BRZ steering is a little more numb compared to FR-S?
 

A few months ago I test drove a friend's FR-S and noticed a few small things compared to my BRZ. First of all, I did notice that the rear did feel stiffer and slightly more harsh than the BRZ (Hence the stiffer rear spring rates), but I also noticed that the steering feel on the FR-S was more precise. At lower speeds the steering was more direct and responsive compared to my BRZ. Is this steering feel contributed to the stiffer rear spring rate?

Number :drool:

No no, you're not getting it. The BRZ steering is numbered, like a limited quantity thing. My steering is #141/500.

hahaha oh wow, I didnt even catch that. I'm fixing it lol.

Sorry, I deleted. I numbed out.

I have a feeling it's in your head. Was your friend's car all stock?

The BRZ has stiffer front springs than the FRS, so if anything the steering should feel a bit more responsive assuming you're not beyond the limit of grip of the front end.

His car is completely stock, but has about 30k miles on the car. Mine is barely hitting 3k miles. Even when he drove my BRZ, he mentioned the car's steering was not as responsive.

There's only two possibilities, one of you has a defective car, or it's in both your heads.

Every last part of the suspension is identical except for the spring rates, including the steering column and rack.

How are were you pushing both cars? If it's well below the limit then you really shouldn't feel any differences at all. Are both cars 100% stock, even wheels/tires? The difference in feel/responsiveness between my summer and winter tires is way bigger than the difference from stock suspension to stiffer springs (swift sport) and a more aggressive alignment.

tire pressure?

edit: alignment settings? there's generally a large deviation allowable "within spec"

^^ Those too

I think that this could possibly be attributed to tire pressure as someone else has mentioned.

The FRS is prone to have more oversteer due to the different spring rates, which may be causing what you're feeling too... the BRZ in general is a bit more balanced and neutral.

Yeah I understand everything is identical besides spring rates and a few non-performance related parts. Maybe it is in both of our heads or it could be tire pressure and the fact that his stock tires has over 30k miles on it (less tread=more responsiveness...maybe). And yes both of our cars are completely stock.

This video claims that the steering feel is a little less responsive in the BRZ.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf-6rLVeR2o"]Scion FRS (GT86) vs. Subaru BRZ on Track - Everyday Driver - YouTube[/ame]

The steering response and rack ratios are identical... what you're feeling you are inappropriately attributing to be an issues with your steering equipment.

The different weight of the springs rates between the two cars, causes the car to act differently. This because spring rates can cause a cars weight distribution to react differently under situational scenarios.

When my BRZ was bone stock, and my friends FRS was bone stock... I totally felt that the FRS had noticeably more aggressive turn in at almost ANY speed. This is because of the stiffer spring rate in the FRS's butt. The reason you don't feel this in your BRZ, is because your car his less stiff rates in the rear. This causes weight to transfer differently...

If you enjoy this style, id recommend swift lowing springs. I absolutely loved them. You can also just go straight to a coil-over setup. You can also add a rear sway bar to accomplish more turn in as well. There is numerous ways to make the car react to the style you prefer.

I hope what I said makes sense.

This makes perfect sense to me as this is what I was guessing would be the cause of slightly better steering in the FR-S.