Beater or Sleeper? GT6 Car of the Week Thread

[Vic Reign93]

I've normally considered the V8 Esprits to be a case of, good potential, not so good execution.

The main culprit is of course the gearbox which in turn forced Lotus to dial back the power on the engine which in turn limited the cars full potential.

But enough about me banging on about the gearbox, how is it to drive?

In terms of handling it's a Lotus, of course it's going to handle well, although the extra power compared to most mid engine lotuses does make oversteer a more common occurrence.

Seeing as both the SE and '02 models showed up alongside the GT throughout the races, it essentially became a 3 car review.

The SE and '02 weighed roughly the same, but the GT was the lighter of the 3. I would say the '02 model might be a bit easier to drive due to it being the more modern of the 3.

I'm honestly torn on this, it's good to drive but everytime I get on a straight I wish the gearbox was tougher in real life so it could've had 500hp from the factory and in turn the game.

It's no beater, but it's a not full blown sleeper either.

I can say this though, it's quite underated and as I said earlier, has a very high horsepower ceiling when tuned.

Verdict? Just above average but below sleeper status.

 

[CSMDuty11]

I think i figured out who chose the car next week.
Its either Niku, Vic or Photon. And with the "car not featuring any missiles" quote, its most likely Photon.

 

[Lewis_Hamilton_]

Verdict? Just above average but below sleeper status.

Based on GT5 shuffle days, I was always under the impression that this car was a bit of a dark horse, I won so many races with it against cars that are supposed to be faster, but after last night I have to agree with you - it's a good car, you can get some great performance out of it, but when it can be overtaken on the outside of a turn that highlights understeer by a '97 Honda Civic, it can't be that good either. The '91 Honda Civic was also able to hassle the Lotus. Granted we changed to PP racing so we had custom setups, but it doesn't seem right that a purpose built MR sports car is matched or outdone by a buzzy, front wheel drive everyday hatchback, with half the engine size and pistons to boot.

I honestly was expecting more from the Lotus, but that in no way means it's bad, of course not. Can't call it a beater, so it will have to be a "sleeper" by a slim margin.

 

[Racer283]

Back in GT3 when I first started playing the GT series I thought the MR cars were hard to drive because of either understeer or oversteer but now I thoroughly enjoy driving these cars. As for the Lotus Espirit GT '98, it's not that bad of a car. I drove the Lotus Espirit GT in the Clean and Relax rooms that MC set up before our usual Tuesday races. We tested it out on the Daytona Road course and I was able to carry quite a bit of speed into the Bus stop. I would have it slide a bit entering into the chicane but manage to control the slide without touching the grass on the outside. If you push it a little hard into the corners you will have it slide out but with easy throttle and steering you won't have that problem. I agree with Lewis that the Lotus Espirit was a quick car in shuffle races in GT5 but a car that is very similar to the Espirit is the Ferrari 512BB. When everyone left Clean and Relaxed but Rob_on_Drums, I brought out the 512 to see how it did against the Espirit. Coming into Car of the Week, I decided to try the 512BB against everyone and saw that both Espirit and the 512BB was evenly matched but the 512 has a bit better straight line speed than the Espirit. Overall the Espirit is quite a good MR car but not the best.

 

[McClarenDesign]

I think i figured out who chose the car next week.
Its either Niku, Vic or Photon. And with the "car not featuring any missiles" quote, its most likely Photon.

What an utterly ridiculous thing to say.

Congratulations CSMDuty11!

Please select a car for us to drive.

You know, i was thinking of something big and fat.

You leave my mother out of this!

Oh....

​

It's the 1999 Aston Martin V8 Vantage!

Since I couldn't find any pics of girls next to the car, I give it an Instant Beater status. Since I can't manage to take a damn corner without slowing to 35 mph, I feel it's quite justified. Even if the servers are perfect, expect some ugly races with this thing.

As a bonus, if you can find a pic with a girl posing with this car, you'll win next week's choice and I'll replace the photo above. Good luck.

 

[Vic Reign93]

I had a good look on google and I struck out, only the new vantage had some luck.

But in my travels, I discovered that there was a pretty nuts racing version called the GTR 700.

700hp in a reportedly 850kg body.

At one point the Vantage V600 was the most powerful car in the world which was still in production after the McLaren F1 finished up production.

But let's not wrongly convince ourselves that the car can handle. It's a full blown Grand Tourer, a near 2 ton curb weight, soft suspension and a front heavy weight distribution is a recipe for chaos when trying to race on a track.

Put it like this, everyone will feel like they will be at a disadVantage driving this.

 

[Baron Blitz Red]

As a bonus, if you can find a pic with a girl posing with this car, you'll win next week's choice and I'll replace the photo above. Good luck.

http://astonmartins.com/wp-content/gallery/aston-martin-v8-vantage/thumbs/thumbs_am030830.jpg

You didn't say what type of girl, did you???

Cheers

 

[Niku Driver HC]

http://astonmartins.com/wp-content/gallery/aston-martin-v8-vantage/thumbs/thumbs_am030830.jpg

You didn't say what type of girl, did you???

Cheers

Dude, that thing is smaller than the possibility of this car go around corners without looking like a out-of-control train. I needed my trusty monocle (which also doubles as a magnifying glass) to see the "lady" in that picture.

 

[Soyuz 77]

Dude, that thing is smaller than the possibility of this car go around corners without looking like a out-of-control train. I needed my trusty monocle (which also doubles as a magnifying glass) to see the "lady" in that picture.

Although not as small as the possibility of finding a photo of this car with a girl who is able to walk away.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

Although not as small as the possibility of finding a photo of this car with a girl who is able to walk away.

A fair point, we should award a medal to the wise man who can achieve sucess on such a hard task. I feel that this car will be the British equivalent of the Dodge Challenger that was tested last year, except that it's prettier and slightly nicer to drive. You could say it's the Tyrell's Chips counterpart to a bag of Ruffles...

 

[CSMDuty11]

Even im surprised that a fat Aston Martin is the loneliest car in the world!
You'd expect the loneliest car to be some stupid Chery QQ or something, but not this!

 

[Niku Driver HC]

Even im surprised that a fat Aston Martin is the loneliest car in the world!
You'd expect the loneliest car to be some stupid Chery QQ or something, but not this!

You probably can get girls for this Aston. I do fear that none of them are under 65 (years of age) though. The Queen of England could be a part of this list, but someone else has already taken care of that...

 

[MidFieldMaven]

The only picture on the internet featuring the Vantage along with some women. I know it doesn't count

 

[CSMDuty11]

You know, the grill of the Vantage in the pictures looks lil' bit different than the grill in GT6....
Wonder why Aston Martin made different grills for the Vantage...... After 1998.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

You know, the grill of the Vantage in the pictures looks lil' bit different than the grill in GT6....
Wonder why Aston Martin made different grills for the Vantage...... After 1998.

Probably the special Le Mans version, which had a different grill and 604 horsepower as well as stiffer suspension and a (claimed) 320 km/h top speed. In short, an even crazier road-going V8 Aston...

 

[Draggon]

That thing has traction issues. It sounds lovely, turns OK once you get used to it, but suffers dramatically from the lack of rear bite. I loved this thing once.... I've got it tuned up on my alternate account. I'm going to switch and let you all know. Since I am having tuning issues with the one I purchased earlier today, I am thinking that this car went to h-e-double hockey sticks after the 1.09 physics update.

 

[McClarenDesign]

http://astonmartins.com/wp-content/gallery/aston-martin-v8-vantage/thumbs/thumbs_am030830.jpg

You didn't say what type of girl, did you???

Fail.

The only picture on the internet featuring the Vantage along with some women.

She's only interested in the Lambo. Fail.

 

[turismoslayer]

So far I am liking it. Took it to career mode and raced in the 500PP Cluman Cup at Matterhorn Rotenboden. While on the obese side and difficult to drive at times, it performs well and I think it can be a top contender with other cars ahead of its class. I'm looking forward to finding out what it is or isn't capable of.

 

[turismoslayer]

There could be a smokin hot female under that suit no?

Sorry double post.

 

[McClarenDesign]

We have a winner, whom shall be announced next week.

Until then, I'm just gonna leave this here...

 

[CSMDuty11]

Well, its appearance in the pic is closer to its GT appearance now i guess.



But no one thought about photoshopping a woman in, did they?

 

[MidFieldMaven]

That about sums up my time with the Vantage. Several smoke-filled laps at Laguna Seca taught me that to score the best possible time, do not select 1st or 2nd gears. Ever. 3rd gear has more than enough torque to avoid losing precious speed, without laying down rubber streaks all over the track.

Turismoslayer helped me out by posting a picture of the specs of the car a few posts above this one, so I'll omit those.

Did some research and found the best rivals to be the Jaguar XFR '10 and Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG (R230) '02. The Jag is within 10 kg of the Aston, while the Benz weighs the same as the Aston. Both are front-engine, rear-drive with V8s under the hood. After one lap in the Jaguar, it's already almost 4 seconds quicker. That's all I need to know.

The Vantage disappoints me, but it does look good in Malham White...

 

[McClarenDesign]

I have a few contenders ready for Tuesday...

 

[CSMDuty11]

When i bought the V8 Vantage, i wanted to call it "James Bond" or "Bond James", but unfortunately, those names were taken by my DB9 and my V12 Vantage. So i decided call the V8 Vantage "Bruce"
So, i went to Tokyo R246 with Bruce, and found out that, Bruce isn't very good at doing bumperstands.

Note that, this screenshot was taken just five mileseconds before Bruce fell on his side.
After getting a lap time, i found out that Bruce drove through Tokyo slower than a 500pp Acura Integra, which itself drove slower through tokyo than a 464-465pp Nissan March 12SR with all engine upgrades.
Now, i would make this review longer, but on our way back to Wherever, Bruce managed to anger a member of the Maserati Mafia, And got either captured, or executed.
So, on a track with more than six turns, the Vantage is a beater, but i did find out that the March 12SR is a definite sleeper, guess we don't have to spend a week on it.

 

[Draggon]

This thing is about as fast as James May. I went to my other account and found that it was a favorite car, and that I had 20 wins with it. Sadly, I was correct about the 1.09 update. The tune that had me saying "wow, this is nice!" doesn't work now, and I cannot get a grip on the lack of grip. Oh well....

 

[Vic Reign93]

This thing is about as fast as James May. I went to my other account and found that it was a favorite car, and that I had 20 wins with it. Sadly, I was correct about the 1.09 update. The tune that had me saying "wow, this is nice!" doesn't work now, and I cannot get a grip on the lack of grip. Oh well....

You do realise May once went 259 mph?

Like last weeks victim, this car also has a high HP ceiling when tuned with a maximum output of 1022hp.

Unlike last weeks car however, this car is bulky in both weight and aerodynamics with a 1462kg curb weight fully stripped out.

Mind you, it was popular among the GT5 drift leaderboards going head to head with the Buick Special.

 

[CSMDuty11]

Like last weeks victim, this car also has a high HP ceiling when tuned with a maximum output of 1022hp.

And they are both also made by a British marque which had one of its vehicles used in a James Bond movie.

 

[Vic Reign93]

And they are both also made by a British marque which had one of its vehicles used in a James Bond movie.

I'll go one step further, both Marques had vehicles wrecked in Bond movies, the Esprit had a rather overkill anti theft system and Aston Martin? DB5 crashed in Goldfinger and blown to pieces in SkyFall and the DBS was heavily damaged in Quatum of Solace and totalled in Casino Royale.

 

[Soyuz 77]

... That moment you find one with a girl in it! :tup:
... and it's the wrong car... YOU ALL KNOW THE FEELING BY KNOW

 

[Draggon]

I didn't know May had done 259... I was just capitalizing on that "Captain Slow" moniker. But the more pertinent question should be, can he turn corners or is he only good in a straight line like the Vantage?