That series you expected to hate... and ended up really enjoying?

For me it was the Modern Off-Roaders in the Domination Championship. I didn’t do it the first time round, and I kept putting it off during the Elite Championships, until I finally got round to it today. I REALLY thought I was going to hate it, and at first, I did… The Ram Runner was a tank, so I ditched it for the Bowler, and what fun it became! I set 3 top-50 worldwide times, a top 100 and a top 200 and nearly topped the hardcore board around Rio, except on my fastest lap I just tagged the barrier so had to settle for second-best! I had to check the difficulty was set correctly (pro) because on COTA and Rio I would have lapped the drivatards if I didn’t stop on one lap to give myself some space to continue hotlapping!

What series did you expect to hate but then found fun?

90’s F1 series. Fast, tight handling, but not the psycho downforce of modern F1. Feared it’d be a chore, ended up being a joy.

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I’m with you…the 90s F1 series has been my favorite, complete stand out (whereas the open wheel 60-70s cars are a NIGHTMARE).

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Formula ford’s are good fun I also enjoyed a lot of the slower classes

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Mercedes Trucks were a lot more fun… set a couple 1st in the world’s at the time. Probably toppled now for sure but still fun.

I liked them but couldn’t get the hang or timing of the gear changes

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Same here, although I didn’t expect to hate them I was surprised by how much I enjoyed driving them. They’re just very pleasant to race around in, there’s no drama. Like going for a nice weekend drive, I use a wheel and found myself resting one of my arms and mostly driving with one hand

I also didn’t expect to enjoy many of the muscle car series. I’m not a massive muscle car guy, I like small sports cars with underpowered engines but nice handling. In comparison to proper sports cars, the muscle cars handle about as well as bag of dead badger and I think I loved them for that. I think the muscle reborn series really touched the part of me that loves driving crap cars

Bojack Horseman… oh, wait, you meant in the game.

There hasn’t been a series yet, but there was a Showdown with an oldish Audi Quattro race car that I thought I wouldn’t like. I generally don’t care for the race cars, but for some reason the engine sound for that car just made me happy.

The Audi showcase is probably the highlight of the game for me so far. And the Audi i5 turbo is one of the best sounding engines ever.

Formula Mazda. I thought I’d run through it quickly set on standard length races but after the first race I ran long and extra long races. The cars handled brilliantly with enough challenge to make it very rewarding when you hit the perfect corners

Not an independent series, but those endurances. I just fell in love with them. The longer it is, the better it is. All that mid race calculations how many laps i can get and how many laps i need to save fuel and tires makes it extremely enjoyable.
Not on pc tho… because of too many things to list here.

Got to be the Polaris RZR spec race for me, way more fun than I expected!

After I spent 30 seconds fettling with the suspension, I found it quite enjoyable too. The first race, as stock, was hell though. 3-wheeling everywhere.

Ah I just left it stock, Rio was hilarious!

Early prototype
I wasn’t going into it disliking it but now I really love them

That Mazda spec Bondurant little mini looking IndyCar thing was a blast. I had to buy rims just so I could figure out what size tires it had so I can get a proper tune on it. once I did that I could play with one eye open and destroyed the pro AI. I don’t think I let off the gas on any track, does that car have infinite grip or something? what a fun little beast.

And similarly the Ford EcoBoost spec car was a blast as well. If you take her under manual homologation you can actually get a front and back wing on it and stay within the pi. if you do that it’s almost like the AI never leave the starting line you, will obliterate them. As the stock versions have no wings and can’t even remotely go as fast around sweepers.

And lastly… Because, OMG how is this possible. The final races I did in elite career were the Formula One car. I cannot believe the downforce that this monster produces. The second to the last race taking that sweeping turn at Suzuka in the rain at 210 miles an hour flat was a joke. How can I get this kind of downforce on my road car so I can go get groceries quicker. LMAO!

Oh and with that Formula One car, once you actually get the rear tires to hook up shifting from 2nd through 7th is basically how fast can I slap the paddles on this steering wheel. I think the rev limiter light was blinking all the way through until I hit 8th gear. It has more horsepower than the space shuttle, holy nuclesr missle!

Probably the Modern Off-Roaders series like the OP. I used the Ram Runner FE and while it by no means handled great, it was miles better to drive than the trophy trucks or the Polaris. Not done the championship with the off-road buggies yet, but it should be interesting as those buggies are such a well-known staple when it comes to circuit racing on a smooth tarmac track.

Hey here’s some tips on the buggies. Pick the cholla it’s much better in all regards than the other one. Then go buy some rims for it, make them physically as big as you can. This will get you some decent tire ratios. Then buy the suspension bits, the springs and whatnot. And tighten that suspension up and you’ll run circles around the AI. If you try to drive it stock it’s a leaning, sliding nightmare.

I had a couple of surprises.

The SUV championship was great, the jaguar f pace is a weapon when tuned.

I also loved the mx5 spec championship, really teaches you to run through corners and not to lose momentum.

Formula Mazda has the sweet spot of balancing power and handling so you don’t find yourself spinning or into a wall with one quick mistake.

GT Racing Reborn has some nice variety in the cars on track both visually and by sound, and I liked the tracks used.