Just a few hours ago I've finally done my testing on both the cars featured in this week's rivalry. I've seen some of the posts here indicating that so far, the Vette has been dominating. While the R35 does have amazing grip and handling, it's the Vette's engine and power/weight ratio that helps it take the win in the courses used so far. With that in mind, I picked a course wherein the GT-R could stand a chance. A track that's technical and full of low- to mid-speed corners. So I brought both cars over to
Autumn Ring.
I drove both cars
bone stock, using
S:H tires,
all driving aids Off including TCS but ABS set to 1, and the only thing I changed in the settings are the
brake balances (I used
2 F / 3 R on both cars to allow me to trailbrake easily).
First off is the GT-R. And true enough, its handling and setup are perfect for this track. I was able to get a very consistent line, and what I love about this car is that it has very predictable and manageable understeer. You can feel that the car is telling that you are going wide, and so you have to slow down. Once you've slowed down enough, the awesome grip just kicks in again and you're off.
Ater 6 laps or so I've clocked in a time of
1:23.856.
Okay, time now for the Vette. Right from the get-go, I noticed the difference in acceleration, with the Vette's of course being significantly superior. What I've also noticed is that, because the car is FR compared to the GT-R's AWD drivetrain, the Vette is able to get a higher mid-apex speed around Autumn Ring's round corners. Of course you can increase its slip angle slightly by using the power to make the car drift a little bit, but this requires incredibly precise driving. It's at the tight consecutive corners and chicanes where the Vette loses, because it's a lot less stable than the GT-R. I found myself tapping the brakes in chicane entries just so I could keep the car stable and not lose traction. After around the same number of laps, I was really surprised at the result.
I'm like "Whaaaaaaatt???
" The Vette managed to clock in a faster lap time of
1:23.732. Desperate to see what sort of witchcraft the Vette used, I took out the GT-R again for a 2nd run.
This time I tried to brake as late as I can, used more finesse on the brakes when trailbraking and be very gentle with the throttle when attacking the round corners. And this time, I got a faster lap time while being very consistent.
I have to admit, I was impressed with myself after I got that
1:23.249. I didn't think I could push the car any harder than that, and so I switched over to the Vette to give it another go, just to be fair.
One thing I noticed about the Vette is, similar to real life, it is NOT ideal for technical courses. You have to be alot more precise with the throttle input, or else you'll just end up spinning the tires and losing traction. My lap times were a lot less consistent, because whenever I attempted to push the car just a little bit harder, I end up going wide on corner entries, or just spin the tires on corner exits. This was the best I could do.
While the
1:23.628 was faster compared to the first run, it was not enough to beat the GT-R. I then looked back at the runs and thought that I seemed to have just gotten lucky on the Vette's lap times, because my runs on that car were less consistent. That's not to say that the Vette is a bad car; it's an awesome car, just not suited around Autumn Ring and such.
Final comments:
I'm not so sure, but I think the Vette does stand a chance against the GT-R at Autumn Ring, provided that the player is using a wheel setup instead of a standard DS3 controller, and has amazing throttle control. While I was doing the laps, even though the GT-R has a higher exit speed out of corners, the Vette's power and weight advantage allows it to have a higher entry speed before braking hard on corner entries. Plus it's RWD, so trailbraking is more manageable. However, the GT-R's brakes are slightly more powerful which allows it to counter that. I think it's fair to say that the cars are somewhat evenly matched when racing in Autumn Ring. Which is sad to say, because I was really hoping that the GT-R would be much, much faster around here.
