Forza Motorsport 5: Frozen Face-off

The Ferrari FF; Ferrari's first 4WD shooting brake. Once crossed a corner full of wee where the 458 spun off, and then raced at the snow with The Stig behind the wheel. The Continental GT Speed; a decade-old beauty from Bentley. Once had Captain Slow and Kris Meeke crossed through a rally course with this machine. Yes, these four-wheel drive machines are now facing off against each other in a so-called Frozen Face-off...minus the Frozen part because we're not in a cold area. No no no... Because this is Forza so let's compare these two!

Part of The Bondurant Car Pack is the new Bentley Continental GT Speed. The Speed is the flagship of the new Bentley Continental GT and it is essentially the most powerful version of the said car. The 6.0L twin-turbo W12 engine has been upgraded so it develops 625PS of power output, 50PS more than the standard model, with 800Nm of torque while mated with a new ZF eight-speed close-ratio automatic gearbox  and engine management system. It can do 0-60mph in four seconds and a top speed of 205mph.

And then, part of The Smoking Tire Car Pack is the Ferrari FF. Premiered at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, it is the first ever four-seater 4WD shooting brake made by Ferrari. Although it is a 4WD car, the FF comes with Ferrari's purpose-built 4RM four-wheel drive system where the torque is still delivered by the rear wheels while power can also be transferred to the front wheels when necessary. It comes with a new kind of V12 engine with direct injection technology, giving this a 0-100kph time of 3.7 seconds. After its announcement, a full-year supply of the FF has been sold out quickly.

You can think of the Bentley as Anna and the Ferrari as Elsa but first, I'd decided to give these two a warm-up practice at the Top Gear Test Track before setting off to Silverstone for their real challenge.



Look at those two 4WD grand tourers! They really like to "Let It Go" through the corners but only the Ferrari tries to catch things up because its 4WD system is not like any other 4WD layout you'd expect. This is not the car you would like the slack off because you have to work it all day long to survive the FF. The Bentley maybe more heavier than the FF but it feels more mild to drive thanks to its conventional 4WD system.

After their warm-up lap round the Top Gear Track, the results:

FF - 1:21.893
CGT - 1:24.581

So, the FF is quicker than the Bentley on this track because it's more lighter than the Bentley but later on, we're going to bring these two at Silverstone and see if they can attempt the same thing they've done when they've gone when Clarkson sent them on Top Gear's icy take of Silverstone, carved from snow from Arjeplog.