Same-PP Car Comparisons

[iamsupernasty]

Yep, i hear ya. You can get twice the number of laps in at GVE though...so if you can't get'er done in say 10 laps (~10-15 minutes)...its time to mess with tuning (if you really want to drive the car) or move on.

I push hard to make cars fast so I need a track that will give me instant results. I'll know in 2 minutes what would take 4-5 minutes to determine at Suzuka.

Except that GVE-R in slower cars is essentially just two long straights and rewards Horsepower much more than handling. Sure it has a few turns.... But I'd think a Pickup Truck could run similar lap times to an NSX-R on this track.

 

[Derrict]

I use to use GVE but switched to Trial Mountain, which is bumpier and has more off-camber turns. GVE was too easy to be consistent and didn't test suspension travel and more drastic weight transfers.

 

[chuyler1]

I guess the first thing I test is speed. Why bother with suspension stuff if a car is 2 seconds off pace on the straight alone.

I've used trial mountain as well, but lap times can vary greatly. Get the wrong line through the first left/right and you'll be off by a second.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Good work OP...I haven't compiled a list like you have but I've done similar lap time testing as I buy and tune cars and I've found that once you put some time into tuning for your driving style, a lot of cars are really, really close at the same PP level, given all the mods available and equal tires, in fact, amazingly so. At 400pp, 450pp, 500pp, 550pp, 600pp etc. I can find literally a dozen or two cars and probably more if I tried them all, that are all within a half second of each other. They don't all handle the same. The FF's, AWD, and RWD all require different driving and tuning style and abilities. Some corner better but have less power, some corner worse but bomb down the straights. Some are better than others on certain tracks for various reasons. But in my opinion, and I think you're testing kind of shows the same thing, I think PD got the PP thing pretty right on overall.

Good work!!

 

[chuyler1]

Yeah, cars that are within 1 second of each other on most tracks are going to be competitive during the race. You might not be able to slingshot past someone in a slower car, but you'll keep up and be in a good position to capitalize on any mistakes.

Some cars require more work than others though and it takes experimenting with weight, power mods, ballast, power reduction, suspension tuning, and LSD tuning, to get them closer. So basically, performance point racing is just as much about tuning as it is driving.

 

[smrtb0mb]

I decided to start working on another set of times related to the 525pp tuner shootout happening over in the tuner forums. (But I included all kinds of cars, not just European.) From now on I'm going to start including hp, weight and downforce settings.

Laguna Seca 525pp S/S

0.00 M5 '08 (512hp 1680kg)
0.28 NSX Type R '02 (395hp 1200kg aero)
0.34 RX-7 '02 (381hp 1051kg aero)
0.40 Nissan Z Z34 '08 (439hp 1321kg aero)
0.42 Camaro SS '10 (402hp 1340kg aero)
0.81 R8 4.2 FSI R tronic '07 (425hp 1462kg)
0.97 Zonda C12 '00 (406hp 1247kg)
1.12 M3 Coupe '07 (441hp 1342kg aero)
1.17 Evora (396hp 1250kg aero)
1.19 Z06 C5 '00 (384hp 1250kg wing)
1.24 Skyline GT-R V spec II Nur R34 (436hp 1350kg aero 8)
1.35 Maserati GT S '08 (440hp 1400kg aero)
1.51 Countach '88 (462hp 1301kg)
1.52 Z06 C5 '04 (467hp 1420kg)
1.83 TTS Coupe '09 (415hp 1205kg aero)
2.09 IS F '07 (476hp 1497kg)
2.86 ZR-1 C4 '90 (451hp 1302kg wing)

Again, these are very slightly tuned, mostly just weight/power adjusted, transmission top speed, and slight lowering of suspension and a bit of camber. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be testing the shootout tunes and see how much improvement I get.

Have to say I was very surprised to see the M5 do so well! I put all the extra PP into weight reduction, and the car was extremely easy to drive. It gave me my best time with the least amount of effort.