Questoin about a new car´s HP increase

[GordonS]

I bought Honda NSX type R(the virtual one ) with N2/N3 tyres after watching some RL clips of it´s time attacking at Tsukuba.. The car stats promise that there can be found 276 HP under the bonnet, but at the same moment as the cashflow happens, the HP increases 15. So, now I have 291 HP under my right foot!!!
Am I missing something? Ok, it is nice to have those extra HPs but how do I compare my laps to RL laps if I have that extra power?
(All this happens of course without oil change and with many other cars.)
So, can someone explain why this happens to a new car?

 

[Specialized]

I bought Honda NSX type R(the virtual one ) with N2/N3 tyres after watching some RL clips of it´s time attacking at Tsukuba.. The car stats promise that there can be found 276 HP under the bonnet, but at the same moment as the cashflow happens, the HP increases 15. So, now I have 291 HP under my right foot!!!
Am I missing something? Ok, it is nice to have those extra HPs but how do I compare my laps to RL laps if I have that extra power?
(All this happens of course without oil change and with many other cars.)
So, can someone explain why this happens to a new car?

Well what id suggest you do is find a laptime for the NSX on a real circuit (i will have a look for one), then race ur virtual one around the same track adding weight untill your times match those of the RL counterpart.

Why this happens? i dont know but if you are using the pal version i read in a thread that the power figures are wrong, it has something to do with the power output measurement (POM), and not being calculated properly so although the power reads 291hp i think its showing the figure for PS wich is the european standard POM and this is slightly higher than a figure wich would be shown if in BHP.

1ps = 0.9863201652997627hp

I may be talking a complete load of crap but it seems to make sense, but i just did the sums and it still doesnt add up, 291 ps = about 284bhp.

Or it could be the POM taken at either the wheels or flywheel! A car on a dyno will show less horsepower at the wheels than it would at the flywheel, maybe the Japanese car companies measured power at the wheeks to get around the 276bhp gentlemans agreement. So when you see the figures for sale they are power at the wheels measurement but once you buy it you see the power at the flywheel measurement looking like a power increase.

Hope this helps or points you in the right direction,

 

[GordonS]

Thanks for the info! Yes, I have the PAL version.(PAL version only having this "flaw" )

Oh, yes. BTW, I compared my times to the RL ones and I was easily around 3 to 5 seconds faster with the tyres I mentioned above. (The car is like a dream to drive 👍 )

 

[KaiZen]

Actually, the power after purchasing the vehicle is probably closer to the "real" cars power figures. Japanese manufacturers have a "Gentleman's Agreement" with each other that states that the maximum power output of their cars is to be capped at 206kw (276hp). Think of it like Germany's Top Speed limit of 255km/h..

If you think about it, no Japanese car would have much of a chance against the rest of the world with only 206kw, so manufacturers upped the power a little. In some cars it's very obvious that there's more than 206kw, like GTR's which are rumoured to have at least 240kw and possibly 260kw with all that weight to lug around. But, other's like the STI and EVO aren't so much. They probably produce anything close to around 220kw.

Regarding the NSX, because it's such a light car it's hard to tell.. and because of it's cornering ability I'm sure Honda didn't mind having less power than the rest of the Japanese Sportscars..

Also, I think I remember seeing in a vid some time ago that PD dyno'd the cars.. not sure though

It's funny that even though everyone in the world has always known that Japanese manufacturers are not really capping their cars power output to 206kw, no manufacturer will ever officially state that the power is over the limit. Even now, that the "Gentleman's Agreement" has officially been dropped.

Noone wants to be the first to lose face. Japanese have TOO MUCH HONOUR!..



GordonS, do a search on tyres. There are alot of threads where people have been trying to find the right combination of tyres for cars in order to match real life lap times.. For an NSX the combo would probably more like N2/N2 as N3's on the rear would be too sticky to be realistic.. 👍

 

[GordonS]

Oh, sorry. I ment that I drove those laps not mixing those tire types: N2 front N2 rear and same with N3s. And yes, I´ve been reading and learning those tyre discussions here.
KaiZen, thanks for those pieces of information! Very interesting indeed.

 

[Alfaholic]

On PAL the posted power will be higher when the car is first purchased, and will decrease as you put on mileage until you change the oil. It will then jump up again. I forget if it's top power value actually increases over the first couple of hundred miles but after that, it will steadily decrease until it stabilises at 8500 miles. The power goes up and down to reflect the condition of the engine.

In the real car, the power posted for the car is indeed 276BHP, and I think the Japanese agreement was for 280PS, which equates to 276bhp. More or less.

However, you will rarely find an engine from any manufacturer which exactly matches the published output, because the tolerance that components have to be manufactured to allow for some change in the power developed by an engine. This is why blueprinting is effective. I believe that, in the EU at least, the law allows a 5% tolerance on quoted engine power to actual power developed by the engine, but I could be wrong on this. Add 5% to 276 and you get 290bhp.

Therefore it is not unreasonable to expect a real NSX to develop 290bhp, at the flywheel (sounds a bit high for a at-the-wheels figure for a 3 litre N/A V6, or even a 3.2), if the engine has a particularly well matched set of components, and atmospheric conditions are favourable (measured at sea level, on a cool day perhaps).

As for the manufacturers making engines more powerful than the figures suggest, I believe that some Supras have been available from Toyota with over 300bhp puplished for some time? Could be wrong again, it may be a UK only thing. Also, I remember reading about a (then) new GTR being made avail by Nissan at some point, and there being suspicion about the torque figure for the engine increasing, the rev limit increasing, but the power still being the same at 276bhp. Power is a product of torque, and the figures didn't quite add up. The engine should have been more powerful.

I also remember rumours surrounding the ScoobyDoo Impreza 22B. Power was quoted as 276bhp, but there were plenty of rumours stating it was closer to 330. One particular tuner spoke out in a magazine (probably Performance Car) to say that every 22B they had dyno tested showed around the 280bhp mark, making the stated figure accurate. Who knows what the truth is?