Thoughts on Mclaren F1 Gtr

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pururut
  • 70 comments
  • 16,118 views
Agreed with a huge amount of the comments. Sounds great, turns OK, brakes poor. After only 3 laps testing on Dragon Trail Seaside I was already 2 seconds or more up on my previous best Gr3 record. It took at least 2 laps to figure the braking though. On tests for example I'm braking at 100m markers where I'd usually brake at 50 in other Gr3 cars. It's terrifically balanced though. I've done full 360 degree spins and kept driving straight at least 4 times in it already.

Totally my fault for putting it on the grass but it was fun getting it back in a straight line:



I'm a bit confused about the class it fits in. I think for example in GT Sport the 1980's group C cars and modern LMP1 should be in separate class while "X" and "VGT" cars should be dumped totally or put in their own class too. It irks me to be racing in a modern Hybrid Porsche with a 1980's Jag and some make believe yoke on the grid simply because it takes a little from the realism for me (personal taste thing). The McLaren F1 should be in a class with similar cars of it's own generation and ability. I am not an expert on the history of GT racing but I do recall the F1 winning LeMans with a TWR Porsche in the field.
 
Last edited:
Pururut
Car is op as hell without bop due to being 1050 kg while other gr.3 cars can minimum 1090 kg. Results without bop isnt really matters since serious races always have bop.
Click to expand...

I tested with BOP on, no suspension or gear changes. Just on super soft tyres but was comparing to other laps I ran in Gr3 with same set up and beat my DT Seaside time by 2 secs and that was after only 3 laps where I still was not comfortable with the braking points. It would take me a lot of lapping to get comfortable enough to race it with tyre wear though. I tend to go for safe options where I may be half a second slower but less likely to face plant.
 
Voodoovaj
Uh. no.

I see where you are going. You're thinking "steering with the rear" (as in a drift) and that's a valid thing, but if there is under steer, whipping the rear end around will likely just spin you off track. You need to hit your apex to be fast and curing under steer with induced over steer is still off apex.

What you are envisioning is what the BB adjustments are being used for. Adjust the BB so you can hit that apex and exit without too much wheel spin. If you get it right, the car can be seconds a lap faster.
Click to expand...

uh, no???

alright man, I was just giving my two cents in what I thought was a light-hearted way but I really don't have a problem matching your smugness.

don't you mean it will likely spin YOU off track? like it or not, the drift technique that I wasn't even the first to bring up, is an actual thing people use to combat understeer. If you can't manage it very well, then you're in the same club as me, but I don't deny that it's a thing that can work to correct the mistake, not necessarily to find the best time around the track, obviously. If you're understeering bad enough to need to take measures to correct it, you're probably missing the apex anyway and aren't going to be hitting an ideal sector or lap. We're talking about correcting mistakes here, not the perfect hotlap.

Having said that, that isn't even exactly what I was referring to. Like I said, shifting the weight off the fronts will make them lighter. In certain situations that could mean less grip, but through a slow corner it might not if the conditions are right, especially since the power comes from the rear. It certainly depends on the type of turn, the speed in which you approach it, where the weight is distributed in the car, and the reasons you're experiencing understeer, (is it under braking, or after braking and you're still cornering too hot? this makes a difference) but physics is a real thing and this is kind of akin to snap oversteer when releasing the brakes under heavy turn-in on MR cars. When I first started playing a little over a year ago I used to spin all the time at Interlagos in the Porsche when I released the brakes on the final hard right in the twisty bits, and that is purely due to sudden weight transfer and probably overly aggressive steering inputs. Once understood, this can be used to your advantage too. Well, maybe not YOUR advantage, but somebody's.

Here's another idea: approach the corner at the correct speed and steering angle and you will be less likely to experience understeer. Just a thought.

Also, this: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/throttle-smashing-f1-style.385765/#post-12662402
 
Last edited:
I don't like not knowing stuff so had a quick read. The McLaren F1 competed in the 1996 Super GT "All Japan Gran Touring Car Championship". Perhaps it would have been better classed against GT Sport Gr2 especially since we already have cars from two eras in that class.
 
6BK
I don't like not knowing stuff so had a quick read. The McLaren F1 competed in the 1996 Super GT "All Japan Gran Touring Car Championship". Perhaps it would have been better classed against GT Sport Gr2 especially since we already have cars from two eras in that class.
Click to expand...

F1 gtr in gr.2 would be underpowered with the lack of downforce.
 
People saying it has good top speed and bad braking. You are not realizing the brakes are fine but the fact you're going faster into each corner means you have to brake sooner, not that the brakes are bad.

The brakes are actually quite strong which causes them to lock up often. That's the bigger problem with the car in my opinion.
 
Winnie847
uh, no???

alright man, I was just giving my two cents in what I thought was a light-hearted way but I really don't have a problem matching your smugness.

don't you mean it will likely spin YOU off track? like it or not, the drift technique that I wasn't even the first to bring up, is an actual thing people use to combat understeer. If you can't manage it very well, then you're in the same club as me, but I don't deny that it's a thing that can work to correct the mistake, not necessarily to find the best time around the track, obviously. If you're understeering bad enough to need to take measures to correct it, you're probably missing the apex anyway and aren't going to be hitting an ideal sector or lap. We're talking about correcting mistakes here, not the perfect hotlap.

Having said that, that isn't even exactly what I was referring to. Like I said, shifting the weight off the fronts will make them lighter. In certain situations that could mean less grip, but through a slow corner it might not if the conditions are right, especially since the power comes from the rear. It certainly depends on the type of turn, the speed in which you approach it, where the weight is distributed in the car, and the reasons you're experiencing understeer, (is it under braking, or after braking and you're still cornering too hot? this makes a difference) but physics is a real thing and this is kind of akin to snap oversteer when releasing the brakes under heavy turn-in on MR cars. When I first started playing a little over a year ago I used to spin all the time at Interlagos in the Porsche when I released the brakes on the final hard right in the twisty bits, and that is purely due to sudden weight transfer and probably overly aggressive steering inputs. Once understood, this can be used to your advantage too. Well, maybe not YOUR advantage, but somebody's.

Here's another idea: approach the corner at the correct speed and steering angle and you will be less likely to experience understeer. Just a thought.

Also, this: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/throttle-smashing-f1-style.385765/#post-12662402
Click to expand...
[/QUOTE]

Approach the corner at the proper speed? Never considered that :rolleyes:

In order to mash the throttle to tighten the line, the car has to want to come around, but not come around so much as to get all tail happy. If you get all tail wagging, you have to lift and that's no good.

I find the F1 GTR is kind of in the middle of being too tight and too loose. I find BB 0 a little too tight and BB +1 a little too loose and prone to wheel spin.

I use a more Schumacher like approach though, I always have a little throttle applied to combat rear wheel lock up on downshifts.
 
Tested it on Monza Gr.3 endurance. Smoked the competition with over a laps lead at the finish. Bit excessive, if you ask me.
 
Mt. Lynx
Tested it on Monza Gr.3 endurance. Smoked the competition with over a laps lead at the finish. Bit excessive, if you ask me.
Click to expand...
That's not excessive. That's motor sport. The pursuit of the unfair advantage.:lol:

I did a one hour race at Dragon Trail and started last. There was another F1 on pole ahead of the two BMW's it lost the lead to the BMW's.
 
Mt. Lynx
Tested it on Monza Gr.3 endurance. Smoked the competition with over a laps lead at the finish. Bit excessive, if you ask me.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a McLaren F1... they were OP then and now they are about usd$20 mil. OP...
 
Winnie847
I’m no expert here, still learning the stuff on this level of detail, but what comes to mind when I try to make my brain work it out is that you’re shifting the weight off the fronts a little. Being mid-engine wouldn’t that induce a little oversteer if you do it right? In an FF car you’d def see more understeer all day, but I could see it working under the right conditions in an MR car or even an FR car if you’re going for the mini-drift method mentioned above. It’ll be fun to try it out once I get a chance to play.
Click to expand...
In reality unless you have a shed load of unused torque then no its not going to get the car to rotate at all.

If the front's are already exceeding the slip limit then adding more acceleration is only going to add to that (as you will be shifting the load back, reducing grip on the front and increasing the amount you are exceeding the slip angle by), as you are also shifting the load back then you are increasing the rear grip, which will make it even harder to get them to break loose.

In order for this to work you would need to be in a lower gear (as gears multiple torque at the driven wheels) to maximise the torque delivered to the rears, and be able to both exceed the (now increased) rear grip and do so to enough of a degree to also exceed it by more than the fronts are exceeding their grip level. Don't have enough torque to do this and you will either just understeer more if you can't break rear traction, keep understeering if you can break rear traction but not by enough to overcome the increased loss at the front, or get some degree of success but you are now exceeding the grip level of all four tyres which means you are not going as quick as you could. The final thing that could happen (but is more likely in RR layouts) is that you exceed the rear to a massive degree, the car slows, load shifts forward rapidly, front grip is regained by the bucketload as the rears lose it by an even greater degree and you end up backwards.

The correct way (in reality) to do this is to reduce the steering input and/or lift the throttle very slightly, not only does this correct the problem itself (rather than 'fixing' it by creating a bigger problem at the opposite end of the car) but it ensures that you are maximiing the grip at all corners, which will always be the quicker option (and just in case anyone asks - no four wheel drifts are not going to be quicker unless you are running vintage bias tyres).

Now all of that is how it works in reality, in GTS some of the physics engines quirks (mainly around the tyre model and load transfer, but in this case also the aero model) mean its not quite reacting in the same way as reality, which makes this less aggressive on the tyres and less abrupt when it goes south. As such it works in GTS, but please don't mistake that for being an exact mirror for reality.
 
Winnie847
You really should consider it

.........I see sarcasm doesn’t escape you :boggled:
Click to expand...

No, I get it, but what escapes me is why you want to hang on to the notion that what you are suggesting is a valid fix.

If I blow a corner, I can try to bring the car back around with the throttle. That could work for that ONE corner.

If a car under steers, it's not turning into ALL the corners, so mashing the throttle to induce oversteer at every corner isn't going to get you anywhere. But go ahead, drive as you like. I am sure it looks awesome :p
 
It's my favourite car in the game so far without a doubt. Superbly balanced, and quick and if the back end steps out you can catch it fairly easy or even give it some beans and power out it. Although I haven't used it on the hards yet. The cockpit view is the best of any car in GT sport, so much vision, as long as you're not fussed about what's behind you. Sounds epic both outside an in, all the pops on the downshifts etc. it's certainly not a car you'll get bored off very quickly.
 
It's another Ford GT, just too fast on the straights and causing a lot of contact in races. It's borderline unpassable at bathurst unless the guy in front drops it.

As for driving it, feels better planted than the other mid engine cars, not a fan of the sound (it's like a bike motor, I feel Project Cars nails it better) and it lacks downforce but damn it's a beast on corner exit and on the straights.
 
Got a chance to drive this last night. I love it. The F1 is one of my favorite cars of all time anyways lol. Feels very stable and planted in corners, great straightline speed. I typically don't like the MR cars as I feel like they snap out to easily for my driving style (or maybe lack thereof) but I feel pretty confident in the F1, at least without tire wear. I'll probably do the new Gr.3 endro tonight with it and see how the tire wear is. May have just sold me for the next FIA season.
 
Yeah... this is just echoing what has been said so far. If you’re having trouble with any of the group 3 events in campaign give this car a go. Soon! In case it gets “nerfed”. If you’re not crushing the opposition you’ve got some learnin’ to do son. As a driving experience it’s great, easy to put power down, active but not twitchy and damn right fast.

Not big on the sound of it, at least from good cam. Cockpit view is better.
 
The BMW V12 has a rep for revving and sounding like a motorcycle engine.

I think this car is better than the Ford GT LM Spec however its much much more wild than just about any modern GT3 car in GT Sport.

You can very easily get the tail out and it has absolutley manic acceleration from say 150-300km/h... I enjoy driving this car because its just nowhere near as 'comfortable' to drive as any other GT3 with the same power weight etc.

If you want a challenge, drive this one. You may win if you concentrate hard.

Otherwise you may as well choose a solid stable competitor like the Mazda 6 or FT1 or C7R or...

I didnt find the brakes too unacceptable but if you're braking with the smaller iron discs from 1995 vs the huge ass carbon ceramic rotors on the modern GT3 cars then yeah... however once you get use to the braking distance its fine.
 
I've haven't given this car a go in Sport Mode yet, but I have driven it on Le Mans by myself - unBOP'd with the normal specifications. The car is much better than any other mid-engined car in Group 3; it's much more stable out of the corners and far more predictable. It's sure to be the car that destroys Group 3, due to how well it handles. Also, the sound is pretty much exactly the same as real life - it's brilliant!
 
TonyJZX
I didnt find the brakes too unacceptable but if you're braking with the smaller iron discs from 1995 vs the huge ass carbon ceramic rotors on the modern GT3 cars then yeah... however once you get use to the braking distance its fine.
Click to expand...

GT3s use iron discs my man and the brakes on the F1 GTRs aren't exactly 'small'.

The braking distance (especially stock) is only longer than the Gr.3s because you get there so much faster. Straight duh on that. Same with people I race with complaining the P1 GTR brakes were bad, well duh they're gonna seem bad if you brake at the same place as a Gr.3 because it's going so much faster.
 
If you're not already aware of how much straight line speed the new Macca has even in BoP trim, here's the difference in writing, using Conrod straight as the example.

At sector split:
Mazda Atenza: 257 km/h
Nissan GT-R: 263 km/h
McLaren F1: 269 km/h

At braking point:
Mazda Atenza: 274 km/h
Nissan GT-R: 281 km/h
McLaren F1: 289 km/h

Even with the slipstream, the Mazda still gets left behind by the McLaren. Despite the F1's poor cornering ability, this is unlikely to go unchecked by PD, as in Group 3 at least they tend to avoid straight line disparity. Expect a drop to 88% power before the next FIA season.
 
I love everything except the brakes. I have to hit the anchors at 75m when others would be at 50m for example. With tyre wear, this can go up to 90m. Been my go to car for race C. Losing half a sec to 7tenths in the mountains twisty sector but then gaining it back on the last straight so it's hard to be overtaken, but the fear of getting rear ended is increased due to the early braking required. Braking is the weakest part of my game though so maybe it's just me. I did set my quickest flying lap in it after just three laps, beating a time that had taken more than 15 in another car so....
 
Favorite car in the game by far! It’s absolutely sublime on every tire I’ve tried. I tested it alongside the P1 GTR and 650S GT3 at the Nurburgring GP Strecke. No BoP, RM tires, and everything else completely base from dealer. The F1 was 2 seconds slower than the P1 and 4 seconds faster than the 650S. Everyone here is complaining about the brakes, which is wrong. The F1 has 100 more hp than the 650S does. That means you get to the corner faster and at a higher rate of speed, which means you need to brake earlier than the other Gr.3 cars. PD would have been criticized no matter where this car was grouped. At least we get some campaign races to use it in. That’s what I’m happy about.
 
I might be wrong, but I believe this car had a manual 6 speed with clutch, while the longtail had a sequential box.

However, using the clutch for the F1 GTR in GTS isn't an option.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit: Found on Topspeed.com :

"The GTR retained the F1’s stock six-speed manual gearbox too. For 1996, the transmission was modified to include a lighter magnesium housing and more robust internals, contributing to an 84-pound lighter GTR.

More extensive modifications were made for the 1997 GTR Long Tail. A stroke reduction brought the BMW-sourced V-12 down to 6.0 liters in an attempt to prolong its life and improve reliability.

The gearbox was also replaced with a new X-trac six-speed sequential transmission which provided quicker shifts."

Edit 2: Just checked in game, and there is no option in transmission settings for the manual 6 speed.
 
Last edited:
Suuuper stable. It's so balanced it's difficult to induce oversteer, and on Bathurst with the constant elevation changes it seems to have more pronounced understeer, but it's not the car. It's the fact there's never any weight in the front.

I do see a nerf coming eventually, though. Hopefully they work on the Gr.3 650S as well... I've never seen that thing in a sport mode race in a year of playing lol.
 

Similar threads

moby323
McLaren F1 GTR Gr.3 vs Gr.2
Replies
14
Views
10K
Yard_Sale
Yard_Sale
Greg_ST
Rena's Mclaren F1 GTR (Version 8)
Replies
1
Views
1K
Greg_ST
Greg_ST
Greg_ST
Rena's Mclaren F1 GTR Livery skins 4k & HDR
Replies
0
Views
908
Greg_ST
Greg_ST
D
  • Question Question
Question about the 1997 McLaren F1 GTR Race Car
Replies
11
Views
4K
smoothbore12
smoothbore12
Snikle
  • Poll Poll
Cool Wall: 1995-1996 McLaren F1 GTR
Replies
8
Views
3K
MoLiEG
MoLiEG

Latest Posts

Back