I just downloaded the Skip Barber, the Radical, and Silverstone. I decided to take the Skip Barber out first, on Lime Rock Park as it's the track I'm most familiar with from the Solstice. First impression is that the view out of this car is great compared to the Solstice (well duh!), and I can see a lot more of the surroundings of the track which is nice. The second thing I notice is that this track is BUMPY and you can feel bumps through the FF that you didn't even know existed in the Solstice. The wheel is constantly moving about in your hands as you watch the front wheels move up and down over bumps. It feels a little too much given what I've been used to so far, but I haven't driven a real single seater on a bumpy track so I don't know what's right and what's not. Braking into the first corner on my first flying lap, I lock up both fronts badly, oops! I need to put half a squash ball under my brake pedal I think... After a couple of laps I'm actually kind of underwhelmed by the car, but this is how I felt with the Solstice initially until I started to get comfortable with it and began to push it harder. So after another 10 or 15 laps in the Skippy I am starting to get used to it and enjoy it more. It really turns in on the brakes, and it's easier to place it where you want than is the case with the Solstice. The bumps in the last turn of LRP are a non-issue for the most part in the Solstice once you have your line down, but I found them quite difficult to negotiate in the Skippy. Application of opposite lock has to be quick and precise, and more than once I found I didn't get the opposite lock off quickly enough and ended up firing the car off the outside of the corner. Certainly a fun car, but I think it's going to take a bunch of practice to get used to it and for it to really come alive for me.
On to the Radical, again at LRP. Starting out I'm a little uneasy to be sitting on the right side of the car, but within a couple of laps it's not an issue. I short-shift on the first couple of straights and then run it to the limiter through a couple of gears later in the lap, which becomes very addictive! On the no-name straight I hit 85mph in the Solstice, and 130mph in the Radical.... Through the turns the Radical seems more comfortable over the bumps than the Skippy, you can really feel the grip and stability in higher speed turns. But I'm not too confident on the throttle coming out of turns as I imagine it's not exactly a playful car to slide out of corners. Maybe it is for Greger Huttu, but not for Michael Denham at this stage :P The Radical would really be better suited to a higher speed, smoother circuit, and as I just downloaded Silverstone, I load it up
The longer gearing I chose for Silverstone took the edge of the acceleration, and the smoother wider track probably make the car feel slower too. It definitely is a lot smoother here, and the car feels much more comfortable on this smooth wide track. The curbs are also much friendlier here which is very good. I always feel a bit lost on the wide Silverstone circuit, and it was no different in the Radical in iRacing. I have never really spent enough time here to get all that comfortable, but I'm sure I will when one of the series comes to this track. The rear wing is adjustable on the Radical (but the front is not), so I decide to set it to zero and see what speed I can hit on the straights at Silverstone. I figure this would change the balance significantly so I set the rear sway bar to soft and add a whack of rear toe-in. Doesn't help much as I still spin into the first turn
I also forgot to change the brake balance, and without all the rear downforce, I end up locking up my rear tires and doing a nice 180... On the straight at LRP I managed 150mph, but with the longer gearing and rear wing set to zero degrees I manage 160mph at Silverstone. So not a huge top speed but it sure accelerates quickly up to around 120 or 130mph. When you actually have the sense to put some rear wing on the car, it also brakes very well indeed. Anyway, I enjoy the Radical more than the Skip Barber car, but I have always been into road cars and sports racing cars rather than single seaters...
