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Originally Posted by TF110
I don't see it as a great successor to lmp1's but it's not half as bad as you're making it out to be. You have to still make your own car, in dtm/gt500 the chassis is spec. You can also make or buy your own engine, in dtm/super gt it's a single formula and size. You can style your own car, dtm has to be a 2-door front engine coupe. If you make a road version you have greater freedom in the ers and engine area. The cars are back to 2000mm wide, they're also longer. They also have their own look and identity, something people complained about the lack of in lmp1 and their shape (not me).
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Situation is not bad, it's awful for those who watch racing from technical point of view.
Effectively they eliminate technical regulations. If you have any type of "performance window" than you do not have to generate any bright ideas (even if we consider any type of loopholes etc). If you are too slow then you'll be pulled your ears to the top by "balance" - you do not have to be good at engineering at all.
There's a huge difference with GT500 as they still have technical freedom in aero (side area under the doors) and suspension (I've read SARD won in 2016 because of tiny tricks with shock absorbers or something like that). As for engines - their formula is way more interesting than 500hp capped regs. They still have possibility to gain advantage by clever engineering with prechamber ignition and so on. This is not a show, this is sport - if Nissan have some problems with engines (because they have no programs in racing championships to gain info from) than it's theirs problems and they deal with it, like in real life.
So, even if you have strict regulations you still have technical freedom. It's essential thing for every engineer who has to deal with Physics and Physical laws that are way more serious than any tech regs. And these laws have no wavers at all. And there's no "balance" to improve the situation. You have to be (or, in fact, become) a genius to deal with it and get any type of advantage.
2020 regs are "free" only for marketing lads. From engineering point of view it's a complete null function.
OK, still with some descent commentators you can get some technical flavour. IIRC Rob Barff tried to explain how different GT3 cars deal with some tracks in British GT in 2008 (or so). It was rather interesting. But since then I've never heard anything like that. Just "this track suits this car" or "something goes wrong with that car today". I bet it's going to be the same with 2020. "Freedom" and no place for clever engineering. That's it.