S13 Silvia Speed Star
Fresh out of the Dealer: 167 HP, 1140 kg, 388 PP, Comfort Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:54.350
Thoughts: About what you'd expect from a low HP RWD car. Yawn. About the only excitement is when you doze off on the back straight and forget to brake.
Parts added, no settings changes: 340 HP, 965 kg, 498 PP, Sport Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:39.193
Thoughts: Obviously, it's faster now, but still a bit of a boring drive. Tendancy to oversteer leaving a turn when the wheels aren't spinning, which happened only occasionally. Nothing tragically wrong with the car, but nothing terrific either.
Parts added, RKM Tune, 5 lap first impression: 340 HP, 965 kg, 498 PP, Sport Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:39.531
Thoughts: I'm not sure if it's my driving style, but on first try, this tune is not working for me. I found the back end breaking loose more often, and with less control. The handling through transitions also seemed to be a little more shakey than with the stock settings. I may have been pushing harder, subconsciously, knowing it had the tune, but I don't think so.
After a couple more races...
Best Lap Time: 1:37.614
Thoughts: OK, I take it back. I'm not sure what I was doing in the car to produce the traction and handling issues, but it was definitely me. On the next couple of go 'rounds, the car finally settled in. It's still a fairly neutral car, a bit boring and hard to push faster, at least for me. I am curious as to why the rear spoiler was left off, as it really felt like a little downforce on the rear wheels would have planted it that much more and would allow for a harder push on corner exits. The car may be the "King" model, but the performace was definitely not up to the name, and gets put to shame by the other RKM tunes in the same HP class.
Gallardo LP710 Superleggera
Fresh out of the Dealer: 564 HP, 1410 kg, 549 PP, Sports Hard Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:39.444
Thoughts: Pros: Accelleration is tremendous, and virtually no traction issues when on the gas. Cons: There are traction issues the rest of the time. Tires went red on the brakes going into a corner or on a straight, and tires went red going through corners at anything close to race speed. The great traction on the gas helped produce massive oversteer. Basically, if I was pushing the car at all, my basic corner went like this: Brakes, slide, apex, slide, gas, oversteer into wall. I can see why so many of these show up on the wrecked exotics web site.
Parts added, no settings changes: 738 HP, 1282 kg, 604 PP, Sports Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:30.435
Thoughts: Even more amazing acceleration... and more oversteer. At least now the tires can keep up with braking without melting. I went with the late apex approach, but the car handled so slowly that it felt like I had to park it to square off the corner. Not sure if I gained any time, but at least it was more controlled and I hit fewer walls on exit.
Toughts2: Oh, carp. I accidentally had TC on at 5 (drove my other Gallardo for the stock run). Didn't make much of a difference, though, as this car's strength was on-throttle traction, and my lap times were virtually identical.
Parts added, RKM Tune, 5 lap first impression: 741 HP, 1282 kg, 607 PP, Sports Soft Tires
Best Lap Time: 1:30.810
Thoughts: Different car, same results. The oversteer has been reigned in, it slows better, and seems to have a bit more corner speed, but at the cost of slightly less traction mid-corner. It felt like that was because corner speed was now limited by the tires rather than the car just not being able to turn. More time to adjust is needed, especially since two of my brake spots were while the car was in mid-air, and the best brakes in the world won't help you there.
After a couple more races...
Best Lap Time: 1:28.679
Thoughts: The more I drove, the faster I went, and I don't think I hit my wall before I stopped. Every lap I was cutting tenths off my time, but as fast as this machine is, going faster makes it harder to go faster, as the brake markers are constantly scooting up as you reach higher speeds on the straights, which is a much bigger deal in a 750 HP supercar than a 350 HP sports car. The car still understeers, just due to the mad acceleration out of the corner. However, braking a hair late, sliding the back end around a bit, being patient through the turn to avoid getting on throttle too quick, squaring it off and taking the late apex really pays off as you launch out of the corner onto the straight. Very fast, very fun car. I wish we could put some front downforce on it, though, to keep that nose down over the crests of hills.
(kidding, of course)
