Is it just me or is the McLaren F1 LM terrible?

Same as it was with the Camaro until recently, this road car just feels horrendous to drive. No grip at all and no brakes. If it was a real world car you would die instantly if driving this. Never driven the real thing but there is no way it is such a death trap.

 

Last time I tried them (maybe 2 months ago) they were fine. You cannot just expect to drive them like race cars and need to brake earlier and take curbs at proper speed. That requires some effort.

 

Even at low speed if feels bad and unsettles really easily.

 

Your inputs look very janky though, like you are constantly fighting the car, or you are using a gamepad. Which one is it?

 

Also, comparing the car to the AC GTR version and just to dozen of onboard videos, it doesn't seem as bad as the AMS2 version. I realize the LM is faster, but even at low speed it's bad to drive.

 

Oh I definitely will drive the AC version over this one. To me this is plain broken. I'm just flagging so that Reiza puts more attention on this car, as IMO they should favour quality over content, and if they are going to have half broken cars might as well remove them. The AC version feels like a reasonable car that would exist in real life. Yeah, it is too light for the power, so it's easy to lose control at fast speeds or while cornering. But it has a reasonable amount of grip and braking power, specially at low speeds. The AMS2 version is completely twitchy, can't corner, can't brake, and will easily spin when accelerating. It's objectively awful. The reason I like this car though, it's because it's one of the very few modern carns with a 6 speed h-pattern shifter, so it's potentially a lot of fun to drive (which the AC version is).

 

This seems like another case of people living in a different universe sometimes. Try rebuilding your My Documents/AMS2 folder maybe?

The McLaren for sure is an overpowered road car with neither the tyres nor brakes to match the performance. It has the engine of a LMP, the cornering ability of a GT4, and the brakes of a 1995 Vauxhall Vectra. After I acknowledge those limitations, it's very fun just cruising around Nordschleife after sunset in either wet or dry conditions.

In comparison, the AC version of the F1 is supposed to be the race car version but drives just awful on the default setup - overly sensitive on brakes, overly sensitive on throttle. It's so bad in fact that I have since deleted it from wasting my disk space, like many other broken Kunos cars.

 

This seems quite important. The GTR is very different to the LM in AMS2 as well. The race car version is simply more enjoyable to drive thanks to its superior tires. That's not to say that there is nothing wrong with the LM implementation in AMS2, but it's also quite easily a disagreeable combination of too much everything without race car tires to back it up.

So what you're saying is that I can remove all FWDs except Abarth 500 from AC? I was so focused on adding mod cars to drown out FWDs that the ability to do this never crossed my mind.

 

Nothing weird about that though. I would say you're just doing tiny corrections all the time - which you have to at the limit of grip where it's never staying put.

I also don't think this car is bad. Just so frustrating after race cars that can multitask much better where as with this you kind of have to take turns with acceleration, turning and braking if you want to drive gently. Braking distances are especially atrocious with the LM. Stopping from 350km/h just takes time when you're on road tires. High performance cars spoil us in this regard. But of course the amount of understeer on brakes is another matter.

By the way another point: coming from AC, you probably have to adjust to the sensitive throttle map as well. Just see how much torque a tiny stab gives you. I'm not sure how it is with the AC McLaren F1 specifically, but just a hunch based on past experience.

Anyway I think the AC comparison is out the window thanks to massive spec differences, especially when it comes to tire performance. What we can discuss is if there's something broken about the F1 LM, backed by evidence. I would also suggest the AMS2 documents folder reset (make a backup of your current one) @azaris recommended if you haven't done that in a while.

 

A lot of confusion/dismay could be headed off at the pass by adding a summary of cars' characteristics to the UI. Reiza plans to do this when time permits, but the sooner the better IMHO because public reaction to AMS2 fluctuates somewhat.

 

I'm sorry but this car feels exactly like the Camaro did months ago. People complained, and other people argued that it was correct for the car, even though actual owners said that the car didn't handle like that at all. The car was eventually tweaked, and it feels much better today.
This car was made as close as possible to the GTR while being road legal, and right now it feels a million miles away to the GTR as portrayed in AC, which feels like a real car with the limitations you are talking about.
Info on the car:
Guide: McLaren F1 LM — Supercar Nostalgia

The problem with this car is that only 6 were made, so there is very little information or videos on how they drive, but McLaren said repeatedly that it's supposed to replicate the GTR.

 

This is why I'd like more info in the UI. If Reiza says "the car's characteristics are A, B, & C", then players can judge whether the car actually does what it's supposed to.

 

Ok, but where are you getting at with this? What is the goal? To be like AC? I'm sure they'll find something to improve like the understeer under braking, but your description of issues is vague and unnecessarily over the top. And you're comparing it to another sim model that may or may not be accurate, and is different spec on better tires anyway.

You're describing the current LM implementation as if it's undriveable when it's not. As if it has no grip, when it does have grip. Did you reset your documents folder to make sure it's not on your end? You'd be surprised by how often this is the issue when things are way off like you're describing it.

Meta: Road tires were indeed sloppier back when the Camaro fuss was going on. I think there was justified discussion about how good the baseline Camaro SS actually is (as opposed to the souped up version it was compared to) so spec differences weren't downplayed even though the car was improved in the end - by improving the road tires in general if I recall correctly. And yeah it was lucky that there was an owner present to comment on it.

 

Like CrimsonEminence pointed out, there is a problem with braking and understeer when braking. That is the biggest issue. The Camaro had the same issue at some point but it was improved. This car feels the same as that did before. And this happens at any speed.

 

Do you have an custom setup hanging around perhaps in your Document Settings?