So, the official top 3 (taken from Taz's post):

Taz............McLaren P1...............1:49:664
Viper.........Ferrari LaFerrari..........1:49:804
Fraz...........Porsche 918...............1:50:514

Those were really close times between three different cars, the best cars these manufacturers have made so far. Even as a massive Porsche fan I've got to say the 918 was my least favorite of the trio. Still, all of them are great cars.


And for the next challenge. I'm thinking of something much slower on a moderately short track. Maybe the Alfa Romeo GTA? Fiat 595 SS? BMW M3 E30 DTM? Throw in some suggestions.

Very close lap times, I like it.

Frasberry: you have to enable the in-game app "Friends Leaderboard" (shown in Taz's pictures) by pointing your mouse to the right side of the screen and then clicking on the app. It will show the best qualified lap times for that specific car/track combination. In this case we are using three different cars so Taz had to pick each car on the same track and start the race three times in order to see the lap times and take screenshots of them. Don't forget you can drag the apps wherever you like on the screen.

Maybe we're just not used to the most powerful production vehicles on the market... In the time most cars reach 200 km/h these beasts go 300 km/h. With the Porsche I've reached 310 km/h on the first straight! So it makes sense that it takes a lot of space to slow down no matter how good the brakes are.

An idea popped into my head for a future challenge: the December challenge had three 900 bhp-cars to tame. Anyone can drive a fast car fast (but not everyone can stay on the track) but what about driving a slow car fast? There are some Alfa Romeos and Fiat 500s that would provide a completely different kind of a challenge.

I got a time of about 1:51.8 with the 918. The first five laps ended in a disaster when I couldn't brake early enough. In the end I got a pretty good lap time, or did I...? So I went to check the McLaren and Ferrari times and check out how do the other two hypercars handle. I was in a shock when I found out how much better they were. Compared to the Porsche, both felt much more nimble and the brakes were much better.

It also looks like I've already driven these two cars before on the track... And I've driven them hard. Right now I'm holding the best times on Monza with all three hypercars. But the Ferrari and McLaren times do not count, they are probably done with all sorts of settings that would disqualify me from the challenge. I think one of them even has a special hotlap mode! So Viper was right all along. Just don't mind my lap times with the LaFerrari and the P1.

Right now the best times on any car are around 1:50. Even if the three cars have quite a difference in power and weight, it seems to even out in the end. The Porsche 918 is the only one with four-wheel drive while the others rely on just rear-wheel drive. As a result of this the Porsche has a tendency to understeer, which is something I don't like in any car. It's also the least powerful with "only" 887 bhp, while the Ferrari has the most with 950 bhp and the McLaren sits in the middle with 904 bhp. The Ferrari and the McLaren weigh about 1550 kg while the Porsche is about 100 kg more... And despite all this it's still doing equal lap times.


There's still plenty of time to improve lap times and I don't think I saw Fras's time in there yet!

Just default settings I guess. It was the same with the previous challenge.

I've been preparing myself for my return to the virtual summer Finland by watching a lot of Engineering Explained videos. This guy has a video of just about anything related to how cars work. There are videos about single components, engine layouts, manual and automatic transmissions, 4WD on different settings, air-fuel ratio, why the rotary engine is dead... Very good videos presented in a simple enough way. And the knowledge can be applied straight into the game!

https://www.youtube.com/user/EngineeringExplained

Excellent! It looks like we'll be having five people hotlapping.

So far the selected cars are:

Porsche 918 - Al, Frasberry
McLaren P1 - Tazimafied
Ferrari LaFerrari - Wobblyone

Viper can choose whichever car he wants of the three, but preferably not the Porsche as there's already two people going with that one.

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It took a bit longer than acceptable to even get the new challenge posted. So maybe we should keep the challenge running until about 8.1.2017 (January 8th)? It leaves four weekends for playing, so everyone should have some point in their calendars free for a bit of racing.

Viper: why would you uninstall Assetto Corsa in the first place? If you've got a but of extra cash on you, consider buying some/all of the DLC to get some more content that you may like.

Fraz: are you joining too or are you just cheering for the best manufacturer? It would be great to have more racers trying to beat the records.

Everyone: if there's already a car+track combination in your mind for January's challenge, do share it with us. I've been the mastermind behind quite a few challenges already.

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306 posts and over 10 000 views!

Hypercar challenge

For the final challenge of 2016 it's something different. Instead of everyone using the same car and track, there will be three cars to choose from, and one track to race on.

The cars are:
- Porsche 918
- Ferrari LaFerrari
- McLaren P1

And the track is Monza.


I'll be having the Porsche. I hope that's alright with Wobbly and Taz.

Once again, I'll have to admit defeat. I just can't get faster. Curiously, I did some racing with the BMW M3 E30 DTM and got lap times comparable to the Nissan GT-R.

If you ask me, the first Porsche DLC is the one to get if you only want one. It's got the 918, the 911 Carrera S, the 718 Cayman S, and four more. Those three are the best in my opinion. For the second pack, the 911 GT3 RS is the highlight. The other cars are pretty good too. The upcoming third pack seems to be mainly focused on different track cars. It will also have the 911 R, which will be a naturally-aspired 911 with a manual transmission. It should offer a pure driving experience.


But if you are willing to buy two Porsche packs, just get the Porsche Season Pass and you'll get all three packs for the price of two.