Ferry_vO
Retired SOH Administrator
Since I had only front wheel driven cars in my real life so far, I wanted to try some fwd cars in rFactor to see how they feel with my G25.
First car I tested at Toban (Great track!) was the 'Skoda Octavia cup 3.0' which was recently released. The latest version includes the 2008 season and which was developed together with members of a real Skoda race team. Skoda is a part of the Volkswagen conglommerate btw, and the Octavia is a mid-sized hatchback based on the VW Golf. This race version has a 205 hp engine. Handling is what you would expect from a car like this. Very neutral, and a somewhat detached steering feel. Grip is good, and the car really 'leans' into the corners. Not very exciting to drive though. Lap time around the Toban GP track was a 1:53.2.
Next up is the 'Alfa Romeo 147 Challenge'. The model, cockpit and textures are not nearly as good as the Skoda. The sounds are really good though, and the handling is a lot more challenging than the Octavia. On cold tyres you really need to brake carefully otherwise the rear wheels will lock up. In fast corners the car will oversteer, but it's not too hard to control. The steering is somewhat heavy, but has more feel than the Skoda. The feedback is much better, and the car turns into the corners much quicker. The lap time for this car was 1:49.3, which is 4 seconds faster, but with only 15 hp more. There's also a '147 GT-R' mod which I'll have to download and try later.
The last car on the track is the Ford Escort RS Turbo from the 'TCL' mod.
With 284 hp the most powerful car of this trio, but also the oldest. The engine sounds good, but doesn't respond to the throttle very quickly and there's plenty of turbo lag as is to be expected from a car this age.
With only five gears you'll need to shift a lot to keep the turbo spinning!
The car is understeered if you go into a turn too fast, but letting go of the throttle will reduce this somewhat.
The best part of the dynamics of this car is the steering though: plenty of torque steer so you are not just fighting the front tyres, but also the torque of the engine that is affecting the steering. Still pretty quick round the track though; a 1:50.0 was a lot faster than I expected at first.
The Escort really reminded me of my old Renault 5 GT Turbo I had about ten years ago, even the G25 wheel feels similar to the steering wheel that car had. With a bit of luck I might even get to drive that car again in rFactor (Where no doubt it will be much more reliable!):
http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=R5 GT Turbo Cup
First car I tested at Toban (Great track!) was the 'Skoda Octavia cup 3.0' which was recently released. The latest version includes the 2008 season and which was developed together with members of a real Skoda race team. Skoda is a part of the Volkswagen conglommerate btw, and the Octavia is a mid-sized hatchback based on the VW Golf. This race version has a 205 hp engine. Handling is what you would expect from a car like this. Very neutral, and a somewhat detached steering feel. Grip is good, and the car really 'leans' into the corners. Not very exciting to drive though. Lap time around the Toban GP track was a 1:53.2.
Next up is the 'Alfa Romeo 147 Challenge'. The model, cockpit and textures are not nearly as good as the Skoda. The sounds are really good though, and the handling is a lot more challenging than the Octavia. On cold tyres you really need to brake carefully otherwise the rear wheels will lock up. In fast corners the car will oversteer, but it's not too hard to control. The steering is somewhat heavy, but has more feel than the Skoda. The feedback is much better, and the car turns into the corners much quicker. The lap time for this car was 1:49.3, which is 4 seconds faster, but with only 15 hp more. There's also a '147 GT-R' mod which I'll have to download and try later.
The last car on the track is the Ford Escort RS Turbo from the 'TCL' mod.
With 284 hp the most powerful car of this trio, but also the oldest. The engine sounds good, but doesn't respond to the throttle very quickly and there's plenty of turbo lag as is to be expected from a car this age.
With only five gears you'll need to shift a lot to keep the turbo spinning!
The car is understeered if you go into a turn too fast, but letting go of the throttle will reduce this somewhat.
The best part of the dynamics of this car is the steering though: plenty of torque steer so you are not just fighting the front tyres, but also the torque of the engine that is affecting the steering. Still pretty quick round the track though; a 1:50.0 was a lot faster than I expected at first.
The Escort really reminded me of my old Renault 5 GT Turbo I had about ten years ago, even the G25 wheel feels similar to the steering wheel that car had. With a bit of luck I might even get to drive that car again in rFactor (Where no doubt it will be much more reliable!):
http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=R5 GT Turbo Cup