So are 699 cars really useless now?

I think this one deserves its own thread.
We know that update 7.0 brought some changes to the physics simulation, and now it seems some strange results emerged because of this.
699 cars that has previously won against their 969 versions now lose on certain tracks, making them much much less useful. Was this change intentional or accidental?
Car park, Indoor Karting and Standing Slalom were the tracks best suited for 699 cars, so that's where I tested some of my cars with both tunes. Here are the results, bolded tunes are the ones that win now. I only have times for the Beat from before the last update, but as far as I remember the 699 cars were mostly faster than their 969 versions on these tracks. The Beat definitely was.
Standing Slalom:
969 vs 699 - RQ22 Ford RS200
969 vs 699 - RQ17 Abarth
969 vs 699 - RQ17 Datsun
969 vs 699 - RQ16 Lotus Elise
969 vs 699 - RQ15 Lotus Elise 1.6
969 vs 699 - RQ15 Mazda RX-8 PZ
969 vs 699 - RQ15 Swift Rally
969 vs 699 - RQ13 Mazda MX-5 BBR Turbo
969 vs 699 - RQ13 Escort Rally
969 vs 699 - RQ9 Caterham Seven 160
969 vs 699 - RQ6 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint
969 vs 699 - RQ4 Citroen Mehari 4x4
969 vs 699 - RQ4 Honda Beat
Indoor Karting:
969 vs 699 - RQ22 Ford RS200
969 vs 699 - RQ17 Abarth
969 vs 699 - RQ17 Datsun
969 vs 699 - RQ16 Lotus Elise
969 vs 699 - RQ9 Caterham Seven 160
969 vs 699 - RQ6 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint
969 vs 699 - RQ4 Honda Beat
Car Park:
969 vs 699 - RQ22 Ford RS200
969 vs 699 - RQ17 Abarth
969 vs 699 - RQ17 Datsun
969 vs 699 - RQ16 Lotus Elise
969 vs 699 - RQ9 Caterham Seven 160
969 vs 699 - RQ6 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint
969 vs 699 - RQ4 Honda Beat
Comments
Buy plastics
And tune everything you get 699 I guess.
I like the old version more, since it was valuable to have 969 and 699 of a lot of cars. Now it’s just best to use 969 for a lot more cars and tracks, which makes it less interesting
- Patch notes of Top Drives PL 7.0, 2018
Please Hutch, tell us if this was planed. If so, why is this change made?
In every update we get some new features and always some new Bugs (some explained as features and intended afterwards).
The bigger the update and changes, the more and anoying bugs we get.
Every time !
TBH hutch seems to have absolutly no idea, how their own game engine works. Every little change brings a new bug with it... neverending story.
we have to deal with it...
By that I mean lean into a cars advantages. Handling cars will probably still end up being 033 because that's where you'll want to place them. top speed cars may end up better now as 330, balanced cars favouring 303.
IDK how the r500 performed maxed on fast track in its various tunes but doesn't it make sense that 330 should generally win that race for most cars? Certainly against 033. I don't think that was generally the case before.
I'm not fine with our carefully set up garages suddenly becoming uncompetitive. @Hutch_Tim @Hutch_Robin if you want this to be the new norm, give us a chance to retune affected cars. It takes a lot of time, effort, lack or money to tune epics or legends. It'd be just hostile to the playerbase to do nothing about that.
This patch: 033 breaks
last patch: Dakar breaks, hillclimb breaks
more upgraded cars lose to less? rolling slalom breaks?
Please, was there testing before you released it? I'll happily update my game when it's ready.
im not saying it isn’t annoying that cars performance and tunes changes, buts let’s be realistic and pragmatic for once? It’s been a day and people are crying for compensation, it’s hilarious!
A slalom race is about 90% handling and 10% power. The 969 tune winning this race makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
This really needs to be changed. Rolling slalom, should be leaning even more towards favouring 699 tune, as it then becomes 95% about handling without having to accelerate off the line.
Either way surely we can agree that having more tunes be viable is an improvement.
I agree with the sentiment that having the 969 tune be more useful is going to benefit the game. But it should be ina way that makes sense. on fast circuit, maybe, even twisty circuit. twisty road, hairpin etc.
But not on either slaloms, please never on a slalom.
People invest and buy car packs to get the best cars for their classes and tracks and tune them for maaany bucks to the best tune.
some month later many topplayers have the best cars for the specific tracks with the best tunes ready fused in their garage.
now hutch steps in, brings a change in the game, so that another car becomes with another tune the best specialist... so all, also the big spenders, have to invest now again maaaany bucks to get this new best cars....
every update brings better cars then existing to make big spenders keep spending... or changes will make cars, like the z28, not anymore usefull for special tracks, where it shined before... ... greedy move and always a kick in the **** of those who invested sooooo much and collected the "best" cars with "best" tunes.
330 should always win all drags
303 should generally win fast circuits and hairpin
033 should always win g-force, carpark and probably the karting circuits.
Slalom is interesting because there are four distinct phases of acceleration which should favour 303, Obviously the weaving is where the 033 are and should be stronger. Twisty circuits / road and city tracks equally make some sense to be a mix of the two depending on the car as these tracks require both turning and frequent strong acceleration.
Fast circuit and hairpin I'd like to see 330 be more competative with 303 and it would make some sense for it to beat 033 most of the time.
YMMV.