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for geometry i just use a parametric sketch in solidworks, it doesn't hold your hand but if you know what you're looking for it's easy and useful. for those on a budget, the old cardboard model with push pins and protractor can work just as well. the real question is, what characteristics do we want? what is the 'correct' camber curve? analysis will give you numbers (or even pictures) but what do they really mean on track? surely after all these decades of development, if there was one 'right' way to do it, everyone would be doing it by now?

yes, i know there are many opinions to the contrary but i have to wonder if with 1/4" travel typical of aero cars the geometry really matters much. shock and spring performance definitely matters (yes, even with almost no travel). tire pressures, camber and toe definitely matter. the rest... i'm not convinced. of course it is possible to grossly screw it up but barring that, within a reasonable range of setups, i would think the differences would be down to working with (or around) the quirks of a particular chassis rather than anything so fundmentally theoretical that software would be of much help. i've had some second-hand insight into how F1 guys do it and if i understand correctly they're basically just guessing, too, albeit on a much bigger budget. else every team would have the setup totally nailed for every race - they have the desire and the budget and they've been at it for a long time.

i was fortunate enough to have one of my cars modeled in a racing sim and i can tell you that the 'driver-in-the-loop' simulation is by far the most valuable because you can tell what effect geometry changes have on how a car feels and performs. you can spin on corner entry and then go back and look at what the tire forces, slip angles, actual camber and many other things are at any millisecond. unfortunately due to the nature of the development and various business considerations i still don't have a setup where i can tweak a car and then drive it in the sim. there is an open-source race sim initiative that i hope goes forward and maybe that will give the necessary capabilities.

so basically what i'd like to see is a driving sim that is accurate enough (there are several) and accessible/open enough (there are none that i know of) to let us tweak geometry, settings, etc and then run cars on actual tracks to see how the changes work. yes, it is possible to tweak r-factor and with a lot more effort lfs, but right now it requires the level of computer skill and effort that makes it prohibitive for most. and even then, without fully understanding the assumptions made in the physics model, the results are rather indeterminate. i did get some good correlation between the sim and real life to the extent i was able to test it, so it it is encouraging.... especially on weird cars like my own