Anyone else finding it difficult to manoeuvre the Elise 111R around this track? I'm using standard physics, manual gears and no assists, and for the life of me I can't make a competitive effort at this track without spinning out. I can gain one position and hold it by being super-careful around the track (ie. slow), but it seems one tiny slip up in this car will fuck you over. It feels like a totally different car to the one in GT5P that I could fairly easily throw into corners. The car is a mid-engine, rear wheel drive, so it will always have a tendency to push the back out if you're not careful (despite being a fairly light car), but I can't seem to figure out the right amount of counter-steer without over-compensating and spinning out, or under-compensating and going straight off the track or staying on it but losing too much speed. 
 
Am I alone in this instance, and just need to learn to master the car, or is everyone else having similar difficulties?

It's pretty much impossible without assists.  I turned some on and still went pretty drift heavy and was able to do pretty well on occasions where it didn't disqualify me for the slightest nudge on a CPU car.  I actually got within a tenth of a second of winning it but raged after that.  I really don't think it's worth it.  Come back to it later.

You need to drive it like you drove the go-carts. Steer gently and more power means more grip. Elise is, like you said fairly light car, actually it's really light. So you need to have some speed to get the downforce for the rear. If you have some troubles with the race, maybe you should  try to stay behind for a few seconds, so that you can drive a lap without worrying about the other drivers. Learn the feel of the car. Once you get used to it, Elise is amazing car, which goes around the track like on rails.

I've struggled, put it down to my like of skills, and will come back to it. Just like gold for the VW and all the gran tour stuff and that nascar guy a go put cones where the sun don't shine. I'll come back to it when I'm better.

Thanks for the replies guys. 
 
@SILIK: Thanks for the advice. Funny thing is, I went straight into this after blazing through the beginner and intermediate karting races, so I thought the influence they had on my driving might have been to blame. I see what you mean though, and I'm gonna give it a few more tries before calling it quits!

I still cant beat the bus...-_-

I just went through it again and this time saved the replay. So...if you like, you can add me as your friend (SILIK-Fi) and see how I did it. I think you should be able to download it from my profile...or atleast I hope so.
 
It's not the prettiest two laps, few mistakes here and there. On the first lap I messed up in the Chicago and on the both laps in second to last corner it came really close for disqualification. Also I did win with something like 0,012 seconds to spare :D. All the settings in the car was as it were, none has been changed. ABS 1 and Traction Control I think was on 5.

" I still cant beat the bus...-_- "

" I just went through it again and this time saved the replay. So...if you like, you can add me as your friend (SILIK-Fi) and see how I did it. I think you should be able to download it from my profile...or atleast I hope so.  It's not the prettiest two laps, few mistakes here and there. On the first lap I messed up in the Chicago and on the both laps in second to last corner it came really close for disqualification. Also I did win with something like 0,012 seconds to spare :D. All the settings in the car was as it were, none has been changed. ABS 1 and Traction Control I think was on 5. "

yes this one is a bitch. i finshed 5th  and am now working on first. as for the car spinning out, it is squirly as fuck. you need to break in a straight line to avoid spinning out. im using a racing wheel so i can hold some of the slides every so offten. to place high you need to break late in almost every turn. you are rarely going to over take on the straights. on the first turn pass on the inside in 2nd gear. after you make the first turn dont bother shifting up to to 3rd. just red line and stay in 2nd. in Chicago pass on the inside again and drop down to 1st. coming out of Chicago do you best to stay on the inside. now on the straight coming into hammer head reach 4th gear stay on the right and break late, drop back down to 1st and take the turn.  coming up to the follow through be in 3rd gear. the best way is to take the turn slight and stay next to the cones. your going to have to slide a bit to get through it with any amount of speed. the same thing goes for the follow through it self only you should be able to make the turn in 4th, but again a slight power slide is needed and you need to cut the corner as close as you can. gambon  im still struggling with. again my attempts prove that you need to break way late into that turn. you should be able to pass 2 or 3 of them in gambon . and you should be able to make it in 2nd gear. il keep trying and if i manage first il post my video to try and show you what i mean. i hope this helps.

I usually race without assists but this Elise is a snap oversteer pile. Complete bullshit physics in play here...this game doesn't get too much right. 
Here's how a real Elise handles 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmPjzeZFgtQ
 
Anyway, yeah I had to jack up the assists for this one to pass it. The problem with skipping this is that these Special events are by far the fastest way to progress. Going through the normal series' is painfully slow!

Just a quick update on this - I finally managed to get gold in it, but with all the assists turned on :( Not sure how I'd do it without them, you have to be very aggressive, yet very careful not to hit any other drivers.

all of the topgear races are frustrating !!to the point where ive given up now really cant be assed with them lol

" Just a quick update on this - I finally managed to get gold in it, but with all the assists turned on :( Not sure how I'd do it without them, you have to be very aggressive, yet very careful not to hit any other drivers. "

" I usually race without assists but this Elise is a snap oversteer pile. Complete bullshit physics in play here...this game doesn't get too much right.  Here's how a real Elise handles  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmPjzeZFgtQ  Anyway, yeah I had to jack up the assists for this one to pass it. The problem with skipping this is that these Special events are by far the fastest way to progress. Going through the normal series' is painfully slow! "

" @eroticfishcake: Nice. I'd go back in and try it without any assists, but I'd probably end up breaking something. "

" @Sander said:

" I usually race without assists but this Elise is a snap oversteer pile. Complete bullshit physics in play here...this game doesn't get too much right.  Here's how a real Elise handles  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmPjzeZFgtQ  Anyway, yeah I had to jack up the assists for this one to pass it. The problem with skipping this is that these Special events are by far the fastest way to progress. Going through the normal series' is painfully slow! "

lol did you even watch the video? It pretty much showed that even Jeremy couldn't drive that car properly and of course the second guy knew how to drive it, he's the friggin CHASSIS ENGINEER. I also like how you call the physics bullshit because you don't fully understand all of it. The reason this car is a handful is becuase its on Comfort Tires as apposed to the usual Sport set that it should be riding on. It's not the games fault if you're not adjusting accordingly. It makes for some tense driving and I love it. Took a bunch of tries but I managed to Gold it with no assists, just ABS 1.
 
For anyone that actually wants to pass, @Jackel2072 posted some really helpful tips. "

" @skunk said:

" @Sander said:

" I usually race without assists but this Elise is a snap oversteer pile. Complete bullshit physics in play here...this game doesn't get too much right.  Here's how a real Elise handles  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmPjzeZFgtQ  Anyway, yeah I had to jack up the assists for this one to pass it. The problem with skipping this is that these Special events are by far the fastest way to progress. Going through the normal series' is painfully slow! "

lol did you even watch the video? It pretty much showed that even Jeremy couldn't drive that car properly and of course the second guy knew how to drive it, he's the friggin CHASSIS ENGINEER. I also like how you call the physics bullshit because you don't fully understand all of it. The reason this car is a handful is becuase its on Comfort Tires as apposed to the usual Sport set that it should be riding on. It's not the games fault if you're not adjusting accordingly. It makes for some tense driving and I love it. Took a bunch of tries but I managed to Gold it with no assists, just ABS 1.
 
For anyone that actually wants to pass, @Jackel2072 posted some really helpful tips. "

 However much I don't fully understand the physics, it's on record that you understand even less. If you've actually played the Elise Top Gear event and seen that youtube clip, I question if you even have eyes.   Clarkson continuously talks about the cars' understeer, complaining about it, demonstrating it etc. If it wasn't for the engineer from Lotus, you would never see the back end step out- he has to literally force out the back end with aggressive faint motion AND even when the back end is out, it's only regressive oversteer meaning that whatever he does, the back end quickly comes back in line.  The Stig pushes a really fast lap on a wet track and not once do you see the oversteer that you experience every moment in GT5's Elise. If the physics model in GT5 were true, then the only explanation about the characteristics of the Elise is that it was intentionally set up to an almost drift setting. But it's not. "

"The reason this car is a handful is because it's on --->COMFORT TIRES<--- as apposed to the usual Sport set that it should be riding on"

I managed to get a Gold trophy on the buses, it was almost impossible but I did it. I also came in Second on the Elise one but that wasn't good enough, I need Gold. He was RIGHT in front of me. I'm not sure if any assists were on I have no idea how to even do it, but my only advice is to not rush yourself and take them over on the turns. The driving line is a must because it tells you perfectly when to brake, don't try to follow the line though i found if you deviate from the line a little you'll get better times.

omg I thought the bus challenge was hard, the lotus is kicking my ass. I must gold though. What assists are you guys using?

" @Sander said:

" @skunk said:

" @Sander said:

" I usually race without assists but this Elise is a snap oversteer pile. Complete bullshit physics in play here...this game doesn't get too much right.  Here's how a real Elise handles  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmPjzeZFgtQ  Anyway, yeah I had to jack up the assists for this one to pass it. The problem with skipping this is that these Special events are by far the fastest way to progress. Going through the normal series' is painfully slow! "

lol did you even watch the video? It pretty much showed that even Jeremy couldn't drive that car properly and of course the second guy knew how to drive it, he's the friggin CHASSIS ENGINEER. I also like how you call the physics bullshit because you don't fully understand all of it. The reason this car is a handful is becuase its on Comfort Tires as apposed to the usual Sport set that it should be riding on. It's not the games fault if you're not adjusting accordingly. It makes for some tense driving and I love it. Took a bunch of tries but I managed to Gold it with no assists, just ABS 1.
 
For anyone that actually wants to pass, @Jackel2072 posted some really helpful tips. "

 However much I don't fully understand the physics, it's on record that you understand even less. If you've actually played the Elise Top Gear event and seen that youtube clip, I question if you even have eyes.   Clarkson continuously talks about the cars' understeer, complaining about it, demonstrating it etc. If it wasn't for the engineer from Lotus, you would never see the back end step out- he has to literally force out the back end with aggressive faint motion AND even when the back end is out, it's only regressive oversteer meaning that whatever he does, the back end quickly comes back in line.  The Stig pushes a really fast lap on a wet track and not once do you see the oversteer that you experience every moment in GT5's Elise. If the physics model in GT5 were true, then the only explanation about the characteristics of the Elise is that it was intentionally set up to an almost drift setting. But it's not. "

blah blah blah, you either skimmed my post or i question if you even have eyes. It's on record that you need shiny things to pay attention. Here it is again so you don't get distracted: 
 

"The reason this car is a handful is because it's on --->COMFORT TIRES<--- as apposed to the usual Sport set that it should be riding on"

  Feel free to keep talking down to me though, it's very amusing. "

" @skunk said:

" @Sander said:

" @skunk said:

" @Sander said:

" I usually race without assists but this Elise is a snap oversteer pile. Complete bullshit physics in play here...this game doesn't get too much right.  Here's how a real Elise handles  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmPjzeZFgtQ  Anyway, yeah I had to jack up the assists for this one to pass it. The problem with skipping this is that these Special events are by far the fastest way to progress. Going through the normal series' is painfully slow! "

lol did you even watch the video? It pretty much showed that even Jeremy couldn't drive that car properly and of course the second guy knew how to drive it, he's the friggin CHASSIS ENGINEER. I also like how you call the physics bullshit because you don't fully understand all of it. The reason this car is a handful is becuase its on Comfort Tires as apposed to the usual Sport set that it should be riding on. It's not the games fault if you're not adjusting accordingly. It makes for some tense driving and I love it. Took a bunch of tries but I managed to Gold it with no assists, just ABS 1.
 
For anyone that actually wants to pass, @Jackel2072 posted some really helpful tips. "

 However much I don't fully understand the physics, it's on record that you understand even less. If you've actually played the Elise Top Gear event and seen that youtube clip, I question if you even have eyes.   Clarkson continuously talks about the cars' understeer, complaining about it, demonstrating it etc. If it wasn't for the engineer from Lotus, you would never see the back end step out- he has to literally force out the back end with aggressive faint motion AND even when the back end is out, it's only regressive oversteer meaning that whatever he does, the back end quickly comes back in line.  The Stig pushes a really fast lap on a wet track and not once do you see the oversteer that you experience every moment in GT5's Elise. If the physics model in GT5 were true, then the only explanation about the characteristics of the Elise is that it was intentionally set up to an almost drift setting. But it's not. "

blah blah blah, you either skimmed my post or i question if you even have eyes. It's on record that you need shiny things to pay attention. Here it is again so you don't get distracted: 
 

"The reason this car is a handful is because it's on --->COMFORT TIRES<--- as apposed to the usual Sport set that it should be riding on"

  Feel free to keep talking down to me though, it's very amusing. "

Out of all the things you listed, that's your prevailing point now? And I did indirectly address it with my comment about the car being set up for drifting. I guess you didn't understand so lemme dumb it down a notch: The grip on the tires is relative front to back. Meaning that all 4 tires have less grip, not just the rears. Meaning that the car is less able to turn in as sharply, therefore less able to kick out the rear end and get understeer.Your argument could only make sense if only the rear tires were comfort tires and the fronts were something better.  And I don't need to keep talking down to you- you started it, I've finished it. "