Round 1 of the official FIA GT Nations Cup is coming up... but what's the best car to use?

[K32]

So with Round 1 of the official FIA GT Nations Cup starting tomorrow... I've been testing quite a bit, comparing cars from the current Gr.1 roster (with BoP) both speed wise (straight line speed and handling characteristics) and fuel/tyre wear wise and I have been able to seperate 5 cars that are solid in their own fields respectively:

Nissan GT-R LM NISMO 2015

Toyota TS050 2016

Audi R18 TDI 2016

SRT Tomahawk VGT Gr.1

Peugeot 908 HDi 2010

I will explain more on what makes them good later on in an edit (not in the liberty to write too much for now).

Any thoughts? Perhaps I can shortlist 2-3 with your help and that will help narrow down the best candidate.

 

[mthomas_95]

TS050 more competitive than the 919?

 

[iFerrari]

TS050 more competitive than the 919?

Fuel economy is much better on the TS050 than the 919, if it wasn’t for the **** stock lsd and gearbox it will stomp on it in races.

 

[Crazy Taylor]

So group C atm is ruled out unless BoP is adjusted?

 

[Alpha Cipher]

TS050 more competitive than the 919?

Fuel economy is much better on the TS050 than the 919, if it wasn’t for the **** stock lsd and gearbox it will stomp on it in races.

I'm wondering myself what to choose between the two. I could play on my strengths and pull off a better quali lap in the 919 (although that's midfield at best in the top split), or try and come up with a different pitting strategy with the TS050 to hopefully jump on some people

 

[K32]

Will update OP soon, want to let you all know that 919 wastes quite a lot besides being faster and TS050 is the most fuel efficient car in Gr.1 although it is one of the slower car. Audi R18 2016 is a good mix in-between the two, fast, yet fuel efficient, has good top speed.

 

[K32]

So group C atm is ruled out unless BoP is adjusted?

Yep, I believe @Alpha Cipher would agree with me on that too.

 

[Alpha Cipher]

Yep, I believe @Alpha Cipher would agree with me on that too.

pretty much!

Why did you include the Tomahawk and the 908 though? I haven't tried the two yet so any merits to trying them out?

 

[Crazy Taylor]

Yep, I believe @Alpha Cipher would agree with me on that too.

I believe everything is fair game. The more cars and types in a group, the better.

 

[Zkippe]

All I can say is that Nissan is godlike on one lap pace (without tyre wear) but loses that edge in races because front wheels give up after that first lap. It's also rather difficult to get the best time out of as it's completely different from all other GR1 cars. It's very good on fuel though so you save some time there.

Other cars I've tried in time trial only so far so no idea about fuel/tyre economy: Porsche was rather quick and easy to be quick as well so that's a good choice I think. Toyota TS050 was seconds slower compared to other LMP1 hybrids. Audi was a surprise and my optimal lap time of 3:16.9 was about a second from my Nissan optimal time.

I'd say also that any 4WD car is a good pick for the race as you'll have easier time in corner exits after the tyres start to wear off.

 

[K32]

Ok here is my take. I didn't include the Porsche 919 @mthomas_95 because it uses up too much fuel and sometimes understeers under acceleration from slow corners, which means more front tyre wear, which compromise the fact that it has good speed overall (when you push it to max revs). If the fuel consumption was a bit better, I would've definitely put it here:

Nissan GT-R LM NISMO 2015 - Great speed in many corners (Porsche curves especially), great breaking, ok max km/h on straights, has moderate fuel wear, front tyre wear is a worry though. Can be a tad touchy if you're not careful.

The rest of these have good tyre wear:

Toyota TS050 2016 - Best fuel economy hands down, good traction (despite the otherwise proved by @Zkippe spinning it out at Monza during the Nurburgring live event), ok top speed, but doesn't really have anything else, suffers in fast corners and braking. Pushing all the way to get the most out of it.

Audi R18 TDI 2016 - Good for straights and traction, moderate fuel wear, good traction, ok for fast corners. You need to shift a tad earlier than the redline to get the most out of it.

SRT Tomahawk VGT Gr.1 - Great top speed*, agile and stable in all corners (2nd best speed in Porsche curves in comparison to the Nissan), good braking, great with fuel economy. You need to be a bit careful with 2nd gear though and a some pushing is required to get it up to speed. Can suddenly turn in if you brake too hard at once in a corner.

Peugeot 908 HDi 2010 - Great top speed*, is a little lazy/unresponsive in some fast corners, turbo makes it very touchy in 2nd gear, but its' a good all rounder. Has good fuel consumption.

*Tip for strategy. SRT and Peugeot are pretty much on equal terms for raw speed on the straights (~15-20 kilometres faster than the other 3 cars mentioned), so you can use this advantage to reduce fuel mix on the Mulsanne to save even more fuel (don't have to save as much with the Tomahawk, it's already pretty good here).

In my opinion the best car for now would be the Tomahawk, but I still haven't tested the one lap speed for all cars, so I will post that separately later today (all 5 cars, including the Porsche).

 

[mclarenLB]

The fact you are including the Nissan and not the Porsche, is quite honestly completely nonsensical, the tyre wear is probably the best of the bunch

Nismo is far, far worse under race trim.

 

[K32]

The fact you are including the Nissan and not the Porsche, is quite honestly completely nonsensical, the tyre wear is probably the best of the bunch

Nismo is far, far worse under race trim.

But the fuel wear of the Porsche is far worse during race conditions, so maybe there's a compromise in which car would be faster by that pair of facts. Have a look at what I said in the previous post.

 

[Matty28]

I only did a 3 lap test but the Nissan was like 7 seconds slower and saved 12% fuel compared to the Porsche which I don't think is going to dent that performance disadvantage, and yes it's all down to those fronts. It loses like 1.2 seconds in the Porsche curves onwards on the 2nd lap lol, so for a 6 lap race it's rubbish.

 

[mclarenLB]

2700+ in the 919.

Don't @ me.