I just got to drive a Subaru BRZ at a dealership preview. Besides some minor suspension tweaking the BRZ is the same car as the Scion FRS/Toyota GT86 in GT5. This the first time I have driven a car in real life and then driven the exact same car in GT5. The results, where interesting and hopefully insightful.
First off the car is fun to drive but its not what I would call fast. This was probably because there was over 400 pounds of human weight in the car when I drove (most on my right...ugh). I wish I could have avoided this, but it was not possible. I was also terrible with the manual... It's been too long. Please keep these things in mind.
I only drove it irl in an abandoned parking lot. All aids were off. Irl I did a couple of flick oversteer maneuvers, imaginary s curves, heavy braking/turning understeer and an emergency stop from a little below 60mph. I felt after 30 minutes I had a good feel for the car but could have used some alone time to learn it further.
I drove home and had GT5 booted and ready to go. Logitech G25. Stock Scion FRS. To emulate the parking lot I chose the top gear test track. I added 190kgs for the combined weight of me and my dealer overlord passenger, Jaba the Hut. For tires I started out with comfort medium. WAY too slippery. Irl the BRZ has some safety understeer built in and is pretty grippy even when provoked. With cm tires it breaks way to early, harshly, and at too low a turning angle. Sports hard was at the other end. Too grippy. Comfort soft seemed about right(if a smidge too slipery).
With that set up I set out to replicate my tests. First the slide. The BRZ has great steering feel and the G25 can't even come close. That being said, in general terms, "wheel is light, wheel is heavy" GT5 and the G25 performed reasonably well but any feeling beyond that, is just not there. Irl even ignoring g forces you can feel through the wheel what the car is doing. This is most evident when you turn the wheel back to center at the end of a slide. Irl all that is required is a short, even, slow motion. No jerking or additional correcting. In GT5 it takes more steering correction and at a faster rate to straighten the car out. As far as how the car slid, irl slides start earlier (at lower speed) but are more progressive. In GT5 the tire breaking point is more sudden and drastic. To me this tells me GT5 could use a better tire model. Suspension/weight transfer wise, GT5 feels just about right. Left right flicks felt close. Irl in the s turns the car was planted, even when I lifted off the throttle. Getting back on too sharply would induce some rotation, naturally. In GT5 the car was more prone to rotate. even if the 55mph speed was similar.
Brake turn understeer was about the same. Plow the car on the brake and you get push. Pretty simple event, but its done properly.
Under heavy braking irl you could feel a little pull in the wheel. This is a feeling missing in GT5.
Overall this experience made me aware of a couple things. GT-next needs to change how tires breaking traction in oversteer is communicated to the player. New ffb effects would be nice, but things like the varying pitches of tire squeal also need major work. If I can't feel what happening then I can only see and hear. Ffb effects also fall on the hardware and the g25 is simply not up for the job. GT5 emulates how a car behaves reasonably well. Nothing should surprise you. And even car traits like safety understeer are well modeled. But there is just a lack of feeling (even ignoring g forces).
Feel free to take this as you may. Please leave me your constructive comments and criticisms in the comments below.
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