Cars similar to the BMW M235i Racing and the Mazda MX-5 Cup

[gluon]

Hello everyone!

Since I've started using Assetto Corsa I've been mostly interested in GT3 cars but also on less performant cars, with a typical weight to power ratio between 4 and 6 kg/hp like the BMW M235i and the Mazda MX-5 Cup.

These two cars in particular, as entry-level racing solutions, handle quite well and do what you tell them to do, which in my opinion makes them ideal for anyone who's relatively new to sim racing. They're easier to drive and simpler to set up than any GT3, nevertheless I feel perhaps even more fun when driving them for long periods.

So my question is basically what other racing cars have you been enjoying driving that have similar performance levels to these funny little cars? GT4 is probably too close to GT3, so ideally I'm looking for cars that don't really belong to any group, other than being quite popular among amateur club racing.

 

[gluon]

Reading this thread I wonder if someone has done something like a list with cars of similar or same performance? So you just can look it up and group cars together in CM.

This is a great idea. I'll look around and maybe compile one myself if I don't find anything.

 

[Andy-R]

Our old stracker link was pretty good for that but it's gone now. There is that thread on the official forum that gives a point score for each car based off RSR data. A lot of the more obscure combos need balancing really. AE86 Tuned and E30 M3 S1 is a nicely balanced combo but the Toyota needs 55% restriction.
Same goes for the aforementioned 1M S3, it can race with the 240R S3 & RX7 Tuned (works quite well as they all have race liveries) but the 240R and RX7 need slowing down at tracks that aren't mostly straight lines.

 

[Billy Pilgrim]

Reading this thread I wonder if someone has done something like a list with cars of similar or same performance? So you just can look it up and group cars together in CM.

there's this:
https://www.assettocorsa.net/forum/index.php?threads/car-time-ranking.22389/
which answers the question quite well.

 

[F_B]

there's this:
https://www.assettocorsa.net/forum/index.php?threads/car-time-ranking.22389/
which answers the question quite well.

Looks like a good basis, though it lacks many mods.

 

[Andy-R]

Talking of mods the 250 GTO should be getting a friend to play with soon

 

[F_B]

Talking about a cat?

 

[Andy-R]

No but we could really do with an E-Type and Cobra to complete the set! It's a car borrowed by Jack from Trevor

 

[Billy Pilgrim]

Looks like a good basis, though it lacks many mods.

With mods here (this is for AI):
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...-new-content-manager-preset-race-grid.353369/
and the various tyres.

 

[gluon]

So basically imagine braking/rolling in red and throttle in blue. Right now you have a dark red stripe at first and then a blue stripe that's varying intensity and begins way too early.
With the restriction I told you, you fix the blue stripe to a smooth intensity shade and also place it a bit later.
That way you'll have the dark red braking stripe, then nothing/white and then the smooth blue stripe.
And then you start filling that gap with some nice red shading. Longer, smoother braking while carrying more momentum.
At some point the two stripes will connect again

You told me this almost a month ago @RasmusP and I understood exactly what you meant conceptually. Maybe even to some degree in practical terms as I started to manage my throttle a little bit better with less pumping, more gradual input. However, what I really struggled to get my head (or rather left foot) around was the braking. I could easily brake a tad later and longer, but coming off the brakes was still very abrupt, no shade at all. Then I went back to driving GT3 cars in rF2, doing long races against the AI and surprisingly improving my lap times considerably at some point, without being able to pinpoint why.

A few days ago when racing at Silverstone I had an epiphany. On some laps I would be really fast, gaining most of my time at Copse, so I paid attention to my footwork there. I was amazed, without knowing, my left foot had gained new skills. Not only I was braking substantially later there, but crucially I was coming off the brake pedal almost as gently as my right foot accelerates. Furthermore, I was so gentle now and staying on the brakes so longer, albeit at a very low percentage at the end, that there was almost no overrun. Almost instantly after releasing the last bit of brakes, my right foot was hitting the throttle. It was now a very smooth shade of red at the end, connecting to a smooth initial shade of blue happening quite close to the apex of Copse! And as if it wasn't enough, that I was now nailing the braking, the earlier throttle at Copse (a bit unintuitively) was helping me going faster on the exit, because it fixed the slight understeer due to the extra and earlier rotation of the car. Fantastic!

Then I realised that more or less the same was also happening at Maggotts, Becketts and Chappel or even at slower speed corners. I now feel a continuity connecting braking and acceleration, like if they were one single entity flowing perfectly to modulate rear and front grip helping to steer the car. It all came slowly and naturally, without actively thinking about it, although I'm sure your observation earlier on this thread triggered something at least subconsciously. I just drove literally thousands of virtual laps, practice makes perfect. Now I'm about to switch back to AC and I'm pretty sure this acquired knowledge will translate.

Thanks!