The cards were shuffled, hands were dealt and people gambled on their manufacturer to get the best possible results. Of course there was de dealer, who changed his mind mid game to change some of the cards values. Some benefited, some did not. But what did it all lead to? Which car is the meta? Is there even a meta? Are there stinkers, what brands are they and did things change from the previous round?
Before I dive into the data I must stress that this analysis is done by looking at the results per brand as they unfolded with these tracks and conditions. I firmly believe that the Jaguar is NOT a stinker, but… under these circumstances was, let’s just say; less than ideal.
That does bring up a question though: a lot of youtubers and high profile drivers picked up on the Aston Martin, thinking it would be “the best” car for them this season. They must have done so by looking at the tracks and conditions and judging from experience must have felt it would be the go to car. However that did not turn out to be the case (even if bumped somewhat at the beginning of the season). Are they bad predicters and in the end just mere mortals like all of us? Who knows, maybe
@Tidgney would care to explain his reasons (and I believe he did mention somewhere he was sorry he picked the Aston) for picking the Aston and share his experience with it?
Now for the results: like the previous time what I did was make an alignment chart and tier cars looking at the average number of points per driver from group A (larger sample) and the number of drivers.
I then gave points to reflect a car's actual in game performance (points per player) against the number of players choosing that manufacturer. For which I'm assuming they took it thinking it to be the best choice results wise
- The car gets 3 points for both being high on the points and high on the number of people driving.
- 2 points are given to the underdog cars: cars that don't get a lot of love but are on average very well in the performance department.
- The manufacturer even scores a point if the average score of points per player is low but there are also few players that take the car (people are aware of the weaknesses and avoid driving it at certain tracks).
- No points are given to fan favourites (meaning a lot of drivers) that just don't perform as should be expected from the number of players choosing to go with the car.
An example may look like this:
Overall result
From just looking at the data, overall, group 3 and 4 combined this season shows no real stinker combo’s. No car combo’s together are unable to get decent results somewhere. That is good news. At the other end of that spectrum, there are definitely OP brands based on their combo. The one that truly sticks out is the Porsche. It had an unbelievable score of 21 points, always scoring maximum at the group 3 level and this season also doing very well in Gr. 4 (not the case last season). The Citroen does very well too (I tested it and boy is it hard to drive
@MCL1974 care to share how it went for you?) and the Mitsubishi is a regular monster on the road! It scored 2 points in every round!
Group 3
The differences become apparent from zooming in on the group level. Just look at the power of the Aston and Jaguar along with the BMW and Porsche. They dominated the scoreboards. I would not be surprised if they would adjust the Porsche for season 2. It is mental! (I would also understand if they don’t do anything at all to a car that is just a fan favourite and is easy to drive for most people. Which I think is also something PD considers).
Maybe they could look into the five in orange, but even those brands have had their strong tracks in group 3! The only consistently weak cars (this season and last) are Renault R.S. 01 and Audi R8… they remain epic fails… which is a shame as I do believe neither ought to be (just look at the sheer number of wins/podia Audi R8’s have in real world competitions).
Group 4
From looking at the data I would say group 4 has more problems (they seem to be more difficult to get right). Although there is no real OP car anymore like last seasons Jaguar and McLaren there are again some stinkers that need some attention. And no, that does not mean the Aston and Jaguar. Although they underperformed according to players expectations there actual scores per player were still pretty decent. But that is not what we are measuring here hence the lower score. Strangle enough the only car I would like to ask some attention for is the Mazda, scoring weak in both groups and lacking overall score.
I myself am happy with the choice for Jaguar again. I did pick it based on the assumption that I would be doing all group four races and only one group three and had to change my plans after finding out qualifying on softs (and high) don’t go well with driving on hards (and slow) knowing the car handles like a boat on hards (at some tracks) come race time. Still, in it, I got a first, second and sixth place for my score. The Gr. 3 is a power car. At least I think it is. Secretly I had hoped that Nurburg ring GP would be in the second season. I did time trails on it with the Jag when it was a daily and once it started “clicking” it was a real pleasure to drive. The one race I did with it I got a P3 in the end. I hope both cars will continue to perform in the second season (we can’t change manu).
I’m looking forward to it!
Cheers,
Seth
