If FZR and XRR are about as fast over a stint, and FZR is faster on low fuel, it will obviously qualify better. Given 2 cars as fast as each other people will obviously chose the one who qualifies better. Why not penalise the FZR for quali only so it is as fast as the XRR.
Might be a bit late to introduce this but I think a way to encourage a balanced field would be good. (as many FZR as XRR as FXR). For example, the FXR will be slower at the high speed tracks, if half the field is FXR then it isn't much of a disadvantage, but if there is only a few FXR it becomes a pretty big disadvantage. Maybe a weight penalty if there is more than 11 cars of 1 kind and a % advantage if there is less than 7 of one kind. Could also be done with points but I think the weight/% would have more impact.
The XRR is the easiest on it's tires, so I would put a weight restriction on it and maybe as much power as FXR, FZR should have less power as the other 2 as it doesn't have to deal with turbo lag.
Sorry to doubt you but unless I see the numbers I just won't believe that. The RB4 gets killed by an FXO down the straight with less power,if those number were true ,the RB4 would be 194 HP at the wheels and the FXO 199, you wouldnt really notice a 5 HP difference. The FXR sets usually run less downforce than FZR and XRR because it's more stable and it ends up quite a bit slower.
Turbo cars will have less compression than normally aspirated engines and the due to the 6 gears of the GTRs the usable powerband is less than 1500 rpm, I doubt the torque varies that much on cars running these rpm.
As far as aero of the car FXO and XRT are pretty close together so I doubt there would be significant differences between their GTR counterparts.
I don't see what the turbo has to do with aerodynamics ... XRR has the same top speed as FZR, FXO, RB4 and XRT are all turbo and the RB4 is much slower in the straights. I chose to do an example with GTRs because they have the same weight and power as each other, unlike the TBO cars.
I suspect the cars to be set at 15 % powertrain loss for the 2WD and 30 % for AWD cars. It would mean 15 % for the transmission and differencial, and another 15 % for a second diff and the center diff. Let's assume the second diff takes as much power to run as the first one, it would mean the center diff takes as much power as the actual transmission and clutch, that doesn't make sense to me.
I think the AWD cars in LFS lose too much speed in the straight compared to other cars in their class. I know there should be a difference, but I don't think it should be that much. All things being equal, the AWD cars lose about 10 kph in top speed.
AWD have center diff and an additionnal diff that will take away more power than 2WD cars, that's a given. From what i've found, 2WD cars lose about 15-17 % power in the drivetrain, and AWD lose around 20-25 %.
Let's compare let's say the FZR and FXR. FZR losing 15 % would be about 73 HP, FXR losing 22 % would be 108 HP, that's a difference of 35 HP. When you compare the FXR and FX2 for example, there is a 123 HP difference and around 20 kph top speed difference. If you take into account that aerodynamics work exponentialy, just how much power are the AWD cars actually losing.
My point is AWD cars lose more power than the 2WD cars and thus don't have the same top speed, but the speed difference in the game now is just too exagerated.