Recently took the time to grind 15,000,000 Cr. for the Shelby Daytona and wow, the car feels awful. It just feels like a Gr.3 car with leaf spring suspension. I actually find this issue worse if you drive with a controller, because it just makes the car feel super twitchy. I absolutely agree with anyone that says GT Sports physics are the best they have been in the series... but I swear I remember vintage cars in past games feeling a little bit more believable than this?
This is what the car handles like with the default setup and tires, with no assists. (except ABS). Notice how twitchy the car is by having so much grip, and how I can press the throttle as hard as I want on corner exit, and have no risk of the car sliding out. Not even a little bit. The car is almost boring to drive because of this, and makes me wonder why anyone would want to buy this considering the price.
Default setup with a Wheel (G29)
Now compare this to the real counterpart:
It's not that the physics in GT are bad, but the tire model on the car (Which are modeled as vintage bias ply Goodyear tires for some reason) is lazy. PD aren't taking advantage of their own physics engine. I wondered if I could somehow fix this by equipping street tires, so I did a bit of trial and error to find a combination that made the car feel how it should while still keeping the 'casual friendly' aspect of Gran Turismo. After finding a combination that works, I recorded gameplay of the end result. Combined with the suspension physics improvements in GT Sport with the leaf springs and low-grip tires, it was very fun and rewarding (as vintage race cars in this game should be). You be the judge.
Only changes I made are Comfort Soft tires in the front, and Comfort Hards in the rear. No assists. (except ABS).
I made this setup as proof that you can make the Vintage cars still 'feel old', without it feeling too much like a simulation, or without it being impossible to drive with a controller. Notice how careful I have to be with throttle application this time around, and now I have correct slides when they happen. I find the car with less grip easier to control with a controller compared to the default setup, because its much less twitchy, and easier to keep the car where I want it because of it. With the wheel, its just much more fun in general, and each corner super rewarding.
'Vintage Setup' with a Wheel (G29)
Understeer happens on corner entries, but rotates very nicely in the form of very controllable sliding once you get on the throttle. On the controller, it has the same main characteristics felt with the wheel, but with a controller the sliding is still very easy to correct, or hold. The feel overall isn't too difficult, but still has lots of character, and even reflects the real world counterpart well. Unlike with the previous default tires, where the car had no unique traits beside being shockingly boring to drive.
Best ways to make the cars feel old again is to either tweak the tire model of older cars to reflect the lack of grip provided with bias ply tires, or just give players the option to add Vintage tires to their car. Hopefully PD have this in mind already for GT7. (and maybe they will get rid of Gr.x class too?)
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