What is real? (Normal car, N & S tire testing data)

[KENJIusa]

Hey guys, what should I do with the TCS and ASM to get the most realisic driving experience? Should i turn them off or modify them with some specific values? thanks.

 

[Gabkicks]

your gonna want to turn them all the way off. Most racers in RL opt for no assists on for most cars also.


I just did 3 laps with N1 tires and on my 3rd lap i got a 8'20.100
You guys are fast as hell, you've gotta make a vid. I was getting sideways like crazy so i cant imagine how you must look to go so much faster. (you have to cus revs drop like crazy when you let off throttle)

I'm gonna keep working on getting my time lower (I've had the game 3 days). THis is awsome, I actually spun out on the 1st straight just from the bumps and slight turn.

 

[orubasarot]

...

 

[Imports4Life]

Powersliding is very possible on N tyres, especially the older cars. Haven't tried the Viper yet though, but I would imagine it would....

It is...? I find it really funny that when I get wheel spin in 2nd gear, in the middle of a turn, my car follows the path it normally would without wheel spin. And yes, that's in the "Simulation" mode (GT Mode, whatever you want to call it) with "N2" tires. "Ultimate Driving Simulator" isn't it?

Ya know, maybe I had higher hopes, but with all the pre-release hype I heard about how fantastic the physics were (the creator of GT said in an interview that if you took a car in GT4 and drove it the exact same in real life as you did in the game, you would get almost the same lap times.... riiiiiight...) I'm kinda dissapointed in a way. Don't get me wrong, I'm thoroughly addicted to the game right now, but I'm honestly about to boot up Live for Speed.

About the lap times being "almost dead on", I think that's just a sign of how far off this game is from being the "Ultimate Driving Simulator." I know this is a console game so it won't be as much of a simulation as PC games, but do you guys realize HOW MUCH skill it takes to drive as fast as Keiichi Tsuchiya or Nobuteru Taniguchi (Yeah he may be a professional D1 driver, but he also ran a 54.739 lap at Tsukuba in the HKS TRB-02) on Tsukuba?? I mean, half of the people here can drive as fast or even faster than these pro drivers (and they've been driving their whole lives). Just keep in mind guys, your "100%" on this game is NOTHING near those drivers 100% in real life. Chances are, none of us here will ever be as good of drivers as them.

I dono, something about all of this just doesn't sit right with me....

 

[Gabkicks]

this game was built to satisfy car enthusiasts as well as the mainstream audience. People in this forum are actually complaining about how hard the game is.

I suggest using n2 or n1 tires. N3 seem to have too much grip most of the time. I use simulation mode steering with no assists (they are turned on by default in the settings for each car, im pretty sure you know that) I also have active steering off.


Try taking the RUFF CTR Yellowbird on the nurburgring with N1-N2 tires and no assists. Feels pretty good to me.


You cant expect this game to handle like LFS (S2 COMING SOON!!!!), though you must admit this game is leaps and bounds above GT3.


Your using the driving force pro, right?

Ingame you cant feel geforces or a fear of death, which explains the sometimes Faster than real life lap times a bit. Hey.. LFS S1 has its flaws too.

 

[Imports4Life]

this game was built to satisfy car enthusiasts as well as the mainstream audience. People in this forum are actually complaining about how hard the game is.

I suggest using n2 or n1 tires. N3 seem to have too much grip most of the time. I use simulation mode steering with no assists (they are turned on by default in the settings for each car, im pretty sure you know that) I also have active steering off.


Try taking the RUFF CTR Yellowbird on the nurburgring with N1-N2 tires and no assists. Feels pretty good to me.


You cant expect this game to handle like LFS (S2 COMING SOON!!!!), though you must admit this game is leaps and bounds above GT3.


Your using the driving force pro, right?

Ingame you cant feel geforces or a fear of death, which explains the sometimes Faster than real life lap times a bit. Hey.. LFS S1 has its flaws too.

"People in this forum are actually complaining about how hard the game is. "

LOL.... Funny, that's the same thing people say about Richard Burns Rally (everybody wants a simulation until they get a simulation. Ironic, no?) I was adapted to this thing in about an hour. And that's after playing GT3 for 5 years with the DS2. Now I'm using the DFP, but I'm not sure about the brakes "locking up". Maybe I just don't notice it?? I scavenged the options to find options to change the steering to "Simulation" (like in GT3) or just any options to change with the DFP. However, it doesn't seem like there is any? I guess everyone gets the same settings, apart from TCS and ASM (which I hate!!! I've hated those things since GT3... makes me feel like I'm not controlling the car. They actually make me slower). I've just been starting to use N1 tires in Arcade mode and the cars feel better, a little more realistic, but still not quite up to par. I'd like to use N1's (Economy tires, right?) in "Sim" mode, but I'm afraid all the other AI cars running the Sports tires will walk all over me without even trying. I'll try taking the Yellow Bird out later if I end up winning it.

Now as for LFS, I can't wait for S2. I've gotten to be a decent drifter on S1 with the DFP (900 degrees mind you.. ) and the GT Turbo. I can't wait for the damage modeling and the new suspension and tire physics in S2. Not to mention the graphics updates. Have you seen the new Blackwood? All I can say is wow.

 

[Gabkicks]

In the bottom of the options, if you chose the 4th steering wheel i think, you can change the game to simulation mode turn off that stupid steering assist thing. I've left power steering on. If you use N2 tires you should be able to hold your own against the competition depending on the car. I try to make sure that my aspec rating is always above 70 at least, but in my post here you can see sometimes that does not always guarentee a close race.

 

[3rdgenracerX]

I've just been starting to use N1 tires in Arcade mode and the cars feel better, a little more realistic, but still not quite up to par. I'd like to use N1's (Economy tires, right?) in "Sim" mode, but I'm afraid all the other AI cars running the Sports tires will walk all over me without even trying. I'll try taking the Yellow Bird out later if I end up winning it.

I see why you don't see that much about the physics in GT4, quit playing in Arcade mode! The physics are dumbed down in there, just stay in sim mode and you will feel the physics system better. Put on a set of N1's and enjoy the physics system.

About the lap times being "almost dead on", I think that's just a sign of how far off this game is from being the "Ultimate Driving Simulator." I know this is a console game so it won't be as much of a simulation as PC games, but do you guys realize HOW MUCH skill it takes to drive as fast as Keiichi Tsuchiya or Nobuteru Taniguchi (Yeah he may be a professional D1 driver, but he also ran a 54.739 lap at Tsukuba in the HKS TRB-02) on Tsukuba?? I mean, half of the people here can drive as fast or even faster than these pro drivers (and they've been driving their whole lives). Just keep in mind guys, your "100%" on this game is NOTHING near those drivers 100% in real life. Chances are, none of us here will ever be as good of drivers as them.

This is always one of the big things that people love to use about racing games not being real because of this or that. "Oh the times you guys do are pointless because they weren't done in real life, you dont have to worry about the things in real life that could happen"
Ok, sure you don't get all of the feelings that you would in real life when pushing 100% in the game. Even the most realistic close to real life as can be sim could never get those real life emotion's into the game.
We are just giving our best in the game and comparing it to other times real life drivers have done and comparing those times. They may have been giving 100% or they may have not, but what else are we suppose to compare to? Some magical time that is just an estimate of what the car could possibly do in real life if all conditions were perfect...

100% of what i'm doing in the game may not be 100% of what I could do in real life. Heck IF I could afford it or someone was paying me to test GT4 vs real life then I would be giving my all in both realms. Wether in the game or real life i'm going to do the absolute best I can because thats what I enjoy. I guess the fact that many real life drivers play racing games have no bearing as well?

 

[Gabkicks]

I can get more angle, burn more rubber, and drift longer with the NA 112HP gt in LFS than I can with cars of what should be similar performance when comparing specs in gt4. But gt4 didnt go all out with the physics because they still want the game to be fun for the mainstream audience. I'm not dissapointed in the physics at all because i understand they couldnt go all out with the physics; they didnt want to lose fans. As I've said before many those not used to other sims at all besides gt3 already find driving with GT4's physics and DFP too hard.
Why do you think LFS and RBR get so little attention when compared to GT4? I'm wondering how Enthusia will do in sales if it really is going to take physics a step farther than gt4.


man.. that was kinda off topic so I will shut up now

 

[Imports4Life]

I see why you don't see that much about the physics in GT4, quit playing in Arcade mode! The physics are dumbed down in there, just stay in sim mode and you will feel the physics system better. Put on a set of N1's and enjoy the physics system.



This is always one of the big things that people love to use about racing games not being real because of this or that. "Oh the times you guys do are pointless because they weren't done in real life, you dont have to worry about the things in real life that could happen"
Ok, sure you don't get all of the feelings that you would in real life when pushing 100% in the game. Even the most realistic close to real life as can be sim could never get those real life emotion's into the game.
We are just giving our best in the game and comparing it to other times real life drivers have done and comparing those times. They may have been giving 100% or they may have not, but what else are we suppose to compare to? Some magical time that is just an estimate of what the car could possibly do in real life if all conditions were perfect...

100% of what i'm doing in the game may not be 100% of what I could do in real life. Heck IF I could afford it or someone was paying me to test GT4 vs real life then I would be giving my all in both realms. Wether in the game or real life i'm going to do the absolute best I can because thats what I enjoy. I guess the fact that many real life drivers play racing games have no bearing as well?

I've tryed a few cars in Sim mode so far, and it still doesn't impress me. I think what I'm getting at here is why have 700+ cars when only a few of them handle realistically? We have no in-car views, etc, so what's the point in "collecting" cars? They're useless because I will never drive them.

My talking about the GT4 times vs. real times wasn't necessarily to bash the GT4 physics engine. However I do think it's funny that everyone thinks their 100% is so great because they can rival the times of a real pro driver on the Nurburgring at their 100%. Try driving at 100% in GTR (on simulation, with no assists) and then we'll see what a simulation is. GTR definitely gives you a new perspective on what it is to be a fast driver.

 

[SaintKamus]

"I see why you don't see that much about the physics in GT4, quit playing in Arcade mode! The physics are dumbed down in there, just stay in sim mode and you will feel the physics system better. Put on a set of N1's and enjoy the physics system."

Ok... i think it's time we clear this up, because i'm positive that with all of the cars i have tested (in both arcade and sim mode) the physics are EXACTLY the same (by the way, there ISN'T "sim" mode in the US version, it's now called "Gran Turismo Mode")

I have all assistss off, including steering assisst. (which i actually turns the wheel for you, sucky!)

I can pretty much get the same times in both Arcade and Gran Turismo Mode in all of the cars i have tested (i own both the Japanese and US versions)

I also happen to own the Gran Turismo "The Bible" book, and it has time attack data on it... and surprise surprise, the times they have in there are actually pretty close to arcade N2 tyre (or "comfort" in the US version) times, they have the following times on Nurburgring:

M3 CSL - 7'59.945 (my times with N2 on this car are 7'55.xxx, can't remember if it was on arcade or sim mode though...)

Corvette Z06 C5 - 7'57.018 (i have 8 mins on this car, N2 tyres, Arcade mode, defenetly room for improvement, but not 10 seconds... so it's safe to assume they used N2 tyres for this test, and the following..)

NSX Type R 2002 - 7'59.706 This time isn't hard to get with N2 tyres, i have 7'57.xxx currently on arcade mode, and 8'11.xxx in sim mode (i used N2 in Arcade, N1 in sim mode) i have used N2 in Sim mode too, and the results were very similar to my N2 times in Aracde mode.. it REALLY feels the same, i see no difference what so ever!

S2000 2003 - 8'27.300 Yet another time i can get VERY similar results with N2 tyres in Arcade mode...

I think the times pretty much confirm that they used N2 tyres for their tests, and just use any of those cars in both modes and you'll see that the results are pretty much the same if you use the same settings.

if you go a few pages back you'll see that there are also some inconsistencies in some cars, because they are too fast.
I think PD overdid the performance on the BMW M3, the M3 CSL, the Mazda RX8 Type S, and who knows what other cars that i'm not aware of, whats very intresting.. is that they seem to have gotten the M3 GTR right.. (not the race car, but the GTR street car) because.. it's actually SLOWER than the M3 CSL, i tested that numerous times, and i always ended up 2 or 3 seconds slower avarage on the GTR on the ring than i did with the CSL.. intresting to say the least. (i have to try those cars in the US version which i just got today.. to see if PD fixed them, doubt it.. but gotta see!)

I guess i have to try the yellow bird on both modes to see if there's any difference on that particular car.. but the 86' Ruf on arcade mode was challenging as hell for me, there aren't any assissts for sure.

So really.. if you use the same settings on both Arcade / GT mode The results will be the same, at least in all of the cars i have tested.. i haven't tested the yellow bird in both modes yet, but i'll give it a try tomorrow, Arcade mode is in the game not because it's easier to drive, but because it's the quick and dirty way to get racing, either with friends (LAN mode, 2P battle...) or by yourself, with out the need of having to buy any cars, or spend time earning cash.

 

[SaintKamus]

I've tryed a few cars in Sim mode so far, and it still doesn't impress me. I think what I'm getting at here is why have 700+ cars when only a few of them handle realistically? We have no in-car views, etc, so what's the point in "collecting" cars? They're useless because I will never drive them.

My talking about the GT4 times vs. real times wasn't necessarily to bash the GT4 physics engine. However I do think it's funny that everyone thinks their 100% is so great because they can rival the times of a real pro driver on the Nurburgring at their 100%. Try driving at 100% in GTR (on simulation, with no assists) and then we'll see what a simulation is. GTR definitely gives you a new perspective on what it is to be a fast driver.

Ok, first off.. there's no Nurburgring track available for GTR... second of all, if you use any of the "N" tyres on the stock cars and any of the "R" tyres on the racing cars... Gran Turismo does a pretty decent job as a simulator, not quite as sofisiticated as the engine in GTR.. but pretty damn close, and in some areas, even superior.. (uneven pavement on nurburgring looks just like the real track)
i have over 600+ laps on Nurburgring, been playing on that track ever since the BMW demo came out, and then when the TGS demo came out.. and now with the full games, i have videos of PRO drivers and on some of them i can put the game side by side with some of the cars i have tested and the braking points are exactly the same, and it's really amazing to watch both videos in sync for a whole lap.
so, while i don't consider i have the skills of a PRO driver, i defenetly think i'm not slow around the ring either, and as a long time sim fan.. i can say that, GT4 with out any kind of aids, and the proper tyres, makes for a pretty decent sim.
GTR is great and offers more "sim" aspects that GT lacks, but i strongly belive that PD finally lives up to the "simulator" tag.

What's sucky is that the game is "arcade" by default.. you have to turn off all of the aids, and use the proper tyres... plus, the tyre types are bullcrap to begin with, because on different cars, the tyre grip and behaviour varies from car to car (grip is crapy on family cars, awsome on sports cars, etc.)

So what PD did is simulate the stock tyres of each car, and then added more grip using the car's stock tyres as reference.. so.. if you have awsome tyres, like the ones used on an M3 CSL or NSX-R, or any other high performance car, and then add "sports tyres" to that.. you'll end up with extremley unrealistic grip levels, so in reality they just seem to add more grip to the same type of tyre... resulting in "super tyres" for cars that allready had "sport tyres" in stock form, as far as racing tyres go, i'm not sure if that still applies, but for "N" and "S" tyres it defenetly seems to be the way they handled that.

 

[rotary_freq]

Somthing you can do, this game has the RUF CTR Yellow Bird, theres a vidoe floating aroudn the net of that exact car doing 2 lpas on the nurburging, so i bet if you could use those to compare. His might be tuned, and he went all out, sometimes he nearly loses control of his car, I'll see if I cant find them... god my spelling sucks

 

[3rdgenracerX]

Try driving at 100% in GTR (on simulation, with no assists) and then we'll see what a simulation is. GTR definitely gives you a new perspective on what it is to be a fast driver.

👎 But GTR doesn't factor in those real life instances, which makes it no better than any other racing game out on the market. Its completely irrelevant since its not real life.

Better yet, I should take my real life car to an autocross again this summer! That would really give me a prespective of real life racing. That would be better than any game because its actually done in real life.

 

[3rdgenracerX]

Somthing you can do, this game has the RUF CTR Yellow Bird, theres a vidoe floating aroudn the net of that exact car doing 2 lpas on the nurburging, so i bet if you could use those to compare. His might be tuned, and he went all out, sometimes he nearly loses control of his car, I'll see if I cant find them... god my spelling sucks

Refer to page 3 I talk about my testing with that same car on the same track.
I have both of the vid's on my PC. One show's his in car view the entire lap and the other has at least 3 different laps spliced together, which makes it impossible to compare a time with it but the 1st lap video does leave plently of room to compare times.

 

[Imports4Life]

so, while i don't consider i have the skills of a PRO driver, i defenetly think i'm not slow around the ring either, and as a long time sim fan.. i can say that

Ok.... so you think you're a pro at it in games or real life? Regardless, having the same braking points in the game doesn't make the game THAT much more realistic. You have to consider everything else. And isn't the one aspect in GT4 that's considered ****ty is the breaking? Or am I mistaken and talking out my ass?

👎 But GTR doesn't factor in those real life instances, which makes it no better than any other racing game out on the market. Its completely irrelevant since its not real life.

I'm not talking about the "real life instances", I'm merely talking about the engine itself. The ONLY thing that I know of that can get a game close to real life is a Force Dynamics set-up. And I'm pretty sure none of us here can afford a FULL set-up of that, so once again, we're back to arguing JUST the physics engine.

 

[Buggy Boy]

Has anyone ever seen any information by Polyphony Digital about the weight of the driver being incalculated in the physics engine?

I think it's not. Which would make every car about a 100 kg lighter then it would be in real life (driver + equipment + at least a small amount of fuel for hotlapping).

This probably is another factor which makes lap times faster in the game as in real life. We talk about almost 10% of weight error. It will have a significant impact on the lighter cars, like the Caterham, where there would be (or is?) an error of almost 25% in weight.

 

[KSaiyu]

Has anyone ever seen any information by Polyphony Digital about the weight of the driver being incalculated in the physics engine?

I think it's not. Which would make every car about a 100 kg lighter then it would be in real life (driver + equipment + at least a small amount of fuel for hotlapping).

This probably is another factor which makes lap times faster in the game as in real life. We talk about almost 10% of weight error. It will have a significant impact on the lighter cars, like the Caterham, where there would be (or is?) an error of almost 25% in weight.

That's another reason why posting lap times compared to real life times for purposes of finding out what tyre is realistic is pointless, there are just too many variables. I think to find out what's realisitic we would need to drive a car that's in the game, and use REAL WORLD techniques, and see how each tyres respond, and not GT techniques to get the quickest times, if you understand what I mean.

 

[orubasarot]

...

 

[Gabkicks]

n tires are radial tires. and the others are compound types. Compound race tires are not street legal... so that means 💡 most road cars wont be using compound race tires. Or something like that. I dont know exactly because I'm not a tire man. but yes, LM cars would probably be more realistic using non N class tires. i dunno if times with slicks are realistic though. I've spent too much time playing round with the cars i've gotten early on so I havent advanced too far into the game. I'll get an LMP car and find out.

What tires are more realistic vary from car to car. your average economy- sportscar car is probably gonna preform realisticly with n1 and n2 tires. Cornering and breaking seems fine... but with N2 class tires even though lap times seem realistic, accelleration is too slow sometimes. N3 tires accellerate too quicky and are too fast through the corners to be realistic... er... i guess all this just leads to frustrated confusion
........................................................................
cant we just add our own weight as ballast weight?

 

[kensei]

I've settled on N1 tires for all normal cars, they are as close as you can get to real life IMO. I can easily beat real life times with N2s but with N1s I am slightly slower. Given the "real professional" driver the edge that they are better than me that works out well.

all three S tires I have found to be pretty close real life race tires. R1 tires are ok if you take all of the downforce off of the race car...but then again race cars have adjustable downforce so that isn't very realistic.

Race tires are all way to grippy and not close to anything in real life. They are good for hotlapping race cars and playing the game, that is about it.

Beyond normal cars I'm not that concerned anymore with running close to real life. I've figured it out and have a handful of normal cars I'll hotlap with N1s but once the hotlapping databases for Gt4 get rolling we will all be on R5s unfortunately anyway...

 

[IAG]

BTW you guys have to remember that Tsukuba time chart is very outdated. I just finished watching a BMI episode which races the G35 versus the 350z and an M3 as a cam car. The M3 had a best lap of 1'07"19 , G35 1'09"67 and the Z 1'09"61.

From what i could tell, it was a sunny dry day at the track. M3 was running on continental radials.

also, there is no way i can match the 1 09 for the DC2 integra R thats on that lap time chart. I HAVE never seen the integra run 1 09 at tsukuba in none of the BMI vids(and i ve watch alot) the lowest ive seen it run was 1 10s (close to n2 times).

 

[Sloth]

Read the scrolling text at the bottom of your screen after you buy a used car.

It tells you that Sport Medium tires have been equipped, but if you want to feel the real factory setting of the car, to equip a set of the N class tires, which are free.

Try it if you don't believe me.

 

[Raindancer]

Not sure if anyone else said this already as I don't have time to read the whole thread right now, but from memory it was the R33 (could have been R34 though) Skyline GTR which set the first sub 8 minute Nurburgring lap from a standard production car (I am guessing other cars before it like the McLaren F1 for instance could have set faster times, but I guess their manufacturers did not test at the 'Ring).

Hope that provides some insight.

 

[Raindancer]

Found the following information here: http://bimmer.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/e81/6273030-1.html


Nurburgring Comparisons (166 views)
Message: The lap time for the 130i is very "decent". Two of BMW's finest at the 'Ring:
M6-V10 8:00
M3 CSL 8:00
Skyline GTR: 7:52 was the old record for a production car, and the
Carrera GT (612HP) 7:32 is the fastest car on Nurburgring as of now.

Other comparisons:
7:46 - Porsche 996 GT2
7:56 - Porsche 996 Turbo
7:57 - Lotec Porsche 993 Turbo (600 HP, racing suspension)
8:07 - Ferrari 550
8:07 - Porsche 996 GT3
8:09 - Lamborghini Diablo SV
8:09 - Ferrari 360 Modena
8:10 - Chrysler Viper GTS
8:12 - Porsche 993 Turbo (430 HP version)
8:15 - BMW Z8 400 HP
8:17 - Porsche 996 C2
8:18 - Ferrari F355
8:22 - BMW M Coupe 321 HP
8:25 - Audi RS4 375 HP
8:28 - Porsche 993 C2
8:28 - BMW M5 400 HP
8:32 - Porsche Boxster S
8:35 - BMW M3 Coupe 321 HP
8:37 - Mercedes C32 AMG
8:38 - Honda NSX
8:39 - Honda S2000
8:40 - Chevrolet Corvette
8:42 - Audi S4 265 HP
8:42 - Lotus Exige
8:49 - Jaguar XKR Coupe
8:52 - Mercedes CLK 430

The GTR referenced here would be the R34, the R33 was the one that set the first sub 8 minute lap time.

 

[IAG]

The reason i dont like tesing on the ring is because its a big track with more turns and more chances of screwing the lap. I like testing at Tsukuba, its a smaller track and you can many laps in a moment.

like said before that list is old. Ive seen the M3 do 1'8 xx 1'9xx and the lowest is 1'07. So far the only cars that dont get close to RL times are the FF, and 4wd. With the integra r (Dc2)on N2, i can get 1 10"9 , in all the videos i ve seen the lowest ive seen was low 1 '10s.

 

[Sloth]

Tsukuba is the ideal course for tuning.

Turn out a consistently fast car on that track and all other courses (with the exception of the Ring) only require slight adjustments.

I have an 1100kg 321ps FD RX-7 Bathurst R running sub 1'01.350 with it's current tune.

-oil change
-sports exhaust
-racing chip
-twin plate clutch
-sports flywheel
-1.5 way LSD
-racing suspension/tuned for Tsukuba
-sport med. (S2) tires


Also, a little note on Pferdestarke, or PS; it is the measurment that they use in Japan and Europe, so that's how Polyphony made the game. Then when they converted everything for exportation, they screwed up on the measurment system.

If you have it set to Horsepower (HP) go into Garage and look at the power numbers next to a car. Then open the rotating view of the car and look at the numbers in the bottom left.

I don't know why, but the cars in the Garage list remain PS despite having HP beside the numbers, but when you view the car, the number is lower, which is generally what horsepower is in comparison to pferdestarke.

"Whoops!" -P.D.

 

[Gabkicks]

i really dont like using anything but radial tires with non super cars because its just too easy with sports and racing tires.

 

[Skant]

Well, I found the charts to be pretty interesting. Sure, there's lots of reasons why it's not an exact science. But there is useful information there. Thanks for making them!


As for the question of which tires are the most real... that's a bit subjective. I have a Corvette in real life and a simulation of my corvette in the game, so I compare the two.

How much traction my real vette has varies with the weather, time of day, etc. And with high performance tires, the amount of variance is actually pretty dramatic. Different brands of tires also have not just different levels of traction, but different response to slip angles... so their 'character' is actually different, too.

However, it becomes clear pretty fast that the 'N' series of tires are like regular street tires. And depending on the weather conditions, I would say that the real tires on my vette could be about equal to any of the N tires. Yes, the traction varies that much.


It does seem pretty clear that the 'Sports' tires in the game are the equivalent of DOT legal racing tires. They're even pictured with more or less similar patterns. Technically, you can legally drive around on public roads with such tires... but you wouldn't. Anyway... the G meter at the bottom of the screen gives it away very quickly... when you see relatively normal cars pulling well in excess of 1g turns... well, that's what DOT legal race tires can do. That's about right.

- Skant

 

[Crayola]

Yeah, but isn't this kinda like comparing apples to oranges? I mean, if we aren't comparing times from the same driver, we aren't keeping all the variables the same - we run into a 3rd variable problem and the validity of the experiment is questionable.

Unless, like the people IRL you WERE doing ultimate hotlaps.