Just a short review of the
Amuse S2000 R1 '04. Been a while sice the PS3 had a life beyond standby so there were a lot of seasonals to catch up on and some new cars from you guys to try.
The 500PP FR ones seemed like a good proving ground for the Amuse, even if a bit of detuning and worse tyres were required. I will get to that bit later, though.
First, as intended, with the right tyres and the right power (and the right track). To sum it up, the car certainly passes the long distance racing tet - it is, with SS tyres at least, a very effective piece of kit, which will not bite once you learn a couple of peculiarities. While both understeer and oversteer are possible, the grip levels are enormous and the speeds through the top of hill chicane unmatched by cars without front downforce in this PP category in my hands. 👍
In fast corners an appropriate entry speed and a solidly engaged throttle should suffice to see you through stress free. If you feather the throttle or only have it applied lightly, the nose will start pushing wide (talking slightly slower corners here). As long as the loud pedal has lots of go, a soli shove should suffice to change the attitude to one of mild oversteer, which is controllable as long as you step in in time.
In slower corners, like at the entry into the first tunnel, a finer throttle control is required, since you will have the back coming round very suddenly otherwise. While a reasonably smooth track like the GVS masks this somewhat, a rougher road circuit certainly makes the oversteer in slower corners more of an issue to be managed.
Finally many of the corners that would require lifting in other cars at similar PP ratings can be taken flat out and braking, even from high speeds (for the first corner, for instance) is a doddle and the car remains stable throughout. 👍
Now back to the changes if the wrong, i.e. unintended SH tyres are used. As mentioned I used the car for the 500PP FR championship, which then also meant a detuned power.
Here the basic traits are still there but amplified. On some tracks like the R246 the car absolutely flies and my best lap with SHs is similar to some of your 500 tunes on SSs, which is impressive indeed - with a bit of extra practice I could probably get it down even more. Sure, I did not manage to navigate he Asakasa Palace chicane at 200 kmh or so and the last corner needs to be taken with a bit more care to not lose speed for the straight due to oversteer but otherwise the car truly flies!
Other circuits, like the Asa, required a lot more practice. Late braking is an absolute no go, as it will have the car understeer into the weeds, while early braking will mostly ensure enough grip for you to overtake opponents on the outside of corners, which is quite impressive.
This last bit is more of a side interest - as intended I can say the car performs brilliantly, and it has definitely earned a solid place on my favourites list. Not twitchy to the point of a constantly raised pulse but also not laid back to the extent to make it boring, with excellent grip and handling (compensating for the less than stellar acceleration, in spite of the excellent gear ratios), what's not to like? 👍