Audi TT-S '03 Review
From the onset I had a very good impression of the car. With most setups I find it usually takes a good four or five laps before I feel I understand the car and push for fast laps, but as you can guess with this setup, the same feeling came very naturally in literally the first couple of laps.
This test was done on GVS and I have no doubt that the results would be the same given any other track. On the fast right-hand corner before the start/finish straight, the setup allowed the car to take this at full throttle very consistently. Also amongst the biggest surprises, seeing as it was on R3's, came at the first corner after the straight where the braking was so strong and well controlled (very little oversteer and no understeer), that in the end I was braking deep into the entry of the corner past the very last distance marker board!
Accelerating out of this corner, the traction given by the well mated suspension settings and tyres, meant that the car was never at risk of overwhelming the tyres; a point best demonstrated at the sharp hairpin where the tight corner, taken in a low gear, never once exposed any problems even under very demanding inputs.
In the tight mid section of the course, the car was quick to change direction and always held the intended lines with a racing car-esque cleanliness and precision. The well controlled lateral weight shifting meant that the car was hard to unsettle, and also the dampers are tuned as such that even unintentional clips of the curbs were of little concern.
Coming out of the tunnel and into the long left-right sweep revealed my only complaint for this car. Whilst the tidy nature of the car (which allows racing lines to be taken with ease) is good, it is very restricting, and at times I feel that a touch of power oversteer would help the car to be both more enjoyable and ultimately faster. For the rest of the lap the handling was great and the car took all the corners in its stride. Perhaps another fault, though admittedly I haven't had a good look at the power curve, the gearing for sixth could be slightly longer as I was consistently red-lining down the main straight; the thinking behind this being to make better use of the power available.
Overall this is a setup that is ideal for people who love to stick to the
"perfect" racing line. The car is very stable and holds lines with an uncanny precision, though this is also the cars main fault, as it doesn't allow for too much experimentation with lines which more often than not will be detrimental to the laps times. Be it by the well set brake bias or an inherent ability of the car, the braking is simply phenomenal and will probably be the main obstacle for reaching faster lap times; i.e. that the brake distances are so unnaturally low that it doesn't feel right to leave it as late as this setup allows. So great choice of car and setup
Leo 👍, I only wish that I could make mine appear as good as yours
Pyrelli
Audi TT-S @ GVS - 1'51.214