I'm usually much more interested in other aspects of the update. What new single-player events do we get? Are there BoP changes? Any new features that make the game more enjoyable? We won't know any of that until the update drops. I'm suspending judgement until then.
Quit being so
rational. Haha
Ho hum, I'm somewhat underwhelmed by this update but you can't win them all I guess
What are you (and others saying the same thing) underwhelmed about? The cars we still aren't sure about? The unannounced changes we don't know about? The undocumented changes we haven't seen? It's impressive to be let down by something that you don't know anything about. Talk about putting effort into being disappointed.
The Evoution VII, VIII, IX and X especially are considerably heavier than the VI and earlier models. The same is true for the WRX STI family of cars with newer being fatter. Again, modern safety equipment and advanced technology escalated fast during this era. It’s felt on the circuit because weight ultimately impacts the driving experience.
You might find yourself enjoying the Evolution IX because it’s fast and fun, which I’m not trying to say it isn’t. However, now switch to Evolution IV and notice how pure it feels in comparision despite having slightly less power. That’s lower weight and smaller size doing the talking. So, I’ll take sedan body Evolution VIII over wagon any day.
All of this is true, but in a vacuum you would be hard pressed to be swayed by the differences between a V and an VIII unless you jumped right from one to the other. I've only had seat time in 9s and 10s (US), but I'm sure that the earlier, lighter versions are simply better at changing direction than the later ones, but if you're not mired in a pile of EVOs of all generations 99% of people aren't going to be bothered by a 20kg weight gain. FWIW Mischa Charoudin just lapped the 'Ring in an EVO 9 wagon and it's the
best EVO he's ever driven, and one of the best handling cars he's ever driven full stop. High praise considering the source.
What it boils down to for a lot of us is that wagons are awesome. Performance wagons are double-awesome. And having the option in game would be cool even if it doesn't mean anything more than seeing a big-brick-butt driving around in the replay. Let's not forget that early GTs were pretty wagon heavy as well. Lots of good memories of wringing out WRX and Legacy B4 wagons.
IRL an EVO 8-9 wagon is on my
very short list of next vehicles. They are simply one of those "good at everything" vehicles like Audi RS wagons that appeal to enthusiasts that like to haul a lot of junk in their cars quickly! Just wish they made a LHD wagon.
As for the update, we still don't even know what these cars are exactly (with the possible exception of the GT-R) so those choosing to be disappointed or underwhelmed by are just spouting debbie-downer nonsense. As always, PD announces the cars and maybe a track, but we don't find out the real meat and potatoes of the update until it actually drops.
I am optimistic that there will be some major physics changes in this one, and there's no reason to think otherwise based on previous updates/fixes. If they don't do anything about the physics I'll eat my words, but PD will be more out-to-lunch than previously thought. There is no way that the issues with 1.50 aren't very well known at PD HQ.
At the end of the day, I would really like to drive
any of the EVOs in game again.