Beater or Sleeper? COTW Forza 7 Week:END The Ultimate Sleeper, The Holden Sandman! Thanks Everyone!!

Setting a bench mark tonight, then have a go tomorrow
Here’s the benchmark for ya. ;)

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And I even remembered to switch to night this time. :P
 
I'm baaaaack.

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Oh...
Well... that was anticlimactic.
Trying to get the power down in this thing is a struggle, especially in the corners. While part of this will be my use of a controller, too much torque seems to be the main culprit here though. It won a championship though, and is very competitive within its forza category so who am I to complain?

Verdict: Neutral
 
One thing that always baffled me about the American automotive industry is its uncanny ability to sell cars that are built on the same chassis, often share the same engines and most of their sheetmetal, and differ only for small details as separate "models". This tendency seems to also apply, to an extent, to race cars: this, mostly, thanks to the adoption of formulas, like NASCAR, where a body resembling that of a production vehicle was dropped on a purpose-built tube-frame chassis.

Enter the Mercury Cougar XR-7.


Who's the wise guy who thought racing a car with no headlights at night would've been a fun idea, huh?

Originally built by Roush Racing to be powered by an inline-4 turbo engine and clad in a Mustang-esque body, it eventually became Ford's promotional vehicle, first being turned into a faux-Ford Sierra, pardon, Merkur XR4Ti, and then becoming a promotional for the new agggressive attitude over at Mercury, which in 1989 launched a new Cougar which ditched the upswept rear window that made its predecessor aesthetically unsufferable to watch. Funnily enough, while many fans of "Detroit muscle" complained about the lack of V8 options on the road-going models, on select tracks this battle cat ditched the usual turbocharged 4-pot (and latter V6) in favor of a good ol', all-American Cleveland 302 c.i. engine, fitted under a special "raised" hood; it's this particular option that T10 went for.


The car's V8 engine, a 5.5 litre, Roush-tuned SVO Cleveland.

When it was introduced in FM6, the Mercury's performance was a bit lackluster, and well under what I would've expected from a car who won back-to-back IMSA titles in 1989 and 1990. This was mostly to blame on the excessive torque output of the engine which, coupled with the slippy asphalt of the game, made for an explosive combination. Thanks to Forza Motorsport 7's new handling model, the car behaves in a slightly more civilized manner; however, it still somehow manages to be a fair bit more dangerous than many turbocharged IMSA and Group 5 racers (Audi 90 nonwithstanding). Consistency is still a goal this piece of American ingenuity can hardly serve, although in door-to-door racing against its competitors it still performs admirably, easily holding its own against the godly RX-7 and on-rails 300ZX it contested the 1990 IMSA GT title with thanks to the endless pull of the same V8 engine that dooms it to struggle so badly on corner exit.


Plus, every gear shift sends fireballs out of the exhausts. Mercury Cougar XR-7: the official car of the Imps from Doom.

So, what's the verdict? Honestly, I don't think its performace would positively surprise anybody: this is an unapologetic late-80s top-tier tubeframe racer we're talking about. On a single lap, it doesn't outperform its class peers, leave alone exceeding division expectations. But it's still a car worthy of respect; an uncivilized battlecat ready to pounce corners, as soon as you will be respectful on the throttle and won't shy away from shifting early. And it provides thrills an "easier" car won't: hearing the racing V8 rev up to an almost unbelievable 8000 rpm, asking yourself whether or not the tires will hold, is a huge portion of the thrill of racing. And sure, it may be not be a sleeper hit, but its laptimes are still competitive enough to make me inclined to give a neutral judgment: in the end, it goes exactly as fast as you'd expect it to go - which is to say, a lot!

+ Packs (more than) 675 horses of all-'murican fun under the hood
- For a Cougar, it handles a bit too much like a dog...

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So here’s the standings for the Cougar at Daytona.

Vic Reigns: 1:42.968
@Drex124: 1:44.826
@JR98: 1:46.605
@ClydeYellow: 1:46.776

I figured for this weeks pick that I should take a swing at this picking car and track deal and it’s completely unrelated to the fact I couldn’t find a winner for this week. :P

Anyways, take it away, Myself. :)

Given that Forza 7 is the first one since Forza 3 that has had Porsche in from the start it’s only fair that we would try one of the machines from the Stuttgart’s finest.

This car actually debuted in Horizon 3 via the Forzathon events, but it’s now here for all to enjoy..

It is...

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The 1993 Porsche 928 GTS!!!

I’m also perfectly aware of that Photo is of a more “Controversial” model. :sly:

This weeks track of choice is in Germany, but not the Nurburgring, it is in fact Hockenheimring and it’ll be the National Circuit layout in the dry we’ll be running this week. 👍

Oh and if you need some extra motivation to put in the fast lap, just use that image up there as inspiration. :D
 
Oops forgot to post my time :banghead:
Go ahead a toss it in anyways, the more the merrier!

As for my time... let's say Daytona isn't one of my strong tracks :lol:

My fastest clean lap was right around 1:51 if I remember. I figured I'd let that week pass
 
Go ahead a toss it in anyways, the more the merrier!

As for my time... let's say Daytona isn't one of my strong tracks :lol:

My fastest clean lap was right around 1:51 if I remember. I figured I'd let that week pass
You post yours and I’ll post mine :lol: the track does definitely grow on you the more laps you do !
 
Got around to knocking this time out after waiting until the issues regarding people losing saves were somewhat sorted. :)
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The 928 is quite the surprise, originally designed to replace the 911 until someone probably said, “Er no, that’s really stupid 🤬 idea.”.

The 928 GTS packs a 5.4 litre V8 with 345hp on the cards which is sent to the rear via 5 speed gearbox.

With a 50-50 weight balance, it’s a very stable and responsive luxury sports car, although the brakes could do with a touch more bite to them under braking.

The suspension is a tad soft, but the car handles in a predicable manner so it’s easy to drive and easy to throw about when desired. :P

The 928 was never gonna fill the hole left by the 911, but it’s still one of Porsches better front engined cars right alongside the 944.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

Get those times in folks. :D
 
Running out of time folks, you got until tomorrow at midnight to get your times on the board. :P
 
Not a fun car on track, brakes don’t feel up to the job and understeery setup with very old wallowly suspension meant for the road. The weight doesn’t help either as it doesn’t like direction changes much. Engine pulls well but still doesn’t feel right having a V8 pull a Porsche Sports car along.
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Hey you! Yeah you Porsche, if you want to sell a V8 Porsche in America, maybe don't give them the second hand parts bin version of the engine...

Anyways, I kind of love this car. It's a Porsche with the engine in the correct spot (rear engine just isn't right, fight me :P ) with plenty of power to boot. The styling has none of the usual 80's hard lines and rectangles which makes for an overall softer feel on the car. Unfortunately the pop-up headlights look a bit like an alien's antenna...
On track it's alright, suspension leans into every corner, and it had a tendency of wanting to continue turning on corner exit. Being a more a grand tourer this one would probably be better suited to some spirited driving on backroads in between cruising on highways.

Still a sleeper for me though. :D

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POWERRRrrrr.... oops...
 
So going by the times, I’ve must’ve missed something if i’m in 4th, or maybe you guys were on the ball this week. :P

So the Standings..

1st: @FastBud 1:45.204
2nd: @Drex124 1:46.110
3rd: @Clark 1:46.472
4th: Vic Reign 1:46.831
5th: @JR98 1:50.443

Congrats to all who joined, now on to this weeks pick.

Congratulations @ClydeYellow!!

You are this weeks lucky pick, click here for your price. :sly:

Oh wait, Got the wrong script here. :dunce:

Here we are and the car for this week is...

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The 1990 Mazda MX-5 Miata!!

Yep, we’re going topless this week with the best selling 2 seater sports car of all time, with over 900,000 cars sold as of 2011. :bowdown:

The track for this weeks open top motoring is the full circuit layout at Brands Hatch.

The cruel twist you’re probably guessing is that it’ll be raining cats and dogs, but here’s the real twist..





There is no twist. :lol:

It’s gonna be a dry and sunny day for this one folks. :D
 
Still uneasy about going on FM7 because of that supposed bug regarding losing data, but I took a chance and got this time down. :P

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As for the car, it’s a first gen MX-5, not exactly underwhelming to drive now is it? :lol:

It’s the best selling two seater sports car for a reason, handles great, it’s modest in its straight line pace and it’s not expensive, it’s old school open top fun. 👍

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

Get those times in folks ;)
 
Times running out folks, you have until midnight tonight to get your times in. :)

Also like last time, I’ll be announcing a second car for this week that’ll be taken from the DLC pack that’s likely to be released later today. :D
 
Car is fun but needs more power. It’s a shame as it handles really well and you they car let’s you use the curbs brilliantly but the slightest slide at the rear and the engine bogs down a bit . For a quick lap you really need to keep it beer and use the cars balance to carry as much momentum through the corners.

The uphill sections are agonising though, and I’m really not an MX5 fan (sorry GTP) Glad I don’t have to drive it again :lol:

Verdict: Begrudgingly a Sleeper

1:53.515
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SMILE!
I always do when I see one of these coming my way. :D

There's not much to say about this one really. It's like the virus of the car world, it's everywhere. Being cheap, mass produced, easy to maintain, and easily modified make this the track day hero that it is.

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Hey bro, wanna go track day bro?

On to the lap(s), with the first few outings ending up in the sand I wasn't all that hopeful. For a car with such little amounts of power it is very tail happy if you're not careful. Which I wasn't... So after digging the gravel out of the brake pads I went out again and managed to get it round in one piece. A 1:57.something... Oh dear, you know what I'll come back later. I should probably mention at this point Brands Hatch is one of my worst tracks, I just don't do well with long sweeping corners it seems.
Many many slow and invalid laps later though:

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I love this thing in C class but stock it just isn't for me.
With that in mind I give it a rating of: Neutral
It's a good car as evidenced by 27 years of people saying so, but I can't get along with it it seems. Though it's still on my summer car short list, I mean just look at that face! :D

Mazda Miata: The car that smiles back.
 

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So apparently I’m a racing god lol, thought I would set a time tonight mid 1.54’s went to the leaderboard and saw my time I set when I did I quick lap last week :banghead:

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Anyway the car it’s a classic Sleeper but does need I few more hp to be really fun !
 
So aside from that little technicality, The MX-5 is a decent handler, just needs more power.

I know of an another car that has that same problem, but it’s not this weeks car. :P

So the standings.

1st: @Clark 1:53.515
2nd: Myself 1:53.898
3rd: @Drex124 1:54.676
4th: @FastBud mid 1:54’s ( I trust you on the 54 part, but i’m playing it safe and placing you 4th as Drex has a proven verifiable time. :))
5th: @VICGT1970 1:55.110

It’s that time again, DLC special week to go with the regular pick.

And this weeks pick is from the land down under. :D

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It’s the 2014 Ford FPV Limited Edition Pursuit Ute!!!

For the Aussies, cars like the El Camino were common place and high performance version Utes like this were only possible in Australia. :P

The Track this week for this supercharged Ute is the Mount Panorama Circuit, better known as Bathurst.

But wait, there’s more!! :sly:

As we have a DLC car from the Doritos car pack and the car I’ve picked is a no brainier.
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It’s the 1926 Bugatti Type 35!!!

Yep, we’ve got a 1920’s legend right here. :eek:

While it’s not powerful at under 100hp, it’s also not heavy either at under 1700lbs.

You sadly can’t hoon it up the goodwood hill climb, but you CAN hoon it around the Bugatti Circuit lay out at Le Mans. 👍

Two different eras, only one constant, you.
Best of luck gentleman. :cheers:
 
Been awhile since I've poked my head in the FM7 threads and look who I find :)
Don't go to hard on them Vic.
I bought FM7 not long after it was released even though I don't own an Xbox. I was thinking that GT6 would lose out to GTS and nobody would play GT6 anymore.. boy was I wrong. So I still don't have an Xbox yet. Now that I know this group is going on in FM7 I just might have to buy one after Xmas.

Now I have to convince the wife to let me have more gaming time :bowdown:
And with us having a 4 month old girl that's going to be tricky.

Anyway have fun guys because this type of game is so much fun and the group over on GT6 is still going after 4 years. Hopefully I can join you soon.
 
Well you can be the judge on this time then and we’ll see what happens when the other guys step up. :P

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Might have less than 100hp the Type 35, but it’s not exactly lugging much weight around either. ;)

Quite a bit of positive camber on the front which was kinda routine back as they didn’t have things like power steering, plus it made the front more responsive which drivers back then preferred.

Quite the legend, one that got hooned up the Goodwood Hillclimb earlier this year. :bowdown:

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

As for the Ute, I’ll put in a good time and instead of just a screen shot of the time, I’ll be using the Xbox DVR to record it, just to shake things up abit. :D
 
Ok folks as promised, here’s my hot lap with the Ute. :P



As for the Ute, likes to spin up the inside tyre under acceleration coming out of a turn, could do with some better brakes to boot.

But given only the Aussies got these amped up sports Utes, it does its job well, which is hauling small loads and shredding rear tyres for the hell of it. :D

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

Also folks, don’t leave your times too late now. :P
 
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