My Z4 GT3 now has 1115km (692miles).
Did a lot of testing with it and I am confident to say that I am SURE there is absolute no effect from the deteriorated body rigidity.
Is still do the same laptimes with it easily as i did when it had 300km and the handling is 100% the same.
Only thing affecting laptimes is the oil, usually i do low 1:59 on Nür/GP, if the oil gets old (-8LP/-19kW) i have a very hard time to get under 2:00.
Oilchange for 250$ and low 1:59's no problem.
My theory is they just mixed up the warning for Oil and the body regidity, that would explain everything.
Just for info:
I know Nürburgring GP very well (from M3 challenge game) and can do pretty consistant time there.
Best ist 1:58,6 normal/good laps between 58,8 an 59,4 with small mistakes high 59's and with big mistake/near spin low 1:20's
I also know the car very well, spent 3h on setup when i got it and i can really feel very small changes.
For example one race i could not get under mid/high 1:59 and the braking/turn in felt a little bit strange, checked the setup after race and saw that braking was still on 7/2 from Monza, put it back to 7/4 and restartet the race and first clean lap was a 1:58,8.
So I am confident that I would have noticed any changes from the deteriorated body rigidity.
I think it's just the high end race cars that are affected the most, LMP's mainly. It's as if the extent of rigidity deterioration is highly exaggerated for LMP's but not nearly as much for the lower end race cars/street cars etc.
I have been doing some testing over the last couple of days with a
brand new LMP. Here's what I did.
I went to the dealership and bought a brand new LMP. A "PEUGEOT 908 HDI FAP" this time to be exact. The only thing I did do was give it a wash and a new oil change and left everything stock, not change any setting in the suspension, brakes etc. except reduced it's power so that it was 650PP so I could enter it in the 24 Minutes of Nurburgring race.
Then I did the 24 minutes of Nurburgring over and over and over
.
It was at around 300 or so miles that I noticed a little bit of handling problem's as I did with my "Bentley Speed 8" and also my top speed had dropped by about 5 MPH, So after that race I went to the Pit Service Area to check on things and all was good with everything so I left it at that. What I did notice when I went back to do the race again, at the race menu I saw that the PP had dropped 7 points and also the power had dropped 26 BHP. I thought that may be the problem,
The oil. So I carried on with the racing and the handling got worse and worse. Believe me, I have run Nurburgring Norschliefe for hours on end in an LMP since GT5 to notice any change in handling. I did the Nurburgring 24 hour endurance numerous times in GT5.
But anyway, When that race had finished my milage was at 359.3 miles. So I went to the Pit Service Area again and right on cue, The rigidity warning was there. But this time I
didn't do the restore. I just changed the Oil instead and went back to the 24 Minutes of Nurburgring race.
All the oil change did was give me back the lost BHP and restored my PP back to 650 and give me back the little bit of speed I lost, Nothing else. Started the race and guess what? the handling was still bad. So I think that rules out the oil/rigidity mix up.
I managed to finish the race and went and got my rigidity restored and then went and did the race yet again.
This time, Hey Presto, The handling was back to normal as if it was a brand new car.
The cost of a restore ain't so much of an issue now with the increased payout's (Thanks PD:tup
. But the problem is still there. I don't think it's anything to do with the oil.
If you're in the middle of let's say "The Dreamcar Championship" for example and your rigidity deterioration hit's the magical 350 mile mark, You're pretty much screwed to try and finish the championship if you're in an LMP. Racing around the Nordschleife while crashing at nearly every corner at 170mph+ just isn't fun in my book.
As I said before, I don't think the lower end race cars/street cars are affected nowhere nearly as much as LMP's.