Test Drie Tuesday - McLaren MP4-28

Honestly, I had bought this as soon as it came out that it was the TDT car this week! I've been waiting for a modern F1 car for some time on Simraceway (affordably anyway), and I was not at all disappointed with my purchase!

Being an F1 car, there's not much to say about its performance other than it being completely fantastic. Stability, speed, braking are all superb, as you'd probably expect from the pinnacle of motorsport. It does take a while getting used to the sheer pace of the machine, but once you get to grips with it, the pace is fantastic. The only car that comes in comparison is the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 which we did a few weeks back. Despite being 25 years older, the MP4/4 is surprisingly on the pace of the MP4-28, but still the advances show, with the MP4-28 being faster on more of the tracks.

The mechanical perfection of the F1 car makes it very difficult to talk to about. You point it in a given directions and so long as you can keep it bolted down on braking or accelerating - thats where it goes. It all then boils down to just how aggressive you can be without losing control. I tried a 30 minute time trial at Silverstone. The fastest time was 1:32.0 which is roughly on par with pole at the 2013 F1 Silverstone GP. At that race, the 107% time was ~1:37.6 and I managed a time of 1:36 - so I would have made the grid but not well!

I've included the full track day on my youtube channel. That and the hotlap and crashes videos are below too:

Test Drive Tuesday - McLaren MP4/4

So apparently I forgot to post last weeks TDT until 10 minutes ago - woops! So this week, we continue the advancement through the years in Formula 1 development with the 1988 McLaren MP4/4. This car looks and feels much more the modern F1 cars we see today.

Between the aerodynamics and the faster engine, the car has blazed up to 9 seconds off the lap records of all the other cars I've tested in the Test Drive Tuesdays. Despite my constant protests that I am much better in front wheel drive cars than I am rear wheel, I do technically have more simulator experience in F1 cars over the years - nearly 10 of them in fact! Despite the trouble I usually get myself into with rear wheel drives, with Formula 1 cars, I can just make them work which is good for my happiness!

So the MP4/4... well, it is fundamentally better than the previous two F1 classics in very way. Advances in aerodynamics make the world of difference in corners and with the faster engine, you can get good traction out of the corners, as well as being able to maintain a higher cornering speed. All round, the car is great fun to drive and isn't massively hard unless you try to push really really hard.

I had alot of fun in this car but sadly, at $18 on 50% discount and $36 normally, it was just too expensive to justify buying. If it comes down in price or can be bought as part of a worthwhile bundle, I would recommend you take it for a spin!

Test Drive Tuesday - McLaren M26

So, continuing with the new theme of TDT cars, we have another classic F1 car. This time, we have James Hunts McLaren M26 from 1977. I won't be able to get the video online until next week (for some, that might be a good thing), so this brief review will cover the car for now :p

After the Maserati 250F from last weeks TDT, 20 years of development in Formula 1 took place and the advancement in the car is visibly evident! In this edition, aerodynamics exist now, so the car is fitted with, albeit crude, front and rear wings to provide downforce as the car travels. The tyre width has greatly increased providing greater traction and stability on corners. In particular, the rear wheels are substantially larger than the front which provides increased grip on the rear wheels, which drive the car, thus providing better traction when accelerating. All these things together make for a car much better suited for taking on tracks with corners!

With a faster engine and a better suited body, the M26 performed much better than the Maserati 250F, and even a good couple of the supercars of weeks gone by! You can see how it compared overall on the Hotlaps page. The car handles very well and I didn't lose control all that often, however, it became quickly obvious from the off that my controller is broken: my upshift paddle keeps sticking, costing me *alot* of time on the track and I had to call it a night pretty early.

One interesting peculiarity I noticed about the Simraceway model is that, while the rear wing falls off if you so much as sneeze on it, the front wing and the wheels are impossible to remove from the car! I even tried a head on crash at around 120 miles and still, nothing comes off! So there are definitely a  few things that need sorted with the model, but otherwise I enjoyed the car. For $5.37 (or $2.68 on offer), it's not massively expensive if you enjoy your classic F1 cars and is pretty fun once you get into it.

Hopefully I can my controller fixed before next week!
Thanks for reading!