There's a pretty big grip drop off from S2's to S1's... to the tune of about 2 seconds a lap. I'm not really liking it so far. I think S2's were a nice balance between gip and slip - they allowed you to concentrate more on the racing rather than having to manage front end grip. Having a wheel/pedals is now a massive advantage as you spend much more time on partial throttle.
My former 600PP favorite, the 07 sti is a real challenge now, and not in a nice way - it has so little front end grip and so much power-on understeer that it's a complete pig to drive. Even though I could turn faster laps in the sti in free run, I went back to the R8 last night as it's so much better to drive.
I'm glad people are finally seeing the flaws in the 07 STI. I'm a fan of the car but always found it silly that it was the defacto fast car for pp600 events. It's short wheelbase and rally design aren't the best for circuit driving and in real life the thing shouldn't be able to hold a candle to a car like a F430, an R8 or even the NSX-R on a circuit like Suzuka. That isn't a statement that the car is bad, it's just reality. Now take the Scoob to Eiger (or say.. the Nordschliefe) or a bumpy twisty road and it is in it's element. It's a fair drive for circuit racing, but not to the level it had on S2s.
The S1s need a longer wheelbase, more control of the throttle and care in braking (straight line braking with early turn in they like). If you enter too hot into a corner you'll pay for the entire lap. That was something that S2s didn't hurt you that bad with.
I spent about 35mins yesterday with a F430 and my pp600/S2 Suzuka tune, changed only the HP to get to the 600 number, was just getting a feel for the car was running consistent 2'20s with a best lap of
2'19.879. I then took the 599 out and could only manage a
2'25.178, Suzuka is just not a happy place for the big car. There is alot more in the F430, maybe not for me but for someone here, that I'll look for when I can sit down and properly tune.
I expect the R8 to the the killer car for this race (and hotlapping), it's AWD, can be tuned to have a good power/weight ratio and has a long'ish wheelbase. Evos will be good in this one too as will the F430 (the added HP you can give it really helps over the S2 tune) and NSX-R (more for hotlapping) for RWDs. The Scoob will be fast, but not like it was with S2s.