SPD Writes Car Of The Week: Week 13 - Chevrolet Corvette C1
Though it looks like it's just one, but this week, THREE CARS ENTER! Okay, I shouldn't even be killing them off or something.
As a longtime fan of the Corvette (I mean, who isn't), I find myself at odds with the 1st generation, mainly because it was the C2 that introduced me to the name, and thus interest. You can probably guess from where. If you guessed the western release of Gran Turismo, then DING DING DING.. I don't think I have points to give, but I'll tell you to get yourself a pat on the back, and hope you have good fortunes at these troubling times.
Now, as much better the C2 onwards was in general for me (and just about most licensed racing games), the C1 isn't that bad a car. Personally, all the attention of this generation would go to the facelift model. It's such a beauty. I find it super appealing for a long time, and would like to see more of this car in many other games. Like, aside from Forza, this car I know appeared in Test Drive Unlimited, and it's the older facelift. Also not forgetting the Art Morrison variant in the PS3 era Gran Turismo games. At least I can use COTW to finally get some bearings to the Forza Edition car. It's.. just not remarkable enough for me.
In terms of getting the cars, it's not exactly buy from the Autoshow easy. The regular C1 is a barn find in this game, and lucky for me I haven't touched it. COTW gets me reasons to touch cars that have been getting this sort of treatment anyways. The original C1 sits at a reasonable 366 PI, just above average in your D-class affairs. I wonder if it'll work as a B-class racer?
And now we head to the 1960 Corvette, which from here on out I will present as the facelift. I hope that's the correct term for it.
This classic car is one I quite like very very much. Back when I was fiction writing, in the PS3 ages of Gran Turismo, one character.. the father to the main character that is, had this (the Art Morrison one) as his signature ride. He had the Corvette themed under him, so I chose what I liked the most, and there it is. So far, the only other car on COTW as of now that I have used in fiction writing would be the Lexus RC F, that oddly was also my nominee.. Forgive me if it sounded like me rambling, hah.
Unlike the original, this car is even more of an effort to own, requiring just about every base game Chevrolet in your garage. As mentioned, the real hurdle here is getting the ZR-1. But what ZR-1? Would I tell you.. not the C7? Yessir, I've done my research. And the results say the C7 will set you back about 1.1 million-ish if you're too lazy to get that skill score. That's not the real issue, as the wheelspin exclusive C3 ZR-1 will set you back at least 2 and a bit million, and so does facelift C1 if you ever need a spare. This apparently applies to me.
For a car that's averaging at 2.3 million per buyout, I scored one worth just half of that. Talk about lucky!
If we compare the usual and the facelift, the latter goes up a notch and adds yet another to the COTW's collection of middling C-class competitors at 541 PI. Similar to the GNX a couple weeks ago, I don't feel this is the right PI for it.
Oddly enough for me, the Forza Edition came in droves. There was more, but in the garage is 3 with my name on it, 2 being stock spares just lying around. That not stock one right now is an S1 road maniac with an AWD conversion. Another one of them's coming in hot, and maybe I'll find a proper use for it after this.
And being a Forza Edition, the red racecar boy sits on top of somewhere, this one being A-class, and as a Classic Racer too. This does mean it's got good parts, puny aero, and maybe proper tuning. It does have the pretty but otherwise terrible classic racing tires. Even then it still has 1.7 Gs of handling. It should sort of be competitive, right?
After that disaster of a certain Unlimited Offroad Forza Edition those weeks back, I hope it can be, at least.
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To bring these classic sports cars to appropriate ship shape form, we first have to find us an aggressive, but also speedy route. Lucky enough, Llanuras Sprint would be right on the money for that sort of experience.
There's a storm brewing... quite literally! Lucky for me, the Corvettes won't have to deal with this act of God.. and this is the right sort of MINI to handle these conditions.
Going around a small portion of the highway, this road has us pass by the Teotihuacan pyramid, then the Horizon stadium, then finally culminating at Guanajuato from the south. The road is speedy, but after the pyramid, we have a technical segment that lasts until we pass the Street Scene Outpost. The road after is then a high speed uphill race to the city.
Well, it looks like it's a test for your speed inclined cars, particularly the handling segment after the pyramid. Thankfully, this event is also not a Street race, meaning Barry R comes in to regulate one's racing line.
Now, with this 3 car onto 1 track layout, I think it's time to split this into 3. This does mean 3 sets of analyses, laptime and conclusion. Kind of odd that I don't find this all too exciting. Don't quite have the words for this phenomenon, but maybe a hands on experience should change that thought.
Obviously we start off with the original. Time to go on and bring the top down of one Penelope Pitstop (heh, more SPD innuendo)
America's darling sports car in full force.
- Uhh, I don't have to mention the super sluggish launch. And also my RPM to shift is 4850. Don't mind me at my baffled feeling, because..
- I did not expect 2 gears. Yeah, that's it. I did not expect it. It's not a downside or anything fully negative. They're tall enough for an okay top speed, and the drive itself is stable without all that extra gearing. Unless you're daring me to make a 2 gear car better than the Porsche Taycan, it's got 2 freaking gears, and did I mention I did not expect it?
- On the winding turns, the car will understeer, more towards the rear. So don't think you can brake late. This is also more apparent when you somehow engine brake that single gear. But there isn't much to complain on the handling otherwise. The good? Well, if you let the car decelerate, it lets itself go to help with taking turns better. And to trail brake it is sort of a must do: it's real nice.
- Speaking of brakes: they're good. I wonder if the C8 Stingray's just the only outlier for the car having bad brakes.
- Interior review time! And the red accents really make the car stand out much. Aside from glaring safety issues from cars of this era, this is a great interior view. Though I find the speedometer's 140 MPH maximum reading a bit redundant when the stock car tops out at 105. Another strange thing is how having 2 gears and with no shifting animation. I'll just say it's my lack of knowledge of the car that has me strike this as unusual.
- For this car, the real issue of this run would come in the post Street Scene Outpost road, where it's all speedy and uphill. Without that power and all this hindering progress, I've always wondered how D-class racing would really find itself interesting at all. Maybe because it's not, or even close to 500 PI. Seeing how the game treats D-class, I don't think I want to build that, however.
- My overall thoughts for the car would be to at the very least get that gearbox changed. Because it's the only thing I feel is holding it back. You got a bad launch, and a low top end to take on this speedy route. Everything else is great.
For my best run, the car cruised it's way all in second gear to a time of
3:39.202.
It's not the best I can do. While I do want to push for a much better run, there's no incentive for me to do so. Maybe I can probably cut another second or two. But I got 2 other variants of this car to go do.
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We put aside the unintentional ancestor of Pinky to hop in my second facelifted C1. Before I fall for its beauty like I always have, let's see some speed.
As the day continues, so does the charm. I mean, this is a freaking beautiful car.
- And I have to admire this car's interior firstly. If I can have red leather in my own car, then I will. Like the original, that speedometer finds itself redundant when the car can only top out at 148, while not as badly. Do mind that tachometer's suggested shifting position (if that red portion is what I think it is) is kind of wrong. I can push it past 7000, all the way to 7500 RPM, and that edge is occasionally where I'll be shifting.
- From the original to the facelift, the car's muscle traits start to show. Beefy sound, wheelspin on launch and out of the corners, heavy on the rear kind of handling.. The brakes are solid here too, like the original C1, but it's not doing you any favors if you're not responsibly braking. It really locks the rear up.
- To talk about the launch and gearing.. it's what you'd expect with a car at this period and origin. Power is great for the 4 gears it has, though not super great with the speedy uphill road. And the launch is just pure muscle power. No need to control, just push it to the redline.
- Now even though we're still at the region where power won't overwhelm a car's experience, this car tries its best to be the exception. Feather your inputs during corner exits or you might just lose half a second there alone. I've lost clean runs because Barry R had to kiss my ass.. quite literally.
- For this car, the main track trouble is definitely past the Pyramid. It's where that muscle handling shows its inconsistencies in the tighter corners. But around the rest of the track, it drives like a dream.. for my part, that is.
- So, if you're going to try to get a competitive pace with this Corvette, you'll have to know the car having quite the learning curve. Playing with that slippery back is both tough and satisfying. If my ghost is still consistent with my pace as of writing, I find myself not braking until reaching the 90 degrees left hander by the Teotihuacan pyramid, and it's freaking satisfying.
I pushed this facelifted C1 to a best time of
3:06.248..
And I feel pretty good about it. This car is really fun to push, and also rewarding because it's not exactly a refined sports car. And when I push, I also mean the time's 'not-Forza' dirty. So many tufts of grass had found themselves a taste of white walled power. I wondered if it did define muscle, because there are definitely times where you wish history was more clear in this regard.
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Now it's time to bring out the big guns. The gold trim is nice.. what would be nicer is if we can change trims in general.
The idea of a Corvette on the race track isn't strange or alien. It actually works. But does Forza's take on it be cool or be cast out?
- I know it sounds corny, but I'd like to make a quick shout out to the race car drivers of old. This includes those who passed doing and showered in the glory of what they loved, or those who moved on in life so that racers of more current ages get to enjoy their craft better and safer than they did.
- While the interior still remains the same from the original car, I'd like to point out how the stock C1 Corvette seems to hold something against up to date speedometers. In this case, it's redundant in the sense that the maximum reading of 160 MPH can't hold a candle to this car topping out at 180.
- Now we finally have something to play launch with! Week 3 Lexus comes to mind when it comes to the right way to launch: minor levels of control. And also you gotta shift early on 1st, like around 6700 RPM? This'll rewards you with just a little thrust out (heh, more innuendo) than if you want to just floor it. While we're at launch, 7100 is the RPM for my shifts. You read right: it doesn't rev as much as the facelift.
- Just like the C8, we have some rear locking brakes. Now, since this is a classic car that's bound to kill anyone unprepared, I suppose it's sort of natural this kind of brakes are here. While it's okay to trail brake, engine braking is definitely something to try avoiding, like how Pinky got to explain to me about last week. Talk about sins of the father, amirite?
- Another issue I find is the springs setup. The car is placed low, and the suspension is overall soft. Oddly, even then, they're probably too stiff. A curb will REALLY unsettle the car, and around this sprint, there's plenty of that.
- Next up: the gearbox. Yes, small it might be, it's another issue. It's a wee bit too long. The car will top at 180, but the gearbox setting has the final gear put a bit too wide. Not to mention the 5th gear doesn't find itself any use, even in this place where there's 2 segments for speed.
- We're going ham with the car's issues, right? This part covers the differential. There's not much restriction on the deceleration. That means it's going to feel real loose around the rear. With the setting set to 20% on acceleration, the car has a great, not terribly chaotic response to corner exits, though the terrible tires would mean it still needs you to control it.
- This all seems like doom and gloom for this Forza Edition ride, but I haven't gotten to the good part yet. The drive is one. It's super challenging and super fun to fight back any sense of racing setback, just like the 911 Carrera RS in week 6. The handling overall is oversteer for days, and I don't think there's any form of understeer present unless I purposely do so.
- And I'm sure you can never understand my appeal for super difficult drives. To follow, the car's just such a pain for the driver if you want to be consistent with. I like a good challenge: part of my driver's personality that I made mention back in week 6.
- More pluses, that's what we want? Okay. Remember how the lesser C1 cars have a specific issue on a certain part of the track? Those issues were pretty much ironed out by how much the car has improved to be on top of A-class. Handling: tough but fair. Stability: difficult, but easy to control. It's not even lacking in the speed department either. It is a fine all-rounder, but with some trouble in the consistency department.
A racecar of this stature is sure to try an impress. The finest impression would be at a
2:26.873.
Not much else to say after the analysis covered it enough, including the lack of consistency. Barry R had a busy day at the office, protecting the fields where it could. Then again, since it's stuck here for top A-class, I'm at a loss to figure out what it requires else to better it. I'll have to check if it can fit wider track, or slap on a race differential. Any boost for more control would be a boon, and my first thoughts turn to increasing deceleration values.
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Something is supposed to be here. Though, due to having 3 separate cars to toy around with means there is a catch..
That catch being that there won't be a feature SPD event this week, am afraid. Seriously, 3 fully analyzed cars is a bit much if the time frame's just a week. Goes to show how much time I put into getting these wheels (and my fingers) to work, because I like it when the results take at least a little effort.
I mean, was there to be one? Yes! For the Forza Edition. With it's position at the top of A, it was going to compete with the likes of Pinky, the facelifted C1 that I earned that's tuned up to A-class with no major conversions, and the week 3 RC F. Any more, and I'll throw in that passively recurring MINI Countryman.
So..
What is the Chevrolet Corvette (C1)? It is..
The slow but consistent, eventually high performance birth of a legendary American sports car.
I'm putting a
Neutral on this one. It brings nothing to the table, and it's just so odd to drive. Not saying it's outright terrible, because I haven't fallen asleep driving anything in this game.. the most recent happening of that was me doing Hypercar races in The Crew 2. It hasn't come yet, but as of right now, I'm not convinced the majority of D-class cars have that je ne sais quoi to have them be named Sleepers for me. But if there would be at least one car that would convince me otherwise, I'd be so glad to be proven wrong. How will I really feel about that?
It's still a mystery~~
Someone out there thinks it's a dare, and nominate in the Mazda MX-5 NA or the Lotus Cortina Mk1, I know it!
What is the facelifted Chevrolet Corvette (C1)? It is..
The turning point of the Corvette name to find itself as a staple of high performance muscle.
For this, I had a good chunk of fun. An absolute beauty she is, and also quite the
Sleeper to how totally classic American it drives. It was going to barely be there, but with the newly muscle themed handling, the car proves to me that kind of thing can actually gives fast fun results, really pushing it ahead. It's also pretty, but that would be the recurring joke for this writeup, even though it's not exactly a joke.
What is the Chevrolet Corvette (C1) Forza Edition? It is..
The fusion of classic racing engineering with a hair blowing 50s sunset rider, made for today.
This one's a mix of the strange C1 with the unpredictable Forza twist. Lucky enough the twist here isn't a bad one. The car serves its Forza Edition name as one car that's simply fun and not requiring reflexes of someone after a good coffee. And since it's not for everyone, then you can easily tell apart of those who want to stay in their comfort zone, and those who want to express great driving freedom.. in the cockpit of a race converted classic sports car. You want to be that latter, and show you can do an impressive flex? Then go ahead and hop in. You're going to enjoy, and while you're at it, also feel free to bear witness its inner
Sleeper.
But well, if I had to pick which one is better, that facelift still takes the top spot, by a baby small margin. It's just stand out beautiful.
The Buick broke down on the way back to my home base today so I got stuck for 12 hours.
),I was browsing GTP and occasionally talking about the best or worst moments in GT5/6 online racing when I stumbled across a thread called Car Of The Week.
That 300 HP engine is mated to a five speed transmission. While cruising around, I found that the Supervan 3 has a practical top speed of about 140 to 150 MPH, and an absolute maximum speed of 167 MPH. Yes, I eventually ended up just throwing it off the volcano to find that one out. Not a promising start to the test if I have to throw it off the volcano to find out how long the last gear is.
