Beater or Sleeper? GT6 Car of the Week Thread

[CrazyJohn]

Basically, we're allowing content/opinion from everyone regardless of console/system. More the merrier.

Just to tell you no game has the Dome Zero expect the Japanese stereotypes of GT6

 

[Draggon]

I think @McClarenDesign may be channeling his inner Lewis Hamilton with that 2:52 in the TT. My best so far is a meager 3:32.742, a mere 40 seconds behind.

 

[Vic Reign93]

I think @McClarenDesign may be channeling his inner Lewis Hamilton with that 2:52 in the TT. My best so far is a meager 3:32.742, a mere 40 seconds behind.

If you can, bring up a photo of the specs for the event so I can see it.

I would check myself, but PSN is down for me at the moment and reportedly down all over the place.

But going by the video posted, that WASN'T stock.

Edit: If PSN isn't back up by 3:00AM over here then there's a good chance I might not be able to make tonight's racing.

 

[Draggon]

Special Announcement​

Rather than wait for @McClarenDesign to set up a club event, since we don't know if or when he'll even be on GTP next, I figured this week's "Playing with TT's" will be done differently.. (It's either this or wait for who knows how long for Brad)

How to participate in this week's TT
1. Save the Wriedel Test Centre track to your account. It can be found on my page, or various other members who have already shared it.

2. Select the track from the offline Free Run mode. It must be offline, since you all know about the online-offline physics difference...

3. Drive fast.

4. Upload a screenshot to this thread of your fastest recorded time!

Simple!

As per @Nismonath5 posted in the quote above, I believe we are doing this offline this week. I followed the normal COTW regulations - no tuning, tires as supplied, oil change only. Grip was set to low, but I changed the time to 9:30-ish because my eyes aren't so good and I need it bright. But I agree with you Vic, that can't be stock.

PSN is ok here in California so far.

Hope you make it tonight!

 

[Vic Reign93]

Lobbies up people.

 

[Baron Blitz Red]

Here's my attempt at the Test Centre...

Cheers

 

[Nismonath5]

Under the Dome...
A retro concept car hiding unbelievable performance

I will admit it. When Rusted announced this car as his choice, I wasn't exactly leaping with joy. I was a tad reluctant, mainly due to the price tag. Do I have to??? Regardless, I handed over the half a million dollars, and set about seeing what the Dome could do.

I struggled in the first few races. The combo of MR drivetrain and being a featherweight meant it was rather temperamental at times, and the comfort tyres were struggling to deliver the grip I needed to keep up with the likes of Vic and PartTimeRacer. After a couple of warm ups though, and a little experimenting, I had a relatively great run at Autumn Ring mini, fending off PTR and Racer for the first and second half of the race respectively, and eventually finishing 2nd behind Jack. The week's racing was fast, clean, and exciting!

Final corner schenanigans!

The Zero boasts great acceleration, and even without TCS it gets up to speed quickly, with a small burnout off the line for crowd entertainment value. The handling is remarkably on point once you get used to it, even the CS tyres do a good job of clinging to the road surface. Oversteer, surprisingly, isn't even an issue. In fact on some occasions I tried to throw it into a drift, and it had so much grip it recovered itself without much trouble! The top speed is very good, but we'll get to that in a minute... It's agile, manouverable, and handles pretty much any type of track with relative ease, only requiring the driver to adapt accordingly in order to remain competitive.

Ugly pop up headlights? Check!

Baron plays in the weeds

Customisation options are... nearly nonexistent, no paint or bodykits here, wheels are the only way you can express yourself. Otherwise, hope you enjoy silver with hints of green as your body colour!
The car's simplified, and quite rough too. The PS2 graphics are easily distinguishable from a relative distance, and the lack of an interior is a real shame. The Zero actually has quite an interesting interior..

The interior of the future... 40 years ago!

Baron right at home at Spa

But the biggest surprise about the Zero is it's top end speed. When maxed out, and tuned according to "Vic's magic setup", it actually reaches speeds in excess of 430km/h, which is amazing considering it has less than 400bhp! The acceleration is still quite good, it's not bogged down by excessively tall gears or wind resistance, and it will literally win the "Like The Wind" races, assuming you use your NOS wisely.

400+km/h slipstream battle!

The Dome Zero is a definate sleeper. In fact, it's as much a sleeper as the Sirion/Storia, if not then more...
Don't let the price tag discourage you, this beast boasts Bugatti speed, GT-R acceleration, Go-Kart handling and all for a price that's not too bad considering what it can do!
Next week's car will be revealed in a few hours... break out the slicks!

You knew this pic was coming...

 

[Nismonath5]

Rightio, so Brad gave me the choice for this week thanks to a rather questionable Urban Dictionary definition I made with my mates years back about our high school... Look up "Rosehill College" and you'll see what I mean!

Congratulations Nismonath5!

Now, when I first got to choose, I picked a Mazda. I guess most people were expecting a Nissan, or better yet, a Nismo, but in all honesty that thought hadn't actually crossed my mind.
Regardless, in the fear of being called "Anything-But-Nismo nath5", this week's car is the Nissan Skyline GT-R (R33) Touring Car!!!!!

That's right! She's widebodied, 4WD, turbocharged, detailed, and usually overlooked in the favour of a GT-R GT3 or GT-R GT500! Time to once again see how good PD are at making racecars!
This week's Playing With TT's (either via club event or the same method as last week) will take place at Deep Forest Raceway! I'm on study leave this week, so I should be able to host on Tuesday for once! See ya'll then!

 

[Nismonath5]

Pictures from Tuesday night's action! (Except the Suzuka race, so gutted that I couldn't save that replay!)

You know what @JackRyanWMU's RX-7 should be nicknamed? "Jack Black!" *Tiddy boom*

Thoughts so far on the R33, well it's an exceptional race car, with plenty of grip, though a little understeer, to be expected from 4WDs.. I had some truly epic races in it, I was thinking of comparing it to the RX-8 Concept LM racecar but I didn't want to get out of the R33 cos it felt so good! I'm 99% sold on a sleeper verdict, but as we all know the Saturday races can change everything...

...Also, where is everyone...?

 

[Niku Driver HC]

Ah... why can't Saturday grids be that big...?

Sorry for being the Sad Nancy here, just wondering about that "issue", that's all. That and the fact that because of date changes, the race I was supposed to participate in Saturday last week (rallymorten's 2 Hours of Trial Mountain) has been moved to this week, meaning that I will not attend the COTW session once again.

And I guess everyone else is quickly moving on to other things, given GT's state of emergency... or lack of it, to be more precise.

 

[todally_lit]

Ah... why can't Saturday grids be that big...?

... unfortunately saturday 1pm pst is primetime for other stuff in my family - theatre (daughter), karting (son), autocrossing (me). I'm sure others in the US may have some similar type of conflict. I think having and early and late time is good overall for COTW, but I think it would be difficult to find an evening and day time that works for most people.

 

[todally_lit]

Pictures from Tuesday night's action!

Thanks again for the great pics Nismo!

The Skyline R33 Touring Car, in my experience, is probably one of the easiest cars I've ever driven!

Cornering - it sticks and sticks, you apply throttle and you can maintain your arc by turning the wheel (not so great for tire wear, but hey, it doesn't cost me anything ). if the arc is too wide, you can either turn the wheel or reduce throttle.

Braking - wow! this thing has some of the best brakes I've experienced in a non-prototype car. I was braking much deeper into the turn than I would have expected.

Corner exit - you could get on the throttle really early! even on SS tires this car was great!

Sleeper/Beater: ...neither... this is just a great race car, really well sorted. it looks fast, drives fast (not a sleeper), and its meant for racing, not grocery get'n (not a beater).

Wanted to share car stuff outside of COTW w/ you guys...
I was away from COTW last week due to participating in the SCCA Solo Nationals competition (autocross) in Lincoln, Nebraska. I was driving a fellow autocrosser's 2013 Scion FR-S (toyota gt86) in the "C Street" class which allows mods to only strut, cat back exhaust, and one sway bar. Other cars in the class include the BRZ, Mazda MX-5 (ND, NC club), Nissan 350Z, BMW E36 M3, and 91-95 Toyota MR2 turbo (in which I competed and placed 17/65 last year). Two days of competition on two different courses: day1 was dry/sunny for our class, and day2 started in the rain, with drying conditions. You get 3 runs on each course, and the sum of the best time on each day determines the winner. IMO some of the best precision drivers in the country are in attendance.

Here's a vid of the best runs on day1 and day2 that captures the experience - enjoy!

 

[Niku Driver HC]

... unfortunately saturday 1pm pst is primetime for other stuff in my family - theatre (daughter), karting (son), autocrossing (me). I'm sure others in the US may have some similar type of conflict. I think having and early and late time is good overall for COTW, but I think it would be difficult to find an evening and day time that works for most people.

Well you make valid points, not arguing with that. But sometimes I can't help but to feel that most COTW regulars have either turned somewhere else for their racing needs...

 

[Nismonath5]

Well you make valid points, not arguing with that. But sometimes I can't help but to feel that most COTW regulars have either turned somewhere else for their racing needs...

I wouldn't stress too much, Niku my friend. T'is true, COTW on GT6 will one day cease to exist. But right now we still get pretty damn good turnouts each week, so enjoy them while they last!

 

[Niku Driver HC]

I wouldn't stress too much, Niku my friend. T'is true, COTW on GT6 will one day cease to exist. But right now we still get pretty damn good turnouts each week, so enjoy them while they last!

But Saturday's turnouts aren't quite as colorful (in all sense of the word) as Tuesday's... I just feel that those who race on Saturday's are missing out on fun that Tuesday people can afford to have.

I just like larger grids, really. More cars means more opportunities to race someone even if you mess it up, and it also means more opportunities for great racing. That's my train of thought, really.

 

[Nismonath5]

I just like larger grids, really. More cars means more opportunities to race someone even if you mess it up, and it also means more opportunities for great racing. That's my train of thought, really.

Not disagreeing with you there, mate. Tuesday's racing was awesome, and that's exactly why this club's lasted so long.

 

[Draggon]

Well you make valid points, not arguing with that. But sometimes I can't help but to feel that most COTW regulars have either turned somewhere else for their racing needs...

There are 4 to 6 of us that show up regularly on Saturdays as well as Tuesdays. I like larger grids too, but Saturday is more casual and we take ourselves even less seriously than Tuesday, if that's possible. There are more folks making comparisons with other cars, plus Saturday usually has some interesting bonus races!

 

[Niku Driver HC]

Not disagreeing with you there, mate. Tuesday's racing was awesome, and that's exactly why this club's lasted so long.

Of course, I won't disagree with that either. I guess I'm just thinking too much about this, but I would like to enjoy playing GT6 a bit more these days... Something isn't quite clicking for me. But I digress...

There are 4 to 6 of us that show up regularly on Saturdays as well as Tuesdays. I like larger grids too, but Saturday is more casual and we take ourselves even less seriously than Tuesday, if that's possible. There are more folks making comparisons with other cars, plus Saturday usually has some interesting bonus races!

Yes, the bonus races can be quite fun, but I'd say having two or three more drivers wouldn't hurt either. I'm not even trying to demand a full grid, just a few more new faces. The open-minded spirit is something that applies to the entirety of COTW, or so I think at least. It's not just during Saturday's racing, but during the entire week.

But as of lately, the thread has been so silent I can't help but to wonder if this model is starting to run its course...

 

[Nismonath5]

Also, what I think I'll do is set up a temporary COTW club so I can set up TT events, which is like the key missing link in COTW lately. It'll be one more thing off Brad's shoulders while he's doing the blog and all the other things he's up to.

Edit: also Niku, this isn't the first time the club's gone quiet. Look back to when the Plymouth Superbird was picked, noone posted all week!

 

[Racer283]

But as of lately, the thread has been so silent I can't help but to wonder if this model is starting to run its course...

The thread does quiet down a bit but it does pick up every once in a while like other threads do. It's the nature of forums and threads. I know most of us are busy with work, family, school and other things that sometimes prevents us from commenting on the recent car or after a long day of work you feel like wanting to write a recap of the car but procrastinate that you eventually forget about writing something up.

The only time I have for racing with COTW guys are Tuesdays since I have work Saturdays right when the races are going on. If I could I possibly would join them on Saturdays but can't quite do much with my work though.

 

[Baron Blitz Red]

Agree with what @Racer283 is saying, it happens. I've been struggling to find time to post lately, let alone finding time for a review for the past couple cars. I will, I promise. It's just this damn thing called real life getting in the way!

Gotta give a shout out to the regulars though, was some great racing last night when the servers were playing nice... although that's almost a game in of itself for quite some time now.

Cheers

 

[Draggon]

What's up with the TT this week? Same as last, offline and post a screenshot?

Speaking of TT's last week BBR and I covered the field at the Wreidel Test Centre so well no one else showed up.

1. @Baron Blitz Red 3:29.152
2. @Draggon 3:32.742

@McClarenDesign has been reported to the FIA for rules infringement and some suspicious cheating for posting a 2:52.196.

 

[Nismonath5]

Do you miss "Playing with TT's"?
Of course you do!!!!
And now you can enjoy them even while Brad's away!!!

What I've done is made a temporary COTW club so anyone who still wants to do the week's time trial event can do so! I'll even try and make it as authentic as possible, complete with punny titles and whatnot...
Now because I've done this halfway through the Skyline's week, I'll extend it's event by a few days to compensate. So, for a while, there'll be two events online! Club ID is 1067430.

Don't leave the other club okay, this is literally just a temporary, and as soon as Brad's back we'll go back to his one and everything will return to normal!
Skyline's TT is live now!

 

[RacingOtaku86]

I'm sorry for no longer being a Tuesday regular, but my schedule no longer supports it. Saturday's... count laziness as a reason not coming on. There are others, but you're not interested in that (I think).

 

[JackRyanWMU]

Right, I'm leaving tomorrow for a two week sojourn out west to Montana, so I'm going to knock out a couple of Quick Takes here to get caught back up for the time being.

The Dome Zero I thought at first was a good car but not a 500k credits good car. It was lightweight and mid-engined and capable of good performance, but I couldn't see why you'd spend that kind of virtual currency on a standard car that can't be painted when you can have a Civic or Silvia of similar PP level for 20k. Only when Vic took us to SSRX and had us mod them up did I see how insanely fast the car could be. While I find it a little optimistic that this car wouldn't be a widowmaker if the real car was capable of going 250+ MPH (with its narrow wheelbase and lack of aerodynamic aids), looking purely at the game model I was forced to change my mind and call it a Sleeper.

The Nissan R33 Skyline GT-R Touring Car, it's reasonably priced at the 200k range, and you get the full premium treatment. It also comes with All-Wheel Drive which can definitely be helpful for noobies who are just getting into driving dedicated race cars. I personally would opt for the higher performing R34 Skyline Touring Car or the more eager on turn-in Mazda RX-7 Touring Car, but I can't really fault the R33 at all. Neither Beater nor Sleeper, overall a pretty solid choice for 550-600 PP race cars.

So that's it for me on the COTW front for a couple of weeks. Happy driving and I'll see you in October!

 

[Nismonath5]

Geez, it really has been quite quiet this week on the forum, hasn't it?! I'm kinda feeling what @Niku Driver HC was feeling a while ago, this lack of activity is getting a little concerning...
Also, anyone heard from @MidFieldMaven lately? He didn't put up a write up this week, and I really enjoy his works.. As for my review, I will get cracking onto it tomorrow, as I was at an autocross event today, so after school tomorrow I'll get it done!

Anyway, perhaps a new car will bring everyone together again!!

Now, this week's winner hasn't gotten back to me, so hopefully he'll do so sometime through the week and we can use it next week.
In the meantime....
CONGRATULATIONS INITIAL LIST!!!!!

Looking through the Initial list, there's certainly still some gems in there even after all this time. The Ferrari Dino, X-Bow Street, Diablo GT2... However one stood out for me, and that is the 2007 Light Car Company Rocket!!!!

For this week's time trial, we'll be journeying to the beautiful cityscapes of Special Stage Route 5, and the event will be created at the same time I do my review, tomorrow.

With all the recent silence, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all well. Brad's said it before, and it's no less true for me. You guys are like a figurative family to me, and it's the amazing atmosphere, competitive racing and family-like care for eachother that's unlike anything I've ever seen in a gaming club. Here's hoping this club continues strong for many more weeks, months, heck maybe even years to come!

See you all Tuesday!

Edit: Time trial is up and running now on the temporary COTW club page!

 

[Niku Driver HC]

Well I knew I wasn't going to be able to attend yesterday's session, and even stated my reason as to why that would happen. But I guess that reason was ignored by a few, because I got two messages to join the COTW lobby when I clearly couldn't. Why? Let's check the post where I mentioned this, shall we?

That and the fact that because of date changes, the race I was supposed to participate in Saturday last week (rallymorten's 2 Hours of Trial Mountain) has been moved to this week, meaning that I will not attend the COTW session once again.

And to further prove that I was indedd racing on another lobby, one which would take most of my time, focus and energy, be sure to check this video footage of me trying to tangle with the finest 500PP cars while swerving all over the place to avoid faster cars from other categories;

The video sharing feature doesn't allow me to put a timestamp in this video, but the race itself starts at precisely 1:49:26 for those who care

So yes, I simply wasn't going to be able to race with you all yesterday. But I guess my point was missed due to... reasons. Well, for those who are curious about my choice of car for this race but didn't bother to watch the video, you're in luck, 'cause I have a picture. And wouldn't you know it;

It's a car we of COTW will get acquainted with. With that said, I'm immediately giving this a Sleeper rating. It beat two tuned cars, a Ford Mustang Cobra R and an Aston Martin V12 Vantage, despite greatly lacking in both power and torque. The race I had with it proves just how good the Rocket is at defying conventions, and also proves that it's a bonafide Formula Ford that got a license plate and tiny lights at some point in its life...

 

[girabyt3]

Sleeper, that's it lol

 

[Racer283]

Hey guys,

Hope you all had a good weekend and good racing on Saturday. A few days ago I messaged Nismonath5 and MC about having an endurance series with group, they were all for it. Would anyone else be interested in an endurance series. Right now it's still in the planning stage but if have any ideas to add we can add you to the group message.

 

[Vic Reign93]

Before I finally drag myself out of procrastination and do this double review, a shout out to @Niku Driver HC for winning this weeks photo contest held by HSG with his Lancia Stratos.



Let's start with the recent pick and work backwards and that would be the PD original Nissan Skyline R33 GTR Touring Car.

Well I say PD original, it takes heavy inspiration from the GT1 R33 that ran at Le Mans in the mid nineties with the obvious difference being the car retaining the factory 4WD system.

Packing under 550hp after an oil change and weighing 1,115kg, it's definitely no slouch.

But here's a issue that I've noticed with cars like the R33 in both road and race forms, making power at the top end of the rev range isn't it's strong suit.

The cause? the Touring Car is equipped with Low RPM turbo as standard which means power up until 6,500 rpm is good, but after 7K the power really drops off and the Automatic users like Baron lose out.

I ended up going through the gears like a WRC car to exploit the powerband and was already in 5th gear before hitting 100mph.

Even with a High RPM turbo the issue is still there, just moved further up the rev range.

Handling was good, but then again, it's a light weight, 4wd race car running slicks so that's expected.

A more thorough explanation is this, it's not too understeery and provided you aren't being a complete spanner with when you get on the throttle, it'll go through corners very well.

But it still doesn't answer as to how I passed both Baron AND Asher on the outside of Turn 5 at Daytona whilst on SM tyres and they had SS and RH tyres respectively.

That aside, R33 TC has plus points and negatives, but overall a decent car. 👍

Verdict: Neutral

And now time to divide by Zero.

The Dome Zero was an oddball really, unveiled in 1978 at the Geneva Auto Show, it was quite the hit at the show, attracting buyers and investors.

Dome wanted to get the car homologated for production, but the Japanese regulations of the time were reportedly very strict and the homologation process wasn't cheap and Dome didn't have any major funding to do it with.

A year later, Dome unveiled a Zero P2 built specifically for the international market and Dome even raced a Zero at that years 24 hours of Lemans called the Zero RL which failed to finish.

They came back next year with the RL-80 and they actually finished the race....




in last place......





92 laps down from the leaders.

But getting back to the genesis of Dome, the Zero is on paper got potential with a curbweight of 920kg, 50-50 weight distribution and a mid engine lay out which houses a Nissan/Datsun derived 2.8 straight 6 making near 170hp with an oil change.

Its handling is two fold, understeer if you come in too hot into a turn and oversteer if you're too agressive with the throttle in the turns, it really rewards precision and allows you to go sideways if needed.

Of course it's wedge shape means it's pretty streamlined and after tuning the engine to a rather modest 353hp, it ran over 240mph at SSRX without the bottle and I've had it as high as 281 with the bottle.

In stock form, it's a neutral because it's high price tag and lack of customisable choices bring it's down, But fully tuned, then it's a 50 caliber Sleeper.

Verdict: Neutral

As for the Rocket, previous experience says it's gear limited on the straights, but an absolute Rock-It (See what I did there? ) through the turns.

Gonna be a interesting nights racing with that.