- 2,454
- South Auckland, New Zealand
- Nismonath5
Rippin' Renault....
The horrible London traffic doesn't bother Baron!
If I'm in a conversation with someone and the word "Clio" comes up, I immediately think of the 2nd generation one. Not neccesarily the flame spitting MR V6, but just that shape, boxy but with smooth curves... you know the one! So when I got GT6 and saw this thing in the Renault dealership, I thought it was rather ugly. It looks more Megane-ish than Clio-ish, and I pretty much shunned it because of it didn't appeal to me, visually. I really oughta stop doing that....
Regardless of my stylistic preferences, I got one for this week's racing. And it's brilliant! Here's why....
Firstly: Straight line performace
While certainly not a drag racer in any way, the Clio has enough "Get-up-and-go" to surprise the bloke who's racing in a Pontiac GTO or a Lotus Europa.
Orange/yellows and greens were the main colour choice this week
Secondly: Handling and manouverability
It's an FF hatchback. So understeer is expected. However it was only really a problem when I had 0 TCS and the standard CS tyres. It would fight me when I tried to navigate it through corners with a solid pace, however adding just 1 TCS fixed this problem. With the TCS, I could actually throw it into corners with confidence. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this, but I found this Clio easier to drive in first person than other cars. Usually I only ever race first person if I'm driving for fun, or just messing about, but this week I found myself in car for a few real races, and actually being able to remain competitive too!
Savage got away for a relatively easy win at Tsukuba!
Thirdly: Power and weight
The 2 litre 4 banger doesn't put out supercar-rivalling power. 210bhp doesn't sound like too much, but in the Clio it felt like a lot more! I remember looking at the speed while racing at MidField, and the number was going up way faster than I was expecting! I think the most impressive thing about the Clio's powerplant is that it's not turboed, but it feels like it! As for the weight, it's no featherweight, but it's slim and small enough to be quite the side-stepper. It can quite comfortably dart from one side of the track to another, great for avoiding crashes or stopped drivers! With CS tyres and no TCS, it smokes the tyres off the line, and will be a bit angrier to drive fast. This was easily remedied by simply putting 1 TCS onto it. That kills the wheelspin launch, and tames it through the corners wile still allowing you to slide without drifting.
Savage bumps off Ash
This week wasn't my best as far as race results. I got a few 2nd's, but on Saturday I was super tired and it was noticable in my driving, on the first race I completely missed the braking marker and straight-lined Vic. During this week's racing, I also noticed some improvement among relative newcomers. ChipGTR won his first race, and so did Savage787BR92CP! Good to see some fresh talent still coming into the club!
The Clio has a cool little easter egg on it. If you use the wipers on it, the rear window wiper will work also, which serves no performance advantage or gain whatsoever, but hey it's a little secret!
Chip and Master Ed chase down Ash
I still don't entirely like the looks of this Clio, but it's driving appeal outweighs that! It's definately a sleeper. Just over 400pp and it's as much fun to drive as a 600pp Touring car! It's cheap, meaning it's more likely to fall into the ownership of a newer GT driver, and for that reason I see it's role in GT6 as a racecraft refiner, a car you tune, thrash and wring it's neck all in the name of learning how to be a better driver!
The horrible London traffic doesn't bother Baron!
If I'm in a conversation with someone and the word "Clio" comes up, I immediately think of the 2nd generation one. Not neccesarily the flame spitting MR V6, but just that shape, boxy but with smooth curves... you know the one! So when I got GT6 and saw this thing in the Renault dealership, I thought it was rather ugly. It looks more Megane-ish than Clio-ish, and I pretty much shunned it because of it didn't appeal to me, visually. I really oughta stop doing that....
Regardless of my stylistic preferences, I got one for this week's racing. And it's brilliant! Here's why....
Firstly: Straight line performace
While certainly not a drag racer in any way, the Clio has enough "Get-up-and-go" to surprise the bloke who's racing in a Pontiac GTO or a Lotus Europa.
Orange/yellows and greens were the main colour choice this week
Secondly: Handling and manouverability
It's an FF hatchback. So understeer is expected. However it was only really a problem when I had 0 TCS and the standard CS tyres. It would fight me when I tried to navigate it through corners with a solid pace, however adding just 1 TCS fixed this problem. With the TCS, I could actually throw it into corners with confidence. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this, but I found this Clio easier to drive in first person than other cars. Usually I only ever race first person if I'm driving for fun, or just messing about, but this week I found myself in car for a few real races, and actually being able to remain competitive too!
Savage got away for a relatively easy win at Tsukuba!
Thirdly: Power and weight
The 2 litre 4 banger doesn't put out supercar-rivalling power. 210bhp doesn't sound like too much, but in the Clio it felt like a lot more! I remember looking at the speed while racing at MidField, and the number was going up way faster than I was expecting! I think the most impressive thing about the Clio's powerplant is that it's not turboed, but it feels like it! As for the weight, it's no featherweight, but it's slim and small enough to be quite the side-stepper. It can quite comfortably dart from one side of the track to another, great for avoiding crashes or stopped drivers! With CS tyres and no TCS, it smokes the tyres off the line, and will be a bit angrier to drive fast. This was easily remedied by simply putting 1 TCS onto it. That kills the wheelspin launch, and tames it through the corners wile still allowing you to slide without drifting.
Savage bumps off Ash
This week wasn't my best as far as race results. I got a few 2nd's, but on Saturday I was super tired and it was noticable in my driving, on the first race I completely missed the braking marker and straight-lined Vic. During this week's racing, I also noticed some improvement among relative newcomers. ChipGTR won his first race, and so did Savage787BR92CP! Good to see some fresh talent still coming into the club!
The Clio has a cool little easter egg on it. If you use the wipers on it, the rear window wiper will work also, which serves no performance advantage or gain whatsoever, but hey it's a little secret!
Chip and Master Ed chase down Ash
I still don't entirely like the looks of this Clio, but it's driving appeal outweighs that! It's definately a sleeper. Just over 400pp and it's as much fun to drive as a 600pp Touring car! It's cheap, meaning it's more likely to fall into the ownership of a newer GT driver, and for that reason I see it's role in GT6 as a racecraft refiner, a car you tune, thrash and wring it's neck all in the name of learning how to be a better driver!