GTPlanet Weekly Rewind: The Danger Zone

Here you are, rushing in to see the Rewind this week and I’m willing to bet the title is what attracted you, isn’t it? Perhaps it did but you don’t have the slightest clue as to what it means, or why I’ve chosen it to represent this week’s Rewind. Well to make things relatively simple for those of you who are but a bit confused, “Danger Zone” is a title easily recognized for it’s Top Gun fame, or if you’re simply a Kenny Loggins fan you’ll recognize it due to that as well Another interesting tidbit is the “Danger Zone” has also become a pop-culture joke reference in the animated series Archer – thus the title is an homage to both.

The biggest thing to come of this week has been the reveal that Polyphony Digital is reacting to the recent actions that have swept the GT5 community for better or worse, of course I’m referring to the hybrids which is being referred to as “illicitly modified game data” by PD. How are they reacting you might wonder? By way of account ban measures, and while it’s not particularly clear how the account banishment is going to take place or what would even “qualify” for the punishment, it is reassuring that they’re still supporting the community and are actively attempting to re-establish a level playing field for all.

However, in spite of that let’s look at the positives of what’s recently transpired with the “hybrids”, and yes there are positives: for one it shows that users aren’t content with the levels of customization readily available in the game and are in dire need of change. It also shows, albeit inadvertently, where users would like the customization aspects to venture toward for future installments. Now that’s not to imply every single user wants a car with wildly exaggerated characteristics, but it does show that the prospects of engine swaps and even drivetrain swaps would add a much needed flair to the series and would likely be very well received.

It may not have been the most productive way to get that point across and should the features appear in a future title it would never be acknowledged as a driving force, no matter how minimal, but it could very well prompt necessary changes to preempt such malcontent from brewing altogether.

With all of that said and done there’s a lot to get through this week, so let’s jump right in to the Danger Zone and get this week’s Rewind flying high!

GTPlanet Picture of the Week

This week’s featured image, once again recommended to us by Kalax3 and courtesy of The R!CE Guy, features the Viper GTS in a still shot as the world continues onward. The photo was taken at what appears to be Gion in Kyoto. and is a stunning piece altogether; even going the extra mile to give it the appearance of the GTS ACR model.

Have a suggestion for next week’s featured image? Drop me a private message, entitle it “GTPlanet Picture of the Week” and fill it out with your two choices and they’ll be featured in upcoming Rewinds. NOTE: You cannot elect your own work.

Gran Turismo Evolution: 15 Years, 1 Lap

http://youtu.be/pGJjJOWlvtc

Gran Turismo’s 15th anniversary may very well be past the celebratory period, but that in no way means it can’t be acknowledged again. It’s quite the feat for a console-exclusive racing simulator to be on top of it’s game (exceptions where necessary) for the better part of a decade and a half.

These series of videos put together by GTPlanet’s own daan feature four track locations and cars that have appeared over the lifetime of the series, evolving with the game itself in it’s multi-generational appearances across the Playstation platform. Gran Turismo has a wealth of history, and with a great number of us having experienced that alongside the game during it’s infancy these video packages capture that brilliantly.

http://youtu.be/aN-rmheWk2c

If you’d like to see the rest of the videos and even read or re-read the 15th Anniversary Celebration post then be sure to do so right here. And here’s to another 15 years of evolution for the Gran Turismo series, and here’s to my personal wishes that Polyphony can somehow recapture the train of thought and mindsets that went into the original two Gran Turismo games.

GTPlanet Weekly Race Series (WRS) Week 112 – Revving is Racing

This week you’re taking the elusive (not really) 2008 Honda Civic Type R around the many twists and bends of Grand Valley East Reverse in what’s already promising to be an eventful time trial, and do be careful of turn one because you will almost certainly get a bit sideways if you aren’t on the mark. With 258 rampaging horses after the necessary upgrades it’s not what one would refer to as a low-powered car, however, with it being a front-wheel driven car it’s also not something one would call nimble or outright responsive. So it’s up to you to find the sweet spot in the Civic’s repertoire and allow it to flourish as you attempt to smash every record possible while participating in the WRS.

For more of this week’s adventure let’s look to the comments of the Stewards:

This is our first visit to GVE Reverse since week 46. The staggered compounds give this FF unique handling characteristics. When combined with some suspension tuning, it can be a rude little drifter. The revs are amazing with this VTEC marvel, have a blast laying down laps.

Stop by the official thread here and remember that you NEED to be registered before officially participating in the WRS, and that can only be done by submitting a time for the official GTP Registry Qualifier.

GTPlanet Member of the Week

It’s quite the coincidence that I’ve decided to place this after the WRS segment because this week’s guest, who couldn’t keep his induction a secret (thank you, Danny) just happens to be a Division 1 Gold racer in the Weekly Race Series. Give a warm welcome to one of the friendliest members around: Small_Fryz!

Quite the picture, huh? Small_Fryz, or Dion as many of us Premium members/Staff know him as, is what many of us would consider an “alien” driver, which is basically someone who’s able to inch out every last tenth of a second on the track and make it look easy in the process. I’ve raced Dion once or twice and I can attest to his speed but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have fun, and there was even a couple of times where I was able to keep him in my sights and even get close here and there, but never was there an opportunity to overtake.

Dion was nominated by a couple of regulars in the elusive Infield section, once again with the close-knit bonds am I right? For the full interview be sure to stop by the newly created Member of the Week thread and get to know Dion a little bit better, or laugh at him because you already know him. He is, after all, the second in line to be recognized among his peers. Who’s next?

Anyone you’d like to see recognized as the Member of the Week? Drop me a private message, entitle it “GTPlanet Member of the Week” and fill it out with your choices and they’ll be featured in upcoming Rewinds. NOTE: You cannot nominate yourself.

GTPlanet Vehicle of the Week

This week’s featured vehicle is one of the wackiest and most outrageous hypercars to never have been, recommended to us by R35 SKYLIN3, it is without a doubt a distant departure from the familiar ways of Trevor Wilkinson’s company: the TVR Cerbera Speed 12.

The original intention in 1998 was to create a faster and loonier supercar than the almighty McLaren F1 and while TVR fell oh so short of the former, they certainly achieved the latter as the Speed 12 has quite the bit of history, for better or worse. The Speed 12 was such a departure from the usual ways of TVR that it didn’t share much of anything with any of the existing lineup nor did it look like anything that came before it in the TVR camp.

The car received it’s name from a concept engine that I’m sure TVR will never try again unless the new braintrust is just as insane; mating two Tuscan Speed Six engines to a common crankshaft and further modifying the engines to full racing specification with the resulting engine—a 7.7 liter V12 monster which produced an overwhelming 1000+ horsepower—being so powerful it broke TVR’s dyno, something which the Speed 12 is infamously known for.

In 2000, refusing to let the project go by the wayside after it’s unsuccessful entry into the GT1 racing category and many of the additional hardships along the way, TVR presented a road-going version called the Cerbera Speed 12 at the British Motor Show of the same year. Orders were taken for the $245k hyper car built from the racing cars that participated in the British GT championship with an unrestricted engine and huge Goodyear Fiorano tires, and were soon cancelled once then owner of TVR, Peter Wheeler, took the prototype for a drive and concluded it was simply unusable on the road.

The only surviving example of the road-going effort, registered W112 BHG, was fitted with mild cams and an ECU mapping which reduced the power to 880 hp.

Have a suggestion for next week’s featured image? Drop me a private message, entitle it “GTPlanet Vehicle of the Week” and fill it out with your two choices and they’ll be featured in upcoming Rewinds. NOTE: You cannot elect your own work.

Sounds of Forza Motorsport 4 – Porsche Expansion Pack

The Porsche Expansion Pack saw the famed marquee return to Forza Motorsport after original negotiations fell through to include them on day one with current license holder, Electronic Arts. The original intentions, should they have been included as originally intended, was to have several of the cars prominently featured in the game’s Autovista mode and would likely have been accompanied by premier commentary done by Jeremy Clarkson. 

Instead, once an agreement was met the featured expansion pack included 30 new-to-the-game Porsche’s – seven of which were new to the series altogether – 20 new career events and 10 new achievements, which brought the amount of available vehicles to a then total of 625.

Due to RUF already being present in the game due to the agreements falling through, upon the return of the brand Forza 4 is one of a rare few to feature both brands within the game. With the current agreement only applying to Forza 4 (hence it not being present in Forza Horizon) it’s currently unknown if the brand will make a return in the upcoming Forza Motorsport 5.

GTPlanet Tune of the Week

If you’re eager to take a Fairlady around the Green Hell is spectacular fashion then you should look no further than this week’s featured, which see’s the return of our very own praiano63. This tune, recommended to us by danbojte, focuses on a 550PP tune for the Gran Turismo 350Z RS with Sports/Soft compounds for that extra bit of grip as you power your way through every corner whilst maintaining just the right amount of grip to get the best of everyone that stands in your way to a golden victory.

If you fancy victory in any 550PP event and want to do so in spectacular fashion, then there’s no doubt that you’ll want to stop by and see the tune for yourself.

Exactly like the Picture and Vehicle of the Week features, if you have any suggestions for the upcoming Rewinds be sure to drop me a private message, entitle it “GTPlanet Tune of the Week” and let me know. NOTE: You cannot elect your own work.

The Saudi Falcons: Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge

This viscerally enticing video shows on-track action of the GT3 Cup Challenge at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakihr, Bahrain. The action is so rampant and precise that it can actually make you feel like you were there, and that’s saying something considering this video is but a mere collage of the action that took place on the track.

What caught my eye at the final moment was that it captures so much in so little time that it leaves you wanting to see the full racing event from beginning to end. The close racing, the frustrations of a racing driver, to the ferocity of the GT3 Cup Cars, it has the total package and then some.

GTPlanet Photomode Competitions

In Week 124 of the Standard and Advanced competitions you are to put your best foot forth and show the community just how seriously you take your in-game photography. All you need to know is as follows:

Week 124, Standard: Daily Driver vs. Race Driver – Once again I’m already interested due to the title alone! Mitch, take it away: “What is your driving style? Are you the one who likes to have those chilled Sunday drives, or do you prefer to change your tyres every few months? Show me what your driving style is and take a side. Either shoot a family/street car in a chilled atmosphere, parked or driven, what you want. Or take a race car to any race track you prefer and let the rubber burn”.

Week 124, Advanced 2.0: Pure Class – That’s right, this week it’s all about pure class which means no wide angles or insanely bright cars, just a calm picture showing a brand-new car cruising down the road or parked alongside something that makes it stand out that much more. It’s all about subtlety and the coveted “wow factor” in this week’s challenge so I’d suggest you get right to it and start snapping some shots that depict the utmost glamour. Go!

For all of the relevant information pertaining to this week’s challenges be sure to stop by here and here.

Closing Thoughts

Another week for the Rewind and I’m just as excited as I always seem to be, and I assure you that’s a fantastic thing because there’s nothing worse than reading an article that’s soulless and completely uninspiring. Of course I’m not referencing anything in particular I’m just speaking from a bit of passion; I enjoy writing up the Rewind week in and week out, and I’m highly unlikely to want things any other way than what they are now.

Apologies for the late delivery this week, but the conditions during my usual time of writing were less than favorable so I just decided to put it off until now and I have to say the conditions are a lot more to my liking which is probably why this week’s Rewind has just a little bit more content than previous weeks. I know for a fact that’s probably the longest “Vehicle of the Week” entry I’ve written to date, and if it was largely due to the fact that the Speed 12 is one of the cars I love then so be it.

It’s another F1 weekend and I’m really looking forward to seeing some sparks fly as they’re really building up the rivalry between Red Bull Racing drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel for what occurred at the Malaysian Grand Prix last month. If nothing comes of it this weekend then I can almost guarantee it’s going to fester throughout the remainder of the season, because with Vettel recently recanting his previous apology for the attack for on track position I’m of the opinion he’s solidified the fact that there’s no way that Webber will ever assist him in any way should the need arise.

Once again I forgot to mention that I’m on Twitter now. What was once going to be a bit of parody account (because I don’t use Facebook or Twitter for any reason whatsoever) has quickly turned into me using Twitter rather effectively. So, follow me and suggest all things Rewind-worthy from the comfort of your tablets, phones, or Skynet-linked computers. Remember, when the machines finally rise you’ll need someone to write pieces regarding the matter littered with Armageddon-y undertones and I can be just that guy! What were we talking about? Right, Twitter, so if you’ll follow me here the Rewind can be delivered to you in a timely fashion not seen since snail mail. Wait, that’s not the right thing to say!

You will be showered in Rewind, Seasonal Event and future article goodness courtesy of yours truly though so there’s that worth looking forward to – once I’ve bothered to get the thing up and running. It can also be used to suggest things for upcoming Rewinds, so that’s now two ways you all can keep me on my toes.

With this week’s Rewind in the wind column it is now time to end. Until next week you stay classy, San Diego. Yes, an Anchorman reference… we’ve been over my pop culture references already, don’t act surprised!

GT5 Photomode images by RaY29rus, EDK, Beeblebrox237, and asriel.

See more articles on GTPlanet Weekly Rewind.