There are two ways to obtain the prestigious S Driver Rating on Gran Turismo Sport: You can either be among the top scoring 10 drivers in your country, or the top 10 scoring drivers for a manufacturer. If you're not an alien, the S rating isn't necessarily out of reach, as you can reside in or simply create an account in a barren hellscape like Singapore, where the general populace is so stressed and tired from work that "gaming" is as alien a concept as someone willingly signing a manufacturer contract with Alfa Romeo, both of which will automatically guarantee you place among the top scoring 10 drivers, because you would be hard pressed to even find ten drivers for Alfa Romeo and their utterly hopeless 4Cs in both Gr. 3 and 4.
Of course, Gr. 3 and Gr. 4 cars vary wildly in viability and competitiveness from update to update, with constant changes to not only their own mass and power with the ever-changing Balance of Performance, but also those of their competitors as well. The 4C Gr. 3 however, has consistently been among the least powerful of Gr. 3 machines, currently the second least powerful of Gr. 3 cars with BoP applied, with only the Mazda RX-Vision GT3 having less power. Despite this, the 4C has been horrendously crippled in terms of its mass as well at various points in the game's life cycle. What we end up with then, is a Gr. 3 car that, in a straight line, falls farther behind its competition than my writing, and is just as hopeless off the line as the sublime 911 RSR we tested a few months ago, which begs the question: does it handle like a 911 RSR?
The short answer? No.
I actually think the 4C handles better than the 911 RSR. While the 911 is a GTE car competing in a GT3 equivalent category, Gr. 3, the 4C is built from the ground up to be a Gr. 3 car. It's therefore a lot stiffer sprung than the 911 RSR, and lacks the tendency for sudden violent outbursts of the rear common in other maladjusted or misrepresented GT3 cars such as the R8 LMS, Ferrari 458 GT3, and not to mention, the utterly horrifying Lamborghini Huracán GT3. As far as a "pick up and drive" car is concerned, this is right up there with the RC F GT3 that I cannot recommend enough. It was so accessible and easy to learn that I very quickly got to grips with the car even before the first race at Maggiore began, and made me feel racing driver emotions I haven't felt in a long, long time. Not ever since I quit Sport Mode entirely.
Of course, as with any racing car, especially one without a grandiose history such the fictional Gr. 3 cars, these things are more akin to tools for a job rather than the more relatable road cars we like to humanise and romanticise. As such, it's difficult to recommend anyone, not unless they're looking for a cheap and easy S Driver Rating. It's painfully slow on the straights, and you're better off just keeping the engine in boost range by wheelspinning off the line than to actually use Traction Control like a millennial plebian, and it looks unlikely to me that BoP will ever change the straight line deficiencies of the 4C. It's also horrifically unstable over kerbs and other such road imperfections, and the car feels like its underbody was in contact with the road more than the wheels over even the flattest of rumble strips, such as the ones found in Maggiore that you're "meant" to cut. Again, BoP will never change that. Where I can see a case for the car being good is in a long race with accelerated tyre wear and fuel use, especially in the newly elongated pit times. Whether that finally gives the 4C Gr. 3 the much needed edge in competition or not remains to be seen, but it'd be a challenge to even hold onto a competitor's slipstream in a 4C regardless, meaning you'll always be fighting an uphill battle if you choose to sign with Alfa Romeo.
It's a fun little car that created very good racing, but it's just hard to recommend when you've so many other better options in Gr. 3 like the RC F, AMG, and 911. It's therefore a neutral for me.
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