Mad FinnTuners Co. - Finished 081213 - The Final Countdown, 4, 3, 2, 1, OUT!

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I had the chance in the meantime to try the Spoon at TM and Tokyo R246 as well. It is demonstrably faster at both than a 500PP NSX but by perhaps less than could be expected given the PP difference. Part of it may be down to my much higher confidence with the 500PP machine but at least part has to do with the fact that the Spoon one does not provide significantly higher cornering speeds (same tyres, same car width, only a lot more power), which make quite a difference at both circuits.

The car actually seemed much more at ease on both circuits than the others mentioned before and the suppleness over all the bumps and undulations of TM was a real eye opener. I imagined it to be quite unruly but it seems to ride all the road imperfections without any troubles - in this respect it seems to be a car that enjoys the track (to the extent one can attribute that to a machine), while the Aston would feel terribly tortured there. The times have not yet been at a similar level to Leonidae's RS8 but I am working on it :)

Certainly one for lots of further use 👍
 
Email notifications never worked for me. anyway, the next pair ( was supposed to be released last week) is as ready as it can get and will be out and about soon. Two siblings, almost identical twins, yet they're very different due the different driving styles. Oh, and I hate solid rear axle unless I'm drifting..
 
Ok, so I keep forgetting to check out some cars for you guys, so I can rebuild my number of 'owed-tunes' cache :crazy:

But I finally remembered to look, and it's quite a list from the last time I checked, so rather than pick-and-choose to my whim, could you guys suggest some to start with ?, maybe ones that haven't seen many reviews ?, or those rare, beautiful cars that can eat Stig-wannabe's alive, or ones you've come to like real well on your own?

I was peaking at the Ferrari 430 Scuderia, as I have yet to put a prancing-pony in my toy barn of horsepower, so if there aren't any suggestions, I may go that route.

I've done enough events and held-off on impulse-buys from the UCD to save up a bit of a bank, so as I imagine our mutual friend "Mr.X" would say...

"Money ain't no issue mai' man" :sly:
 
Ok, so I keep forgetting to check out some cars for you guys, so I can rebuild my number of 'owed-tunes' cache :crazy:

But I finally remembered to look, and it's quite a list from the last time I checked, so rather than pick-and-choose to my whim, could you guys suggest some to start with ?, maybe ones that haven't seen many reviews ?, or those rare, beautiful cars that can eat Stig-wannabe's alive, or ones you've come to like real well on your own?

I was peaking at the Ferrari 430 Scuderia, as I have yet to put a prancing-pony in my toy barn of horsepower, so if there aren't any suggestions, I may go that route.

I've done enough events and held-off on impulse-buys from the UCD to save up a bit of a bank, so as I imagine our mutual friend "Mr.X" would say...

"Money ain't no issue mai' man" :sly:

"Fo shizzle mah nizzle homie g-whiz!".. or something along those lines :lol:
 
Chevrolet Camaro Cup Car'12

Weight Adjustment Ballast
Ballast Amount (kg): 200
Ballast Position: 50

...so I took a step further and added weight for balancing the car to nice 55/45 ratio...​


Can you just clarify this for me? If I put the ballast position at 50 like it states it gives 40/60 weight balance. To get 55/45 it has to be -50. Which one is correct?

Theres a review on it's way for that car regardless, though i'm taking into account that the car was designed to be closest to the real thing and not for out and out speed (The gearbox for instance could be better if it was done the usual way, and the fact that the car is designed for ABS off).

By the way, did anybody try their hand at tuning the Mclaren MP4-12c? (https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=4882880#post4882880) I requested it a while ago but as i've been away from GT5 for several months so I forgot about it.​
 
Can you just clarify this for me? If I put the ballast position at 50 like it states it gives 40/60 weight balance. To get 55/45 it has to be -50. Which one is correct?

Theres a review on it's way for that car regardless, though i'm taking into account that the car was designed to be closest to the real thing and not for out and out speed (The gearbox for instance could be better if it was done the usual way, and the fact that the car is designed for ABS off).

By the way, did anybody try their hand at tuning the Mclaren MP4-12c? (https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=4882880#post4882880) I requested it a while ago but as i've been away from GT5 for several months so I forgot about it.

Yeah, it was -50, so to the trunk the weight goes. And MP4-12C.. I think we did dabble with it some.
 
Had a quick spin in the Audi RR8 '09 tonight. In order to assess it properly I tried its spiritual sibling - the RS8 - first, before having a go at the RR.

While the RS8 is somewhat understeery and requires some concentration when braking into the first corner at GVS it is also blindingly quick and I think I should easily crack the 620PP supercar challenge GVS race with it on the second attempt :)

The RR8, as described by Greycap, has consigned most of that understeer to the dustbin of history. In its place you get an easily controllable wag of the tail when throttle is applied enthusiastically - luckily all the fun does not seem to cost time, either.

The braking into the first corner was just as mid engined as with the RS (if not a tad more so) but I found it a bit more stable in the faster sweepers and I definitely managed to get through the last turn at GVS at a significantly higher speed than with the lighter RS8.

I can certainly imagine that some more attempts will get me to beat the times of the RS but currently they are a tad slower and definitely a lot less consistent - while all my RS8 times got to within less than 0,5 secs the ones in the RR varied by 2 or so (the car saw some more gravel one needs to say) ;)

Overall a great complement to the other mid engined Audi, a bit more dificult to get the best times out of and somewhat less consistent but also a little bit more playful and fun in character 👍
 
Toyota Corolla 1600 GT '83

210 bhp, 220 Nm, 836 kg, PP 440
Painted in Orange Metallic from Toyota


Clickable for full size

Parts to fit:
Oil Change
New Wheels, Rays Volk Racing CE28N, finished in Dark Gray Mica Metallic from Toyota
Chassis Weight Reduction Stage 3
Window Weight Reduction
Engine Tuning Stage 3
Sports ECU
Sports Intake Manifold
Racing Air Filter
Titanium Racing Exhaust
Sports Exhaust Manifold
Catalytic Converter: Sports
Fully Customizable Transmission
Twin Plate Clutch
Semi Racing Flywheel
Carbon Propeller Shaft
Fully Customizable LSD
Fully Customizable Suspension Kit
Sports Soft Tyres

Overall cost: 150.000+ Cr.

Transmission

Note: First, reset the gearbox to the default settings, then set the Max speed, and only then set the gear ratios.

Gear Ratios
1st: 2.868
2nd: 2.058
3rd: 1.625
4th: 1.365
5th: 1.165
6th: 1.000
Final Gear: 4.000

Max speed: 240 km/h

Fully Customizable LSD
Initial Torque: 5
Acceleration Sensitivity: 20
Braking Sensitivity: 5

Suspension
Ride Height Adjustment (mm): 0 / 0
Spring Rate (kgf/mm): 5.5 / 4.5
Dampers (Extension): 6 / 4
Dampers (Compression): 4 / 4
Anti-Roll Bars: 3 / 3
Camber Angle (-): 1.5 / 1.5
Toe Angle: 0.00 / -0.20

Brake Balance Controller
Brake Balance: 3 / 1

Driving Options
ASM: Off
TCS: 0
ABS: OFF


The legendary AE86 is well known for its handling, why, I don't know. No grip, no balance and above all no power but for some unexplained reason it has a cult following like no other. More than likely it has something to do with the black hooded imaginary example (that has since been recreated in real life too) but it has very little common with the original. Well, so has this version but unlike the original, this one is properly sporty.

Power has been almost doubled while still retaining the NA character, weight has been reduced significantly and most importantly the suspension doesn't resemble a waterbed anymore. It actually responds sharply to inputs and now lives up to its reputation as a playful FR car, allowing adjusting the attitude under both braking and acceleration. The balance is biased slightly towards oversteer but it's up to the driver to choose how to tackle corners, even without ABS braking involves no drama and while locking up is certainly possible it's by no means an ever present threat. Only one question... why wasn't the car made like this from the beginning?
 
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Toyota Corolla 1600 GT '83

210 bhp, 206 Nm, 836 kg, PP 440
Painted in Orange Metallic from Toyota


Clickable for full size

The legendary AE86 is well known for its handling, why, I don't know. No grip, no balance and above all no power but for some unexplained reason it has a cult following like no other. More than likely it has something to do with the black hooded imaginary example (that has since been recreated in real life too) but it has very little common with the original. Well, so has this version but unlike the original, this one is properly sporty.

Power has been almost doubled while still retaining the NA character, weight has been reduced significantly and most importantly the suspension doesn't resemble a waterbed anymore. It actually responds sharply to inputs and now lives up to its reputation as a playful FR car, allowing adjusting the attitude under both braking and acceleration. The balance is biased slightly towards oversteer but it's up to the driver to choose how to tackle corners, even without ABS braking involves no drama and while locking up is certainly possible it's by no means an ever present threat. Only one question... why wasn't the car made like this from the beginning?

I guess the car wasn't made like that because Toyota didn't have a Greycap working with them... :dopey: But since you did do it now, I'm very curious. So, this is now the true Hachi-Roku?
 
Toyota Trueno GT-S

210 bhp, 220 Nm, 836 kg, PP 440
Painted in Blue Mica from Toyota


Clickable for full size

Parts to fit:
Oil Change
New Wheels, Enkei JS+M, finished in Original colour
Chassis Weight Reduction Stage 3
Window Weight Reduction
Engine Tuning Stage 3
Sports ECU
Sports Intake Manifold
Racing Air Filter
Titanium Racing Exhaust
Sports Exhaust Manifold
Catalytic Converter: Sports
Fully Customizable Transmission
Twin Plate Clutch
Semi Racing Flywheel
Carbon Propeller Shaft
Fully Customizable LSD
Fully Customizable Suspension Kit
Sports Soft Tyres

Overall cost:Its a Corolla, couple squirrel skins should do.

Transmission

Note: First, reset the gearbox to the default settings, then set the Max speed, and only then set the gear ratios.

Gear Ratios
1st: 2.641
2nd: 1.885
3rd: 1.429
4th: 1.169
5th: 1.000
6th: 0.875
Final Gear: 4.300

Max speed: 250 km/h

Fully Customizable LSD
Initial Torque: 25
Acceleration Sensitivity: 40
Braking Sensitivity: 15

Suspension
Ride Height Adjustment (mm): -25 / -25
Spring Rate (kgf/mm): 5.0 / 3.5
Dampers (Extension): 10 / 10
Dampers (Compression): 4 / 2
Anti-Roll Bars: 7 / 5
Camber Angle (-): 1.0 / 1.0
Toe Angle: -0.40 / 0.20

Brake Balance Controller
Brake Balance: 3 / 1

Driving Options
ASM: Off
TCS: 0
ABS: OFF


Just like its sibling, stock Trueno GT-Apex is nothing to write home about. Lacking in most performance-related departments, except maybe character, its a rather dull vehicle. But that's exactly why there's huge aftermarket for these cheap and common vehicles. Tweaked close to specs that you'd expect from Group N1 or F-cup racers, this deep blue Trueno is anything but docile grocery getter it was when it rolled out from the production lines. If you intend to put it through its paces, you better remember that there's no stability control or even ABS to keep you from careening off he track at respectable speeds. Certain green-dressed racer can do wonders with this little car, and now it's up to you to repeat the feat. Ganbatte!
 
I finally decided to give your tamer Superbeetle, namely the Ruf RTTurbo '96 a try. The description did not make it seem too daunting and given that I've had some recent practice with an A310 on SH tyres in the French seasonals, I felt more up to the task of braking in a RR car than previously (although the Xantia with no ABS has similar braking characteristics ;)).

So, starting at GVS the early signs are pretty good. It is not really much more of a handful slowing down for the first corner than the two Audi R8 derivatives and has excellent drive out of corners. The rear does come into play if you back off at the top of hill chicane (it will understeer if you are too fast in) but even someone with my skill level can catch it before it becomes an issue. It will carry decent speed through the last corner as well but tended - in my hands - to exit there in a mild four wheel drift.

So far so surpriningly stress free. On a whim I decided to take it to the Nordschleiffe, which I would normally not do (may have something to do with your post, Greycap). In any case, this was the first 500PP+ car that I managed to keep on the track the first time around on a pretty spirited lap. 👍 Usually it takes me some trial and error to see how far the car will allow itself to be pushed before it all goes horribly wrong. None of the braking was a problem and even in places where the kerbs or bumps would get the car temporarily airborne did I get into any trouble upon landing. :) Seems like it is just as much at home there as its spiritual Yellowbird ancestor (and a lot easier to drive to boot).

It's certainly a car that will help a relative novice explore RR dynamics in a fairly benign way and it is properly quick, too - even if some of your PP comparable machinery gets better times. Might even change my view of the brand ;)
 
Now to the first Hachi Roku - the Toyota Corolla 1600 GT '83. I may have tried the panda version of the car at some point in the past but this was my first exposure to the original. I had a factory fresh example in my garage and decided to go straight for the tuned version (not the in your words totally underwhelming original).

A bit apprehensive as to how the braking would work on the ABS free setting I gave TM a try in the 500PP seasonals, to see how the car would stack up against somewhat stronger machinery.

Turns out, surprisingly well. Sure enough, I did not manage to capture the lead at the beginning of the second lap but manage to dispatch all comers by mid lap 4 so well in time for a victory lap on my own :)

The first surprise was the enormous amount of grip at the front. In spite (or because?) of 60% of the weight resting on the front axle it seems that the car always has enough grip at the front - the speeds were often way more limited by what the engine could produce than what the chassis could handle. In spite of being 60PP down on the usual 500PP machinery I would use the first sector times (which are more about holding speed than accelerating) were only about 1 second slower. 👍

Braking was the surprising aspect, I have to admit. Not that it is difficult to control, once you figure out that a lighter button / pedal pressure is necessary but it is simply a lot stronger than expected - meaning that I unwillingly decelerated to speeds well below those intended initially. You soon learn that a light touch of the brakes will suffice, where a full on effort would be required in most other cars.

As said, the front seems to retain its dartiness at almost any level of committment, so being a bit gentler with your inputs is advised, if you do not want to always turn in too far ;)

The rear will brake loose on occassion but this is a trait one can fully control and it adds more to the playfulness and fun than to perspiration and wild wheelmanship.

Subsequently also easily won in the 500PP Cape Ring Periphery but had no chance to catch up with the Esprit and NSX R in the 3 laps of Tokyo R246 - the acceleration and straight line speed simply did not suffice for that one (in spite of the several seconds a lap I was quicker). Same goes for London - there is now way I could make up enough time to catch up with the lead.

In any case, a great little car, certainly deserving a cult following, at least in the version as presented here 👍
 
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To go with the Corolla, the Toyota Trueno GT-S '83. As can be expected with two cars with identical underpinnings and at the same state of tune, the results were bound to be comparable in principle, if not in every last detail.

This means a fun FR car with more grip than the engine really requires and good manners overall. As usual with Leonidae cars, it is a smidgeon more stable than Greycap's equivalent, meaning a tad less oversteer. At the same time I felt the front end being a bit less aggresive at turn in, too - not that it is understeery or a problem.

The only aspect, where it needs a bit more care is the braking (still talking minute differences). The general approach is the same - less pressure will serve better and releasing the brakes sooner than feels natural will give you the entry speed desired. It does shake the rear end a bit more during braking, though, if you have to decelerate from a high speed into a corner.

In terms of overall speed I found the two very comparable, the differences being more down to how good my lap was than the car.

So just like the Corolla, a great machine for several of the 500PP races in spite of the muscle disadvantage and a fun ride, too 👍
 
And here is another one, of the Lotus Evora 480 '09. With this one I am now down to 20 unreviewed cars :)

In any case, quite a promising car in stock form, nice, easy to drive, balanced, all the things one would generally level at a Lotus. Applying your settings had me in for a surprise first. While the normal settings were easy enough to accomplish (mine still somehow has fewer PPs), I could not get the gearbox to allow the pro settings in 5th and 6th gear. I also think you should have a quick look to decide which is which, since I personally found the car much more stable with the pro settings, and much hairier with the standard ones (more on this in a moment).

So on I went to try it out at GVS, its spiritual home. With the standard settings the car proved nervous to say the least. The front is well enough tied down and has excellent grip in lower speed corners (does wash out slightly in the high speed sections like the second and last corners, if pushed) but the back is certainly lively to a high extent - full throttle better only be applied in a straight line and even then not always, unless one is a massive fan of tankslappers ;) If you back off and drive it gently good times are possible but you always feel that more could be extracted from a slightly better tied down rear end.

It was also the only one of the 66 of you cars I tried, which was really scary over the top of hill chicane. Clip a kerb and all hell would break loose - together with the rear end ;)

After this I decided to try the pro setup just to see the difference and was surprised at its much more benign nature. All my laps were at least 2 seconds faster, full throttle could be used most of the time, the top of hill chicane was a doddle just like usually and there were only a handful of places, where some care was necessary, the rest being all very trouble free. The car seemed transformed, much less carrying a big axe hidden behind its back, much more poised and clinical. 👍

It was also one of the few cars, where I managed to quickly get to within 1,5 secs of Greycap's posted time, as opposed to the usual 3 sec a lap delay :D

So far so excellent for the alternative setup. To give it some more perspective I tried it in Rome and at Deep Forrest (or whatever the forresty thing is called). Rome is a track I feel extremely comfortable with and I find that most cars have a relatively easy time there. The Lotus managed to throw in quite some surprises, even in the tamer pro setting :) The post colloseum left hander had me drifting around, which was definitely a first - the front bit planted well enough but the rear end just kept coming around unless I drove it with a very light throttle and only started accelerating past the apex. The speed was good; it was just a very unusual behaviour, since even very high powered machinery generally did not object to a full throttle application at that point. The right hander immediately after Colloseum (and prior to the one described) also required more care than usually, with the braking being followed by a feathered or at best light throttle.

Once I learned that the car worked well but I found it still one of the more demanding cars around the track and not nearly as natural as at GVS.

Deep Forrest also worked well time wise but required a lot of concentration, especially over any sort of bumps, most of which would unsettle the rear. If you are not careful I feel you could drift around the whole track; with proper care and attention some really good speed can be maintained throughout.

So a car that works wonderfully at GVS and is potentially a bit more of a handful at other tracks. Solid braking, very good front end grip but a rear susceptible to breaking out, epsecially on less than flat surfaces. While I found it faster than the R8 Audis at GVS, the pair in my hands murdered it at the other tracks I tried.

After several races and ca. 200km I am still 4PP shy of the stated (was the downforce supposed to be higher?), as well as several bhp under the 480 - maybe I just purchased a slightly wonky example?

In any case, an interesting car with a slightly split personality and a bit of a handful for the more novice driver 👍
 
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The CTR2 is actually a much better car than its reputation implies. It has a nearly 50/50 weight distribution, four wheel drive and a lot of twin turbo power - what's not to like? Most people are just used to its hopeless understeer in stock form but that's a programming mistake, it basically has an open centre differential which sends all the power to the wheels that spin first and as those are usually the fronts it effectively becomes a tail heavy 500 bhp FWD car under every acceleration. With nothing more than a VCD set to 30/70 it already shows great potential and I took extracting that potential a bit further. I'll gladly accept any credit for making it a great car but being honest a lot of its goodness was in it to begin with.

The AE86s... they prove what we knew already, I sacrifice stability for manoeuvrability and Leonidae does the exact opposite. What I personally found noteworthy was the pure difference of the setups, out of 19 possible settings that directly affect handling only three were the same on both cars and of those three, two were the brakes.
 
The transmission issue is related to the fact that I haven't fixed my transmissions after the update that changed them in any of my cars. :embarrassed: I guess I should start working on that..💡
 
Hey, just wanted to say I haven't died or anything, life just got busy and such again.

I do still plan to review that Ferrari... once I find time for GT5 not spent playing around in my Gallardo :guilty:

ACIII isn't helping much either :boggled:
 
OK, finally decided to share the shame and write a review of my abysmal performance in one of the prettiest car in the game (and consequently in your garage) - namely the Lancia Stratos HF Stradale '73. As some other reviewers have ably demonstrated, it is a car that manages quite impressive times in the right hands, in mine most more docile 500PP cars will drive rings around it.

The car is defined by one thing - oversteer. It comes in many shapes and guises, lift off oversteer, power oversteer, turn in too sharply and get the rear to have a look oversteer... ;) In fact I managed to find only two situations where oversteer was not an issue - namely standing still and braking. The latter being the more surprising aspect - one would imagine such a feisty car to throw in a wobbly while braking as well but it doesn't - this was really the only time I felt I could relax.

The steering will primarily happen with the throttle, the steering wheel being used more for opposite lock than any useful input in direct direction changes. I guess part of my difficulties stem also from using a DS3 and not a wheel / pedal setup, and my inability to make angstrom sized corrections in throttle application / steering. Or that is what I keep telling myself.

So in the end I only managed to gingerly maneuver myself around the track, tickling the throttle on corner exit and sliding through most of the rest. The times, as you can imagine, were appropriately glacial. :(

I still hold out hope for a new, more adept set of hands from Santa, which will one day enable me to get more out of this beauty - for the moment it is more for the moments when I want to scare the living ... out of myself (even more so than Leonidae's Zonda or LFA, which I reviewed earlier). 👍
 
Well, I've another review in store for you Finn chaps, this one is about the:

Sound from heaven: Lexus LFA "Shinden"

I must say, the LFA is one of my fave supercars. Even though it is a work out every time you drive it, it has that true supercar spirit that is lacking on other cars... GTR "cough cough" ... Of course, the MFT version of the crazy Lexus sounds even more crazy!

It has a massive 100-hp increase compared to the stock car, and revamped suspension and tranny to boot. And since the magnificent V10 engine didn't have enough revs (apparently), Leo managed to amp up to a max limit of 10000 RPM!!! I have to say, just reading the specs scared the hell out of me, it is a recipe from Hell.

But driving it is like being in heaven. The sound is glorious, I just adore it. I thought you couldn't improve the original classic, but you have. Handling wise, the car is indeed sharper than the stock car, but it still retains that crazed character that made the LFA such a feared supercar in the first place. I had to wrestle the car in many occasions, because if you don't ease the throttle, the rear snaps into killer oversteer and then you need to have to kick it into shape without sending the car into the opposite wall. It is the perfect challenge for those who think that they can drive everything. I tried to enter this car in a Supercar seasonal event, but I found myself wrestling too much with the oversteer, so 2nd was the best I could achieve. It's not a bad car, mind you, but it is a LFA on fast foward, so you need to be aware that you're not in a R35 by mistake, or the car will bite your hand off before you know it.

Oh, and I still love that sound... :drool:
 
Well, I've another review in store for you Finn chaps, this one is about the:

Sound from heaven: Lexus LFA "Shinden"

I must say, the LFA is one of my fave supercars. Even though it is a work out every time you drive it, it has that true supercar spirit that is lacking on other cars... GTR "cough cough" ... Of course, the MFT version of the crazy Lexus sounds even more crazy!

It has a massive 100-hp increase compared to the stock car, and revamped suspension and tranny to boot. And since the magnificent V10 engine didn't have enough revs (apparently), Leo managed to amp up to a max limit of 10000 RPM!!! I have to say, just reading the specs scared the hell out of me, it is a recipe from Hell.

But driving it is like being in heaven. The sound is glorious, I just adore it. I thought you couldn't improve the original classic, but you have. Handling wise, the car is indeed sharper than the stock car, but it still retains that crazed character that made the LFA such a feared supercar in the first place. I had to wrestle the car in many occasions, because if you don't ease the throttle, the rear snaps into killer oversteer and then you need to have to kick it into shape without sending the car into the opposite wall. It is the perfect challenge for those who think that they can drive everything. I tried to enter this car in a Supercar seasonal event, but I found myself wrestling too much with the oversteer, so 2nd was the best I could achieve. It's not a bad car, mind you, but it is a LFA on fast foward, so you need to be aware that you're not in a R35 by mistake, or the car will bite your hand off before you know it.

Oh, and I still love that sound... :drool:

Indeed, the LFA and it's divine/helish divebomber scream as it accelerates and decelerates is intoxicating.. Mmm, need me more sound like that.. Maybe something with M-badge? :sly:
 
You mean like the M5 that I used to have... the one that decimated anything you could throw at it? :P

And the Stratos... well, it's a Stratos and the oversteer warning still seems to hold true. I don't know if there's really much to be said about it other than if you can drive it, you can drive pretty much anything out there. They simply don't get noticably more difficult than that.
 
The main issue with the Stratos is that there really isn't that much extra rear grip to be found, making it handle more progressively basically comes down to two things - reducing front end grip to make it slip before the rear and/or fixing the weight distribution. With a 50/50 balance it becomes a totally different car, I tried it during testing back then. Of course the best way would be to make it three feet longer but that's about as far out of bounds as possible.
 
A mini review of the Nissan 370Z GT5 Ltd. '08. It makes for a nice story and a nice model, which Nissan itself surprisingly never decided to build (one wonders why). Plus it is one of the few cars in the game that have an inconspicuous wing option 👍

Putting all the components on and applying the settings, I took the car to R246 to see how it works and what time advantage the extra 531PP give over a 500PP car. In terms of time, it seems to be surprisingly little in my hands, at this track. The Nissan will certainly accellerate quite healthily and the final speed at the end of the straight is certainly higher than any 500PP car I have tried so far.

The first corner then gives a good indication of how the car will work in the twisties. And here I would rate the car more 'Advanced' than 'Intermediate' - not that it is difficult to drive, it is just hard to get the most out of. Being even only a smidgeon too fast on turn-in will have the front plow wide, as will applying the throttle a moment too early, even if the entry speed was perfectly judged. The rear does come into play at first if you apply throttle really deliberately, helping with turning the car but will mostly stay stable enough, with solid grip levels. Braking does not seem to produce any problems, either.

So all in all I got times very comparable to a certain trial NSX, as the straight line speed advantage simply did not suffice to distance the Nissan from the Honda, which gained a bit in the corners. I am sure some more practice will have me get more out of the Nissan, and will definitely try it at other tracks to give a better overview of its strengths and weaknesses. But it seems that the difference will be much less than between the Nissan and the 550-570PP range. :)
 
Filling out the previous mini review of the Nissan 370Z GT5 Ltd. '08 with my impressions from its spiritual home at GVS. Not surprisingly it feels a bit more natural there and the understeer issue described above at R246 is not nearly as present. The tail is perhaps a happier at GVS, too - coming into play more often.

On the other side one has a bit more work to keep the car stable under braking, with several of the maneuvres ending up much more sideways than initially planned. The speed in the third tunnel is still somewhat subpar but the mechanical grip through the final Ss is pretty good, dropping off somewhat in the final corner, where I am certain I lose more time. The overall lap times are still quite a bit short of yours but then again it seems that even in your hands, the GT5 is not that much faster than the best 500PP competitors.

Still a good 370 and while a slightly blunter tool than something NSX based, reasonably fast nevertheless. 👍
 
And now to the German incarnation of the Nissan, namely the BMW Z4M GT. And it is - not all that surprisingly - stabler than the Greycap creation. Mine came with some underfed horses (more like 531 than 536PP) and sadly the only aero option is a wing that would keep a Cessna in the air :(

Small niggles aside, tried it at R246 and CRP (yet to do a Nordschleiffe), and came away impressed with its stability and ease of extracting pain free laps but not so much at the speed - just like with the Nissan, the times are hardly better than with the best 500PP cars you have made for me.

Where the Nissan will occassionally wag its tail, the BMWs is planted solid (can get it to play a bit at CRP but not really at R246). The front will also let go of grip a bit more progressively if you push it too hard or try to accelerate too soon out of a corner.

But let go the front will. This makes it a very safe car that will easily suffer novices but not necessarily faster. While it will beat all but the 500PP R390 at CRP, it comes in at similar times to NSXs in Tokyo. In both cases I found it a tiny bit slower than the GT5 but I am sure a novice will find it more controllable.
 
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