So, a few notes:
I went with a grip build. I went with minimum-width slicks (Goodyears, I think), street WR, the full platform, and an intercooler upgrade (only race power upgrades are available). I also added the Forza front spoiler and rear splitter (no wing option). I chose the intercooler both because it would fit and because the turbo lag was an issue, as it always is for me. I chose to add downforce because of some high-speed understeer. We'll see whether it works out or not. I didn't get to upgrade rims, but leaving them stock seems OK for now, as I'm still struggling to put all the power down, and getting rid of rotational mass probably won't do me any favors.
I ran Road Atlanta Short, and results were basically good, but there are still points for improvement.
The good: It takes the first corner pretty well, always over 95 mph without breaking a sweat. I think it can take it at over 100mph, but we'll see. I'm still getting used to the car, so I'm not pushing things too much. I was really pleased with how it handled the chicane, like butter in 3rd gear (FD is 3.85, other gears still unchanged).
The bad: The esses are a bit iffy. When you hit it right, they're fine, but this car unsettles more than the front-engine cars that make up almost all of my AWD experience. It's still fairly forgiving, though, and doesn't punish you too much for dropping a wheel. The real benefit of AWD, though, the jump off the line, is lost on this car right now. It doesn't spin the wheels when floored in first. Tranny tuning may fix this, but I'm thinking this may be why first gear is so short; it has to be that short. Very little of the 400+ ponies this car makes occur in the low end of the dyno. I thought the intercooler upgrade might help this by getting rid of some turbo lag, but this wasn't the case.
The ugly: That last turn. Sometimes it will take that last turn at full throttle like any other car. Others, I get a nice four-wheel drift...right into the wall! The problem with this is I'm not sure which one is going to happen on a given lap. It seems to happen more when I think I might see green at the finish line, so maybe I'm just overdriving it, but for a car that's supposed to be forgiving, that line is pretty freaking stark on that turn.
The tune so far is pretty close to stock. I dropped tire pressures to 29/28, upped the final drive to 3.85. I moved camber to -.8 front and rear, caster to 5.4. I set the brakes to 90% pressure, 47% front bias. I tweaked the diff to put 60% of the torque to the rear, an effort to take advantage of the engine position. Toe is still neutral. Springs, ARB's, and shocks are all untouched.
