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 - Toyota TS020 GT1

Game: Simraceway
Car: Toyota TS020 GT1
Cost: $7.85

So today's Test Drive Tuesday car  is the Toyota TS020 GT1, a 24-hours of Le Mans contender from 1998. Being of the same pedigree as the Mazda 787 from a few weeks ago, I was sadly mistaken that the cars would handle very similarly. This is very much not the case! While the car accelerates and brakes reasonably well in a straight line, it is very heavy around the corners and makes for quite an uncomfortable drive in my opinion.

After trying the car across my testing tracks, I have to say that I didn't have alot of fun in this car. I tried pushing the car, but much in the same way that you *could* push a bouncer, it's only going to end in pain! This was the crux of the problem for me: while I could spend quite some time getting to grips with the car, I just didn't find it fun enough to want to.

Even when racing later on, the car would go off on a spin for the simplest of errors. While this is probably a realistic representation of the car itself, it does make it very irritating to drive. From my point of view, I have already found a great GT1 class car for myself so I really don't want to invest the resources to be able to drive the car flawlessly as I wont enjoy myself on the way. By all means, if GT1 cars are interesting for you, then check it out, but I wont be purchasing it for my collection.

Test Drive Tuesday - Pagani Zonda R

Car: Pagani Zonda R

Cost: $18

So yesterdays Test Drive Tuesday on Simraceway was the legendary Pagani ZondaR. I would have liked to review this in audio, however due to a technical fault (my hard drive ejected itself), I couldn't record at all yesterday. I did manage to record some racing vidoes, these will pretty much have to serve as my indication of how the car drives! One is online now, I'll upload the rest after editing.

So,the Zonda R. Off the line, it's alot harder to drive than the 787 last week: the 787 can take some serious pedal without loosing control, but you have to be very gingerly on the controls with the Zonda. While the 787 is slightly faster, the Zonda is a beast of a car and you can find yourself out of control very easily accelerating or braking. I also find the car quite heavy in corners so all things considered, it really pays to be slow and in control.

Once you stop trying to thrash the car around the track (as I did with the 787!) the Zonda really comes into its own and you can get the full power down on the road. It took me a good while to get used to car, and as the racing videos show, I still get caught out from time to time, but otherwise the car is pretty good drive. Unfortunately, this will (again) completely miss the Test Drive Tuesday offer, so the Zonda is available for $18 on the Simraceway website which, as much fun and illustrious as this car is, I'd still try to get it for a cheaper price - either in a bundle or on another offer.

Again, due to aforementioned technical difficulties, I've not been able to do the lap comparisons for this car. I'll do another post when I've rectified that! Until then, here's a few races at Silverstone in the Zonda:
 
PS - no idea what happened to the video quality on this one will try to get it sorted

Mazda Racing Vidoes

Now its uploaded, here's the Mazda in action at Watkins Glen for 2 races!

Test Drive Madness - Maserati MC12 GT1

Another weekly I want to start. After reviewing cars during the day as part of the Test Drive Tuesday, me and my friend (Sozedge on screen) like to team up and do some races in the TDT cars. This always ends up in shambolic disasters as opposed to meaningful races, so this series is more for the yuks than it is a legitimate review of racing the TDT cars. This week, we bring you the Maserati MC12 GT1 at Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca, Silverstone and Daytona.

Again, I apologise that out microphones are quiet and hissy in places, will try to get it sorted next week.