Hi, Ive put the Dodge Challenger SRT8 through its paces at Trial Mountain (after asking carboneyes if that is ok, since running Nurburgring laps is very time consuming). Review conducted on GT5 version 1.09 using sixaxis controller.
Parts Only (default settings)
This Challenger is not a happy camper at Trial Mountain! Lots of dive under brakes, in fact the whole first 1/2 of a corner is a complete mess. Turn-in and mid-corner grip are inconsistent, often leaving you briefly lurching towards the outside wall.
Even 597bhp of mighty Hemi power is not enough to get some throttle steering happening. Ok, if you are rough enough, you can briefly incite it- but then the rear end grips, the engine bogs and you are back to situation normal (which is understeer). This is not helped by the default gearing, where your choice is a uselessly short 2nd gear, or a 3rd gear that is juuuust too tall for the engine to threaten the rear tyres.
And it hates bumps! Grip loss is high over bumps and the dartiness throws you off line. Just before the first tunnel, if youre a bit behind your ghost, you can actually see the car bouncing around oncontrolled as you brake for the left-hand corner into the tunnel. Chicanes are also no good, the front end often leaves you without grip and the car struggles through the transients.
But things improve heaps once you are able to get back on the throttle and power towards the exit. The car becomes much better balanced, with most of the previous understeer gone. Also, the transition as you start to flatten the throttle is nicely free of handling vices. Lap time 1:26.1.
Carboneyes Tune
Before I go any further, Id just like reiterate that the tune was designed for Nurburgring, but this test is at Trial Mountain. So it isnt necessarily a bad tune if it doesnt suit this track (or my driving style...)
The most obvious improvement is the lack of dive under brakes. Front grip is still inconsistent until corner exit, but removing the added distraction body movement has made this easier to deal with. Like the default settings, the car doesnt flow nicely through the corners, however other drivers may prefer this as it can make the car feel more responsive to driver inputs.
As with the default settings, the car becomes nicely balanced exiting with full throttle. So this tune suits a driving style of braking and turning early, and getting back on the throttle often before the apex. Combined with the lack of any lag for turn-in, this means the car is can handle very predictably (except over bumps). Perhaps this style will suit the Nurburgring better than Trial Mountain, where I would prefer less understeer even with the reduced certainty that goes with it. It seems to me that the car has quite a bit of understeer at all stages, but during corner exit this is compensated for by the magic of the GT5 LSD.
The gearing was too tall for Trial Mountain, I didnt ever need to use 6th. But it might be a different story on that long final straight at Nurburgring.
My best time was 1:26.0. Not much difference on the stopwatch, but it is possible that some of the negatives are just a fact of life with his heavy car, maybe it is not possible to tune them out. I do feel that carboneyes tune has some worthwhile improvements.
To better suit the Challenger to Trial Mountain and my driving style, I made the following changes:
final gear: 2.77 (ok, maybe not enough for Nurburgring final straight)
LSD Accel: 15
ride height: -10 / -10
anti-roll: 1 / 3
rear camber: 0.5
rear toe: -0.20
brakes: 3 / 5
These do nothing to fix the problems of bump response and transients, however they free up the back end a bit and I was able to run a 1:25.6 with them. But maybe the predictability of understeer better suits the Nurburgring, anyway give them a try and see what you think.
Cheers,
Simon
