1990 marked my first season as a full-time F1 photographer. This McLaren MP4-5B and, like many, Ayrton Senna have huge sentimental value for me.
So when ASR Formula dropped the car on Steam last week, it was hard to believe I can drive a virtual version of this iconic car I photographed 30 years ago.
But as you will see in the video something is wrong: average sim driver (me) did a qualy lap of 1.11.880 in the ASR car while Ayrton Senna, the best qualifier in history, got pole with a time of 1:17.277 – the track I use is the Sao Paulo (Interlagos) vanilla version by Studio 397.
Aliens will go 2-3 seconds quicker.
The layout has not changed much over the years since 1990 when the 4.3 km layout was used – so something is seriously wrong…
If a track/car combo is 1-2 seconds, either way, one can live with it for obvious reasons, but 6-7 seconds discrepancy takes it from being a realistic sim version of the great car and turns it into an arcade version of it.
It is a blast to drive make no mistake with painstaking detail in the physics; superb FFB; amazing eye-candy, beautiful liveries and cockpit. Very immersive when combined with a very physical driving experience. Hitting the pit wall at top speed turned my Fanatec vicious!
In this video, I explain how I came to the conclusion that the ASR MP4-5B is well off the mark in its attempt to mimic the real deal.
