GT3 Showdown: What's your favourite? (reddit survey and reviews included)

[BP]

Found this on the ACRL's Reddit page here, just reposting it here as I think it would be of great benefit to the RD community (plus archiving it on another site is never a bad thing). It's a pretty accurate assessment (based on my not-so-expert testing) of the GT3 class in AC and may help others who aren't sure which car to pick based on the track/driving style. I inserted the graphs with the results for better reading.

Also included at the end a detailed review (in most cases) of each of the cars made by Tuomas Tähtelä, an accomplished Finnish eSports driver who holds a Pro/WC ranking in iRacing (no easy feat). Again, this is all publicly accessible in the link provided above.

Also included a poll to choose your top 3 GT3 cars in AC to see what our community's favourite car (based on most GT3 races I've seen lately, I can already guess the #1 )

EDIT: Will have to break this up into several posts to satisfy forum limits on number of images per post.

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Not too long ago we've asked you to take a survey on the GT3 cars, to help us take the first step towards a "starter's guide to GT3".

You were asked to give a score to the cars you knew on different aspects of the car, such as top speed, cornering, acceleration, etc.

Here are then some statistics!

Number of total entries: 70
CAR ENTRIES
Audi R8 LMS 2016 2
Audi R8 LMS Ultra (2014) 5
BMW Z4 GT3 10
Ferrari 488 GT3 6
Glickenhaus SCG-003C 5
Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 4
Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 5
McLaren 650s GT3 9
Nissan GT-R GT3 8
Porsche 911 GT3 R 16

SCORES
Scores from all entries were averaged, higher is better!

Top Speed

Nissan, Lamborghini and Mercedes topping the charts with scores above 4. Ferrari, BMW and especially McLaren seem to lack on the top end.

Acceleration

The Nissan GT-R clearly stands out on this one. All entries unanimously gave it the highest score, with a perfect 5/5 as a result. The Porsche scored a nice 3.9, while all other cars are pretty much there, except the McLaren and the Glickenhaus which were the only ones to score less than 3.

Traction

The Porsche stands out on this one thanks to its rear engine. Glickenhaus and (surprisingly to me) Nissan not as well received.

Braking

BMW, McLaren and Porsche are judged to be good cars on the brakes. The 2016 Audi also scored pretty high but with only 2 entries these numbers have to be taken with a bit of caution. The 2014 Audi, the Mercedes and the Nissan seem to be a bit on the weak side, with the Glickenhaus absolutely bashed for its brakes, with an appaling 1.5 score.

Low speed entry

All cars seem to hold up reasonably, besides the Glickenhaus and the Nissan.

Low speed mid

Nissan and Lamborghini seem to struggle in low speed corners. Ferrari and Glickenhaus got a pretty low score as well.

Low speed exit

Glickenhaus once again struggles to keep up, with the Porsche and Audi doing very well.

Medium speed entry

Mercedes and McLaren voted a bit higher than the rest, Nissan still a bit behind.

Medium speed mid

Mercedes and McLaren once again topping the charts, with the Lamborghini lagging behind this time.

Medium speed exit

Rather homogeneous results. Glickenhaus and Nissan on the low side, McLaren and Mercedes on the good side.

(continued on next post)

 

[BP]

High speed entry

Ferrari and McLaren are the two cars topping the charts with good high speed corner entry speed. Nissan and Porsche suffer a bit on this side.

High speed mid

The McLaren stands out on this one, with the Lamborghini seemingly being the worst. Porsche and Nissan once again do not seem to do well in high speed corners.

High speed exit

Results are rather homogeneous here, with the 2014 Audi and the McLaren slightly ahead, and the Lamborghini a bit behind.

Driving difficulty

BMW and Mercedes seem to be quite comfy to drive. All other cars do not show significant variations, besides Porsche and especially McLaren which are judged to be the trickiest.

Setup difficulty

BMW and Ferrari (once again, to my surprise) are the cars our drivers can set up with most ease. Glickenhaus and McLaren look to be tougher to get working.

Tyre heating

BMW, Nissan and Ferrari can find a way to always have their tyres in the optimal temperature window. So cannot be said for Glickenhaus, Lamborghini and especially Porsche.

Tyre usage

The 2014 Audi was the only one to score above 4. If you churn through your tyres, this is the car to consider. BMW also doing quite well. Lamborghini and (once again) Glickenhaus drivers are disappointed with it.

Qualifying

Disregarding the new Audi, The McLaren and the 2014 Audi look strong in qualifying. Ferrari and Lamborghini also pretty quick on the hot lap.

Race pace

2014 Audi and Lamborghini are the strong ones when it comes to race pace. Porsche scoring a bit low probably due to how it handles the tyres. Glickenhaus once again the last in the standings.

Race start

Porsche, BMW and Ferrari jump off the line like a bunny. Lamborghini and Mercedes lagging behind.

(concluded on next post)

 

[BP]

Overall

These are the scores you guys gave to the cars. The Glickenhaus definitely seems the car to absolutely avoid if you want to be any competitive. The two Audis received the highest scores, while Mercedes and Nissan haven't pleased their drivers overall.

Overall (calculated)

These are the overall scores calculated averaging all the previous sections. Results are generally consistent with what said above, even though the gaps are obviously smaller between the cars. Surprisingly, the Mercedes jumps up in the standings compared to the "personal" overall judgment, while the Lamborghini falls down to second to last. However, remember these results consider all the previous parts in equal importance, so the outcome doesn't quite represent the actual potential of the cars.

VERDICT
Based on what YOU GUYS said, the Glickenhaus is unanimously the car NOT to pick, unless you want to be at a constant disadvantage. All other cars seem to be pretty equal, each has its points of strength and weakness, just try and find out which car works best for you. If some more expert drivers want to give their opinion on this, or do a personal recap on what they think about the cars, please do so in the comments!

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Tuomas Tähtelä's Assessment:

Audi R8 LMS Ultra (2014)

My personal favourite car to drive and the one I have the most experience with. It's quite different to drive from the other cars and you need to be on the edge of grip more often than in other cars to get everything out of it. It penalizes you quite severely if you go over the limit - it's difficult to save from spinning if you don't react to it immediately as it's happening. If you get the setup right and you know exactly what the car is doing and what the limits are, it's an absolute joy to drive and the pace of the car is top 3 on pretty much every track, both quali and race. For example I tried to use my Paul Ricard setup for the Brands Hatch race but it felt really unstable everywhere and I couldn't even keep it on track. Then I loaded my old Brands Hatch setup for the car and tweaked it a bit to make it work on this tyre model and found 1,5 seconds of lap time and I had on problems keeping the car on track. Ended up getting pole by over a full second for that race.

The engine of this car is a bit tricky. It's a naturally aspirated V10 with a very narrow power range right at the top of the rev range. That means you need to always be as close as possible to the rev limiter or you'll be severely down on power. A good gearing setup is crucial for laptime. At peak power it's the 3rd most powerful car and top speeds are quite good as a result of that.

Traction out of slow corners is very good and in fast corners it should be nicely balanced if you get the setup right. Starts are difficult because of the narrow power range so you'll need to use the clutch. Rear feels floaty but if you can handle that, it helps the car rotate. Over bumps it's rather bad but with a good setup it's not horrible. You need smooth inputs in this car and gently move the car into the apex. Using all of the track is important. Once you are on a certain line it's difficult to change it. After the apex you can pretty quickly get to full throttle and the narrow power band sort of acts as an extra traction control. The rear of the car simply just glides through the corner at the exit phase.

I would not recommend this car to new drivers as it needs a good setup and you need to know what the car is doing to get anywhere close to the laptimes it's capable of.

Audi R8 GT3 (2016)

I have only briely tried this car but it seems that it's better in every way and doesn't seem to have the same faults as the old model and I've heard that it's half a second faster than the old one. Expect nerfs to this car.

Ferrari 488 GT3

My car from S6 so I have quite a lot of experience in this one too. Even though it's a mid engined car, it feels very different to the old R8. It's quite soft and takes bumps very well and traction seems to be good (although not quite at the Audi level). The turbo engine has a wide power range but it's quite low down in the rev range so you need to shift up when the red led on the dashboard turns on. Peak power is the lowest of all cars and top speed is also one of the slowest but fortunately the wide power range helps with that. It's understeery by nature, especially at mid corner in all types of corners, but the car turns into the corners very quickly and responses to steering input quickly and precisely. Although it's understeery, it still has quite a lot of grip in both slow and high speed corners, especially any short corners where the mid corner phase in non-existant.

Driving style for this car should be to make a quick and decisive steering input to turn into the corner (but don't over-do it or the rear will break loose), then wait for the car to rotate at mid corner while coasting and then try to get on the power early and use the good traction it has at the exit.

This car should be a good choice for less experienced drivers as it teaches a lot about setups, especially on the suspension side, and it's quite forgiving to drive. More experienced drivers however might find the lack of top speed and the lack of pace compared to Audi, Mclaren and Lambo frustrating. It's not slow enough that you couldn't have good results in it but if someone is driving well in those three cars you'll have a very hard time beating them.

Mclaren 650S GT3

Probably the fastest car on most tracks. Getting it to that level can be very tricky however and I would only recommend this car to more experienced drivers. It's by far the best car in the corners but it's also the slowest car on the straights and has one of the lowest power figures. In the race, it will be rare to get a succesful pass and you can't really defend against some cars which can be very frustrating. Has a tendency to over-rotate in high speed corners and to combat that you need to use a little bit of throttle when turning. Feels very light and nimble and positioning of the car is easy. If you are good and can handle the car, you'll be qualifying very high up the order and probably also finishing the races higher with a good strategy.

Lamborghini Huracan GT3

The third top 3 car in GT3 with the Audi and the Mclaren. While the Mclaren is the best car in the corners but slow on the straights, this is the other way around. The second highest peak power and the highest top speed makes this car an overtaking beast - and very frustrating for everyone else. This is the fastest car on some tracks with lots of straights but on some with a lot of corners and not a lot of straights it really struggles. Very sensitive to steering input and it's easy to over-turn the wheel which only causes more understeer. It's an understeery car in both slow and high speed corners but the high power output makes it worth it. Even if the pace of the car isn't the best on a particular track, it's still going to be strong in the race as it can overtake very easily and you don't even need to defend to keep others behind.

Mercedes AMG GT3

Stable and easy to drive. Feels quite heavy. I think the pace is a bit down on the top 3 but the consistency you get with this car might be enough to make this car a good choice. Top speed is average, as is cornering speed. Tyre temps are better than on most other cars so you might get lucky and run with a softer tyre in the race than others gaining you time.

BMW Z4 GT3

Very easy car to control and even the default setup works. Pace is down from most other cars but at least you won't spin easily. Probably the best car for beginners to learn weight transfer and car control skills. The best brakes by far. Top speed isn't great. Very good in slow speed corners and doesn't suck in high speed corners either. Driving style should be fairly aggressive to get everything out of the car. Lowest fuel consumption by far.

Porsche 911 GT3R

It's difficult to judge the pace of this car. The main issue with this car are the tyre temps. The rear tyres will overheat while the fronts are too cold. In a small temperature window this car is top 3 fast, probably pretty much everywhere given how much top speed you can get out of it if you drop the rear wing down and how fast it is in the corners. But more often than not, the temperature is not good and you will be struggling with the car.

Good weight tranfer control skills are a must in this car. The rear will want to slide out when you turn in, so you need to be careful at corner entry and smoothly get the car into the corner. This is especially important when the rear tyres are overheating or they'll go over the temperature limit and so it is actually very unforgiving to drive. It has brilliant traction out of corners, especially slow corners. This traction is also used at race starts where even an average start will gain you a spot or two. The ok-to-very good top speed, the good traction and the good brakes makes this car very good at overtaking.

If the tyre temps are fixed or you have very good luck with race temps this car would be a very good car across the season, but currently it's really not. In some races it will shine but that's rare.

Nissan GT-R GT3

Way out of pace, you should not pick this car. Last time I tested this car was at Monza and on a very good lap I was 7 tenths behind my R8 time and that's on the best track for this car.

Glickenhaus SCG003C

Decent top speed and a lot of downforce but that's everything this car has. Worst brakes, worst tyre temps and wear, bad low speed grip, biggest fuel consumption... I don't think the pace would be that bad but it's basically always on a compound harder tyre and thus it's nowhere in the race or qualifying. Definitely can't recommend this car to anyone either.

Average pace of the cars in the hands of a good driver across a whole season (in my opinion of course and not including the new R8):

Group 1:

1. Mclaren 650S GT3
2. Audi R8 LMS Ultra (2014)
3. Lamborghini Huracan GT3

Group 2:

4. Ferrari 488 GT3
4. Porsche 911 GT3R
6. BMW Z4 GT3
6. Mercedes AMG GT3

Group 3:

8. Mercedes SLS GT3*
8. Glickenhaus SCG003C
10. Nissan GT-R GT3
11. Mclaren MP4-12C GT3*

* old model and probably not available

 

[Billy Pilgrim]

Nice thread. Good info you've got there. I'm interested.
My favourite has always been -cos I just enjoy driving it- the Nissan. I've probably driven it 10 times more than all the others combined.

 

[Kek700]

Agree with Billy. Nissan.

 

[Deleted member 379375]

Corvette

 

[Hoksu]

Corvette

Is GTE, not GT3.