rec.autos.simulators

I have a 1998 Audi A4 1.8T (Turbo) FWD that came from the factory with:
sport suspension
sport seats

and did these mods:
AMS (ABT) Stage II chip - 215HP
KingDragon air filter (K&N style)
KONI yellow sports shocks (fronts adjusted 1 full turn rebound)
Eibach Pro-Kit springs
RONAL G1001 3 piece alloy 17X8.5 wheels
Toyo Proxy T1+ tires in 235/40/ZR17
eliminated the center resonator and replaced with small glasspack (saved
30lbs weight)
4" Suppertrapp rear muffler with no disks (on Dyno, was the best setup - and
also saved near 30lbs)

I raced it this weekend at the track in Pahrump, Nevada - 44 miles out of
Las Vegas.

Now, as for Sports Car GT, take the BMW M3, which is near an A4, yet this
car is FULLY race prepped! Yet in the game it slides all over the track! My
nearly stock Audi A4 and on STREET TIRES, was no where near as slippery as
that M3! And yet the AI cars stick so much better. The same goes for Viper
Racing - the Viper is a much better car than my A4, yet in the game it
drives like shit. And we won't even TALK about Grand Touring, yech! Nor Gran
Turismo.

But now as for TOCA2, . . . . . I have to say that THIS game IS near like
what I was having happen to me while driving my real car. I really get the
feel of being back on the track in this game! Just that I still have a gripe
with the damn AI cars not having to slow way down for the turns like they
should, and seem to have superhuman grip. But in respect to the car you are
driving, it is GREAT!

So for all you diehard armchair sim drivers, before you bash TOCA2, DRIVE A
REAL TRACK FIRST!!!!

--
Thanks
Mike Z

Please remove the *** front and back to reply

Whoa dude! Your woman turned you down for the four***th day straight
when you asked for sex, eh?!
I can just feel the frustration.

Whoa Dude.....That ought to add about 20hp!

Whoa Yellow! Wow-We!

17" wheels on a tonka?

Whoa Dude, What a badass car. A guenuine tonka 4 cyl hot rod!
Get ya an American car with a V8 and be a real man. 4cyl foriegn
rice burners are for ***s!!!!! Dont matter if they cost $30,000
or not! Daddy must giva a big allowance huh kid?

Should have raced further out of town where nobody could have seen ya!

Probally cause it would only go half as fast!

Nah! No Shit?

That game must suck as much as your car then!

Or like your weenie moblile has to!

Na you need to drive a real car! Thats what your problem is!

Not all of us have access to that kind of machinery...which is part of the
reason why we "simrace."
But be that as it may...my friend had a real Dodge Viper, which he describes
as having "knife-in-the-back handling."  Tricky is a heck of an
understatement, according to him.  I've never driven on a race myself, and
the closest was a friend's IMSA GTU (in 1986) Mitsubishi Mirage Turbo and
another friend's Ferrari Testarossa (apparently, I'm the only one of my
friends who's poor!).

My two cents is that FWD cars handle significantly different than RWD cars.
The Mirage, as compared to other cars, really understeers and gives the
impression that is sticking more, but it was kind of hard to accelerate out
of a bend due to driving and steering the same wheels.  Also weight
distribution was "funny."  Compared to others, it seemed to stick like crazy
under braking, but then it felt like driving on an ice-rink under
acceleration.  I remember similar comments from the IROC gang when they were
using Dodge Daytonas a few years back (also FWD).

Now, I know I run the risk of speaking of stuff I'm not entirely privy to,
but...there's a great difference between a street car setup for average
conditions and a fully adjustable race car.  A race car will almost always
feel very loose compared to a streetcar.  Even though you describe a lot of
modifications to your A4 (and I'm turning green with envy), I don't think it
approximates the degree of adjustment possible in a race car.  Your car is
STILL very heavy compared to a race car in power-to-weight ratio.  Race cars
are light because light is fast.  But lots of power will make a light car
loose, as the tires struggle with wheelspin.  Nothing new for you, I'm sure.
But even a street-going M3 will handle more like your car than like a
race-prepped one.

Oh, heck...just nothing to do at midnight but express my opinion. I
apologize for the "more than two cents."  After all, I'm not a race car
driver, I just play one on PC :-)

L.S.

: My two cents is that FWD cars handle significantly different than RWD cars.
: The Mirage, as compared to other cars, really understeers and gives the
: impression that is sticking more, but it was kind of hard to accelerate out
: of a bend due to driving and steering the same wheels.  Also weight

Actually, a properly set-up FWD race car has very neutral handling.  They
certainly don't plow like a street car.  A lot of the autocrossers running
FWDs like Golfs etc. have them set up with an incredible sensitivity to
throttle input, with small lifts doing magic at the back end.

: acceleration.  I remember similar comments from the IROC gang when they were
: using Dodge Daytonas a few years back (also FWD).

Except all IROC cars are always tube frame RWD racers with a skin on them.

Stephen

s.net...

Sorry to break this to you Doctor, . . . but an Audi is a GERMAN car,
meaning it runs on sauerkraut and bratwurst    :)

Ahhh, but you are a bit wrong there. SCCA Solo II is the cheapest racing you
can do - it only costs about $25 to enter. And as for machinery, you can run
any car you want, even a pickup truck! There is a class for anything, and
recently they even added a class for go-carts, and there is even a company
that rents the carts for this. Hell, if you even want to do it cheaper, I
know of some folks who have rented the new C5 Vette to run, ha ha.

Hey, I am poor too. But I wanted this car badly, so I made some scarifices.

As to the Mirage Turbo, I had one too! And I used to be pals with Dave Wolen
Racing, who did the IMSA Firehawk events for Mitsubishi (if you ever saw the
Starion race cars, that was Dave), and through him I got HKS (way back under
Luckey Dodge) to install a huge prototype intercooler and chip in my Mirage.
It was one hell of a fast car, but the CRX Si's always got me in the turns
:(

cars.

AMEN to that! I still prefer RWD to FWD, except on wet or ice tracks.

Not to mention that HUGE torque steer!

This I have to disagree with. I have driven a few full race prepped cars,
and they were stiff as hell, and stuck like glue. I also got a ride this
weekend in a BMWCCA Champ's car (used for the BMWCCA Club Racing), and this
car too stuck like glue, stopped on a dime, and had enough "G" forces to
strain my neck in the turns. And at no time did this car feel unstable. It
was awesome! Now someday when the new Audi S4 comes to market in the USA,
that might be close to an M3, but it would need a lot of work to be like
this car.

Don't get green, I paid my dues to get this, and work my ass off. Plus I am
not a kid as the Doctor might have thought. I am 44, and work so damn many
hours in the IS Dept, I hardly have a life. And next to computers, I spend
my time in cars, so most of you have more than I do in your homes.  :(

Well, after all my mods, my car is just now starting to handle like an M3.
But stock for stock, the M3 is the most awesome car out there for sale.
Sure, a 911 or Boxster can come close or be better, but still are no where
near as practical as a kick-ass 4 door sedan that the M3 is.

The major trick was always to keep the front tires alive (the races were
4-hrs, same
set of tyres, Yokohama Road ***:). Same goes for VW Golfs, you will
always have a problem
with the front tires getting hot on *twisty* tracks.
But FWD IS great fun to drive fast!

ahhh..memories:)

Matt

--

Matthew Knutsen

"The Art of Legends" - GPL add-ons
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Jimbob......was you called that because your mum couldn't decide which of her brothers
was your father...Jim or Bob?

As Anthony reid said himself- Touring Cars are not that exciting or demanding
to drive next to Single Seaters- but the difficulty and closenss of the racing
is beyond anything he'd done before.

Z.

Please remove NOSPAM from my email address when replying.

The racing is what marks out BTCC and that's what I watch motorsport for.

M

--dave

--
Dave Schwabe
The Aussie Toad -- Grand Prix Legends & Brabham site
http://users.wi.net/~schwabe