Beater or Sleeper? COTW! [Closed]

[Obelisk]

Hello everyone!

It sure has been a long time, hasn't it? After all, Forza Horizon 4 ended up lasting 3-4 years and the previous COTW thread unceremoniously stopped in 2019. It's been a long, complex adventure, but I am finally back.

And on that note, FH5 just released globally and everyone is racing to figure out what's hot and what's not! So, why not help the masses sort the wheat from the chaff and bring back the Beater or Sleeper thread?

A few basic things to bring up about this thread and how we're going to party going forward:

• This thread will update once a week on seasonal reset/weekly reset day with a new car (at stock PI) and track combination to take on in Rivals. The car will be chosen by a user who has posted in the thread of a previous week at random!
• The goal of this thread is not to be the fastest driver, but to really get every last drop of potential out of the cars.
• Friendly competition is encouraged! If you can get faster just from having fun, why wouldn't you? We're all friends here
• We generally rate cars as Sleeper, Beater or Neutral, but you can also apply other ratings if you feel like it. Some cars don't fit any of these categories for some players, and that's absolutely OK. Some cars are too beautiful to have labels on them.
• There's no hard rules for how you rate cars! The metrics for what counts as a beater, sleeper or neither is entirely up to you!
• Have fun with your reviews and feel free to discuss nuance with everyone else. That's what a forum is for, after all.
• I will be averaging out the votes for each car for a "general" verdict on the car and keeping results at the bottom of this post.

That aside, it's time to take a shot at Forza Horizon 5's roster and dip into the pool of potential. Our very first car for Forza Horizon 5's Beater or Sleeper is...

The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray!

The 8th generation of one of the most well-known and loved American muscle car/sports car/supercar made its debut in late 2019 in convertible and race trim, followed by the coupe later. It marks a huge departure from traditional formula in the Corvette lineage, being the first mid-engine Corvette to be produced. As...controversial as this decision may have been, I feel it's a good step that gives the Corvette the means to keep pace with its peers.

And we'll be benchmarking the stock spec Corvette (PI: S1 806) on Dunas Blancas Sprint! This high speed trek through the white sands should push the new 'Vette to its limits - enjoy and have fun!

Oh, and one last thing. Everything's fair game after the factory spec run on the track - feel free to throw whatever you want into the engine bay!

Update, 15 April 2022:
As we've implemented a new system of using custom tracks/EventLab blueprints as a supplement to the official Rival courses, if you want to submit a track:
1) Please configure the Event Lab to have no Drivatars
2) Please configure the Event Lab to Anything Goes, Open Class
3) Send me the share code!

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Beater or Sleeper: Cars + Verdicts

Spoiler: Year 1

Week 1: 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 2: 2017 Vuhl 05RR || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 3: 2015 Lexus RC F || Verdict: Neutral (100% of votes)
Week 4: 1988 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R || Verdict: Sleeper (75% of votes)
Week 5, Car 1: 2003 Nissan Fairlady Z || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of Votes)
Week 5, Car 2: 2003 Nissan Fairlady Z Forza Edition || Verdict: Neutral (33% Sleeper votes)
Week 6: 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 7: 1986 Lamborghini LM 002 || Verdict: Beater (100% of votes)
Week 8: 2013 Mazda MX-5 || Verdict: Sleeper (75% of votes)
Week 9: 1992 VW Golf GTi 16v MK2 || Verdict: Neutral-Sleeper (50-50 split in votes)
Week 10: 1987 Buick Regal GNX || Verdict: Sleeper (75% of votes)
Week 11: 1973 Alpine A110 1600s || Verdict: Sleeper (80% of votes)
Week 12: 1994 Ford Supervan 3 || Verdict: Neutral (100% of votes)
Week 13, Car 1: 1953 Chevrolet Corvette || Verdict: Neutral (66% of votes)
Week 13, Car 2: 1960 Chevrolet Corvette || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 13, Car 3: 1953 Chevrolet Corvette Forza Edition || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 14: 1991 Jaguar Sport XJR-15 || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 15: 1987 Mercedes-Benz AMG Hammer Coupe || Verdict: Sleeper (75% of votes)
Week 16: 2013 Dodge SRT Viper GTS || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 17: 1995 Volkswagen Corrado VR6 || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 18: 1997 Mitsubishi GTO || Verdict: Sleeper (75% of votes)
Week 19: 1994 Ferrari F355 Berlinetta || Verdict: Sleeper...barely. (60% of votes)
Week 20: 1987 Nissan Skyline GTS-R (HR31) || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 21: 1995 BMW M5 (E34) || Verdict: Sleeper (83% of votes)
Week 22: 2011 HotWheels Bone Shaker || Verdict: Sleeper (60% of votes)
Week 23: 2018 Lamborghini Huracan Performante || Verdict: Neutral (66% of votes)
Week 24: 2018 TVR Griffith || Verdict: Neutral (80% of votes)
Week 25: 2015 Polaris RZR XP 1000 EPS || Verdict: Neutral (60% of votes)
Week 26: 2018 Dodge Durango SRT || Verdict: Neutral
Week 27: Ford #25 "Brocky" Ultra4 Bronco RTR || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 28: 2014 Morgan 3 Wheeler || Verdict: Neutral (66% of votes)
Week 29: 1970 Buick GSX || Verdict: Neutral (60% of votes)
Week 30: 1969 Penske Sunoco Lola T70 MkIIIb || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 31: 1939 Auto Union Type D || Verdict: Sleeper (50% of votes)
Week 32: 2021 Mercedes-AMG One || Verdict: Sleeper (66% of votes)
Week 33, Car 1: 2020 Toyota GR Supra || Verdict:  Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 33, Car 2: 2019 BMW Z4 Roadster || Verdict:  Neutral (66% of votes)
Week 34: 2018 Mini Countryman || Verdict: Sleeper (75% of votes)
Week 35: 2011 Mazda RX-8 R3 || Verdict: Neutral-Sleeper (50-50 split in votes)
Week 36: 2017 Ford GT || Verdict: Neutral-Sleeper (50-50 split in votes)
Week 37, Car 1: 2014 Mercedes-Benz Unimog U5023 || Verdict: Neutral (100% of votes)
Week 37, Car 2: 2022 Extreme E #99 Chip Ganassi Racing GMC Hummer EV || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 37, Car 3: 2013 HotWheels Baja BoneShaker || Verdict: Neutral (75% of votes)
Week 38, Car 1: 2008 Renault Megane R26.R || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 38, Car 2: 2000 HotWheels Deora II || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 39, Car 1: 1970 Porsche #3 917 LH || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 39, Car 2: 1993 Schuppan 962CR || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 40/41, Car 1: 2020 Koenigsegg Jesko || Verdict: Neutral (100% of votes)
Week 40/41, Car 2: 2012 HotWheels Bad to the Blade || Verdict: Neutral (100% of votes)
Week 42: 1994 Mazda MX-5 Miata || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of the votes)
Week 43: 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata || Verdict: Sleeper (80% of votes)
Week 44/45: 1997 Land Rover Defender 90 || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 46: 1989 Porsche 944 Turbo || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 47: 1996 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 48: 1989 Toyota MR2 SC || Verdict: Neutral-Sleeper (50-50 split in majority)
Week 49: 1967 Lamborghini Miura P400 || Verdict: Sleeper (80% of votes)
Week 50: SRT Viper Anniversary Edition || Verdict: Sleeper (Majority of votes across base and preset)
Week 51: 1959 Ford Anglia 105E || Verdict: Beater (66% of votes)
Week 52: 1983 Volvo 242 Turbo Evolution || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)

Year 2
Week 53, car 1: 1963 Volkswagen Beetle || Verdict: Neutral (66% of votes)
Week 53, car 2: 1963 Volkswagen Beetle Forza Edition || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 54: 2002 Koenigsegg CC8S || Verdict: Neutral (60% of votes)
Week 55: 2554 AMG Transport Dynamics M12S Warthog CST || Verdict: Beater (100% of votes)
Week 56: 2012 Jaguar XKR-S || Verdict:  Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 57: 2022 Cupra UrbanRebel Concept || Verdict: Sleeper (75% of votes)
Week 58: 1984 Opel Manta 400 || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 59: 1945 Willys MB Jeep || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 60: 2021 Sierra Cars RX3 || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 61: Hoonicorn Mustang || Verdict: Sleeper + Icon (All votes)
Week 62: 1974 Holden Sandman || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 63: 1983 Audi Sport quattro || Verdict: Sleeper (67% of votes)
Week 64: 1970 GMC Jimmy || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 65: 1972 Reliant Supervan III || Verdict: Neutral (100% of votes)
Week 66: 2013 Caterham Superlight || Verdict: Sleeper (67% of votes)
Week 67: 1997 Lamborghini Diablo SV || Verdict: Iconic (100% of votes)
Week 68: 2012 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon || Verdict: Neutral (100% of votes)
Week 69: 2005 Mazda Mazdaspeed MX-5 || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 70: 1998 Toyota Supra RZ || Verdict: Neutral (67% of votes)
Week 71: 2017 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 || Verdict: Neutral (100% of votes)
Week 72: 1975 Ford Bronco || Verdict: Neutral-Sleeper (50-50 vote split)
Week 73: 1990 Mazda Savanna RX-7 || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 74: 2013 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S || Verdict: Sleeper (100% of votes)
Week 75: 2016 Vauxhall Corsa || Verdict: Neutral (66% of votes)
Week 76: 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona || Verdict: Neutral (100% of votes)
Week 77: 2018 Apollo Intensia Emotizone || Verdict: Neutral (100% of votes)
Week 78: 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO || Verdict: Sleeper (66% of votes)
Week 79: Ford Lotus Cortina || Verdict: Sleeper
Week 80: 2016 Lotus 3-Eleven || Verdict: Sleeper
Week 81: 2001 Acura Integra Type-R || Verdict: Sleeper
Week 82: Aston Martin Valhalla Concept || Verdict: Sleeper
Week 83: Bugatti Type 35 C || Verdict: Neutral
Week 84-85: Bugatti Veyron Super Sport || Verdict: Sleeper (66% of votes)
Week 86, Car 1: GMC Hummer EV, Barbie Film Hummer || Verdict: Neutral (66% of votes)
Week 86, Car 2: Barbie Film Corvette C1 EV || Verdict: Neutral (66% of votes)
Week 87: 2012 Hennessey Venom GT || Verdict: Neutral
Week 88: 1995 Chevrolet Corvette C4 ZR1 || Verdict: Sleeper
Week 89: Bentley 8 Liter || Verdict: Beater (100% of votes)
Week 90: 2007 Formula Drift #117 599 GTB Fiorano || Verdict: Neutral (100% of votes)
Week 91: 2003 Porsche Carrera GT || Verdict: TBD

 

[Nacho Libre]

Welcome back!!! In Spanish your thread could be named "Contendiente o Cacharro!" I will for sure be back often!

 

[Nacho Libre]

2020 C8: Very neutral handling with a touch of transitional oversteer if you overdo the braking in the long sweepers. However, it is quite manageable because it has good grip and downforce, and little body roll. Good acceleration at the start, but it lacks acceleration at high rpm's, which is normal for the aspirated V8 with it's characteristic low rumble.
It's a sleeper alright. My main tweaks would be front antiroll bars for more grip, race camshafts, and bring the weight down.

 

[Obelisk]

The Corvette is one of those cars that just has such a reputation to uphold that any sort of change to the classic formula could have been lethal to its success. Including, yes, the change to a mid-engine layout for the C8 generation.

That said, don't knock it because it isn't a traditional Corvette. It has fangs and it's not afraid to show them. In the test track that was selected this week, the car excelled at the sweepers that made up the majority of the course. I didn't really have any complaints about how it was handling some of the tricky bits - the thing was composed all the way through.

Straight line performance was also pretty solid, though I have some gripes about it that I'll get around to in a second. First things first:

Felt nice to get a clean run here. This lap puts me in the top 500 globally, on a bone-stock C8!

The biggest flaw I've had with this car, in the testing and this proper run, is that it feels like it has a tad more understeer than desired which, on an MR platform, isn't necessarily a bad thing. It gets exaggerated going uphill, and that's where it gets frustrating. The car also feels, somehow, a little underpowered. I'm not sure if it was the track choice, but I never got anywhere close to the redline in 6th gear, and I think the highest I got speed-wise was about 165 MPH in the opening downhill sector. The car didn't want to go past 150 for most of the track, and that really disappoints me. It also begs the question of why the car needs a 7th or 8th gear if it won't even effectively use 6th in a practical context?

However, enough nattering on about it. It's an excellent car in factory guise, but how is it when I unleash the Horizon mechanics on it?

A turbo and a "few" upgrades later, I've nearly doubled the horsepower and turned it into more of a proper time attack beast. How does it stack up against the world on Dunas Blancas Sprint?

Quite well, apparently! Although, I do have to add that I neglected to check the widebody kit that was available to me. I did the whole build without realizing that I had front downforce, but no rear downforce!

But that brings up a key point I want to mention with this car. In stock form, it's kind of your run of the mill MR sports/super car. However, that is its strongest asset - it's a jack of all stats with the ability to do anything. The 2020 Corvette's hidden secret is the immense build flexibility that it has. You can do pretty much anything with it, and at least get an A- effort in anything you try. Off road? Slap an AWD kit on it and go hog wild. Mean track machine? Absolutely!

At first, I was contemplating calling this car Neutral because it's a Corvette and everyone knows they're good, buuuuuuuuut with how absurdly potent it can be in the right build and in the right hands, I have to go with Sleeper. If you run into anyone with a C8 Corvette in online racing, do not just dismiss it as another car.

I'll wrap up this post by adding that I added the rear wing to the S1 build I made for Dunas Blancas, and took another stab at the times and oh my God did it make a difference.

 

[unfairlane]

Sleeper? I`ve been doin roadracing in a B-class tuned 64 Impala. RWD. There is still grip-difference between
RWD & a 4WD set to 100% RWD. Shame. But this big RWD-car wins everything easy as soon as the tracks opens up a bit.
Stock engine, just hotted up a bit, soft suspension, wide street-tires & no wings. Great fun to drive, recommended!


Have transformed a 70 Buick GSX into what I concider a "dangerous toy". My just for fun-car, a Bugatti-killer

 

[Obelisk]

Sleeper? I`ve been doin roadracing in a B-class tuned 64 Impala. RWD. There is still grip-difference between
RWD & a 4WD set to 100% RWD. Shame. But this big RWD-car wins everything easy as soon as the tracks opens up a bit.
Stock engine, just hotted up a bit, soft suspension, wide street-tires & no wings. Great fun to drive, recommended!


Have transformed a 70 Buick GSX into what I concider a "dangerous toy". My just for fun-car, a Bugatti-killer

We're looking at the C8 Corvette this week, but thanks for sharing! I'll keep these in mind when we look at those cars in later weeks.

Also -
I wasn't sure when the seasonal/weekly reset was, but it appears to be on Thursdays just like FH4, so I'll be updating this thread to its next car choice a week from today. For those late to the party, this should be enough time to catch up and try things out!

 

[Nacho Libre]

Styling wise... beater or sleeper? While it does retain a certain connection with the C7 (it has the same lead designer), I would have hoped for something a bit different. No chance of that now, as the new Z06 doubles down on the aggressive detailing.

I say neutral.

 

[SomePlayaDude]

Well, I'm in the need to do something fresh and while still in the groove for some Mexican Horizon action, I sort of found this, looked pretty interesting, and thought: why the heck not?

SPD writes Car Of The Week: Week 1 - Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray

HAH! GAYY! Among my peers, it's no secret that I like pink.


So first thing: get a C8 Vette. This is easy since this is Horizon 5. At 4, you're going to cough up quite the bank to even get one, so the economy here has the edge for accessibility. Dunno how that's the case now, but yeah: it was quite the catch in the UK.

At 806 PI, you can build the car in 2 ways: down to A class, or optimal S1. Unless I don't know of some ridiculous upgrade, there's no way this is going to work in S2.

Now, I'm no historian, but I'm quite a fan of the Corvette since, umm.. the C5, which still remains my favorite generation of these bad boys. I feel that's one car that made me find some sort of loving connection for American muscle. I'll say it's the styling, especially the straight up round brake lamps. So when they did the C7, I'm sure you can tell my interest sort of drifted away slowly.

After a quick visit to the Auctions, I got a stock C8, and it's time to take it out to the streets of, umm.. reads script Dunas Blancas Sprint? Dunas Blancas? White dunes? I shouldn't be nitpicking on why it's called that, but..

Onto the testing! After a few clean runs, here are the notes.

- Launch is excellent for a RWD car. I can put the foot down, and shift by 30 MPH for a solid RWD launch.

- I drive mid engined man killers a lot in this game, and this car is definitely not going to kill you. It's probably due to it looking more like a sports car than a typical supercar, but it's definitely more sluggish than other mid engined sports cars in this level. This is notable in both top end acceleration and handling.

- The cockpit view is quite tight for a car in this price range. I particularly don't like that. Oh, I was looking for the holographic display of the speedometer which was already discontinued apparently.

- I'm enjoying how safe this thing is. I've had experiences of A class cars with better tires that has me twitching to counter oversteer and all.

- It's got some sense of understeer. I especially noticed this when going down, throttle off after light braking and giving Barry R a wallop. This car has a 40-60 distribution, right? How is this happening? If I had a nickel for every time I restarted the event...

- That weight distribution explains the brakes. Oh my goodness the brakes. Light taps are fine, but bring them down, and they squeal in a bad way, shifting down to the front of the car. These are terrible brakes.

- Above all: a very friendly, good entry car for rear wheel drive that's not a track car. Good for a nice cool drive, not for super high speeds. When I mean entry: I mean.. in anything. It can race okay. Has a lot of options and leeway PI that'll water the mouths of tuners.

So, fastest clean run of the stock C8 is 2:32.126. I FORGOT TO TAKE THE SNAPSHOT BECAUSE OF FRUSTRATIONS RELATING TO HORRIBLE BRAKES. And it was the 1st clean run and I thought I can do better, so you'll have to take my word for it.

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Next up, I have my starter C8, for which I've made a run of the mill, 5 minute S1 tune, based on what I've learned. And since I'm quite the purist, this one's got no conversions and visual mods.

With a focus getting that understeer sort of gone, and improving it's lack of power, I've improved the driving experience quite well, at the cost of now having to control the throttle and shifting full time. But how well did I do at the top of S1?

This a good second under my benchmark which was a mid-engined man killer Porsche.

If this was normal racing standards, I'd say the lap is dirty, me getting quite a lot of tire off the road a few times, but this game don't care. You can always check out the ghost in game anyways.

But it's not the end!

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What do you mean?
I mean: How about weird A-class C8 Stingray?

I've slapped on some rally tires and a choice of them necessities! Customizable suspension, gearbox, roll bars.. and unfortunately not brakes, because they're so bad on this car, even the sports pair went past budget by a good chunk. But what I got is hopefully enough to maybe beat the stock car time. With less understeer and a much tighter gearbox, it's time to take on white dunes again!

And the time is... oh ye this will be gud.

...what? It's slower?!! That wasn't in the script! I swear I was cruising down that hill on 8th gear, sweeping down side to side like I forgot to brake at all. It was a much much better drive overall! Actually, the really bad brakes adds up with the poorer compound for road..

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To sum it up:
The Chevrolet C8 Stingray is..
An understeery, sluggish mid engined sports car, that's super accessible, super friendly for new drivers and very open to customization in nearly all fronts.

I'd say a, uhh..
Sleeper.
Impressive for a budget car. Can do a lot, appeals to a lot, and has a lot of potential inside. But I would say it's barely sleeper. The terrible braking nearly ruined it, the problem even lingering on with race brakes.

My times on Rivals are here:

Here are the toys for this week: the pink one that got downgraded to A, and the olive one that was my converted starter car unconverted.

This is fun, but I can't say I'll keep this up. I'mma try to come back for further installments, especially these days when I'm on to just go do Rivals.

 

[Vic Reign93]

Well considering how close COTW is to me(Not just on Forza), It was inevitable that I’d be back to shake down the new stuff in the Glorious Mexican landscape.

And what better way to start than with the C8 Vette, one of the 3 starter cars.

Understeer at the limit, 7th and 8th are essentially highway cruising gears with the near 500hp 6.2 V8, but it’s a car that can take a lot than what it’s got.

Like say, A 7.0 V8 from a Camaro Z-28?

My build was a grip build with the widebody kit, the wing, slick tyres, full weight reduction, lopped 2 of the gears off with a 6 speed swap, kept it RWD and Naturally Aspirated.

Basically it’s a Corvette Z/28.

On the whole, a solid starter car.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

 

[Ali]

I like this one. I used this car a lot for simply cruising the map on the first few days of getting the game. Pretty neutral handling, some understeer at higher speeds if you're pushing for maximum corner speeds, but I guess that's what you'd expect? On the other hand I find it leaning towards oversteer at slower speeds, or I may just be too aggressive with it

Looks wise, I think it looks great from the front, but the side profile is... not pretty at all. Neither is the rear end. Doesn't really matter too much as it drives well and sounds rather good too. Time will tell if we'll get to drive the Z06 model some time in the future.

Verdict: nice?

Aand I'm 4 minutes late

 

[Obelisk]

View attachment 1094615

I like this one. I used this car a lot for simply cruising the map on the first few days of getting the game. Pretty neutral handling, some understeer at higher speeds if you're pushing for maximum corner speeds, but I guess that's what you'd expect? On the other hand I find it leaning towards oversteer at slower speeds, or I may just be too aggressive with it

Looks wise, I think it looks great from the front, but the side profile is... not pretty at all. Neither is the rear end. Doesn't really matter too much as it drives well and sounds rather good too. Time will tell if we'll get to drive the Z06 model some time in the future.

Verdict: nice?

Aand I'm 4 minutes late

You are entirely on time - don't fear that! If anything, I'm the one who's running late.

Looks like the reception to the Corvette was overwhelmingly positive - Out of 5 votes, we have five positive votes. The Corvette is a verified Sleeper!

And Congrats to @Sutuki for having the fastest lap this week in the stock C8!

Now, we're gonna welcome in the new season with a new car- wait, I hear cheering in the distance. Could it be...?

Congrats @Nacho Libre! You've been chosen to submit the car for this week of COTW. Through the messy sounds of lucha and nacho-eating, I was able to discern what he wanted, and that is...

The 2017 Vuhl 05RR!

The 05RR is a Mexican sports car that, surprisingly, I know very little about. According to the research, the 05RR (RR = Road and Race) is an up-rated version of the Vuhl 05, a lightweight rear mid-engined, RWD sports car. The 2017 model as featured in FH5 is the prototype model - the production trim became available in 2019.

I distinctly remember this car having really poor reception on FH4 due to not being able to keep up with the other cars in S2, but with the PI rework and the new physics/upgrades, the Vuhl 05RR is sitting pretty in S1 (S1 886). The 05RR is producing 385 horsepower, and that power is pushing around a car that tips the scales at an absolutely tiny 1598 lbs!

The resident cheesy luchador has requested that we run this car around the Arch of Mulegé Circuit. Warm up those tires, let the engine sing, and let's see if our Mexican track toy thrives in its home territory!

 

[Obelisk]

So, the Vuhl. It's a pleasant car to look at, I'm not gonna lie. Let's see how it holds up on our test track, and then I'll give it a shot with some set-ups. I've been in a pretty intense friendly battle in the A-class leaderboard with two mates of mine in a different community, so I've got some track familiarization going for me. So how does the Vuhl hold up?
(For reference, the current fastest time in that A-class battle is a 1:00.2)

Initial impression of this car is...whoa.

The Vuhl has incredible feel and handling when stock - not a single bit of understeer, not a single bit of instability under most conditions. It's properly quick in a straight line, although the top speed of 167-170 MPH is going to be a problem on longer tracks. I'm shocked at how nice it is to drive this thing at its limits - and that's just bone stock. This thing is on rails. It accelerates hard thanks to its low weight and healthy power output, it stops on a dime. It is pure track car through and through.

By the end of this I said to myself "Holy crap, I seriously underestimated this thing."

Let's see how it does cranked up to S1 900! I switched to the Sports Wing for reasons that I can't recall at the moment and did some light work on the car to improve its performance. It definitely is a charming car to look at with the sports wing.

How'd it do, then?

A significant improvement relative to the global leaderboard, but given how this car already performs this is just pushing its performance window up very slightly. A more experienced driver could take this straight to the top without any hesitation.

All in, the Vuhl 05RR has broken the negative reputation it had in FH4, and has pretty firmly established itself as a top performing choice in S1 in Mexico.

I am giving it an Sleeper rating, but I feel like that isn't quite enough to capture my impression of it. This car is one of the finest pieces of automotive engineering you can find on a global scale.

The Vuhl is brutal. If you see one online, you'd better hope the driver's inexperienced. Otherwise, this...

...will be the last you see of the Vuhl before it takes the win.

 

[Nacho Libre]

This is a side comment, but as always, it's a disgrace that the leaderboards are rife with cheaters at the top... Who are these idiots fooling other than themselves?

I will post my time and opinion later in the day, but what a blast!

 

[SomePlayaDude]

SPD writes Car Of The Week: Week 2 - VUHL 05 RR

A featherweight zooms in?


Oh VUHL. Apparently, as of writing this, I just found out it's an abbreviation. From their website, VUHL means 'Vehicles of Ultra-lightweight and High Performance', which sounds more like VULHP to me. But I'm not questioning that.

I've known VUHL for quite some time. It was back when I freshly got access to a PS4, on this gone but not forgotten relic known as Driveclub. The regular version of the car would end up being one of my choices for the Super class in that game. It exists to compete with the other lightweight supers.. now I'm reminiscing of that Caterham/Lola, and I better stop. And as sad as I think it back, that's probably the only other game franchise I've had a round with this beaut.

By chance, I have my 05RR ready, back from day 1. It was really early when I got the VUHL on a wheelspin. The car now finds itself brought to the upper echelons of S1: a blessing and a curse. Blessing due to the fact I already have Zoom here with a top S1 tune ready for the post script run. And curse meaning I have to go get another.

To the Auction House!


sound effect

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And here be a stock one.

Haha, at this rate, looks like I might be visiting the Auction House every week.

At 886 PI, I can probably guess it's not going to be reaching the top of S2, unlike how it came already in S2 back in 4. And it's definitely more fitting in this range. I can't see this car being well and above the other light track cars. Especially the Atom V8 that still remains in low S2.

What's more important is how well does it drive. With the same engine from the latest Focus RS, there's not much to expect. But the car itself is a lot less in weight, and a lot more in race than your usual performance hatchback.

With this in mind, we take on the track: Arch of Mulege. I don't enjoy this track. Some sections are too tight, there are parts where it's sandy, and dirty plays in the town segments work way too well. And if I so happen to hit, say, a sign or a road marker, it's going to give the VUHL another way to slow down without brakes, and I can tell the optimal line has me pushing through these objects. Still, I look back at the urban tracks of the UK, and it could definitely be worse.

Within the VUHL, let's see what have I found this time around, hmm?

- After the issues with the C8, I had to look at the brakes first. They don't like you when you late brake. You gotta get your braking on point with this car. Brake late, and you're going to feel like you're gonna lock up bad, even with ABS. But these ain't bad brakes: that would be odd to have.

- Something I often do driving the X-BOW R and the Project 2&4 (not this game) is make full use of first person view for that open view experience. The VUHL's driver perspective is definitely great.

- A track car like this means I gotta look at handling. It's really nice, hard, responsive, really sporty. But I shouldn't be surprised unless it's the X-BOW R.

- Plus: the traction is really good. The mix of low power, low weight and slicks makes up for a nice hot lapping toy. I had no issues getting the power for the second to last corner from the middle of 4th. The satisfaction is measurable.

- But I can obviously say this is not a beginner driver's car. Your driving has to be on the dot or you're not going up places. There are quite a good chunk of cars that can cater to that in this performance range.

- In town, there are curbs on this track, and the VUHL has issues with it. The line I took made compromises so I don't find myself flying off the side. There's also the horde of obstacles getting rebuilt every time I go around the track (???). Common victims include light poles, road markers, and the wooden fencing just before the big arch entering town. The latter's fate is always getting smashed in most other cars. Just can't do it on this one.

- Also in town: there's a chicane that follows a small drop. This unsettles the car greatly, and I end up messing my lap in that segment quite often. What at fault here? The drop causing traction loss? The car's already sporty suspension setup? The optimal line being on curbs? I think I'm going to try a road going SUV here sometime soon.

- Do you like high speed corners? This car does. 235 km/h in the final corner is so easy, so satisfying. Surviving the car's understeer at 265 on the first corner? So demanding, so amazing.


And after spending 44 laps on this thing..

I have here a time for the stock 05RR: 54.752

Which I feel really can be improved on, even with 14 PI to spare.

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And usually by now, we return to my old friend Zoom to see how much better is the car pushed to S1. Aside from S1 Rally, I don't see any other thing I want to do with the car, and I'm not into changing this car to an AWD. Why is it Zoom? Well, it was when I got the cheap copycat of this car in GTA Online, themed it after a certain DC villainous counterpart, and that's that.

But that fully tuned run will have to wait for another time. For now, I want to see if I can better the time with the stock car.

At least I have a verdict: what is the VUHL 05RR? It is..
The local vehicle themed transplant from a high performance hatchback to a high performance lightweight track car, and one that fits the bill quite well too.

I mean, I was gonna go with neutral, because any of these featherweight track cars can do that, but since this isn't one of the usual bunch of Caterham or BAC, I'll go with Sleeper.

Everyone expects the track car to dominate the race scene. But what puts it in Sleeper category is because of the low esteem this thing got from 4, and how it's stuck under the shadows among the more popular track cars. Nobody's going to be expecting a fighter in this within S1.

Plus, I love to hot lap, and if 44 laps isn't the obvious sign, I'm found myself full of joy to play with this thing. I'm still in the search for something that can breach 59 seconds at the Horizon Circuit. Could the VUHL be the one?

Did I forget to put on my seatbelts? And the arms, oh God. Your Superstar, ladies and gents.. yes, not using your seatbelts on is something I really really REALLY hate.

 

[Vic Reign93]

Haven’t had time to do a S1 tune run, but it’s good enough.

Aside from the understeer at high speeds, it certainly feels more at home in S1 and the 14 PI gap should be enough to dial it in for S1 tarmac racing.

Sleeper 😉👍

Also a little extra reading for your future builds.

 

[Obelisk]

Hi everyone! As I'm sure most of you are aware, Thanksgiving is tomorrow in the United States. That will not have any bearing on my update schedule for COTW - in fact, I might be able to fire off the update right before the weekly reset.

This is just a gentle reminder to those who want to review the Vuhl that you have until tomorrow to share your thoughts and feelings about our Mexican superstar. We already have our 3rd COTW queued up, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this one pans out. Hint: it's a step away from the supercar streak we're on.

Did I forget to put on my seatbelts? And the arms, oh God. Your Superstar, ladies and gents.. yes, not using your seatbelts on is something I really really REALLY hate.

Thank you for pointing this out, haha. I can't unsee this any time I play now.

(I'm also finding it hilarious that Vic left his review just as I was writing up this post - I was thinking about he hadn't posted his thoughts on the car and realized I should remind everyone.)

 

[Nacho Libre]

We'll I had hoped to post a better time, but, work, life, and travel got in the way (it's all good!)
Verdict: Sleeper and a blast to drive!

 

[XSquareStickIt]

Vic replying weekly to a Car of the Week thread? Blasphemy.

 

[Obelisk]

Vic replying weekly to a Car of the Week thread? Blasphemy.

You think his regular attendance is blasphemy? How about those lap times he keeps cracking off???? Guy's a certified alien. Speaking of, Congrats @Vic Reign93 for landing the fastest lap this week with a blistering 54.188! Good lord, you very nearly popped my upgraded Vuhl's time. You should take that thing up to S1 900 and see just how high you get at Arch of Mulege.

That said, let's see how the VUHL 05RR did in our collective minds - and it is an overwhelming Sleeper! Nicely done.

With Old Man Winter arriving to bless Mexico with cooler temperatures and ice everywhere, it's time for COTW to move on to its next candidate and their car choice - congrats, @SomePlayaDude! And in his never-ending stream of eloquence and wisdom, he brought forth our next test subject car of the week!

The 2015 Lexus RC F!

The RC F is an amped up Japanese coupe weighing in at a surprisingly hefty 2 tons (3957 lbs to be exact), with 467 HP to push all of that weight around. On paper it sounds a bit like a slouch, but we'll see about that! As you can probably discern from the location of this photo, SPD asked us to take a more visually interesting course to put the RC F (A 741) through the wringer - and that course is Gran Pantano Sprint!

Will this Japanese take on the muscle car wow us, or will it be left in the dust? Turn your seat warmers on, set the satnav to "Win", and let's burn some rubber to a V8 soundtrack!

 

[Nacho Libre]

I wish we could get both the updated roster and some classic Lexus cars (first gen LS 400). I think the brand deserves their spot in car history since they (and Infiniti to a lesser degree) altered the luxury car market for the better, like the NSX did for supercars.

 

[SomePlayaDude]

I wish we could get both the updated roster and some classic Lexus cars (first gen LS 400). I think the brand deserves their spot in car history since they (and Infiniti to a lesser degree) altered the luxury car market for the better, like the NSX did for supercars.

Oh yes! I feel there's way too little representation Lexus and Infiniti cars in the game now. If not the classic cars of these luxury brands, I would so like to see the Lexus GX. I need to replace the empty AT37 Land Cruiser shaped hole.. with the exact same car?

So, when deciding on the car itself, I wanted to pick something sort of divisive. If everything's a sleeper, this isn't going to be exciting. I had muscle on my mind, and as soon as I was going to get a.. uhh, Pontiac maybe, I thought: but we already had 2 American (sort of) cars.

And we end up to the RC F, not necessarily a bad car, but one that can't escape the success stories of ye olde IS F.

And the fact I actually have 2 of these and do not need to go to the Autoshow/Auction House but let's not mention that.

 

[Obelisk]

So, the RC F. Let's take a look and see what this thing can do.

It's not a bad-looking car in the slightest, and the V8 sounds quite nice in this game. First impressions...not quite what I'd hoped. It handles nicely for something so hefty, and it could potentially go a little faster than I'm willing to push it. However, you feel the weight, and it can cause some people to hesitate when throwing it into a turn. It also bogs down badly after ~ 200 km/h (124 mph) and feels sluggish going from that point up to its top speed somewhere in the 250-280 kmh range (160+ mph). The car feels slower than it ought to, and it's disappointing me.

After a few laps of getting a feel for the car, I decided to push for a lap time.

(sorry, tinybaffler! I know you said you wouldn't contest my time here when trying the car out, but, your time was the only equivalent with a stock RC F)

And that time puts me at a pretty decent place on the leaderboard, but nowhere as high relative to the other two cars we've tested so far.

So, the RC F has decent performance, but it's seriously let down by how heavy it is. Let's send the Horizon mechanics out and see what they can do with it. Given that the primary issue with the car was its weight, the build for A class on this course shaves off as much weight as reasonably possible for the car, as well as improving the handling a little.

How does it do when given the best odds it has for A class road racing?

...huh.

That's an interesting development. That was my first run with the built out car, too. I'm going to try this on a different track as well, to see if that persists outside of this one specific situation. My alternate track is Riviera Sprint, coming from the other direction towards the same general ending area. And that result is...

...Excuse me?

Let's...try this in S1 on both tracks.

(I had to swap engines to get this to the top of S1, on an RWD build with slicks and forza aero. Not a good look.)

Gran Pantano:

Not bad...

Riviera:

That's a rather interesting placement.

So, it seems like the RC F is a little anomalous - it's freaking quick when you tune it up to A class cap, and in S1 it's sort of a mixed bag of "decently quick" and "a threat to the meta" on the leaderboards. That said, it's still very early in the game's life, so I imagine my times will drop past the 2000s the leaderboard drivers start getting their groove on.

The RC F is disappointingly sluggish in factory spec, surprisingly fast at A800, and decently quick in S1. That said, it's probably not going to scare any Boneshaker drivers, and I don't think it's going to stay near the top of those A class leaderboards.

It's going to be a Neutral for me. It's properly quick in the right circumstances, but only if you zero in on its biggest issue (weight) and build that out of the car. It's sort of disappointing given how nice it drives, and I don't think anyone buys or looks at an RC F while thinking "oh boy, I'm going to humiliate xXQuickForzaDriverBroXx's Lamborghini with this!"

 

[SomePlayaDude]

SPD writes Car Of The Week: Week 3 - Lexus RC F

Just one way I can run a V8 motor without chewing wheat, and breaking any noise limits.. now if only I knew how many decibels that would be?


Quick little tidbit: I'm no know it all, but I have a soft spot for these high performance saloon/sedan cars. From my perspective, my childhood of loving these sort of cars stemmed from the likes of the Lotus Carlton, then the Toyota Chaser, the Chrysler 300C, and more. There's probably a good batch of people that know of my obsession with one Toyota Crown Athlete G.

Not surprisingly, things like that hardly change. I'm still finding the right type of racing game that'll allow me to drive the Jaguar XE SV Project 8.

So how about the RC F? Long story short: it didn't take my fancy. Sure, it had a V8, and appeals to both performance freaks and people of luxury. And not to mention it does have some racing pedigree in current era GT racing. To say if this car is good or bad shouldn't be so hard. It's a Lexus. Far as I know, it's definitely cheaper and more reliable than the competition. It doesn't take me time to say I see it got all the right signs.

Okay, so it's no secret that I have 2 of these. One was primed for road racing A, yet to be pushed to a high level. The normal car sits at a nice low PI of 741, and for what you can do to it, it has got a lot of things going for it. It's really tuneable.

But in terms of it's usual sport factor, it's got issues. The real issue, aside from it depreciating like certain memes, is that it had to succeed an older brother: the IS F. And I like the IS F. That thing was just as proper mad, but it was the kind of Lexus that sort of caught my eye. I already can feel the RC F was trying too hard in.. more than one department from this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​

On to the track. Gran Pantano Sprint I would say be one of those lazy rivers. All about getting the speed right for all those high speed corners. Meaning if you're driving the absolute psycho that is the Sesto Elemento FE, you're cruising these turns at 200 MPH. So it's a good way to test out your tuning in terms of springs and dampers.. all that high speed turning stuff can get settled here.

Notes? Yes, as usual.

- To start, we go with the launch. The first 2 weeks had cars with the pleasure of being good RWD launchers. The Lexus does this great too. You're welcome to push it all down from nil, but I noticed a ghost of me controlling my input, and that ghost stretched ahead a tiny bit, like 1/2 the size of the car. Hey, it looks like it rewards those with the know how, and nimble fingers/feet. Maybe I'll remember to go with something that wants to kill you on launch next time.

- If anything, it won't take long for you to already know the car's traits. A high performance Lexus combines both the madness of going fast and being a smooth rider in the same time, sometimes with things like massages chairs and portable TV screens at the same time. Aside from those luxuries, there's no exceptions here. Very smooth. You can feel the weight of the car flying through these sweeping turns, but it keeps you in control. Your rear is not going to go really out in most situations.

- Time for brakes. They're good. This is the type of car that's expecting quite some understeer, especially if you lock these brakes up. But if you're good with the braking, you're going to be fine.

- Traction on the whole is less muscle and more refined than you think And if you're going to try some exit corner traction. I think this is more with track choice having no tight corners or hairpins.

- So, what was the thing I hated the most in this car. It's not the brakes, it's not the unresponsive springs. It's the long, uneven gearing. This is supposed to be the sporty variant of the car, how did that not get optimized enough is beyond me. I'll probably understand the final gear, but I didn't even reach that far.

- Time to go for broke and say: I don't find this spark of joy within what I'm driving. The car feels safe. Safe is good, but this is much too safe, in a car that screams action. Glory. Fire spitting wherever, a tire spinning mess, etc. But I just have to not put these expectations on cars I don't know too much of. It feels cheap, really.

- Then comes in the looks. I don't judge Lexus designers, but I'm more into the subtle sleeper vibe the IS F has. This one's got edges for days.. which I feel is way out of place for a sporty sedan.

- In the end: the more I drive this, the more I realize it's just a GT car in a sedan shaped body. It drives like one, sort of have some features like one, and often compared to one. It's definitely a jack of all trades, which is just a nice way to say it doesn't stand out.

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After a good amount of runs, how did I do?

It started off with a 2:47, and over time I set myself to try for 2:42. Didn't quite get it, but 2:43.255 doesn't feel so bad. I should set more achievable goals or maybe put more time into it.

As much as the car didn't surprise in how quick it should be, the drive in general isn't bad at all. I often forget to hit my braking points the right way, yet still survive. I'm probably not going to be done with Gran Pantano Sprint anytime soon.

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Let's skip the formalities and see how top of the line A class RC F does.

From a toad to a prince? It's not even an ugly car too.


What I did in general is just put that missing joy in the car. Made some bump and camber alterations that turned understeer into none-dersteer. Sportier suspension setup for crisp enough handling. Transmission tightened to make use of that power.. and of course see bouncing of revs on initial gears. Adjusted springs enough so that the car's rear throws out that's both exciting, and perfectly okay for a racing situation. Not to mention better tires, weight loss and some engine upgrades.. 59 PI is plenty of PI to add.

With SPD still setting another unrealistic goal to try going 10 seconds faster, I asked this more life threatening machine: what's up, danger?

I did say, unrealistic, right? My take of danger in a Lexus RC F would get me the time of 2:35.073.

By the way, I'll keep this replay around. Reason being if you go ahead and take a look at the ghost, you can see hints of me having a lot more fun taking this variant of the car around. Be on the lookout for that subtle wheelspin start, moments of the car's rear end extruding mildly, the line the car took, and maybe the fact that the lap may or may not be dirty in track racing rules, hmm?

It was such an improvement. What did I expect for any car tuned proper, though? I'm expecting more should I decide to do things like add the widebody.. lighter rims? The LFA engine swap, ewww.

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Okay, last bit of words: what is the Lexus RC F? It is..
A luxurious, sporty, smooth V8 heavyweight, with little to show from until comes in a great pair of tuning hands.

Alright, it might be my choice, but this thing is in easy Neutral territory.

I didn't get what I expected, and at the same time, am not totally disappointed in what it gave, and what I managed to get out of it. You have here a bulky sports car that isn't too good in racing, so as long as it be in its road going form. Instead, you should opt for a slow and steady cruise around, which it can do nicely. But you give this to a tuner, and they will make it work as an A-S1 class, uhh.. anything!

 

[Vic Reign93]

So before I start with the Lexus, A quick update on the VHUL when I did a tuned run with it.

Ok on to the Lexus.

Packing a 5.0 litre V8 with 467hp and weighing nearly 4000lbs, it slots nicely into the Super Saloons class alongside the established Clique of AMG’s, M Series Beemers and RS Audi’s.

Plus the Taycan(s), Two Jaaags, a Volvo Estate and a Infiniti Concept car.

Handlings rather smooth and it does hide its weight well up to a point, then understeer does creep in on the longer turns.

It certainly responds well to smooth, but firm inputs and stops decently too.

Yeah compared to FH4, it loses its RB widebody and wing and you can certainly argue it’s in very competitive waters with all the German offerings and loses out to a good number of them to boot.

But I can’t say the RCF is a bad car, quite the contrary in fact.

The engine is quite the peach, a race exhaust and cams makes it a rowdy over 9000rpm motor and fully built with a turbo is good for over 940hp.

And if you want to give it an in manufacturer upgrade, The LFA’s V10 is an option, as is the Lambo V10, the AMG Black’s V8, The Ford Powerstroke V8 and the Lambo V12.

Overall, It’s a decent car, but doesn’t stand out compared to its rivals.

Verdict: Neutral 🙂

 

[Obelisk]

As the air warms up and the snow melts away, we spring forward into a new week on Horizon 5, and a new week on COTW.

Let's see how our last candidate did! We have a 100% Neutral rating for the RC F! Better luck next time, Lexus.

Congrats to @Vic Reign93 for being our fastest lap once again, at an impressive 2:42! The speed demon is, coincidentally, our candidate and car maestro this week - what do you have for us?

Vic has chosen to roll things backwards in time, to an era where rally was far more raw and vicious than it is now. Our car this week is...

The 1988 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R!

The Starion was an incredibly successful motorsports contender during the 1980s, and the 1988 ESI-R was one of the final models before it was phased out in 1989. Interestingly enough, the car was rebadged in the United States as the Chrysler Conquest. This car was succeeded by the GTO, but it has definitely left its mark in the history books.

Will it leave a mark on Mexico, though? That's up to us to find out, and Vic has graciously provided us with an interesting track choice. We're going somewhere hotter, and I mean a lot hotter - it's time to visit the Gran Caldera and attack the Montana Trail, a 5 and a half mile long dirt course down the side of the volcano. A fitting course for the Starion (C 549), I'd say!

Will this car be hotter than lava, or will it fizzle out in the face of its rivals? Rev up those engines, kick up some dirt and let's find out!

(Fun fact: We've covered the Starion in the past on one of these COTW threads. I believe it was back in Horizon 3, but I'd have to go back and find out for myself.)

 

[Obelisk]

COTW #4: Starion ESI-R

In the middle of a lot of Forza business, I was told it was time to try out a new car.

I mean, sure. But the COTW management sure didn't have to yell it at me through a phone while I'm in a 488 Pista going 200 mph! And they're telling me to do this before I can even pick out the car maestro for next week. Well, now is better than never at least.

I mentioned in the announcement that we'd covered this car in the past. However, I completely failed to remember it was all the way back in Forza Motorsports 7's COTW while it was under Vic's guidance. Goodness. It's just one of those days where you remember the broad strokes, but not the stuff in between the lines.

So, the Starion. What's the deal with it? On paper, it's just a 1980s wedge/brick with 188 HP coming from a 2.6 liter turbo I4, pushing 3,087 lbs of Japanese steel around. Those numbers seem a little paltry by today's standards, given that we have coupes with power outputs similar to the Starion but with less weight (i.e., the ND/Mk.4 MX-5). However, by 1980s standards, that power and weight was nothing to sneeze at.

For comparison's sake, within the context of Forza Horizon 5, the Starion can be compared to its peers in C class from the 1980s:
1989 MR2 SC (145 HP, 2620 lbs, 502 PI)
1988 M5 (282 HP, 3230 lbs, 583 PI)
1987 Skyline HR31 (206 HP, 2965 lbs, 543 PI)
1987 GNX (300 HP, 3545 lbs, 564 PI)
1986 Escort RS (130 HP, 2154 lbs, 516 PI)
1983 242 (225 HP, 3,175 lbs, 548 PI)
1980 5 Turbo (157 HP, 2138 lbs, 521 PI)
I am excluding the LM 002 because it is an SUV and it is a horrible SUV to boot, so it's not even relevant here.

So, the Starion is very much in the middle of the pack in terms of its performance on paper. How this'll translate into practical driving will be interesting. And something it does have going for it is that this RWD spec of the Starion has quite the motorsports record, seeing success all the way into International level racing. It apparently did quite well in Group A and N racing, as well as winning endurance races and the Dutch Championship. It had three SCCA championships under its belt, often against factory-backed efforts from major manufacturers. And according to the blurb on Wikipedia, Starions still see plenty of use in special stage rallies.

So it has a fair bit of motorsports blood in it and isn't afraid to show it - so let's take it out on the track and see what Vic saw in this car this time around. And boy, did he pick a challenging course to really stress this thing out. Montana Trail is 5 and a half miles of bumps, elevation changes, trick corners and switchbacks all on loose dirt. The only lap I could choose from as a baseline was a dirty 3:47 from Vic (what a coincidence! ) in a C600 Renault 8. How does the Starion do here?

Initial impressions:

• Acceleration is actually reasonably good! Even on the loose stuff, the car has no issues shrugging off its own weight and pushing forward.
• The car doesn't really struggle much with dirt. It holds its own pretty well and the rear doesn't kick up a fuss with aggressive throttle work. It does understeer quite badly at times, so caution is preferable to reckless abandon.
• The car does not transfer weight very well, despite the decent dirt handling. Sudden switchbacks or swerves will upset the car and those types of incidents can be kind of difficult to recover from.
• The car excels at those mid-speed turns (roughly 60-90 MPH) on dirt. It just grabs and commits to the turn when you point it at the exit.
• Mid-corner bumps don't disrupt it as much as I thought.

So, how did this run go?

Pretty decently, I'd think. This time puts me in the top 250 on the Leaderboard, so I'll take that!

However, this car also had circuit accolades to its name. Let's take it to a circuit and see how it does on asphalt. To that end, I'm taking it to the Emerald Circuit to see if those weight transfer issues translate to tarmac.

Surprisingly, no. The Starion is remarkably composed on a road circuit. It's super easy to drive it hard and it just doesn't seem to want to punish you for it! It complies with every input and rolls with it to very little fuss or fanfare.

And on Emerald Circuit, that ease of use and high grip, combined with the reasonably quick acceleration of the car, all comes together to create fun and engaging laps that can send some people for a loop.

Incidentally, that lap puts me 0.175 behind Vic who was in a C600 Mustang.

So, it's good on dirt and good on a circuit. Let's take it up to C600 and find out if that sweetens the deal. I'll need to send both the Horizon Apex and Horizon Wilds engineers out on this one, since I can't just go and make a generic build to cover both. Both of them follow the same philosophy - lower the weight and capitalize on the handling/momentum the car is capable of, but they cover different takes on that. The tarmac build leans into its horsepower a little but more, while the rally/offroad build leans into ensuring the car has the traction it needs to succeed on the technical parts of our test course.

So, let's take a shot at both and see how this car does. We're going back to the Montana Trail first, pulling Vic's dirty ghost as reference once again.

So that translates to a four second improvement over five miles. as well as a placement of 167th place globally. Not bad, but I did have some issues with this particular build that contributed to some hesitancy on some sectors. Now let's see how it does on Emerald.

That is a proper difference, wow. That puts me at 366th place globally.

So, where does that leave me when it comes to the Starion?

The Starion is:

A Sleeper, left in the dust.

It's a motorsports legend that got left behind by the never-ending march of technology and overshadowed by the more prolific Japanese sports cars of the 80s and 90s: the Supra, the Impreza, the Lancer Evos, the Skyline...

Even now, if it wasn't for something like COTW, I would have never known that this relatively unassuming coupe was a monster in its time.

 

[Vic Reign93]

.
.
.
.
I could just leave that picture there and that’ll be my write up of the Starion.

But I suppose Mic Drops aren’t all that filling by themselves so here we go.

My first introduction to the Starion was probably the same as a good number of others was, from Top Gear and the £1500 Coupes that aren’t Porsches challenge.

It proved to be capable, reliable and quick in its tests, only really stumbling in ride comfort.

And then Clarkson swapped in a Group A Turbo which he claimed made the Starion make 240hp, didn’t upgrade the cooling system which then made the engine go full Chernobyl.

It still won after all 3 presenters agree that it was the best and Jeremy admitted that he was a clot that ruined his car.

First time driving it was on FM4 many moons ago and struck me as a definitive(hehe) example of 80’s motoring.

Pop up headlights? check
Flared Box Wheel Arches? check
Turbo 4 banger? cheque
Used in races and/or rally’s? Czech

Even had a 4wd version set for Group B before Group B was banned, but Starion’s still picked up wins in rallying.

Even a quick browse through its Motorsports Wiki shows it could still be a formidable foe on road or dirt.

And despite all that, it’s overshadowed by the likes of the Lancer Evo, Eclipse and the
car that would succeed it, The GTO.

Shame really.

Verdict: Sleeper 😁👍

 

[Nacho Libre]

Aww I really wanted to comment after missing the deadline for the Lexus, but after hitting the wall when I was about to cross the goal (invalidating my time for the umpteenth time) I have to declare a DNF, and the car a dud.

I have a specific comment regarding the steering. It takes ages to turn, and since I have been using simulation steering for a while, I posit that the new driving model is actually aping the actual systems of the cars themselves, that is, power steering in this case.
In cars like the Lexus it may even be simulating ABS, and traction and stability controls, independently of the options that you can switch in the difficulty menu.

Or am I imagining things?

 

[Vic Reign93]

Aww I really wanted to comment after missing the deadline for the Lexus, but after hitting the wall when I was about to cross the goal (invalidating my time for the umpteenth time) I have to declare a DNF, and the car a dud.

I have a specific comment regarding the steering. It takes ages to turn, and since I have been using simulation steering for a while, I posit that the new driving model is actually aping the actual systems of the cars themselves, that is, power steering in this case.
In cars like the Lexus it may even be simulating ABS, and traction and stability controls, independently of the options that you can switch in the difficulty menu.

Or am I imagining things?

Have you checked your controller settings?

I noticed when I started that the cars felt heavy and rather slow to respond, I played around with the dead zone settings for steering and such and it’s a lot more responsive for me.

Here’s my settings for you to try, but feel to adjust to your style. 👍

 

[Obelisk]

Aww I really wanted to comment after missing the deadline for the Lexus, but after hitting the wall when I was about to cross the goal (invalidating my time for the umpteenth time) I have to declare a DNF, and the car a dud.

I have a specific comment regarding the steering. It takes ages to turn, and since I have been using simulation steering for a while, I posit that the new driving model is actually aping the actual systems of the cars themselves, that is, power steering in this case.
In cars like the Lexus it may even be simulating ABS, and traction and stability controls, independently of the options that you can switch in the difficulty menu.

Or am I imagining things?

Hey Nacho, just wanted to let you know that while we do update the car weekly, people are more than welcome to review them at their own pace. The only thing that changes if you review a car late is that your verdict doesn't get counted into the total votes on the OP. You didn't miss the Lexus at all