Cactus Tuner reviews **Clueless Impreza** Reviewed

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cactusstudios
I decided to doing some reviews on tuners cars in the hope it will help me get better at driving and understand the finer arts of tuning a little more.

I'm not a great driver, and I'm a not tuner. Tuning in the past for me has consisted of dropping the suspension by a random amount equal amount front and back. putting the camber up to 1.5 - 2 for FR or 2 - 1.5 FF and sticking the Toe out on the rear to about 20 and in on the front to about -25 (please forgive me if I have my toe in and out the wrong way round. like I said I'm no tuner).
I only ever use a DS3 and mostly test the cars offline. I was shocked at the difference once I actually started to test a car online and then offline. it felt like a different car.

As I said I'm not a great racer(I'm a late breaker so often fly into corners and full throttle out. Not a great driving style really) so my lap times aren't a true reflection on the cars abilities and my car reviews should be considered those of an Amateur Racer. So if you're a decent racer please don't start flaming about how you're much better than I am and my times are rubbish. I'm sure a lot of you are better than me. I'm not competitive in GT5, I just race for fun. I hope my little reviews are interesting to read and if they help the tuners in any way, then that's brilliant.

Please don't take my lap times as the best times these cars can achieve. I'm only using these as a reference point for the cars against each other. Better times will be achievable.

As my first test I decided to do a shoot out between the multiple tuner version of the NSX-R '02


The NSX Review
The Cars:
1. Stock car with sports soft tyres
2. Mad Finn's tune
3. RKM VTiRoj's tune
4. RKM VTiRoj's Re-tune
5. RKM RJ's tune
6. RVR's tune
7. Praiano's tune
8. Jackthalad's tune
9. JG's tune


Touge Car reviews

500pp cars
in the 500pp cars section we have:

Touge-Spec Performance Tuning
Nissan Skyline GT-R V spec II Nur '02
Lancer Evo IX

Top Performance Tuning
NSX-R '02
NSX-R '02 retune

Cone Killer Racing
Impreza coupe 22B STi version '98

K Tuning
NSX-R '02
Nissan R32 GTR V Spec II

JG's Tune Shop
Subaru Legacy Touring Wagon 2.0GT SpecB '03

Dr_Slump's Car Ambulance!
Trial Celica SS-II '03

Clueless Tunes
Subaru Impreza Coupe WRX STI Version VI '99


Sub 500pp cars
In the Sub 500pp cars we have:

Touge-Spec Performance Tuning
Honda Civic Type R (FD2) '08 by T-Spec

Top Performance Tuning
Toyota MR-S S Edition '99 by TPT
MR-S v edition (6MT) '02

The Outlaw Motorsports Garage tunes

Toyota, Celica GT-R (ST183, 4WS) '91
Toyota Sprinter Trueno BZ-R '98

Over 500pp cars
In the over 500pp cars we have:

The Outlaw Motorsports Garage tunes
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI GSR T.M. SCP ‘99





 
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For my first test I decided to do a shoot out between a couple of tuners NSX-R '02's

Now I hadn't tried the NSX before really, or if I have it was a long time ago and then decided to leave it alone.
I didn't really like the stock car. I found it easy to send into an under steer slide on high speed corners and then in low speed corners it's too easy to kick the back out with lots of over steer. Not a great car of an amateur driver like myself. you have to drive this car well to get a good lap time. it's not at all forgiving.
Now this may be a trait of MR cars. I need to try a few more cars of this type to find out.

So with my inability to drive this car well, I was putting all my hope in the tuning teams to make a car that worked for me.

So far I've tested 3 cars,

The Cars:
1. Stock car with sports soft tyres
2. Mad Finn's tune
3. RKM VTiRoj's tune
4. RKM VTiRoj's Re-tune
5. RKM RJ's tune
6. RVR's tune
7. Praiano's tune
8. Jackthalad's tune
9. JG's tune


Test tracks:
1. High speed ring
2. Deep forest raceway reverse

I picked these track as one is a high speed track and the other is a smaller twisty type of track. So I'd get the best of the handling and speed for each tune.

My settings
I use a DS3 and have all driver assists off but the ABS 1. I drive on the bumper cam. (tried in car but crash too much.)

The reviews

Stock:
High speed ring -1:15.224
Deep Forest Raceway revers - 1:27.716

This car didn't really have any problems on the high speed ring apart from the first right hander after the bridge. The under steer meant I had to slow down a lot more then I thought I should have.
On Deep forest, I got caught out by a few of the tighter turns with both the under and over steer. The car feel slow in acceleration and doesn't corner well. Very disappointing car.


Mad Finn's:
High speed ring - 1:08.971
Deep Forest Raceway revers - 1:23.934

Quote from the Finn's.
"Aiming for entertaining handling rather than all out speed"
Well that was the aim of the Finns, and they did a bloody good job. I didn't really get any under steer with this car because the rear kept breaking loose in to brilliant drifts. If i were trying to drift with this car I would fail. But trying to race with this car with it's 441BHP and I was doing some great drifts round deep forest. Not a fast track car but a lot of fun. well done guys.


RKM's Roj's: - this tune has been updated since test new results to come. currently using settings from (16th Aug 2011 - Revised settings III.)
High speed ring - 1:08.510
Deep Forest Raceway revers - 1:21.744

50 less BHP than the Finn's tune but it is tuned for track racing.
This car kept the handling style of the original car with a lot more BHP begin sent to the wheels. It does of course stick to the track better than the original but with all the extra power I was still getting the under steer issues and over steer on the slow corners. Best track tune I've tested so far, but needs to be driven properly. You need to slow down tooth right speed for the corner and feather the throttle out of the corner. Just not my style.


RKM Roj's retune
High speed ring - 1:09.xxx
Deep Forest Raceway revers - 1:19.724

re-tune hasn't helped me with this car on the high speed ring. Tried 7 laps and consistently .5 to 1 second down on each lap. No idea if this is just me or the re-tune that's done this.
Deep Forest reverse, well the drop in lap time gives you a good idea how much better this tune handles the corners. It under and over steers less. This is the sort of car I was expecting from the tunes. Great work RKM. Not so hot on the big open track but this re-tune really does make the NSX-R a car worth tacking out on the feisty tracks.



RVR
High speed ring - 1:08.733
Deep Forest Raceway revers - 1:22.166

The cars from these big tuners are all shaping up to be very similar with less than a second between the the fastest 5 cars on the High speed ring. This car is one you have to fight with. RVR does state than he left some over steer in there but that's not what I want from a track car. If your a good driver or have a wheel I'm sure this like the others would be a good tune for you. But for me with my lack of driving skill and my DS3 it's not quite right for me.
Deep Forest reverse, I had to try really hard to keep this on the track at Deep Forest. This car enjoyed sending me into the wall. This really is a tune for the better racers out there. The back end can be sent out in to a drift with very little effort, which made for some great looking laps just not very fast. Not a tune for me I'm afraid. I found I had to break earlier with this tune than Praiano's which slowed my laps down.


Praiano
High speed ring - 1:08.300
Deep Forest Raceway revers - 1:19.252

This is the revised tune by Praiano, I didn't test his previous tune so can't comment as to how much better it is than his first try. What I can to is tell you how I liked it. Well on the high speed ring this car was always going to be right up there with the high BHP. It handled the first big sweeping left handed well only had to easy off a little to get it round the corner with out hitting the wall. It struggled a little with that tight right hand corner over the bridge had to really slow down for that corner more so than the RKM tune. But I liked this car on this track.
Deep Forest reverse well with a good driver I'm sure this would be a cracking car. It did give me the best time on Deep Forest so far but I was consistently 0.400 of a second slower than my best time on most laps. And if you don't treat this car nicely it bits back real hard. I found myself buried in the wall a couple of times as I didn't treat it with the respect it needed.
Great tune, but I would say it's for the better drivers.


RKM RJ's tune
High speed ring - 1:09.096
Deep Forest Raceway revers - 1:20.943

Very similar to the first RKM tune on the high speed ring. Deep forest reverse this is where RJ's tune came in to it's own. It knocked almost a second off the first RKM tunes time. This tune feels really good it sticks to the road slot better then the others. The is still under and over steer but both are more controllable. Te over steer is infect quite a lot of fun. It doesn't make for the fastest lap times but if feels good to keep a long drift going round some of the long corners.


Jackthalad
High speed ring - 1:14.931
Deep Forest Raceway revers - 1:25.807

Well with the hard tyres and the smaller BHP this car was never going to challenge the others on the high speed ring. But having said that it did handle really well. Had a little under steer on that damn first right handed over the bridge, but other than that it handled it really well. I'm sure going more time with this I could shave another half a second of this time. On Deep forest all I can say is WOW this tune is brilliant. No where near fast enough to beat the other tunes but it is using sports hard tyres and it's between 70 and 110 BHP down on the other cars. This really is a touge car. I was drifting round just about all the Deep Forest track. I just wanted to go round and round and round again. Brilliant tune jack. Not a fast tune, a truly fun to drive tune. Thanks for being the first to make me enjoy this car.



*UPDATE*
added JG's review and new foot note.

JG [/URL]

High speed ring - 1:09.073
Deep Forest Raceway revers - 1:21.054

Great handling car. Not the fastest round the high speed ring but what do you expect for a car with less BHP. Still managed a drift round that post bridge corner. But this is the diary cad that I didn't need to ease of the power in the first big bend. Just cruised round at 179mph.
To give you more of an idea of my driving skill I tested this on deep forest first to try and beet jg's time of 1:18.xxx. Best I could do with out hours of trying was a 1:22.xxx. so I'm about 4 seconds a lap slower than JG in the exact same car. I really do need to improve my racing.
So I tool it back to deep forest reverse to see how it did against the other tunes.
Best I could do was 1:21.054. Not as good as I had expected. In the slow corners it suffered from the out side rear wheel spinning up on acceleration. Which lead to a fair amount of over steer. Seemed to be a good tune just not up to my driving style.



TO BE CONTINUED……………….

Motor city Hemi - TBC
Praiano re-tune


Foot note:
I think my biggest problem with the NSX is that this is the first time I've spend any real time driving on sport soft tyres. Up until this testing process I have pretty much only used Racing soft which makes any car stick to the road. So I really nee to look at my driving style. I have all these tunes as individual cars and will try to use them all again in actual races and will update here if I make any new observations.
 
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I drive like you. Brake as late as possible, be back to the throttle even before apex, if possible. Feel free to try my tune.
 
One thing, RKM recently updated the NSX, which is 10x better than the last update, which understeered like a bastard.
 
One thing, RKM recently updated the NSX, which is 10x better than the last update, which understeered like a bastard.


How recently?

I tuned the car a couple of days back.

I wouldn't say the understeer was all that bad. but it's still there. first corner of the high speed ring needs a slight lift of the power to get it round.
 
Just checked RKM's tune and you're right onboy the the dampers, LSD and breaks have been changed since I tuned my car.
Will have to look at this again tonight now.
I'll test this new RKM and a couple of other tunes over the weekend and update OP Tuesday next week.
 
Hey dude you fancy giving mine a review too, would like to see how it stacks up against the other garages seen as my setup is not like anyone elses, thanks.

NSX Type R '02 (TO)

Yep noted your details. will test over the weekend.
You're right it is quite different to the others. More like the sort of thing I would put on for an FR car. I like the fact it's not as high a BHP should help a lot in the corner exit. Come back next week check how I did with your tune.

I guess with the lower BHP it's likely to be a little slower on lap times but hope it handles well.
 
Hey dude you fancy giving mine a review too, would like to see how it stacks up against the other garages seen as my setup is not like anyone elses, thanks.

NSX Type R '02 (TO)
Not to thread hijack, But your setup for the 91 nsx works much better on the 02 if you ask me, So much grip, By far the best Tune for the Nsx R 02, I tried them all yesterday. Not taking away from the other guys but your 91 works best for my driving style, Ds3, No aids except abs 1, Gran Valley, 149s, Not bad!!!
 
strutr74
Not to thread hijack, But your setup for the 91 nsx works much better on the 02 if you ask me, So much grip, By far the best Tune for the Nsx R 02, I tried them all yesterday. Not taking away from the other guys but your 91 works best for my driving style, Ds3, No aids except abs 1, Gran Valley, 149s, Not bad!!!

Happy to get other people opinions mate.
I'll check that out too.
 
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Not to thread hijack, But your setup for the 91 nsx works much better on the 02 if you ask me, So much grip, By far the best Tune for the Nsx R 02, I tried them all yesterday. Not taking away from the other guys but your 91 works best for my driving style, Ds3, No aids except abs 1, Gran Valley, 149s, Not bad!!!

Interesting, I will haveto check this out too.
Thanks 👍

EDIT:
Thanks for telling me this, I now prefer the '91 settings the what I had on the type r. I have now updated my NSX-R setup.

Thanks again strut74 and thanks CactusOnR for testing it.
 
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Updated OP added reviews on the following tunes

4. RKM VTiRoj's Re-tune
5. RKM RJ's tune
6. RVR's tune
7. Praiano's tune
8. Jackthalad's tune

I now have 6 NSX's in my garage. I updated RKM VTiRoj's first tune with his new one and I used my standard untuned one for jackthalads tune.
I still need to get 2 more to do Motor city and JG's tunes.
 
Interesting, I will haveto check this out too.
Thanks 👍

EDIT:
Thanks for telling me this, I now prefer the '91 settings the what I had on the type r. I have now updated my NSX-R setup.

Thanks again strut74 and thanks CactusOnR for testing it.

Just seen that you have updated your tune. I''ll have to test your new NSX-R tune.
I'll let you know how it compares.
I have to say I really like your NSX-R tune. So I'll be keeping this as a fun drive.
 
RKM's Kyle M's: - this tune has been updated since test new results to come. currently using settings from (16th Aug 2011 - Revised settings III.)
High speed ring - 1:08.510
Deep Forest Raceway revers - 1:21.744

RKM RJ's tune
High speed ring - 1:09.096
Deep Forest Raceway revers - 1:20.943 [/COLOR]

Erm...

Wat. Roj is Roj. I'm Kyle. :lol:
 
Just seen that you have updated your tune. I''ll have to test your new NSX-R tune.
I'll let you know how it compares.
I have to say I really like your NSX-R tune. So I'll be keeping this as a fun drive.


Good to hear man, and yeah the new one is much better IMO. (and struts)
 
Touge car Reviews

I've started testing Togue cars as a break from My NSX tests. (last few of these will follow soon)


500pp cars


Car Details:
Nissan Skyline GT-R V spec II Nur '02
500PP
354hp/7600rpm | 359ft-lb/4600rpm
1336kg
Tuner: T-Spec Garage


I though what better place to start finding Touge tunes than Touge-Spec Performance Tuning
headed in to the garage and picked out one of my all time favorite cars the skyline GT-R R34. I love this car but never thought of it as a Touge car. It's know as being a bit on the heavy side and not a great handling car. So with a little trepidation I headed out to Deep forest.On the starting line I was expecting lots of over steer from a heavy car running on Sports hard tyres. I was wrong. This lump of a car handles much better than I thought it would. the tyres hold on a lot longer than expected. and when it does go. it's controllable. There were no unexpected dives for the track edge. But I would always hope a 4WD would be a stable base to tune from. I really liked this tune. I managed to get round the deep forest in 1:27.993. So I can back up T-spec's claim of Deep forest in under 90 seconds. Great job guys.


Car Details
Lancer Evo IX
499PP
375hp/5600rpm | 353ft-lb/3500rpm
1297kg
Tuner: T-Spec Garage


Back to the tuning garage to pick out my next car. After the great time I had in the GT-R I now had high hopes for the EVO.
Sadly it wasn't as good as the GT-R. (I say sadly but I was happy really as I love the GT-R) after several attempts at the forest the best I could get was a 1;29.xxx I was getting a lot of under steer while trying to keep up with the GT-R's ghost. mostly managed to be 0.050 faster at the first split, but it all went wrong in the second section. Dropping 0.5 of a second on the GT-R's lap. the trying too hard to make up the time in the last section meant I was more often than not on the grass out of the last turn. I took the car back to the garage and did something I had never done before. I changed a setting to suit my driving style. I know this is bad but I needed to try and beat the GT-R. this was a lighter car with more BHP. haw can it not beat the GT-R. As I was under steering I went straight to the AYC and put it up from 85 to 100. jumped back on the track and started to see the improvement straight away. the first corner was taken much better I was now 0.250 faster at the first split. I still lost out in that second section but I was right on the ghosts tail. managed to stick with the ghost till the end of the lap and finished with a time of 1:28.071.

Very close but I did see how I could try and shave 0.250 off the skylines time in that first corner. So I'm sure I could get better time with that now.
Both great cars. I'm so impressed how well a 500pp car can handle on Sport hard tyres. Great work guys. sorry for changing a setting on the EVO. but the extra AYC just helped my driving style a little.

I'll get round to testing some more of T-Specs' tunes soon. Going to try some of their FF cars next.


Car Details
NSX-R '02
500PP
322hp/6600rpm | 36ft-lb/5900rpm
1163kg
Tuner: Top Performance Tuning


The next touge car tested on Deep forest was Jackthalads NSX tune. this is the pre revise tune, which is no longer available on his thread. it's a real shame it's not available any more as it's a great touge tune.

I still can't get over how much fun this car is to drive. even with the sports hard tyres on this is the best NXS-R I have driven. I tested offline again and put the Skyline ghost up as my opposition. The Skyline really is so good through the second section it seems to be beating every tune I try through that bendy section, well it was till this NSX arrived on the track. I have reviewed this car in the NSX post, but it was going up against grip track cars so I thought it was only fair that I put it against cars tuned for the same sort of racing. It really proved itself against the other 500pp touge tunes (although I still have a lot to test). So back on track, the NSX understeer is all but gone, but it keeps the fun oversteer, which is very controllable it got round the deep forest in 1:27.404 my fastest 500pp sports hard tyres time so far.
Once again Jack, great car. brilliant job.


Car Details
NSX-R '02 retune
500PP
326hp/7400rpm | 34ft-lb/5900rpm
1163kg
Tuner: Top Performance Tuning


Well no idea how you did it jack but bloody hell what brilliant job. I took this touge tune out to deep forest to test it against the other touge cars and I just got a 1:26.098 in this revised tune. That more than a second off the next best time. WOW.
This car is a little bit more work to drive and the understeer is coming back a touch but if your a good driver this si the far better tune. And I put it on sports hard tyres, not the sports soft you tuned it on.
I'm really impressed with your work on this car. I now have two of my 10 NSX's that I enjoy driving.


Car Details
Impreza coupe 22B STi version '98
373bhp/6400rpm
45kgfm/5300rpm
1151kg
499pp
Tuner: Cone Killer Racing

Subaru 22b "Short Track Killer" by CKR

On to a car I love from a great tuner CKR
I've loved Impreza turbos, since they first made it on to the streets of the UK I have been a massive fan. And of course the 22b is an amazing version.

I was so happy to see CKR had done a tune for the 22b. Having been out in a couple of their cars I know they would have done food things with this.

I changed the tyres over for a set of sports hard as these are my tyres of choice for 500pp car testing, and it fits in with the touge rules.

So I grab the keys after the quick tyre swap and head out to Deep Forest. I have tried this car out before and then left it in the back of my garage collecting dust, no idea why I wasn't so keen on it but I dumped it and forgot it was there. What ever it was I didn't like was totally rectified by the guys done at cone killer racing. This car is brilliant. I did find that it was dearing me to go faster and faster every lap till I was hitting the corners with so much speed the tyres were surrendering in a cloud of smoke and flashing bright red at me. But this tune kept the car on the track ease of the power and it was back in control and back on the power up to the next crazy power sliding corner.

On a couple of the corner I would even say it managed a 4 wheel power slide as I was in control and tuning at the same time, not just sliding side ways toward the edge of the track in a power slide fashion.

I will say that as a touge spec car this is very good but not quite as good as the NSX (from another tuner) it's half a second slower than the NSX in my hands.
But this is only the second car at 500pp on sports hard that I have managed to get round deep forest in sub 1:27.

Thanks for a great car guys. This is now a car I will use and hope they do more seasonals that this car can enter as it's a true pleasure to drive.

Impreza 22b round deep forest in 1:26.756


Car Details
NSX-R '02
322bhp/tbcrpm
256ft-lb/5900RPM
1153kg
500pp
Tuner: K Tuning


I have picked out a couple of cars from another tuner. These are from the K Tuning garage, a new garage with only a couple of cars but The cars seem to fit my slightly erratic driving style so I'm going to be very interested in the tunes they have coming up.

I've just been testing the K tuning NSX.

When I saw the parts list I liked that it was light on parts, then I got to the transmission, LSD and suspension and was a little worried that you had changed very little. A couple of point up here a couple down there and nothing at all to the toe or camber.

I set the car up pick some wheels and covered them in sports hard tyres, then sprayed it silver the same as you had.
Got it out on my touge test track of choice deep forest
At first I was worried. The tail seemed to slide out all the time, make this a very hard car to drive. I was 2 to 3 seconds down on jacks NSX tune that is also 500pp.
Then all of a sudden something clicked. And it started to go right. I was getting consistent lap times for 5 laps just fractions of a second off my previous best NSX time of 1:26.098
Then instated to notice just how late this car can break ad if you feather the power back on to hold the back in line then the lap time dropped by a second and a half.
I was shocked. I was hopping I could get a 500pp car sub 1:26 but this just did a 1:25.504 no idea how that happened.

I left the race track to make sure the BHP was still 322 and PP was at 500 and it was all as I had left it.

In short I'm amazed at what you have done with this car.
Jacks NSX is more fun to drive, but this is a secret 500pp rocket.
Don't let the lack of parts and movement to the cars numbers fool you this is a great car.

Great work K tuning


Car Details
Nissan R32 GTR V Spec II
373BHP/7100RPM
44kgfm/5100RPM
1320kg
493pp
Tuner: K Tuning


Having enjoyed K tunes NSX I moved on to the R32 GTR. The R34 is my all time favorite car. I will get one some day. and was very impressed with with T-specs tune for the R34. So I had high hopes for the R32 as it is known as being revolutionary when it was launched.
Pulled out on to the Deep forest track and did a lap to warm myself and the car up.
I started racing against the R34 Ghost as I felt this would run a similar time.
on the 3rd lap I was beating the R34 ghost by the end of the second split.
This car does feel more lively than the bigger R34. It handles well with very little of the understeer I was expecting. In fact I found if you tap the hand break you can do a 4 wheel drift quite nicely
6y4ibpkmc3yavudqf2f0.jpg


I did this for a couple of laps but it wasn't making for fast lap times.
fffdonoacciqlshfdz0.jpg


So I decided to go back to trying to beat the R34's lap time of 1:27.247
a couple more laps and I was sub 1:27 I had beaten the R34 with a lap time of 1:26.980
That is only 1/4 of a second but I was impressed.
I did subsequently get back in the R34 and put a new best lap time of 1:26.247. I guess my driving has improved since I set the first lap time.

Still impressed with the R32 for an older car. it's up there with the newer cars.

Another good Tune from K tuning.


Car Details
Subaru Legacy Touring Wagon 2.0GT SpecB '03
387BHP / 7100rpm
44kgfm / 3109rpm
1400kg's
500pp
Tuner: JG's Tune Shop


After a previous review of one of JG's cars He asked if I wanted anything tuned in thanks for the review. I picked a different car from the norm, I decided to get an estate / Wagon tuned.
I had been in a small estate tourney several months back so had a few of my own estate tunes knocking around in my garage.
The limits for the tourney I was in were: 400BHP and 1400KG's so I asked JG to tune a Subaru Legacy Touring Wagon 2.0GT SpecB '03 to these limits.

Once I got the car I realized that it was very close toe the 500pp touge cars I have been testing. So I decided to educe the BHP a little put a set of Sports Hard tyres on it and run it against my other touge cars.

Now I knew once JG had tweaked my car it would be a lot better that it was when I bought it. But I wasn't prepared for what I was about to witness.
I was wowed, totally impressed with what this big lump of a car could do. There was very little understeer and no oversteer unless you used the hand break to instigate a power slide.
The car felt like one of the legacy's smaller brothers from the impreza range the handling was just so good. I had totally forgotten I was siting in a huge family estate.

As I said I put this car round deep forest which is my test track of choice. It handled the bendy section really well. I managed a time of 1:26.506 which is in amongst the RX8 and lancer evo times which are both also at the 500pp level. I did hope it would do well but this was far better than I had expected. I am managing to get 500pp cars round mostly in the 1:26's but this beat my impreza 22B sti's best time, I really didn't expect that. I think i need to sit in the 22B again and try and improve its best time.

I was so impressed with the suspension tune of this car that I promptly went and added it to my legacy touring wagon GT-B '96 it improved that no end as well.
But I couldn't get it to beat the '03 version.


Great work JG, another fine tune.
Thanks mate.








*UPDATE* 5th Oct



Car Details
Trial Celica SS-II '03
326BHP/8200rpm
31kgfm/4200rpm
980kg
500pp
Tuner: Dr_Slump's Car Ambulance!


It was about time I picked out another FF car to test. then I noticed I had Trail Celica in my garage and found that the good Dr had a tune for it. so off I went to the Car Ambulance for a little work on my Celica.

Well I have to say this Trial Celica tune is one of the most unusual FF tunes I have ever seen. When punching in the numbers I started thinking this is a joke. How are these numbers going to work? I mean ride height +10/-20??? And a rear toe of -0.40. I can only assume it would shred tyres in a race with tyre wear on, but I never race with it on so I'm actually not worried about that.

But when it came to putting the car on the track all these seemingly random numbers some how work together and makes this the best FF tune I have ever tested. (I admit my FF tests are limited to only a few cars) there is a lot less understear than I though there would be from a300+BHP FF car. the lack of understear meant it actually went round the corners so will. a slight dab of the hand break to bring the back in line on the tighter corners plant my gas on again and it was off again, pulling down the straight with a lot of force.

Off the line on deep forest and into the first big left hander. I picked out the same breaking point I use for FR cars and for the first time I had an FF that just went with it got me to the apex with out just sliding across the track to the outside edge. through the bendy section and again I picked my FR line. I did need the hand break at times to swing the back round on some of the bigger corners. This car just loves corners. it takes them with easy one at a time and makes then easy.

I made it round deep forest in 1:26.048. Yep you read it right. A very low 1:26 in an FF car with me driving, unbelievable. To add to that I think on a good lap I'd be able to get it down in the high 1:25's I'm amazed. Now I believe this is a race car of sorts but that ever it is it's now amazing with the Dr's tune on it. I have only managed these sorts of times with MR or FR cars. I'm even sitting around the mid 1:26's with FWD cars

I found I didn't need to add engine tune 3 left it at 2 and I was running it on sports hard tyres not soft.

I was so impressed with this tune I dug out another Celica from my garage ans added the tune to that too. see how it fared up on a standard road car. It wasn't as good. I got round Deep forest in 1:28.xxx so it only really works for the Trial Celica.

Great tune. really impressed with how this goes for an FF car.
Thank you Dr.






SUBARU IMPREZA COUPE WRX STI VERSION VI '99
384HP / 7100rpm
330ft-lb /4600rpm
1260kg
500pp
Tuner: Clueless Tunes


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Well I took a look through the Clueless garage for another 500pp car that would fit in with my other cars tested. and i found this little beauty.
So very excitedly made a version for myseld and took it to my fav track.

Now i know this car was set up for the ring, but as thats a very long track it's not great for testing on when you have limited time. I took it for a drive around Deep forrest. This is my preferred track for testing and I know it well.

First off I took a stock Impreza coupe Rebuilt the engine and chassis, made sure it was running the same tyres and the tune and took it round Deep forrest.
The car handled really well for a stock car and I got round in just undEr 1:30
Well 1:29.421 to be exact. I was happy with this. I like to beat the 1:30 on this track.

So I took the car to the garage and added all the parts from newdrivers tune but left them all as they where, the car had more power now and started to slide round the corners like the suspension and the tyres were just quite not good enough. But the parts added did reduce the lap time by more than 2 seconds down to 1:27.083. this si to be expected a decent BHP hike will always improve the la time.

Now for the Newdrivers tune test.
Back to the garage a repaint in purple new wheels, tune all the parts and back to the track.
the car was now a lot more capable in the corners, but there was still a fair amount of sliding. these tyres just don't hold the road enough. gearing was good but I think set more for the ring than Deep forrest, I found the car 100th of a second faster in general if I used the 6 speed close ration gearbox over the tuned FC gearbox, but as I said this box was tuned for teh Nurburging.
I think the car has just a little too much power for the tighter twisty tracks, I did try to play with a few setting but couldn't make it any better on Deep forrest than Newdrivers set up.

Over all a really nice tune on a car I had totally neglected. I hav ea few versions of the 22B coupe but only one of this version.
After this test I'll be on the look out for another couple of these to play with. I'll be keeping the newdriver version as a bench mark for this car.

Nice work Newdriver, I like it a lot. i'd be really keen to see what you would change with the suspension to help the car around Deep forrest, if anything.
My only comment would be it does slide quite easily, which is actually a lot of fun. but not always the fastest way to get round.
 
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Sub 500pp cars


Car Details
Honda Civic Type R (FD2) '08 by T-Spec
480PP
325hp/8600rpm | 241ft-lb/6600rpm
1102kg
Tuner: T-Spec Garage


Some more handy work from the guys down at the T-Spec Garage

After testing a couple of 4WD touge cars from the garage I though it was time to pick out an FF. Now I wasn't expecting much from FF cars compared to 4WD. FF cars aren't as much fun as 4WD or FR cars and have a tenancy to under steer rather badly with the front wheels doing all the work steering and driving the car.
Sadly I got what I expected. But it will always be an FF so I need to be objective and look pass the FF downfalls.
I hit the Deep Forest raceway and turned in to the first corner with too much speed. not good. Landed myself on the grass. took the rest of the first lap slowly. After a couple more laps and I was starting to find the limits of the car. Picking the right breaking points.
I managed to get a lap time of 1:29.209 so just under that 90 second mark.

Did I enjoy the car... No not really. will i use it again if I have the GT-R available, I doubt it. I need to test a few more FF touge tunes to be able to compare it against something. testing it against 4WD cars isn't really fair.

But I do have to give the car some credit as it's 20pp less that the other cars tested.


Car Details
Toyota MR-S S Edition '99 by TPT
440PP
205hp/tbcrpm | tbcft-lb/tbcrpm
960kg
Tuner: Top Performance Tuning


A pair of Toyotas 2 cars one tune from the guys at Top Performance Tuning
I tested this Top Performance tune on a different MR-S i decided to try it on the car it was made on.

The MR-S S edition '99 made it round deep forest in 1:30.788
I was really impressed with this car as it was only 440pp, it handles really well sits on the road really well. No understeer but fun oversteer with the tap of the hand break.
Once I had changed a few parts on my car and made the weight and BHP the same as the tune car my MR-S V edition (6mt) '02 made it round in 1:31.326

So the car this tune was made for is about half a second quicker round deep forest with me at the wheel.

But it's a great tune on either car.


Car Details
MR-S v edition (6MT) '02
227bhp/7200rpm
27kgfm/4800rpm
911kg
PP458 ( I had hoped it would make 500pp)
Tuner: Top Performance Tuning


I took the tune for the MR-s s edition tune and added it to the V edition I had in my garage. I was after another 500pp car so stated adding bits and testing. I added;
weight reduction 1
Engine tuning 2
And got the gears as close as I could to the original tune
Ran the car round my normal touge test track Deep Forest and got my best time in my own tune down from the untuned 1:32.xxx to 1:29.450
this feels very much the same as the original car to drive same stuck to the road feeling but a little faster.


Car Details:
Toyota, Celica GT-R (ST183, 4WS) '91
380PP
178hp/7600rpm | 151ft-lb/5,100rpm
1310Kg
Tuner: The Outlaw Motorsports Garage tunes



Cape_2520Ring_2520Periphery.jpg


WOW


I just ran this car round the cape ring periphery in the FF seasonal and to say I'm hugely impressed would be an understatement.
Of course I got first place in this.
I was in first from the loop of the third lap.
I won by just over 20 seconds.
I won 974,465cr.


This car grips the road forever, no idea what you did with this but it's amazing.
I was leaving breaking to the last second dab the breaks and start the turn and it pulls in and gets you round the corner every time. The gearing is perfect. Pulls hard in every gear using auto box.
I also ran the same race again but with 10 less PP yes I restricted the BHP a little I know this wasn't part of the shoot out rules but after beating the opposition so easily I wanted to see if I could do it with this car at 370pp, see if I could make 1mil from one race.


Well I won again and brought home 1,082,333cr this makes the Celica the biggest single race money earner I have so far.
Again it's an amazing car. I've painted mine in the same pink with the same wheels and this will hold a spot on my fav list from now on.
Cheers desp, great car.


Well done on making this car go so well.




Car Details
Toyota Sprinter Trueno BZ-R '98
220bhp/6900rpm
140 ft-lb/9100
918kg
430pp
Tuner:Harvey Wallbanger's Cafe & Outlaw Motorsports Garage





Over the weekend I took another look thought the Outlaw garage to see if I could find another I was interested in testing. Well I did, I picked out the Onboy tune for the Sprinter trueno '98.
Now as i love the older sprinter I have tried to make something of this newer FF car in the past, but failed miserably. So i was very keen to see if Onboy had managed to make the car any better.

Got the car on the cape ring track FF seasonal the pp limit is 430 for this race so I was confident that in a 430 pp I should win the race with out to much trouble.
The lights went green and I was off.
The gearing is really nice and pulls the car quickly up to 100mph. breaking hard in the for first left hand corner I found I had over done the breaking and was going way too slow for the car.
For the next corners the right hander I didn't break so hard and started to expect the trade mark understeer of an FF. I waited but the car was turning. I started to put the power down and still the car stuck to the road for the following set of bends over the crest. and down to the right hander to start the loop. over cooked it, too much power and I found the limit of the car grip.just about staying out of the crash barrier I accelerated in to the loop.the grip point in the loop was 97MPH I say grip limit I may have done more but the car ran out of power and couldn't get the car any faster.

The brilliant grip continued to hold well through the second half of the track. and with no problems I managed to take the lead by half way round the 3rd lap. then went on to win by a huge margin. after the race finished I left the leader board up to see how mu I had beaten them all by but I ran out of time the screen moved on before the 2nd place guy made it to the finish. So i think I was well over 10 second ahead.

Onboy has done the sprinter name justice. this is just as good now as I wanted it to be when i first tried to tune the car myself.

Grips well in corners for an FF, has a very good gearing pulling the car up to speed nice and quickly once out of the corners. this was a great car for the cape ring and I'm sure it would be able to attack any of the short and tighter track with great success.
Nice work Onboy, great car.

Thats 3 cars from the outlaw garage that have all made it in to my favorites list in the last week. You guys really are doing some great work, Keep it up guys

 
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Review
NSX-R '02 By JackThaLad
500PP
TBChp/TBCrpm | TBCft-lb/TBCrpm
1163kg


I still can't get over how much fun this car is to drive. even with the sports hard tyres on this is the best NXS-R I have driven. I tested offline again and put the Skyline ghost up as my opposition. The Skyline really is so good through the second section it seems to be beating every tune I try through that bendy section, well it was till this NSX arrived on the track. I have reviewed this car in the NSX post, but it was going up against grip track cars so I thought it was only fair that I put it against cars tuned for the same sort of racing. It really proved itself against the other 500pp touge tunes (although I still have a lot to test). So back on track, the NSX understeer is all but gone, but it keeps the fun oversteer, which is very controllable it got round the deep forest in 1:27.404 my fastest 500pp sports hard tyres time so far.
Once again Jack, great car. brilliant job.
[/COLOR]

Nice review man thanks, very happy to see it beat the skyline. :D

BTW send me a FR next time you are online and we can do some touge racing online. 👍
 
That cool jack. Glad you like it mate. The car is well worth a food review. And I've still not tested your better tune yet.
Going to buy a new NSX for the retune version.

Will send FR tonight if I get online mate.
 
Sub 500pp cars




Car Details:
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI GSR T.M. SCP ‘99
520 PP
440hp/1600rpm | 376 ft-lb/5100 rpm
1264Kg
Tuner: The Outlaw Motorsports Garage tunes



Kyoto-Gion-1.jpg



While looking through the outlaw garage to find another car to run around one of the new seasonals I found this. Now I love Lancer Evos or more the idea of lancer evos, not had much luck tuning them myself in GT5 so tend not to use them. But I thought I'd give AC's tune a go.


Set the car up as per AC's tune then took to the track. the track of chice was from the 4WD seasonal, 530PP 4WD Challenge: Toscana (Tarmac) 104A / 7 Laps. I really didn't do well on this track all the others in this seasonal I was dropping the PP level to below 500. with this on I needed a 522pp gold R32 and only just won. so I thought it would be a goot test for the 520pp Evo.


first thing I noticed was I could very easily make the car slide in to corners with some late breaking while I turned the car would kick sideways and slide round the corner. this is not a negative, it was actually a lot of fun. sliding round the undulating corners at toscana felt very satisfying. Not sure its the fastest way round the track but it was working for me.
I won the race first try, so I was very happy and I won with a 6 or 7 second lead. So i'm pretty sure i could drop the PP level a bit to increase the cash prize if i so desired.

Maybe not the fastest car at it's PP level but a lot of fun to drive, I have finally found an EVO tune in GT5 that I really like.

Thanks for another great car guys
 
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Other than sports hard and reasonable pp what defines a touge from a non touge car ?


Well I've been taking my guide from the LotS and TOSS threads.

But the PP isn't so important. 500 is the pp level I chose as there are quite a few tunes at 500pp.

it seams you basically need a street legal car, so no RM, Race, Rally or concept cars.

Sports Hard Tyres or Comfort Tyres Only
Ballast use - 5% of total car weight
Power Limiter use - 95% to 100% only
Fully Customizable Transmissions are not allowed
5-Speed/6-Speed Close Ratio Transmission are allowed.

some of the cars I have tested had had FC gear boxes so I have been a little slack on this part of the rules. but have on some tunes, after I've done the original test added the Close ratio gearbox.

Basically I enjoy driving 500pp cars on sports hard tyres. I'm not a great driver and once the BHP levels get higher I start to really struggle keeping control of the car.

hope that answers your question mate.
 
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