Quick reviews:
@Woodski_427 had an idea for featuring some forgotten, heavy (and not the most appealing) V6 Euro cars. And I must say, some of these can be quite surprising if driven on the right track. And there have been some interesting tunes submitted, but I have had limited time and still wanted to get to each tuner.
So I used the previous Seasonal at Rome for several cars along with a time trial run at Brands Hatch GP. Now I also tuned each of the cars with the exception of the Xantia (ran out of time), but will not be comparing my own tunes. So here goes the first of three reviews.
First up,
@mgo and his 406 Coupe. Tuned on CS tires, so I ran them at the Rome Seasonal. My impression of the tune was surprisingly nimble for standard LSD (more on that later). I managed to win easily while noticing some exit understeer and an amount of grip that really carried the tune through the course. The brakes were really good unless you pushed the issue and broke late. Most of this a attributed to the CS tires. Best lap was 1:25.694
So a quick tire change and a fast session at Brands on SH tires. Not bad on standard LSD for most of the track, first hairpin had some understeer on exit and wheel spin but I was able to fix with the throttle and exit line. The rest of the track was a breeze, and it really liked the extra grip from the SH tires. Brakes were better but harder to judge turn 1 was they slowed the car faster than expected. Once I got the tune down, the time improved and I finished with a best of 1:43.749. What I thought was not bad for a heavy car. Being able to stretch it's legs and open up really favored this tune, and I found it quite enjoyable.
Next up was Woodski and his Xantia (I wanted to mix it up a little). Having not tuned this one and only trying it with a base tune, I was curious to see how it would compare. So of to Rome, where I found it better than expected. The tune had amazing mid-corner grip making the faster turns easier to handle, and easy to win by a big margin. On CS tires, it was close to the time I put up with
@mgo's 406, but just a tad slower at 1:25.800.
So I was looking forward to it at Brands Hatch on SH tires. I did think it needed a bit more final gear so I decided to change it to 3.250. Well, I probably should have left it alone. Might have been too much of a change, still, better on the tires with extra grip and the handling did not disappoint. That is, as long as I got the entry correct. Unfortunately, this car is just slower than the others and feels heavier. The tune was great for it, but no match for the others I suspect. Best lap was 1:44.067. Which is actually not too far off.
How about a Vectra? This one to me was the car to beat of the field, seemed to have better grip and mobility than the others. So up next let's see how
@sinof1337 did with it shall we. Off to Rome on CS tires. This tune was great, loved to rotate in mid-high speed corners making you feel like the car was lighter than it is. Off the throttle this thing turned fantastic, on throttle however, there is a hint of exit understeer. Not surprising so not a big deal. The race went by so fast I almost forgot to pay attention to the lap time. 1:25.337.
So I was now expecting big things at Brands on grippier tires. Well, most of the exit understeer was gone and of course the grip was better. Not much else to say, it did what you asked and then asked for your approval. PD gave it a little more love than the others I think. The only issue was my lap time, which should have been better, but the best was 1:43.072. Nice job.
And now for what was supposed to be the final test, another 450pp tune but this time from
@shaunm80. But which, the Bora seemed wrong being 4wd, so why not give the Xantia another run. I know I know, the Alfa gets some love later, be patient
.
So off to Rome one more time, and this was again no surprise as it felt like a tune from Exeter. Off throttle this thing rotated wonderful, with a hint of exit understeer. I did find a corner or two where if I was off my line, I might have to lift mid-corner on a normal flat out corner. But the lap time did not seem to suffer as a best of 1:25.721 was the result.
But could it improve at Brands? Yes and no. Better grip, better rotation but the front brakes were also grabbing better. If I did not get my braking zone correct, the front tires lit up and slid. Get them right however, and the car settled nicely into the corner setting up a better exit. The best lap however, was the fault of the driver not quite putting the best lap together. A 1:44.705
Not a bad tune at all and deserving a better time.
So now
@mgo posts his LSD settings
, ok so I have to be fair and give it another try don't I? But the Rome Seasonal is now gone, so only a run at Brands on SH tires. Immediately I remembered the tune, and felt it was now improved. Exit understeer in the the first hairpin? No, not much at all. In fact, the car even seems to be light than I remember it feeling but perhaps that was just me. This is just a really good tune with plenty of grip, good ability to change direction and really good all around. But amazingly, the best time did not drop as much as expected
, best lap was 1:43.455.
Oh well, I am enjoying it enough to take a trip over to Cape Ring and earn a few credits. Easily took down a slow NSX rabbbit and ran away from him. Maybe a little more turning ability was needed for the long sweeping left hander but it could have been my line. Also, at this track I found late braking for turn 1 was not a good idea. But overall, I really liked this tune. And it might be closer to the Vectra then I originally thought.
In review:
Rome (CS) -
Sinof1337 - 1:25.337
mgo - 1:25.694
shaunm80 - 1:25.721
Woodski_427 - 1:25.800
Brands Hatch GP (SH) -
sinof1337 - 1:43.072
mgo (With LSD) - 1:43.455
mgo (with Standard LSD) - 1:43.749
Woodski_427 - 1:44.067
Shaunm80 - 1:44.705
.
. Without the ballast, it does suffer a bit on entry and midcorner on the slower corners. But I felt it improved the car on higher speed corners. Makes track selection a bit more critical but...
I forgot to put it on the setup it is 10 25 15
.. ( looking for the right word ) ... sight pollution 
should never have been marketed, the design team has plenty of direct competition from the other German makes, how can they even think of putting this in the sales room 
. I'm not going to wish they were fired but a few good hits 
. ( Might make them draw something original )
. On the negative side I really didn't like the engine sound 
, since you tuned it you are held responsible for the noise pollution it gave, you'll probably get a summons from the INPF ( International Noise Pollution Federation ) since one of their agents was going to give me a fine, I had the quick reflex to point out that this car belonged to you 
. So let's get on with it, took the car to Intermediate - Matterhorn Seasonal. Since I have a history of banging up your cars and you are use to it we'll cut all the politically correct typing and get to the nitty-gritty.
.
, so throttle control is a must, car stays steady in mid and exit, very easy to handle.
