I'm looking at a vehicle rigger, not a drone specialist. Thinking about the poor guy strapped into his seat with his head flapping around got me thinking about how much difference VR actually makes, so I went and ran some numbers. There's a good chance I've missed something or messed up somehow, hence this post
For these comparisons, I'm going to assume identical skill levels, Intuition and IPs. As I'm including a control rig booster, the Rigger can't reach 5 IPs and the other 2 can reach 4, if more expensively. Reaction of 10 or Response of 6 seems likely for a hardcore vehicle user. If someone could run through and point out any glaring mistakes or omissions I'd be grateful.
Piloting first.
CODE
Piloting Sam Adept Rigger
Reactiion10 10
Response 6
Pilot Vehicle 6 6 6
Improved Ability 3
Augmented reality 1 1
Hot Sim VR 2
Control Rig 2
Reflex Recorder 1
Enhanced Articulation 1
Control rig booster 3
Threshold reduction 3
Total 19 20 22
If I got those figures right, the Rigger comes out slighlty ahead when the VR threshold reduction applies. The Adept is better at ramming and possibly opposed vehicle tests, I'm not sure how the threshold reduction would work there, if at all.
I'm also not sure if the Adepts Improved Ability works in AR or if it's possible for him to also use enhanced articulation and a reflex recorder on top of his +3 from Improved Ability.
Now initiative
CODE
Initiative Sam Adept Rigger
Reaction 10 10
Intuintion 4 4 4
Response 6
Response Enhancer 3
Hot SIM 1
Total 14 14 14
Unless I missed something, init's equal across the board. Time to move onto gunnery
CODE
Gunnery Sam Adept Rigger
Sensors 6 6 6
Gunnery 6 6 6
Improved Ability 3
Hot SIM 2
Control Rig 2
Total 12 15 16
Again, the Rigger is slightly ahead, and we're assuming now that the Adept's been able to get +3 Pilot, Gunnery and 4 IPs. He's either initiated or skint at this point

Basically, what I'm seeing is that piloting and init can be more or less equal, init is equal, but anything else the jumped in Rigger is ahead. Still not sure about the flapping head bit and the Rigger Cocoon's 1 minute entry/exit time is putting me off.
On which note, why do the GMC Banshee and the Honda pursuit cars come with Cocoon's but not Rigger Adaptions?