Best track for car comparisons

[JohnnyFiama]

I only got GT4 in July so am relatively new to it (I've currently completed 30% of the game, the pressures of looking after two small children are slowing me down!).

A quick question: What is the best track for car comparisons? What I mean is that I'm looking for a track that I can use for to drive all the cars and set some benchmark times. The track I'm looking for would idealy have the following:

- A quick section, fast bends
- A tight section, chicane or hairpin
- Not be too long, I'm looking for lap times not much longer than 1 min 30 secs otherwise it takes too long for the slow cars.
- No really long straights....

I see some people use Midfield. I like Autumn Ring Mini Reverse but it's a bit short for very quick cars.

Hope this makes sense......

 

[Famine]

I used Trial Mountain for the GT4 Car Database - but I also tend to run 3-lap comparisons on Infineon Stock Car Course and High Speed Ring to get a better clue about handling and straight-line performance respectively.

 

[steven]

i used apricot hill for my gtvault setups, but you might want to consider tsukuba because it has all the curves you need and it's nice & short.

 

[Redgodzila]

I use Deep Forest for my car comparos. It has a long straight, 2 very fast sweeping turns in the form of turn 5 and 8 and it has the very technical section of varying camber and elevation changes between turn 1 and 6. It very much reminds me of a mini Nurburgring, which is the main circuit I drive around.

 

[hadlou]

I think el capitan could be a good track for test but it's a bit long... but I prefer drive on Trial mountain because the section from the last corner to the first tunnel is awesome

 

[Greycap]

Grand Valley Speedway for me, any day of the week. Trail braking, flat out fast corners, hairpins, technical mid speed corners, sweepers and a long straight. Everything that is ever needed. On the downside it's quite long, but I think a long all-round course beats a short and slow "Mickey Mouse" circuit without any doubts when it comes to a thorough performance test.

 

[Loon]

I use Deep Forest for my car comparos. It has a long straight, 2 very fast sweeping turns in the form of turn 5 and 8 and it has the very technical section of varying camber and elevation changes between turn 1 and 6. It very much reminds me of a mini Nurburgring, which is the main circuit I drive around.

Yea, Deep Forest all the way. There's many technical corners which can make for an exciting drive. Plus most cars should be able to keep under the 1'30 mark.

 

[Pyrelli]

My personal favourite for comparisons is Suzuka.

It has a technical complex of bends leading into some high speed corners. This in turn leads up to the sharp hairpin followed by another series of fast bends but only this time they are longer and faster than before. The back straight isn't particularly long but it gives a good opportunity to run through the gears.

Overall most cars (300-500bhp) tend to do a lap in under 2 minutes, but obviously race cars and highly tuned road cars will comfortably lap the circuit in just over 1'30.

Though I also agree with Greycap that GVS is a good course to make comparisons on as well; and in my view GVS and Suzuka are very similar tracks.

Pyrelli

 

[hadlou]

they're similar but suzuka is more difficult because a wheel on the sand and you're dead

 

[somebody]

The only two tracks I used for testing cars were Tokyo and GVS. Both have good selections of straights and corners.

 

[Pyrelli]

they're similar but suzuka is more difficult because a wheel on the sand and you're dead

Couldn't agree with you any more on that one; that is one of the most annoying things about Suzuka, especially if you've made a cracker of a lap and hit the sand in the latter sectors

The only two tracks I used for testing cars were Tokyo and GVS. Both have good selections of straights and corners.

Tokyo and GVS were both favourites of mine, but I get the feeling that in terms of making comparisons they are slightly flawed in the sense they appear to have a bias towards high power (particularly with Tokyo).

With both Tokyo and GVS a significant majority of the corners are quite spaced out giving an inherent bias, but on the otherhand at least when you get to the corners they are quite varied.

Pyrelli

 

[Muzaffar]

I have to agree with Greycap as well. Grand Valley Speedway should be the best for car comparisons. It has everything, from long straights to sweeping corners, sharp hairpins, medium speed corners, blind corners, etc. Its not that long as well, (compared to say, Suzuka) most cars can lap it under 2 minutes. But i think the best circuit was of course Complete String in GT3, but they didn't include the track in GT4.

Another good track would be Tsukuba. It has a good amount of corners and some technical sections to go through. But i think your not going to like it since its too short, but hey, if the people in Best Motoring used it for the real car comparisons, why not?

This is an odd one.....try doing the comparison at Motegi road course short. Its quite nice as well. Its not thrilling to drive around there, but at least it will get the job done. 👍 Although it doesn't really have a technical sections but it is a very flowing circuit. Good to test your suspension/handling characteristics.

Well i hope that clears you up a bit.

 

[PARAGON GT]

This may sound strange, but I always liked using Seattle. A nice hill climb (The hill climb can really kill some lesser tuned cars forward momentum in a hurry.), a couple straightaways, some tight turns. Its a good track for compairing cars.
Plus its not that long of a course.

 

[JohnnyFiama]

Many thanks for all the replies. I'll try some of those suggestions out next time I get some time! Thanks again.

 

[hadlou]

also you could do a leaderboard so we could compare our times 💡

 

[Kent]

I use Motegi East for the criteria you have listed.
Comparisons are something I love to run and you've basically just described what I was doing with the last comp ("Top Motoring Gear" thread here in the GT4 section).
Motegi East has everything you're looking for in a track. 👍

 

[Green_Flag]

Suzuka because it has those curves right around the first turn. It has that really long straight that you can almost top out at. It has a 90 degree turn. It has a hairpin turn. Basically it has every element needed to test a car.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

I don't like El Capitan, I sorta like Sears Point Sports Car, Trial Mountain is okay, and the 'Ring is a bit high speed for some cars.

The reason I don't like El Capitan is that cars with a slight oversteer tendency become uncontrollable, and somewhat understeery cars feel just right.

 

[hadlou]

some corners at El Capitan normal are very dangerous, for example: the first corner or the corner after the tunnel... with damage you car would look like

 

[stidriver]

I also agree with Greycap that Grand Valley speeday is a good course to make comparisons on as well. The other track I use is Deep Forest.

 

[superberkut]

Suzuka West for me in GT4, but otherwise Complex String (GT3) and Grand Valley East Circuit (GT1-2). However, I also used Special Stage Route 11 (GT1 and 3) for a good shakedown. Sad that it isn't in GT4...

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

Seoul Central has some tight bends a hairpin a reasonable straight and is so short it eliminates a lot of driver error.

 

[PARAGON GT]

After running the Europian Champ. last night I would have to add that Côte d'Azur would also be a good testing ground track. Again, a serious up hill climb, some very tight turns, a very serious breaking zone! The only thing that its really missing is a level straight away. But for dialing in a suspension, I would use this track.

 

[Peterram430]

I use Apricot Hill for fast cars and Tsukuba for sower cars.

 

[GTveteran]

Basically if you can get a car to handle nicely on a hilly, flowing track then your car should handle well anywhere. I found this while setting up the Group C cars at Infineon Sportscar course which is the track I use.

Comparisons are something I love to run and you've basically just described what I was doing with the last comp ("Top Motoring Gear" thread here in the GT4 section).

Thats it Kent mate get the advertisement in. We could do with a few more in Top Motoring Gear. Its become a bit dead. Hopefully business will pick up soon. I'd like to see what more people think of your selection of cars.

 

[AOS-]

Grand Valley is great, straights, sharp corners, fast sections,

Nurburgring for the ultimate.. long straights for the max speed, many tiny turns for sharp response, bumpy road to keep you on edge, literally, and up's and downs to test how well one takes a little vertical-ness

 

[PARAGON GT]

Nurburgring is a completely diffrent beast altogether. Cars that are set to run there don't always work well on other tracks.

Some cars that I own have specific settings to run Nurburgring and another whole group of settings to run most of the other tracks. Diffrent spring rates, ride heights etc. I would say that unless you are setting a car to run at Nurburgring, don't set your car up there.

 

[Tornado]

I always have used SSR5 for its multiple types of turns and long straights, with followups at Trial Mountain to test sensitivity over bumps and elevation changes. This hasn't failed me ever since I started using it in GT2.

 

[Gil]

I use Midfield for testing cars.
It has all the things that the others have, in a shorter track so that I can run more laps in less time.
Also, a car that runs well at Midfield or Apricot Hill will run well on most other tracks.
The only things that will need to be changed is gearing.

 

[Brock5000]

I use Motegi East for the criteria you have listed.
Comparisons are something I love to run and you've basically just described what I was doing with the last comp ("Top Motoring Gear" thread here in the GT4 section).
Motegi East has everything you're looking for in a track. 👍

I quite agree, Motegi East is very good for lap time comparisons. It has a couple of reasonable straights, lots of mid-speed corners, a tricky chicane with a blind entry and a few tight hairpins. Plus it's not too long, most sports cars can do it in under 1:30 on S tyres.

Suzuka is probably better, but is a bit longer and is a bit too demanding, in so far as there are too many sections where a slight mistake really damages the lap time.

I've never really liked any of the Original tracks in this context, some of them offer way too many lines though some of the turns - which is great for racing, but not so good for consistency. The real world circuits are less forgiving and more interesting imo.