The F458 Challenge

Surprisingly enough, the Ferrari Virtual Academy released a sport car available for everyone to use, while the scope of the simulator was to focus on the F10, it has received additional content in order to make the Ferrari experience more accessible to anyone. Maybe the Ferrari simulator could have been expanded more but Ferrari's lack of plan and Kunos switching focus to Assetto Corsa (Providing both people and Ferrari a "Ferrari simulator") killed Ferrari Virtual Academy expansion.

This year the Ferrari simulator enables you to confront yourself also with a different type of car, drastically different from the Formula 1 single-seater: the 458 Challenge, based on the Ferrari 458 Italia, awarded, the second year in a row, with the title "Performance Car of the Year" by the British magazine "Auto Express", comparing the car in a test with a group of exceptional supercars.

The 458 Italia's V8 engine with its direct injection and a capacity of 4499 cm3, generating 570 bhp at 9000 rpm, strictly remains the engine used in the serial production car, while regarding the F1-gearbox with double-clutch some modifications have been carried out involving the ratio and the calibration, to ensure better acceleration under race conditions. Employing the electronically controlled E-Diff differential, used in the road car, is a novelty regarding the previous models used on the track.

Significant modifications on the car's exterior and interior have been carried out regarding weight reduction, using carbon fibre and Lexan. The adjustment work lead to a specific set up thanks to the modifications of the car's suspension, fitted with racing steel joints, single-calibration aluminium dampeners, forged 19''rims with centre lock wheel, Pirelli slicks with bigger dimensions and a chassis clearance lowered by 50 mm.

All these characteristics have been faithfully reproduced in the simulation: the car has been driven thousands of virtual kilometres to verify the efficiency and the set ups to bring the 458 Challenge as close as possible to his counterpart in real life. The same is true for the aesthetic details and the car's 3D model, reproduced with the original CAD models: the car is available in three different liveries. At this point the 458 Challenge, available in the Ferrari Virtual Academy, represents the best possible virtual implementation on a PC of one of the most desired cars from Ferrari: an extremely performing and entertaining car, which is why one has to remember that this is not an F1 single-seater and therefore has to adjust braking and driving style. A completely new challenge for the fans of the Ferrari Virtual Academy.