New physics BOP test. Group 3.....How close are the cars

pantherjag · Jun 7, 2019

Ok with all the talk of the new physics and buffed this and nerfed that I decided to test every group 3 cars under the same conditions and note down. Optimal lap, best lap and finishing time.

I also noted tyre wear but I intend conducting another test to rate that in the future.

The test was conducted at Autopolis short course at 1700 hours over 5 laps with 10x tyre wear on racing mediums and 2x fuel. I did the race in custom race against AI and started from pole so they had zero influence on results( thought I might as well make some credits as I grinded through the cars)

Autopolis short course was chosen due to it having a variety of corners with a decent straight and being short so I could rattle through cars quickly.

The races were conducted at what I consider race pace and not qualifying pace as I was noting finishing times and didn't want any glaring mistakes to affect times.

I used a logitech G29 wheel with no assists, abs default and brake balance at 0 so as to keep every setting uniform across the cars(cheers for reminder)

The first list will be ordered in optimal lap time as the test was to see if every car was competitive and this way shows every cars potential pace. I will add best laps and finishing times as well.

Disclaimer....I'm not claiming this list is a true order of competitiveness as certain cars will suit some tracks better than others and my feeling was that the handling cars faired better than the power cars overall at this track. Also in at least 12-15 cases I was driving a car for the first time.

About me.....My psn is wombleleader. I'm A+, currently on 55k dr. I'm pretty fast but by no means an "alien". In daily events I usually post a top 500 time on EMEA without to much off an issue. I'm definitely a better racer than hotlapper and consider consistency to be my best attribute.

So the list

Optimal Lap Times

1. 2017 lexus......1.06.896
2. Aston Martin....1.06.953
3. Jaguar gt3.......1.06.959
4. Subaru WRX....1.07.012
5. Toyota FT1......1.07.014
6. Peug RCZ.........1.07.044
7. Mazda atenza..1.07.050
8. AMG merc........1.07.128
9. Mclar 650s......1.07.150
10. Renault..........1.07.181
11. 2016 lexus....1.07.201
12. Huracan.........1.07.223
13. Genesis Hyd...1.07.228
14. Ford GT lm.....1.07.229
15. McLaren F1....1.07.231
16. Porsche 911...1.07.250
17. VW vision gt...1.07.265
18. Toyota sup......1.07.274
19. Nissan gtr.......1.07.281
20. VW bettle.......1.07.294
21. BMW Z4..........1.07.299
22. BMW. M6.........1.07.300
23. Lancer Evo......1.07.305
24. Corvette C7....1.07.313
25. Ferrari italia....1.07.323
26. BMW M3..........1.07.355
27. Citreon vet......1.07.385
28. Mustang..........1.07.392
29. Audi r8.............1.07.401
30. Alpha 4c..........1.07.433
31. Honda Nsx.......1.07.459
32. Peug VGT.........1.07.498
33. Merc SLS..........1.07.520
34. Dodge Viper.....1.07.551

So the 2017 lexus topped this list and the field spread was just over 6 tenths for the 33 cars. That in my opinion is not bad. It shows every car is competitive to a point and PD's BOP is pretty decent in gr3. I'm quite inexperienced in MR cars so I think they may be a little unrepresented by myself. We all know the Audi is a beast over a single lap but is 28th on this list. Also in a previous test the viper which is propping up the list was holding a top 5 position around lake Maggiore centre so as said before different tracks will suit different cars more.

A little thing that did make me laugh was that autopolis has a lot of lexus sponsorship and what car came top?

I plan to update this post with more data and hope some folk find it interesting. Cheers

steefpeef · Jun 8, 2019

This is very nice to read and think about, thank you for your effort! I guess you are using a wheel with ABS normal?

pantherjag · Jun 8, 2019

steefpeef
This is very nice to read and think about, thank you for your effort! I guess you are using a wheel with ABS normal?

Thanks. I thought it was quite a useful experiment to share and as I said it will be updated with more data in near future.

Yes I use a logitech G29 wheel and abs was at default. All other assist off and brake balance was at 0

I ment to include that info in original post so thanks for reminding me.

splitwindow · Jun 8, 2019

pantherjag
Yes I use a logitech G29 wheel and abs was at default. All other assist off and brake balance was at 0

Great thread and effort, and thanks.
However, it seems to me that with each physics update the brake balance becomes more and more important to getting each individual car to behave at its best.
Of course the optimal setting for every car is not only subjective to the individual but also unique to each car, and trying to nail down comprehensive and complete settings would require an almost impossible amount of testing.
It used to be that I felt comfortably in the ballpark using some very broad BB settings for fr/mr/awd cars, but as of this latest update it feels like if I don't have it dialed in perfectly for each individual car then they're horrible to drive.
Your data is a great yardstick for initial comparison though and thanks for sharing. Gives some good food for thought.

mclarenLB · Jun 8, 2019

A cool little test, although its not quite a big enough sample size to eliminate the human error aspect, to use optimum time you need to do a lot of laps, typically without tyres or fuel on as well as you are adding an extra variable there which doesn't need to be factored into optimal time and Autopolis naturally favours cars with good traction (exit speed from low speed corners) and doesn't reward top end at all.

I don't think this shows the games BoP in a good light at all however, an almost 7 tenth field spread over a minute is honestly woeful, if this is a 15 minute race that means you have a 10 second spread across cars. In a top split FIA lobby that's enough time to be the difference between 1st place and about 12th in EMEA.

iFerrari · Jun 8, 2019

Testing at a such narrow straightless circuit is wrong imo, you take out the top speed factor altogether like this. Catalunya is way better to test true value for Gr.3 cars from my experience.

fastone371 · Jun 8, 2019

pantherjag
Ok with all the talk of the new physics and buffed this and nerfed that I decided to test every group 3 cars under the same conditions and note down. Optimal lap, best lap and finishing time.

I also noted tyre wear but I intend conducting another test to rate that in the future.

The test was conducted at Autopolis short course at 1730 hours over 5 laps with 10x tyre wear on racing mediums and 2x fuel. I did the race in custom race against AI and started from pole so they had zero influence on results( thought I might as well make some credits as I grinded through the cars)

Autopolis short course was chosen due to it having a variety of corners with a decent straight and being short so I could rattle through cars quickly.

The races were conducted at what I consider race pace and not qualifying pace as I was noting finishing times and didn't want any glaring mistakes to affect times.

I used a logitech G29 wheel with no assists, abs default and brake balance at 0 so as to keep every setting uniform across the cars(cheers for reminder)

The first list will be ordered in optimal lap time as the test was to see if every car was competitive and this way shows every cars potential pace. I will add best laps and finishing times as well.

Disclaimer....I'm not claiming this list is a true order of competitiveness as certain cars will suit some tracks better than others and my feeling was that the handling cars faired better than the power cars overall at this track. Also in at least 12-15 cases I was driving a car for the first time.

About me.....My psn is wombleleader. I'm A+, currently on 55k dr. I'm pretty fast but by no means an "alien". In daily events I usually post a top 500 time on EMEA without to much off an issue. I'm definitely a better racer than hotlapper and consider consistency to be my best attribute.

So the list

Optimal Lap Times

1. 2017 lexus......1.06.896
2. Aston Martin....1.06.953
3. Jaguar gt3.......1.06.959
4. Subaru WRX....1.07.012
5. Toyota FT1......1.07.014
6. Peug RCZ.........1.07.044
7. Mazda atenza..1.07.050
8. AMG merc........1.07.128
9. Mclar 650s......1.07.150
10. Renault..........1.07.181
11. 2016 lexus....1.07.201
12. Huracan.........1.07.223
13. Genesis Hyd...1.07.228
14. Ford GT lm.....1.07.229
15. McLaren F1....1.07.231
16. Porsche 911...1.07.250
17. VW vision gt...1.07.265
18. Nissan gtr.......1.07.281
19. VW bettle.......1.07.294
20. BMW Z4..........1.07.299
21. BMW. M6.........1.07.300
22. Lancer Evo......1.07.305
23. Corvette C7....1.07.313
24. Ferrari italia....1.07.323
25. BMW M3..........1.07.355
26. Citreon vet......1.07.385
27. Mustang..........1.07.392
28. Audi r8.............1.07.401
29. Alpha 4c..........1.07.433
30. Honda Nsx.......1.07.459
31. Peug VGT.........1.07.498
32. Merc SLS..........1.07.520
33. Dodge Viper.....1.07.551

So the 2017 lexus topped this list and the field spread was just over 6 tenths for the 33 cars. That in my opinion is not bad. It shows every car is competitive to a point and PD's BOP is pretty decent in gr3. I'm quite inexperienced in MR cars so I think they may be a little unrepresented by myself. We all know the Audi is a beast over a single lap but is 28th on this list. Also in a previous test the viper which is propping up the list was holding a top 5 position around lake Maggiore centre so as said before different tracks will suit different cars more.

A little thing that did make me laugh was that autopolis has a lot of lexus sponsorship and what car came top?

I plan to update this post with more data and hope some folk find it interesting. Cheers

Did you not test all GR3 cars? Unless I am blind I dont see the GR3 Supra listed which seems to be the META car by a mile on Dragon Trail for this weeks daily GR3 race.

pantherjag · Jun 8, 2019

fastone371
Did you not test all GR3 cars? Unless I am blind I dont see the GR3 Supra listed which seems to be the META car by a mile on Dragon Trail for this weeks daily GR3 race.

You know I thought there was 34 group 3 cars but I put it down to there being 3 M6's. I have tested this car now and updated the list.

Thanks for pointing it out

pantherjag · Jun 8, 2019

iFerrari
Testing at a such narrow straightless circuit is wrong imo, you take out the top speed factor altogether like this. Catalunya is way better to test true value for Gr.3 cars from my experience.

Autopolis short course was chosen because it had a little bit of everything. Decent straight, hairpin, 90 degree corners and 1 reasonably fast corner The straight on autopolis is 0.56 miles long compared to Barcelona at 0.65 so not a vast difference.

A quick check shows traditionally well know power cars like the McLaren f1 and Nissan GTR getting upto 156mph on the straight compared to the Alpha and R.S 01 only getting to 151mph so having some grunt is does play it's part on this circuit.

Ideally you would test all the cars around various types of circuits to form a true picture but the time sink would be immense.

pantherjag · Jun 8, 2019

mclarenLB
A cool little test, although its not quite a big enough sample size to eliminate the human error aspect, to use optimum time you need to do a lot of laps, typically without tyres or fuel on as well as you are adding an extra variable there which doesn't need to be factored into optimal time and Autopolis naturally favours cars with good traction (exit speed from low speed corners) and doesn't reward top end at all.

I don't think this shows the games BoP in a good light at all however, an almost 7 tenth field spread over a minute is honestly woeful, if this is a 15 minute race that means you have a 10 second spread across cars. In a top split FIA lobby that's enough time to be the difference between 1st place and about 12th in EMEA.

I kind of see it the opposite way regarding the BOP if I'm honest.

Only having 5 laps in each car, many of which I was going into without a lap turned and only having a spread of 7 tenths is pretty good really. I have no doubt that if I had 20 laps in each car without tyres and fuel that field spread would be halved.

There should be a spread though of 3-4 tenths as some cars should suit some tracks better than others....I'd be worried if the gap was 1.5-2 seconds as that would be to big a margin to be explained by things like driving style, car experience, tyrewear, small mistakes, number of laps. At 7 tenths I'd say it falls within the margin of error of the aforementioned things.

I appreciate the feedback and may conduct another test without tyrewear and fuel.

Thanks