Mad FinnTuners Co.™ - Finished 301010 with GT-Rdammerung - BIG THANKS everyone!

[Leonidae]

I wouldn't be too certain. PD has done small deceptions before. it might not mean that there would be differences between the 96/98 spec ITR's, but that doesn't exclude the possibility that they both are off in similar way.

 

[CraftyLandShark]

Nor does that take into account the fact that a fully customized gearset is a HUGE benefit to a FWD car as it allows manipulation of timing and severity of wheelspin.

 

[stidriver]

^Not sure if the weight reduction was necessary for such a light car already. And the 98spec ITR received elongated 4th 5th gears combined with a 4.785 final drive compared to the 96spec 4.4:1, so I'm not sure of whether the custom gearbox was necessary either.

But at least the car's kept somewhat mildly tuned, which is all the Integra needs and you acknowledged that.

Also in 98's the wheel became 16 inchs over the 15 the 96's used. Making the tire a little taller.

 

[Leonidae]

too bad that taller profile won't help as much as wider would have..

 

[Kurei]

Honda Civic Type R '97

The Review ​

Well i came in here yesterday, and found out that Leo had recently released a new MFT car, and to my surprize it was a very clean looking Civic Type R !

I've always seemed to have a thing for FF's, especially well-built ones, so it caught my attention easily, I informed Leo that i would have a review for him today (hence this post)

The CTR was, to my best guess, built and designed for GVS, so i thought i might as well test it there first to see what it has to offer against Spoon's Civic

After about two 2'13 laps of experimenting and testing, i had a good impression, when driven right its handling response and cornering ability is superb, and braking is flawless, no understeer when treated properly, and acceleration is nice, since there's no 10,000 rpm limit i can drive it without getting a headache afterwords

I then decided to move to a course that the car wasn't exactly built for, Suzuka West

This is where i started having fun

As you know, Suzuka has a little bit of everything, namely a sharp left-turn hairpin about mid-way through, ususually a little awkward in a FF

But MFT's Civic actually handled it very nicely when you utilize the "Tuck-in" Technique, just drive the car by the book and you can actually have fun on that corner, it also handled the remainder of the course quite well, good grip on all four corners, and once again i didn't get a headache afterwords from an increased rpm limit.

Other than that, there was one thing i didn't like about it, but its out of your hands, that being the exhaust note, thank-you PD, for giving us a Type R powered by a hair-drier 👎

Other than that, i still look forward to simple but effective builds from you two 👍

 

[stidriver]

too bad that taller profile won't help as much as wider would have..

The tire did get wider 215/45/16 for 98 up from the 97 and older cars 195/55/15's.

 

[sukerkin]

Why is there an argument about tyre sizes developing here? GT4 is not a sim when all is said and done.

The non-race cars handle quite realistically in terms of their feel but remember this is a PS2 the game is running on - not much binary HP available.

Getting aggrivated with each other about minutiae of car stats is not very sensible when considered under that light.

 

[Leonidae]

Honda Civic Type R '97

The Review ​

Well i came in here yesterday, and found out that Leo had recently released a new MFT car, and to my surprize it was a very clean looking Civic Type R !

I've always seemed to have a thing for FF's, especially well-built ones, so it caught my attention easily, I informed Leo that i would have a review for him today (hence this post)

The CTR was, to my best guess, built and designed for GVS, so i thought i might as well test it there first to see what it has to offer against Spoon's Civic

After about two 2'13 laps of experimenting and testing, i had a good impression, when driven right its handling response and cornering ability is superb, and braking is flawless, no understeer when treated properly, and acceleration is nice, since there's no 10,000 rpm limit i can drive it without getting a headache afterwords

I then decided to move to a course that the car wasn't exactly built for, Suzuka West

This is where i started having fun

As you know, Suzuka has a little bit of everything, namely a sharp left-turn hairpin about mid-way through, ususually a little awkward in a FF

But MFT's Civic actually handled it very nicely when you utilize the "Tuck-in" Technique, just drive the car by the book and you can actually have fun on that corner, it also handled the remainder of the course quite well, good grip on all four corners, and once again i didn't get a headache afterwords from an increased rpm limit.

Other than that, there was one thing i didn't like about it, but its out of your hands, that being the exhaust note, thank-you PD, for giving us a Type R powered by a hair-drier 👎

Other than that, i still look forward to simple but effective builds from you two 👍

I'm thankful for this review. I certainly did more tinkering with this car than many others, since FF's are tough nut to crack.. unless it's Focus RS which will crack you.. In Grey's hands it was hardly faster than mine, it just didn't suite his driving style, but it seems that you seem to have some sort of harmony with my tune ups, just like STidriver does. keep up the good job! 👍

and yes, ask and I shall deliver if there's need for a car..

 

[Megasoft Office]

Getting aggrivated with each other about minutiae of car stats is not very sensible when considered under that light.

We were contemplating whether bolting on unnecessary/too many modifications qualifies as tuning. I did not imply an insult.

 

[Leonidae]

If the car will not start handling in the way I want, I will bolt as many parts as I see necessary, or sell the car if the tinkering seems to be fruitless. There's not that many cars where I've given up due the lack of response to tuning, but there's few.. Ford GT and Cizeta come to mind..

 

[Skygrasper550]

Review of Civic Type R EK9 '97:

the car is great, it is stable on Citta' di Aria.., i messed around with the settings a bit, and found it "destroying the car's balance".., i'm very impressed, wheelspin is almost gone in 2nd gear, just need a bit of throttle control to get rid of it.., handling?? it ate the esses one by one.., i was amazed, very.., 👍👍 could use a little more speed though..,

9/10

 

[viperpilot]

i'm sorry for not reviewing or posting in the last weeks, but i have absolutely no time for testing and my GT4-cd doesn't work anymore!

viper

 

[sukerkin]

We were contemplating whether bolting on unnecessary/too many modifications qualifies as tuning. I did not imply an insult.

Ah, my mistake - I misread the content it seems .

 

[Leonidae]

Review of Civic Type R EK9 '97:

the car is great, it is stable on Citta' di Aria.., i messed around with the settings a bit, and found it "destroying the car's balance".., i'm very impressed, wheelspin is almost gone in 2nd gear, just need a bit of throttle control to get rid of it.., handling?? it ate the esses one by one.., i was amazed, very.., 👍👍 could use a little more speed though..,

9/10

well, now that you have tested both the Spoon and this, which one would be The Civic?

 

[Kurei]

well, now that you have tested both the Spoon and this, which one would be The Civic?

That reminds me as well, i was going to test both Spoon's and Your Civic, but ran out of time yesterday, luckly i still have your Civic and might be able to run the test later this afternoon

As for a car request, i may have one for you later today in a PM, but i have like 5 in reserve, if only Engine swaps were allowed in GT4

 

[Greycap]

Other than that, there was one thing i didn't like about it, but its out of your hands, that being the exhaust note, thank-you PD, for giving us a Type R powered by a hair-drier 👎

That's why my Integra has the semi-racing exhaust fitted. Yes, this is a hint aimed at you.

The Civic has also partly confirmed a theory of mine, the theory being that the amount of reviews depends as much, maybe even more, on the name of the car than on how good it is. Unfortunate for the "grey sparrows" but true.

 

[Leonidae]

That reminds me as well, i was going to test both Spoon's and Your Civic, but ran out of time yesterday, luckly i still have your Civic and might be able to run the test later this afternoon

As for a car request, i may have one for you later today in a PM, but i have like 5 in reserve, if only Engine swaps were allowed in GT4

Go ahead with that. tomorrow will be busy day, I need to do finishing touches on atleast two cars and proceed with third one. Lucky thing is that our week-long vacation starts tomorrow.. well, actually it started today.

 

[Kurei]

I didn't know you released an Integra Greycap, when i looked up the settings i didn't even remember seeing its picture, i must've skipped it somewhere, but i'll be sure to test it tomorrow , its Exam week here at school so the last part of this week has been all half-days, hence why i finally got the time to test some cars and drive again

Edit* Yep, turns out i just missed it on the last page, i must've been in a hurry or something

If this weekend stays as free as it looks, i may be able to test some others i've been wanting to also

Now, as for the Spoon vs. MFT question, i got the Spoon Civic and slightly built/tuned it up to be fair game with MFT's, then went to GVS and Suzuka West just like yesterday, driving the Spoon Civic first

Its handling was similar, but more stiff and rigid, like a purpose-built car, acceleration was a little bit faster, thanks to the increased rpm level (which caused another headache, something about that pitch gets to me), but in terms of braking the MFT Civic was far better to me.

When driving MFT's Civic around Suz.w, i constantly found myself catching the Spoon ghost in the corners from being able to brake at a later point and still match the speeds, i felt like a was re-defining bumper tag

But in the end, honestly, i have to say despite individual advantages, they have to be dead-on equal with one another, The Spoon has better acceleration, but MFT's braking fought it back, and both car's handling were equal as well, with the Spoon having a stiffer feeling, while MFT's kept its street-ability

Also, i've got my car Leo, i'll PM it to you soon so you have it when ready

 

[Skygrasper550]

well, now that you have tested both the Spoon and this, which one would be The Civic?

can't compare, still tinkering with my Spoon though.., i have to say, for now my favor goes to your Civic, because of its handling.., 👍 i shall admit defeat for the first time.., you may have won the battle but the war's not over yet!!

 

[Leonidae]

EG6_Dude or what his name was would agree with you..

 

[Kurei]

Well, i finished testing your Integra Greycap, and i gotta say im impressed, especially with how much traction it has everywhere, and i was surprised to look down at the settings and see the LSD's Initial Torque set to 5

I've never driven such a nice car with an LSD like that, ever, with it being a powerful Integra and not so strong LSD, i was expecting wheelspin from it, but when i didn't get any, you could see why my expression during testing was ->

And of course the idea of running it against the Spoon ITR came to me, i ran it, and beat it by a nice 1 second, no surprise knowing you guys 👍

Then it struck me 💡 (maybe you've already done this though)

What would happen if i ran Leo's CTR against Greycaps ITR ?

What happened was an even closer race than that of MFT CTR vs. Spoon's, with the CTR taking lead for about the first half of GVS, and the ITR taking it back and then running away during the last quarter

Needless to say it got my blood for good motorsports flowing again, expect a test of the Mines R35 and Nissan R390 Super car soon

 

[Skygrasper550]

its Exam week here at school so the last part of this week has been all half-days, hence why i finally got the time to test some cars and drive again

so, it's exam week at your place, too?? mine also, i don't have the time to play, but i will give Greycap's Integra a shot soon too.., Type R rules!!

 

[Rotary Junkie]

SIVIK ESS EYE TYPE ARR MOOGIN, you say?

Had to.

Type R means Epic Fail unless it's on an Integra, IMO. Might test Grey's.

~Kyle

 

[Leonidae]

Well, I'm not surprised that Grey's ITR is faster than my CTR. After all, the integra is one notch higher in the performance ladder than Civic. And about Mines Concept Vs Carbon Creature.. well, the Mines will be totally defeated.

 

[Greycap]

Well, i finished testing your Integra Greycap, and i gotta say im impressed, especially with how much traction it has everywhere, and i was surprised to look down at the settings and see the LSD's Initial Torque set to 5

I've never driven such a nice car with an LSD like that, ever, with it being a powerful Integra and not so strong LSD, i was expecting wheelspin from it, but when i didn't get any, you could see why my expression during testing was ->

Thanks, I knew I could trust you! 👍

The LSD setup is a weird but known thing, the values are actually the exact same ones as used in the stock differential of the car. The fully customizable LSD just gives a bit more traction, no idea why but it does. I also tried it with slightly higher acceleration values but the manoeuvrability began taking damage so I left it as it is.

And of course the idea of running it against the Spoon ITR came to me, i ran it, and beat it by a nice 1 second, no surprise knowing you guys 👍

Then it struck me 💡 (maybe you've already done this though)

What would happen if i ran Leo's CTR against Greycaps ITR ?

What happened was an even closer race than that of MFT CTR vs. Spoon's, with the CTR taking lead for about the first half of GVS, and the ITR taking it back and then running away during the last quarter

I've been thinking about making myself an Integra race car using the Spoon as a starting point but I'll have to give it another thought as my own version indeed is faster and a big part of the difference is the seemingly better weight distribution of it. About the CTR vs. ITR thing, we've surely done it. When I was driving the Integra won by a second and some change, when the driver was changed the situation was also reversed. The time for the Civic was very similar from both of us but I managed to rip two extra seconds out of the Integra.

Oh, and there was that rumour about the test driver using the special cams... it wasn't just a rumour. But it made a good part of the story.

 

[Kurei]

Well, I'm not surprised that Grey's ITR is faster than my CTR. After all, the integra is one notch higher in the performance ladder than Civic. And about Mines Concept Vs Carbon Creature.. well, the Mines will be totally defeated.

Well im not going to test them against each other, just those are the 2 i'll test next, after that i plan on starting at the top of the list and working my way down testing the ones that stick out to me

I should have the Mines R35 review up hopefully later today

 

[Leonidae]

Now that was a nice thing to hear. It seems that people have forgotten that we have first post full of old cars that also need some reviews from time to time. *wink wink, nudge nudge to everyone*

 

[Kurei]

Just finished throughly testing the Mine's R35, and it didn't go so well

I built and tuned it up to spec, and then first headed out to Tokyo for the first test, got onto the main straight, and was impressed with the acceleration, it rivals that of electric cars almost, then approached that very sharp right-hander, hit the brakes and started slowing down, about half-way towards the corner i realized that im not slowing down fast enough, pushed the brakes harder but got no response, not good, i pushed the brakes all the way and prayed the GT-R's computer would at least save me as i steered away

Some how the car still managed to turn and i exited out mere inches from left wall, right on top of the corners rumble strip, thank the racing gods, so i blew off the incident as driver error on my part, and continued on

Came up to that next S-Curve, hit the brakes well ahead of where i needed just to be safe, but the same thing, it felt like the brakes were faded, and i plowed through the corner just missing the walls, but came out with too much speed after hitting the rumble strip, and spun out on the following straight away, now i was suspecting somethings up with this car

I bring it back to my garage, double check the settings, everythings set right, then head out to Infineon, and i ran into the same issue again, but also found a trick to making the GT-R obey me, when your in a turn, if you turn the wheel even more, i think the computer kicks in a gives you extra oversteer, making it easier to follow a line you want, but there's a problem with that, if you turn too much or start pushing the limit of the tires, they give out on you and all you get is understeer

After it was all said and done, i think i realized why the car handles so weird, The ratio between Power, Grip, and Braking potential just isn't a good one, there's too much power for the brakes, all the necessary braking wears the tire grip to a point where the tires can't help much, and then there's not enough grip to control it

Its got potential though, i will say that, its a good car, but its overall balance isn't good enough for it to shine unless you force it to with excessive steering, but as i mentioned that causes other problems

Overall it'd be about a 6.8/10, its there but its not good

 

[Leonidae]

Figures.. it was my response to competing garages tune with similar power and parts.. The power indeed is too much for the tyres, and I felt that stock gearbox has enough ratios to keep it going from any speed. I think I know your flaw in this case though.. you were expecting another Grim R34per, and that mindset bit your butt rather hard.

 

[Kurei]

That could be, i still can't forget how obediant R34per was

Anyways, The Carbon Creature is on the chopping block for tomorrow , then i start from the top of the list checking out the unique ones

Edit*

I've finished my test before the thread was bumped, and since i'd like to do a few more tests before the day is done i want to get this review out of the way, but i'd rather not double-post, hence the edit

ANYWAYS !!!, Moving on


Nissan R390/870GT Review

If looks could kill, this thing would be a perfect 10/10, but as they say, looks aren't everything

I decided to test at GVS again (i think you guys are getting me hooked on the course with all my testing), I come out of the tunnel and approach that S-Curve that follows, the engine roaring, i hit the brakes, downshift, turn-in, and the car follows nicely, no jerk or understeer

Then the rear end breaks loose, I correct it and turn right, give it a little gas, and i get just a tad bit of understeer, apparently this car is a little twitchy, i get onto the main straight after hitting that right-hand sweeper a little drifting half-way through, and floor it, the car quickly reaches 190 mph, then 200, and the car starts shaking like mad, similar to the F1 car at the same speed (Anyone know if its caused by some glitch in the game or what?)

The shaking settles out as a hit the brakes, slowing down for the upcoming corner, and continue on with the test, finding out that this car only likes to brake in a dead-on straight line, and that the steering felt a little loose, maybe its because its a turbo but im not really sure

Then i headed out to Japan again, heading for the Twin Ring Motegi Road course, which is where the car started to really shine. Due to the course having many straight, stop n' go corners this is were the car handled its best, floor it, brake hard, let off gently and turn, exit corner, floor it again, rinse and repeat.

Really basic but really fast, fast enough to cause damage if in in-experienced hands, but amazing in the right ones, Its a good car, about a 8/10, just needs respect and its element (straight-line braking) to shine

Up next will be the Le mans Quattro concept