Car Review Thread

[leepangfu]

Originally Posted by Mr Wednesday

That's almost certainly for the benefit of the corner workers and/or safety crews in the event that something bad happens. As you say, the people who work on the pit crew will know what the button is for, but a random course marshal who's first on scene to assist after a crash might need the hint to figure out how to open the car to assist the driver.

Yea when I think of it it makes sense. Someone else on another forum where I have this thread told me that aswell

[leepangfu]

MINI COOPER S Countryman

This is a Mini that is perhaps a bit too big to be called mini. There is also an AWD version of this car and I would have liked that more than the FF version. A modified Countryman is Mini’s new weapon of choice in the WRC but I didn’t follow the WRC for a while so I don’t know how it’s doing or if it even raced already. A quick look in the tuning options shows me that I do have the option to put dirt tyres on the car. So the Mini will get the premier in my reviews doing a rally track test.

SPECS

Max Power: 186 hp at 5500 rpm
Max Torque: 244 Nm at 1500 rpm
Weight: 1310 kg.
Performance Points: 392
Comfort Soft tyres

LOOKS

As I said the Mini is too big to be called mini, but it is nevertheless a good looking car. It comes in white and I like the color very much on this car. The stock rims with the white stripe at the edge are very nice. The upper part of the grill reminds me of one of a muscle car. A detail I like very much is the black stripe in front on the door with the direction indicator light and a little S on it.

SOUND

The car makes a good sound. When you switch to the chase cam you can hear a nice low growl coming out of the two exhausts.

TESTS

Test 1: Route X Speed Tests

The car reached a top speed of 210,9 km/h. The 4th and 5th gear are very long. When taking off in the acceleration tests there was some wheelspin. I shifted a bit too early just before the 400m mark so that time could be faster. It doesn’t accelerate as fast as I thought it would. It reached 181 km/h at the 1000m mark.

0-400m: 15,984 s.
0-1000m: 28,955 s.
0-100 km/h: 8,120 s.
0-200 km/h: N/A
Max g-force: 0.49 g

Test 2: Nurburgring Variable Weather/Time lap time

Loaded up the Nordschleife and it’s raining with 95% surface water. Still had the chase cam on from testing the sound on Route X and you can see the enormous speedometer lighting up through the rear window.

Got through the first sector without real troubles. Had a couple of bad corners because of the wet track but overall the car felt stable in the rain. The next fast sector was great. You can take Schwedenkreuz without braking at over 200 km/h in the rain. Don’t forget to brake for the corner afterwards though. Sector 3 was a bit hard. It was raining at very bad and I couldn’t see the corners coming up so I was a bit more cautious. Got through it though and saw that the surface water was now at 100%.

The next couple of kilometers were only hard because of the bad sight and the bad braking points caused by that. Still on a clean lap and now at the fast section before Karussel. At high speeds the line of sight gets even less but after a year of GT5 all the ‘Rings corners are stored in my head. Karussel was easy to take and heading to the section filled with corners which I find the hardest on this track.

I get through the section just fine and I must say that the handling of this car in the rain is superb. Sometimes it feels like it’s the 4WD version. The only understeer I’ve encountered so far was in slow corner exits with full throttle. Onto the straight and no braking until at the last moment. A bit of understeer in the final corner but I finish the lap in: 9:26,789.

Test 3: Front wheel driving in the WRC

I shall start by saying that I suck at driving on rally tracks. So there will probably be a lot of crashes no matter how good the car is and I’m not going to try to get a clean lap. After some thinking I decided to go with the Eiger K-trail as track.

For a moment I thought I was going to get a clean lap but when the fast downhill section came I knew it was over. The car itself feels very easy to drive on the dirt. But it is FWD so you can’t really throw it around the corners and drift as with most normal 4WD rally cars. It struggled a bit on the steep hill that Fiat 500’s can’t climb, but the other hills were no problem. The way it drives on the piece of normal road with the dirt tyres is very strange. Still was fun to do and it was a while since I rallied. The lap was done in 4:40,100

Test 4: Top Gear Test Track Power Lap

Got a clean lap on the second try. Braked too late for the first corner and understeered off the track in the first try. The clean lap starts with a good first corner. Accelerate with full throttle out of Chicago causing the right front tyre to smoke but the car keeps following the line I wanted it too. Braked a bit too early for Hammerhead. I go off the throttle for a moment before Bentley, but I think it can be taken at full speed because I had a lot of room left. Full speed past the tyres and two wheels in the grass inbetween the final two corners but I’m not slowing down causing me to understeer to the outside in the final corner ending the lap in: 1:33,788

CONCLUSION

The Mini is another good addition to the DLC. The lap on Nurburgring reminded me again why I love GT5. I don’t think I will ever enjoy another racing game where you can’t drive the ‘Ring in the rain. It had no problems with handling in the rain. The only thing was the bad sight but you can’t blame a car for the rain. It’s also a good car if you're, like me, not that good at rallying because it’s easier to drive than most rally cars. It only isn’t as fast as those cars. The times show that the car is not really fast but somehow it does feel like it’s going fast and that’s all I need from a car.

Looks: 7/10
Handling: 8.5/10
Fun: 8/10
Total: 7.8/10

[leepangfu]

Aston Martin V12 Vantage

I had to control myself to keep me from using this car sooner. When the DLC was announced I was very excited about this car being included. Another V12 car, the 4th I will be reviewing. I really like Aston Martins. They may not be the fastest of the supercars but they have class and style. The Vanquish was great to drive and I’m hoping this will be too

SPECS

Max Power: 526 hp at 6500 rpm
Max Torque: 580 Nm at 5500 rpm
Weight: 1680 kg.
Performance Points: 524
Sport Hard tyres

LOOKS

I said in the Vanquish review that I liked every Aston Martin’s looks. Someone reminded me in a comment about the Cygnet, a Toyota iQ with an Aston Martin badge on it. So I won’t say that again. But that aside. This one looks great, even better than the Vanquish. The massive vents on the hood show that this car has power. Every line on this car is fluent. No strange thick black lines around the headlights on this one and the taillights are very special. They blend in with the white color of the car, in the photomode they shine like they’re diamonds in them. An elegant spoiler and great rims. Enjoy the pictures, it’s time to drive it.

SOUND

I love the sound of this car. The revving while waiting for the start sounds good and then it takes off and you can hear the V12 engine at work. Just switch to chase cam for a moment and enjoy.

TESTS

Test 1: Route X Speed Tests

The car tops out way before the end at 304,4 km/h. On the accelerationtests the car starts with wheelspin. It reaches 200 km/h a second after the 400 m mark. I love the sound. It also has that counter clockwise rev meter like the DB9.

0-400m: 12,706 s.
0-1000m: 22,361 s.
0-100 km/h: 4,790 s.
0-200 km/h: 13,759
Max g-force: 0.72 g

Test 2: Nurburgring Variable Weather/Time lap time

Dry condition and no water on the track. The first sector went fine. Didn’t encounter any understeer yet but you feel the oversteer when you put the throttle on too fast.

Normally I pause the game a couple of times to write a couple of things about how the car is driving. But I didn’t want to stop driving it. This car handles like no other FR Supercar on the Nordschleife. It will go where you want it to, how you want it to. Do you want a controlled nice line through the corner? Well just drive how you should. Do you want some more fun and do a controlled drift? Let go off the throttle for a moment and put it back on full force. From what I’ve felt on this lap this car is as close to a perfect handling rating as it can get. It did the lap in 7:44,897. Let’s see if it can maintain it’s perfect status in the next tests.

Test 3: Suzuka Variable Weather

When asked what the most tactical track is, a lot of F1 drivers will answer Suzuka. If this car is as good as I think it is right now it should have no problems. But if it does have some faults this track will show them. I will write some stuff while driving this time. The track is dry and I take off.

It doesn’t take long before the brutal S-turns take away the Aston’s perfect handling rating. The corners follow fast after eachother and the Aston understeers while turning into the next corner. The car redeems itself by making quick work out of the rest of the corners. Only make one mistake braking too late for the final chicane. Lap 1 ends in: 2:25,101 and it’s time to head to the S-turns again.

The corner where I understeered last lap went fine this time, but was followed by an oversteer in the next corner. Perhaps a bit too fast on the throttle. But it causes no problems and I continue uphill. Again no problems later in the lap and finish lap 2 about 4 seconds faster.

In lap 3 I get the S-turns right. The trick is to take real car of your throttle, making sure you get the entry for the next corner right. The other corner where you might get troubles is the high speed corner before Spoon. If you take it at full speed you will go to the inside screwing up your entry for Spoon. So watch out for that. I do 3 more laps getting to know the car more and more and end with a best lap of 2:20,164. This test showed me that the handling of the car is not perfect. Or it showed that I’m just not that good of a driver. I mean if F1 drivers say it is the hardest track. Well one more test to find out.

Test 4: Top Gear Test Track Power Lap

The Aston is back in the UK. The real car did it in: 1:26,8. Here's a YouTube video as it wasn't shown on TV. Click here for the link to the video. I checked the video first and first thing I noticed is that the sound in car seems very well done by PD. Judging from the video I can expect a lot of oversteer in the exit of Hammerhead.

First try ends after breaking too late in the first corner. The second as well. I hope one day I will finally get it in my head that the first corner of this track is not an easy one.

Third time’s a charm. I get the first corner right and move on. Chicago goes by without troubles and for realism sake I just put on full throttle in the exit of Hammerhead to get that magical drift going. Braked for Bentley, maybe take it a little bit too fast because there’s a tiny slide. Let go off the throttle for a moment in follow-through but I think it wasn’t necessary. Perfect braking point for the second to last corner and a sloppy Gambon to finish the lap in: 1:20,637.

CONCLUSION

After driving the Vanquish I really looked forward to driving this one. In my opinion it beats the Vanquish in looks and I would later find out that it beats it in all the other aspects aswell. The lap on the Nordschleife was brilliant. It really was an amazing drive. I can see myself driving this a lot there. Suzuka showed some of it’s flaws but they are outnumbered by the fun this car delivers. It feels on the same level as the Aventador for me, only slower. I saved one of the best for last. If you love supercars that sound good, look good and drive good, you will definitely love this one.

Looks: 9.5/10
Handling: 9/10
Fun: 9.5/10
Total: 9.3/10

[leepangfu]

Alfa Romeo GT 3.2 V6 24V ‘04

There were no requests yet so I decided to take a look in the garage and find a car I did not drive yet. This Alfa caught my eyes. I brought it back to it’s new state in GT auto. It has a 3.2l V6 engine but it is FWD so I expect some troubles with the handling. The description says the sound is a joy to listen to and I hope it is.

Some searching on the internet revealed that the main idea of this car is comfort. But I will be testing how it is to drive on the track. It carries the name Gran Turismo and now it’s time to find out how it drives in the game that carries the same name.

SPECS

Max Power: 241 hp at 6200 rpm
Max Torque: 308 Nm at 5000 rpm
Weight: 1347 kg
Performance Points: 429
Comfort Soft tyres

LOOKS

It’s a standard so no taking it to photomode with this one. Most Alfa’s have a nice style and this is one of them. The hood with the two lines ending in the Alfa grill are nice and give it another look than most other brands. It has two exhausts on one side. I think it would have looked better with one on each side. The license plate is always an annoying sight on cars with a nose like this.

SOUND

The sound of the Alfa is good. But I like it a lot more in the chase cam where it sounds lower than from inside the car.

TESTS

Test 1: Route X Speed Tests

I unleash the 241 hp of this car and take off. The FWD causes wheelspin but the car seems to accelerate real fast until it reaches the top speed of: 255,5 km/h. Pretty fast for a FF car. Time to see if it really accelerates as fast as I think in the acceleration tests. It does. The wheelspin at the start makes it hard to find a good shifting point to second gear. But after a couple of tries I get it right and the car makes it to over 200 km/h before the 1000m mark.

• Top Speed: 255,5 km/h
• 0-400m: 15,030 s.
• 0-1000m: 26,657 s.
• 0-100km/h: 7,107 s.
• 0-200km/h: 24,513 s.
• Max G-force: 0,50 g

Test 2: Nurburgring Variable Weather/Time lap time

Oke, it has a good topspeed and it accelerates fast. But how does it corner with that FWD? I take it to the Nordschleife to find out. The track is dry and it’s not raining. In the s-turns in the first sector it shows understeer while changing direction. The wheelspin while accelerating in slow corners also cost exit speed.

I brake early for Schwedenkreuz which could have been done a lot faster but. I brake hard for the next corner but they don’t seem to work as well as I hoped because I end up in the gravel. It handles good in the next fast corners but there is understeer while exiting slower corners (<100 km/h) with full throttle. Another problem with the braking at the hairpin after the downhill section gives me a red laptime.

The brakes do work fine in what I think is one of the hardest braking points on this track, Bergwerk. I get the rpm as high up as I can in the fast section before Karussel but it won’t accelerate past 194 km/h on the uphill part. The corner before Karussel was filled with wheelspin and understeer but Karussel itself went fine.

The next section filled with corners was actually a joy to drive without real problems. The corner before the straight with the gravel next to it was a bit scary when I felt understeer coming up but a little less throttle and more brakes made sure I didn’t go in the dirt again. The car steers onto the straight real good. The corner after the split on the straight can be taken at full speed and the hard braking for the final corners went real good which made me think that I screwed up in the first lap. The laps ends in 8:39,671.

The same trouble with understeer happens in the s-turns in the second lap so when you drive this car be a bit careful with quick direction changes. Maybe a bit too confident I try to take the fast corner after the first split a bit too fast and end up with 3 wheels on the grass. But the confidence works in Schwedenkreuz which I take with almost 200 km/h and brake in time for the next corner this time.

I’m realizing this is beginning to be a long read for one test so I will end it. The rest of the lap went almost the same as the previous but now braking in time for the hairpin. For a FF car this car like cornering with it’s greatest strength being the corner that brings you on the straight which can be taken at full speed without understeering off the track unlike most high powered FF cars I’ve driven there. The clean lap had a time of: 8:32,106.

Test 3: Alfa ROMEo

I now take it to Rome which has some difficult corners and places where you need to brake hard. Powerful FF cars struggle on this track most of the time. The corners here are also less banked than on the Nurburgring so it should give a better view on the problems in the handling.

The long corner in the beginning has some understeer so you need to play a bit with your throttle. It exits fine though and the following corner is no problem with full speed. The corner at the end of the straight goes fine but I try to take the fast corner following that at full speeds which sends me in to the wall. The last slow corners show no sign of understeer. Lap 1: 1:27,473.

The second time I take the first corner is the same. Let go of your throttle, steer in and put it back on full just before the middle of the corner. The slow corner before the straight I also one where you need look out how much power you use. The fast corner I ran into the wall last lap needs no braking but just letting go off the throttle and steer to the inside of the track. Again no problems going on the start/finish straight and end lap 2 in 1:26,730.

In lap 3 I search for it’s limits braking later but the car holds vey good and I end lap 3 in: 1:26,077. I know enough to have a good idea how to rate the handling so time for the final test.

Test 4: Top Gear Test Track Power Lap

Clean lap in the first try. Wheelspinning off the line. I’m really trying to test the limits of the FF nature in this lap knowing how well it did in Rome. Quick on the throttle in the first corner and it works. Braking late into Chicago and again full throttle . The wheel want to spin but the Alfa keeps it inside the cones with ease. In Hammerhead I put full power back on right away and now you can see the understeer. Two wheels on the grass but at least I didn’t lose speed. Playing with the throttle but no braking in Bentley and it stays on the middle of the track. A little misshift just before Gambon but it flies through ending the lap in: 1:29,632.

CONCLUSION

Being a high powered FF car I expected a lot of understeer. But the car doesn’t have that much. High speed corners are easy with this car but when taking a slower corner and while braking you will need to watch your throttle. The lap on TGTT was on of the best so far in terms of fun. You can take it to it’s limits and still keep it on track.

The sound from inside the car gets a bit annoying after a while but for people who drive with the chase cam it will sound very good. The wheelspin in slow corners happens mostly because of cold tyres because on the second lap on the Nordschleife I didn’t really notice it. Together with some good stylish Alfa looks this car deserves a good rating.

Looks: 8/10
Handling: 7.5/10
Fun: 8/10
Total: 7.8/10

[ivoyared]

Have you considered making a review of the Shelby Cobra 427 A/C? One of the funniest things of the game is try to keep this car on the track, no grip at all.

[MicrobeSS]

Originally Posted by ivoyared

Have you considered making a review of the Shelby Cobra 427 A/C? One of the funniest things of the game is try to keep this car on the track, no grip at all.

I bought one yesterday was expecting a decent car, feels like the wheels are made of ice.

[ivoyared]

Originally Posted by MicrobeSS

I bought one yesterday was expecting a decent car, feels like the wheels are made of ice.

It's a FR, 500HP, 1960's car. You should have predicted that.

I think you win a Shelby Cobra in one of the events.

[The Whisper]

Well, you're Dutch, why don't try the Spyker that's in the game

[leepangfu]

TVR Tuscan Speed 6

Someone on another forum told me he was interested in my view on the Tuscan. When he told me that I replied that I had never driven the normal version, only the RM’d car. So I took a look at my garage and saw that the normal car actually had a lot of mileage on it. Then I remembered that a while ago there was a seasonal event for the Tuscan on one of the variations on Cape Ring. I don’t like that track at all so the fact that the Tuscan has so many miles on it must mean that I liked the car or just that the event payed real good because I still needed new cars back then.

The car had some engine tuning done to it so I loaded up the dealership and got a brand new one in the Chameleon Blue color. Time to see if and why I liked it. Refreshed the oil and while I’m at GT auto anyway put some black rims on it for no real reason.

SPECS

Max Power: 373 hp at 7000 rpm
Max Torque: 426 Nm at 5000 rpm
Weight: 1100 kg
Performance Points: 503
Sport Hard tyres

LOOKS

Took it to photomode and one reason to love this car are the looks. It is just so special and curvy. It is probably a hate it or love it kind of look, but I love it. It has two headlights on each side above each other which looks great. And it’s a reason for me to test it on a night lap to see how they look when they’re on. I don’t know why but the front reminds me of a modern impression of those old mafia cars. I hope that makes sense. It has a lot of curves but I don’t think there are too much. Some things I don’t like are the exhausts and the strange grill.

SOUND

I find the sound in the game a bit disappointing. It’s not that bad but I expected a nicer sound from a TVR. I did find some videos of tuned Tuscans and they sounded great. Since I don’t like the exhausts anyway I will try tuning the sound a bit after the review.

TESTS

Test 1: Route X Speed Tests

Well I didn’t remember that this thing is so fast. The 373 hp are good for a final topspeed of 295,2 km/h which is not bad at all. At first I was a bit confused because I thought the the digital rev meter was a speedometer :P
The acceleration is good aswell. It has some wheelspin in first gear but it is not still spinning in 4th gear like its big brother, the Speed 12. The Speed 6 is another car that reaches 200 km/h before the 1000m mark.

• Top Speed: 295,2
• 0-400m: 12,822 s.
• 0-1000m: 22,700 s.
• 0-100km/h: 4,759 s.
• 0-200km/h: 14,514 s.
• Max G-force: 0,70 g

Test 2: Nurburgring Variable Weather/Time lap time

Taking it to the Nurburgring to see if all that power on the rear wheels works. I load the track and it is dry. The weather is random but the time is always set at 5:30am. I really would like that to be random aswell but now I set it to 21:00 because I want to see how the lights of the car look like.

I expected oversteer to be a big problem on this car because of its low weight and the high power. But in the first sectors it didn’t prove to be as big of a problem as I thought. I had some while exiting the first corner but it didn’t really slide. I make a big mistake at Schwedenkreuz going off track because of judging it wrong in the night but the lap stays clean. I then try to get to the outside for a good line but of of the wheels gets in the grass spinning me out and crashing. Now the lap is in the red.

I continue the lap and make a couple more mistakes because of bad judgement, mistaking some corners for other ones. In the corner before Karussel the oversteer really shows but it is controllable. The corner onto the straight is where the understeer shows. I need to let go off the throttle to not go off track. Some more understeer in the final corner and I end the lap in 8:14,023.

I took a break because I clearly wasn’t completely there with my head missing all those corners. The break seemed to have worked because I get to Schwedenkreuz fine this time. The following corner has some understeer in it. I also get past the part where I crashed the lap before but I’m a bit more cautious this lap not really taking the car to its limits. Some slow corners are annoying to take. You get the feeling of understeer and when you think you’re clear to go you put on some power and the oversteer shows. But luckily it isn’t that way in most corners.

In the section after Karussel it has some problems changing direction in the corners that follow each other fast. Some more understeer in the corner with the gravel just keeping it out of the dirt. This time the corner onto the straight goes great. I brake a bit and could accelerate all the way through. You really need to work you throttle and brake in this car and I think that’s quite fun to do. I end the lap when the sun is just coming up in: 8:02,680. Checked the replay to see the lights and they look good. But I think bright xenon lights would fit this cars looks better.

Test Three: Taking The TVR Tuscan To The Tokyo Time Trial

Tokyo looked like a fun track to test this car on. It has a long straight suitable for the top speed this car has. And I’d like to find out if there’s understeer in the fast and long corners here. Also like to see if I can get some controlled drifts in the car.

The first lap I notice that the understeer is present in the fast corners. It takes a while before you can put full throttle again exiting them. In the downhill corner before the second split I ended up in the wall. Not sure if it was because I took it too fast or understeer. The car has no problems in the next sector, you only need to watch out when to accelerate in the last corner before the straight. But almost all cars need that in that corner.

In lap two I end up in the wall at the long turn by the stadium because of understeering. I get through the corner I crashed in last lap fine but need to watch out in the next corner because I’m carrying more speed this time and I only just avoid the wall. The rest of the lap is good.I found the understeer now let’s see if I can get some controlled drift out of this FR car.

The car has too much grip to get some fun sliding going. You get oversteer and when you countersteer it immediately exits the drift. Good thing for handling a bit less for the fun.

I wrote that previous part a bit too soon. The rest of the lap was filled with great controlled drifts. You just need to use the handbrake to get a good slide going and the car will not correct itself as fast. I even managed to drift through the difficult downhill corner just before that final hairpin without hitting the guardrails. Forget that ''a bit less for the fun’’ and add a big plus.

Test 4: Spa will show

I’m still not really sure what to think of this car’s handling. So I decide to do one more test on Spa. A little bit of oversteer while exiting the first corner. Understeer in the middle of Eau Rouge which makes for a bad exit and a dirty lap. Some drifting through Rivage followed by bad understeer in the long left hander. The rest of the lap is without real problems.

In lap 2 I slow down more than I really want in Eau Rouge to not get the understeer and that seems to work. This time I get the long left hander right. And again no real problems in the last part apart from some corners where you need to watch your throttle for understeer.

I went on and did 5 laps in total. Ended up with a best lap of 2:44,867. To be honest I still don’t really know how to rate the handling. Sometimes it feels good and sometimes it feels bad. One thing I do know is that you shouldn’t brake late in this car because then it shows it worst behavior. Forgot to save the replay so no pictures for this one.

[leepangfu]

Test 5: Top Gear Test Track Power Lap

Another UK car on the track. Will it surprise the Aston Martins? Off the line with the rear wheels spinning. Good first corner. Understeer while entering Chicago and oversteer exiting it. When exiting Hammerhead it begins to slide but it corrects good. A bit too good perhaps because I didn’t expect it, causing me to put full throttle on and slide again. A tap on the brakes in Benley followed with full power. It understeers but stays on track and I can take it past the tyres at full speed. Brake a bit too late for the second to last corner but it gives a nice line for the following corners and the TVR goes across the line in: 1:23,667. Only a second slower than the Vanquish.

CONCLUSION

The TVR is a suprising car. It’s just not what I expected. I expected I was going to have to fight oversteer in every corner but the car has a lot of grip so understeer seems to be a bigger problem. It requires some work to drive right and therefore is a rewarding drive when you get a good lap. It looks good and strange colors like the Chameleon Blue suit it.

The handling is not that bad but it feels inconsistent. Sometimes it feels like a 8 and sometimes it feels like a 5. So I will take the average of that. It costs less than 100.000 credits and that money buys you a car that almost reaches 300 km/h and is almost as fast as the Vanquish around a track. I did have fun driving it and will give it the following rating:

Looks: 8.5/10
Handling: 6.5/10
Fun: 7.5/10
Total: 7.5/10