Let's talk about Lancia Stratos....

[AshyGreen]

Okay...in hindsight, it might not be the best idea for me to leave the FWD 60s rally and jump straight to one of the most legendarily overpowered, RWD rally car in the history of rallying.

To put it bluntly: IT IS SCARY AS ♥♥♥♥.

I feel my balls slowly escaping back into my groin every time I cut a corner with this thing. Even the slightest push on the pedal would immediately cause oversteer. My palm is sweating all over for each stage I complete with it - I don't even care about winning now, as long as I don't crash this thing half way through, it's already lucky for me.

And worst of all, you simply can't turn on drive assists...because it takes away all the feedback from the road, and trust me, you'll need that precision control.

Now I understand why all retro rally events in real world with Stratos present are all held on tarmac. Because driving this thing on gravel is absolute insanity.

This thing is glorious.

[Del-Dredd]

Love the Stratos, always have since watching them rally in Lombard RAC years ago, awesome on Tarmac, not quite as ear splitting in game as in person but still good, you could hear them a mile away.

Along with 6R4 another fantastic sounding car in real life and in game.

Just need a few more Historic cars to fill out from the 60's to Group B, modern stuff is all a bit samey. Healey 3000 and TR8 would be nice, dont think I have seen them in any racing game before let alone Rally where ther belong.

[Dagrond]

I hated it when I first got it, but now that I've learned to handle it better I can see why there are so many fans of this car. As soon as the FFB for my wheel gets fixed I can see this being my favorite.

[sgspenceley]

I agree with Del-Dredd. Hearing a Stratos coming for miles in a Yorkshire forest for the first time was a special life experience. It was the only rally car you could feel the exhaust sounding on your body. Just wonderful...

The Stratos should be an insane car to drive on gravel or snow because it was the most insane rally car ever developed. Only the Italian passion would put a Ferrari engine in a rear wheel drive car weighing so little...

I'm sure everyone here watched this awesome video?
https://youtu.be/mXgWWNJVdYA

6R4 also awesome sound with Tony Pond or Malcolm Wilson driving.

Triumph TR8 is also has a wonderful sound and so much fun the drive. Big engine rear wheel drive.

[Arya]

As an Australian I would be terrified to drive any Triumph. I grew up in the '90s hearing horror stories about exploding/spontaneously combusting/melting/radioactive Triumphs, I don't think I'd feel safe within fifty feet of one.

I also went to a trackday recently, and there were 2 Triumph TR8s in the B-Main. The first one overheated on the start line, and the second blew it's engine, only deepening my aversion.

[sgspenceley]

A friend in the mid 80's had an ex works TR8, it was truly awesome... Even on tarmac it had tons of power for power slide. The TR8 & the 6R4 was our English version of rally silliness/awesomeness...

[sgspenceley]

But the Stratos is still the winner, in my mind...

[spoon66]

I too knew some body with a TR8 & my father owned a Triumph Stag , Yes the engines suffered from poor cooling that resulted in a few warped heads.

All could be solved by drilling more cooling channel into the Head & so ending the over heating issuses.

[Nerdmigo]

Originalmente postado por Helmstif肉搏♂战神:

Okay...in hindsight, it might not be the best idea for me to leave the FWD 60s rally and jump straight to one of the most legendarily overpowered, RWD rally car in the history of rallying.

To put it bluntly: IT IS SCARY AS ♥♥♥♥.

I feel my balls slowly escaping back into my groin every time I cut a corner with this thing. Even the slightest push on the pedal would immediately cause oversteer. My palm is sweating all over for each stage I complete with it - I don't even care about winning now, as long as I don't crash this thing half way through, it's already lucky for me.

And worst of all, you simply can't turn on drive assists...because it takes away all the feedback from the road, and trust me, you'll need that precision control.

Now I understand why all retro rally events in real world with Stratos present are all held on tarmac. Because driving this thing on gravel is absolute insanity.

This thing is glorious.

why do driving assist take away feedback from the road ?
because if thats the case i would want to turn off my settings for stability control whcih are now on 2

[Arya]

Originalmente postado por retroChris:

why do driving assist take away feedback from the road ?
because if thats the case i would want to turn off my settings for stability control whcih are now on 2

It has to do with how the assists work and interact with the car's systems. Driving Aids were created and refined on Tarmac, and while some have racing applications they're mostly Tarmac bound. In a Rally car, you should turn Traction Control and Stability Control off, because they're detrimental to car performance.

Traction Control(TCS) is triggered by Wheelspin and effects the Engine. It has the biggest negative effect of all driving aids.

Traction Control reacts to Wheelspin, and attempts to counter it by cutting engine power. In practice, it prevents the driver applying full throttle when exiting corners, and makes sliding through slow corners almost impossible.

Switching off the Traction Control opens up a world of new driving possibilities. On Tarmac, sliding a car is undesirable because it's slower and ruins your tyres. On dirt, it's the fastest way to take some(slow) corners, and a classic Rally technique. It particularly helps with Hairpins and similar, by letting you brake less and accelerate earlier(handbrake turn). Turning off TCS will allow you to explore it, and use it.

ABS effects the Brakes and is triggered by lockups. It doesn't have much of a negative effect.

ABS is fairly harmless, and a common feature of the WEC cars I normally drive in sims. It's triggered by locking the brakes, and limits the maximum brake pressure you can apply the same way TCS does.

Having ABS on reduces your braking "feel" and prevents you deliberately locking up, but makes braking more consistent. I have it on, but at the lowest setting, purely because I'm of a generation that never learned to drive cars without it.

[Bigbazz]

Easy to brake without ABS, the key in rallying (loose surface) is to just be progressive, gentle and smooth... You can't slam your foot down and hope for the best, but you don't need to either, the brakes are quite effective.

[scalman]

its so scary but so cool car. sounds awesome and steers very good ..just too sesnsitive maybe so to keep it up on argolis scary roads its something else there :) but so cool in the end to feel that you did it . you finished it alive ..well almost alive

[Freakazoiyd]

I am pretty good in Monaco often beating the AI on career mode by 10-25 secs. Especially on snow I am really fast compared to the oponents without any ease.
But on gravel ... it's so hard espacially on slow corners with this huge turbo hole and the extremly steep rise of powert after it.
Also the windshield dirt sucks really hard on this car covering so much of the precious line of sight.

I'm also rather good on tarmac with the Mini so I would have guessed it's just me or simply the AI is better on gravel then on tarmac/snow.

Also the Stratos is so agile especially compared to the "won't ever turn" Mini.

[Mr. Taco]

Lol I actually find the RWD cars in this game to be the easiest to drive fast. The Group B cars are the scariest cars to me.

[alexkhvorov]

"it handles like a dream! Mwahahaha!"

[spoon66]

Originalmente postado por Freakazoiyd:

I am pretty good in Monaco often beating the AI on career mode by 10-25 secs. Especially on snow I am really fast compared to the oponents without any ease.
But on gravel ... it's so hard espacially on slow corners with this huge turbo hole and the extremly steep rise of powert after it.
Also the windshield dirt sucks really hard on this car covering so much of the precious line of sight.

I'm also rather good on tarmac with the Mini so I would have guessed it's just me or simply the AI is better on gravel then on tarmac/snow.

Also the Stratos is so agile especially compared to the "won't ever turn" Mini.

"huge turbo hole" ???? The Stratos had no Turbo , it was a V6 with Carbs not a turbo in site.
The only major boost in power came when they used a 32 valve Head , but that was outlawed in a later rule change.

Lancia did race a Turbo Stratos in Group 5 racing on race tracks never as a rally car.

No one ever said the Stratos was esay to drive or well thought out , it was too short as Lancia later admited.

In a way the Lancia 0.37 was all the good bit that worked from the Stratos with more power better traction better balance a longer wheel base & Better vision.

the only mistake they made with 0.37 was to think 4WD would not work in the long run.

The way the power comes in with Dirt rally feels all wrong at this moment in time.