The Volkswagen ID lineup is supposedly VW's way of turning over a new leaf by going extremely eco. They then chose to introduce that lineup to us with the ID.R, a car with the singular goal of tearing apart entire mountains and countrysides to carve out the fastest lap time humanly possible through the roads that snake through those scenic locales, with no rules other than those of nature and physics. Probably a good thing. We know how well VW and rules mix.
(God damnit, me, really? The first paragraph of the review?)
Style by akacerbera15: ID.R Test livery
#test #replica #carbonfibre
But it does seem to be the magic formula that generates undisputable results. The VW ID.R has broken so many records within its short lifespan, it's hard to imagine that it was the stricken firm's first attempt at an all electric bookkeeper: Fastest electric car at the Nordschleife. Fastest ever at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Goodwood Festival of Speed, and Tianmen Mountain Big Gate Road. VW has now retired the car... with plans to work on an Evo version.
One might be forgiven for thinking then, that the ID.R must be properly terrifying to drive at its limits, especially if they've followed motorsports from a certain era. Contrary to this however, the ID.R is perhaps one of the most well behaved cars I've ever sampled in GT7! The ID.R has "only" 670HP (500kW), which goes to all four wheels via an electric motor at each axle, making it an extremely neutral car up to, and even past its limits; the car never threatened any shenanigans with under or oversteer, and even when I accidentally upset the car by putting a wheel or two off–track, the resultant slide was so easily and quickly corrected with just a flick of counter steer, with the lifting of the throttle pedal being for my own comfort moreso than the car's. It's almost brain dead easy to drive at inhumane speeds, which no doubt has played a big role in helping its driver build the confidence to cinch so many records at treacherously narrow tracks with nothing but certain death awaiting past the tarmac. About the only nitpick I have with the car is that I personally struggle to trail brake with it, as it sounds to me like the rear engine completely cuts out its regen braking to stabilise the car when less than half the brake pedal is depressed, suddenly dumping all the workload to the front tyres when they ought to do the most turning, and yes, this is a prominent issue even with a full rearward +5 brake bias.
Reading about the ID.R's shocking feats in real life is one thing, but even with the knowledge of its breakthrough capabilities, nothing could have possibly primed and prepared me for the utterly ludicrous and visceral driving experience of the ID.R, even in a virtual setting. Standing starts are so lightning quick in this car, it genuinely feels like unpausing a rolling start rather than a standing start. This thing shoots off the start line so quickly that I genuinely think mixing in other cars, especially ICE cars, together with the ID.R in a standing start is akin to putting them before a railgun firing squad. As with any car, it stops faster than it goes, and under hard braking, the motors clamp down so hard like a pair of loan sharks reaping back what they've given, loudly winding down and tightening their noose on the axles, bringing the car to a crawl to its knees much quicker than even the fastest category of closed cockpit regulated racers of Gr.1. In fact, together with its no holds barred aero, the ID.R I estimate needs just half the stopping distance of even a Hybrid LMP1 on matching compounds. It pulls and stops so hard that it feels unhealthy, even through a TV screen!
And that's even before I realised this thing has a Drag Reduction System (DRS). Because, you know, why not.
In practice, I find that the DRS on the ID.R seems almost bugged; I ran my bone stock ID.R in a custom race at SSRX starting 2nd on a standing start with both the throttle and DRS fully depressed from loading screen to terminal velocity, and I could not make up any ground at all to the AI–driven ID.R that didn't use DRS. The drag reduction is almost negligible, but the downforce reduction is properly tangible, making me think that "DRS" on the ID.R stands more for "Downforce Reduction System" rather than Drag. Just like the 2019 Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM also chosen by Baron, DRS on the ID.R is only available to activate from 140km/h (87mph) and above with at least three quarters throttle application, which I find is such an arbitrary and crippling limitation, because in this game, reducing downforce at the rear simply makes the rear end of the car so much more willing to cooperate and rotate going into high speed turns such as 130R and Eau Rouge, without sacrificing too much stability. If, for whatever reason I have to lift mid–turn, like, say, in an emergency situation to avoid a wreck ahead, the rear wing immediately snaps back into its understeer generating position, and that's just bloody dangerous. It makes me not want to use DRS going into the turn, even though it would be much faster, simply because not using it is much safer. The ID.R is supposedly built with no rulebook in mind, and I think such an arbitrary limitation to its DRS is at a stark clash with the car's character that shouldn't exist.
While the ID.R boasts independence from atmospheric air to generate power with its all–electric drivetrain, the car is still painfully old fashioned when it comes to generating grip: via air reliant wings, splitters, and canards; enough of it to whip up enough dirty air to start another scandal. This of course makes the ID.R a terrible car to race, even in a one–make scenario. Adding onto this woe, said all–electric drivetrain has a rev–limited top speed of 280km/h (174mph), and the car transcends to that speed so quickly that it won't even need half of Conrod Straight to hit terminal velocity. What this translates to in a racing scenario is that the car struggles to even line up alongside a fellow ID.R driver in a one–make race for an overtake on the brakes into the next corner, let alone get an overspeed to pass with the aid of slipstream, and DRS cannot help at all once at terminal velocity, given that it's rev limited rather than drag limited. I daresay overtakes in an ID.R one–make is impossible if the drivers didn't have a significant skill gap between them. This thing was built as a Time Attack tool and never meant to race, and it shows when we do our usual thing of trying to squeeze some meaning out of these overlooked cars by racing them bone stock against copies of itself.
And that, ultimately, is the one fatal blow against the ID.R, severe enough to nullify any praise or fancy descriptions I can adorn it with: it has absolutely zero use case scenario in this game, aside from being a quick shock and awe experience like a roller coaster. I don't know about you, but if I ride a roller coaster enough times in succession, I'll get used to it and become bored of it, no matter how bloody fast it goes.
The ID.R has deeply impressed me, so much so that someone who isn't a fan of VW like me would wholeheartedly rock it in Gr.1 or 800PP events if events at that level didn't always involve stupidly high fuel use multipliers. I want so badly to just run out and tell the world that they're missing out on life, and that they owe it to themselves to try driving the ID.R if they haven't already. Hell, I wish I could do my daily Sard A grind with this car, but even on 1x fuel use, this thing struggles to last 20 minutes on full tilt. I can't even make a salvaging claim that this thing is at least good for one–make races like I could most of the road cars I really enjoyed testing in COTW. If the car was affordable, eh, sure, why not. We've all paid for plane tickets to a foreign country to get gouged by tourist traps in our lives. But would you be willing to pay 2 million Credits for what is essentially a roller coaster ride alone? I, of course, can't answer that for you. I'm just in pain that something this awesome is so hard to justify having.
The only lasting takeaway I got from the ID.R then, is that it perhaps helps me understand how PSVR2 users must feel.
No comments:
Post a Comment