Manual

: June 25, 2024
: iRacing

iRacing 296GT3 Ferrari Car

Specifications

Chassis: Double wishbone with outboard springs and dampers
Length: 4565 mm (179.7 in)
Width: 2050 mm (80.7 in)
Wheelbase: 2660 mm (104.7 in)
Dry Weight: 1350 kg (2976 lbs)
Wet Weight with Driver: 1508 kg (3325 lbs)

Power Unit: Twin-turbocharged Ferrari F163 V6

Displacement: 3.0 Liters (183 CID)
RPM Limit: 8000 RPM
Torque: 490 lb-ft (664 Nm)
Power: 524 bhp (391 kW)

Product Usage Instructions

Introduction
The Ferrari 296 GT3 user manual provides information on chassis setup adjustments available in the garage to tune the chassis setup according to your preference. Before adjusting the chassis, it is recommended to become familiar with the car and track. Baseline setups are provided for each commonly raced track, accessible through the Garage menu. Smooth and consistent laps help in understanding racing lines, tire wear, and handling trends.

Getting Started
To start the car, map controls for Brake Bias, Traction Control, and ABS adjustments. This enables quick changes to driver aid systems while driving. Once in the car, select the upshift button to engage gear, and press the accelerator pedal. The car uses a sequential transmission without requiring clutch input for shifting. Downshifting is prevented if it could cause engine damage due to excessive speed.

Loading an iRacing Setup
Upon entering a session, the car loads the default iRacing Baseline setup automatically. To choose a pre-built setup for specific conditions, navigate to Garage > iRacing Setups and select the desired setup. Customize setups in the garage by making changes and applying them. Save custom setups for future use by clicking Save As and accessing them under My Setups.

DEAR iRACING USER,
Ferrari’s latest foray into GT3 racing, the 296 GT3 made its debut in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and other major global championships in time for the 2023 season. It succeeds the 488 GT3 EVO that made its debut in 2020, and it was designed to build on that car’s successes with easier setup modifications for the crew and significantly more downforce than its predecessor.Powered by a V6 engine just like its road-going counterpart, the 296 GT3 is capable of producing 600 horsepower from its 2.9-liter powerplant. Four cars took to the track across IMSA’s GTD and GTD Pro classes in its debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the car took its first win in a twice-around- the-clock endurance race a few short months later at the Nürburgring. The following guide explains how to get the most out of your new car, from how to adjust its settings off of the track to what you’ll see inside of the cockpit while driving. We hope that you’ll find it useful in getting up to speed. Thanks again for your purchase, and we’ll see you on the track!

DOUBLE WISHBONE WITH OUTBOARD SPRINGS AND DAMPERS

INTRODUCTION

The information found in this guide is intended to provide a deeper understanding of the chassis setup adjustments available in the garage, so that you may use the garage to tune the chassis setup to your preference.

Before diving into chassis adjustments, though, it is best to become familiar with the car and track. To that end, we have provided baseline setups for each track commonly raced by these cars.
To access the baseline setups, simply open the Garage, click iRacing Setups, and select the appropriate setup for your track of choice. If you are driving a track for which a dedicated baseline setup is not included, you may select a setup for a similar track to use as your baseline.
After you have selected an appropriate setup, get on track and focus on making smooth and consistent laps, identifying the proper racing line and experiencing tire wear and handling trends over a number of laps.
Once you are confident that you are nearing your driving potential with the included baseline setups, read on to begin tuning the car to your handling preferences.

GETTING STARTED

Before starting the car, it is recommended to map controls for Brake Bias, Traction Control and ABS adjustments. While this is not mandatory to drive the car, this will allow you to make quick changes to the driver aid systems to suit your driving style while out on the track.
Once you load into the car, getting started is as easy as selecting the “upshift” button to put it into gear, and hitting the accelerator pedal. This car uses a sequential transmission and does not require a clutch input to shift in either direction. However the car’s downshift protection will not allow you to downshift if it feels you are traveling too fast for the gear selected and would incur engine damage. If that is the case, the gear change command will simply be ignored.

LOADING AN iRACING SETUP

Upon loading into a session, the car will automatically load the iRacing Baseline setup [baseline.sto]. If you would prefer one of iRacing’s pre-built setups that suit various conditions, you may load it by clicking Garage > iRacing Setups > and then selecting the setup to suit your needs.
If you would like to customize the setup, simply make the changes in the garage that you would like to update and click apply.
If you would like to save your setup for future use click “Save As” on the right to name and save the changes. To access all of your personally saved setups, click “My Setups” on the right side of the garage.
If you would like to share a setup with another driver or everyone in a session, you can select “Share” on the right side of the garage to do so.
If a driver is trying to share a setup with you, you will ﬁnd it under “Shared Setups” on the right side of the garage as well.

DASH CONFIGURATION

The Ferrari 296 GT3 features a Bosch DDU 10 display that organizes and shows all vital information to the driver. Two options for the display page are available: The “RACE 1” page shows all information available and the “QUALI” page removes speed and fuel information.

SHIFT LIGHTS

The top of the digital display has a set of LED shift lights to help the driver know when to upshift while accelerating.
As RPM increases the lights will illuminate from left to right, with all lights turning red when the ideal shift point has been reached.

BRAKE LOCKUP LIGHTS

Two LED lights on either side of the display will illuminate in the event of a wheel lockup, their location indicating which wheel is locking. The upper magenta lights will illuminate when the front wheels are locked and two cyan lights indicate lockups on the rear wheels.

DASH PAGE SET CONTROLS

The In-car Adjustments control assignments on the Options > Control page has two settings to control the dash display without navigating to the In-Car Adjustment black box.

DASH PAGE SET

The Dash Page Set assignment will allow toggling between the Race and Qual dash pages. The button assigned to increase the value will change the dash to the Qual page while the button assigned to decrease the value will change the dash to the Race page.

DASH PAGE 2 SET

The Dash Page 2 assignment will change the data displayed on either page and can be toggled back and forth just like the main pages themselves can be toggled. When activated, the following information is displayed:

BRAKE ROTOR TEMPERATURES
On the right side of the dash the Tire Temperature values will be replaced with Brake Rotor temperatures. As with the tire temperature values, the brake temperatures will be color-coded to easily identify the status of each brake system. Blue indicates too cold, black indicates the optimum temperature range, and red indicates an overheated brake rotor.

BEST LAP TIME
The bottom right box, usually displaying the Previous Lap time, will show the session Best Lap Time in purple.

ADVANCED SETUP OPTIONS
This section is aimed toward more advanced users who want to dive deeper into the different aspects of the vehicle’s setup. Making adjustments to the following parameters is not required and can lead to significant changes in the way a vehicle handles. It is recommended that any adjustments are made in an incremental fashion and only singular variables are adjusted before testing changes.

TIRES & AERO

TIRE DATA

TIRE TYPE
Tires fitted to the Ferrari 296 GT3 car can be changed based
on weather conditions. The Dry option fits a slick tire intended for dry track conditions while the Wet option fits a treaded tire for wet track surfaces.
STARTING PRESSURE
Air pressure in the tire when the car is loaded into the world. Higher pressures will reduce rolling drag and heat buildup, but
will decrease grip. Lower pressures will increase rolling drag and heat buildup, but will increase grip. Higher speeds and loads require higher pressures, while lower speeds and loads will see better performance from lower pressures. Cold pressures should be set to track characteristics for optimum performance. Generally speaking, it is advisable to start at lower pressures and work your way upwards as required.
LAST HOT PRESSURE
Air pressure in the tire after the car has returned to the pits.
The difference between cold and hot pressures can be used to identify how the car is progressing through a run in terms of balance, with heavier-loaded tires seeing a larger difference between cold and hot pressures. Ideally, tires that are worked in a similar way should build pressure at the same rate to prevent a change in handling balance over the life of the tire, so cold pressures should be adjusted to ensure that similar tires are at similar pressures once up to operating temperature. Hot pressures should be analyzed once the tires have stabilized after a period of laps. As the number of laps per run will vary depending upon track length a good starting point is approximately 50% of a full fuel run.
LAST TEMPS
Tire carcass temperatures once the car has returned to the pits. Wheel Loads and the amount of work a tire is doing on-track are reflected in the tire’s temperature, and these values can be used to analyze the car’s handling balance. Center temperatures are useful for directly comparing the work done by each tire, while the Inner and Outer temperatures are useful for analyzing the wheel alignment (predominantly camber) while on track. These values are measured in three zones across the tread of the tire: Inside, Middle and Outer.
TREAD REMAINING
The amount of tread remaining on the tire once the car has returned to the pits. Tire wear is very helpful in identifying any possible issues with alignment, such as one side of the tire wearing excessively, and can be used in conjunction with tire temperatures to analyze the car’s handling balance. These values are measured in the same zones as the temperatures.

AERO BALANCE CALCULATOR

The Aero Calculator is a tool provided to aid in understanding the shift in aerodynamic balance associated with adjustment of the rear wing setting and front and rear ride heights. It is important to note that the values for front and rear ride height displayed here DO NOT result in any mechanical changes to the car itself, however, changes to the rear wing angle here WILL be applied to the car.

This calculator is a reference tool ONLY.

FRONT RH AT SPEED
The Ride Height (RH) at Speed is used to give the Aero Calculator heights to reference for aerodynamic calculations. When using the aero calculator, determine the car’s Front Ride height via telemetry at any point on track and input that value into the “Front RH at Speed” setting. It is advisable to use an average value of the LF and RF ride heights as this will provide a more accurate representation of the current aero platform rather than using a single corner height.
REAR RH AT SPEED
The Ride Height (RH) at Speed is used to give the Aero Calculator heights to reference for aerodynamic calculations. When using the aero calculator, determine the car’s Rear Ride height via telemetry at any point on track and input that value into the “Front RH at Speed” setting. It is advisable to use an average value of the LR and RR ride heights as this will provide a more accurate representation of the current aero platform rather than using a single corner height.
REAR WING ANGLE
The Rear Wing Angle refers to the relative angle of attack of the rear wing, this is a powerful aerodynamic device which has a significant impact upon the total downforce and drag produced by the car as well as shifting the aerodynamic balance of the car rearwards with increasing angle. Increasing the rear wing angle results in more total cornering grip capability in medium to high speed corners but will also result in a reduction of straight line speed. This setting in the Aero Calculator is linked to the Rear Wing Angle setting on the Chassis / Rear section, changing one setting will also change the other.
% FRONT DOWNFORCE
This value displays the percentage of total downforce acting at
the front axle for the given wing and ride height combination set within the calculator parameters. This value is an instantaneous representation of your aero balance at this exact set of parameters and it can be helpful to pick multiple points around a corner or section of track to understand how the aerodynamic balance is moving in differing situations such as braking, steady state cornering and accelerating at corner exit. A higher forwards percentage will result in more oversteer in mid to high speed corners.

FRONT

ARB BLADES
The angle of the Anti-Roll Bar arms, or “blades”, can be changed to alter the overall stiffness of the ARB assembly. Higher values transfer more force through the arms to the ARB itself, increasing roll stiffness in the front suspension, inducing understeer while cornering. Conversely, lower values reduce the roll stiffness of the front suspension and reduce understeer.
TOTAL TOE-IN
Toe is the angle of the wheel, when viewed from above, relative to the centerline of the chassis. Toe-in is when the front of the wheel is closer to the centerline than the rear of the wheel, and Toe-out is the opposite. On the front end, adding toe-out will increase slip in the inside tire while adding toe-in will reduce slip. Front Toe-out (negative garage value) will increase turn-in response but will reduce straight-line stability. Toe-in will reduce turn-in responsiveness but will reduce temperature buildup in the front tires and increase straight-line stability.
FRONT MASTER CYLINDER
The Front Brake Master Cylinder size can be changed to alter the line pressure to the front brake calipers. A larger master cylinder will reduce the line pressure to the front brakes, this will shift the brake bias rearwards and increase the pedal effort required to lock the front wheels. A smaller master cylinder will do the opposite and increase brake line pressure to the front brakes, shifting brake bias forward and reducing required pedal effort.
REAR MASTER CYLINDER
The Rear Brake Master Cylinder size can be changed to alter the line pressure to the rear brake calipers. A larger master cylinder will reduce the line pressure to the rear brakes, this will shift the brake bias forwards and increase the pedal effort required to lock the rear wheels. A smaller master cylinder will do the opposite and increase brake line pressure to the rear brakes, shifting brake bias rearward and reducing required pedal effort.
BRAKE PADS
The vehicle’s braking performance can be altered via the Brake Pad Compound. The “Low” setting provides the least friction, reducing the effectiveness of the brakes, while “Medium” and “High” provide more friction and increase the effectiveness of the brakes while increasing the risk of a brake lockup.
ENDURANCE LIGHTS
An extra set of headlights can be installed for night racing to increase driver visibility. Installing these will not affect vehicle performance.
NIGHT LED STRIP
This changes the color of the LED strips on the right side of the windshield to help identify cars with similar liveries in nighttime conditions. This is strictly a visual change for identifying the car in night time conditions and has no effect on the vehicle’s handling.

IN-CAR DIALS

BRAKE PRESSURE BIAS
Brake Bias is the percentage of braking force that is being sent to the front brakes. Values above 50% result in greater pressure in the front brake line relative to the rear brake line which will shift the brake balance forwards increasing the tendency to lock up the front tyres but potentially increasing overall stability in braking zones. This should be tuned for both driver preference and track conditions to get the optimum braking performance for a given situation.
It is important to note that differing combinations of master cylinder size will necessitate differing brake pressure bias values, this is because increasing or reducing the split in master cylinder size difference between front and rear axles will produce an inherent forward or rearward bias in brake line pressure.
ABS SETTING
The current ABS map the car is running. The ABS system features 12 positions divided into three groups to suit varying track conditions, with lower values providing less assistance and higher values providing more assistance to prevent brake lockup. Settings 2-7 are for slick tires in dry conditions, 8-12 are for wet conditions. Generally, setting 8 will be good for light rain while settings will need to be increased as conditions worsen, with setting 12 being for heavy rain. Setting 1 disables the system completely.
TRACTION CONTROL SETTING
The position of the traction control switch determines how aggressively the ecu cuts engine torque in reaction to rear wheel spin. Twelve settings are available with Position 2 providing the least intervention and Position 12 providing the most. Like the ABS setting, Position 1 will disable the Traction Control System. More intervention will result in less wheelspin and less rear tire wear but can reduce overall performance if the traction control is cutting engine torque too aggressively and stunting corner exit acceleration.
THROTTLE SHAPE SETTING
Throttle shape setting refers to how changes in the drivers pedal position result in changes in provided engine torque. Ten positions are available with setting 1 providing a linear torque response through pedal travel and the map moving towards a more S-shaped curve as the value increases to setting 9. Setting 10 is linear, just like setting 1, but has a higher slope and will be more aggressive as throttle is applied.
DISPLAY PAGE
This sets which of the in-car display pages is shown when the engine is started.
CROSS WEIGHT
The percentage of total vehicle weight in the garage acting across the right front and left rear corners. 50.0% is generally optimal for non-oval tracks as this will produce symmetrical handling in both left and right hand corners providing all other chassis settings are symmetrical. Higher than 50% cross weight will result in more understeer in left hand corners and increased oversteer in right hand corners, cross weight can be adjusted by making changes to the spring perch offsets at each corner of the car.

FRONT CORNERS

CORNER WEIGHT
The weight underneath each tire under static conditions in the garage. Correct weight arrangement around the car is crucial for optimizing a car for a given track and conditions. Individual wheel weight adjustments and crossweight adjustments are made via the spring perch offset adjustments at each corner.
RIDE HEIGHT
Distance from ground to the floor of the car at the front axle centerline. Adjusting Ride Heights is key for optimum performance, as they can directly influence the vehicle’s aerodynamic performance as well as mechanical grip. Increasing front ride height will decrease front downforce as well as decrease overall downforce, but will allow for more weight transfer across the front axle when cornering. Conversely, reducing ride height will increase front and overall downforce, but reduce the weight transfer across the front axle. Minimum drag setups with very low rear wing angles may require higher front ride heights in order to achieve the proper aerodynamic balance.
SPRING PERCH OFFSET
Used to adjust the ride height at the corner of the car by changing the installed position of the spring. Increasing the spring perch offset will result in lowering the corner of the car while reducing the spring perch offset will raise the corner of the car. These changes should be kept symmetrical across the axle (left to right) to ensure the same corner ride heights and no change in cross weight. The spring perch offsets can also be used in diagonal pairs (LF to RR and RF to LR) to change the static cross weight in the car.
SPRING RATE
This setting determines the installed corner spring stiffness. Stiffer springs will result in a smaller variance in ride height between high and low load cases and will produce better aerodynamic performance through improved ride height control however, but they will also result in reduced mechanical grip. Typically the drawbacks of stiffer springs will become more pronounced on rougher tracks and softer springs in these situations will result in increased overall performance. Spring perch offsets must be adjusted to return the car to the prior static ride heights after any spring rate change.
CAMBER
Camber is the vertical angle of the wheel relative to the center of the chassis. Negative camber is when the top of the wheel is closer to the chassis centerline than the bottom of the wheel, positive camber is when the top of the tire is farther out than the bottom. Due to suspension geometry and corner loads, negative camber is desired on all four wheels. Higher negative camber values will increase the cornering force generated by the tire but will reduce the amount of longitudinal grip the tire will have under braking. Excessive camber values can produce very high cornering forces but will also significantly reduce tire life, so it is important to find a balance between life and performance. Increasing front camber values will typically result in increased front axle grip during mid to high speed cornering but will result in a loss of braking performance and necessitate a rearward shift in brake bias to compensate.

REAR CORNERS

CORNER WEIGHT
The weight underneath each tire under static conditions in the garage. Correct weight arrangement around the car is crucial for optimizing a car for a given track and conditions. Individual wheel weight adjustments and crossweight adjustments are made via the spring perch offset adjustments at each corner.
RIDE HEIGHT
Distance from ground to the floor of the car at the rear axle centerline. Increasing rear ride height will decrease rear downforce as well as increase overall downforce and will allow for more weight transfer across the rear axle when cornering. Conversely, reducing ride height will increase rear downforce percentage but reduce overall downforce while reducing the weight transfer across the rear axle. Rear ride height is a critical tuning component for both mechanical and aerodynamic balance considerations and static rear ride heights should be considered and matched to the chosen rear corner springs for optimal performance. Minimum legal rear ride height is 50.0 mm while maximum legal rear ride height is 92.5 mm.
SPRING PERCH OFFSET
Used to adjust the ride height at the corner of the car by changing the installed position of the spring. Increasing the spring perch offset will result in lowering the corner of the car while reducing the spring perch offset will raise the corner of the car. These changes should be kept symmetrical across the axle (left to right) to ensure the same corner ride heights and no change in cross weight. The spring perch offsets can also be used in diagonal pairs (LF to RR and RF to LR) to change the static cross weight in the car.
SPRING RATE
This setting determines the installed corner spring stiffness. Stiffer springs will result in a smaller variance in ride height between high and low load cases and will produce better aerodynamic performance through improved ride height control however, but they will also result in reduced mechanical grip. Typically the drawbacks of stiffer springs will become more pronounced on rougher tracks and softer springs in these situations will result in increased overall performance. Spring perch offsets must be adjusted to return the car to the prior static ride heights after any spring rate change.
CAMBER
At the rear of the car, camber performs a similar job to the front by increasing lateral grip with negative values. However, with the rear tires being driven camber can directly affect the amount of traction available on throttle and under braking. While larger negative camber values can increase lateral grip and cornering stability, it can hurt forward traction when throttle is applied as well as increase the risk of a rear lockup under heavy braking when the load is reduced on the rear tires.

REAR

FUEL LEVEL
The amount of fuel in the fuel tank. Tank capacity is 104 L (27.5 gal). Adjustable in 1 L (0.26 g) increments.
ARB BLADES
The angle of the Anti-Roll Bar arms, or “blades”, can be changed to alter the overall stiffness of the ARB assembly. Higher values transfer more force through the arms to the ARB itself, increasing roll stiffness in the rear suspension and inducing oversteer while cornering. Conversely, lower values reduce the roll stiffness of the rear suspension and will reduce oversteer.
REAR WING ANGLE
The Rear Wing Angle refers to the relative angle of attack of the rear wing, this is a powerful aerodynamic device which has a significant impact upon the total downforce (and drag!) produced by the car as well as shifting the aerodynamic balance of the car rearwards with increasing angle. Increasing the rear wing angle results in more total cornering grip capability in medium to high speed corners but will also result in a reduction of straight line speed. Rear wing angle should be adjusted in conjunction with front and rear ride heights, specifically the difference between front and rear ride heights known as ‘rake’. To retain the same overall aerodynamic balance it is necessary to increase the rake of the car when increasing the rear wing angle. This setting on the Chassis page is linked to the Rear Wing Angle setting in the Aero Calculator section, changing one setting will also change the other.

GEARS / DIFFERENTIAL

GEAR STACK
Three options for the transmission gear stack are available for selection depending upon track type. The FIA stack is suitable for almost all track types and should be treated as the baseline. IMSA Daytona and IMSA Short provide two alternative options which are targeted for tracks with longer and shorter straightaways respectively.
FRICTION FACES
The number of friction faces in the differential affect how much overall force is applied to keep the rear axle locked. Treated as a multiplier, adding more faces produces increasingly more locking force. For example, 8 friction faces will have twice the locking force of 4 faces, which will have twice the force of 2 faces.
DIFF PRELOAD
Diff preload is a static amount of locking force present within the differential and remains constant during both acceleration and deceleration. Increasing diff preload will increase locking on both sides of the differential which will result in more understeer when off throttle and more snap oversteer with aggressive throttle application. Increasing the diff preload will also smooth the transition between on and off throttle behavior as the differential locking force will never reach zero which can be helpful in reducing lift-off oversteer and increasing driver confidence. Typically diff preload should be increased when there is noticeable loss in slow corner exit drive and/or over-rotation during transition between the throttle and brake in low to mid speed corners.wing angle. This setting on the Chassis page is linked to the Rear Wing Angle setting in the Aero Calculator section, changing one setting will also change the other.

DAMPERS

LOW SPEED COMPRESSION
Low speed compression affects how resistant the shock is to compression (reduction in length) when the shock is moving at relatively low speeds, usually in chassis movements as a result of driver input (steering, braking, & throttle) and cornering forces. Setting 0 is minimum damping (least resistance to compression) while 11 is maximum damping (most resistance to compression). Increasing the low speed compression damping will result in a faster transfer of weight to the front or rear of the car during transient movements such as braking and direction change with increased damping usually increasing the cars tendency to understeer on throttle application. On the front end of the car, increasing Low Speed Compression will induce understeer under braking and whenever the front suspension is compressing. On the rear, more compression will increase traction on throttle and when the rear suspension is in compression, which can be perceived as understeer in extreme cases.
HIGH SPEED COMPRESSION DAMPING
High speed compression affects the shock’s behavior in high speed travel, usually attributed to curb strikes and bumps in the track’s surface. Higher compression values will cause the suspension to be stiffer in these situations, while lower values will allow the suspension to absorb these bumps better but may hurt the aerodynamic platform around the track. At smoother tracks more high speed compression damping will typically increase performance while at rougher tracks or ones with aggressive kerbs less high speed compression damping can result in an increase in mechanical grip at the expense of platform control.
LOW SPEED REBOUND
Low speed rebound damping controls the stiffness of the shock while extending at lower speeds, typically during body movement as a result of driver inputs. Higher rebound values will resist expansion of the shock, lower values will allow the shock to extend faster. Higher rebound stiffness will result in improved platform control for aerodynamic performance and overall chassis response but can result in the tire losing complete contact with the track surface if the suspension can’t extend fast enough with reduced loads. On the front end, higher rebound settings will hold the front of the car down longer during acceleration but can induce understeer on throttle application or over crests. On the rear of the car, more rebound will stabilize the car under braking but can induce understeer if set too aggressively.
HIGH SPEED REBOUND
High-speed rebound adjusts the shock in extension after bumps and curb strikes. Higher values will reduce how quickly the shock will expand, while lower values will allow the shock to extend more easily. Despite not having as much of an effect on handling in result to driver inputs, High-speed rebound can produce similar results in terms of aerodynamic control and uncontrolled oscillations if set improperly.

FAQs

How do I access the baseline setups for different tracks?
To access baseline setups, open the Garage, click iRacing Setups, and choose the setup for your preferred track. If a dedicated setup is unavailable, select one from a similar track

What should I do before adjusting the chassis settings?
Prior to adjusting chassis settings, it’s advisable to become acquainted with the car and track, utilize baseline setups, and focus on consistent laps to understand handling characteristics.