FR vs. MR

[milefile]

Which do you like? For me I'd have to say FR. My favorite cars are FR... Vipers and TVRs, to name a few. Not that I don't like MRs. I do. The GT One is awesome, Lotuses are great, too. And I can't forget the GT40. But there is something about their center of gravity that doesn't suit me well. With practice I can control some of the more tricky MRs like the Elises (the Toyota GT One is a breeze to control as is the R390 GT1) but I still make the same mistakes in the same places, especially long, fast, bumpy turns like right after the 1st tunnel on Midfield; it's some kind of mental block I guess. But the FRs seem like a natural fit for me. I can anticipate what they will do and driving them is intuitive. The Cerbera LM on Trial Mountain, for instance, is one of my favorite runs, or the Taisan on Seattle Circuit . But if I take the Elise GT1 out anywhere, I suck. I get better with practice, but it's slow-going and frustrating so I don't subject myself to it very often.

I could go on about what I like about MRs, too, but I'll let somebody who prefers them do it.

I thought of posting a poll but numbers don't interest me. Lets hear reasons.

 

[Pupik]

* (Please note beforehand I am no master of physics, I have taken college level physics courses, but I was no expert. So if anything is wrong, just feel free to say so. These are just my notes and findings on MR and FR.)

MR is the ideal method of distributing weight along the plane of a car's chassis.

Front of car
Front suspension
Cockpit with driver
Engine & transmission
Rear suspension
Back of car

If you mark all these weights on a graph, and join the points together, you get something close to a bell curve. Statistically, it's just right, but it also means forces pushing on the car in all directions are going to have the greatest effect on the weightiest part of the car, the center. Lose the center, and you're spinning faster than a turntable.

But you can really put in some devastatingly quick times with an MR. I say you can make up for all the disadvantages your car may have (heavy, under-powered) by having the mid-engined, rear-wheel drive layout.

Look at how the NSX GT's keep up with the Supras and Skylines. Check out the Concept Car LM, or the del Sol LM, if you have it. The '98 MR2 GT-S is one helluva quick car, the Elise/Esprit GT1, the XJR15...so many under-rated cars to name.

I think the key to keeping MR cars on the track is to gently move them, it's not as much about raw entry speed as it is about keeping the car changing direction smoothly. The more effort you put into turning MR cars, the greater chance of a spinout.

Now FR (Front-engined, rear-wheel drive) follows the same "bell curve" notion, but there's less weight in the center (represented by the driver); the heavy stuff (transmission and engine) are located more towards the ends of the car.

The car is a little more stable, but more prone to understeer since the engine represents a fair bit of the total weight. The rear isn't quite as heavy, and shaking the front to a higher degree than the rear can cause unsteadiness.

FR is quite ideal, when you have a nice balance between front and rear. The AE86, Miatas, Elans are great learning tools for learning the FR ropes (although the Trueno may give you a slightly warped idea!). Why? Because the car is:

Overall lightweight = light engine + small shape/size + small tranny/drivetrain

On the other end of the FR spectrum, cars like the Speed 12 have a massive 7.7-liter V12 engine wrapped around a composite body. Figure the total weight of the car, and then figure that the engine represents a large percentage of the total. It’s a mismatch; all that power is transferred through a rather light rear-end. Spinout City, if you don’t have this concept of weight balance and distribution!

MR vs. FR, just like apples and oranges…they grow on different trees, they taste different, and heck, you even eat them differently!

 

[askia47]

I personaly like MRs better as they accelerate better, even though hard to handle, and the FR drive- train seems slow and no resposive to me.

 

[Davey]

Arghhhhhh.....so tough.


My favorite cars in the game are MR; Elises, GT-ONE, Venturis......but I generally like FRs more. I mean, they have teh greats lke the TVRs and Vipers, andthey have the middle class like th Silvias and S2000, and they all own. MR is better in the low hp range though- stock Elises, AZ-1, Cappucino, Beat, etc.

 

[Option2]

Accelerate hard, brake hard, turn, accelerate hard........

 

[milefile]

"...long, fast, bumpy turns..."

 

[Joey]

i like FR better than MR, but the cars that tend to be MR are cooler.

 

[Burnout]

not true j2s.

FR cars are much cooler then mr's, by far

 

[milefile]

Well on the one hand you've got the Vipers, the TVRs, the Supras, 300ZX, Altezza LM, RX7... and on and on. All very cool cars.

And on the other hand you've got the GT One (as if you need any more), the R390 GT1, The GT40, NSX... also very cool cars.

They're both cool. But the FRs are cooler

 

[Klonie Gun]

MRs all the way. Their handling is easier and can accelerate quicker than FRs.

 

[LoudMusic]

I've got three words for you.

Formula One

 

[Klonie Gun]

Dude, we are talking about FRs and MRs GT2 style not GT3.

 

[LoudMusic]

Son of a ... that's like the tenth time I have posted in the GT2 forums when I thought it was GT3 ...

SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION!

 

[Pupik]

Yeah, right....newbie.

Formula One is two words, by the way.

Admit it, you really like GT2 better.

 

[askia47]

sadly we will all convert to GT3 A-Spec when everbody gets PS2

 

[Klonie Gun]

Rightttt....................

 

[Race Idiot]

Double post you damn...........er.
Bollocks.

 

[Race Idiot]

I couldnt choose between the 2.
I mean on one hand you have the FR cars such as the Cerebra, Supra, Corvette, Lister storm. And then you have the MR cars Lotus elise, esprit, venturis and all those Le-mans spec cars. ALthough I do find the MR cars slightly easyer to drive to get fast times. Wheras the FR cars arent as fast but fun and challenging, I just like both too much to choose between the 2. BTW Pupik that was a good explanation of the differences it was very enligtening to read.

 

[Shannon]

I agree with Race Idiot. :thumbsup:

 

[Roo]

I prefer the lower hp FR's handling. Nismo 270R, Toyota Chaser, Nissan Silvia etc. and the Zanarvi Silvia. But not the Viper. Too twitchy. Oh, and the Nismo GTR LM Road car is rubbish; too long gears for the 306hp engine

 

[skynyrd]

Originally posted by askia47
sadly we will all convert to GT3 A-Spec when everbody gets PS2

Not completely true. I've got a PS2 and GT3, and I still prefer GT2. Why? Probably the almost complete lack of cars that I actually like. They left out pretty much every one of my favorite cars from GT2, and completely screwed the ones they did include in GT3. Sure, GT3's really pretty and all, but that doesn't mean a thing to me when GT2 is still there.

Anyway, back to the topic. I prefer MR cars, like the Elise GT1, Motorsport Elise, GT90, GT40, etc. The Speed 12 is very fun to drive though, as long as you can control it. Easy powerslides

I like the ability to take a corner too fast and slide around it with the back of the car hanging out. It's more fun that way. It's harder for me to do that with FR cars.

 

[Joey]

because ther weight distribution is jacked (in most cases).
there's always the Infini III Savanna RX-7, which has perfect 50 / 50....

 

[SpeedRaca]

Look at the one difference between fr and mr - the position of the engine. so technically speaking less weight over the front wheels which means less oversteer, more understeer, and close to perfect weight balance.

Thats great if you want to drive like racers do in real life, but this is not real life.

The first thing I noticed with the nsx was that the front was too light and "skatey". MR cars are quite 'technical' i.e theyre great for driving under and close to the limit, but not much fun if, like most people here, you enjoy driving OVER the limit e.g. gettin a bit sideways

 

[Pupik]

MR cars score quite high on the Oh **** Factor (OSF).

 

[SpeedRaca]

Whats that?

 

[Option2]

Originally posted by SpeedRaca
Whats that?

It could be....

A) Oh ****! Followed by a spin.....


~Or~

B) Oh ****! Look at that car!.......

 

[askia47]

probably B) Oh ****! Look at that car!.......

 

[SpeedRaca]

LOL

 

[Pupik]

Nah, it was A) ...followed by a spin. Then again, I've lost control of an FF car in real-life.

 

[SpeedRaca]

Last night drivin home from my g/f's place I was in one of my psycho moods.. happens alot.. anyways b/c of playing gt1 Ive actually started getting into real life drifting...

We have this massive wide 90 degree corner near my place which you can practice your handbrakes on anyways last night I tried that whole turn, brake, accelerate routine. didnt work but produced a nicely satisfying 180 at about 60 k's