I really enjoyed driving this car, but I was disappointed to see the lap times you can run in this car were much faster than the F1 lap records for Suzuka and Fuji. Think they will adjust this for the full version so it will be more realistic?
First of all, let me say that while I personally am not convinced the physics for the F2007 in GT5P are spot on, I'm also more than willing to admit that there is no way of knowing if it is or not because there are far too many variables to do an accurate comparison.
Even Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Luca Badoer, Marc Gene, and Michael Schumacher would not be able to do an accurate comparison despite all having spent time behind the wheel of the F2007.
Nor could Nigel Stepney
(or Mike Coughlan for that matter 
), despite being intimately familiar with all the technical specifications of the F2007.
Heck, even Aldo Costa and Nicholas Tombazis would not be able to do an accurate comparison despite having designed the darn car.
The fact is the F2007, like most race cars has no "stock" settings and they are even changing out equipment all the time, so the first thing that would have to be done to do an accurate comparison is to be sure both the real F2007 and the one in GT5P have the exact same equipment and adjustments.
In addition you have to be sure both cars are using the exact same type of tire.
Now you have to be sure both cars are being driven by the same person to avoid the effect different driving styles have on a car's overall performance.
Now even then you still have problems... in GT5P, the F2007 like all the cars is in 100% perfect condition. While Ferrari prides itself on its reliability and equipment, in real life equipment fails. Sure, most of the time it's fairly minor failures, but any failure, no matter how small can impact a cars performance.
OK, let's assume you have a 100% perfect F2007, and you have met all the other variables listed above, you still have plenty of other variables that make an accurate comparison next to impossible:
- Track Condition:
GT5P's tracks never change. No oil spots, no debris, nothing that would randomly impact a test lap.
- Weather:
In real life you can't control the weather, and it can change at any moment. Trying to replicate the exact weather conditions between a game and real life is next to impossible... and yet weather certainly has a big effect on lap times... and I'm not just talking about rain. A temperature difference of just 10 degrees will effect lap times.
- Physics:
In the real world, drivers have to deal with things like G-forces, suspension forces, and wind all of which can and do impact a driver's ability to focus strictly on hitting each and every apex perfectly.
- POV:
In real life you have to wear a lot of gear including helmets that restrict movement. You are constantly being shaken around making it not only hard to focus, but very difficult to see what's behind you... although when hot lapping, this is unnecessary any way. In real life you are restricted to one POV, where as in a game, if it is more suited to your racing style/technique, you can race from any number of different POVs.
- Risk:
In real life, unless a driver is truly insane, especially on more dangerous tracks, by far most, if not all drivers can't always race each lap right on the edge of disaster... a gamer on the other hand only has to restart... which brings us to...
- Track Experience:
In real life, it can cost millions of dollars for an F1 team to spend a day at a specific race track doing testing. In a game, one can do it for free, running thousands of laps, fine tuning both the car and your skills for that track, under those conditions. To put it in perspective, a virtual driver can run as many laps on Suzuka over one weekend as Michael Schumacher did over his entire career in F1… that’s a huge advantage.
All of these criteria/conditions give virtual drivers a huge advantage over real world race drivers in terms of comparing lap times.
Sure, real drivers have some advantages over virtual ones, like:
- Greater Reaction Times:
They didn't earn a seat in an F1 for having poor hand/foot and eye coordination and slow reaction times. 
- Car Control:
They have much better steering wheels, and pedals for control.
- Car & Track Feedback:
They can be in tune with their car's maximum capabilities and the track at any given time much better due to the way a real driver is "connected" to the car, where as the only physical feedback a virtual driver gets is maybe some feedback in the wheel... and maybe some rumble in the controller.
- Peripheral View:
Although for hot lapping that shouldn't be all that important.
However, overall, the virtual driver has a significant advantage over real drivers, which is also why had the best lap times in GT5P been the same or slower than their real world counterparts, then if any thing that would prove the physics in GT5P were likely not accurate.
The fact that the best F2007 lap times in GT5P are only about 5% faster than in real life suggests to me that the overall physics in GT5P is a heck of a lot closer to the real thing than many are willing to believe.
I will say though, I still think in terms of grip, the F2007 in GT5P seems to be too generous - but I'm willing to concede that overall, the net effect seems to be pretty bloody accurate all things considered. 👍
For me personally though, I feel
F1CE offers an overall more accurate F1 simulation... granted, it should considering it's an F1 game.
