McLaren MP4-31

The McLaren MP4-31 is a Formula One race car that was used by the McLaren Honda team during the 2016 Formula One season. It is the last McLaren Formula One race car to carry the "MP4" name following CEO Ron Dennis's departure from the team.

Description
The McLaren MP4-31 was designed by McLaren to compete in the 2016 Formula One season. The car was driven by 2005 and 2006 World Drivers' Champion Fernando Alonso and 2009 World Champion Jenson Button, and reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who replaced Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix following the Spaniard's accident at the Australian Grand Prix which deemed him unfit for the next event. The car used the Honda RA616H power unit, the second engine developed by Honda since their return to the sport with McLaren in 2015.

Despite the Honda power unit still being underpowered and uncompetitive compared to former rival teams, McLaren collected 76 points to place 6th in the constructors' standings, with Alonso achieving a best finish of 5th twice, as well as setting a fastest lap at the 2016 Italian Grand Prix. Alonso, Button and Vandoorne came 10th, 15th and 20th in the standings respectively.

Summary
The McLaren MP4-31 was added to the game during the Car Blueprints Update (v3.0.0) as a Championship-unlockable car.

The McLaren MP4-31 is a high-end vehicle in Class S. It has a very high starting rank of 1624 (shared with the W Motors Fenyr Supersport), a hidden theoretical MAX rank of 1738, and a PRO rank of 1813. The MP4-31 receives a Tuning Kit boost of +27.

Being a McLaren Formula One car, the McLaren MP4-31 lacks MAX upgrades and instead has twice as many PRO upgrades (10).

The McLaren MP4-31 has a cosmetic Speed Modification of 92.95%, which causes its real speed to appear higher on the speedometer.

Performance
The McLaren MP4-31 excels in top speed, handling, acceleration, and drifting. However, it has a poor nitro efficiency of 8/14/18, although it partially negates this with a higher raw top speed compared to its closest rivals. The MP4-31 skids frequently and can often spin uncontrollably when going off ramps, making it a "high risk + high reward" vehicle. The MP4-31's high instability is due to its extremely sensitive handling statistic of 1.400 Gs, which allows it to take many corners without drifting (much like the Mercedes-Benz Biome). With all statistics considered, the MP4-31 ranks as the overall 3rd-best vehicle in the entire game, after the Aston Martin Vulcan and Arrinera Hussarya GT.

Official review
This is the official review of the McLaren MP4-31 on the Asphalt YouTube channel, made by TheHawtDawg1 and published on April 13, 2017:

Time to reach end of Tokyo straight: 6.798s

Perfect nitro duration: 7.755s

Triple nitro duration: 5.709s

French Guiana lap time: 54.021s

Final verdict: "The McLaren MP4-31 is a top S Class car that can challenge the Aston Martin Vulcan. It's main flaws are the nitro duration and lack of grip on the track which makes the car only for the professionals!"

Usage (Multiplayer)
The McLaren MP4-31, if driven with extreme/above-average skill, can be one of the best Multiplayer Vehicles in the entire game, at full PRO (it can be used to reach 2300-2500 rating). The easiest method to avoid skids with the MP4-31 is to not steer the vehicle (ie, to drive the vehicle in a straight line, like a sleigh). Also, it is best to avoid "fights" with other drivers whenever possible.

Usage (TLEs)
At full PRO, as described in the Performance Section, the McLaren MP4-31 is very good for Class S TLEs (which always have only 1-lap). The MP4-31 is the best vehicle in the entire game on some tracks and it is usually at least in the top 5 for the rest of the tracks. The MP4-31 is often able to achieve a position within the top 100 of Class S Leaderboards. If not, it is almost always able to achieve a position within the top 300, with good driving skill.

Credits-Grinding
At full PRO, the McLaren MP4-31 has a Credits Grinding-suitable Car Mastery Challenge (15), set as a Flawless race in Dubai. The MP4-31 can complete its Grinding-race in ~44 seconds. Given the fact that the MP4-31 is the second/third-best vehicle in the entire game (especially on 1-lap tracks) and has a much smaller Tuning Kit bonus than most of its main rivals (Vulcan, Hussarya GT, MP4-25, Corvette GS, BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage, Aventador SV, Devel Sixteen, and SLK SE; the exception is the NEMESIS, which is slightly worse, anyway) [note: this means that the MP4-31 has the best performance out of all of these vehicles when unboosted], and also given that Dubai is the MP4-31's most optimal track (and also the shortest in the entire game), this means that the MP4-31's Mastery Challenge 15 offers the SHORTEST UNBOOSTED TRACK TIME in the entire history of the game (making it extremely efficient).

The Credits-Payout of the Credits Grinding-race is for coming first and an additional   for achieving Medals (if VIP Bonus and the Double Credits Booster are taken out of the equation). Of course, the MP4-31's Mastery Challenge 15 race is an advanced option, given that the vehicle is very difficult to fully PRO; also, the MP4-31 is very difficult to drive as it skids occasionally, and the race is Flawless.

The MP4-31 also has a decent Credits Grinding-race in Season 10, located in San Diego Harbor (Classic; no rank restriction). This race offers a slightly lower Credits-Payout ( + ) and has a slightly longer track time (~49 seconds at full PRO), in exchange for not being Flawless. The main advantage of this race is that it can be unlocked without full PRO upgrades applied to the vehicle.

Car Mastery Rewards
The McLaren MP4-31 also offers through its Mastery Challenges, which is by far the highest Tokens-payout for any Mastery Series in the game. The MP4-31 also offers through its Mastery Challenges, which is the second-highest payout of any Mastery Series, only behind the 2015 GTA Spano.

Price
When on sale, the McLaren MP4-31 costs to purchase (it has previously been sold for  with a 20% discount). Pro Kits require, 23 of each Class S Parts card, 52 Custom Racing Engines, 24 Mid-Tech cards, and 32 Advanced Tech cards.

Availability
Following its debut in the Championship event, it is currently unknown when the McLaren MP4-31 will be made available for sale in the Garage. Currently, the MP4-31 and Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport are the only exclusive cars from the Car Blueprints Update that cannot be obtained with Blueprints yet.

Championship
The McLaren MP4-31 Championship was held as the fourth and final McLaren Championship event on March 29, 2017, following the revival of the Weber Faster One's Enduro Double Down event. The following 8 Tours must be completed in 10 days once the Championship is started: French Guiana, Barcelona, Patagonia, Azure Coast, Iceland, Venice, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo. The event was revived during the Motorcycles Update on September 21st, 2017