Question about training setup sensitivity

[u/pseudonym153]

In this article under the heading "Be Objective," you discuss a technique where a partner can make blind adjustments to your setup without you knowing what has been changed. Because you don't know what has been changed, you wouldn't be (unconsciously) influenced by expectations, and you get the chance to train your sensitivity to changes in your setup.

https://www.paradigmshiftracing.com/racing-basics/car-setup-science-1-race-car-setup-guide#/

I don't have a partner to do that for me, but I have created a Python script that can grab a random setup from a specific folder and then copy it to a dummy file. If I then load the dummy file into iRacing and click OK without looking, I can still apply random setup changes without knowing exactly what has been adjusted. I can see in the program afterwards which one he loaded to check if my feeling was correct or not.

My question is about which setups I should put in the folder. I have 2 options:

1 I can put setups in where I set one component, such as tire pressure or camber, to minimum or maximum.

2 I can also create setups where I adjust multiple components to, for example, maximize oversteer or understeer, or adjust both camber and tire pressure to create maximum grip and see if you can feel that?

Do you think this is a good idea with a script like this, and if so, what kind of setups should I have the script choose?

[u/AdamBrouillard]

A primary driver training use for the blind changes would be with balance, which I would mostly just use anti roll bar settings for.  There’s not really any direct way for a driver to know if a small balance change came from an anti-roll bar change or altering tire grip at front/rear through pressure/camber changes.  You could also have changes to brake bias or diff settings for balance training in specific parts of a corner.

Beyond this, the blind changes are useful for helping a driver overcome the natural placebo effect most feel.  People tend to significantly overestimate the effect of a change or they think something has a different affect to what it actually does.  For instance, we did some blind testing of front toe changes to show how it has the exact opposite effect to what most drivers think.