SOoooo, what does everyone think?

[Joe Hubbard]

So far I have tried the MX-5 Roadster, Vette, Ford GT, Latemodel, and the Trucks. Although the only car that I have given a bit more time too than the others is the Vette. I am LOVIN the Vette now!

Ford GT:
The GT seems to be more stable to me than it was before and I have been able to somewhat predict what the car was going to do and catch it before it was too late. I think they are certainly moving in the right direction, but once again I have only put a few laps in the car and do not know if the problems are still there such as not having to change tires and the like.

Corvette:
I can honestly say that I love the Vette now even more than before. It feels like it is connected to the road and I can tell when I am at the point of losing grip. I can catch a spin and keep most of the speed I had to a small degree. I know that the car model in game is of the racing version of the Vette however I can tell you it feels pretty good compaired to the real life counterpart that normal people can afford to drive on the road.

MX-5:
I think it feels more like a real car now with the weight transfer and how you would react to a car in real life. I had a smaller car like the MX-5 when I was in high school and I know it did exactly what the MX-5 does now when you take a turn to fast and let off the gas.

For the Latemodel and Trucks I'm not really sure my opinion would be worth a hoot since I haven't really put more than a couple laps in either and did not really try much on the setup end either. I could get both to run in the middle to top 5 times in practice but I think I'll hold my thoughts on either one until I can see what they are like over a long run.

My only real concerns at this point is what are the tires going to do over a long run, and how are they going to handle being abused and heating up. Hopefully iRacing is at least going in the right direction when it comes to those thoughts. What do you guys think?

 

[George Pilkington]

G,

I believe the latest small update (13MB) will fix the drafting issues at the SuperSpeedways.

Your right Daz, its fixed. Yipee!
iRacing... got to love it.
George

 

[Will Marquez]

Ok, took it out to VIR, where I have driven both of my MX-5's.

Very first impression was not good. Steering felt numb and I couldn't feel the rear at all (floating). However, after the first lap it started to get a much better feel overall, though resistance to turn-in wasn't the same.

Went and set the car up more like my street car - took the new baseline and lowered the front bump to 20, rebound to 45, Caster to 6.8 or so (for more resistance), -1/16" front toe, 32 psi all around, lowered front 2 ticks each side, lowered rr to minimum, then adjusted lr to give a 50.0% cross weight and front ARB preload of 0. (Street car has Oversize front bar w/0 pre-load at rest, stock rear bar, NO power steering, shocks are bump-adjustable only set mid range in front and a tick firm in the rear - and feels like I'm directly connected to the road, though initial turn-in is like the initial turn of a spinning bicycle wheel). This gave a much better feel to the car, especially after the first 2 laps.

Overall, it still oversteers more than it should be, IMO - and still missing some rear feel. I could go through the climbing S's flat out in my car and had to lift in the sim, but I was going about 10-15 mph slower in mine due to the power difference. The scariest point on the track is the same, however: the little crest at the entry to the hog pen.
It is also easier to save from a little bobble so long as you don't drop a wheel, as is common with the NTM.

Overall: right now, to me, it isn't as fun to drive as it was before - probably because you could throw it around more and the little bobbles happened less often. But, it is still a good car, and with some practice, I think it will come back to me (at least I hope so).

Appreciate the feedback Eric. Will try out some of your setup suggestions and put in more laps later tonight to see if that helps.

Yeah I've reloaded the baseline setup for both the MX5 Cup and Roadster. The Cup feels a bit more stable than the Roadster. Roadster still seems a bit twitchy to me. I understand there's going to be an adjustment process going from hundreds of laps on the OTM to the NTM. Guess I just need to put in more practice with the Roadster to get use to it. Probably sounds like I'm complaining here lol. But all I want is more feedback and a better feel thru the wheel.

 

[Dazmaniac]

Your right Daz, its fixed. Yipee!
iRacing... got to love it.
George

Nothing like a bit of 'man love' for your racing sim, lol

 

[Will Marquez]

Upped the FFB in game to 11 for the Roadster from 6, and the feel is starting to comeback slowly. Did some laps at Silverstone International and PB was 1.40.3. But decided to run a bunch of laps to get use to the handling at VIR - Patriot layout. During Week 13 did a bunch of laps for the Gymkhana Challenge and surprisingly was in the Top 8 . So that could be why my transition from the OTM Roadster to the NTM has been a bit of a rough one. Stayed with the baseline setup for this test session. With the Patriot layout it provided some good corners to see how it handles. Didn't come close to my old PB of 49.6. But with the NTM MX5 got down to a 51.0 and opt of 50.8.

Quick question for you Eric driving your MX5 in real life at the limit, is that the feeling you get while driving in the sim? I noticed you mentioned that the back end isn't as loose at the real life counter part. So just was wondering about that.

Edit: After doing a few more laps on the Patriot layout. Got my PB down to 50.7 and opt to 50.6. So gained a bit of time there.

 

[Eric Estes]

Opposite actually, the back is looser in-sim than the real life counterpart. I've only broken the rear free on my real-life cars a couple of times (and that under wet conditions, other than spinning the tires in an unintentional drift in the turbo) - it just doesn't want to go there (loose) at all.

 

[William Levesque]

Just a remark...

Slicks are less progressive than street tyres so it might snap more in the game

 

[Will Marquez]

Opposite actually, the back is looser in-sim than the real life counterpart. I've only broken the rear free on my real-life cars a couple of times (and that under wet conditions, other than spinning the tires in an unintentional drift in the turbo) - it just doesn't want to go there (loose) at all.

That's what I meant to say actually . Thx again Eric.

 

[Will Marquez]

Ok, so after jumping in a spectator race session for the Grand Touring Cup at Philip Island. Which is probably all the time I have for simracing at the moment for some actual racing due to work. The NTM MX5 Roadster is really starting to grow on me. Can really start to feel the FFB and able to counter steer when I need to. Could be with me having to be a little more smoother than with the OTM. I did have a good battle with a MX5 Cup driver, although he didn't really know I was there. As I was spectating and he couldn't see me

I'd have to say practicing at VIR Patriot layout has helped me a bit smoother. If not it was a slip sliding on the grass once I was off track hehe. The Roadster is definitely slowly growing on me since it was released a week ago.

 

[George Pilkington]

Nice one Will, youll be back to Fast then at sundays race...
George

 

[Yoeri Gijsen]

The Vette is really nice, though the fixed setups are really crappy. There's quite a lot of tweaking involved with making the car work, but it definitely pays off.

 

[Will Marquez]

So had time today to run some laps at VIR with the MX5 Cup this time. And was just adjusting to the feel after most of time this week was spent with the Roadster. For the first 3 laps I broke at the same mark for T1 to get to the apex and accelerate out. On the 4th lap I braked at the same mark and I heard a distinct "tissss" of a sound. Lost all traction, couldn't turn in and went off into the grass. Got back on track and the car would barely turn. Checked the replay and looks like under braking I had gotten a flat for pushing the right front tire a bit too much. If this is realistic, kinda thought that was pretty cool that it happened. But if it happened in a race I'd be a bit upset at myself hehe.

Graphically in game the tire looked normal. Has this happened to anyone before with any of the new NTM cars?

I wish I could race with you guys on Sundays George. Unfortunately my new job has me scheduled right when official practice starts for both leagues

 

[Dazmaniac]

At least it took you 4 laps to get a flat, whereas it only took Vettel 1 corner, lol.

I would be good if this type of thing is being factored in the sim, even if we don't yet get the graphical representation of a flat/puncture. As long as the flat/puncture is a result of over abusing the tyres under braking or constant off tracks and corner clipping and not just a random decision by the software.

It's the same with engine issues. I don't mind if they occur if you constantly over-rev or down shift poorly, but I don't want to see a random decision made by the system to suddenly give you a failure that hasn't been self inflicted. Otherwise it's akin to rolling a dice before the race and if you roll an odd number you will be blighted with a failure, yet roll an even number and you will be OK, lol.