Revenge of the classics
The good Doctor makes 'em feel young again
Driver's note: I use the standard controller, no assists except ABS 1, manual transmission, and prefer to drive on the harder tire when a choice is given. Testing is done at Trial Mountain. Lap times are provided for comparison more than potential, I know I'm not the fastest guy in the game. I'm doing a self-tuned setup on the transmissions due to the last update changes, so my lap times may be a few tenths worse than they would be with a good transmission setup.
1954 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Coupe
Stock: 206 HP, 1295 kg, 398 PP, Comfort Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:54.860
Thoughts: In 1954, the 300 SL was the fastest production car available. No longer 1954, the stock SL can barely edge out the lap times of a modern stock Miata. It feels much heavier than it is, rocking like a boat when you make direction changes and chirping the Comfort Soft tires at modest corner speeds. There's no danger of losing control... just the danger of lulling yourself to sleep and forgetting to brake. It still looks beautiful, though.
Parts added, no settings changes: 377 HP, 1077 kg, 492 PP, Sports Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:38.572
Thoughts: OK, I had to laugh when adding front aero meant taking off the big chrome bumper. The extra parts made a big difference in the car, and it no longer felt sluggish at all. It was a little slow on corner entries and mid-corner, but still decent. On corner exit, the car had two modes: drift or understeer. The car definitely preferred to drift, which was fairly controllable, but the unexpected tire hook-up and understeer definitely slowed the lap times when it happened
Parts added, Tuned per Doctor's orders, 10 laps: HP, kg, PP, Sports Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:36.547
Thoughts: Though it still may not compete with new cars at the same PP, the Benz has turned into a very fun drive. It did take me several laps to get a feel for the car, as it's a pretty unique drive. The tendancy to drift has turned into the occasional back-end shimmy, and the understeer has been minimized nicely. Although the gearing seemed to me to be a bit too tall for this car's HP, it actually worked very well at the Mountain, making 2nd gear very usable without spins, and allowing me to shift a bit earlier into 5th to keep in the power band. Corner speeds are about what you would expect from a tuned car on sport softs, and the car is very comfortable and confident on corner entrance and exit. A very nice overall ride in every aspect of the track, and one of the more pleasent drives I've had in a classic car. (Self tuned transmission to a listed top speed of 198)
1964 Ginetta G4
Stock: 88 HP, 454 kg, 433 PP, Sports Hard Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:53.138
Thoughts: Light and powerless, but so light you take one look at the car and wonder what you could turn it into. Stock, it performs about as you'd expect from the numbers. It doesn't have enough power to be dangerous, it's very resposive and quick to turn, and stops on a dime. On the flip side, it doesn't have enough weight to give the tires good grip, so you're either getting a great speed in a corner if you're very smooth, or getting lateral drift if you twitch. This car feels like it would be more at home on a quick run on a mountain highway rather than on a track.
Parts added, no settings changes: 273 HP, 416 kg, 597 PP, Racing Soft Tires
Best Lap Time:1:32.929
Thoughts: I ran this with the same transmission I used in the tuned test, as hitting the red line for half a straight doesn't really give a good lap time comparison. The car is still quick and responsive, with very nice corner speeds and decent acceleration. However, the car loved to slide. mid-corner, entrance, or exit, the ar was either sliding or felt like it was about to. While the slide was generally controllable, it slowed the laps down a fair amount.
Parts added, Tuned per Doctor's orders, 10 laps: 273 HP, 416 kg, 597 PP, Racing Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:32.930
Thoughts: Now THIS is a fun car. It rails through corners, has pretty good speed, and stops on a dime. I had tried to tune this car previously, as nobody else had it set up. I failed, being that I'm not much of a tuner. Driving this car, with this tune, I firmly believe that if it had some downforce, it would be able to compete against the Elise. The only flaw in the car is the lack of downforce, as it's so light, it could really use some downward push to help the traction at high speed. The car also doesn't like rumble strips due to it's featherweight build, so a few corners had to be taken a little wider than I normally would. Truely a fun car, and great tune. (Self tuned transmission to a listed top speed of 196)
1966 Shelby Cobra 427
Stock: 496 HP, 1068 kg, 539 PP, Sports Hard Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:46.646
Thoughts: I believe it's a conspiracy... whenever a tire guy sees the Shelby Cobra, he automatically puts on Comfort Hard tires, regardless of what you paid for. It's the only way to explain the handling of this car. By the numbers, it should be pretty nice... good HP, low weight, decent stance. Instead, it's like accidentally bringing your roller skates to the ice rink. Doesn't matter if you're on the brakes, on the gas, coasting through a corner... the car will slide if you try to go fast.
Parts added, no settings changes: 743 HP, 918 kg, 586 PP, Race Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:30.887
Thoughts: So now we've got rocket powered roller skates with stickier wheels at the ice rink. Was this car built by Acme as custom Roadrunner chasing equipment? The Race Soft tires brought the lateral mid-corner slide into an almost controllable range, while the extra HP smoked the tires any time you punched the throttle in the power-band, regardless of the gear. The car is insanely fast, though, just not when the track has a turn.
Parts added, Tuned per Doctor's orders, 10 laps: 743 HP, 918 kg, 586 PP, Race Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:27.520
Thoughts: This car still has it's strengths and weaknesses. Still insanely fast, the monstrous accelleration makes you adjust your brake markers quite a bit. Although it feels like it takes forever to brake, the reality is that you're just going faster than you think. The car is now controllable on the throttle in 3rd-5th gear, while 2nd will still bite you if you don't respect it. Mid-corner speed is slightly below average, which is a nice improvement over where it was, and mid-corner slides are pretty much gone. The car's main weakness still is traction on corner entry, which feels like a combination of the huge braking required to slow it to corner speed, not enough weight to hold the cars down, and no downforce to assist. Because of those factors, I'm sure a driving adjustment is needed more than a tuning adjustment. If this was most other cars, the tune would be slightly below average for the end result. However, this was the dreaded Cobra, I give a big salute for bringing this beast to a controllable level with all of the available mods done, as it has the HP and weight of a group C Toyota GT-One on a narrow 45 year old chassis with no aerodynamics. There's still more speed to be had out of this car, but I find myself playing a bit conservative to avoid the wipe-out. (Self tuned transmission to a listed top speed of 260)
1969 Ford GT40
Stock: 512 HP, 998 kg, 579 PP, Racing Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:26.476
Thoughts: One of the best sounding cars in the game, this car is fast, but has some major weaknesses. Very strong in the straights, good braking, good accelleration, and very nice mid-corner speed. Unfortunately, if you even think about braking while the car is turning, ot powering out of a corner before straightening out, the back end will run away like a rear-engined RUF. Every bump in the car sends it hopping, and if you're in a turn, sliding. It seems like this car wants you treat corners as three seperate stages: Slow down, turn through the corner at steady throttle, then power out when you're straight. Any other way, and you're hanging onto this car like a cowboy at a rodeo.
Parts added, no settings changes: 550 HP, 998 kg, 591 PP, Racing Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:25.949
Thoughts: So, yeah, lets take a car that's hard to control on corner exit and give it turbo. Yeah. That sounds like a good idea. Basically, repeat everything said above, and add in a few drops of blood with some dizzyness and nausea. Oh, and will the owner of the Bugatti Veyron please return my front bumper? It's that red thing that was impact-welded into your back end when you parked it in turn 5.
Parts added, Tuned per Doctor's orders, 10 laps: 550 HP, 998 kg, 599 PP, Racing Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:23.633
Thoughts: This is one bad mamba-jamba. Powering out of corners in 3rd gear or higher is solid and stable, without a hint of spin or understeer, while 2nd gear provides a bit of controllable and predictable spin. You'll still get a slide braking into a corner, but it's been greatly reduced and is very easy to control direction even with the small slide. Corner speeds are pretty consistent with where they were before, but that was the cars strength to begin with. With these settings, it's now a very responsive handling machine, and very fast. I don't think I've hit my "wall" with this car; I'm sure I can go even faster with more time spent. Terrific tune on my favorite classic racer. (Self tuned transmission to a listed top speed of 224)