Best HOT car............ [Archive]

darock

31 December 07, 15:25

I've recently run some F3000 races online at Valencia.

Why? Because the times I was online, there wasn't much else with anybody in them.

It turned out that running that hot car was decent fun. But the sucker felt touchy to me. I had one other experience with a support race car. I ran the Chatterham a bit and truth is, don't see the value to doing it much more.

But I hadn't tried other cars. So I gave the Radicals a shot.

Damned if they aren't pretty decent pieces. They seem to be the most controllable of the F3000/Chatterham/Radical group.

What's your favorite? Am I missing something worth trying?

I found a couple of keys to making the F3000 more palatable. Are there any keys to your favorite?

Hansaplast

31 December 07, 17:09

Since the radicals came with Race 07 i drove nothing much the other cars.

The old BMW M3 at heavy rain pushing along Brno is great fun, too. :-)

McDanger

31 December 07, 18:28

I think the F3000 are slowly starting to emerge as my favourites out of the loads of great choices of rides in 07,i find the very "alive" arse end enjoyable after you get your right foot dialled in to them.Cats are a blast anywhere,Rads are ok,but maybe a little bit,,,"sterile"?.

darock

1 January 08, 00:57

McDanger

1 January 08, 09:01

Ive been having a fair bit of success in all the different cars in 07 with the default setup,ive been deliberately trying to avoid all the hassles of the setup thing with 07,as i have fairly recently delved into the black art of making setups for GTR2,and enjoyed the more simple life in 07 where i just adjust the fuel,and maybe a little monkey around with brake bias,although on saying all that,at one of the WTCC league server/track test races a week or 2 back i found i had to tweak to get that extra bit the front fast guys were achieving,and i was gladly surprised to find the very little and few things i do adjust in GTR2,seemed to work the same in 07,still havent found the need to really mess around with the F3000's though tbh.

darock

1 January 08, 14:26

darock

1 January 08, 14:28

BTW, the changes that work in GTR2 work about the same in RACE07.

I've got a suspicion they didn't do much rewriting for RACE07. It looks to me like they did mostly a repaint of the graphics.

darock

1 January 08, 14:36

You really ought to dink more with the brakes of the F3000s. That seems to be the one detail in the setup that is off on the car in the SimBin provided setup. Or to put it better, the brakes seem to hurt the lap times and nothing else seems to. But they really only hurt much on the threshold braking turns, since a bunch of the moderate turns don't take braking to any degree in that car.

I have found the gearing to be the next most worthwhile tuning effort for that car and it's pretty straighforward.

Everybody seems to do tire pressures to get good temps, but I've noticed the rears seem to need a bit more negative camber.

What seems to be the result of those little changes is a car that's lots easier to drive in traffic. Nothing needs real close attention, right when you don't have any to give.

McDanger

2 January 08, 15:09

When you mention the default setup.........

There actually is a default and then there are the two SimBin provided. Some people call both of the "default" but on some cars they're not the same setup.

Which are you using?

I mean default as in: i dont load or touch anything in the garage,just fuel,i think i have dabbled with gear ratios as well,i have loaded one of the simbin setups in a WTCC car before and ended up with slower times.

darock

2 January 08, 21:37

I mean default as in: i dont load or touch anything in the garage,just fuel,i think i have dabbled with gear ratios as well,i have loaded one of the simbin setups in a WTCC car before and ended up with slower times.

Have you noticed that if you do go to the FILE tab in the garage, it shows two SimBin setups?

The basic defaults for a car appear to be whatever was set when the car's specs were programmed into the performance description. Like the shocks would be given a range from 1 to 15 in incriments of 1, so when the garage specs are shown in the game each click of shock adjustment will go up or down by one and won't go below 1 or above 15. Not really a setup with any real tuning behind it.

But the two SimBin setups do have some effort behind them. Not much, but more than the default.

I always start my setup tuning from the SimBin. The camber almost always needs adjusting and the tire pressures always need change. And those always show a bit of handling improvement.

It's not much to do. And worth it.

I've found that downloaded setups usually have absolutely no magic in them. Some show no crewchief talent either. But there are setup changes that are worth learning and doing.

darock

2 January 08, 21:43

BTW, you should always adjust the gearing. The gearing is almost never optimized. It screws you bad at tracks with very short straights. There are a couple where you don't even get the car into 6th gear. Closer ratios are always faster.

You always want top gear to almost hit the rev limiter.

If you don't sort the gearing, it's like running an engine with less horsepower.

eliandi

2 January 08, 22:59

Martidinho

2 January 08, 23:31

The Radicals is my favorite when just driving a practise run. But online i prefere the F3000! :)

darock

3 January 08, 02:00

I just got Race07, and the F3000 are probably my favorite. My first "key" was to quit trying to drive it sideways :) I've been playing alot of the P&G mod for GTR2, and having fun with large slip angles. In Race07, I discovered with the power-off oversteer in the defaut setup you "can" drive the F3000 sideways pretty well. I'm still trying to break that habit.

It's actually easier to get the P&G cars to hang their rears out for a good reason. They actually simulate the bias ply tires of that era. A bias ply tire actually hangs on to it's traction to slip angles the radials won't ever give you. So you can hang 'em out WIDE and lurid.

Only problem is that the radials give more traction eventhough they don't do it with much slip angle. Race cars used to be more fun to watch and to drive back then.

And cars with wings nowadays don't give much slip angle at all. Like the F3000s. Sideways is not the fast way.

darock

3 January 08, 02:05

Have any of you noticed that of the WTCC cars, the Peugeot seems to have the best turnin? It seems to have almost none of the corner entry understeer of the others.

For me, it compares to the other WTCC cars like I think the Radicals compare to the F3000. The Radicals seem to turnin with ease compared to the F3000s. My Radical times are close to the F3000 times.

Femto

3 January 08, 10:06

I thinck all the rear wheels drive car are fun. Whith the front wheel drive i can't do hotlap (my time whith the mini on zandvoort club is a perfect example).
My favorite is the radical sr4 252 hp.

darock

3 January 08, 12:56

I thinck all the rear wheels drive car are fun. Whith the front wheel drive i can't do hotlap (my time whith the mini on zandvoort club is a perfect example).
My favorite is the radical sr4 252 hp.

Maybe your MINI just doesn't have a big enough engine. :p

Femto

3 January 08, 13:39

Maybe... also i think i have a bad setup with it. But my brother Solcius can drive faster than me whith this car and the same setup. This car is my big weakness in this game:(

fizman

7 January 08, 19:18

i think the SR4190 is my fave.
reasons:
less horsepower=closer racing
downforce=closer racing
close bodied=closer racing

the smallest radical seems to be the weapon of choice for online pranks...

darock

7 January 08, 21:39

Maybe... also i think i have a bad setup with it. But my brother Solcius can drive faster than me whith this car and the same setup. This car is my big weakness in this game:(

Solcius uses more of the race track. Makes most turns wider and closer.

Femto

16 February 08, 14:06

The WTCC87 car are very fun and very fast!

JakeB

16 February 08, 16:18

My favourite is the F3000, but i like WTCC cars and Radical ones as well. I think F3000 cars need a cleaner driving, and gentler throttle manipulation which is a challenge. One could find their moves too sharp or their brakes too instant but it is all about familiarization. Someone said that he doesn't like Openwheelers because if you are not in the correct racing line you miss the turn. Others, they say if they are not in the correct line they don't enjoy racing.

JakeB

20 February 08, 06:13

So do you do anything to your F3000s to make them easier to drive or faster?

As far as the speed is concerned F3000 rely very much on the wing settings and of course as with all categories, gearing, and as darock has correctly often stated, tire pressures. I have noticed that wtcc cars rely very much on drifting in order to go fast. Although F3000 cars need a cleaner driving, they do have a bit of drifting in them, but this is once you have been perfectly familiarized with the car so that their horses can be handled easier. An ideal example is the Ascari exit at Monza, or the Brno track. I will attach a lap or two for you later to see my point. As for the ease of handling, one way is to have a much higher rear wing than front and i don't mean a high wing in general. This makes the car more stable, and usually five or six clicks is ok for most. Another way could be to soften your rear springs in order to be able to be earlier on the throttle and not spin. Me, i prefer to have wings close and a higher rear than front spring setting in order to gain speed and not sacrifice it in favour of stability, since those adjustments make the car more agressive in the corners.

RBalfour679

20 February 08, 07:40

I Like the F3000's because you always have to be alert because at any time the back could slide out!

Roberto Sagessi

24 February 08, 05:10

Having fun lately with a Rad sr4 252 especially at the EuroSpeedway LautizRing track recently uploaded here. The Rads feel very fast and they like this track a lot.

holdenss06

14 June 08, 01:20

I love the M3, F3000, Radicals - almost every car in the game - but when it comes to WTCC 06 and 07, I just think the BMWs are vile to drive. I'm trying to take Priaulx's 07 car for a spin on Valencia, and riding the kerbs is out of the question. And that little descent before the final corner... the car just decides to flip sideways as soon as I brake for that corner. They're not much fun to drive for me at all. That's why it's Alfas and SEATs for me! :thumbup:

holdenss06

5 July 08, 00:44

I've noticed since patch 1.1.0.4 that the Hondas and SEATs are probably what you can count on for bumpy, high-speed circuits like Brno and Brands Hatch. They just stick to the road like glue for me, and I haven't changed any setups! I compete in the V-WTCC's online rankking servers, so the Honda has been my weapon of choice. I have been able to drive it hard around Brands Hatch and not worry about suddenly oversteering or sliding off the track (eg. the BMWs :thumbdown:), and I feel so sure of its ability. But despite this, the Alfa will always be my favourite car in the game. Anyone have their own WTCC story to tell?

Sincerely, holdenss06

strongy

5 July 08, 01:08

hi, for me its the bemmer all the way. the M3 is just fantastic to drive and set. as for the 2007 its a little harder but when you get the hang of it its a blast to drive.

race hard guys :thumbup:

guybo

5 July 08, 02:13

The Caterhams are great to run because they are a great learning car. You can feel exactly what the car is doing underneath you. You can get very sideways in them and they are forgiving. As a starter car, they are terrific.

For the F3000's, I find the factory setups are OK. I have adjusted the balance with dampers and springs, incresed the diff values a bit, negative (IIRC- it may be positive, I don't have my set up in front of me) toe up front & more positive rear. Also, increasing the caster has helped. My lap times are OK, but not record breaking by any stretch. Since I have only done 1 round in the F3000 cars, I still have a long way to go in learning to set them up though.

holdenss06

5 July 08, 04:20

Hmm. I see. Well for me, the Caterhams are some of the hardest in the game... but then that's probably my steering wheel's fault. I've got a Driving Force EX. To truly experience the game and its cars, I'll need a Pro or a G25.