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TUNER: opendriver19a
586bhp ///526ft/lb
Final Drive setting not clear 3.960 used
Turn-in = 6. Turns in eagerly enough, but beware snap oversteer.
Mid-Corner Response = 6. Bouncing off the tarmac, mid-corner behaviour is unpredictable.
Corner exit = 6. Understeer or sideways in most cases.
Stability = 3. The low ride height forces the car to bottom out far too much, destroying stability.
Grip = 7. The traction control, not necessary in a straight line, doesnt help sideways.
High-speed controllability = 5. Too twitchy due to the bottoming.
Handling while braking = 6. Occasionally locks up, and feels skittish.
Acceleration = 6. The gearing is good, but on the back straight acceleration is held back by the low ride traction control cuts it elsewhere.
Projected Total = 45/80
-5 points for not listing Racing Suspension
Total = 40/80
Final Comments
This car is ridiculously unstable, and feels like it is constantly waiting for a moment to lash out and try to kill the driver. It doesnt wait long. The last chicane is particularly lethal, and braking before the hairpin is very poor due to the chassis bottoming out. A ride height this low is risky anywhere, but here its positively dangerous. Expect difficulty in pulling a clean lap at full throttle in this car
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TUNER: Sonzilla
771bhp ///659ft/lb
Turn-in = 6. Turns in eagerly enough, but beware snap oversteer.
Mid-Corner Response = 7. If you can keep it under control, its great fun. Pray that you can.
Corner exit = 7. Sometimes actually on the right line, the rest of the time its facing the wrong way.
Stability = 4. Lots of power really doesnt help this cars safety, it snaps and bites a lot
Grip = 7. The traction control, although perhaps needed, doesnt help sideways.
High-speed controllability = 6. A little twitchy and must be adjusted carefully at speed.
Handling while braking = 6. Occasionally locks up, and feels skittish.
Acceleration = 7. The gearing is good, although not all the power feels used especially at low speeds due to the traction control.
Total = 50/80
Final Comments
A load of power thrown at the rear wheels here overwhelms the traction control, and makes the driver work very hard indeed to keep the car in line. If you try and drift this car, which you can do, you place yourself entirely at its random mercy. Maybe youll survive, maybe not, it looks very good when done properly but the consequences of misjudging in a car like this are catastrophic. The S-Bends, along with a couple of other choice areas of the track, are particularly dangerous.
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TUNER: TS
798bhp ///673ft/lb
Turn-in = 7. No real problems.
Mid-Corner Response = 8. Not as dangerous as some, and surprisingly easy to adjust.
Corner exit = 8. Sheer power blasts the car out of corners, just make sure you can hold onto it and its fast.
Stability = 6. The rear downforce bias holds the rear wheels huge power in line. Just.
Grip = 8. The traction control can mostly keep things under control.
High-speed controllability = 6. Likes to lift the nose over bumps, take care.
Handling while braking = 5. The odd brake bias doesnt pay off. This car feels floaty and vague on the brakes.
Acceleration = 7. The gearing is OK, and the traction control doesnt take too much power. Rear downforce helps.
Total = 55/80
Final Comments
This car is surprisingly easy to control. 800bhp is partly reined in by the traction control, partly by the rear downforce, but between the two it feels relatively stable. Power oversteer is still plentiful, but even with huge drift angles the car can usually come back into line without trouble. A remarkable setup, spoiled only by the brakes a setup like that is rare for a good reason and a tendancy to get very airborne over high-speed bumps.
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TUNER: sucahyo
798bhp ///673ft/lb
Turn-in = 9. Pretty much any speed, turn the wheel and itll go.
Mid-Corner Response = 9. If it goes sideways, and it probably will, its still steady and fast.
Corner exit = 9. Sheer power blasts the car out of corners, and it should be on a good line too.
Stability = 7. The back goes out, but it drifts out rather than kicking out, then comes back into line easily.
Grip = 8. The traction control can mostly keep things under control.
High-speed controllability = 8. No problems. And it will reach pretty high speeds too.
Handling while braking = 7. The brakes feel powerful but not chattery, doubtless helped by the full downforce.
Acceleration = 7. The gearing is good, and the traction control doesnt take too much power. Full downforce helps put the power down.
Total =64/80
Final Comments
This car doesnt feel very special when driving normally, just under the limits: it has no problems, but feels decidedly average. Occasionally a little oversteery, but nothing special. However, push it a little further, to the limits, and you find the limits arent there at all push harder, harder and then even harder and it still puts up with it, and carries on blasting through the corners, sideways if youre really annoying it, then grips and goes like a missile down the straights. A pretty amazing car, that seems totally unfazed by anything you do to it.
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TUNER: Der Meister
689bhp ///597ft/lb
Turn-in = 8. No real problems, within reason its very responsive.
Mid-Corner Response = 9. Dead straight and level, throw power at it and it will hold steady.
Corner exit = 9. Early throttle sees this car leaving corners faster than full-tune setups, and on a good line.
Stability = 7. Although it feels so grippy, there is a limit that shouldnt be crossed.
Grip = 8. The traction control can mostly keep things under control.
High-speed controllability = 8. No problems. And it will reach fairly high speeds for the power level.
Handling while braking = 7. The brakes lock up occasionally, but its not really problematic.
Acceleration = 7. The close gearing works well, but nevertheless the stronger traction control limits low-range power a bit much.
Total =63/80
Final Comments
This is clearly a focused race setup, and its very effective as one. Theres so much grip in corners, and turning on the power just doesnt seem to push it wide at all. It doesnt oversteer very often, but when it does it can snap back viciously. Drive it with respect, and push it hard, and it is a very fast car. Particularly remarkable capability through the first complex, which can be taken in 5th gear.
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TUNER: gregc
615bhp ///552ft/lb
Turn-in = 9. Pretty much any speed, turn the wheel and itll go.
Mid-Corner Response = 9. Sometimes sideways on or off the power, but still very quick.
Corner exit = 9. The lower power output isnt wasted at all.
Stability = 7. A little unpredictable at first, but experience teaches how to handle this car brilliantly.
Grip = 8. Proving that traction control isnt necessary, this car gives its rear tyres no trouble.
High-speed controllability = 8. No problems, even over crests with no downforce.
Handling while braking = 7. The brakes are strong, but still dont cut back agility turning in.
Acceleration = 7. The gearing is simple but effective, and the low power is hardly noticeable since its free from electronic restraints.
Total =64/80
Final Comments
This car is, at first, a little dangerous to drive. Power oversteer is an occasional occurrence, as it lift-off oversteer this makes it difficult to find what to do with it in corners, but after a few laps it becomes easy to drive hard. With only 600bhp, it keeps pace with 750-800bhp cars, and in some cases beats them. Not being held back by traction control helps corner exit speeds immensely, even without downforce; this car is very fast in turns and not slow on straights. A fun, addictive oversteery setup that still manages to be fast what more could a driver want?
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TUNER: zefff
703bhp ///611ft/lb
Turn-in = 9. Pretty much any speed, turn the wheel and itll go.
Mid-Corner Response = 9. Occasionally slips the back end out a little, which just adds to the fun.
Corner exit = 9. Unrestrained power, when used properly, creates huge exit speeds.
Stability = 7. Sometimes snaps around on the brakes, but nothing that cant be learnt around.
Grip = 7. A lot of power cant quite be held down by near-full downforce.
High-speed controllability = 8. No problems, the downforce holds it down over crests at great speed.
Handling while braking = 7. The brakes give no trouble, except requiring care whilst turning hard.
Acceleration = 8. The close low gears and wider high ones combine with unrestricted power to make this car accelerate very well.
Total =64/80
Final Comments
The semi-racing exhaust gives this car a screaming soundtrack. This car is ridiculously fast around the track. It isnt, however, hard to drive after just a couple of laps, you can take it right to its limits. But care must be taken, as crossing its limits may well result in a sharp spin. Very fun to drive, as well, and the tail pushes out on the power to make it just as good to watch. Confidence-inspiring would be a good way to describe this amazingly quick car.
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TUNER: VQuick
592bhp ///531ft/lb
Downforce-adjustable aeroparts not listed downforce settings ignored.
Transmission / Fully Customisable not listed gear ratio settings ignored.
Turn-in = 7. Understeery in some situations.
Mid-Corner Response = 6. Pushes wide when the power is brought in too early.
Corner exit = 6. Too slow because of the gearing, and not on the ideal line due to the understeer.
Stability = 8. No problems.
Grip = 9. Pretty much unassailable due to the unnecessary traction control.
High-speed controllability = 7. No problems, but it never reaches high speeds.
Handling while braking = 5. The near-stock brake balance settings could be improved to give more power and feedback.
Acceleration = 4. The stock gears are useless for a track like this, causing massive loss of acceleration which is only increased by the traction control.
Projected Total = 52/80
-5 points for stock gearing
Total = 47/80
Final Comments
This car is burdened not only by traction control, but also the stock cars intergalactically wide gearing. Using these gears would be inadvisable at the Test Course, and here they are totally preposterous. The basic suspension setup does nothing to counter the stock cars understeer, either. A dull car to drive, that laps somewhere between slow and mediocre.
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TUNER: Rastab97
771bhp ///659ft/lb
Standard LSD specifically listed LSD settings ignored.
Turn-in = 7. Understeery in some situations.
Mid-Corner Response = 7. Prone to random bouts of going sideways.
Corner exit = 7. The traction control kills exit power.
Stability = 5. Snaps around when trying to turn from high speeds.
Grip = 8. The traction control can mostly keep things under control.
High-speed controllability = 7. Bites unpredictably when turning from speed.
Handling while braking = 6. The brakes are chattery with ABS and deaden the handling.
Acceleration = 6. Lots of power is no good with too much traction control, and no diff to help put it down.
Projected Total = 53/80
-2 points for contradictory parts/settings lists
Total = 51/80
Final Comments
This car, self-cancelling parts lists aside, is heavily restrained by the traction control, and shouldnt be. Adding to the general lack of feedback are the brakes, which kill off the handling under heavy use. Turning from high speeds, particularly at the final chicane and in the first complex, is rather like Russian roulette in this car.
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The Verdict
Highest Points Score = Gregc, Zefff, Sucahyo
This week, a 3-way tie has emerged. I would like to be able to name an outright favourite, but I can't. All three of these cars are excellent, but totally different, and so incomparable. Sucahyo's car has unbelievably high limits, allowing the driver to go totally over the top and still survive. Gregc's car is fun, sideways and addictive but still clocks good laps. Zefff's car is obscenely fast around the track, but is better to drive than a focused race car. All three are my winners this week.
Moral of the Story: Who dares wins.
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This was great fun, the cars were almost all fun and engaging to drive, although not always in a good way!
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