GT Life - Issue 2 by Cliff Hazard

GTlife #2 June 2011

Introduction | Welcome.

The facts It’s been quite a while since the release of GTlife number one and the positive feedback and general response has been truly amazing. Statistics at issuu.com reveals that our previous publication attracted more than 18.500 readers and a whopping 327.000 page views! These are numbers I never even thought this project would come close to, which makes it that much more fun to carry on and develop. After the initial magazine I was a bit worried that the amount of articles would drop a bit, but on the contrary, they increased by quite a margin. This means that some of you who sent an article might not have been published in this number, but fear not, all the articles are safely stored for future use. I think GTlife will carry on, growing strong among the Gran Turismo community in both authors and readers. It’s certainly inspiring to think about what people can create and accomplish with the passion for things they hold dear. In this case, we love cars.

Cover courtesy of bello2185

Special thanks to the two proofreaders who helped me with this copy of GTlife!

Kai Noeske & David Hoch

If you would like to write an article of your own, please contact granturismo.mag@gmail.com for instructions on how to get started, or visit the forums at GTPlanet.net for more information. All authors get credited by name, PSN ID or their GTPlanet username in their respective article. All contributions are nonprofit.

Thanks! GTlife is an unofficial fan-made magazine and is not endorsed or sanctioned by Polyphony Digital Inc. or Sony Computer Entertainment. All opinions in any of the articles in GTlife are the authors’ personal thoughts and opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of GTlife itself.

Introduction | Index

Index 01 Bugatti vs. McLaren.....................05 GT300............................................... 09 Fully tuned car............................. 17 Lamborghini Gallardo review..21 Cheap thrills.................................. 23 X1 Tune............................................29 Lotus Evora review...................... 31 The Beauty of Gran Turismo...... 33 Tweed with Sport trim.................37 The Racecraft Guide.....................39 Le Mans Road Version review.. 42 The Complete Experience...........

Reprint of this magazine is encouraged to help spread the joy of the Gran Turismo franchise, as long as no content is edited in any way. You are free to quote articles from the magazine, but please refer to the source. GTlife is a free internet magazine which is produced by the community of GTPlanet.net with the intention of being distributed as a print-ready digital

magazine throughout the world. Our authors and contributors originate from all over the globe. GTlife aims to give its readers news, exclusive interviews, reports and informative articles to enhance the Gran Turismo experience. For more information, please send an email to granturismo.mag@gmail.com or visit the forum at www.gtplanet.net.

Article | Building a racing cockpit

Building the

complete experience Thinking back to 1994, I still remember my first driving experience very vividly. Finally sitting in the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel and slamming my foot down on the pedals; I just loved it. Then only a few minutes later I went around a corner too fast and flipped my entire car! Luckily for me, that first driving experience was in the arcade game Daytona USA. Sitting in the realistic cockpit, hearing the roar of the engines, taking in the lifelike graphics (for the time) on a massive 50” screen and I was instantly hooked on racing games.

few years later and despite only having 4 courses and 3 cars to choose from, for months I was addicted to Sega Rally on the Saturn. Even with just a controller, I loved having the racing experience in my own home. Then a few years after that, I got a steering wheel and Le Mans 24 Hours for the Sega Dreamcast. My brother and I actually completed a nonstop 24 hour race, taking turns every hour and a half. I wrote about the experience in my own e-magazine (Sega World Weekly / Dreamcast Weekly) and it turned out the developers happened to be subscribers themselves. I received an email and t-shirts from some very nice guys at Infogrames. Since then I’ve played a variety of racing games, but none of the experiences stood out like those first few. For Gran Turismo 5 however, I decided I wanted to

create a full on racing experience for myself. I looked at cockpits to attach a wheel to, but living in New Zealand, I couldn’t find any for sale here. Some of the ones people had created and shown on the GTPlanet forums looked very impressive though, so I thought I could build my own. One member, Mr Latte, was building a simply stunning looking chrome cockpit. Better looking than any professionally made cockpit, it inspired me to create something not just functional, but impressive looking too. However, having never built anything before, I knew I was in for a challenge! Wood sounded like the easiest material to use, and with that in mind, I began coming up with a design. I didn’t know about SketchUp or other design programs, so I used Photoshop, a scale of 1 pixel = 1cm and a whole heap of layers. I knew what I

wanted to include; a Logitech G27 wheel, Z-5500 speakers, a Buttkicker and of course, a cup holder. I also wanted it on wheels, and rather than having an adjustable seat, I wanted the front and back of the entire unit to slide together or apart. That way it wouldn’t take up so much room when I wasn’t using it. Over time, some ideas matured, some were dropped, but the feedback from GTPlanet was always invaluable at moving the design forward. I switched to reverse mounted pedals thanks to Chilicoke’s video tutorial, and I dropped the Z-5500 speakers. I already had surround sound in my living room and unless I wanted the seat to be over 60cm from the ground, there just wasn’t room for the subwoofer and speakers in the cockpit. As one forum member pointed out too, at that height it looked like I was building something to race monster trucks ;)

Article | Building a racing cockpit

Of course I found few design changes don’t bring new problems of their own. Now the front was very round, and while I didn’t know much at all about building, I knew wood doesn’t like to bend. It looked so good though, I knew I’d find some way to make it work. Once I was happy with the design I went tool shopping and bought an electric drill, a jigsaw cutter, a regular saw, and sand paper. I figured out how many sheets of wood I’d need, and began measuring then cutting. I quickly learned however, that unlike in a computer where you can just separate pixels, cutting the wood actually takes a few millimetres off each edge. So I had to tweak the entire design to account for that, then I found that translating the GT logo from the screen to wood was no easy task either. In the end I printed the GT shape across multiple sheets

Once the pieces were cut and I had drilled enough practice holes to feel confident about drilling, I made the holes and screwed each piece together. I chose screws instead of nails so that I could easily take it apart when I needed to adjust something, like to sand a little off a piece to make it fit better. After much screwing and unscrewing, I realized an electric drill doubles as an electric screwdriver, which would have made things much easier if I’d noticed that beforehand.

”

As far as the design was progressing though, I still wasn’t happy with the overall shape. “DrBoyton” of GTPlanet managed to include a cut out GT logo in the front of his cockpit, which I thought looked great. I took that idea a step further and made the entire sides of mine more like the GT logo.

of paper, cut those out and stuck them together with tape. For some reason they wouldn’t come out quite the right size, but the third time was the charm. Next I placed it on the wood, and traced around it.

I quickly learned however, that unlike in a computer where you can just separate ”

So instead I lowered the seat and put a Buttkicker BKA-300 Wireless Kit under there. That used the bass channel to shake the whole seat, but of course it would shake to the beat of any game music too. So I added a small-ish set of Divoom Xforce-2 speakers under the wheel, and an iPod dock. That way the PlayStation 3 outputs just sound effects to the Buttkicker and my surround sound speakers.

Article | Building a racing cockpit

As suspected, attaching the curved front was the hardest part. Making it from thin wood and holding it in place with brackets was a success however. Strong glue, nails and a combination of the two were not so successful. After lots of painting, what had started as an image in Photoshop was now in front of me, ready to be sat in. Surprisingly, I had made it without injuring myself! Although somehow I broke my jigsaw cutter (the blade doesn’t go up and down anymore), luckily that happened when I was nearly finished. The front & back slid together well, and I had glued black felt in certain places to stop the wood scraping against itself. Also two bolts slide through various holes in the base to keep the front & back just where you want them.

Taking it for a test drive, not since playing Daytona USA all those years ago had I felt so immersed in a racing game! The Buttkicker really made such a difference too; when I started my engine, when I drove over a rumble strip or landed back on the road after a jump, I really felt it. And hitting another car was almost enough of a jolt to make people watching jump! The force feedback of the G27 Wheel was strong, sharp and quiet, and the resistance of the pedals felt just right. Plus while I hadn’t attached my cup holder, there was enough room in the cockpit to fit a 1.5 litre bottle of drink right next to the seat.

GT5 hadn’t been delayed last year, there was a good chance my cockpit would have been smashed or heavily damaged in the 7.2 earthquake here last September. Then during this year’s big quake of Feb 22nd I was actually driving in the unit. For a split second I thought I’d set the Buttkicker on way too high, then I realized what was happening and I leapt up and held the TV so it didn’t fall on the cockpit. ■

Text & photo: Graham Parker

Overall, a lot of designing, learning and working went into making the cockpit, but some luck played a part too. If

Article | Bugatti Veyron VS McLaren F1

Bugatti Veyron VS McLaren F1 Step back nearly 20 years, and the king of the road cars was the MacLaren F1, which completely raised the bar to another level from cars that came before it. Around 15 years later, the bar was raised again by the Bugatti Veyron, the current road king. However, there are still many people questioning if the Veyron really is a complete package when compared to the F1, wondering which is truly fastest and which one is the best to drive. Sadly, since I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t own either car, the best I can do is test them in GT5, which isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t exactly a bad thing. Now that I have the resources, the two questions need answering. Which car is faster? Which car is the better drive?

Article | Bugatti Veyron VS McLaren F1

he best way to test these two cars, since I needed to drive both cars and I couldn’t drive both at the same time, was a time attack; more specifically, a 3-Lap Battle around my favourite track in GT5: the Nürburgring. It’s possibly the best track for testing a car in the game, and also possibly the best to test any car in real life. With its mixture of long and short straights, sharp and long corners, and a diverse selection of road surfaces it’s a test of car and driver. I also planned on doing a 3-Lap Battle around Tsukuba as it’s a nice short test track. The cars would also battle it out in two drag races, starting out with

a 1/4 mile race and ending with a full mile. I set off and got my two cars ready by giving them both an oil change, and then I installed sports soft tyres, which were chosen to maximise grip while still keeping in touch of a realistic tyre style. The cars were now ready to be tested, but one last thing was needed: A quick wash later, and we were headed to the ‘Ring. Let’s get right down to business, ignoring the lush green landscape and skipping straight to the asphalt. I decided to go for the Veyron first, and I went to do some practice laps. The first thing that struck me

about the car was that it felt heavy (rather appropriately, since it does indeed weight quite a lot), and the cornered as if it were an oil tanker because it. Its understeer was so bad that it took me quite a few laps to get used to the car. The brakes also didn’t work to their full potential due to the weight, and I needed to change the brake bias to get a good setup. That said, the car was very stable on corner exit, so having a heavy foot wasn’t a bad thing. The back end felt glued to the road; it never kicked out no matter how hard I drove it. The amount of power was good too, with a nice healthy surge on the straights, however,

Article | Bugatti Veyron VS McLaren F1

for a thousand horsepower, it felt rather slow, once again due to the weight. A few laps later, it was time to go for the challenge: 3 laps of the ring, the best time counts. Lap one was a bit scruffy and on cold tyres; time couldn’t really be made up in the first sector. I achieved a time of 6:51:048, but I knew the car had more. Lap two was better at 6:50:808, but I still knew the car was faster. Lap 3 achieved the best time of the day, 6:50:107. The car required longer braking distance than I am used to on the ‘Ring, and I had to lift off on some sections while others I could take flat out in other cars because the front end became light and wouldn’t steer. This is due in part to the Veyron’s slippery body, which is necessary to achieve its monstrous 254 mph top speed. Now that the Veyron had set the benchmark, it was time to take the F1 for a spin. I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. I never bought the F1 until then, which is strange as I love the car, but in GT5 there are so many good cars that it was sort of forgotten. A close setup to the Veyron’s was adopted, and it few practice laps to get used to the brakes and cornering of the car compared to the Veyron. It was immediately apparent that the F1 has loads more front end grip. The front felt more responsive and thus much better to drive than the Veyron, but the back end was very loose and I needed to adjust my driving style to stop the back swinging out, which is quite a hard task when you have 600hp going to the back wheels on a track that has seemingly endless corners. The brakes were also much more effective because of the lighter body, and the car felt more nimble through the corners. The F1 is a harder

Article | Bugatti Veyron VS McLaren F1

car to drive on the limit, but it’s a real driver’s car. Once I was comfortable with the car, I started the time attack. On the first lap, I managed 6:49:286, immediately faster than the Veyron, so immediately the F1 won the first test. I decided to continue the laps to see what time I could get, as my first lap was rather messy. Lap two was 6:47:577 and lap three was the fastest at 6:46:631. Around the ‘Ring, the F1 is by far the faster car. A good 5 seconds almost. I thought the Veyron would have won this race as the ‘Ring has a lot of long straightaways, but it seems it was too slow around the corners to make good use of its power. Round 2, Tsukuba. Can the F1 double its lead or can the Veyron tie things up again? My expectations are for an F1 win here as it’s a tight track, so it should suit the nimbler handling of the F1. After a few practice laps, the 3 lap time attack started. The F1’s fastest time was 57.008, but amazingly, the Veyron managed 55.665. Apparently, tracks that have a lot of tight hairpins and lots of opportunities for quick acceleration suit the Veyron very well. Its understeer was still noticeable but it gripped very

well on the last corner and its acceleration out of the hairpins was what won it the race. The scores are now tied at 1-1. The next test required me to enlist a friend to do some online drag racing. The setup was basically the same as my drag article for the 1/4 mile races: best 2 out of 3. We had a few practice launches and then started the heats. The clock struck the launch time and we were off. The Veyron launched like a greyhound out of the traps, where as the F1 struggled with traction. The Veyron won all 3 heats hands down. Its 4WD system certainly helped with this, splitting the power up through all four wheels, unlike the F1’s simple MR setup. It’s 2-1 to the Veyron. Next up was the mile race, but before the launch, we exchanged the cars’ tyres for new ones and lined up at the designated start line once again. Would the F1 be able to use its light weight to claw back the time lost by its poor starts? Well, frankly, it couldn’t. Again, all 3 heats were won by the Veyron. The combination of 1,000HP and 4WD were too much for the F1 to handle, regardless of its lighter weight.

The score was 3-1 to the Veyron in the end. I believe that with a custom gearbox in the F1 I could have tweaked the final drive to allow me to launch in 2nd gear without bogging down the car and thus have a better launch, a this would have made the drag races a more competitive scenario, but then it wouldn’t be a true MacLaren F1. In conclusion, the Veyron is a very good car but it’s just too heavy to eliminate the understeer. The F1 is a pure-bred road racer, and it’s a pleasure to drive around the Nürburgring. The responsive steering and the tail-happy back end make for a fun car, and the view out of the cockpit and the sound make the F1 an unreal car. In my opinion, despite the F1 loosing hands down to the Veyron, I believe it to be the better car in the end. I find myself still taking the F1 to the ring when I get bored of racing, but the Veyron sits in my virtual garage gathering virtual dust. ■ Text & photo: Bernard Conway

Article | GT300

GT S

ince the early 1990’s, the Super GT (formerly known as the Japanese GT Championship) series has dominated the world of Japanese motorsports. Like the German Touring Car Championship (DTM), it consists of both factory-backed works teams and private teams racing heavily modified versions of popular production sports cars that pump out nearly 500 horsepower. Aside from the first three years of the series, which were dominated by the Nissan Skyline GT-R, it has remained a very exciting and competitive series. Since the series was renamed Super GT in 2005, Lexus (Toyota), Nissan and Honda have all enjoyed their fair share of winning. While the series is still relatively unknown outside Japan, many international hardcore motorsports fans have taken interest in watching the GT500 monsters duke it out over world famous tracks like Fuji and Suzuka. But while these thundering behemoths rip up the asphalt, there is another group of unsung heroes in the background doing the very same. While they may not be as fast, they are as every bit as exciting and competitive as their larger counterparts. These machines are known as the

300 “It didn’t take long for them to make a believer out of me” GT300 class. On a recent trip to Japan, we arranged a track day at Fuji Speedway and got behind the wheel of a quartet of these incredible machines; the Asparadrink RX7, the Cusco Dunlop Impreza, the Wedsport IS350, and the ARTA Garaiya. I had driven a handful of the GT500 class cars previously, so honestly I didn’t expect much out of these cars knowing they had 200 less horsepower. It didn’t take long for them to make a believer out of me. The test was to take place on a warm sunny day on the “GT” layout of Japan’s world-famous Fuji Speedway. These cars would be driven with traction control at 2 and ABS at 1, with the rest of

the driving aids turned off. They would be driven with factory settings and hard racing tires. Another thing that must be considered in this test is my driving background. I am an amateur driver who has had most of my experience with front-engine, rear-wheel drive cars. Therefore, my lap times may not reflect those of a professional driver or someone who has more experience with all-wheel drive and mid-engine cars.

Article | GT300

The first car I got to drive was the Asparadrink RX7. Starting with an FD3S-series RX7, which was produced between 1991 and 2002, famous Japanese rotary tuners RE Amemiya built a 314 horsepower, 1100 kilogram monster, unlike any rotary engine animal I had driven before. The first thing I noticed when I got on the throttle and hit about 8000 on the tachometer was that the 20B engine under the hood had the trademark scream reminiscent of the 787B race car that won the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1991.

After I warmed it up with a few laps around the track, I decided to let it rip. I gave it hell down the main straight away and nearly eclipsed the 160 mile per hour mark before I had to hit the brakes. That’s when I fell in love. The brakes were so powerful that you could brake in a little over half the distance you would expect. In the first hairpin, I found the car surprisingly stable for a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive car, although it did have some wheelspin here, typical of this drivetrain layout. I continued my lap, pushing the car more and more. But the more I beat on it, the more it took, and the quicker it got. This car just beckoned me to push it more and more. So I did. And the lap times got quicker. The car just had so much top end. As far as cornering went, I found the RX-7 to be relatively forgiving. While brak-

ing was not really an issue due to the short distance needed to do it, the point of apex in turns didn’t seem all that important either. The car had a decent turning circle, so having a lot of room to finish turning on the back side wasn’t really a problem. While it was pretty stable in the turns, you could still get the back tires loose and do some sliding. It had quite a bit of top end for a 314 horsepower car, but it the same time it was still very manageable. It was so fun to drive that I didn’t want to pull over and get out. I only had so much time though, so I regretfully had to park the RX-7 and walk away from it. Okay, I confess. I had to pull myself away from the car like a parent pulls their toddler away from Toys R’ Us.

Article | GT300

Next, it was the Impreza’s turn. The Impreza has some similar characteristics to the RX-7, such as an identical weight of 1,100kg, or roughly 2400lbs. It also has similar power at 309 HP. But that was about where the similarities ended. This car had a boxer-style engine rather than a rotary, and was all-wheel drive instead of just rear-wheel only. Another peculiar feature of this car was the exhaust, which exited in front of the front tire. When I started driving the car, I was really taken on how well it cornered for an all wheel drive car and how stable it was. The amount of grip this car possesses blew me away. I don’t think it’s possible to spin the Impreza without trying to do it. It may not have been as quick as the RX-7, and it did have the understeer all-wheel drives are notorious for, but it wasn’t as bad as I had expected. As I continued to lap the car, I noticed the times

I was getting compared to the RX-7 were not what you’d call “good.” The car was quite slow, just barely passing 150 miles per hour on the straight. Times were nearly 3 seconds slower than the RX-7’s. There had to be a way to speed it up. There was no way this car ran lap times that slow and remained competitive. The answer to this predicament lay in the corners, particularly the fast sweeping ones. The Impreza was a lot pickier in corners than other cars I had driven were. The points of braking, apex, and acceleration were a lot more crucial in driving this car than the RX-7. As many will probably tell you, early braking and early apex allowed worked best, as it gave you the most room on the backside to compensate for understeer. Once I began to get the cornering dialed in, I saw the times drop, eventually to within half a second of the Mazda’s. The best way to sum up

the Impreza would probably be easy to drive due to an immense amount of grip, but at the same time it’s difficult to master due to the understeer. It’s a fun car drive, but to get it to get faster times, it took some practice. I wasn’t able to jump in it and rely on instinct and experience like I did with the RX-7. I had to learn this car, as I am not as used to allwheel drive like I am with rear wheel drive. However, despite a somewhat weak top end and noticeable understeer, the car did pretty good, finishing it’s best lap in a little bit over half a second behind the RX-7.

Article | GT300

After a late morning snack, I suited back up and climbed into Lexusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offering, the Wedsport IS350. This was a very peculiar machine, as somewhere in its life cycle, it was transformed from a four-door sedan that comfortably seated five into a four-door sedan that comfortably seated one. Oh, and did I mention the engine was moved into the cabin directly behind the driver? Where children normally sit is the heart of this beast, a 3-liter 6 cylinder making 309HP. This car gave me great first impressions. It was the first car that ran a sub-1:44 first lap. But it felt weird driving a four door sedan that handled like an MR-2. I was really surprised how much it felt like a typical mid-engine car. It was pretty obvious from the weight distribution standpoint, but there was a certain psychological effect that still made it feel like it should be a front engine car. Weighing at 1150kg, it was the second heavi-

est car in the test, which coupled with being the lower end of the horsepower scale, likely resulted in our first obvious problem: top end. The car had decent acceleration, but by the middle of the main straight, its acceleration had slowed and the car failed to reach 150 miles per hour before the first corner. This top speed was lowest recorded by any car in the test. But as soon as I went around that corner, my spirits were lifted. The car just devoured the corner, completely exceeding all expectations I had of the carâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s handling. By taking advantage of a Super GT rule change that allowed the engine position to be changed, Toyota had turned the IS350 into a formidable competitor. In my eyes, the handling of this car was enough to offset the lower top end. It may have not been able to keep up with other cars on long straights, but it was able to make up a lot in corners. Aside from the top end, I have nothing else negative to say

about the cars. The car was a real treat to drive, amazing cornering and stability being its best traits. However, the IS350 came up a little short, coming in at about a third of second slower than the Impreza, and earning it the slowest lap time. However, you must consider that I drive predominately front engine, rearwheel drive cars.

Article | GT300

The final car in the test was the ARTA Gariya. The Garaiya sports car was conceived nearly a decade ago by Autobacs Sports Car Laboratory. It is a midengine car powered by a tuned version of Nissan’s VQ35DE engine, which is also found in the standard production 350Z. At 1175kg, it was the heaviest car in the test. However, at 325 horsepower, it was also the most powerful. When I first got in the car, I was found myself sitting much closer to the center than in the other cars; it was almost McLaren F1-like. As I started doing laps, I realized I may already have a clear cut winner. My first lap was faster than best laps of both the Impreza and the IS350. The car was the complete package; it combined the top end of the RX-7 with the handling of the IS350. While it was a very stable car and had amazing cornering, you could still give it the gas and slide it around like

the RX-7. On the straight, its top speed nearly matched the RX7’s at 156 miles per hour. While I have not driven many midengine cars, I can say that I had more fun driving this one than any other one I have driven. It had the weight distribution you would expect, but with a small feeling of unpredictability you get with a front-engine, rear-wheel drive car. This was another one of those cars you could really push before it broke. It was without a doubt the best performing car in the test. It was easy to drive, very fast, and very fun. There’s really nothing else to be said about it. I had no complaints in relation to this car whatsoever. In the end, it posted a lap nearly a full second faster than the RX-7’s best, easily capturing the crown for this test.

Article | GT300

Overall, I would say the cars are pretty close in performance, but the Garaiya is the clearcut winner. Its speed and acceleration, combined with great handling just make it the complete package. All of the cars are very fun to drive though. Each one brings something different to the table, and it made performing this test very enjoyable. Even though the Garaiya outperformed the other three cars, I was partial to the RX-7, as I thought it was the most fun to drive. But I am sure there’s other out there who would make an argument for each. But no matter which one you may prefer, there’s no denying that they are all fun to drive. ■

Text & photo: Calvin Pfeil

Top Speed recorded on straight of Fuji GT circuit. Not necessarily what the car is capable of. Lap times reflect my driving abilities and not the capabilities of the car.

“there’s no denying that they are all fun to drive” 15

Featured photograph courtesy of Alvin Hor

Article | Fiat 500 fully tuned

Fully tuned cars that really shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be or I Could have had a Ferrari

Article | Fiat 500 fully tuned

t any given point, there are any number of cars for sale that make you think “Why would Polyphony Digital put effort into putting this is Gran Turismo?” Well here at Racing Pedigree, I think “How much can I put in this car?” Today’s car is the Fiat 500 1.2 8V Lounge SS. The Fiat 500 has been deemed by many car enthusiasts as being the perfect small car, and I agree. This 68 hp 1240cc vehicle is the perfect city commuter. It gets you where you want to go, and is a load of fun. Try it for yourself sometime.

The ‘08 Fiat 500 is available in the new dealership for 23,300 credits. However, I’m not here to talk about how wonderful the Fiat is, I’m here to cram as much power into this small hatchback as PD will allow me to. After dropping around 200,000 credits into it, I have transformed a small daily commuter into a mean Italian hatchback. The power output has been quadrupled to 262hp. Torque has been nearly tripled from 57 ft/lb to 196 ft/lb; and the already light 500 has had 150 kg shaved off it, bringing it down to

a featherlight 853kg. Now sure, with that money you could buy a Ferrari California and smoke the Fiat, but that’s what anyone else would do, and I’m not interested in what everyone else would do (picture 2). So now I suppose you want a road test of it. I first go the Circuit de la Sarthe to find it’s top speed. To do this, I set the transmission to the fastest possible speed and just go for it. With a possible top speed of 236 mph (380 km/h), I set off on the 3.5 mile straight. The first thing that is noticeable about the fully tuned 500 is how

Article | Fiat 500 fully tuned

quickly it sets off. Even with the gear ratios so far about, the Fiat goes 0-60 in 7.3 seconds. Sure, that isn’t exactly fast, but keep in mind that is with the gear ratios far, and I mean far, apart. I run the whole length of the straight, and clock a 151 (243 km/h). Unfortunately I can not give a comparison to the untuned version, since I had the Fiat tuned before writing this article. But I can assure you this is faster, much faster than the untuned 500. Now that I know that it maxes out at 151, I set the gear ratios to accommodate this and head over to the Top Gear Test Track for handling (picture 1). Now I’ll admit to not being the greatest driver in Gran Turismo, but I have seen more than enough Top Gear to know how to road test a car. To fully unleash the Fiat, I have all the assists turned off and am driving with a manual transmission. The already tight turning Fiat 500 and been made even tighter with the chassis reinforcement. But that isn’t the best part, oh no. This car slides with ease as if it was made for it. The original 500 untuned can barely make it to 80, while this one takes the track like an ice skater... who also plays hockey... but still has the pure motoring that the 500’s are synonymous for. Anyone that enjoys drifting will love how a fully tuned 500 will slide perfectly though corners and come out nearly as strong as it entered. Of course it can’t come out as strong because, well, it still only has 160 hp. However, if you’re like me and can’t drift even if your life depended on it, this is for you. I go back to settings and turn Traction Control up to 2, and see how this handles for people that want to make it around a track without being faced with death every

turn. So to speak, I turn down the hockey player, and turn up the ice skater in the 500 (picture 4 or 5). Now, being an FF, it handles as you expect you would. This car was basically designed to get around around the city with a bit of glamor, not smash down turns with an iron fist. It really struggles to get around some of the turns at the track without having to come to a nearly complete stop. However, it’s 260 hp really helps it get back up to speed after you corner. I did find however that its reinforced chassis along with the already tight turning of the 500 made the back-and-forth turning of

Hammerhead quite easy. With my driving ability, I was able to take the Fiat around the Top Gear Test Track in 1 minute 34 seconds (picture 6). To sum up the fully tuned Fiat 500, you must keep in mind that this car was not built for racing. Fully tuning the Fiat has greatly improved it from the stock 500, but you need to dump 200,000 credits into it. Compared to other cars that cost this much, the Fiat lacks. It’s top speed of 150 mph makes it not worth the 230,000 credits. But not to end in nostalgia, it is a hilarious little car and is fun just to take out and have fun. ■ Text & photo: Shawn Dunwoody

Article | Fiat 500 fully tuned

Text & photo: Calvin Pfeil

Review | Lamborghini Gallardo

Lamborghini GallardoLP560-4 560 BHP. 540 NM. 5.2L V10. 325 km/h. 1-100 in 3.4 seconds.

Those are the specs of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. With those numbers in your head you probably think it’s batshit insane. You think it will kill you whenever your left toe touches the gas paddle. You think it’s comparable to Sylvest Stallone doing a one man rampage on Normandy shooting rocket launchers from the hip. But it isn’t.

60 BHP. 540 NM. 5.2L V10. 325 km/h. 1-100 in 3.4 seconds. Those are the specs of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. With those numbers in your head you probably think it’s batshit insane. You think it will kill you whenever your left toe touches the gas paddle. You think it’s comparable to Sylvest Stallone doing a one man rampage on Normandy shooting rocket launchers from the hip. But it certainly isn’t.

As the matter of fact it’s razor sharp through the corners. Although the specs do sound completely insane, it’s such a great driving car. The acceleration is tremendous witch enables you to shoot out of the corners like a missile. The 4x4 enables you to steer greatly through the corners at high speed. There is a lot of grip witch keeps the car the way you want to go. It’s a very easy car to drive and it has a great

Review | Lamborghini Gallardo

feel to it. It has a some very precise steering that reacts very fast and direct. The joy and excitement of driving this car is simply astonishing. It feels very gentle and smooth through the corners although it has sometimes an understeer issue but this is quite easily fixed with some tuning and also keeping the TC off! After all it’s a car to drive around with on the track.

And to keep the back down in the corners you can add some good looking spoilers to the party. It really turns into a bigger monster than it already was. In my opinion it is one of the best looking production cars ever made of this era right next to the 458 Italia. This will be next to it’s ancestors, the other Gallardo versions, an iconic car of the last decade. The Gallardo It also sound truly amazing. This is the sound changed the general view of supercars. It set of the Apollo launch combined with Chuck the new standard and God it’s high. Norris fighting a bear. Boosting trough the tunnel at SS7 is just amazing. It looks and This car is really a man’s cocktail. It sounds sounds if you’re boosting through space and like an Apollo launch, looks like Angelina time.  Then there are the looks. It doesn’t only Jolie holding a machine gun and it feels like drives and feels great, it also looks amazing. chewing on a perfectly grilled steak. But in The Reventon like nose is just spectacular. the end it steers smoother than what George The futuristic headlights also looks great on Clooney looks when driving along in a Jaguar this car. Now you might think it’s been shaped E-type around the Mediterranean. by some art or design house in Milan Italy.  But So even though it’s designed by a Belgium it’s not. It’s designed by the the same man who lad who designed the most boring car in designed the Skoda Octavia and Skoda Fabia automotive history, it’s one of the most in the 90’s. Next to his work on the Skoda’s, beautiful cars. And although it has some probably the most boring car to date, he also insane power specs, even your grandmother was working on the mind boggling and truly can drive it. And although it has a very high insane Lamborghini Diablo, Lamborghini price tag, it’s worth every penny. Or as you Murcielago and the Gallardo. It’s beautiful might say credit. All by all, if you can afford it, from every view point.I suggest Poison Green, you simply must buy this car! ■ Gunmetal Gray or White. In the end it’s just a stunning car and it’s hard to keep your eyes of. There is one slight problem. There aren’t many races in A-Spec it can be of use for you. Only in the Gallardo only competition it’s useful. But after all there are more then enough online Gallardo races. And when organized in a proper way, it’s a great car to drive around the track in race form. While driving this car it really doesn’t matter if you win or not. Just the pleasure of driving this car is enough to keep you happy. And then there is the price tag. At 253 grand it certainly doesn’t come cheap. But hey, after all it’s just money. This car is such a must I would buy it if it costs a million credits. But if you really want to go extreme, throw in another 200-300 grand and you got something truly amazing. When fully tuned it can easily reach over 700 bhp and you’re able to bring the weight back to around 1200 kg.

Text: Bart Schreurs Photo: Lenny Ekberg

“in the end it

steers smoother than what George Clooney looks when driving along in a Jaguar E-type around the Mediterranean” 22

Cheap Thrills 700BHP, Well there or there abouts. Its carbon fibre bonnet standing out like a warning sign against the silver paint, a warning that there was something deadly serious about this Mazda RX7. But then myself and a two friends thought its all too easy taking an already fast car and then pouring hundreds of thousands of credits into it. What could you come up with if you only had a budget of 20â&#x20AC;&#x2122;000Cr? Buying a car, tuning it up and then completing in some challenges to see who is the best bargain hunter... I mean how hard can it be?

Article | Cheap thrills

ow many people might think that twenty grand is more than enough to buy a decent car and stick a turbo in it, I know I did. The real truth is, twenty grand is nothing at all. Now, as anyone who has trawled the used car market in Gran Turismo 5 to find a certain car will know, the cars rotate so the dilemma of do I buy something quite rubbish, like I dont know, a 1991 white Toyota Celica GT four, or wait for a real car to come along. Or at least something better. So, Pressure got the best of me and I’m the proud owner of a white 1991 Toyota Celica GT four costing me 16’850Cr. As I look over the very dated body, gleaming in the most boring shade of white, all signs seemed to look like I’d bought a peach. Four wheel drive, 216BHP and seeing as my new baby cost me less than 17’000Cr it means I have just over 3000Cr to spend on tuning. Feeling quite smug about the three grand burning a hole in my pocket I await to see what my two friends could come up with and pray that they had made a pigs ear of things.

My friends showed up sporting a 1996 Nissan 200sx and a 1995 Mitsubishi Evo 3 GSR. I was in trouble, Big trouble. The 200SX cost just short of 14’000Cr, Giving a whopping 6000Cr for tuning, While the Evo cost 19’746Cr, Which left my friend with just over 250Cr... so, an oil change for him then. But he had a plan, why take a slow cheap car when you can spend your budget on an already quick one. Obviously he didnt listen when we agreed there would be more to the challenges than just raw speed. The first challenge was two laps of the Top Gear test track, one before tuning and one after tuning, we take the times and award points accordingly, 10 points for 1st, 5 for 2nd and 2 for last place. I would go first and noticed the my four wheel drive rally car wannabe was riding on comfort tyres and it showed, The grip, if you can call it that, would simply not let me get the power down when I needed it and I used the word power loosely too... I may have bought the wrong car. I

recorded a time of 1:38.307. Next was the Evo 3 and annoyingly, it was amazing and destroyed my time by recording a 1:33.964, things where looking bad. Finally the 200SX spent most of its time sideways yet returned a time of 1:37.259. I was in last place and by some way, but I would even those odds with my spare cash and let me tell you something, we quickly realised that 3000Cr and 6000Cr would buy hardly anything in the tuning department, sure an air filter or a sports exhaust but nothing that would turn my humble Celica

Article | Cheap thrills

into one of its fire spitting rally cousins, Especially as I couldnt afford to change the tyres. So the Comfort tyres stay on, Oh dear. While my car had a little more get up and go I could still only manage a 1:33.881, which was actually quicker than the pre oil change Evo 3. But an oil change makes a big difference a 1:31.841 lap from the Evo 3 put me firmly in my place and with nearly the full 6000Cr poured into the 200SX it recorded a very sideways 1:33.790. So the points as they stand. Evo 3 - 20 points 200sx - 10 points Celica - 4 points Next two challenges were BHP before and after tuning, 1 point awarded for each BHP increase and challenge number three was the mileage of our second hand bargains, the lower the better and the typical 10, 5 and 2 points awarded to 1st,2nd and 3rd. Once again I came last in the mileage stakes, the 200SX came second, but the Evo 3 was pulling out a commanding lead by taking another 10 points. But the BHP increse is where I could regain some pride my White Celica went up from 216BHP to 265BHP and increase of 49, so 49 much needed points. The Mitsubishis oil change gave

“it was cheap but speed wasnt its strong point as the test track lap times had shown ” a very impressive 12BHP (so an oil change for every car you have) but the star was the Nissan with 64BHP increase from the 189BHP it started with. Which did damage the mighty Evos pride by putting it in last place. 200SX - 79 points Celica - 55 points Evo - 42 points Next challenge was top speed, what was the most we could squeeze out of 20’000Cr budget machines? we would award 1 point for every MPH over the magical 150MPH mark and seeing the freshly oiled Evo was in last place it went first, We would use the Ligne Droite des Hunaudières, or Mulsanne Straight without chicanes to you and me, for the run. The Mitsubishi took off down the straight but unfortnately could only get up to 149MPH so -1 point, The Evos owner was now protesting the contests

Article | Cheap thrills

competitions, claiming top speed and how little the car cost have nothing to do with if its any good or not... We of course didnt have time to listen to losers, because the leading 200SX was up next and shot off like a missile topping out at an incredible 164MPH. I wasnt feeling to confident in my little white Celica, sure it was cheap but speed wasnt its strong point as the test track lap times had shown... How wrong I was, blasting down the long bumpy straight the speed reached the magical 150MPH and kept climbing, 152, 154...155MPH wrestling with the car which was bouncing on its soft suspension and comfort tyres, as it crept slowly towards an unbelievable 159MPH. I desprately wanted to reach 160MPH, but focusing on the speed and not the road meant I missed by braking point by a long way and I slammed on the brakes. The little Celica squirmed and dived to control the deacceleration thats its tyres where never meant to take, I hit the sand trap hard sending a

plume of sand and dust through the air before coming to a very embarassing halt next to the paramedics and safety crew, who might I add didnt seem impressed at all by my bravery... or was that stupidity. But there we have it 159MPH and 9 points to the little Celica. Which still left a huge gap going into the final round.

to tune up my car and after an oil change, exhaust, ECU and a new air filter I was left with 150Cr in my pocket, which gave me the grand total of 214 points and making the little Celica the most unlikeliest winner... much to the disagreement of a certain Mitsubishi owner. â&#x2013; Text & photo: Gareth Battersby

200SX - 93 Celica - 64 Evo - 41 The final challenge was to look at how many credits from the full 20â&#x20AC;&#x2122;000Cr we actually have left after all the tuning and we would give 1 point for each credit we have left. Obviously super Evo man had only 4Cr left over after his 250Cr oil change. The 200SX despite spending most of the 6096Cr left after buying the car still had 96Cr left giving him a finishing total of 189 points, however I had 3150Cr

Final Scores

Celica 214 200SX 189 Evo 45

Featured photograph courtesy of grrlpurple at gtplanet.net

Tune | X1

X1 Tune

Tune | X1

o start off, I began tampering with the braking value so that I could brake without using ABS. In the end, setting initial torque to 60 accomplished this while also making it harder to spin out when exiting corners I broke out my iPod touch and used Dave Yules’ tuning app to find the ideal spring rates, and then, with much trial and error, messed around with damper settings until I was satisfied. I always like using 10 and 10 for the brakes on the X1 unless there is serious oversteer/ understeer. It seems like this balance matches the rest of the setup very well. The aerodynamic was rather hard, as using too much aero would cause it to spin out horribly, while too little would cause severe understeer. This setting ended up preventing both This tune was tested extensively both on the Nürburgring (24hr layout) and Circuit De La Sarthe. Suspension was set up to minimize bumps found on both tracks, while still keeping the car flat enough to take the hairpin turns. Also, From multiple trials on the 24 hour Circuit De La Sarthe in B-Spec, the AI would never pass during corners. My driver also spun out much less than usual. If you feel like it head over to my tuning thread “Seoul Tunes” at the gtplanet.net and look for my other tunes or send me some feedback on this one! ■

Aerodynamic Adjustment: Front: 150 Rear: 175 Transmission Top Speed: 273 / 267 LSD Initial Torque: 60 Suspension Ride Height: Spring Rate; Dampers (Extension): Dampers (Compression): Anti Roll Bars:

Fixed 12.2 / 14.8 2/4 1/2 7/5

Wheel Alignment Camber: 6.9 / 6.9 Toe: -0.22 / 0.78 Brake Balance: 10 / 10 Tires: Racing Soft

Text: Tyler Fortier Photo: dice1998

Review | Lotus Evora

Lotus Evora To me, the value of a car isn’t how much extra bits and baubles you can cram into it, or how well you can change it to make it better. It’s not about all show and no go, and conversely it’s not about building the ultimate sleeper either. To me, the value of a car is how it performs, how it engages and how it thrills. Reviews are deeply personal, and one driver’s love is another driver’s hatred. Keep in mind that reviews aren’t to be taken as gospel, and are only a snapshot of that particular car on that particular day. That said, meet the 2009 Lotus Evora.

he Evora is Lotus’ first new model in over thirteen years. A lifetime ago, the Elise wowed pretty much everyone with it’s light weight and tiptoe agility. And since then, there have been derivative after derivative, but no new model. And here it is. It’s not as light as an Elise, coming in at 1330 kilo, and the engine is sourced from a Toyota Camry, a V6 mill putting out 276 horses at around 6500rpm. So, then, this isn’t the most powerful, or lightest car. On paper it sounds utterly confusing. It is a Lotus that is not, well, 31

Lotusy. Instead of being light, it’s portly. Instead of being an anemic four-banger, it’s a pedestrian six cylinder. Things aren’t looking good for the new kid. Driving the car around Trial Mountain in the reverse configuration, the car feels sluggish in the sections going up into the mountain. The car has amazing traction however, especially out of the corners. With the engine placement it allows you to get back on the power earlier than expected. On the other hand, one would

Review | Lotus Evora

think that with the engine so far back, the car would be tail-happy and want to slide at the slightest provocation, but the Evora feels more of a point and shoot car. It certainly rewards the ‘slow in, fast out’ style. Which isn’t to say that you can’t get the tail out and steer with the throttle. The car is balanced enough to do so, but to me it’s too much effort just to look like a hooligan. No no, brake early into the corner, point the nose and get back onto the power smoothly. The car really enjoys this style of cornering. It feels just so right, so long as the pavement is even. Perhaps this location wasn’t the best choice for this car and this engine. The gearing seems taller than an NBA all-star, and third gear specifically stretches on from now until GT6 is released. This becomes a very frustrating problem uphill.

“The gearing

seems taller than an NBA all-star” But downhill the car feels excellent, tries gripping, and the series of corners become almost custard-like in it’s smoothness. The suspension never bottoms out, never feels crashy along Trial Mountain’s many dips, drops and bumps. All four wheels stay in intimate contact with the road surface at all times, and the feedback through the wheel is communicative.

tiny, and they immediately bring to mind the rear seats of a 911, but the fact that there is a mid-engined Lotus that has two rear seats is telling enough. Stepping out once the driving’s done, I can’t help but take another look at the car. The styling is nice. That is to say it’s clean, angular around the hips and smooth in the front. It’s not particularly daring, but it’s also not conservative. That might sound like a copout answer but it perfectly describes the car in my eyes. It’s middle-of-the-road. But the one jarring piece is that loop in the front headlight there. I honestly thought the enclosure was cracked and I was a stone chip away from having to pay for a fresh xenon replacement. I have no idea why it’s there or what it’s for, but visually it takes my attention away from the smiling face of the front end. Cracked eyes aside, the Evora, with it’s pretentious sounding name which is supposedly a meshing of ‘evolution’ and ‘aura’, marks most of the sports car fun boxes. It’s lovely to drive (on even ground), it handles beautifully (despite the gearbox), and it looks the part (from any angle except head on.) It has it’s flaws, it has it’s peaks. The car is very good at a lot of things, but it isn’t terrible at anything. It might not be hooligan-ready like the Z4 M Coupe, and it might not even be a lightweight, but it is a Lotus, and I’d say that Lotus is back. ■

Text & Photo: duknuz

Driving ‘round through the tunnel along the back straight and the engine’s aural note is less than raucous. And if I’m honest, that’s perfectly fine in a car like this. The car feels and sounds as if it is marketed to a much wider audience than previous models such as the aforementioned Elises and Exiges. Again, if I’m honest, this is not a bad thing. While the Elise and Exige occupy a niche level, the Evora seems to straddle the line with most of it’s mass on the comfortable side. The two rear seats are 32

Photo | The beauty of Gran Turismo

The beauty of Gran Turismo 1. gtsteviie 2. F458 Italia 3. Lenny Ekberg 4. PhotoDucky 5. bbgt5

6. Etienne Albeau 7. CJvzla 8. Bossie 9. iaponas

Photo | The beauty of Gran Turismo

Review | Volvo C30

Tweed with Sport Trim When somebody says the word “Volvo,” you could be forgiven for immediately envisioning an old college professor clad in a tweed jacket, plodding along at 45 miles per hour in a 55 zone in his Volvo station wagon with an angry parade of motorists stuck behind him. While Volvo may have an excellent reputation for safety in their cars, they’ve never been particularly known for driving excitement. However, Volvo is looking to makeover their image as “hip” and “cool.”

arrying that message in Gran Turismo 5 is their 2009 C30 R-Design hatchback, the brand’s lone premium car in the game. Mind you, the R stands for “Refinement,” not “Racing,” which in turn would imply it’s more concerned with keeping the college prof comfortable than keeping his students excited. However, I won’t judge a book by it’s cover, so I donned my tweed jacket and headed to the dealership. (Yes, I do have a tweed jacket. It’s so I can dress as Alan Wake for Halloween. Quit snickering and pay attention!) Speaking of books and their covers, this one seems to have a mixed message. The front three-

fifths of the car look the way you would expect a Volvo to appear; conventional, classy, and completely inoffensive. Move to the back of the car and Jekyll turns into Hyde. Volvo calls the rear end styling “unorthodox.” I would prefer the term unappealing. It appears unorganized, the rear window extends down too far, and the whole thing looks like the face of an alien that Captain Kirk might have come across in Star Trek. That said, Volvo is trying to target a young adult audience. With Micheal Bay movies and Lady Gaga music all the rage, young adults clearly have poor taste, so Volvo may have been quite ingenious in making a horribly ugly rear end. Still, it begs the question as to why you’d make the rear

Review | Volvo C30

styling so radical, and then make the rest of the car look like it belongs in a faculty parking lot? Under the hood, the car is powered by a 2.5 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that puts out a very respectable 226 horsepower and 235 footpounds of torque, and weighs in 1430 kg. These are numbers that the young adult market would find attractive, but then Volvo turned around and equipped it with comfort soft tires and a manumatic transmission rather than pure manual. As with the styling, Volvo took a couple steps towards it’s new hip audience, then suddenly jumped back to appease the “rock around the clock” generation again.

“driving like no college professor ever would” the tires, locking up the brakes, and generally driving like no college professor ever would...... in a Volvo!

I ran 17 laps in the C30, and laid down my best time on lap 14, clocking in at 1:37.481. I know there’s at least a few-tenths more that I could’ve shaved off of that time, but by then my hands were starting to get tired. Not to mention I was starting to get hot under the collar. Trust me on this, you don’t realize how warm a tweed jacket Of course, the real test of this car is how it drives, is until you’ve worn one. so I decided to take it to Deep Forest Raceway for some hot laps. I chose Deep Forest not only So, the car looks good from the front at least, because it combines a tight technical section and it’s pretty fun to drive. With that, it’s with some high-speed sweeping turns, but also time for the big question, “Should I buy one?” because the hills and forest would emulate Well......probably not. You see, the car’s biggest a typical drive home for a college professor. downside isn’t the engine, the handling, the Unless of course, they taught at Kansas or fact you only get five choices of color from the Nebraska. With traction control and ABS set to dealer, or even the alien face rear end. It’s the 5, a Roy Orbison CD in the stereo, and my tweed price, going for exactly 42,000 credits. More precisely, it’s biggest drawback is the cars you jacket on my shoulders, I set off. can get with that kind of money. For instance, As with any front wheel drive car, putting down you could buy a ‘91 Mazda RX-7 or an ‘06 Honda a good lap is about managing understeer. It can S2000 with five grand left over. Better yet, you be hard sometimes to avoid the temptation of could have a 2010 Chevy Camaro SS with seven jumping back on the throttle as soon as you’ve grand to spare! And any one of those cars will hit the apex. The upside to this is that the car deliver a lot more driving excitement than the is very stable at speed and easy to handle at its C30 will. limits. The car hits 116 MPH at the end of the front straight at Deep Forest, and has decent In summary, about the only reasons to buy the Volvo C30 would be if you had a sudden desire acceleration coming out of the corners. to wear a tweed suit jacket, or if you wanted The biggest surprise about this car was the a car that would perfectly compliment your amount of fun I had driving it. My favorite part Greatest Hits of ABBA CD on your drive. That of my drive was in the tight technical section said, if you really were a college professor, it after heading uphill from turn one. That was would at least give you fun drive home to look also a surprise, as I usually prefer tracks with forward to before you had to start grading your fast sweeping corners rather than slow tight students’ Sociology 201 papers. ■ turns. Yet, there was something genuinely fun about flinging the C30 around the tight twisting section, trying to squeeze every inch out of the turn before the understeer took me into the barriers. Perhaps the most fun part of my drive was knowing that I was screeching

Text & photo: David Beach

Guide | The Racecraft Guide

The

Racecraft

Guide

We already have the excellent GT Planet OLR Rules & Guidelines that define very clearly what good racing is to us, I expect you have all read & refer back to them regularly so that you understand what is required of GT Planet members when racing online (the OLRRG is a sticky thread in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;GT5 Online Racingâ&#x20AC;? sub-forum). However, what about their practical application & all the subtle nuances that constitute good racecraft? This article, which is based on my many experiences of racing the cleanest gentleman drivers out there, will cover what is considered to be good racecraft, etiquette/manners & general sportsmanship when racing online in GT5. Defending your position An experienced racer will take whatever line he feels necessary into any given corner in order to defend & maintain his place, he is entitled to do so as he has track position over the pursuing driver, remember that the fastest line is not always the winning chapâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one. It is the other chaps job to force him into an error, whilst still driving cleanly of course, or wait for one to occur naturally & then take advantage of it, albeit in the proper fashion. An inexperienced racer will, in his endless optimism, tend to stuff it up the inside at every unavailable opportunity when trying to pass, imagining he is driving well but making far too much contact & causing many unnecessary incidents. Also, some lacking in good racecraft tend to drive right up to & into the driver in front, as they do not have the common sense to adjust their throttle & braking to account for following in the slipstream of another. You will notice that drivers who have good racecraft make very little contact when following & passing others on track.

Overtaking & Being Overtaken When attempting to overtake up the inside, on the run up to a tight high speed corner like 130R on Suzuka for instance, sometimes you are not close enough to pull it off. The discerning driver knows when this is the case & will yeild by coming off the throttle or even braking a little if necessary so as to not cause an incident, there is afterall only 1 racing line through 130R. The aggressive or overly optomistic driver goes for it regardless, stuffs it up the inside, causes an incident & puts his poor racecraft on display for all to see. You will not see mature racers performing in this way, they get their overtaking done well before the apex of such corners. When being overtaken up the inside, on the run up to a tight high speed corner like 130R on Suzuka for instance, the competitive driver with good racecraft recognises when the battle is lost & will yeild by coming off the throttle or even braking a little if necessary, so

Guide | The Racecraft Guide

that both cars can make the apex of the corner at pretty much full racing speed. The aggressive driver will carry on round the outside at full throttle in a dangerous attempt to defend his position, which is clearly already lost, this kind of â&#x20AC;&#x153;optomismâ&#x20AC;? can lead to a catastrophic & entirely unnecessary incident. If both cars do somehow manage to make it through the corner side by side, which obviously results in lower cornering speeds, the bad driver has now let the rest of the field catch up some, let the the drivers ahead increase their lead or sometimes both. Not only is it bad manners, it is also stupid & counter productive, you will not see top class racers executing such mindlessly aggressive do or die maneuvers. When the driver of the car in front has made an error & gone wide into a corner, the well mannered driver behind will go for the overtake but leaves just enough room for him as he accelerates out, this is because he knows that the other car is still going round on the outside of the track. An inexperienced driver, or one with bad manners, will also go for the overtake but accelerates out of the corner at full speed using all of the proper racing line as if he is the only one on track. This leads to contact, pushing the other driver off track or even an incident involving multiple cars if battling in a pack. You will not see gentlemanly racers causing this kind of unnecessary incident through such a lack of manners. The correct or optimal racing line in certain corners, like the last 2 turns at Fuji for instance, can look very wide to the untrained eye. The undiscerning racer cannot tell the difference between a driver taking the correct racing line & one going wide into these corners, he thinks the chap in front has made an error & stuffs it up the inside in a futile effort to overtake. When the driver in front accelerates towards the apex, the driver behind now finds he has placed his car in the wrong position

& there is contact. Once again by slowing both cars up, the bad driver has let the guys in front pull away some & the those behind catch up. The intelligent racer knows there is usually no real advantage to this & does his overtaking on the following straight, or when he sees someone has actually gone wide in these types of corners. When an experienced & thoughtful racer is being overtaken in slower/ wider corners, he knows where the other driver is on track & leaves him just enough room so that they can drive around together side by side, he takes a wider line while still maintaning a reasonable amount of speed. The aggressive or unthoughtful racer sticks to his line, turns out into the other driver & causes unnecessary contact as he is not discerning enough to make the correct adjustment. Drivers with good racecraft have the ability to adapt quickly to various situations, to make better judgements & tend to avoid & not cause as many incidents. Drafting Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s considered extremely unsporting to weave about left & right all over the track trying to stop your opponent from drafting you, it is also quite undignified & not at all gentlemanly (do not confuse this with blocking by weaving to stop another driver from passing you, which as you already know, is against our Online Racing Rules & Guidelines). A well mannered & intelligent racer may choose to take a variety of different lines through corners to try & minimise the amount of draft his opponent gets, he is entitled to take any line he wishes being the driver in front. Also, when coming onto the straight, he may continue turning past the track out point & take a different line down it. From then on

Guide | The Racecraft Guide

however, manners one dictate that he only has 1 move either left or right to choose his line into the next turn, this should be done early & slowly enough to give other drivers following behind a fair chance to react, least there be an otherwise avoidable incident. When drafting in a pack down the straight heading for a turn, the experienced driver near the back, knows he is drafting a car that is drafting other cars & is thus travelling significantly faster than everyone else. He aslo knows that he will need to brake much earlier than the others to avoid contact by the end of the straight, especially if the cars in front are going in 3 or 4 abreast & there is no room to pass. The optimistic driver still thinks he can overtake them all & come out in 1st place, he carries on, brakes way too late & ploughs through those in front causing chaos & ends up off track, in the sand or having to wait for those he hit. Experienced racers hardly ever find themselves in this position, on the rare occassions they do, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s usually just down to braking errors & certainly not due to wildly optomistic overtaking manouvers. When overtaking another car right near the end of a straight, it is good manners to leave the other driver his line & stick to your own. It is bad manners to quickly swerve in front of the car you have just passed, take his line & brake. This is because you will be travelling much faster due to drafting him & will have to brake significantly earlier, the other driver will have almost no time to react by changing his line or braking point. This kind of bad racecraft can lead to many unnecessary incidents going into turns at the ends of straights, you will not see the more experienced & well rounded drivers performing this kind of maneuver.

When a thoughtful racer finds himself drafting a different make of car down a straight, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s faster but with less braking power & slower around corners, he pulls out of the draft much earlier than usual. This is so he can out brake him going into the next turn, without running into the back of him. The unthoughtful racer carries on oblivious to the fact that he is just about to cause a major incident. Good racecraft also involves taking into account the diverse range of vehicles, tunes & personalities on track & how this can dynamically alter the way the race pans out, through the various & ever changing situations as they unfold.

â&#x2013;

Text: VBR

Review | Le Mans: Raising Sun’s Road Version Review

Le Mans: Rising Sun’s

Road Version Review Le Mans, what came through your mind when you think about this? As for me, ‘Le Mans’ words consist of three things in my mind. First, a place. Second, a football club. The third one, racing. One of the toughest races in the history of racing. The Le Mans race is actually held at Le Mans itself, consisting of half circuit and half public road. Hence the name, 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mostly, the drivers spend time on throttle rather than braking. Now enough with the circuit. Let’s take it to the point. For one in the rulebook. Every manufacturer in the GT1 class that enters the endurance race needs nees to buid a homogolation car, in other words, a road version of the

car. Imagine, the powerful Toyota GT-One race car that has a power output about 500bhp, goes screaming on your local highway. Well, that would never happen by the way but the fact is, that Toyota had built 2 GT-One for the road. Unfortunately, not a single one has reached the road. Theres are others homogolations, Porsche 911 GT1, Mclaren F1 LM, Mercedes CLK GTR. All three of these iconic street cars have been sold. All of them are German, except for Mclaren that is British. What about Japan? Only the Toyota had the street version? Nope.

Here are three of the rising sun’s demons.The Honda NSX-R LM Road Car, Nissan R390 GT1 Road Car and Nismo GTR LM Road Going Version. Out of the three, only one had a successful Le Mans campaign. The Nissan R390 GT1. Though if compared to the GT-One, the Toyota was more successful. Now, after years of waiting, the road version will be going on a test run. I couldn’t do the time comparison because the weather didn’t give us a chance. Oh, I forgot to mention where I’ll do the run. Travel to Switzerland, you’ll find a track name, Eiger Nortwand. The short and forward version of the course.

Review | Le Mans: Raising Sun’s Road Version Review

Like I said, the weather is not so great. It’s been raining and then sun came out before it rained again and the sun...well, you know. First to be test run is the Nismo GTR LM Road Going Version. Based on the Skyline R33. It has the lowest power output of the three of it. About 320+ bhp with the engine displacement of 2569cc. Weight about 1580kg. On the free run I’ve tested with the wet surface and no rain to be seen, It’s quite slow for a Le Mans car. The handling is okay since I enter the 4 hairpins without losing the front. No understeer to be precise. Even though the traction control is on 5, I get pretty much wheelspin 43

“It may look hideous . compared to the NSX-R“ I whenever i slam the throttle in the corner. The feeling of driving the GTR LM is just like i’m driving a BMW 320i Touring Car with more weight. Not power but weight. The Nismo is no good for the wet track. Probably because it’s over weight. But what if it to be run on the dry track. The question is still unanswered but someday, I will do the test run on a dry track. So the rating for the car? Looks, 9 out of 10. Handling, 6 out of 10. The driving pleasure, 8 out of 10. Overall? 7 out of 10. The car is not so fun to drive but hey, our tastes for

cars are different. I’m not surprise if someone disagree with me. The next car is the famous Honda NSX-R LM Road Version. Using the NSX ’02 as the based car. The car handles much more the same except with more downforce (which means grip) and more power. It has about 265bhp more than a standard NSX but 66bhp lower than the race version. Well, it’s a Le Mans car converted to road car. Now, I test the car at the Eiger Nordwand, the car is just right but because of

Article | On the limits of grip with a Venomous Snake

the power, I also get a lot of wheelspin. Again TC 5 and other aids are off. When I take the corner, the car control is just great. Stability is about the same as it’s race version. I wonder, if they added the big wing, it should get more grippy and menacing. It’s not just the wings and lower base car that make it stable. It’s a mid-engine car. So, it should behave like that. The weight of the car is just 1230kg. It also weighs more than the race one. Just 100+kg more. Mainly because of the car’s sound system audio and two seats. All and all, the rating for the looks, 9.5 out of 10. Handling, 9 out of 10. The driving pleasure. 8 out of 10. Overall is 9 out of 10. All and all, the car is a perfect for the road. But it’s bad if the surface gets wet. More wheel spins means more crashes. As the test came to an end. There’s one last road going version to be tested. The blue-ish stick, Nissan R390 GT1 Road Car. It may look hideous compared to the NSX-R, but among those two, this is the most perfect road going version that I drove on a wet surface. The car control when I first enter the section of hairpins is just awesome. I only get a little oversteer. The grip is very good. Just when I was about to enter the tunnel, there’s a a 170 degree corner before you see the tunnel ahead. There, the R390 enters the corner smoothly, even if I slam the throttle, the back

of the car kicks out but not too much. I can still control it. It’s very different from the overpowered NSX-R or the 1.5 ton GTR. From what I see, the car got the sexy curve. Though the car it elf a little longer and ‘skinny’. The power output of the car is not too high. About 330+bhp. But some source said the real power output is as high as 550bhp. That’s very high for a road car. Not just that, the weight is around 1100kg-ish. This is what I call a monster in disguise. Now for the rating. Looks, 8 out of 10. Handling, 10 out of 10. Driving pleasure, 9.5 out of 10. Overall, 9.8 out of 10.

Final words after the test has ended. Like I said earlier, there will be some disagreement with my review and also, like I said earlier, every people have a different taste or car control. So, I’m not surpirsed at all. Oh, and about the setting, all driving aids are off. Except the ABS 1 and Traction Control 5. I’m also using DS3 controller and I’m using the joystick. Accelerate, brake and turn. Pretty much like driving using a pedal and steering And so, we will meet again for the next test. ■ Text & photo: Muhammad khairulanwar

The final results are out, though maybe NSX-R has the better looks and overall bhp and the GTR has the famous name all around. The champion is the R390 GT1 for the best Japanese Road Going Le Mans car.

GTlife