I have driven an Elise (a few actually) and when you are driving below the limits of the tyres grip (so say 7/10ths) they are very predictable and easy to hustle along, and on the public road and messing about on a track day that's pretty much how it would be.
However push one right the way to the edge of its grip and/or abuse the brakes or throttle in this situation and it will bite you. The Elise is a very light mid-engined car with a low Polar moment of intertia, upset its balance when its right on the edge (sudden throttle off or power on) and it will start to go and it will do it quickly.
I've both experienced this myself and seen the results of it on many an occasion, what we do have in the real world that is absent in all sims is the overall feel of the car. When a car starts to let go, particularly one as communicative as an Elise, you can feel it with every part of your body. It gives us that sense not to be brutal with the throttle, steering or brakes and gives us the sense of when it is starting to go.
To give a real world example of this, a few years ago I was following an Elise on my way to work, the driver of which was being relatively spirited (but certainly not OTT). However as he approached a particular corner that I know tightens on exit it was quite clear he was carrying too much speed. I had an unfortunately grandstand view as he lifted off the throttle mid-bend to try and shed some speed. The car span a good 180 degrees before removing its rear wheel on the opposite curb.
Fortunately the driver was fine, apart from his pride I guess, but as he said, once it let go it all just happened so fast. The reason why mid-engined cars are ideal for racing its that the central mass helps ensure they turn with very little inertia, that however remains true both when we want them to turn and when you don't.
The following is from an Elise owners club...
Cornering
Under consistent, hard acceleration or 'power drift' through corners the Elise is very controllable. You can use additional power to drift the rear as required and gently easing off to bring the rear end back in. When at the edge of adhesion, mid-corner, you do not want to lift off of the throttle too abruptly or the rear end will try to overtake the front. This means that you should enter corners at a speed you can be sure you can maintain through the whole corner, i.e. a slow in and fast out approach. You should allow for obstacles and variations in road surface that may not be visible at the approach.
Under these 'lift-off oversteer' conditions the Elise is also quite controllable if the lift-off is gentle, though no where near as controllable as under power through a corner. You can use this characteristic to control the attitude of the car through a corner but as the back end comes further round, more and more power is required to regain control and at about 30° the power of the standard car is insufficient to regain control, resulting in a spin. If you are forced to lift off abruptly, i.e. you meet an obstacle mid-corner, you have no option and the car will spin and you will lose control. If at all possible, maintain a constant throttle pressure and power your way round or through (e.g. an animal) any obstacles. This may result in less damage.
The Elise can also be forced to understeer by rapid changes in direction with the steering wheel, though I have found this hard to reproduce on my car and the effect to be minimal. It is more likely to occur in the wet.
Always bear in mind that a corner may have unexpected surface conditions or adverse cambers which will take the car from a point well within it's performance envelope to one well outside in a split second. If this happens the rear-end may 'step out' and catching it requires the driver to be very alert and familiar with the cars behaviour under these conditions. The first time I found myself in this situation, I over-corrected. The Elise is not forgiving in this situation, the rear end will snap back quickly often resulting in the driver losing the rear end in the other direction and spinning out of control. For me this proved an expensive learning exercise only, on another day it could have proved fatal.
Source -
http://www.elises.co.uk/miscellaneous/handling.html
With any mid-engined car smooth application of al controls is a must, but its particularly true of those with short wheel bases. The Elise does have a reputation of biting on the limit, just as a number of other cars with a very similar layout do, such as the Clio V6 Mk1 and the Stratos.
Regards
Scaff
Maybe it will work on GT too?
Wish GT5P had a photo mode so I could show you...
) the penalties are stupid too: I keep my racing line and a car that's been off the track simply drives back on side-swiping into me without any attempt to wait and I am the one that gets punished for ramming?! I don't think so.
)
