#my type is basically hp in modern day fan art

[depthnessingsweet]

.

[homuraakumaakemi]

Hey, all! Do you hate someone? Did this someone hurt you? Are you both into Pokémon? Does this person you hate have more discerning tastes than simply the Pokémon itself? Are you the petty sort who holds a grudge forever? Better yet, did you have this Pokémon, but then, they decided to reveal their true colors to you? My name is Homura, and I have the solution for you!

Disclaimer: I do not recommend actually going out of your way to antagonize people. If something like that happens to you, the best thing to do is to seek support from the people who care about you and try to move on. This post is more or less a silly joke…

As an example, we’ll use Sableye!

Now, Sableye works extra well for this because in the first four generations, it struggled at basically everything! But then, Gen 5 gave it one of my personal favorite Abilities: Prankster!

Thank you, Serebii. Now, this is one of the most fun Abilities in the game, even though any Dark type will stone wall it. While it won’t be winning any awards for scariest Pokémon to face, I have a bit of affection for the little guy. Now, Sableye has some neat tricks up its sleeve, but I personally am a fan of THIS set:

Sableye @ Leftovers

Ability: Prankster

EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Def

Calm Nature

- Foul Play

- Recover

- Will-O-Wisp

- Taunt

Now, for Sableye’s case, you could also opt for a physically defensive set and appropriate Nature. You can also teach it a move like Knock Off, or a move like Encore! Hell, you can even give it the Rocky Helmet and make physical attackers and Grass Knot users rue the day they messed with this ghost imp! Point being that some older fans may be shocked and annoyed! But this ISN’T the Sableye you will be making in honor of this person you hate so much (or giving to them, if you’re REALLY petty)! No, no, no. This is a good Sableye you’d give someone you LIKE! Let me show you the kind of Sableye you make when you really hate someone!

Sableye @ Black Sludge or Lagging Tail

Ability: Stall

EVs: Random

IVs: Random

Naughty Nature

- Dark Pulse

- Rest

- Incinerate

- Spite

You take a GOOD set, and you flip it around! Sableye is especially great for this because one of its Abilities is Stall!

“But wait, Homura!” you may be asking. “Why would a Pokémon as frail as Sableye ever want this?!” That’s the best part! It wouldn’t. And as for the rest of the moveset? You literally don’t have to care about EVs and IVs! Foul Play’s great because it punishes someone for having high Attack! Dark Pulse is just a dark type move off of Sableye’s 65 Special Attack! Ooh! So scary! Rest leaves Sableye even more vulnerable, Incinerate doesn’t even have a chance to burn anything beyond maybe the occasional Berry, and Spite? Well, it’s a FORM of taunting, in a way. But again, probably not gonna see much use without Prankster!

Now, all of this can be fixed by modern quality of life features. There are berries that will reduce your EVs so they can fix them, and the Bottle Caps mean they can fix the IVs. Of course, because these aren’t HMs, they can also fix the moves, though Recover needs breeding. However, there are a few things they CAN’T fix!

What if this person hates the Shiny form of Sableye? Garish fool’s gold. I can understand. So given a few days of riding your bike in circles, you can inflict this on them!

Another is nicknaming! Now, in Sword and Shield, you can nickname traded Pokémon…that don’t themselves have one! That’s right! Say this person returns your hate in KIND. Or say they made a silly concept as a kid that they REALLY regret now! With but one trip to the Name Rater, you can name that poor thing after yourself or that foolish thing, and if you trade it to them? It has that name forever. Pro tip: When you Rule 63 a male-identifying character you like, do a bit more than add -ette to the end of the name…

Of course, there are many ways to go about this, and indeed, you can just keep it as a sort of twisted work of art!

[nintendotreehouse]

Schooled by Old-School Combat

You might say it’s to die for…

I’m one of those people who fell in love with the Fire Emblem series through Fire Emblem Awakening…despite being comically horrible at strategy games at the time. Despite this, I managed to complete Fire Emblem Awakening and then enjoyed a somewhat intense training (lit. ego eviscerating) period with the Nohrian royal family. So when I was assigned to Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia as the product marketing lead—which is essentially the game expert who juggles communication between Japan, localization, and other teams while supporting global efforts to promote the game—I felt that my body was ready. While my ego may not have survived the experience, it’s definitely helped make me dig deep into the combat.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a reimagining of Fire Emblem Gaiden with gameplay and combat that remain true to those classic roots. It has the bones of Fire Emblem Gaiden at its core and all the dungeon crawling cream-center goodness that made its predecessor stand out from other games in the franchise.

Fire Emblem Gaiden released in 1992 on Famicom. The early 90’s-vibe is strong.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia offers a classic gameplay experience with the modern fan in mind. But since Gaiden was never released in the West, or in English, the ways in which this game stays true to its roots while creating its own identity might not be immediately obvious. So let’s dig into how this game compares to its inspiration and modern offerings in the franchise, specifically in terms of combat?

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is not like Fire Emblem Awakening or Fire Emblem Fates and really stands apart from all the other offerings in the franchise. Its combat system is back to the brutal basics, with no space pairing and no weapons triangle; rather, it favors a classic (i.e. merciless) battle style mixed with modern UI.

Old-school combat with a modern look and interface.

In this case, “back to the basics” doesn’t mean easy, and the game will not babysit you. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia has its own system of strategic checks and balances, and you’ll need to learn how to use them to your advantage, because your enemies certainly will! I had to learn very quickly just how deep and challenging (cough…sadistic…cough) grid-based combat can get. We already covered a few of these mechanics in the Two Armies trailer, so from this point I’ll dive more into combat details we didn’t cover yet.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia has you controlling two separate armies in parallel.

Well, at least it’s not a selfie.

Each one has a unique makeup of classes and characters, and understanding the individual strengths and weaknesses often means the difference between victory and a grave mistake.

Classes work slightly differently from how they did in some of the more recent games, too. There are no “seals” in this game; instead, you head to one of the Mila Idols found in key places or within dungeons to change to the next class.

Here I thought a goddess couldn't get any more statuesque...yet here we are.

With the exception of Villagers, who can choose from four initial path options, characters can only progress along the line of promotion that’s permitted by their initial class.

This actually made the game that much more challenging for me, since there were only so many of each character class type. And a few characters definitely surprised me: a late-game recruit who I thought would be a glass cannon ended up being the best mage in both armies, and my favorite flamboyant Archer character ended up as a crit machine… You get the idea.

Concept art with class.

Character relationships are still in the game, but I was somewhat relieved to find that it has no marriage or children. While I’ve enjoyed getting the most bang for my buck with these mechanics, not having them actually upped the challenge and tension during battle for me. Even with two different armies, my forces weren’t unlimited! Not being able to breed replacements made me that much more careful with my battle tactics.

Speaking of character relationships, the support conversations are a crack up and give additional insight into the characters.

Plus some great one-liners too.

Support conversations only happen during battle, and as long as you position yourself within an attacking distance from an enemy (or healing distance from an ally), these conversations won’t eat a character’s turn. The near-full voicing of the game (about 90-95% of the game, from what I can tell) came as a pleasant surprise. The main story, support conversations, and even random NPCs in town are all fully voiced, and this made the story and cast of characters feel more relatable for me. The cinematics in the game (by Hideki Anno’s Studio khara) are also fully voiced and gorgeously animated.

So pretty…and fully voiced!

You can use your imagination for the obligatory joke about playing with sharp objects.

If you’re curious how this game handles abilities, that’s where Combat Arts come into play. In a nutshell, equipping certain items long-term allows characters to learn special abilities that they can use in battle (though the characters won’t be able to use these specific Arts while the items are unequipped). And unlike some of the other Fire Emblem games, your equipment in this game won’t break from extended use.

The Arts themselves vary from HP recovery effects (like getting damage you inflict back as HP), magic-resistance and magic-damage boosts, powerful attacks, and even the ability to prevent enemies from counterattacking. Equipment types tend to give similar Arts, but you may find a few that will surprise you. I spent some time testing who worked best with which Arts, but admittedly, it’s probably a task for smarter, more patient fans out there. However, I’d recommend using Arts strategically rather than just spamming them to see what they do - even if it IS fun in its own right, some of the Arts cost HP to use.

It wasn’t until well into my first playthrough that I remembered (more accurately, “rediscovered”) a mechanic called Mila’s Turnwheel.

Seen here on the lower screen, and which could be a metagame for those looking for a serious headache… I mean challenge.

Mistakes happen, and this game is particularly unforgiving of them, but the Turnwheel lets you roll back time to a previous turn so that you can try to correct your mistakes. It’s got a limited number of uses per battle, and these uses are restored once the map’s been cleared. It’s a pretty nifty mechanic. The Turnwheel can help you get a handle on the deeper tactics of a battle, while acting as a bit of a safety net for players who are not as steeped in turn-based strategy. I wish I had remembered Mila’s Turnwheel during my three-day headdesk campaign against the witch near Fear Mountain.

The swear jar got a lot of use.

So that’s a closer look at the combat mechanics in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Think your tactics can stand up to the challenges of classic combat?

—Lindsey N.

[mattgambler]

Dark Souls versus Nioh

TLDR: I played Dark Souls 1-3 about 18 months ago and yesterday I abandoned my first ever Nioh playthrough halfway through. I compare my experiences and declare them both winner and loser at the end of the day.

Today after waking up I was greeted on Discord by a public message of one of my mods which had me typing frantically in a matter of seconds: so Nioh went the same path as every other soulslike game ? Final call on it matt? ( wich mechanics where new wich ones where even more frustrating and wich ones where a welcome change from the other soulslike games?) I wanna clarify that I played a couple of “soulslike” games over the past 2 years and rarely left one of them unbeaten, so his first line had me somewhat confused about what exactly he meant, given that I had abandoned my Nioh playthrough halfway through only the day before. The games I had played (and I am aware of the fact that some rather important ones are missing) were the three Dark Souls games, Salt and Sanctuary, Dead Cells, Titan Souls and now Nioh. I usually want to beat these sort of games even if I don’t enjoy them, and be it only so I an criticize them without sounding like a whiner who simply didn’t git gud enough. Useless gamer pride, I know. But while I sat there, talking about how I had beaten all the other games before this one, I knew what he was probably talking about - which was me not liking the game. I also didn’t like DarkSouls 1-3 that much, and back when I streamed them it was usually me versus my chat as I tried to win the unwinnable argument of convincing fans of a game why it was clearly and “objectively” bad. Or at least not as good as everyone wanted me to believe. But let’s look at Ashtaks actual question. At first glance, Nioh does a couple of things which had me praising it as soon as I encountered them. Inventory indicators for what you had picked up since you last looked into your inventory. A clear path to follow. Storytelling that looked like actual storytelling for a change. I was sure I would like this one! But the longer I played, the more I noticed the glaring flaws that were worked deep into the games core, and which became even more apparent given how those flaws were mostly absent from the soulsgames I had worked my way through back then. The linear progression was nice in comparison to the at times random and unintuitive nature of Dark Souls, where I only managed to find the painted world of Ariamis after my chat had given me step by step instructions on how to find and enter it. But at the same time the missions soon started to feel same-ish, another temple, another batch of yokai that had corrupted something vengeful spirits something save that village something hope you dont mind taking a look at my yard while you are there Anjin Sama please make sure I didnt leave the window open. The storytelling had me intrigued for about as long as it took me to realize that the narrative was meaningless and bland and that it didnt make much sense up to the point I had reached in my playthrough. There’s a villain and he wants to gather that ressource Amrita that the game had introduced you moments before, now he stole your guardian spirit which you apparently had all along and that seems to be the only spirit in the world that can detect that Amrita stuff even though you are collecting it left and right as quickly as you can because the next levelup will require another 78 000 units of it because, hell, gotta keep you grinding, am I rita? The inventory indicators were good at least. Sorely needed in the trash collecting simulator that both Nioh and the games in the Souls Franchise are, too! But while it made sifting through trash a lot easier and more practical, it didn’t really change the fact that I was collecting trash 99% of the time. At least in Dark Souls you didnt feel like losing out if you left that stuff lying on the ground because you couldn’t exchange it for souls as easily, if at all. (I don’t exactly remember.) But while I’m listing pros here just to pluck them apart right afterwards, I wanna say that weirdly enough I felt like I enjoyed Nioh more, on a surface level. Sure, the story was weirdly uninteresting, but at least it was there, right? The game was reusing the same enemies for mission after mission, but at least it didn’t give me bullshit like the Anor Londo archers or the Tomb of the Giants, or that fucking disgusting curse mechanic in the canalisation of dontaskmewhatthatareawascalled. At least I had my sense of where to go and my inventory indicators for newly picked up equipment, right? And finally some proper tutorials! Yes and no.

While Nioh comes with a metric shitton of improvements that Dark Souls would have desperately needed back then, while it looks great and plays smooth and overall does everything I wanted Dark Souls to do back then, it lacks the inspiration and credibility to actually make it all work for me. On day 6 I encountered a bossfight that was somewhat similar in tone to the Sif encounter in DarkSouls. You know, sad music, the boss was kind of a good guy, this time it was a cat spirit instead of a giant wolf, but yeah, you get it. All it accomplished was making me realize that I never cared much for that feline companion of mine in the first place. Sif, in comparison, had never been my companion. He(?) had never tried to be loyal or helpful to me. Weird how I still ended up caring so much more for him than for my own weird cat buddy that I had never really gotten to know all too well, but... at least he was around? I guess? Must have been the missing limping animation. Another thing that always struck me as unpleasant about the Souls games was that there were no proper tutorials. Here, you are in a cell, now go die. Again, Nioh delivers where Dark Souls fell short, several nicely spaced out tutorials to show you the ropes, how to switch stances, how to use skills, how to take a dump behind a tree. But while Dark Souls would have had me confused about many things if not for my chat, Nioh locks tutorials behind mission progress and usually ended up teaching me things only after I had figured them out on my own. And weirdly enough, those tutorials managed to both make me feel as if they were holding my hand too much as well as(!) if they weren’t clear enough on things. How do you even pull that off? Sure I’m learning in detail what I already know, but I still need to do the tutorials for the rewards and it has me standing there unsure about why it is not continuing because I already did what it wanted me to... I think.

And then there is all the stuff that is missing, at least up to the point that I reached in the game. While Nioh does a somewhat good job of fixing DarkSouls’ flaws (Seriously, that inventory indicator, how could you not have that, Dark Souls. I mean what the actual fuck.) it took things that were good and working and just left them out. Basic stuff, like leaving messages for other players, complex and intriguing things like covenants, boss weapons. Incredibly vital stuff like secrets! Dark Souls is full of them and while I was sometimes annoyed by a bonfire being too well hidden, or another entire area being hidden behind a random wall segment in an even more random wall, Nioh feels like it is incredibly afraid to hide anything, or give you a glimpse of a later boss in the distance, or leave any sort of mystery as the story progresses. The bad guy? Yeah, he stole that spirit to collect amrita. That spirit? Yeah, it has been with William since he was a child. That mission? Yeah, seemingly the kids were turned into yokai, or the shogun (or whatever he was) blew up his castle but he also broke his teaset and that teasets name was “flat spider” in japanese and because he broke it the boss of this level is a giant spider. Oh, that character you didn’t really care for? Here is an entire page of exposition for you if you wanna learn his role in all of this. Considering all of this and more (incredibly uninspired and therefore often confusing leveldesign, to name one of several things I’m not gonna go into too much detail here)  I would already come to the conclusion that Dark Souls is a way more interesting and mysterious game than Nioh. Wild, reckless, interesting. Stupid at times, and fuck the tomb of the giants, what an embarrassing fuckup of modern game design, but still, a wondrous and intriguing journey overall. Personally I liked Dark Souls 2 best. But still I would have considered calling Nioh the more solid game, in a casual,  gamey way. It plays well, you progress through it, you probably have somewhat of a good time anyway. I’ve always considered Dark Souls, especially the first and probably most iconic one, as more of a weird art piece than an actual good game. But Nioh was too hard for me. Yes, harder than Dark Souls, and not in a good way as far as I’m concerned. The sheer number of times I was literally oneshot with full hp because I didnt dodge this attack or that combo in time is just too damn high. Many deaths in Dark Souls came from intricate traps or simply stupidly falling to my death (because fuck swimming or holding on to ledges, right?) but while Nioh does that sometimes as well, the sheer damage that enemies deal with each attack and your characters morbid fetish for being stunlocked made what could have been at least casual fun into a frustrating mess over time. And I used a spear, the only weapon that scales with the hp stat anyway.  I might just be bad, or not patient enough to die through yet another 20 bossfights until I figure out how to dodge enough attacks to barely succeed. But then again, I might just have had more fun dying in Dark Souls than I had dying in Nioh.

[jonathanbelloblog]

Pro Racer Test Drive: McLaren Senna

ALCABIDECHE, Portugal — The late three-time world champion Ayrton Senna claimed the first of his 41 F1 wins at the Estoril racetrack in Portugal on April 21, 1985. I thought about that win as I wandered slowly down Estoril’s long front straight. I had driven past the circuit about nine months earlier, on my way to do a 24-hour race in Portimao; I had wanted to stop by then but didn’t have the time. Yet here I was, less than a year later, to drive a monster of a car, for McLaren chose Estoril as a venue to give the media its latest taste of the “Ultimate Production Track Car,” the Senna.

My first glimpse of the Senna occurred the evening before during a dinner party on the second floor of a hotel. A friendly crane operator had delivered the car to the designated spot. (The Senna does not, despite the copious talents of McLaren’s engineers, take off vertically—not yet, anyway.) The Senna family was involved throughout the conception, design, and development of the car, and I was even able to say hello to Ayrton’s nephew, Bruno, at the dinner.

Such an interaction hammered home the point that this is a special car, made specifically to honor a very special race driver. I was/am a massive Ayrton Senna fan. For me, the Brazilian set the bar for focus and grim determination; I still get sad today when I think about him being gone, about his fatal crash at Imola in 1994. Every race fan knows that he was one of the very special drivers to bring his talent to the sport.

To my eyes the McLaren Senna has a striking presence and exudes unapologetic functionality. I heard comments from several other media folks present who voiced completely opposite opinions. Fair enough. Maybe it’s because I see the stance of one of my favorite cars, the Ferrari F40, in it, but I think it looks impressive. Having seen images of the car before I got to Portugal, I can now say pictures don’t really do it justice—go see one in person if you have the chance.

I spoke with several McLaren design and engineering people during my time in Portugal, and they impressed upon me the idea that every square millimeter of the Senna serves a purpose. Indeed, McLaren’s lofty performance goals necessitated some exquisite carbon-fiber fabrication to make use of air in exactly the way the engineers needed for maximum effect; in my view it’s a work of art.

Kenny Brack was also on-hand. Brack, you might know, is a massively quick and successful race driver. He is probably best known for winning the 1999 Indianapolis 500—and also for his horrendous IndyCar crash at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003, where he withstood measured deceleration of 214 g’s. (That’s not a misprint, just an unreal number.) It was great to see him looking well and obviously enjoying his role of chief test driver for McLaren. I spent quite a while downloading with him about the Senna’s handling, chassis, braking, and power/tire management after my drives.

For our first laps around Estoril, McLaren provided us with a 720S. Yes, to find our way around a circuit most of us had never seen before, we merely “warmed up” in the massively fast 720S. Imagine it as a 710-hp rent-a-car type of thing. Worth noting: The 720S is a rather well-balanced car, but I find it doesn’t have much in the way of aerodynamic downforce to help you, especially compared to other 700-plus-horsepower cars now available such as the Corvette ZR1, Porsche GT2 RS, and Lamborghini Huracan Performante. To get a fast lap in a 720S, you have to move/slide it around a lot, including through high-speed turns. Thankfully the car’s balance is so amenable and communicative that slipping and sliding it all day at “complete nutter” speeds is twitch-free and enjoyable. And, of course, the 720S is notably fast in a straight line. I have yet to drive any regular production car that’s quicker in a straight line, as it will run the quarter-mile in about 10 seconds—a staggeringly quick time.

After a few laps in the 720S “learner car,” it was time to jump into the Senna. I was excited and tried to take as much out of every minute as I could. Estoril is not a difficult track to learn, and apart from one horrible “slow them down” chicane, it was exactly as Ayrton Senna found it as he won his first F1 race. But thank goodness we did not have the horrendous rain Ayrton did on that particular April day.

The Senna’s controls are very similar to those in the 720S, apart from having several buttons (including the starter) mounted up in the roof, as you might find on an aircraft. McLaren says this saves weight, as it needs to run less wire through the car as a result. Both Sennas I drove were left-hand drive, and I had another pro driver who races in the FIA World Endurance Championship sitting next to me at all times on the track. After exchanging pleasantries, I told him I was mighty impressed that he would sit in the passenger seat of an 800-hp rocket with complete strangers, stumbling around an old F1 track. But he had an idea about my racing background and helped me learn the track quickly.

I will describe my on-track Senna-driving experience from the viewpoint of my second five-lap stint. At that stage, I was comfortable with where the track went and had a very good feel for the Senna’s handling at the limit. My pro-driver passenger seemed to be relaxed, saying nothing much at all during my final stint apart from a little chit chat until it was time for my cool-down lap.

If you have 800 hp of go, then you better have plenty of stopping power. The Senna can pull 2.1 g’s in deceleration, a number that is serious race-car good. The most common utterances I heard from other media folks were exclamations of how the Senna’s stopping power took their breath away once they figured out how hard they needed to press the pedal to get the most out of them. The brake feel is excellent and easy to modulate; I could just tickle the ABS or modulate deceleration to rotate the car on corner entry. You enter the brake zone for the 50-mph first turn at more than 180 mph so you better have the stoppers. No worries in this case, as the Senna’s brakes do the job.

The steering is quick but not too quick for my tastes. Although the Senna comes with Pirelli Tropheo R tires, they are still street tires and need a slower steering rate than a race tire to get the most from them, especially after they heat up. Once I slowed my hands down, I could manage the plentiful front grip much better. Slowing my hands gave my steering input more time to speak to the tire patch through the suspension. The Senna is sprung on the stiff side to handle the almost 1,800 pounds of total downforce it can generate at 155 mph. The stiffer suspension setup makes any steering input an almost instantaneous instruction to the tire patch, so it’s up to the driver to control this.

Another interesting point involves active aerodynamic features. The Senna has active front aero blades and an active rear wing. They move very quickly to help/adjust downforce relative to speed, deceleration, and cornering load; less on a long straight, more in a fast corner or under braking. The figure of 1,800 pounds of downforce at 155 mph in a 3,050-pound (fuel and driver included) street car is just amazing. The active aero also adjusts downforce to that maximum of 1,800 pounds due to tire-saving considerations, so the downforce level in theory could be even greater. For comparison, a new Corvette ZR1 or Porsche GT2 RS will produce about 450 pounds of downforce at 155 mph and a maximum around 1,000 pounds at their 212-or-so-mph top speeds. That’s not really any comparison to the Senna, which makes you think of a GT3 race car compared to a Prototype racer in terms of cornering speeds.

The other impressive part about the Senna suspension setup is the overall front-to-rear chassis balance. As stiff as it is, once I got my steering-wheel rate figured out on corner entry, I could use the steering and a slight throttle lift or slight left-foot braking to move the car and control rotation. This was very useful entering the mid-speed kinks. Downforce helped to make the turn-five kink easy to take flat-out at more than 130 mph. The ability to rotate the car on corner entry to mid-corner takes away the need for the front tires to do all the work, allowing me to carry more speed and making the car a joy to drive. I could also use these same techniques for post-apex/corner-exit power-down situations. It particularly worked well for putting the power down early in the Mini-Parabolica turn six and the really quick and long Ayrton Senna Parabolica turn 13. This car is so much fun to drive on the track at full rip, I have to tip my hat to the McLaren engineers and Kenny Brack for its development.

In terms of acceleration, I often find it is the least impressive part of high-performance road cars, especially when you get them on a track where everything around you is going equally as quick. However, the Senna feels impressively strong on acceleration, especially from 0-100 mph. When the turbos hit full boost, which is almost instantaneously, the horizon basically gets rammed down your throat. It’s a highly addictive experience.

If you look at the 720S, you have roughly 4.6 pounds per horsepower when you include fuel and a driver. You might be surprised to find a modern day GT3 race car would be around 6 pounds per horsepower. The Senna is a very impressive 3.7 pounds per horsepower, including fuel and a driver. It feels like a Prototype race car on acceleration, especially up to 100 mph, when the downforce is lower, and the car still pulled very strongly to more than 180 mph on Estoril’s front straight.

My laps in the Senna were over rather too quickly, but the memories will stay vivid for a long time to come. This is certainly the quickest street car I’ve ever driven on a track. McLaren has produced a vehicle well worthy of carrying the Senna name.

2019 McLaren Senna Specifications

ON SALE Fall 2018 (all 500 sold) PRICE $958,966 (base) ENGINE 4.0L twin-turbo DOHC 32-valve V-8/789 hp @ 7,250 rpm, 590 lb-ft @ 6,700 rpm TRANSMISSION 7-speed dual-clutch automatic LAYOUT 2-door, 2-passenger, front-engine, RWD coupe EPA MILEAGE N/A L x W x H 186.8 x 77.1 x 48.4 in WHEELBASE 105.0 in WEIGHT 2,900 lb 0-60 MPH 2.7 sec TOP SPEED 211 mph

IFTTT

[jesusvasser]

Pro Racer Test Drive: McLaren Senna

ALCABIDECHE, Portugal — The late three-time world champion Ayrton Senna claimed the first of his 41 F1 wins at the Estoril racetrack in Portugal on April 21, 1985. I thought about that win as I wandered slowly down Estoril’s long front straight. I had driven past the circuit about nine months earlier, on my way to do a 24-hour race in Portimao; I had wanted to stop by then but didn’t have the time. Yet here I was, less than a year later, to drive a monster of a car, for McLaren chose Estoril as a venue to give the media its latest taste of the “Ultimate Production Track Car,” the Senna.

My first glimpse of the Senna occurred the evening before during a dinner party on the second floor of a hotel. A friendly crane operator had delivered the car to the designated spot. (The Senna does not, despite the copious talents of McLaren’s engineers, take off vertically—not yet, anyway.) The Senna family was involved throughout the conception, design, and development of the car, and I was even able to say hello to Ayrton’s nephew, Bruno, at the dinner.

Such an interaction hammered home the point that this is a special car, made specifically to honor a very special race driver. I was/am a massive Ayrton Senna fan. For me, the Brazilian set the bar for focus and grim determination; I still get sad today when I think about him being gone, about his fatal crash at Imola in 1994. Every race fan knows that he was one of the very special drivers to bring his talent to the sport.

To my eyes the McLaren Senna has a striking presence and exudes unapologetic functionality. I heard comments from several other media folks present who voiced completely opposite opinions. Fair enough. Maybe it’s because I see the stance of one of my favorite cars, the Ferrari F40, in it, but I think it looks impressive. Having seen images of the car before I got to Portugal, I can now say pictures don’t really do it justice—go see one in person if you have the chance.

I spoke with several McLaren design and engineering people during my time in Portugal, and they impressed upon me the idea that every square millimeter of the Senna serves a purpose. Indeed, McLaren’s lofty performance goals necessitated some exquisite carbon-fiber fabrication to make use of air in exactly the way the engineers needed for maximum effect; in my view it’s a work of art.

Kenny Brack was also on-hand. Brack, you might know, is a massively quick and successful race driver. He is probably best known for winning the 1999 Indianapolis 500—and also for his horrendous IndyCar crash at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003, where he withstood measured deceleration of 214 g’s. (That’s not a misprint, just an unreal number.) It was great to see him looking well and obviously enjoying his role of chief test driver for McLaren. I spent quite a while downloading with him about the Senna’s handling, chassis, braking, and power/tire management after my drives.

For our first laps around Estoril, McLaren provided us with a 720S. Yes, to find our way around a circuit most of us had never seen before, we merely “warmed up” in the massively fast 720S. Imagine it as a 710-hp rent-a-car type of thing. Worth noting: The 720S is a rather well-balanced car, but I find it doesn’t have much in the way of aerodynamic downforce to help you, especially compared to other 700-plus-horsepower cars now available such as the Corvette ZR1, Porsche GT2 RS, and Lamborghini Huracan Performante. To get a fast lap in a 720S, you have to move/slide it around a lot, including through high-speed turns. Thankfully the car’s balance is so amenable and communicative that slipping and sliding it all day at “complete nutter” speeds is twitch-free and enjoyable. And, of course, the 720S is notably fast in a straight line. I have yet to drive any regular production car that’s quicker in a straight line, as it will run the quarter-mile in about 10 seconds—a staggeringly quick time.

After a few laps in the 720S “learner car,” it was time to jump into the Senna. I was excited and tried to take as much out of every minute as I could. Estoril is not a difficult track to learn, and apart from one horrible “slow them down” chicane, it was exactly as Ayrton Senna found it as he won his first F1 race. But thank goodness we did not have the horrendous rain Ayrton did on that particular April day.

The Senna’s controls are very similar to those in the 720S, apart from having several buttons (including the starter) mounted up in the roof, as you might find on an aircraft. McLaren says this saves weight, as it needs to run less wire through the car as a result. Both Sennas I drove were left-hand drive, and I had another pro driver who races in the FIA World Endurance Championship sitting next to me at all times on the track. After exchanging pleasantries, I told him I was mighty impressed that he would sit in the passenger seat of an 800-hp rocket with complete strangers, stumbling around an old F1 track. But he had an idea about my racing background and helped me learn the track quickly.

I will describe my on-track Senna-driving experience from the viewpoint of my second five-lap stint. At that stage, I was comfortable with where the track went and had a very good feel for the Senna’s handling at the limit. My pro-driver passenger seemed to be relaxed, saying nothing much at all during my final stint apart from a little chit chat until it was time for my cool-down lap.

If you have 800 hp of go, then you better have plenty of stopping power. The Senna can pull 2.1 g’s in deceleration, a number that is serious race-car good. The most common utterances I heard from other media folks were exclamations of how the Senna’s stopping power took their breath away once they figured out how hard they needed to press the pedal to get the most out of them. The brake feel is excellent and easy to modulate; I could just tickle the ABS or modulate deceleration to rotate the car on corner entry. You enter the brake zone for the 50-mph first turn at more than 180 mph so you better have the stoppers. No worries in this case, as the Senna’s brakes do the job.

The steering is quick but not too quick for my tastes. Although the Senna comes with Pirelli Tropheo R tires, they are still street tires and need a slower steering rate than a race tire to get the most from them, especially after they heat up. Once I slowed my hands down, I could manage the plentiful front grip much better. Slowing my hands gave my steering input more time to speak to the tire patch through the suspension. The Senna is sprung on the stiff side to handle the almost 1,800 pounds of total downforce it can generate at 155 mph. The stiffer suspension setup makes any steering input an almost instantaneous instruction to the tire patch, so it’s up to the driver to control this.

Another interesting point involves active aerodynamic features. The Senna has active front aero blades and an active rear wing. They move very quickly to help/adjust downforce relative to speed, deceleration, and cornering load; less on a long straight, more in a fast corner or under braking. The figure of 1,800 pounds of downforce at 155 mph in a 3,050-pound (fuel and driver included) street car is just amazing. The active aero also adjusts downforce to that maximum of 1,800 pounds due to tire-saving considerations, so the downforce level in theory could be even greater. For comparison, a new Corvette ZR1 or Porsche GT2 RS will produce about 450 pounds of downforce at 155 mph and a maximum around 1,000 pounds at their 212-or-so-mph top speeds. That’s not really any comparison to the Senna, which makes you think of a GT3 race car compared to a Prototype racer in terms of cornering speeds.

The other impressive part about the Senna suspension setup is the overall front-to-rear chassis balance. As stiff as it is, once I got my steering-wheel rate figured out on corner entry, I could use the steering and a slight throttle lift or slight left-foot braking to move the car and control rotation. This was very useful entering the mid-speed kinks. Downforce helped to make the turn-five kink easy to take flat-out at more than 130 mph. The ability to rotate the car on corner entry to mid-corner takes away the need for the front tires to do all the work, allowing me to carry more speed and making the car a joy to drive. I could also use these same techniques for post-apex/corner-exit power-down situations. It particularly worked well for putting the power down early in the Mini-Parabolica turn six and the really quick and long Ayrton Senna Parabolica turn 13. This car is so much fun to drive on the track at full rip, I have to tip my hat to the McLaren engineers and Kenny Brack for its development.

In terms of acceleration, I often find it is the least impressive part of high-performance road cars, especially when you get them on a track where everything around you is going equally as quick. However, the Senna feels impressively strong on acceleration, especially from 0-100 mph. When the turbos hit full boost, which is almost instantaneously, the horizon basically gets rammed down your throat. It’s a highly addictive experience.

If you look at the 720S, you have roughly 4.6 pounds per horsepower when you include fuel and a driver. You might be surprised to find a modern day GT3 race car would be around 6 pounds per horsepower. The Senna is a very impressive 3.7 pounds per horsepower, including fuel and a driver. It feels like a Prototype race car on acceleration, especially up to 100 mph, when the downforce is lower, and the car still pulled very strongly to more than 180 mph on Estoril’s front straight.

My laps in the Senna were over rather too quickly, but the memories will stay vivid for a long time to come. This is certainly the quickest street car I’ve ever driven on a track. McLaren has produced a vehicle well worthy of carrying the Senna name.

2019 McLaren Senna Specifications

ON SALE Fall 2018 (all 500 sold) PRICE $958,966 (base) ENGINE 4.0L twin-turbo DOHC 32-valve V-8/789 hp @ 7,250 rpm, 590 lb-ft @ 6,700 rpm TRANSMISSION 7-speed dual-clutch automatic LAYOUT 2-door, 2-passenger, front-engine, RWD coupe EPA MILEAGE N/A L x W x H 186.8 x 77.1 x 48.4 in WHEELBASE 105.0 in WEIGHT 2,900 lb 0-60 MPH 2.7 sec TOP SPEED 211 mph

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