turning off mic audio helps too...but it wouldn't be as fun. I'm OK with turning off visible damage. Also, I usually set the game to "high" not "very high", and the mic audio to "low". You can drive side-by-side just fine with the game on "high". I've never tried the lower settings before but I wonder if they help. I'll experiment with that on a regular 450 night.
I tested a few cars at Trial Mountain. In practice mode, I was only hitting mid-1:55 but most cars were high-1:56. I still don't have the Mini Cooper to test though. This track is very tricky on comfort tires. I think we will have significantly more incidents next week as it is extremely difficult to run 2-wide through the bumpy esses.
I'm still undecided about FR vs FF. On this track, the old FR cars really can't handle the ess turn before the start/finish. If you push it full throttle, they run wide and/or unload the rear and spin around. I experienced this with both the Honda 1300 and the Isuzu 117. Both of these cars also require lifting off the throttle to stay on the track before the first tunnel. They gain time in other places on the track but still end up about 1 second off pace. The FF cars I tested could run full throttle down the entire front section of the track with the first brake point being entry into the tunnel. They require less finesse to make fast lap times but I did run the tires into the red on my best laps. I guess the only thing left to test is a 10-15 lap average to see whether tire wear is a factor on this track.
