Mad FinnTuners Co.™ - Finished 301010 with GT-Rdammerung - BIG THANKS everyone!

Seeing how you get so many good comments for your work, I thought it would be good if I could give you a review of my own. Of course, I will go for the cars I'm interested in Seeing as how my most driven car is a Lotus, expect a review of the Lotus Esprit Turbo HC Type 49 in a 30 hours span


Edit:

Okay, as I promised, a review of the Lotus Esprit Turbo HC, Type 49. First of all, let me clarify you something. Unlike some members here at GTPlanet, I am an objetive fellow. That being said, I won't hesitate to be cruel with the scores, yet fair. I have done my best trying to find what problems does the car have, and if it can be improved in any way. Enough of this verbose, let us begin with the trial (this is the way I test my cars. So please be forgiving if you find some of my methods a bit akward):


Acceleration: for a car fully tuned, I have nothing to complain about. Yes, the acceleration is astounding, especially for a guy who has been driving a 220hp Elise during three months. But that doesn't stop the acceleration from being a great one. Beware, though, as in a standing start, launching at full RPMs, you will get tons of wheelspin. But, , who would be so stupid to do that? I give it a 8/10, if not a 9/10, just because I can deal with it.

Braking: There's a slighty, and when I say that, I mean it. A slighty tendency to veer of the track at the first real corner of GVS when braking. It really depends on the driver, but what seems such a little annoyance to average drivers, may be a big problem to newcomers. The designation "Pro" was a good choice from your part. Other than that, I can't complain of braking. This gets a 10/10 from me.

Cornering: This really depends on who's driven and what is he (or she) used to drive. As I said before, I have been driving a Lotus Elise during three months, and thus the cornering seems slightly poor. But take a look at other beasts of the same horsepower, and you will recognize the difference almost instantly. This gets a momentary 9/10.

Gearing: Almost perfect! You can really feel the gears as you get into and out of the corners. I bet you I can even guess what gears were set for which especific corners. But at the last straight, the car has enough power to go a few km/h faster. This is another 9/10, given such silly mistake.


This is the part I like the most, problems!


Oversteer: My, my... What is it that makes this car so... weird? Since drifting has been one of my primary GT4 entertainments for a while now, I had no problem controlling the drifts this car seems to pull usually at the exits of corners. At least in my hands, that is. But given the fact that it is a 457bhp car, packed with a set of sport soft tires, I guess this is a forgivable mistake. Personally, I believe racing tires would have fitted this car better. This gets a -3/10. Not that bad.

Understeer: Is there any? I couldn't find understeer myself. In the sweeper inside the tunnel I did find a bit, though. -1/10, very good.


So, what does this mean?

Acceleration: 8/10
Braking: 10/10
Cornering: 9/10
Gearing: 9/10

Oversteer: -3/10
Understeer: -1/10

Since the understeer and oversteer are basically a part of cornering, I have bad news.

Acceleration: 8/10
Braking: 10/10
Cornering: 5/10
Gearing: 9/10

Final score: 32/40. For those who give out x/10 reviews, this would be a 8/10.

Overall, a good car to have around. I would not be so sure to use it in races if you are inexpert, since the oversteer may mess with your driving line. You can't count on the AI to back you up there, it will likely ram you and make you spin. But you really lived up to my expectations, so a big 👍 is on your way! I will be sure to keep this one in my collection.

reviews have been noted. 👍 We will continue with few more low end cars, but after that, we will return to our roots.. full power and racing tyres that is.

Parts to fit:
Racing Exhaust
Racing Brakes
Brake Balance Controller
Turbo Kit Stage 3
Port Polishing
Engine Balancing
Racing Chip
FC Transmission
Triple-plate Clutch
Racing Flywheel
FC LSD
FC Suspension
S3 Tyres
Weight Reduction Stage 3
Oil Change
New Wheels (optional)

Suspension
Spring Rate: 6.5 / 6.0
Ride Height: 130 / 135
Bound: 5 / 8
Rebound: 7 / 10
Camber: 2.0 / 2.0
Toe: 0 / -2
Stabilizers: 2 / 6

Brake Controller
Brakes: 5 / 7

Transmission

Note: First, reset the gearbox to the default settings, then set the Auto setting, and only then set the gear ratios.

Gear Ratios
1st: 2.286
2nd: 1.581
3rd: 1.220
4th: 1.000
5th: 0.840
6th: 0.705
Final Gear: 4.300

Autoset 15

LSD
Initial: 5
Acceleration: 25
Deceleration: 10

Driving Aids
ASM Oversteer: 0
ASM Understeer: 0
TCS: 0

Ballast
Ballast weight: 16 kg
Location: 50

Seeing that it was the tiny Peugeot 106 that finally replaced the venerable 205 it's a much more important car than most hot hatch lovers even realize. And what would be a better way to pay it a tribute than squeezing every drop of performance out of it?

So here it is, the 106 Turbo 8 following in the footsteps of the 205 Turbo 16. The amount of raw power is certainly enough for such a small car and the cornering pace makes many higher end cars look like clumsy barges. Building on the relatively spartan Rallye model it makes good use of the parts developed for the F2 1600cc Kit Cars that once battled fiercely against the flaming red Saxos on the French roads. But this one takes the Maxi specifications a tad further, becoming the ultimate 106 ever to roll out of the production lines. It takes some thought to get the most out of it in hard accelerations but when mastered it will happily hang with such FWD icons as the Spoon Type R's, and in good hands beating them. Don't let the grocery getter looks betray you. This is a true lion.

Reviews:

by DuoMaxwell

Nice car you've there, Greycap 👍 254 bhp are enough to bring this baby to roll, though

Best wishes,

S-Line Audi Fan

Time for the counter replies, the release fuss being over for a while again.

Codename L - Thank you, that's just the type of reviewing we like to see! I'll go in a different order.

The wheelspin is, well, unavoidable and I'm glad to see you undrestand that it's not an absolute fault. The acceleration then, while I wouldn't call it stellar it's about as good as the power can produce and the gearing also plays a part. This is why the car runs out of ratios before power, losing a tenth or two on a very long straight is a price I'll gladly pay for getting better acceleration out of every corner. The gears aren't set for specific corners, just to get the most out of the engine powerband. While GVS is our own "Top Gear track" it's not the only track the cars see during testing.

The braking and cornering, no doubt it's slippery. Racing tyres would have made it a better performer for sure but the old Esprit has a reputation of being a handful and I wanted to retain it. Not to mention that now it's actually useful as a car used for racing in the game, R class tyres are sadly outlawed in most series. But it's a car that keeps the driver on their toes and good as such.

You need something, give me a call. 👍

S-Line Audi Fan - They are... if you can get them to the track. Easier said than done.

Pair of VW reviews, comin' your way.


Review of the Nardo W12

The whole of my reasoning for testing this car was simple. I can drive a regular car fast, but I can't seem to be able to drive a super/race car fast. I hoped that an MFT tuned super car would do the job nicely. I have to say, this car doesn't disappoint. While the unavoidable wheel spin holds you back at the line, I was able to catch up by the end of the first bend at Midfield on a +10 difficulty. I started out feathering the car, so as not to overdue it in the early stages of testing, and slowly eased into more speed. Turns out it works great, and was soon able to make a fast lap that I was comfortable with considering my horrid driving tendencies. I had a few spin outs after touching grass, but nothing I couldn't catch back up from . I think you did a very good job on this one Greycap. The gears are great, and braking is impressive for all that power. Awesome fun factor, as peeling out of those corners is something that never gets boring in this. It served its purpose to me in spectacular fashion.


Review of the Wolf R32

I'd like to start by saying that I don't think I gave this car proper justice because I had just driven the mighty W12, but anyway... I think for the drive train it could have used more power, but I never added more for the sake of keeping to specs. It felt slow to drive, even though I was going at a great speed for the car (because of the above reasons). It cornered very well, keeping speed throughout and nice handling. Braking, again, is good. I think for the size of the car that it performs very well. Gearing gave me no issues. Easily beat cars much better that itself.




Overall, I think Volkswagen can be proud. 👍

EDIT: Just to give you all an idea about how bad my driving of super cars is.. I have driven a (tuned) 3000GT and a (tuned) SL 500 around the 'Ring faster that a (stock) Merc. MeClaren SLR, even though both cars still had less HP than the SLR.

Parts to fit:
Racing Exhaust
Racing Brakes
Brake Balance Controller
NA Tuning Stage 3
Port Polishing
Engine Balancing
Racing Chip
FC Transmission
Triple-plate Clutch
Racing Flywheel
FC LSD
FC Suspension
S3 Tyres
Weight Reduction Stage 3
Rigidity Increase (rollcage)
Oil Change
New Wheels (optional)

Suspension
Spring Rate: 7.5 / 5.0
Ride Height: 115 / 150
Bound: 2 / 10
Rebound: 10 / 5
Camber: 1.3 / 2.5
Toe: -2 / -2
Stabilizers: 1 / 3

Brake Controller
Brakes: 12 / 10

Transmission

Note: First, reset the gearbox to the default settings, then set the Auto setting, and only then set the gear ratios.

Gear Ratios
1st: 2.388
2nd: 1.670
3rd: 1.248
4th: 1.044
5th: 0.883
6th: 0.760
Final Gear: 4.000

Autoset 13

LSD
Initial: 20
Acceleration: 45
Deceleration: 5


Driving Aids
ASM Oversteer: 0
ASM Understeer: 0
TCS: 0



VW has been missing the idea of proper hot hatch for some years now. Their designs have gotten fatter and more complicated, and harnessed by ominous three-letter acronyms like ESP, TCS, DSG and such, and thus, they're not real enthusiasts ccars since all those computers make them tame enough for your grandma to drive. The dropping sales must have set off the alarms in the Wolfsburg giants head, and they started to look for solution. Luckily, one of the engineers spotted a small article about small powerhouse up north. They had built a proper Lupo out of regular GTi, and tortured over 240bhp and 300nm+ out of that little 1.6l engine without turbocharging! That most certainly did catch their interest, and thus they paid this small shop to hand over the spec sheet so they could see how to improve upon their next hot hatch. The test drive convinced both the engineers and big brass people, and they put the modified were-Lupo on production as limited edition run, better known as Wolfsburg Lupo GTi-R.

Nice new setups you have there.

nice lupo, never thought of tuning that tiniy little car so high...

viper

BLITZ_69 - Quite an interesting pick you have there! It's one of the better handling supercars in the game, often overlooked (I did the same thing) but really a big player when properly tuned. Good to hear that it did what you wanted it to do!

For anybody wondering what we have cooking at the moment, now the going is getting serious. Time to show the madness once again, I'm on a mission to find out how much power can be put onto the track without downforce or AWD. Very much, it seems. And the counterpart isn't likely to be any more sane. This is looking like the true MFT again after the calm before the storm!

Oh, a nice little lion !
Out of curiosity, why didn't you go for the S16?
And hell, why a turbo? :'(

Nice indeed, with a big bite. Why not the S16? It's heavier and the Rallye has too much power already so more wouldn't help. And why a turbo? Partly because it gives useful high range power instead of stupidly high (and useless) low range torque, partly because the 205 Turbo 16 needed a 106 Turbo 8 to retain the naming heritage.

I needed a break today, so, well, why not go to a circuit and blow some steam off?
But it was such a long time since i had some savings to spend on a car, and i wanted something not so common. When i entered MFT's garage, i saw what seemed the perfect car for my purpose, a 106. I was a bit disappointed to learn that the base model was the Rallye and not the S16, as i saw many times that tuned S16 can beat the crap out of many powerful cars, but, hell, why not?
After all, it doesn't cost that much.

So well, i'm headed to that circuit where they were having a meeting, at Grand Valley Speedway. Of course, compared with the other cars, the 106 seems a bit off... TVR, Skyline, RX8...
I wasn't that sure i wanted to race anymore; i wanted to overtake, not to be overtaken.

I'm here, so why not go after all, it would be a total waste otherwise.

I'm pleased with the first 10 laps i did, so i ease up, and take my time... And then, the TVR goes by past me, and i caught the driver laughing at the 106.
Time to make him regret this.

Pedal to the metal. Focus on gaining time on the bastard in front of me.

And hell, 10laps later, i overtook him. All he could do was go fast in straight line, where i'm the most disavantaged.

I was so glad to drive a car that could brake later and harder than the others, and that could achieve the same acceleration as way more powerful cars. Of course, because of the turbo, the car has its own temper, especially coming out of corners in 2nd... The max speed is decent, but it's clearly not where the car shines.


If you are looking for a challenging car that focuses on corners, and not on max speed, you would be mistaken not to take a look at this 106. The way you can brake late, and enter corners at stunning speed is awesome. But don't forget. No full throttle until 3rd gear. Before, it takes very good control not to light the tyres.

DuoMaxwell - That didn't take too long! The car is admittedly looking a little lost in the company it usually attracts but as you discovered it's not that much of a stranger when it comes to performing. You're absolutely right about the braking distances, they're ridiculously short. The 50m marker into the first hairpin is too early, actually. And the wheelspin is just why I wanted the turbo instead of the NA tune, now the power comes on gradually as the revs increase and makes controlling it easier. Thanks for proving it to be worth something! 👍

One thing though, not only for you, but for everybody. Having seen a lot of late reviews I'm not sure if some people are thinking our cars should be tested on GVS because they're built there. Both assumptions are actually wrong. Any track (as long as it has proper corners without being Motorland) goes, after all the aim is to produce cars that work mostly everywhere. GVS specials aren't for much good if you need cup racers. It just happens to be our Stig's own "Top Gear track" for benchmarking. The cars aren't exclusively built there but it's a track with enough variety to put them in a reasonable order.

Hello there. Today you shall witness how we go back to our roots. No more weak Economy cars.. but pure, raw performance.

Sounds interesting. Looking forward to it.

Leonidae

Hello there. Today you shall witness how we go back to our roots. No more weak Economy cars.. but pure, raw performance.

Click to expand...

Well, Leo, be sure I'll review them

Parts to fit:
Brake Balance Controller
NA Tuning Stage 3
FC Transmission
FC LSD
FC Suspension
R3 Tyres
Weight Reduction Stage 3
Oil Change
New Wheels (optional)

Suspension
Spring Rate: 12.5 / 13.0
Ride Height: 80 / 85
Bound: 6 / 7
Rebound: 8 / 9
Camber: 2.5 / 2.0
Toe: -1 / -2
Stabilizers: 4 / 6

Brake Controller
Brakes: 5 / 7

Transmission

Note: First, reset the gearbox to the default settings, then set the Auto setting, and only then set the gear ratios.

Gear Ratios
1st: 3.499
2nd: 2.317
3rd: 1.735
4th: 1.369
5th: 1.130
6th: 0.954
Final Gear: 3.000

Autoset 15

LSD
Initial: 10
Acceleration: 20
Deceleration: 5

Driving Aids
ASM Oversteer: 0
ASM Understeer: 0
TCS: 0

*cracks knuckles* OK, that's the end of the grocery getter era. Enter the time of true madness.

Seeing that the new Viper ACR is showing quite a glorious pace on race tracks around the world we thought it might be fitting to give one of the forgotten models a chance. The old one-off GTSR Concept that once was the pinnacle of Viper engineering has got a new breath of life, becoming a cross between the ACR looks and GT class handling. Race slicks? Check. Insane amounts of power? Check. Handling to make it possible? Check indeed. This one goes, and it does it better than pretty much anything else you can imagine. The huge power is put down without too much fuss but you can be sure there is fuss when braking for the first corner - you'll be doing closer to 200 mph at the time. But don't worry, it's built to make it onto the next straight. Given that you keep your cool that is. It's a frightening beast in need of a determined driver but when it gets one it'll be virtually untouchable.

Reviews:

by Codename L
by in.s@ne
by Kingofweasles
by Nenad
by stidriver

Wow!!! An ACR Viper!!! Now thats interesting. Whats its skill level? If its advance i'd definitely give you a review .

Greycap

Note: First, reset the gearbox to the default settings, then set the Auto setting, and only then set the gear ratios.

Click to expand...

I notice you inlcude this statement in your tunes. I'm curious as to why? As I learn more about tuning my own cars, I like to understand what's going through everyone else's head. If you don't do each of these steps, or you do them in a different order, will the results be different?

It's just a disclaimer to prevent incorrect setting of the ratios, it's a foolproof method if followed, therefore...

Let's see.. 969bhp, no adjustable downforce, light weight.. It's expert, and it's actually most powerful RWD we've come up this far.

sanpanico

I notice you inlcude this statement in your tunes. I'm curious as to why? As I learn more about tuning my own cars, I like to understand what's going through everyone else's head. If you don't do each of these steps, or you do them in a different order, will the results be different?

Click to expand...

Do a search for "tranny trick". On the gtp site, cause google will give some interesting but unrelated results. It does make a huge difference.

This tune seems a tad insane MFT:

969bhp, no adjustable downforce

Click to expand...

That evil mongrel (AC Cobra?) that you brought out for your 2000th post, or whatever it was, looks like a pussycat compared to this on paper (am still a while from going home to my beloved game, er, and family...). Am keen to see some reviews, and to see which race series this one goes well in. I spose the tyres means it won't do GTWC? Cause the rest of the tune looks like it will.

I'm very interested in what car Leo is going to compete with I'm going to test that Viper right now!

S-Line Audi Fan

I'm very interested in what car Leo is going to compete with I'm going to test that Viper right now!

Click to expand...

Oh please do, I'm living vicariously through GT4 right now and would love to see some reviews.

PF

That evil mongrel (AC Cobra?) that you brought out for your 2000th post, or whatever it was, looks like a pussycat compared to this on paper (am still a while from going home to my beloved game, er, and family...). Am keen to see some reviews, and to see which race series this one goes well in. I spose the tyres means it won't do GTWC? Cause the rest of the tune looks like it will.

Click to expand...

The Cobra is much more of a newcomer killer than the Viper, despite having less power it has quite a few issues that the Viper doesn't - being overpowered being one of them. About the series, I don't think it can take on the GTWC opponents as the aerodynamics aren't up to the task and it's overweight. Having said that, it will highly likely cause a lot of havoc in the All American Championship (some crazy Finn even won it with my Cuda) and probably do some proper slaughtering in the Dream Car Cup too. Basically, if the series allows R tyres but doesn't include LMP's and Group C's it can take it on.

Review of the Dodge Viper ACR GT '00

969 bhp, 1235 nm, 1253 kg

Well, these are the specs.. But how's the car? How to handle 969 bhp on R3 Tyres? How to drive through the corners? How to.. Let's end asking questions right now or it'll be midnight until I've written every single question down..

First of all, thank you for adding so much power to the car.. 969 bhp feel very good in combination with a 1253 kg car.. OK, as always I tested the car at Grand Valley Speedway.. And let me say one thing: I'm afraid of driving this car there .. But let's hope everything goes well.. OK, I'm driving up to the first corner managing almost 330 km/h.. Braking.. And.. Damn, I touched the grass with a tyre and the car began to slide.. Countersteering.. Uuuh.. Did it.. Now thinking "Huh, let's go on".. Going through the next corner was simple.. But there's a hairpin coming.. Reaching 300 km/h and then braking hard.. The car is stable under braking.. But in the corners: You better don't floor it now or you'll spin.. 3/4 throttle will do it.. First gear: You'll get wheelspin if you give 100% throttle.. Wait until you reach 115 km/h and then you can floor it.. If you do this earlier you'll get wheelspin and that's what we want to avoid, right? OK, now to the tyre wear.. It's great.. As always, the rear tyres wear out faster, but it's quite easy to handle, you can drift through the corners, so that you don't lose that much time with weared out tyres 👍 Balance is very good, there are no problems while accelerating, braking or cornering I just noticed some understeer when I was braking too late and then the car was oversteering, because I've already touched the grass But that's no problem, for a skilled driver at least *looks at Greycap* The last thing I want to say is that I very much liked the gear ratios, fitting perfectly to this car and its specs..

Positive aspects:

- Acceleration
- Braking
- Balance
- Tyre wear
- Gear ratios

Negative aspects:

- Hard to control when oversteering (easy to get the car to oversteer), but no problem for a skilled driver

Total laps at Grand Valley Speedway: 42 Laps
Best lap time at Grand Valley Speedway: 1'39.214
Total kilometers: 302.8 km

9.5/10

Well done, Greycap! Oh and when is Leo going to upload his car? I want to test and review that one, too

Best wishes,

S-Line Audi Fan

Hey Leo, go ahead and let Rex out to play. I haven't had much time to play GT4, but it seems good to me. Not perfect, but I'm not the best driver by a long shot. Lets let other try it out.

S-Line Audi Fan - Great, thanks for taking the bull by the horns! Driving that thing on GVS isn't something to be too scared about... Nürburgring is another story and I'll try it myself some day. The car has quite a hefty amount of power-over, yes. I don't know if it's the long wheelbase or what but controlling it is surprisingly easy (taking the power into account) compared to many other cars as long as the slide is caught in time. About being skilled, I don't rate myself as an excellent driver. Something between good and very good but certainly not one that can take one of these monsters to their highest limits.

Leo's car? Should be out this weekend. Nothing promised though.

Greycap

Leo's car? Should be out this weekend. Nothing promised though.

Click to expand...

Great, I hope it's going to be this weekend Oh and.. Am I allowed to request a car?