Thanks for the reply. Well, what I would like to know is a short description of the weaknesses and strenghts of the cars, like: good or bad power, understeery or oversteery, bad or good on brakes. I dont need the low down of every detail like entry understeer, exit oversteer, just a slight indication without me having to test them all one by one.
Firstly: SPOILERS AHEAD! If you do NOT want to know the details of the performance of cars, you need to stop reading this thread.
Secondly let’s Discuss:
What is Equal:
1/ Fuel Usage – There is an argument that some engines use more fuel then others, but it is basically negligible for the sake of playing.
2/ Good on or Bad on Brakes – The brakes themselves on the car are Identical. However, other factors will play on how late you can break into a corner.
Differences Between Cars and What They Mean
For the most part is only 4 areas, which corresponds to the 4 main RnD Sections.. I did a test where I was in a Sauber and just altered my statistic to reflect 10x the upgrades available – so I could really see and feel the differences per lap. The figues I am using below are 1/10th of those, to discuss what is normally one upgrade on a sauber.
1/ Drag – This doesn’t have a very big effect for the most part. It just limits your ability to hit maximum speed as fast. It’s only really useful during longer straights. Even reducing it by 2.6% only removes about 0.11 seconds a lap (of Australia) roughly. This is the lowest of all upgrades and doesn’t have real noticeable effect on handling.
2/ Downforce – The higher this is, the less understeer you’ll generally have in those higher-speed corners. So long as you balance the car well, you’re normally going to have less oversteer as well. Looking at my telemetry, having a lot more downforce means I don’t need to steer aggressively to get round some of the corners, meaning its easier and more natural for me to open up my steering and get on the power. A 2.4% increase is about 0.2 seconds a lap around Australia comfortably – mostly all from the third sector with the medium speed corners.
3/ Chassis Weigh – Reducing this makes your car handle like a god. Understeer quickly fades away , you turn lighter into every corner, and carry more speed both in a straight line and a corner, you can brake later into the corners – this is the best upgrade to have in any situation – worth 0.22 seconds a lap around Australia. It even seems to save a bit of fuel!
4/ Engines – Are a tricky one to understand and compare with each other (more on that in a minute). A better engine certainly lets you get to your top speeds quicker, and improves top speeds. Do we get more wheelspin, is something I need to test more. The +8BPH is not as an effective upgrade as some of the aero, but you can often feel the difference in power (worth about 0.16 seconds a lap in Aussie)
More About Engines.
There are 4 engines: Mercedes (Mercedes Team, Manor, Force India and Williams), Ferrari (Ferrari, Hass, Sauber, Roso), Honda (Mclaren) and Renault (Lotus, Redbull).
Up until today, each team had an identical engine (i.d., Manor’s Engine was Identical in every way to Mercedes) – So it is easier for me to talk about how different Engines handle different. But in todays Patch, Toro Rosso have had a massive 20BHP loss (which equates to about 0.35seconds a lap in Aussie) and Redbull have a 10BHP gain (about 0.2 seconds).
The differences between the engines are a little harder to figure out. Instead of being a simple number, they actually accelerate and peak differently. Each engine also has a different drive train, with different gear ratios, and inertia – making meaningful comparisons a task. What I can give you is a nice scattergraph of their relative performances:
Remember, imagine that Toro’s engine line is Ferrari engine line moved down a tiny bit, and Redbull’s engine line is Renaults moved up a tiny bit.
Looking how they peak. Its easy to see that Mercedes have the finest engine, Ferrari second, then Redbull then Honda. But if you look at how they reach their peak, while Mercedes are indeed best, Honda are better then both Ferrari and Renault (though Honda are as uneven as anything).
I am assuming that the peak is the top possible speeds, and the rate of climb is their ability to accelerate - but you may find that Ferrari and Renault are less prone to Power Oversteer based on their smoother accelerating curves - but I really don't know ye - so feel free to do some testing and report back.
Finally – Car Comparisons
I have a nice table for you to look at. These are raw values from todays file (with some rounding). But what you’re interested in is the Colours.
Green is the top end of the spectrum, the best cars in one area being the highest green. The Red fields belong to the worst cars in that area. (Disclaimer, the BPH doesn’t necessarily reflect total engine performance – remember that the power has to go through a gearbox and an inertia value, making them all a lot closer)
Its easy to see for example, that Manor have a decent engine (Mercedes) and don’t have very much drag (a good thing for them). So they have power, and are quick in a straight line. But with the worst Downforce (aero) and Chassis, they’re gonna understeer like crazy. Meanwhile Red Bull, not fast in a straight line (engine and drag – but makes up a little bit of this in Chassis) but will steer beautifully into any corner (chassis and aero). Looking Mercedes, while it isn't amazing at Downforce or Drag, it makes up for it with the less weight - and that weight loss also makes it easier for them to break later. Put that all together, and you can see why they'll run off into the distance most the time.
From any one car, you should be able to see the strengths and weakness to any other easily – just remember that each RnD upgrade changes these values.
Any questions, let me know. This is only a tiny portion of Data I have.
Side note: (it appears I have stopped being an F1 driver and turned into a race engineer).
Side note 2: FERRARI! - How many times did I mispell that... I'm gonna give up and call them 'That Red One'
