very busy days again. i got a new clutch for my roadster (bonalume sport clutch with lighter flywheel and more grip) so i went out to test the new clutch. switching gears is improved by about 0.2 seconds (semi automatic sequentiell gearbox) which is quite impressive.
but i found some time to test GTR2 a little bit more. with my modified exige, i was able to drop the time from 7:44 to 7:40, which is an overall improvement of about 15 seconds, compared to GTR. i am still not sure if GTR2 is easier or just better to drive but i can say it is closer to my real world experience, even if i have never driven a gt car. the exige is compared to my roadster (equiped with a kw suspension, which is used in ngt/gt cars as well) kind of similar, the handling is more relaxed than in gtr and if i feel thru the steering wheel the car tends to slip there is still room to react on this. late braking, in bend braking, trailbraking is very close to my roadster, catching the rear under power oversteer is much easier than in gtr and finding the right compromise between braking and steering is more predictable, means, if i reduce steering, the car will brake better, if i reduce braking, the car will turn in more. in gtr i often faced the problem that neither braking nor steering was working and the car has just left the road.
i started to analyze the new tire sets coming with gtr2 and beside the new brand yokohama there are a second michelin gt tire set and tires for the porsches. since i am still not happy with the gt tires on my exige i decided to start a complete new tire test. thanks to the new channels, i can track the tire temperatur within motec and so it is much easier to compare the brand against temperatur, lateral force and speed. and the new gtr comes with non encrypted tire files, so i can easily compare the size of the tires (diameter, width) and the grip curves. lots of work ahead, stay tuned for the results.