C-ZETA's car reviews - C-ZETA Awards 2012 - 21/12/12

Honda S2000 LM Race Car​

If calculations are correct, this is now the 5th S2000 I have reviewed. This goes in among the ranks of the AEM S2000, which was fast, but not that fast, the Amuse S2000 R1, which was a disappointment, the Amuse S2000 GT1 Turbo, which was killed by me, and the Opera Performance S2000, which was more than likely the best of all the S2000s in the game.

This is the S2000 LM, and this time it is actually 'made' by the company it came from, Honda. Except Honda didn't actually 'make' it. It's an LM, which means Gran Turismo were more likely the ones that really made it. All in all, I can confidently say this is a Honda Gran Turismo S2000. Sort of like a Gran Turismo Skyline GT-R, for the S2000. But then, every LM car would be as such, and that would be disservice. So S2000 LM it is then.

Now, let's actually get on to seeing how the damn thing moves.


And it moves very well. 331bhp is a decent chunk in any car, and since it only has to haul 1050kg of car, it makes it move even better. You wouldn't expect to get 3.8 second 0-60 times in a normal S2000, that's for sure. And despite the remotely low torque figure it has, the car will still haul on to a top speed of 172. Not bad for something that has to manage 12000rpm on occasion.

And on the subject of the engine, it sounds brilliant. It's a lovely, trancy, classic Honda buzz that never fails to annoy or alarm. There are jazz songs less smooth than the sound of this engine. It sounds best in bumper view, really, since there you can't even hear the transmission - which itself will go to high levels of whine with the 12000rpm it gets with its VTEC (switched on, yes) engine.

Now for cornering and I have to say this. If the Opera S2000 is built to slide and deliver a smile, then the S2000 LM is the one built to grip to the road like glue. The only way this thing will ever let go of the road is if you floor it while hitting a kerb, and even then you only ever notice the slightest slide. The handling itself isn't perfect, but it does get round the corners at extremely high speeds.


And now we've concluded that the S2000 LM is brilliant to drive, with the smooth VTEC (activated, yes) engine, the super grippy handling and the pretty good onboard view I haven't mentioned till now, it's time for a history lesson.


This here, is the Gran Turismo 3 version of the Honda S2000 LM. I know, doesn't look much different, does it? (Paintjob aside, that's just what it happens to be in, and you can also get one with pink sides in this game ).

However, don't be fooled. Because this car, despite the similarities in looks today, had 600hp.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You know me and the Amuse S2000 GT1 Turbo by now. And if you don't, you should. You know I think it is a horrifically overpowered, overextracted version of an S2000. You know I hate it with every fiber of my being. And that's all because it is too dissimilar to an S2000, since it has 600hp too.

You might be thinking a similar rule would apply to this GT3 S2000 LM. Not so. Because, the thing is, unlike the S2000 GT1 Turbo, which has had a body that was probably more dealt with by Photoshop, this S2000 LM had not too much change to itself in terms of the body. And it still made 600hp. And get this. Because of the OTT ways of GT3s tuning, you could get one of these to 900hp. And yet it still looks remotely like a normal S2000. You couldn't get an S2000 GT1 Turbo to that number either.

Of course, the S2000 LM has been downgraded since then to nearly half that HP and is nowhere near as fast. But whatever. Every LM has had that treatment since GT4 and moved over to faster, more recognisable LMs. But really. If you are an Amuse S2000 GT1 Turbo fan, here's a tip. Take GT5 out of the PS3, put GT3 into a PS2, find this, and watch as I lol in your face for loving the damn thing. I know it might not be in GT5, but it's still GT. Good enough for me.

So there you have it. The Honda S2000 LM Race Car. Fast, smooth, grippy, good looking and renders the Amuse S2000 GT1 Turbo completely pointless.

Final Score: 16/20

Pictures and writing by C-ZETA

Nice review. This car is great for drifting. Light on weight, easy on the power, and nicely balanced.

It's a well known fact that the Nissan Option Stream Z is feared around here. People here fear the 796bhp it gives, combined with the 1440kg it weighs, combined with the max rear downforce of 15. Yeah, there's a valid reason why no one likes this thing. It looks impossible at first.

And people have complained of terrible handling with this thing, not to mention some of the worst acceleration ever seen for a car of its class. It is, apparently, a horror story.

So then, are the people right or not? Well, I've done the crazy job of buying one (get yours in the OCD today!) and, despite the certain death, went about going and testing it. And I have the following views.


Sorry GTP but, you're wrong. So so utterly wrong!

The handling on this car is not, really and honestly, that bad. It is actually, quite good. In slow corners, you get it into gear, hit the throttle, and it does an excellent slide. It's not too light and annoying, nor too wild and death-impending. It's right in the sweet spot almost, and it can almost only be down to the stupendous 796bhp offered from that front-mounted Nissan engine. OK, in the fastest corners, it really is genuinely terrible, but for the most part, you aren't going through the fastest corners in the game so you don't have to worry about that. It's really not that bad, people. Try it again.

However, with the acceleration...you may well have a point. It's not the acceleration itself that's bad...it's the powerband. And the powerband on this is quite possibly the most bizarre in the whole game. Even a fully modified Volkswagen SambaBus couldn't match up.

If you take off from a complete standstill, with no revs...nearly nothing happens. If you take off from close to full revs, you go into the medium range of the revs, then burst into the max 796bhp of the full revs. ...Unless you go into the redline, where the power then elects to fall off a cliff and hit the edge with quite some force. If you were to take its engine onto speedtest.net, or pingtest.net, its download speed would be 0.9mb/s, its upload speed would be 2440mb/s, its ping would be 0.4ms, its jitter would be 8997ms and its packet loss would be 297%. And its grade would be about an L+.


So yeah...this is a bit of a weird one. Holder of one of the most ridiculous powerbands in history, but also one of the most underestimated cars in this game, I find. Everyone says the handling on the Option Stream Z is lousy, but in slower corners, it really isn't. I'm not quite sure what all the hatred is with this thing, and while I find that most of the 796bhp never makes itself felt (probably because it isn't there a lot of the time), the car does a good job no matter how much power it might be producing at any given point. So next time, boys, give this thing a chance. It's not that bad.

Final Score: 13/20

Pictures and writing by C-ZETA

That lack of power until max RPM is due to lag. If it didnt have that, by the bucket loads that is, this car is an entirely different creature.

As for power dropping off considerably after the band, I think that's usually due to lack of torque. But if I'm wrong, correct me.

But once again nice review.👍

The powerband of this car is realistic. It's that of other similarly tuned cars in GT5 (especially those with High RPM Turbo kits) that isn't.

Fiat Panda Super i.e. '90​

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So here we are with a Fiat Panda. Except of course this one is done by Harvey Wallbanger's Cafe, who of course did the Mercedes SLS AMG GT that I reviewed earlier. Thankfully this one has no evidence of an annoying, lift-up spoiler this time.

Except this time, we have a tune from XDesperado67, owner of said garage and one of the general fun guys of the tuning forum. He started the main legacy of shootouts in this forum, and he has done a good job with them, hosting two shootouts - the original '500PP FF Challenge' shootout and also his 'Tons of Fun' shootout. He also even won one himself, that being my own shootout - the ZedTunes Rally Shootout, with a hugely fast and well-rounded Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI Tommi Makinen Edition '00, which did well enough to beat everything else around.

He also spends a decent amount of time making some more ridiculous tunes, and generally likes to do a lot of collaborations with other tuners. In general, among the fun guys of the tuning forum, he is the original, and this is a quick proof of concept - this Fiat Panda "Mafia HitBear", which has a new word in it I'd never even heard of to this point in time. I've heard of Hitmen in my time, but Hit"Bears"? Wonder what sort of bears. Grizzly? Polar? ...Teddy?


Either way, among pandas, this Panda is a Giant one. Giant on speed, Giant on sound, Giant on power...Giant on general performance.

At least compared to other Pandas anyway. It might only have a 193bhp engine, but that is almost 5 times as much as you get from a stock Panda! See what I mean? And the weight's been cut down by about a 1/4, too. OK, well that's not so much "Giant" as "Speedier", but still, whatever.

The sound is also notable. If you have driven one, you'll note that the engine sound is the same basic note you have in a CT230R. Just a lot lower. And admittedly not as good. But still, it's worth nothing. As another note, the Fiat 500 '08 also gets an identical sound with a Racing Exhaust.


Driving the car isn't that bad. It is still FF, and that means you still get a little understeer, not to mention the car can sometimes feel a bit too...loose for me sometimes. It's hard to explain, but sometimes the way the body moves is a bit odd for me. And I've also noticed that it smokes whatever tyre it's turning on with aplomb. But in general, it's good to drive. It will turn in well 9 times out of 10, and gets through corners with decent speed too. In a straight line, it still isn't terribly fast - I mean, the modification makes the engine very stressed up after all - but it wasn't at least completely plain with speed.

In general, this is a good example of the sunny side of the tuning forum where it doesn't really matter what you're aiming for. You could miss the mark completely and still people would love it because, quite frankly, it is plain ridiculous. And I hope the tuning forum continues to provide great cars like these that are built mainly to make people laugh at their brilliance. Good job with this, Despy. This won't be winning any speed contests soon, but as a Fiat Panda, it does a boss job. Which is fitting, given it should be a Mafia Panda. I'm looking forward to a "Xena, Warrior Princess" car. Or maybe a...no, I'll let you work out a name for yourself.

Final Score: 14/20

Pictures and writing by C-ZETA

I can picture my driver as James May when I take mine around Monza later.

sumbrownkid

That lack of power until max RPM is due to lag. If it didnt have that, by the bucket loads that is, this car is an entirely different creature.

As for power dropping off considerably after the band, I think that's usually due to lack of torque. But if I'm wrong, correct me.

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SHIRAKAWA Akira

The powerband of this car is realistic. It's that of other similarly tuned cars in GT5 (especially those with High RPM Turbo kits) that isn't.

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I do realise that the majority of the shape comes from the laaaaaaaag. Although as for torque, I don't quite understand because it maxes out at 655lb-ft, unless the turbo is built to work up to a point. It is, after all, meant for drifting in the real world, it's a D1 USA car.

Hmm…I wonder how things would be if you had my version. You'd probably say it was too twitchy. But meh…as it was decided in the garage, My Little Panda:Tuning Is Magic ≥ Mafia Panda.

Mafiabear? Serious? I would of called it grizzly...

Thanks for the review.👍👍

Maybe someday you'll do one for the best car in GT5 the Daihatsu Coure/Mira TR-XX Avanzato R '97 "Pocket Monster"!
I've used it at a variety of power levels from 400PP to 500PP to win more A-Spec, B-Spec and Seasonal events than any other car in the game.

XDesperado67

Thanks for the review.👍👍

Maybe someday you'll do one for the best car in GT5 the Daihatsu Coure/Mira TR-XX Avanzato R '97 "Pocket Monster"!
I've used it at a variety of power levels from 400PP to 500PP to win more A-Spec, B-Spec and Seasonal events than any other car in the game.

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With enough blatant advertisement I might Seriously though, you can find better than just a Daihatsu Cuore to claim your brilliance.

One question though...

What the bloody hell is a 'HitBear', anyway? Even Urban Dictionary can't define it.

And what sort of bear is it, anyway?

The Option Stream Z was a car built solely to beat top speed records anyway, so people can't really complain about it.

g0ld

The Option Stream Z was a car built solely to beat top speed records anyway, so people can't really complain about it.

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Then why is it here doing just 206.8mph?

C-ZETA

Then why is it here doing just 206.8mph?

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I've done some research about the car, and I'm pretty sure the description of it on GT5 must say something too. Plus, I've seen a video of the top speed run on YouTube. To add to that, the "just" 206.8 mph must be something class related (restrictions, etc) on competitions.

g0ld

I've done some research about the car, and I'm pretty sure the description of it on GT5 must say something too. Plus, I've seen a video of the top speed run on YouTube. To add to that, the "just" 206.8 mph must be something class related (restrictions, etc) on competitions.

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It's probably not a restrictor because I wasn't hitting the limiter. It was indeed designed for speed competitions and apparently can get to 980hp and 249mph...thing is though, the car has badges for the D1GP USA.

Uhm last I checked a Panda is a type of bear...ergo if it belongs to the Italian mafia it is a "Hitbear" and not a "Hitman" which would imply it was human.

Unfortunately PD removed most of the Seasonals that my "Pocket Monster" ran...seeing it fly by high end "Supercars" in the old Supercar Seasonal race on the custom eifal track was epic. The fact that other than the Supercar races it could pretty much dominate any of the events it qualified for made it a pure money machine that was largely responsible for paying for my over 2,000 cars and the parts to tune them. Also not only was it a proven winner but also a lot of fun to drive that fits ole Harvey Wallbanger's style perfectly as a fairly rediculous car that performs amazing feats no one expects to see.👍👍

You sure like your S2000's, don't you C? Aside that point, good job with the review, those great Hondas sure deserve them.

P.S: I'm not sure if you already checked, but I have reviewed one of your cars in Zedtunes garage. I've posted it in the Zedtunes thread.

Niku Driver HC

You sure like your S2000's, don't you C? Aside that point, good job with the review, those great Hondas sure deserve them.

P.S: I'm not sure if you already checked, but I have reviewed one of your cars in Zedtunes garage. I've posted it in the Zedtunes thread.

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I don't know how I manage to end up with all of them. General obsession with tuner cars I suppose.

I did see that. Just never bothered to give feedback

C-ZETA

I don't know how I manage to end up with all of them. General obsession with tuner cars I suppose.

I did see that. Just never bothered to give feedback

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Sometimes we buy cars just for the fun of it (Minus the Amuse!). But yeah, many of the tuners cars are S2k's, and they're good ones, too.

Hey, you didn't give feedback for my review! Well, if you can, at least say a few things to make sure you've noticed...

You should review my tune next, the Shelby Cobra GT750R Edition

Niku Driver HC

Hey, you didn't give feedback for my review! Well, if you can, at least say a few things to make sure you've noticed...

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Well, I will say, thanks for the positive review there. Good to see you enjoyed the handling of it. Though actually, since I tried it stock a long time back for the trials, on CH, I've found it tons more enjoyable, turns out it's one of the most balanced drifters I've seen.

Jahgee1124

You should review my tune next, the Shelby Cobra GT750R Edition

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Not taking requests right now. Don't know if I should review two different tunes of the same car either since of course I already reviewed the Cobra by Mulsanne (or now Furi).

I do have a project I'm also doing in the mean time that could technically be classed as a review, but is more accurately a large test project that I'm doing. The full number of cars in said test is 38.

C-ZETA

I do have a project I'm also doing in the mean time that could technically be classed as a review, but is more accurately a large test project that I'm doing. The full number of cars in said test is 38.

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Damm, 38 cars? That is a lot of wheels. Is it some sort of special comparison?

Niku Driver HC

Damm, 38 cars? That is a lot of wheels. Is it some sort of special comparison?

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Pretty much. I have all but 5 of the cars for the test, all are Standard and 2 of them can't even be seen in the UCD.

C-ZETA

Pretty much. I have all but 5 of the cars for the test, all are Standard and 2 of them can't even be seen in the UCD.

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Ah, a standard special, look foward to that one. Wonder what the main theme is going to be...

Niku Driver HC

Ah, a standard special, look foward to that one. Wonder what the main theme is going to be...

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No no no, it's not just Standards. I have Standards and Premiums, but they are all of a certain type.

C-ZETA

No no no, it's not just Standards. I have Standards and Premiums, but they are all of a certain type.

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Ah, ok. Either way, if you need some cars for the review, you can call me to help.👍

C-ZETA

No no no, it's not just Standards. I have Standards and Premiums, but they are all of a certain type.

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Please tell me your not doing all the different skylines/GT-Rs.

XDesperado67

Please tell me your not doing all the different skylines/GT-Rs.

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Don't worry. I'm not that aged.

C-ZETA

Don't worry. I'm not that aged.

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All the Lancers and Imprezas?