Differences between similar LMP cars

Forza Motorsport Legacy Motorsport FM4 Discussion
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Here recently I went through some of the LMP cars that seemed identical and figured I’d post the almost trivial differences I found.

Acura ARX-02a
The Jim Hall Tribute has a slightly higher minimum ride height (4.1 front and 3.9 rear as opposed to 3.5 front and 3.5 rear on the other car) as well as slightly stiffer default spring rates.

Acura ARX-01b
Finally got around to buying all these. They’re all 100% identical. I mean I just threw 4,000,000cr at two cars, so why wouldn’t they be exactly the same as the one I already had?

Audi R10
After further review, there is no spring rate difference as I originally had thought. These cars are identical in every way I could see.

Aston Martin Lola
Identical in every way I could find.

Mazda B09/86
The '09 car has a 3.36 default final drive and the '10 car has a 3.40 default final, or it might be the other way around (it makes so little difference the cars are basically identical).

Chevy Oreca FLM09
They’re identical in stock trim, but the #99 car gets a slightly larger 320mm max front tire width while the other two cars can only get 310mm. Not really sure why, but seeing as the #99 can still squeeze 721hp in with the bigger front tires at 998PI (compared to the 729hp or 735hp of the others depending on build) I’d say it’s pretty clearly the best choice of the bunch. The #99 is also a driver level reward and in the AH has the lowest regular buyout prices of any LMP car (definitely the best performance-per-dollar in the LMP market). The #55 and #89 are rare sights these days and often bring a premium in the AH (usually people bid them up over the 2,000,000cr mark they could have bought a new one from the dealer for).
For those new to LMP world this is possibly the most forgiving and beginner-friendly of the bunch. Of all 32 prototypes I own, my #99 Chevy has the 2nd highest miles on it (Panoz has the most) and that’s not counting the over 200 miles I’ve also put on my #89 Chevy as well. I absolutely LOVE these cars! Don’t be fooled by the people that would try to tell you the LMP cars are “pretty much all the same” because that’s very far from the truth! I can promise you that once you learn to pilot these cars to their limits with no ABS/TCS they all have incredibly unique personalities. Id like to know where these people get the idea that these cars are all “almost identical to drive” when I’ve got a Chevy with a 6.2L LS3 V8, a Ferrari with an 11,000rpm 4.0L V12 straight from an F1 car, a screaming Mazda 4-rotor, and several twin turbo V10 and V12 Audi TDI diesels that all fall in the same class. If an F1 V12, a Chevy LS V8, a 4-rotor Mazda, and a bunch of torque monster diesels are all “nearly identical” then I’d like to know their exact definition of variety haha!

Peugeot 908
No numerical difference I could find anywhere, despite the visual differences with the #10 appearing to have its rear wing raised a bit. When both are set to default tune/upgrades even the benchmark numbers are 100% identical, I’m assuming the wing changes have no effect beyond aesthetics.

Porsche RS Spyder
Identical numbers everywhere as I’d assumed. I just bought spent 2,000,000cr on the #16 Dyson car only to find out it’s no different than the #7 Penske I’ve already got haha (the rest I either already owned or cycled through my garage while buying/selling in the auction house, that #16 Spyder just does not come up for sale in the AH these days).

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I was always curious about this; nice info to have. Thanks for looking into it!

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Something else I discovered recently is most of the GT class cars that are the same model but a different year with a different livery will have different dash displays. So all of the M3 displays slightly different (#2 has no shift light, #6 has a shift light with a smaller screen, #79 has a large tachometer bar, #92 displays RPM only as a number with no bar/line, etc) and all four of the Ferrari F430s are definitely unique (#83 Risi and #90 Farnbacher use the same display with different color backlights).
Ones that are the same year like the 2011 Porsches seem to be identical for the most part (not always). I know the Aston DBR9 and McLaren F1 displays are the same. I think between the first-gen Vipers the 2000 #91 car has a blue backlight while the #126 Zakspeed does not.
And yes, I’m probably one of like three people on FM4 that owns the #90 Farnbacher Ferrari F430 hahaha! Why? I’m still not quite sure because I never could tune the stupid thing well enough to run in the same league as my Abruzzi, Ford GT, and Porsches. Hats off to M. Rossi when I race GT2 events list races with upgrades turned off because I can’t get a default tune F430 around two corners in a row without it spinning off the track hahaha!

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This is the order of fastest to slowest cars from what you’ve listed. It’s partially my opinion, but I’ve reached a consensus with many others about this.

  1. ARX-02a. Found the JH to be better.
  2. ARX-01b. The #26 is definitely the best one, although differences are subtle.
  3. Mazda B09/86. '09/'10 doesn’t seem to matter.
  4. Chevy FLM09. I like the #55 the best. Not an easy car to make a comfortable AND fast tune with though.
  5. Aston Lola. Both versions seem the same.
  6. Peugeot 908. Both seem the same, but this isn’t worth driving since it’s an utter chore to do even one lap in it…
  7. RS Spyder. I found the differences in the two to be the same as in FM3, and I like the #16 better. Pretty bad car overall, but it still has a few momentum tracks where it’s competitive.
  8. R10 TDI. Liked the Forza one better, but the car is abysmally slow despite being nice to drive.
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Totally agree on the Audi’s. I was very disappointed with them. Audi has dominated LeMan’s for the better part of a decade, yet they are almost un-competitive in game. T10 missed the mark with them.

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Perhaps in terms of their overall balance against the others when tuned to 998 PI, but stock vs stock I don’t think the Audi diesels are too far off the mark. While aerodynamics have greatly improved, the FIA and ACO have been steadily restricting the power of LMP cars more and more. I think they said before that their overall goal is to keep the cars from running faster than a 3:30 lap time at Sarthe, so naturally as the handling has improved they have taken away power to keep them at the pace they want them. The Audis get the short end of the stick when tuned to 998 points, however in stock trim I wouldn’t say they’re too far off the mark as the restrictor a have been steadily choking them down further through the years.