Although the 2021 GT Sport FIA Online Championship season has already started, Polyphony Digital has pushed out a small update to the Balance of Performance calculations.
The update only affects a handful of cars, but for those who’ve already chosen their manufacturers — and raced in the first race of the season last Wednesday — it might change some plans for the remaining 19 races. Only one Gr.3 car and four Gr.4 cars are affected, but they do represent some of the more popular choices.
Leading the way is the Mazda RX-Vision GT. It’s recently emerged as one of the form cars in the Gr.3 class, helped by a power boost in February’s BOP update, but it’ll be carrying a 1% weight penalty from this point forward. However it should still be one of the better cars on fuel and tires, so remains a good choice for the high-wear FIA races.
In the Gr.4 class, three cars see a 1% drop in power, with the Aston Martin Vantage and Jaguar F-Type both on the receiving end. The third car is, surprisingly, the Nissan GT-R Gr.4, which hasn’t been near the sharp end of the class for some time. A more significant change comes for the Alfa Romeo 4C, which sees power and weight drop by four and five percent respectively — following on from drops in each back in February.
The full list of relevant changes is below:
Gr.3 BOP Changes
- Mazda RX-Vision GT – Weight 103% (▲)
Gr.4 BOP Changes
- Alfa Romeo 4C Gr.4 – Power 104% (▼), Weight 113% (▼)
- Aston Martin V8 Vantage Gr.4 – Power 95% (▼)
- Jaguar F-type Gr.4 – Power 96% (▼)
- Nissan GT-R Gr.4 – Power 95% (▼)
There’s also BOP changes in the Gr.B class, though these are less relevant to the FIA championship with no presence in any of the races in Stage 1. The Audi Sport quattro, Ford Mustang, Mitsubishi Lancer, and Nissan GT-R all lose weight, while the Peugeot RCZ gains a little. In addition, the Honda NSX loses a little power while the Lancer gets a double boost with extra power. This may come into play during the World Series events later in the year.
All of the BOP changes are active right now, ahead of the Gr.4 Manufacturer Series race on April 28.
Featured image courtesy of Stephan.
