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Here's another thing that could be interesting to talk about.
I personnally always race with soft suspension. Recently, i've heard some are using medium and hard suspension occasionaly. I never could get a good feeling out of that setting as it feel like bouncing to much upon landing.

What kind of adventage is there to use such settings and on what kind of tracks are u using it?

I think there might be better handling on flat paved tracks like Crazy 98 using hard springs....opinions may differ...

.....I DO know that the Small Tires format trucks handle much better with a firm set-up.....it may have something to do with how the game software engine treats lower profile models like the ST vehicles....I usually use medium on monsters...

Run Moparz Mayhem w/ soft a couple laps, then run it w/ medium......u'll see u get alot of time back in the turns on that track due to all the sliding w/ soft. I take it it must be something to do w/ the track surface.....but in those loops b4 the finish u'll get a ton of time back using medium versus soft......

Same applies to mike204's "Blacktop204". I was sold on using soft suspension on everything til I tried BlackTop using shallow tires and med susp. Took a whole 1.5 secs off my lap time. The control and tightness you have in the those hairpin turns give you a significant advantage over soft suspension.

If any of you remember OLD_AlG, he used med suspension on everything. The prob I see with that is on tracks where you have huge jumps. The landings are usually not very pretty lol. At any rate, there are a few other tracks where med suspension gives you a bit more stability and control where cornering is concerned, but by in large I'm a med tire/soft susp kind of guy. . Oh and forget med susp on mx track. That's just asking for trouble lol.

I've yet to try hard susp on anything. LOL I'm afraid.

Well... i did try that Cope, get airbags install before going to hard suspension.

I'll try it on Moparz mayhem see how it goes. On black top however, i did try medium sus and my gosh it sure didn,t help me any. perhaps just a little more practice would do. Still i dont like the feeling.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the deeper the texture depth/grip, the harder the suspension that can be used. Shock absorption can be in the suspension or in the ground; it needn't be in both.

I've always used Soft, on all tracks.

I ran a beta track with Blizzard once, and he said to get the full effect of a Drag track, was to set the suspension on Hard. I did so, and it made my truck look so goofy, and jacked it up so high, and I bounced half a mile into the air when I hit the cars.

I've never had it on Hard since. Sometimes I run certain tracks on Medium, but 99% of the time, I use Soft. That way I can really throw the truck into the corners.

Now I wish I could get the trucks to get some low end. That is the only thing that really bugs me about this game. These trucks ALL have over 1000 + horsepower, but they crawl off the starting line with the feel of them having, no more than 200. They shoud leap off the line, with tires spinning, and bearly have the front wheels on the ground. They just didn't get it right in my opinion.

If I had the skills, and the programming knowledge, THAT would be the first thing I'd fix. Other than that, I love this game.

I agree with RF. I use med/soft almost all the time, unless it's asphalt like Crazy98 or Blacktop204. When using med/soft I can throw the truck in the turns, where medium susp. seems to make the front push a lot.

I also wish the truck's performance was a little more realistic, but it's still a fun game.

When I played MTM1, I used to change my garage settings around quite a lot for the tracks I drove on, but eventually settled on using Soft for just about everything (including Crazy 8s). It made it really slidy when you tried to turn, but the powersliding was fun and it kept the truck composed over rugged terrain (I'm thinking Mud Pies here).

When I moved to MTM2, however, I felt less comfortable with soft suspension - the truck felt really squirmy, there was no control. When I tried hard it seemed to have better driveability, but the understeer was tricky and of course it didn't soak up any bumps. So I settled on Medium as the best compromise and haven't changed it in all the years since. In many cases it may not as suited to a track as one or the other suspension settings might be, but I prefer to keep my familiarity with the truck's handling and just swap tyres to suit the track surface.

I've also started to become entrenched in always using 1500 gear ratio...

humm interesting. So you're always driving medium suspension? even on smooth tracks such as CTX speedway?

Yup, even on smooth tracks like CTX Speedway.

I'm not a hardcore racer, at this game anyway - I only play the game for knockabout fun (and usually to test my latest truck), just cruising around and bashing out laps by myself. Living on the other side of the world and having a woefully slow internet connection pretty much eliminates any chances of multiplayer, and the computer opponents rarely put up a decent show if I include any at all. So I don't really care about what is the best setup for a particular track (I still can't get below 44 secs on C98, and I'm sure at least some of the time is being lost thru my setup); familiarity and knowing intimately how the truck will handle and respond is more important for me.

That said, if you want to tell me how you think it should be done, I'll probably try it out of curiousity and you might make a convert out of me...

well, There's not just one way of doing things and no one own the ultimate solution. So your way may be as good as any other way of doing it.

However in theory, a smoother suspension should help to keep the truck in contact with the ground. less airtime = less deceleration. A more stable landing and smoother truck reaction also mean less corrections to do to keep the truck in line. Steering correction also mean loss of speed.
It's not always true and depending on the track layouts and the particular challenge layed out. In some case, Long jump over an obstacle could be faster and perhaps not easy to acheive with different setting. So the only solution reside in trying different things and look at the results to figure what work best for you.

It's deffenatly interesting to talk about and see how others do things too. So far i didn't get much success with harder suspensions but i did noticed some adventage on some tracks by some who use them.

The only time I ever use medium suspension is on a track with a lot of burms... some examples of this are 2wylives, ZoBreaksNecks, Pine Run, Moparz Mayhem, Curved Race, Only For Speeding Lunatics (and a lot of other Phin tracks)

For me it definitely takes a lot of time off the laps... takes a while to get used to, but once you get the hang of it you'll be flying through those turns without losing any momentum. (no sliding whatsoever)

However a track with burms doesn't necessarily mean it'll be good with medium suspension... Best example of this for me was Tibet Cliffside... so many burms, and yet all the bumps seemed to negate the advantages gained by running the burms smooth... I had to switch back to soft suspension for this one.

Then again......... Momentum MX was great with medium suspension... which surprised me because I thought all the jumps would throw it out of wack, but they didn't... Can get some serious speed flying through those banked turns... and the bumps don't seem to phase the trucks performance.... so you do the math hehe

I think each different track calls for experimentation... thats what is so fun about this game.. never a set way to do anything, can make your own rules.

Good stuff, Shaggy!! Just so ppl don't get confused...



Actually Shaggy was referring to "Finne", who's known for his no-holds barred, turn & burn, full throttle type tracks. If speed is your thing, he's the guy you're lookin for.

I was too lazy to log in,

anyhow, if i'm tryin to get a time on something i switch between med and soft susp. I notice that on tracks that have a bumpy surface that you will often times lose your acceleration when using Med suspension, due to the bumpiness and such. But with burms and such, it's really cool to have. On tracks i've had a problem with running soft susp, i'll usually give it a couple shot with med, until i get used to it. so i can see if there is a different in laps times.

Least this is how i use it and see it.

Ooops thanks for pointing that out Cope... call me a dope but for some reason I thought Phineus made those tracks lol

Thought Finne and Phin were the same person... wouldn't have surprised me judging by how much Phin seems to know about this game (I know I know trying to cover up my stupidity by sucking up to Phineus now lol )

> Just so ppl don't get confused...

Thanks. Had me wondering there for a while. That burms business had me guessing for a minute too ;-)

> Thought Finne and Phin were the same person

LOL, don't let Finne hear that . . . and you can bet your bottom dollar I've used the same name for my entire mtm tenure

but if you had to mix me up with somebody else, at least you picked a good one, hehe, hmm, on second thought, you're right, that is me too, hehe

Hehe yea I wouldn't take ya for a name-stealer Phin... me on the other hand... I stole my zone-name from a friend and changed the password lol... he let me log onto it one day and he never got it back[:P]



oh cool so I guess we can say I was right all along then Take that Copey!!

I have since lost his email addy.

He's a great guy, I love his tracks. I love the long, drawn out, shouldn't this end soon? type tracks. Reminds me of my 4 wheelin' days, on the weekends. Just take your truck out, and beat it severly against all kinds of terrains.

Last time I spoke to him, Finne said... and I quote [ahem]... "I'll come back when making tracks doesn't seem like a job anymore"

I didn't ask what he meant by that, but I can relate. I have my own version, and I'm sure we all do. Trying to keep up with the demand, he feels like this has become a job. Completely understandable! I hope he returns someday, he always has some killer layouts, and I miss beta testing for him. But rest assured, Phin, and Finne are far from the same person. Phineus is his own man, and one kick bootie track maker himself. That Mal guy is pretty great too.

OK, that's all the butt-kissin' yer gonna get from me!

LOL but you were doing so well, RF!