Assetto Corsa: McLaren P1 Review

Chris

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McLaren P1 Review.jpg

I'd like to start off with a confession if I may: I was a fool - A fool to have been duped into the allure of the ever-powerful, ever-accelerating and seemingly endless rev-range of the Ferrari LaFerrari.


On paper, the figures speak for themselves, the LaFerrari should in theory be the quicker of the two. It's got 60 more horsepower and weighs nearly 200 kilograms less than the hypercar from Woking, and the McLaren is slower from both 0-100 kph and 0-200 kph. This is an alarming advantage that the LaFerrari appears to have, so I scoffed when people even dared to raise the question of which one would be quicker. It was a no-brainer, right?

Certainly, in a straight line the Ferrari will beat the McLaren. But the majority of race tracks on this planet aren't as simple as a straight line, in fact some of them even have corners that lead you back to the timing point, hence the term "lap time". It's in these squiggly pieces of tarmac where the McLaren hits back at the Ferrari, and in a big way too. When you think about corners, you cannot go past the track that has around 150 of them, the Nurburgring-Nordschleife: the greatest test of both man and machine, and widely considered to be the most dangerous racetrack in the world.

But before I get onto the 'Ring, I'd like to give my take on the styling of the car. It certainly appears to be a reversal of my thoughts on the LaFerrari, where I liked the front-end but the rear-end appeared rather ungainly. With the naked eye, it's quite clear that the McLaren has been sculpted from the data retrieved in a wind-tunnel. Personally, I do not like the look of the front end. It looks as if it's been stung by a bee and has become deeply swollen. The front air intake also gives the car a sort of sadistic grin, as if to foreshadow the insane speeds this thing can reach. The rear-end however, is an absolute masterpiece with those rear taillights that hug the contours of the bodywork, the massive exhaust pipe in the middle, the rear floor diffuser which produces a mammoth amount of downforce, and then finally the active aerodynamic rear-wing that moves up and down and changes pitch to maximise the aerodynamic efficiency and downforce production. There are many instances of science being beautiful, and this is definitely one of them.

McLaren P1 Review 2.jpg

"There are many instances of science being beautiful, and this is definitely one of them."

Hurtling around the Nurburgring-Nordschleife in a fast car is one thing, but doing so in the McLaren P1 is something so incredibly special that it needs to be savoured. There's an aura about it when you're driving the P1 at quarter-speed because you know that you're barely scratching the surface of a 903 bhp hypercar, and because you know that it has so much more to give, yet it's incredibly civilised to simply sit in sixth gear at 200 kph. What's stopping you from savouring the moment is that the car is almost egging you on to go faster, brake later, get on the power earlier and take those death defying corners faster than you could possibly imagine any other road car being capable of doing so.

As I stated earlier, the McLaren is far better at cornering than the Ferrari, and from the drivers seat it feels that the McLaren is far more track-ready than its Italian competitor. The suspension feels stiffer, there's less body roll, it's more stable under braking and it has a more controlled power delivery. The net result of all this means that at most tracks, the McLaren is more than a second per lap faster than the LaFerrari. One second might not sound like much, but at these speeds, it's a huge amount of time to bleed. At a track like Monza however, the LaFerrari is generally quicker because straight line speed is what matters most there, but at the Nordschleife where there is virtually non-stop corners for the best part of eight minutes, the P1 is around about 10 to 15 seconds per lap faster than the LaFerrari. If there's one gripe I have with the way the P1 handles, it's the high speed understeer. Whether that's because of the amount of rear downforce that the rear-wing and the floor diffuser creates, I'm not sure, but I often found myself playing the waiting game for the front-end to re-engage and bite into the tarmac. This is not the case in the Ferrari which has far more responsive steering and front-end grip, even if it feels less stable than the McLaren as an overall package.

McLaren P1 Review 3.jpg


The noise the P1 makes in Assetto Corsa is astonishingly life-like. The moaning growl of its' huge V8 engine combined with the hissing turbos creates an incredibly immersive and visceral feeling when driving it, and it's eerily similar to its real life counterpart. Huge credit to Kunos on this one as their sound department have done a stellar job with the P1. The same cannot be said of the LaFerrari as it sounds virtually nothing like it's screaming V12 real life counterpart.

The McLaren P1 has vastly exceeded my expectations in terms of performance, and I'm very interested to see which is fastest in the real world, that is if McLaren and Ferrari can get over themselves and actually agree to do it. I also don't want to rule out the Porsche 918, which I feel I have unfairly dismissed in the past as the sort of 'third-wheel' in this competition. I will reserve judgement on it because as the McLaren has clearly shown, those big glamorous numbers of horsepower and torque, are not everything.

5stars.gif

5 out of 5 stars.
An absolutely astonishing car, so much so, that it could easily be a candidate for the greatest car ever made.
 
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We shouldn't compare them as they are not 100% accurately modeled. They can't check the numbers given to them, right? LaFerrari has wider tires and that could help a bit. One thing that strikes me with Ferrari on many videos is that they can have quite soft suspension yet the ability to turn like crazy. P1's downforce is great, tires are not.

And real life tests P1/918 were a waste so far. How can anyone extract 100% from the car with just 5-6 laps under his belt on that car. And then claim that car A is 0,567 or whatever seconds faster/slower than car B?
 
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We shouldn't compare them as they are not 100% accurately modeled...

... How can anyone extract 100% from the car with just 5-6 laps under his belt on that car...

Why not compare them? I rather suspect that no one here has access to either of them in real life, but we can all drive them in AC. The comparison discussion is necessarily about how they're simulated in AC, and that's perfectly legitimate, isn't it?

Your second point is exactly spot on.
 
Yes, but not to the point when people say P1 is 2s faster here or there. It's still their driving. I'm no alien myself and have yet to lap the Ring under 7min with green track conditions on road tires with default setup. But I'm completely happy and that's the point.

Sometimes, I'm a bit faster in LaFerrari, but I don't care and don't look what my lap times are because I know I'm not fast enough. I often drive without any lap timing. Just enjoying it. If you are fast, you are fast. If not, then it doesn't matter.

PS: Have you read the Motortrend test of LaFerrari?
We start by watching a few techs jack the car up onto scales. After verifying a full tank, we huddle around the readout, which shows 3,495 pounds split 39 percent front and 61 percent rear. An engineer says the pile of data loggers Ferrari installed in the footwell adds roughly 10 pounds. We didn't have time to remove the equipment, so we didn't subtract its claimed weight. This LaFerrari weighs 84 pounds more than the McLaren P1 and 263 pounds less than the all-wheel-drive Porsche 918.

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/exotic/1504_ferrari_laferrari_first_test/#ixzz3Y589lCox
 
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I much prefer the Ferrari, the balance is much nicer, especially after the latest update. I'm actually slightly faster in it than the P1 (except on street tyres), although I could probably improve the P1 Nords time a bit, if I feel like torturing myself.. Sounds better, more balanced, better looking and more exciting to drive.

The P1 is ok, but the diff, just like the 12C, is horrendous. Forces you to wait for it all the time, and the high speed understeer is vein opening worthy. I actually use the DRS to make it turn at high speed, lol... It looks awkward too, IMO. It looks nice from a couple angles, but overall it's weird. Especially the way the cockpit looks from outside, like a bubble.

Also, N/A > Force Inducted.

I've got WR's in both cars, so they are driven fast, lol... My opinion anyway.
 
Something I've been wondering about the P1's drivetrain modeling in AC...

In the real world the P1 has an open-diff with 'simulated' LSD characteristics via the brakes, is that properly simulated in AC via brakes ?, or does it have a round-about way of simulating its 'LSD' in the game engine ?
 
Something I've been wondering about the P1's drivetrain modeling in AC...

In the real world the P1 has an open-diff with 'simulated' LSD characteristics via the brakes, is that properly simulated in AC via brakes ?, or does it have a round-about way of simulating its 'LSD' in the game engine ?
KTM X-Bow R and Mclaren mp4-12c also have limited-slip differential.
There's at least one mod in AC that uses lsd: rover mini cooper (the stage 2 version).

edit: judging by this thread which lists some technical details of AC cars, there are others with LSD: https://www.reddit.com/r/assettocorsa/comments/2vglfc/list_of_cars_with_engine_transmission_and/
 
I know there are other cars with LSD and various types of them, but my question is still whether or not the game models a 'active' LSD differently than a 'mechanical' one - and in the case of the P1, does the game actually use the cars rear brakes to simulate its 'LSD', like the real car, or does it do so in another manner. ?
 
I much prefer the Ferrari, the balance is much nicer, especially after the latest update. I'm actually slightly faster in it than the P1 (except on street tyres), although I could probably improve the P1 Nords time a bit, if I feel like torturing myself.. Sounds better, more balanced, better looking and more exciting to drive.

The P1 is ok, but the diff, just like the 12C, is horrendous. Forces you to wait for it all the time, and the high speed understeer is vein opening worthy. I actually use the DRS to make it turn at high speed, lol... It looks awkward too, IMO. It looks nice from a couple angles, but overall it's weird. Especially the way the cockpit looks from outside, like a bubble.

Also, N/A > Force Inducted.

I've got WR's in both cars, so they are driven fast, lol... My opinion anyway.

Good to see i'm not the only one, although there are areas where the Mclaren is a lot stronger (braking for one) it just doesn't "agree" with me the way the LaFerrari does.
The LaFerrari is just a wondefull toy and can take a lot of aggression, the P1 likes to be driven a certain way.

The one that i'm faster with varies from track to track, but the LaFerrari is always a lot more fun.
 
P1 is faster than La Ferrari in the slower circuits, medium too. But, if the comparision was with P1 GTR and FXXK? I bet the FXXK is faster in all situations. Why? Because La Ferrari is a road car, the best of the road cars, but still a road car. P1 is a track day car, with race car caractheristics, things that Ferrari could build in the La Ferrari but didnt. If they did, and they did on the FXXK, La Ferrari could be a faster car. But, the 500 people that bought the car dont care with these numbers. Because they want a confortbable car, a car that they can use on daily, not only on a circuit pursuing hot laps and trying to win competitions.
 

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