Here's my findings of the 3 cars I tested.
All were tested with their default setups, and all in the same track conditions: the default conditions found right after opening rF2 for the first time.
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OW 2016 v1.7 (
Link)
The car feels really nice, but different from AC as expected.
It's good to have the real names of the drivers, it gives a sense of immersion.
There's not nearly enough understeer if compared to the 2015 model from VRC, but I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. I assume it's a good thing because on AC I can only do the double left hander at 220 Km/h while the real car can do at 260, the same speed as this mod on rF2.
On AC I can really feel the wheel get lighter and the grip going away, but I don't think I've pushed this car to it's limit yet on rF2. The limit of this car seems much wider, and I could do 1:48 on SPA (laser scanned) without even touching DRS, while on the VRC for Assetto Corsa I rarely go bellow 1:49 with DRS enabled.
I intentionally hit Verstappen in the rear at the first turn in a speed which, in real life, would have broken my front wing; but it was still there as if the developer didn't make a damage model for it, I had the same grip as before; which is kind of a shame considering rFactor 2's damage model is really good.
Soundwise, it's average. It seems that in ISIMotor games the sound engineer has to do a really good job, otherwise you can hear when the different files overlap each other, feeling almost like it's a completely different sound from when you go from a lower RPM to a higher RPM, so it's not seamless. This reminds me of old mods for Race07 and GTR2.
Not only that, but when I'm braking I can kind of hear as if the car is changing gears by itself, even though it's not, which to me sounds like an echo of when I change gears to lower ones.
Texture wise, it's not really that good. I have the textures config to max, but it still it doesn't look good.
I then enabled DRS, which gave me a 1:46:8 lap, a feat I could only do with the glorious F1 2002 on Assetto Corsa. This seems way more in line with real life than the VRC 2015 for Assetto Corsa. Someone with more experience could tell me if these lap times are correct. I did check the qualifying lap for SPA on 2016, and it was a 1:46:7, which leads me to believe this mod isn't far off and probably has a very good default setup.
On the "Garage" side of things, I didn't change a single setting.
Powerwise, it feels I have instant power, something which doesn't reflect what happens in Assetto Corsa; there, there is definitely a little turbo lag, meaning I have to press the gas pedal way further to have the same power as I do while driving this mod.
After checking a Hamilton lap on the 2016 Belgium GP, I did notice his throttle is kind of in a middle ground between rF2 and AC when it comes to corner exit: not so little as in rF2, but not so much as in AC.
I guess the car is too powerful at times. I was able to go at almost the same speed, without DRS, as a car driving by my side with DRS.
The AI at 100% was a little boring, they were doing high 1:48's, pretty much 2 seconds above me.
I believe the default setup is very well balanced, offering good grip while having good top speed in straights.
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F1 ASR 2017 v1.3 (
Link removed as it's a rip of other modders without permission)
What started out bad in terms of handling and lap times, worked out good at the end. At the first laps, this car was sliding at Eau Rouge, even when the tyres were warm. This doesn't happen in any other car. However, after doing a few laps and getting used to the way this car handles, I was able to achieve 1:46:1; do Eau Rouge without sliding; do turn 7 at 210-215 Km/h in comparison with 190-200 with the 2016 car; do turn 9 at 180-185 Km/h while I tend to do it at 165-175 Km/h in the 2016 car, and I was easily able to do the double left hand corner at 270 Km/h, while in the 2016 car I was able to do it at 260 Km/h. This, however, caused my tyres to heat up to 150 degrees C which I assume would make them last very few laps while in a race. For quali it's OK.
The brakes seem way too powerful, I was scared to brake at full power after long straights because the time it takes to lock the wheels is way too short.
Soundwise, it's on the same situation as the 2016 car. If you happen to have a wheel that double shifts sometimes, you'll certainly be confused as to what is happening once you start downshifting.
On the texture side of things, this is actually really good. Textures are clear, and the tyre textures have bump mapping and reflections on the sides, making them look like they're brand new. It's trully beautiful to look at them.
I did, however, experience a bug. When doing that really fast left hander, the shadow flickers for a few seconds.
While offering a good setup to start with and a good level of grip, this car is slow at straights, which I believe is the main reason my lap times aren't bellow the 1:46 mark.
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OW F1 2017 (
Link)
NOTE: The link for this car was taken from this very same thread, I believe the user who posted them is one of the developers.
1:44:52, that's the lap time I could achieve after just under 6 laps with this car. The default setup is, to me, the best of all 3 cars tested. Very good speed at straights, and better grip on turns if compared to the ASR car, achieving 275 Km/h easily at the double left hander, 215 on turn 7, and almost 290 at turn 9.
Sound wise, it's the worse of all 3. When you lift the throttle, the engine produces two sounds, one is correct and the other isn't. The incorrect sound, the one which is at the higher volume, is (e.g.) like if the engine is at 8000 RPM, when the real sound (the one you can notice right after pressing the gas pedal slightly) is correct e.g. 5000 RPM.
The tyre is almost at the same level of detail as the one found in the ASR car.
The overall texturing of the vehicle is good.
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In my opinion, the best of these 3 cars would be the OW2017 car with another sound bank, probably from the F1Fanatic car. The best handling, texturing is good, seems well balanced; all left is a better sound.
Unfortunately I don't have a preference over these 3 cars as all of them have good and bad qualities. I will find myself driving them all at the same rate for now, as I find all of them good enough to enjoy driving and not be bothered with what I find bad about them.
I suggest anyone reading this to test them all and to state to the developers what you think should change; this is the way a good product is developed, a product driven not only by the developers, but with the strong assist of the community.
Happy driving!
Specially since the numbers in the setups are all so different between these two simulators.
I did download SHR's Monaco a few hours before I downloaded the F1 mods, and it's really good.