What Is a Limited-Slip Differential (LSD)?
Every car has a differential. Its job is simple: allow the inside and outside wheels to rotate at different speeds when you turn. Without one, you would be dragging a locked axle through every corner.
An open differential lets each wheel spin completely independently. This is great for normal driving but terrible for performance. When one tire loses grip, all the power goes to the spinning wheel and you go nowhere.
A limited-slip differential (LSD) solves this by partially locking the two wheels together. When one wheel starts to spin faster than the other, the LSD resists the difference and sends some torque to the gripping wheel. How aggressively it does this is what you are tuning.
Gran Turismo 7 models a clutch-type LSD with three tunable parameters:
- Initial Torque — baseline lockup percentage
- Acceleration Sensitivity (Lv. 0–60) — how much the diff locks under throttle
- Braking Sensitivity (Lv. 0–60) — how much the diff locks under engine braking
Understanding what each one does — and when it kicks in — is the key to unlocking rotation, traction, and stability. Let’s break them down.
Initial Torque
Initial torque is the baseline lockup percentage of your differential. It defines how much the diff is locked at all times, regardless of whether you are on the throttle or the brakes. Think of it as the diff’s resting state.
A higher initial torque means the two driven wheels are always fighting to stay at the same speed. This gives you:
- More straight-line stability
- Less inside-wheel spin on corner exit
- Better traction out of slow corners
But push it too high and you get problems:
- Heavy, unresponsive steering feel
- The car resists rotation — it wants to push straight
- Increased tire wear on the inside tire through long sweeping corners
Typical range: 10–40 for most cars. Use lower values (10–20) on tight, technical tracks where you need the car to rotate. Use higher values (25–40) on high-speed circuits where stability matters more than agility.
Acceleration Sensitivity (Lv. 0–60)
Acceleration sensitivity controls how aggressively the diff locks when you apply throttle. The harder you press the gas, the more the diff locks — but only up to the limit set by this parameter.
Higher acceleration sensitivity means both driven wheels spin together more under power. This gives you more traction on corner exit, which is great for launching out of slow corners. But it can cause understeer on exit because the locked diff resists the speed difference the car needs to actually turn.
Lower acceleration sensitivity lets the inside wheel spin more freely under power. The car rotates more on corner exit, which helps on tight hairpins, but you may sacrifice some raw traction.
Starting points by drivetrain:
- FR and MR cars: Start around 20–30. These rear-driven layouts benefit from moderate lock to balance traction and rotation.
- 4WD cars: The front diff’s accel sensitivity matters a lot here. Keep the front low (10–20) so the front wheels can still steer freely. The rear can be higher (25–35) for traction.
Braking Sensitivity (Lv. 0–60)
Braking sensitivity is the parameter most players overlook — and it controls half of your corner entry behavior.
This setting determines how much the diff locks under engine braking and trail braking. When you lift off the throttle or brake into a corner, engine braking acts through the driven wheels. The diff’s braking sensitivity decides whether those wheels stay locked together or are free to rotate at different speeds.
Higher braking sensitivity keeps the driven wheels locked together on corner entry. This creates more stability — the rear end (or front, for FF) stays planted and resists rotation. Good if you struggle with oversteer on entry.
Lower braking sensitivity lets the wheels decouple under braking, which allows the car to rotate more freely as you trail brake into the corner. This is what aggressive trail-brakers want — the car pivots around the loaded front tires.
Typical range: 15–25, and it is almost always set lower than acceleration sensitivity. The logic is simple: you want more lock when putting power down (traction) and less lock when decelerating (rotation).
If you are the type of driver who trail-brakes deep into every apex, experiment with dropping braking sensitivity by 5–10 from your baseline. You will feel the rear come alive.
Differential Settings by Drivetrain
The same differential values behave completely differently depending on your car’s drivetrain layout. Weight distribution, which wheels are driven, and where the engine sits all change how the diff affects handling. Here is what to know for each layout.
FR (Front-Engine, Rear-Wheel Drive)
The most common layout in GT7 and the most balanced starting point for diff tuning. You only have a rear differential.
- Initial Torque: 20–30
- Accel Sensitivity: 20–30
- Braking Sensitivity: 15–25
FR cars have a natural front-to-rear weight balance that makes them predictable. Focus on balancing rear stability (higher values) against rotation freedom (lower values). If the car pushes wide on corner exit, drop accel sensitivity. If the rear slides under braking, raise braking sensitivity slightly.
MR (Mid-Engine, Rear-Wheel Drive)
Mid-engine cars already have significant weight over the rear axle, meaning the rear tires have inherently more grip. You only tune the rear differential.
- Initial Torque: 15–25
- Accel Sensitivity: 20–25
- Braking Sensitivity: 10–20
Because the weight is already helping rear traction, you can run lower initial torque than FR cars. Be careful with high lock values — MR cars are prone to snap oversteer when the rear breaks loose suddenly, and an over-locked diff makes this worse by preventing the inside wheel from absorbing speed differences smoothly.
FF (Front-Engine, Front-Wheel Drive)
The front wheels do everything in an FF car — steering and driving. You only have a front differential, and locking it too much is the single biggest tuning mistake for this layout.
- Initial Torque: 10–20
- Accel Sensitivity: 10–20
- Braking Sensitivity: 10–15
High lock values cause torque steer and severe understeer in FF cars. The front tires simply cannot handle being locked together while also trying to change direction. Keep everything conservative. If you feel the car is understeering on exit, the diff is almost certainly too tight — lower the accel sensitivity first.
4WD (All-Wheel Drive)
This is the most complex layout because you are tuning both front and rear differentials. The front and rear have independent settings, and front/rear torque distribution also plays a role.
Front differential — keep it loose for steering freedom:
- Initial Torque: 10–20
- Accel Sensitivity: 10–20
- Braking Sensitivity: 10–15
Rear differential — traction focus:
- Initial Torque: 20–35
- Accel Sensitivity: 25–35
- Braking Sensitivity: 15–25
The key insight for 4WD is that the front diff controls how well the car steers under power, while the rear diff controls traction and stability. If a 4WD car understeers, lower the front diff values first. If it feels loose on exit, raise the rear accel sensitivity. Check Gr.3 and Gr.4 categories for popular 4WD race cars.
RR (Rear-Engine, Rear-Wheel Drive)
Rear-engine cars like the Porsche 911 series have the most weight over the driven wheels — which gives massive rear traction but makes the car behave like a pendulum. You only tune the rear differential.
- Initial Torque: 15–25
- Accel Sensitivity: 15–25
- Braking Sensitivity: 10–20
Be conservative. RR cars are extremely sensitive to diff changes because of the rear weight bias. Too much lock and the rear suddenly breaks loose in a pendulum-style snap oversteer that is nearly impossible to catch. Start low and work up in small increments.
Common Mistakes
These are the diff tuning errors we see constantly — even from experienced GT7 players.
Setting everything to max for “more grip”
This is the most common mistake by far. Cranking initial torque, accel, and braking sensitivity all to high values does give you more traction in a straight line. But it kills rotation. The car will push wide in every corner, your tire wear will spike, and you will be slower overall. A locked diff is not a faster diff.
Ignoring braking sensitivity
Most players tune initial torque and accel sensitivity, then leave braking sensitivity at default. But braking sensitivity controls how the car behaves during corner entry — arguably the most critical phase for lap time. If you trail brake (and you should), this parameter directly affects how the car rotates into the apex.
Copy-pasting FR settings onto MR or RR cars
Different weight distributions need fundamentally different diff settings. An FR car with 55/45 weight balance can handle more lock than an MR car with 42/58 or an RR car with 38/62. The more rear-biased the weight, the more carefully you need to tune the diff to avoid snap oversteer.
Not adjusting diff when changing tire compound
Switching from Sport tires to Racing tires (or vice versa) changes the grip envelope of the car. Higher-grip tires let you run slightly higher diff values because the tires can handle the lateral forces of a locked diff. Lower-grip tires need a looser diff to maintain rotation. Always re-evaluate your diff settings when you change compounds.
Quick Reference Table
Use this as a starting point. Every car is different, but these ranges will get you in the right ballpark for each drivetrain layout.