Thursday, October 20, 2011

Dance with Hybrid - Forza 4 style

This hybrid's too eager to be featured
on next season's Top Gear!


Because of the theory that the ratio of "Miles Per Gallon" championed over "Horsepower Per Ton", the introduction of hybrids and electric vehicles on Forza Motorsport 4 really put a twist on this flagship racing sim. The Lexus CT200h (chassis code: ZWA10) is one of them. It maybe classified as a hybrid but this compact hybrid hatchback truly has its darker side. It sure is the "Darker Side of Green" that breaks the status quo.

Up close and personal with
the Darker Side of Green

The price for the Lexus CT200h on Forza Motorsport 4 starts at 25,000 CR and this car is powered with the 1.8L 2ZR-FXE engine sourced from the Prius that produces 134HP of power and 169lb-ft of torque. The biggest redundancy on the CT200h was its CVT because this car would be somewhat a little bit slower than I expected. Just because this car has a disappointing CVT feature does not mean you can't have something special for this hybrid hatchback.

CT200h races through the Alps

Tuning the Lexus CT200h is like putting up the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and it needs incredible tuning logic skills to push the CT200h class to its equal position. It might be easier to push this hybrid on the F200 class, E275 class, D350 class, or C425 class but pushing this on B500 to A600 is a very difficult task. Sadly though, you can't push the CT200h tuning even further to meet your demands.

Taking a day-off at Silverstone

What I like about the CT200h is its handling. In its F200 class, the CT200h has an agile handling despite the wheezing noise of its hybrid drivetrain and CVT. When I tried this on the Top Gear Test Track, it performed quite well on the Chicago, Hammerhead, and Gambon. Respectively, this is one of my favorites in real life but in Forza 4, it needs consideration whether I should accept the way the Lexus CT200h feels or not. We sure know that we are ready to "Dance with Hybrid" but sometimes, it may end up being nothing or in Top Gear terms, RUBBISH. If I were Jeremy Clarkson putting the CT200h on the Cool Wall, let's put this on COOL for a while but if this gets rubbish, I may end up putting this on UNCOOL.


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