Simraceway and Palatov Motorsport Shakedown the D4

By Jonathan Haswell In Feature Articles

A bright and sunny morning sees Dennis Palatov and his Palatov Motorsport team join us at Infineon Raceway, home of the Simraceway Performance Driving Center, for a shakedown session of his exciting new D4 track/race car. With motoring journalists Leo Parente and Brian Makse also in attendance, we’re keen to see how the Simraceway D4 compares to the real-life track weapon, so we can give you the most realistic racing experience possible.

So down to the testing!

 

Session one sees Simraceway Performance Driving Center Chief Instructor Nico Rondet take the D4 out for its initial run. His third lap sees him post a time of 1:40 and return with detailed feedback on the car’s handling. He suggests that there is some instability under braking which could be helped by adding some toe-out at the front.

 

Nico’s vast experience means he is able to understand and describe what a car should be doing and his feedback proves incredibly valuable for both the simulation modelling and the set up of the real car. He is a unique asset to Simraceway and tests all of our in-game cars before release, to ensure they match their real-world counterparts.

 

Leo and Brian then take their turns testing the car after spending the morning testing the simulation version. You can see how they got on by checking out their accounts of the day here and here.

 

Session two begins after lunch, but not before the Palatov Motorsport guys have got their spanners out to make some changes as per Nico’s suggestions. Meanwhile the Simraceway engineers are equally busy updating the software to match what Nico had experienced in the real car. The effects of the changes made by the Palatov team are immediately obvious when Nico sets a faster lap time (1:38). Leo and Brian agree that the changes made a big difference and they are more comfortable with the car under braking, improving their lap times accordingly.