Squashed Frog A600 FWD KIA Forte Koup

Ratings at a glance:
Speed 6.3
Handling 6.0
Acceleration 6.7
Launch 5.9
Brakes 6.1

HP 405
Torque 351 lbs ft
weight 2510 lbs
FWD

First Impressions: A simple looking paint, but simplicity is often the key to a good looking car. For me this is a great looking design on this car, not too fussy, not too plain. Very nice indeed.
The tune is obviously interesting, being that rare beast, an A class Front Wheel Drive. Squashed Frog have a reputation for the bizarre, and difficult to drive car, this is different but isn’t too hard to get to grips with. It understeers but how much will it affect the laps?

On The Tracks: Using the Using the Bridgestone 500hp Runoff we start at Camino Viejo Full. From the off the start is slow as is to be expected with a FWD with 400+ hp on tap causing the tyres to lose grip on the tarmac. Once the tyres have found traction though the Kia really starts to pull, but into the first turn the dreaded understeer comes into play. It’s not as bad as first feared though, and the Koup does pull through the turns well around the downhill section. The brakes slow it nicely into the hairpin at the bottom, and there you get the worst of the torquesteer trying to get out of the turn under power and get it setup for the uphill. The Kia pulls uphill really well though, and through the rest of the track makes a good progress. There is a lot of grip there as long as you balance the throttle through the turns to keep it moving but not spinning. As the laps go on, I find I’m enjoying the Kia more and more till the end of the race, and the best laptime was a 1:05.087 for #7300ish on the Leaderboards.

Onto Road Atlanta next, a fast track for the Kia. In the turns you can feel the understeer, but it’s not so bad in the faster corners as when you are trying to get out of the slower ones. On the straight the Forte Koup does a good job of hitting 160mph before the brakes are deployed, and they work well to bring the speed down for the chicanes. I start to find the trick is to aim at the inside of the tighter turns and let the front run a little wide to miss giving a penalty. At the end of the 4 laps, I do have a clean one and it’s the fastest at 1:25.026 for #5800 ish on the Leaderboards.

Le Mans is our next destination, for the Bugatti circuit. A track I spend very little time running, so expectations are low. Along the first section there is no need to let off at all to get around the sweeping right and set up to go through the first chicane. Out of the chicane, you have to take care with the gas to stop it going way off to the left, but then it punches out as the wheels straighten and makes good headway for the next bit of track. It takes until the 3rd and final lap for me to get a clean one though due to my limited track knowledge, although the car feels good to me around the whole track. The fastest clean lap is also a P.B. (not a good one by any standards but it’s a P.B. anyway) 1:45.722 for #7438 on the Leaderboards.

Back to the USA, for the Road America track. The speed from the Kia is good enough for the longer straights of the track, but it does suffer a little understeer as you try to get it through the corners quickly here. The track surface seems to make a little difference and increase the push, or it may just be the fast flow of the circuit which is doing it. Staying with the positives though it does make short work of the straights. At the end of the day it’s the laptime which is important, and this one wasn’t great 2:18.710 for a place too far down to worry about on the Leaderboards.

Our final track in the series is Sunset Club. We know the speed is good, and the first corner is a big factor, pleasingly it makes it with plenty of grip, and little drama. With due consideration for the rest of the corners, the Kia makes good swift progress back round to the final section and the right hander onto the big looping final turn. There is no real drama, but the front does push as you try to get the power down to get maximum attack for the fast section. It holds and accelerates for a tidy if not exceptional final push. My best lap was a 59.914 for #4500 ish on the Leaderboards.

With the offline races completed, it is time to see how I can do with the Kia against real human opponents online. I use the term human loosely and if you ever used the hoppers you will know why..
Our first race is at Road Atlanta, I already know how to use the car here so it’s a bonus. Away from the line the pack leaves us spinning the front wheels. No matter as we pick our way through the inevitable 1st corner mayhem from 8th into 4th. Along the straight I am catching 3rd, and manage to stay with him through the chicane and make a little more on the start – finish straight. Losing a little through the next series of turns, I make it up going towards the double rights, and manage to get past on the straight. As we go into the 1st chicane on lap 3, 4th place seems a little upset to be behind the Kia and takes out the rear end to make a passing move. Nice. I hold onto 4th though for the end of the race. I was on a 1:24.7 with a Lexus in 1st on 1:21.x and a Nissan GTR 2nd on a 1:24.6 with 3rd on a 1:23.8. Not a long way off the pace then.

2nd race was at Sebring full with a 7 car field. An uneventful race (excluding going from 7th to 2nd in the first corner) saw the Kia take 2nd with a 2:11.6 not too far away from the 1st place Viper driver on a best lap of 2:10.7 with a Merc Cl65 filling out the top 3 on a 2:13.8. Very nice result.

I stayed in for more races, but didn’t record times, just placings. We took second at Silverstone GP. 2nd at Sunset Full, 2nd at Suzuka Full. So a pretty successful run for the Kia.

The Verdict: A very good looking car, the design simple but very appealing and pleasing on the eye. Mr. Ellingworth certainly got the balance right or found a good replica to copy?
A FWD A class attempt has to be applauded even if it doesn’t do brilliantly. It’s a very disadvantaged car, but it does deliver a good fun ride that is competitive online if not on the leaderboards. I found faster medium length tracks were its forte, where the speed carries it along, to make up for the extra care needed in and out of the corners. That said the understeer is managable without compromising too much.
This Kia isn’t going to be for everybody, but for a fun and different ride it’s worth having a go at it. And if annoying people in lobbies with something unusual is your aim, then this will really get up their noses as you beat them in a Kia. I managed to beat 6 -7 people in the lobby I was in on 4 of the five tracks, so it’s not beyond the realms of possibility. Will you challenge the A class world n a FWD Kia?

If you dare to experience the Squashed Frog Kia then here is where to find out more

Dynamite Tunings D350 “Uncle Joes” ‘94 Nissan Fairlady Z

Ratings at a glance:
Speed 6.8
Handling 5.0
Acceleration 4.9
Launch 5.8
Brakes 4.7

HP 416
Torque 315 lbs ft
weight 3664 lbs
AWD

First Impressions: When the car turned up in my garage for a review I was thinking this was going to be a boring race replica with a grip tune. I was wrong on both counts. The paint is a nice looking replica of a racing livery, one that works well and is nicely finished. The tune is speed biased, but also has a lot more grip than it should have. There was no set of tracks to give this a fair review in the race events, so I handpicked a few of my favourite speed tracks.

On The Tracks: Using the The Handpicked Speed Event One of my favourite tracks for a good speed car was the obvious first choice. Sunset Club, and to keep it real I allowed only 5 laps just like an official race event. The speed was surprising, but the grip into turn one was even more of a shock. It held a nice tight line even at full speed into the first corner. The brakes were a bit under par, but not enough to make life difficult when slowing for the next set of corners. Then it’s back on the gas for the straight down to the chicane where once again the brakes were adequate, and the handling allowed for some speedy cornering back out to the full onslaught on the oval banking and onto the straight. It felt fast.. My best lap was a 1:05.893 a new P.B. puts me at #322 on the Leaderboards.

I decided to try one of the tracks I don’t usually do so well on next to feel how the car handles if you miss an apex or turn in. Sebring Short has proven to be a tough track for me to do well on in the 3rd Forza game, but the Nissan was making it feel easy. From the last turn, across the start line, and up to the first turn it gains speed quickly and ends up with a lot of velocity to scrub for the first sweeping left. It can push a little mid turn, but will hold even if you miss the turn in point a little. Accelerating hard to the next pair of right turns it pulls well, and slows for a nice turn in and gains momentum again quickly through the next few shallow turns. Then slow in and fast out of the next two for the long back straight, and it winds up to a very satisfying top speed before the last corner. The result? My best lap was a 1:22.080 for #336 on the Leaderboards.

Staying at Sebring I tried the Club circuit with less straights to see what would happen. Speed is still required here, but the Fairlady also had the other requirement of gripping in the faster corners needed for this track. The laps all felt good with high levels of grip for every turn, and the speed to pull quickly around the fast circuit. Another good result, and solid laptime. My best lap was a 1:13.130 a P.B. for #358 on the Leaderboards.

And finally I opted for another speed track which also has a couple of slower spots to test the cars handling, Road Atlanta. Again there was nothing to really gripe about with the cars performance around the whole track. It has ample speed to make short work of the fast straight, and scrubs of speed well enough to brake reasonably late for the chicanes. The grip makes the tight double rights easy, and and the chicanes at each end of the lap are also taken care of with ease. After the handful of laps the time was again a new P.B. for me with more available with practice. My best lap was a 1:33.290 for #344 on the Leaderboards.

After the offline testing and enjoying all the new personal bests, it was time for the online trials to begin. This time we don’t get to choose the track, but we gave it our best, first of all on Laguna Seca. The competition included the usual suspects (Toyota Celica zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) and one of the new DLC cars which showed as a DLC car as I didn’t get the pack yet, and some random entries. After the first few turns it was pretty much how it was going to stay with a Celica just ahead, and one just behind. With the 3rd place car cutting corners and jumping most of the corkscrew every lap I had to play along to keep the place, but we maintained it with extra speed on the straights while we lost at the corners as the Celica cut them to the limits. It ended 1st a Celica with a 1:38.7, think he was fairly clean, while our second place was a 1:39.1 so pretty close. 3rd had used every trick to get a 1:38.2 but still 3rd lol.

The next track was Mugello Full and we managed a 1st place with a 2:08.041. A hollow victory as all the others slowly left the race leaving just the Nissan and a car which was unattended on the start line to take 1st and DNF respectively.

Finally there was just one other car racing in Silverstone Full, and it was close all the way to the end where we came second by a few feet after the 4 laps.

The Nissan will keep up with all but the best driven Celicas on most tracks with a little bit of straight to stretch its legs. I think it will struggle a little more on shorter twisty tracks but still has the grip to score some points.

The Verdict: I’ve got to admit to being pretty impressed with the Dynamite Tuning Nissan. The paint is well crafted and worthy of copying to start with. It fits the car well too.
Driving the car isn’t difficult, but it still puts on a good show of speed without sacrificing much at all of the handling side of things. It may push a little when forced with the throttle wide open, and ideally the brakes could be a little sharper, but neither of these are glaring faults, just nitpicking.
Overall, a fast car with decent handling for the medium to longer tracks, even those with a few corners on.

Find more info at the Dynamite Tuning sales thread

[LIGHTSPEED] MUGEN INTEGRA B500

Ratings at a glance:
Speed 5.6
Handling 6.1
Acceleration 5.7
Launch 5.9
Brakes 6.2

HP 264
Torque 185 lbs ft
weight 2202 lbs
FWD

First Impressions: I’m a fan of minimalist, clean looking paints and this one fits the bill nicely. The simple Castrol paintjob looks great on the Integra and makes for a slick look.
The tune is great in the corners with excellent grip and acceleration. Top speed is a little low so I’m going for a short track tune.

On The Tracks: Using the B class Asian Tour starting at Tsukuba Short circuit where the grip is a big help in getting round the tight track. The gears are close together meaning 3rd is used to get out of the corners and out onto the straights. There seems to be very little understeer even accelerating hard on the way out of the turns and the laptimes are pretty consistent. My best lap was a 44.320 for #1000 ish on the Leaderboards.

Motegi East is our second challenge for the Mugen Integra. It has just enough speed for the straights on this track, and obviously good cornering helps to keep the corner exit speeds up out onto the straight bits. I did find a little understeer in the faster corners but nothing which is going to ruin your days racing. Overall, it was a good showing if not a P.B. winning one. My best lap was a 1:30.489 for #1200 ish on the Leaderboards.

Next testing was to be at Suzuka West. Again the laptimes I was getting were good and consistent but not ultra fast. The cornering is what the Integra is all about though and again it was excellent. Even 130R could be taken very fast without any worries about losing traction mid turn. In the hairpin you could gain a lot as well as the speed could be kept up and give you a good start along the next fast section of track. My best lap was a 1:23.262 for #700 ish on the Leaderboards.

The remaining two tracks were not going to be the best for a car of this kind, the first of these two being Motegi Full, which needs a bit of speed to tackle the longer fast bits. The Mugen can keep us rolling quickly around the turns but then dies off towards the end of the long fast sections where its short track credentials are no help. For a consistent laptime it’s great, but just wasn’t intended to be a leaderboard car for this track. My best lap was a 2:07.248 for #3800 ish on the Leaderboards.

Finally for Suzuka full, where we know already that the Integra will do well in and out of the corners, but that the long straight will take a toll on the laptimes. This proves to be the case, but it’s still a good feeling making up as much time as possible in the first section of the track. My best lap was a 2:15.063 for #2900 ish on the Leaderboards.

It’s time to take it online in the hoppers. The first track is Road Atlanta, so the Mugen isn’t a shoe in for the win. The competition includes an Audi S5 and a VW Golf. After getting punted off in the first turn despite giving everyone plenty of room and being slowest off the start in a FWD car, I make some places up towards the VW and the Audi up at the front. Only to get taken out by a kamikaze into the last chicane. Again I pull back some places, and eventually take 4th place with a 1:28.9 to the 1st place Audi at 1:27.7 and second place Golf at 1:28.5 so not too far off the times.

Sebring full sees the winner of the first race pull out his VW Golf to compete with the other one. After a clean race for once we take a 3rd place with the Mugen with a best laptime of 2:18.x but trailing the two Golfs in 1st and second. But 3rd at Sebring in a car tuned for short tracks sounds good.

Next it was Silverstone GP, where the front runners (and some others) were running Subaru WRX’s. I managed to hold station after they got away at the start, to get a 3rd place, but missed the laptimes screen.

All three tracks were more suited to the speed tune rather than the handling tune of this Mugen, but it still held onto podium finishes, and the grip made overtaking even the most unpredictable opponents easy. My best lap was a for # on the Leaderboards.

The Verdict: A great looking paint on the Mugen, clean simple and very effective. Proof that more isn’t always a good thing, and less can be better.
The tracks in this review weren’t ideal for the specs of the Mugen Integra, but it still pulled some good times. I did run some laps on the short Maple valley tracks, and improved my position on the leaderboards going in both directions. It is a very competent car on the shorter tracks.

A great car for short tracks, will work on medium tracks too. Nice FWD alternative to the AWD and almost as easy to drive.

All the info can be found at http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/thread/3934696.aspx

Jadsport D350 Toyota Yaris

Ratings at a glance:
Speed 4.6
Handling 5.6
Acceleration 4.3
Launch 4.8
Brakes 5.4

HP 138
Torque 134 lbs ft
FWD

First Impressions: Nice widebody paint, JADsport signature piece. A little plain when you get past the wide body bits.
Lots of grip, and doesn’t mind quick direction changes. Also has a fair turn of speed and should be able to keep up with most in its class.

On The Tracks: Using the D Class Post ‘00 Asian Tour starting at Suzuka West the Yaris made it easy to take 130R at full throttle, and the speed on the straights and also in the turns is very good. The grip gives you confidence to pull round all the corners quickly and hold the line. The speed can be carried out of the hairpin to make a good assault on the next fast flowing set of turns. My best lap was a 1:30.655 which would be good for #1800ish on the Leaderboards.

Tsukuba Full is next and the Toyota feels good in the tight turns, taking them quickly, and then pulls out cleanly. The little Yaris accelerates well on the straights to a good speed at the end. Braking feels good too with no lockup into the corners even under the hard trail braking into corners which I use on this track. My best lap was a 1:02.260 for #1033 on the Leaderboards.

Suzuka East is the circuit this car was tuned for seemingly, as it runs well around the twisty first section of the track. The Yaris takes the left and right flicks easily at speed, and accelerates well out of the last turn onto the straight towards the start finish line and makes excellent progress towards the other end of the course again. My best lap was a 55.127 for #356 on the Leaderboards.

Continuing our tour we go to Motegi West where the Yaris holds a good speed around the turns and carries it out into the straights to keep the laptimes down. I found I was able to flip the car into the final section and keep up good speed round the turns and then accelerate hard out of it onto the start /finish straight. My best lap was a 42.768 which would be around #2200 ish on the Leaderboards.

Tsukuba Short for our final race saw the Yaris do very nicely around the short track. The speed carried in the corners seems as if it makes the straights shorter. Acceleration is good and on this tight circuit helps to give good laptimes, while the handling makes it feel easy to hold the speed in the corners. My best lap was a 46.519 for #492 on the Leaderboards.

Taking it online, and it seems the current crop of posts on the Forza forums about numbers dwindling in the hoppers is true. There was just one other player in D class at the time I joined, so I raced a single Toyota Celica at Camino Viejo full. After the AWD left us at the line, I used all the Yaris’s performance to reel it in over the following laps to finish almost side by side, with just 0.05 seconds separating us at the line.

The second track was Maple Valley, and some others joined us. This time I managed to get the lead in lap 2 from the Celica, only to push too hard for a laptime and lose the position in lap 3. I caught up again and took a win with a 1:41.022 compared to the Celica 2nd place at 1:41.153 and a Mazda MX5 Gen2 in 3rd with a 1:42.498

Finally we ran Laguna Seca where we had a tight race for 2nd and 3rd while a VW Rabbit GTi took the win. The 1st place Rabbit had a laptime of 1:36.7, an Audi S4 in 2nd with a 1:38.2 and we had 3rd with a 1:37.6 and 4th place Celica had a 1:39.x

So all podiums for the Yaris online at medium tracks even though it is more of a short track car.

The Verdict: The Yaris looks quite plain and simple, but it disguises the work put into the widebody paint. The design does work well on the Toyota and makes for something slightly different.
The tune is an easy to drive car with a definite handling bias, making it great for shorter twisty tracks. That’s not to say it lacks speed, as it did ok in the online races on medium tracks when pitted against some of the known dominant cars in its class. The Suzuka East time also shiws that it isn’t suffering on the longer straight there either. A nice little car for running in the hoppers or racing with buddies on short and medium tracks.

More info at http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/thread/3929547.aspx

VWAG D350 VW Beetle “Herbie”

Ratings at a glance:
Speed 5.1
Handling 5.0
Acceleration 5.1
Launch 6.5
Brakes 4.8

HP 278
Torque 269 lbs ft
weight 2756 lbs
AWD

First Impressions: My first reaction was that the Herbie paint is a little obvious and overused on the Beetle. VWAG have done a great job with it, but it is still a Herbie Beetle.
The tune on the car is pretty grippy, quick and has lots of acceleration. You can feel a little understeer in fast corners, but it should be manageable.

On The Tracks: Using the Class D Euro Tour The tour begins at Silverstone on the international circuit. After the AWD drivetrain helps to get things moving off the line very quickly, the acceleration feels very brisk for a D class car. You can hold good speed into the corners too but a little care is needed to stop the understeer from ruining the exit by running wide. The tighter turns also give a little concern, but a few laps finds the best way to tackle them. The understeer does slow down the fastest laps here though. My best lap was a 1:34.942 for #1900 ish on the Leaderboards.

The tour continues with the Le Mans Bugatti circuit, which I’m just starting to get to grips with, so the laptimes can still be improved in any car. The Beetle does feel good though, giving a good account of itself on the fast flowing track, and the fast turns of Bugatti seem to suit it as they can be taken quickly. Herbie also accelerates quickly between the corners and can carry the speed into the turns well. I got a new P.B. thanks th the Beetle too My best lap was a 1:58.080 for #1443 on the Leaderboards.

Catalunya National is the next venue. Herbie seemed to enjoy himself here too, although the long start finish straight left the Beetle wheezing a little by the end as it seemed to run out of puff. The corners definitely suited the handling though, as once again most of them are fast flowing turns which don’t require a tight lock to get round them. My best lap was a 1:23.666 for #1050 ish on the Leaderboards.

Next our tour took us to Amalfi Coast. A picturesque and fun track which unfortunately I don’t do very well at. The Beetle was a lot of fun to flick around the tight twisty coastal route though, and felt pretty good as I did so. The understeer did make some of the turns more interesting especially at each end of the track, but the bits in between didn’t cause too many problems. My best lap was a 1:06.373 for #5400ish on the Leaderboards.

Our offline tour of Europe ended at Iberian Full, another of the fast flowing tracks which Herbie seems to favour. The Beetle felt very good, and quick around the Iberian circuit, and carrying speed into the corners was easy and the AWD pulled out of them quickly onto the straights. The torque of the VW made light work of the climb up the hill too, and it just felt good. My best lap was a 58.707 for #1100 on the Leaderboards.

With the offline career races done, it was time to go online. The public hopper system beckoned and Sebring Full was the first race. The field had a sprinkling of VW Golf Gti’s and 03 Celicas to challenge Herbie. After an uneventful race, we had 4th place beating a few of the Celicas and Golfs which was nice. That said, a Golf won with a 2:24 with second place Celica also on 2:24. Our 4th came courtesy of a 2:27 but consistent laps at that pace.

The second online trial was at Catalunya School. The Beetle ran pretty well around the track, better than some of the Fiestas and Golfs (an attempt to send us to sleep with their boring choice of car?) which trailed our second place finish. First place did go to a Fiesta though. I missed the laptimes, but we were obviously competitive.

The next race at Sunset saw the Celicas and Golfs make an unwelcome return. No matter as we stole 3rd place ahead of some of them, and not too far behind the 1st and second placed Celicas. Laptimes were 1:40 for 1st place, 1:37 for 2nd, and our third place came with a 1:43. The rest of the field ranged from 1:50 to 1:56 laptimes.

I stayed in to run Tsukuba. Not just run, but actually win, causing one Champion to take his Fiesta out of the lobby so he didn’t lose his True”Skill” I laughed …a lot at that fail. The rest of the lobby seemed to take offence at their Celicas and Fiestas and Golfs having lost so often to a Beetle called Herbie and promptly kick voted the competition more laughter from me.

The Verdict: Sorry to say that the Herbie paint is a bit too obvious for my tastes. It is very well done, and yes it’s fun if it’s the first time you’ve seen it. For me it seemed a bit tired.
The tune is definitely suited to faster and more open tracks, although the online win at Tsukuba didn’t seem too difficult either. On the subject of online racing, the results were mixed, but with practice I think the Beetle could do well on quite a few of the tracks in the hopper rotation. It was fun to be booted for winning in a Beetle too. The only fly in the ointment is the understeer which needs a few changes to my driving at least to get around it.

A fast and fun car for the faster medium tracks, tighter tracks are going to suffer at the hands of the understeer.

More information at http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/thread/3894810.aspx

RJT A600 BMW M3 E92

Ratings at a glance:
Speed 6.7
Handling 6.1
Acceleration 7.0
Launch 6.5
Brakes 6.3

HP 448
Torque 319 lbs ft
weight 2943 lbs
RWD

First Impressions: The Aviva replica paint on this BMW is one I tried to do myself a while back, and ended a long way off the quality of this one. Although it looks simple, it isn’t but it does look very good on the car.
The tune is also very good, with excellent grip and speed without too much of the RWD’s inherent oversteer. It’s quite easy to drive even when the rear does try to overtake the front, when it’s just a quick flick of the steering to catch it. There is a lot of power though and unleashing it all at once is asking for trouble.

On The Tracks: Using the Class A Euro Tour and we’re starting out at Catalunya Gran Prix where the long start finish straight gives a good indication of the cars potential speed and acceleration. It’s fast and gets there pretty quickly. After the speed is reached, the brakes are tested by bringing the speed down to take the first corner. Again no issues there, the braking is solid, and well balanced. Around the turn the car feels good too, holding the road through the next series of turns too. The only time it struggles is if the throttle is used too hastily out of a turn, but that’s RWD for you. I did get a P.B. but not a great one My best lap was a 1:54.209 for #9819 on the Leaderboards.

Across to UK for Silverstone’s international circuit next. The BMW came out of the turns pretty quickly by now, and we already know it had enough power to deal with the straight bits quickly too. I did start to find some understeer in the faster turns though as I was pushing closer to the limits of my skills in this car. It was nothing terrible, but meant that for my driving style a few changes needed to be made to get more from the M3. My best lap was a 1:25.320 for #6000ish on the Leaderboards.

The we hoppped across the Channel for the Le Mans Bugatti circuit. This track is one I’ve still to spend time getting to know, so missing braking points and also apexes is a given. Even so the BMW was forgiving enough to make a clean lap or two and to net me another P.B. The speed in the straights and grip in the corners obviously helped a great deal towards getting the My best lap was a 1:46.073 for #7303 on the Leaderboards.

Mugello full circuit was the scene of our next race. The acceleration helped between the turns in the first section of the track, and the M3 held the banked turns well, and made short work of the long start finish straight with the speed it offers. At the end I felt there was much more to get from the BMW with some more laps in the seat. My best lap was a 1:56.551 for somewhere around #10500 ish on the Leaderboards.

Finally we were back at Catalunya for the National circuit. The shorter straight didn’t do the M3 any favours as it needs to make some time with the speed it has. On the tighter short track the BMW suffered as there were less places to make up for the corners. Not that the cornering is bad, but it needs a little more care coming out of them to stop the oversteer from becoming hazardous. My best lap was a 1:16.397 good for something near #5000 ish on the Leaderboards.

Time to try our luck on the roulette wheel that is the Public Hopper system. I headed for the A class RWD lobby hoping that the racing would be cleaner than the normal A class and that the BMW would be among peers instead of the Audi S5 crew. One out of two isn’t bad I guess, the first race at Catalunya GP circuit had no S5’s but in the first lap I got run off the road on the straight as I overtook someone. The same driver did it again in the last turn to keep the 7th position he had. I was nerfed of the track 3 more times to end up as a DNF.
The second race was at Camino Extreme track, not one I know well, but at least I got out of the way of the crashers early on. I even lead the race for half a lap or so, but let the much faster guy in 2nd past as he didn’t try anything stupid to get ahead. I had a 2:46.1 laptime and second place, first had a 2:44.5 laptime and the rest varied from 2:51 upwards towards 3 minutes.

3rd race was at Maple Valley full circuit, and after getting the lead off the start, the BMW powered away round the fast flowing Maple track. It just felt right at home, and at the end of the race we had a 1:33.x and 1st position, 2nd was on a 1:36 and 3rd on a 1:38.x lap.
I decided to try for a fourth race when Laguna Seca showed as next in the rotation, and into the first corner it was tight, but we came out ahead. It stayed close for a while but then we started to drop second place behind. We continued to pull out a bigger lead with the BMW until lap 4 when I slowed on the last stretch to ensure everyone could finish and earn the credits they deserved for a clean race. Our BMW had a 1:30 in first, 2nd place had a 1:33 and 3rd (another BMW but it was a 135) had a 1:36.x laptime.

The proof is there, online even I could compete in the RWD hoppers using this BMW. One of the other racers even sent a message saying “good driving”, but a lot of it was down to the M3.

The Verdict: A great looking paint, and well executed on this car. All the logos have been made to a high standard and put together well on the BMW.

The tune makes for a very good RWD car, it does oversteer when being pushed out of the corners but that is to be expected and is the very reason you will rarely see the BMW’s in online racing outside of the RWD hoppers. This particular BMW has a lot of torque which could get you into trouble, but it is kept in check pretty well with some nicely spaced gears and a very nicely balanced suspension. Being RWD it’s going to have limited appeal but in my opinion is a good car for intermediate drivers to get to grips with a higher powered A class RWD car. Experienced drivers should also be able to better my results with the M3 and I’d like to hear how they fare too.

Not as easy as an AWD car, but a good start to learn the art of RWD car racing on Forza.

More details are at http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/thread/3884939.aspx

I’ve been looking around for something like Forza on my P.C. to test.  I just found “Driving Speed Pro” I have yet to try it, but if anybody has any experience of this game please post a comment.

I will add more when I have tested the demo yet, but the screenshots on the Driving Speed Pro website look good. I hope to give it a go later today.

VMR C425 Subaru WRX ‘05

Ratings at a glance:
Speed 5.6
Handling 5.6
Acceleration 5.5
Launch 6.6
Brakes 5.4

HP 353
Torque 310 lbs ft
weight 3078 lbs
AWD

First Impressions: This car showed up immediately even in my packed out garage full of pimped up rides. It’s a very striking and vibrant paint which catches the eye instantly. All the decals are well made and well placed to give a great looking car.
The tune on the C class car is very sticky and feels very quick. It does have a bit of an edge to the handling though which makes it more interesting than others in its class.

On The Tracks: Using the Class C Asian Tour We start our campaign of track terror on Suzuka West which is one of my favourite tracks. The Subaru is indeed fast, and holds the road really tightly through the turns, and powered down the straights. It felt very balanced through 130R at speed, and the brakes were adequate at the end of that piece of track to brake quite late into the two slower right handers. In fact every corner was fun to take quickly, and even the hairpin was a breeze at speed. I was surprised to find I didn’t have a P.B. but a time in the top 400 would have to do. My best lap was a 1:25.553 which would be good for #350 ish on the Leaderboards.

Next to get pounded by the Subaru’s tyres was to be Motegi, and we’d be covering the East side. I just kept finding I could go faster into every turn, and faster out of them onto each straight. It was getting to the point I couldn’t see the grip ever running out, and it didn’t happen before the end of the race. The WRX netted me a new P.B. with a best lap wof 1:31.607 putting me #283 on the Leaderboards.

Track 3 to be torn up was Tsukuba Short. I finally found some understeer from the Subaru when pushing really really hard in the tight corners, but it still ran some quick laps. Smooth driving and a little more care saw a few more tenths coming off the laptimes until I hit the best lap of the race for me. Not a new P.B. but would have been inside the top 500 as the best lap was a 45.146 which would place at #450 ish on the Leaderboards.

Return to Motegi for the short but fast West circuit. The Subaru made good progress on the long fast straight after taking the bottom corner at a good lick. The fast corners were easy to negotiate too, with the level of handling offered by the WRX it was easy to keep the speed up without losing any grip.
Adding it al together on the track made for a new P.B. My best lap was a 1:31.607 for #284 on the Leaderboards.

Finally it was back to Suzuka West to take a second stab at the track. This time I had a better idea of what the Subaru could do, and pushed much harder than the first attempt. Every corner could be attacked and dealt with swiftly, and that lead to time savings on the straights. I ended up finding a big chunk of time to get another new P.B. My best lap was a 1:24.751 for #198 on the Leaderboards.

Following the offline achievements it was time to enter the strange and unpredictable world of the T10 Circuit hoppers. After 3 attempts which left me on my own, eventually I was funneled into a lobby with some people in. The first track was Catalunya School which after the first corner removal of almost everyone else left me following a Champion in a Toyota Celica with 3rd place a little further back. I managed to keep the Celica in sight for the whole race, but came second on a 46.927 to his best lap in 1st place of 46.3xx the rest of the field running from 47-52 second laps.

At Sunset I got a good start, and could take the first corner with full speed, full throttle on and grip to spare. I took 1st place by midway through lap 1, but made a mistake in lap 2 and went down to second. Then had a few taps from behind as 3rd used some underhand tactics to take the second place. I ended in 3rd with a 1:37.691 P.B. at #549 on the LB’s to first place on a 1:36.8xx and second a 1:37.9xx

Tsukuba Full saw us neck and neck down to the first turn and realising the driver on the inside might go wide I yielded a little and slotted in behind. I followed for a lap looking for a way through, as we could go much quicker in the Subaru and I had 3rd place champion hard on my heels. Eventually I managed to get through, only to have the other driver try to take me out as I got past up the inside on the corner exit. I held onto it but it let 3rd through to first and left me in second. Best laps were us with a 1:02 (can do better without the car in front blocking) first place Celica on a 59 and 3rd place Celica on a 1:02

The Subaru is very capable of getting podiums in online races and gives you the tools you need in speed and handling. It worked well on the short Tsukuba track and the fast Sunset track. I went on playing to take a 2nd at Motegi Full as I was enjoying the car so much.

The Verdict: A superb and very eyecatching paint brings the car to the fore. The graphics are well put together to give a clean and balanced look to the livery. Very nice.
An excellent allrounder tune which works well on short handling tracks and medium faster tracks. The longest straights would be a challenge against high power machines, but the shorter straights of the medium tracks like Sunset are just on its limits. The grip is unbelievable and gives you the means to make passing maneuvers into or out of corners by changing your lines.

An easy car to drive which will make anyone feel fast.

All the information to get your hands on this Subaru is at http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/thread/3875570.aspx

Looney Tunes A600 Honda NSX-R GT Ayrton Senna Tribute

Ratings at a glance:
Speed 6.1
Handling 6.4
Acceleration 6.6
Launch 5.8
Brakes 6.5

HP 312
Torque 241 lbs ft
weight 2153 lbs
RWD

First Impressions: The design on this car is a tribute to Ayrton Senna on the 16th Anniversary of his untimely death. It draws on the Black and Gold JPS livery of the racecar of the time, and features a copy of Ayrtons signature on the rear. It’s a classy paint.
The tune was one I was dreading because it’s a mid engined RWD car and my driving style doesn’t get the best from this configuration. However I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of grip, and a car which felt very much like an AWD one with no oversteer unless I was really stupid with the gas. So let’s hit the tracks.

On The Tracks: Using the BBS 400HP Runoff Suzuka Full was the first test of my driving skills, and I have never actually got a decent laptime on the leaderboards here. The Honda uses up all six gears on the start/finish straight but didn’t quite top out by the end. In the corners even my hamfisted driving couldn’t stop it from making it round and out of the turns, it lost some time, but never enough traction to cause any dramas. Even coming out of the hairpin I could hit the throttle hard without it breaking away. So it felt good, but better was that I had a new P.B. my best lap was a 2:08.666 for #7628, not near the dizzy heights but a new P.B. for me on the Leaderboards.

Next on the to do list of tracks was Road Atlanta full. The speed on the straights was a big limiting factor here. With just 153 mph showing at the end of the long fast section, and even the downhill gradient wasn’t helping. It was possible to use the kerbs which many RWD tunes won’t put up with and you could take the corners very quickly, and power round them even when you were using the kerbs. A good easy drive but no P.B. My best lap was a 1:25.579 which would be good for #6800 ish on the Leaderboards.

Third on our track list is Maple Valley, a track which would have been the home of this model in Forza 2, how does it fare in FM3 I mused. The question was answered, not too badly. The varied turns of Maple could be taken with a lot of speed to carry through them, and out onto the straights between each series of corners. I found the high gears were used predominantly, and 6th was needed to finish the laps and start the next. After the race there was still time to find around the track My best lap was a 1:31.167 which would place around #3300 ish on the Leaderboards.

Moving onto Motegi East for our next race, the NSX-R has enough speed for the straights, and holds its own in the corners. By holds its own I mean it is easy to go round the turns with a lot of speed on the way in and even more coming out without upsetting the grip. Even in the left / right flicks in the mid section the Honda can be made to change direction quickly with no fuss. My best lap was a 1:27.066 adequate for #1500 ish on the Leaderboards.

Mazda Laguna Seca was the final offline track, and it proved no problem for the car, although I am particularly poor around Laguna Secas circuit. It had no problems taking the fast corners of the track, well, fast. I did lose time every lap in the Corkscrew, which I just couldn’t get right in the NSX-R so the final laptime can be bettered quite easily. My best lap was a 1:30.320 which would place somewhere near #8700 ish on the Leaderboards.

Online test next, and the only place to go is the A class RWD hopper. Unfortunately it is rather sparsely populated at any time of the day, and at the moment I choose, one other racer is waiting to try his car. I oblige and the race at Silverstone begins. After the first lap the other competitor has left the race. I finish with a 1:55.9 laptime.

Next it’s time to run Sunset Infield. I manage to take first in the Honda as the other player sits on the line for the entire race not budging an inch.

Luckily some other RWD racers join the lobby, one in a Holden and the other a Dodge Challenger, just in time to race Motegi. The Honda takes me to a victory with a 2:02.3 laptime to a second place Holden with a 2:12.4 and third place has a 2:13.8 in the Dodge.

Doesn’t really tell us too much about the competitiveness of the NSX online, but I did get a rank higher in Tueskill.

The Verdict: A great looking tribute paint to a great driver. I always loved the JPS livery, and it’s been well incorporated into the tribute paint on this Honda NSX-R. The L.E. editions have the addition of a very well done image of the man himself. I don’t know how many are left at this time, but check the sales thread for details.

The tune makes this a very easy to drive RWD mid engined Honda. All the things you can’t do with a RWD car, you can with this one. Ride kerbs, check, accelerate or decelerate mid turn, check. You can even ride kerbs with the throttle on and it’ll forgive you. It does suffer a little in the speed stakes for the longer straights though. All of my times should be easily bettered by a RWD lover or anyone with a bit more skill.

Find out more at http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/thread/3875328.aspx

Looney Tunes B500 Public Lobby Subaru WRX ‘04

Ratings at a glance:
Speed 5.5
Handling 6.2
Acceleration 5.8
Launch 7.1
Brakes 6.4

HP 362
Torque 315 lbs ft
weight 2841 lbs
AWD

First Impressions: A very funny and also pertinent paint on this Scooby had me chuckling as I looked at all the little details. Sometimes the truth is just so funny. But beyond that the decals are also well made and original.

The car definitely has a bias towards handling making it more suited to short to medium tracks. It also accelerates well…

On The Tracks: Using the Class B Asian Tour We begin our journey at Tsukuba Short where the acceleration and grip work well to get around the track quickly and safely. You quickly gain the confidence to throw the car into a turn and know it will come out of the other side even faster. Accelerating on the main straight gives you a quick kick in the pants and doesn’t stop until you let off to apply the brakes. My best lap was a 44.108 which would be good for #600 ish on the Leaderboards.

Motegi East followed and again the Subaru felt glued to the tarmac around every turn. Acceleration out onto the straights was blisteringly quick, but then you used up all 6 gears to keep the engine out of the redline. Braking from speed was controlled and quick too, bringing you quickly to a cornering speed which the WRX could handle. My best lap was a 1:29.907 which would place around #740 ish on the Leaderboards.

Suzuka West was our next race, and the Subaru could do a lot more than I managed with it. 130R was easy to take with the throttle open, and meant it was possible to keep accelerating all the way from the last turn to the first pair of right handers. It felt fast all the way around the track, and the handling helped keep the momentum up around the turns and out onto each straight. I had splits for times way down in the 1:22’s but managed to dirty those laps meaning my best clean lap was a 1:23.077 putting it around #500 on the Leaderboards if I had got a new P.B..

At Motegi Full I didn’t expect the Subaru to fare so well. The handling is there in spades, and acceleration is terrific, but the speed on the straights suffers and the longer straights of Motegi would take their toll. It feels fast on the straights, but the gear changes eat up some time, and the top speed is sacrificed for the handling. My best lap was a 2:06.132 just good enough for somewhere around #2100 on the Leaderboards.

Finally we return to Suzuka to run the full track. We know the car is good for all the corners, and will take 130 R well. It also handles the first section of track excellently with the handling enabling some high speed flicks from left to right through the East part of the track. I had only 3 laps, and the last one was looking very fast, 1.8 seconds up on my 2nd lap. Then I ran wide in the final section to get a penalty on the lap. Leaving me with a fastest clean lap of 2:13.618 if it was a P.B. it’s good for about #1400 ish on the Leaderboards.

Now comes the time to see how the Public Lobby Subaru stands up to the Public Lobbies. I join the B class hopper experience to find a mixed bag of cars being run, not just Golfs and Audis. Yay. Sebring Full is my first track, and there is one VW Golf, and I’m not expecting great things from the Subaru on this track with it’s long straight. I did get it home in second place with a 2:17.x after watching the Golf pulling away as he had 2:12.x fastest lap. The rest of the field sat between 2:18.x up to 2:21.x
Second track was Silverstone GP where there was a Subaru WRX with me for the whole race, as we traded 1st and 2nd places all the way to the finish. The 05 WRX driver took 1st with a fastest lap of 2:01.4x to me in the older 04 WRX following right on his bumper in 2nd with a fastest lap of 2:01.2x a great race and we were well ahead of 3rd place.

I had to relinquish control of the TV then, but we can see the Subaru can take podiums in the Public Lobbies. Shorter tracks would have probably seen some wins too.

The Verdict: The paint had me laughing, but you need to see it up close to appreciate the humorous mock screen captures. In the races I guess it would look a bit like a race livery though.

The tune is great for the shorter handling tracks, but runs out of steam on longer tracks. It’s easy to drive it fast and to feel confident round the turns at high speeds. It will work well on medium and shorter tracks in the public hoppers too. Anybody should be able to make use of this Scooby.

More info is available at the sales thread http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/thread/3835329.aspx