Evo IV:
Before the settings, the car was--well, fanstastic, actually. The engine note and the transmission gave the car's acceleration a very athletic feeling. The cornering was impressively swift for a 4WD, with high cornering speeds and lift-throttle oversteer if a driver is a hint too late with the brakes. The transmission felt a hint too tall for the power of the car, and this made it fairly difficult to properly guage how well the Evo handled. The handling/thrust ratio is too high to figure anything out.
After the settings, things became a bit... odd. To start, the transmission seems to give slightly improved acceleration, but the top speed is exactly the same, and the top speed is still too high, a rarity in Greycap's products. In the corners, however, things begin to brighten up a bit. The car feels more tightened-down; The weight transfer, which I didn't even notice as a problem in the stock tune, has been brought down to a rewarding amount. The lift-throttle oversteer still remains, but is quelled to maintain momentum at all times. There is less margin of error for too-late braking, but it still takes talent to make a fatal mistake. When the throttle is used in the latter half of the corner, the car dispenses zero speed-robbing oversteer, but negligable understeer as well. The highish AYC settings allow a bit of power-oversteer in low-speed corners, exactly where it's wanted.
But, as this was labelled as a rallyist as well as a tarmac sprinter, the car couldn't be left without some time off the tarmac. Stock, the Evo IV feels like it's made to rally (most likely due to the fact that it
is made to rally); There is quite a bit of grip, and the loss of grip is progressive and predictable to a remarkable degree. Even at high speeds, there wasn't a hint of the "Suprise Understeer Attack" that is so widely despised of GT4's rallying physics. The car was fastest with very little oversteer, a precision tool which is meant to be used gently, with barely any oversteer. The tuned version, when driven as an exquisite high-speed drill, is scarcely any swifter through the twisty bits as the stock version. It feels harder to control, as well; the tail wants to step out constantly, and the harder rear suspension makes the handling a touch more unpredictable. Honestly, it's dissappointing. If it's horrible as a high-speed drill, I'll at least enjoy myself and whip it rediculously sideways through the bends, driving it as a sledgehammer instead. I plow into the lowish-speed corner, basically in sync with my ghost, completely disregard caution with the steering, and reach a full 80 degrees of drift angle, forcing myself to
guess which direction I'm actually heading (Front view: wall. Rear view: other wall. Useless, really). I come out of the turn, discovering the ease with which I can recover from huge angles, and note that I can't see my ghost in front of me. I, unthinking, tap the rear view button, expecting not to find my ghost. Bingo, he's a tiny blue dot in the distance of the dust cloud. I smile broadly, and do the same thing in the next, high-speed turn, and...
My ghost rockets past. What?
So, there are two oddities: The transmission is set too high, something I've never seen of Greycap before; and he's made the car behave horribly in high-speed rally turns (Either you drift and slow down dramatically, or you have to force the car not to drift, which is just irritating.), something I'd expect him to smooth over. But I've got both figured out: It's the WRC theme that he's built this car with. He limited the power to the WRC's official standards, but the low power is uncharacteristic of his tuning style. He knows that we'll all eventually get bored with just 295 hp in such a capable car, and that we will add power. And he's tuned it for that exact increase.
Consider the Gentleman's Agreement, made by all Japanese car manufacturers. It basically stated that no Japanese car maker would make a car with over 276 hp. A Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 is advertised, with a wink and a grin, to have 276 hp. Nissan, however, sneakily stuffed another 30 or so hp into the car, and the GT-R is better for it. That is exactly the situation we have here: Greycap has advertised dinminished power figures for the sake of the Health and Safety Department. If you're willing to let your hair down, break the WRC Regs, and toss a rice cannon (or a hairdryer if you prefer) onto the Mitsu, it will come into its own as a complete tune.
I very much like it.👍
Also, it becomes a fun 4WD drift when tossed on N tires. Basically foolproof as a whole, but will generate impressive angle and smoke if driven bravely (
Bravely, not 'skillfully.') enough. Just don't countersteer much; you're still in a 4WD.
Bonus points to whomever finds the point where I switched from third person passive narration to first person narration.
Next will come the Volkswagen.