I was looking through lap times of different production cars, and there are some wildly out of place cars doing ring laptimes, some cars are faster than they seem they should be, while others are slower than they should be. Which got me thinking how some cars truly get tested in showroom condition, and others get the “marketing” treatment to produce a laptime a showroom car would never touch, solely to sell more cars. Then I found this article that talks exactly about just that.
https://www.thedrive.com/porsche/11012/nurburgring-times-dont-matter
I like the idea of a track that tests acceleration, braking, corerning, unsettling surfaces (corkscrew, kerbs, etc) and being long enough to notice any potential brakefade and other shortcomings that are only apparent after 5 mins of hard driving.
It would be nicer if it was done on “showroom-spec” cars like you mentioned though.
And also, the 'Ring is such a long track driven by so many drivers in so many different weather conditions, it seems nearly impossible to get consistent results.
The best test would be the same driver who’s job it is to drive every car on a much shorter track in a much more stable climate. But it’s probably an unrealistic wish.
I like Pobst Laguna Seca tests. It’s a pretty balanced track, also Road Atlanta is nice.