Downforce can certainly make your car more stable, but when you are going for sheer speed, downforce can actually be a hindrance. Drag is the aerodynamic force that resists the motion of an object through the air; it’s produced by friction, pressure differences and turbulence. Drag is the resisting force the vehicle experiences from air pushing against it and the additional weight that downforce creates. Drag and downforce are two important concepts in aerodynamics. Downforce and drag values go up roughly with the square of the increase in speed and the power required to overcome the drag forces goes up at a slightly steeper rate. A supercar that sculpts the wind Rather than being confined by the demands of aerodynamics, the Nissan GT-R sculpts the air to its needs – becoming a force of nature, as much as a force to be reckoned with. void of any, or many, wing elements) to minimize drag. Downforce increases drag. Any increase in downforce also means an increase in drag. Downforce and drag. See the attention to detail, from headlights to spoiler, and how everything has a purpose whether to reduce drag or improve downforce. Consequently the same wings and underfloors will generate around a quarter less downforce. With 25% fewer air molecules, the pressure difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the wings will be correspondingly smaller, as will that between the underbody and the ambient pressure. The downforce distribution around a conventional wing (larger arrow means more downforce). Since the drag force is proportional to the square of the speed, minimizing drag is a primary concern in the speedway setup. Before we deal about how downforce and drag are generated, let’s try to understand in a bit more detail why and how they affect car performance. Downforce is created by the air moving over the top of the car and pushing it down toward the track surface. This is what separates it from Formula One cars; just as much downforce, if not more, especially at low speeds, and very little drag. This is why many sportscars with deployable wings not only deploy those wings at high speed but also during braking. Increasing AOA does increase your drag, but the lift/downforce gain is far greater than the drag increase. The downforce distribution that gives the minimum induced drag is an elliptical distribution. I understand that wings and splitters add a substantial amount of drag but the game gives us the option to have fully clad downforce oriented underbodies wich should actually decrease drag. The major downforce is found in the shape of the body and underbody. Downforce distribution around a spoon wing. Note the reduction in downforce production at the … As to answer the original question, drag and lift are related but not directly, i.e a change in downforce/lift doesn't mean necessarily a change in drag especially since there're several types of drag coming from different aspects. This doesn't have any effect on the drag but produces enormous downforce (even at low speeds), allowing the car to be streamlined (i.e. In high-speed formula or road cars where aerodynamic downforce is a major part of the package, aerodynamic drag is much the largest contributor to the total drag force. I´ve been playing for a while now and i´ve come to realize that adding just a tiny bit of downforce seems to make the cars terribly draggy and slow in a straight line. It is pretty straightforward to understand drag’s effect: drag is a force that acts against car’s forward movement and that try to decelerate the vehicle. Drag reduction is more critical on the speedway than on other circuits.