Well, time to uphold my promise, folks. Here it is;
Wild at Heart: The COTW story of the Lancia Stratos
And what a story it is, huh? From nearly missing the entire night of racing due to my crass oversight, to managing three consecutive 2nd place finishes and then a few additional podium ones to a rather surprisingly good personal record. Indeed, I was quite pleased with my perfomance, despite the lack of victories. After all, I was competing against two very talented drivers, who had a different approach to mine when it came to taming the Stratos' notoriously wild personality.
Indeed, the MR layout of the Stratos is both its main blessing and curse at the same time; get its driving right and it will become a dream car, capable of taking on most of its rivals with the greatest of ease. Get it wrong however, and you will have a tough time getting it back from a near-inevitable tail slide which may or may not end with the driver causing the front to snap back, which in turn causes the entire car to veer towards whatever direction the car's wedge nose is pointing. Normally, said direction usually involves the wall/guardrail/grass/gravel trap of any given track, which explains the Stratos' infamy when it comes to handling the car itself. Use the Skid Recovery Force to minimize the oversteer in grippier tire compounds? Dumb down the grip of the front tires to balance the handling behavior? Either scheme was used by at least one of the many drivers who tried their hand at playing Italian Roulette with Lancia's mini dart...
Our story (or at least the one I can scrounge up from the saved replays which I have in my possession) begins in Austria's Red Bull Ring; where Renaults are no longer praised and will be banned from any event which may be held in the artist formerly known as A1 Ring. Ok, I kid, but let us face it, Red Bull will not be pleased if anyone mentions or even showcases anything which may have ties to the French people who once provided them with engines. Regardless, the stage was set for all eager drivers to strut their stuff and show how much of their Stratos had been tamed during their time with it.
I can tell you that this had not been the first race which had been held last night, but it was the first one where I employed my personal strategy, based on both a wise person's sayings (thanks,
@tarnheld) and a personal mistake. You see, this wise person advised those who wanted to listen, with a daring plan; skewering the front tires' grip by resorting to a less grippy tire compound while maintaning the best possible compound on the rear, forcing the car's will into a more stable behavior, one which did not involve instant death by overpowering oversteer. However, my stupid self overdid this daring plan by giving the front tires the least grippy compound, the Comfort Hard compound, which was not the correct one that the wise German preached. But something interesting had occured during the tests where I used this combination; the car had somehow become nearly neutral and stable, with oversteer kept to a minimum. Yes, I did lose speed which the tires simply could not get back, but the other side of the coin was a car which I could live with and not attempt to rip my hair off while trying to control its abusive desire to powerslide. Did I dare to let go of that additional speed for the sake of my own sanity?
The race's answer was quite interesting; despite not being able to achieve the same cornering speed of my faster rivals, the car was far more composed, its restless character having been put to a nice quiet rest, while a minor dash of understeer had been added as a result of the "Compound Plan". I could live with the understeer, the main rule of racing does state that a sideways driver is usually slower on the track. Mind you, said principle does not necessarily apply to my rivals, but in the end a 2nd place finish was not a half-bad prize against the winner McClarenDesign and Mr. God Hand himself, VicReigns93. Yes, God Hand, I am sticking with that nickname and no questions shall be asked by any of you. Why? Well, that is a story for later...
Round 2: High Speed Ring. A track which would be kind to most cars, but the nervous Wedge would not take kindly to the medium and high-speed corners of the simple-minded GT Original track. Of course, the "Compound Plan" filled me with confidence in the car's ability to remain stable throughout these corners and perhaps aid me with a victory prize. Sadly, despite avoiding most of the first lap carnage (including the rather unfortunate off-track run by newcomer Svenhjs666, who was leading the race after a solid start), I had to come into wits with one of my main rivals. And since Vic is faster than most human beings, my rival was not him, but rather one
@McClarenDesign and his bright red Stratos with the number 31 plate. A valiant effort was done for the sake of defending a 1st place, but the very last corner gave McClaren a strong run that not even I could stop. Another 2nd place, but I was not deterred by the missed oportunity; the Stratos was driveable enough for me, and I did not want to ruin a working thing which did not need fixing.
Up next, Mr. McClaren, the head of COTW and lobby president, decided to shake things up with his latest devious creation; a wet race in Brands Hatch GP, a track which apparently had gone back in time to the 1980's to appease us drivers, trying to get that infamous British weather to work against all drivers in order to make the race as exciting as possible. A cunning strategy, except for one odd flaw; despite his best efforts, Mr. MC failed to bring the wet drops of rain out, and the entire race was held with a dry track surface despite the obviously British weather which had been called out. Such odd occurence for a British race, I later told the other drivers, but one which gave me yet another 2nd place. Yes, it is true; after an average start, I avoided the same beaches which engulfed most drivers' chances, including McClaren himself, who wound up beaching the car while trying to run away with 2nd place. While local driver Vic Reigns dominated the race as he saw fit, I calmy drove the dark red Stratos all the way towards a comfortable 2nd place finish, my third consecutive one at that. I was getting more confident with each passing podium, and of course, said confidence would bring my first downfall...
Madrid, Spain; a place that stood close to my own home country of Portugal, and one which was involved with my very first GT5 online racing victory. Mind you, the past was not so kind as to make a miracle happen once again; in an overagressive attempt to overtake one TurismoSlayer, my own car met the first corner's solid walls head first thanks to braking which came in too little, too late. I tried in vain to come close to the podium, and had to content with a fourth place. A fair price for my mistake, and one which I had to come to terms with. In the meantime, the victory battle was fast and furious; Vic and McClaren, fierce rivals of the same speed length and fighters of a past battle in Madrid, were bringing the best out of each other, as if people were seeing an episode of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and experiencing the battle between its main characters Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala. Minus the beams and explosions, of course. But while the lasers were not present, braking was; much like myself, McClaren lost his shot at victory thanks to a last corner braking gone wrong, giving enough space for his rival Vic Reigns to move past and capture yet another victory from the jaws of near-defeat. Nothing can stop Vic, you know, even if you put bricks in the place of his car's wheels. It's a known fact, just ask Morgan Freeman.
Mid-Field Raceway; once a proud past track, it took many fans' requests to bring it back from the brink of unused track layouts in Gran Turismo 6. And needless to say, eventually
@SuzukaStar's personal stomping grounds made its way into Stratos night for yet another round of "taming car in mid and high-speed corners". Once again, it was a battle of who could spend the less amount of time wasting his speed in corner sliding and getting as much speed as possible. After avoiding a messy accident between mitoferrari27, Vic and svenhjs666 during lap one, the remainder of the race consisted of me trying to overcome the odds, Vic Reigns and McClaren's fierce attack. Of course, only one of these things was overcome in the wacky 6-lap dash at Mid-Field; after trading the 3rd place back and forth with McClaren, it took one braking mistake in the first corner during the sixth and last lap (see picture above) to finally TKO McClaren and bring home another podium finish. Needless to say, Vic Reigns once again dominated the happenings, but a word of praise has to go to the second place driver, svenhjs666. Despite rough races in Madrid and Brands, sven showed great awareness and speed for a newcomer to GT6's online racing world. A good job, sir, I tip my hat to that.
Onwards to Special Stage Route 5; the night-time Christmas-like fair which has a track going through it. And as one of GT's premier city courses, it holds a special place in the fans' heart. For us COTW drivers, it was a different city trip to that which was provided by Madrid. Four laps were dictated as the race's distance, and off we went for another wild ride. However, the ride became a two man battle soon enough; with Vic flying away in first place (how unexpected, huh? Bet you didn't see this coming...) and sven spinning out during the first lap, it all boiled down to HC vs MC: The Bertone Carpocalypse. Once again, most of my race's story was comprised of fighting McClaren and trying to keep him at bay throughout the race. And ironically enough, just like the events in Mid-Field, it was the first corner who decided the outcome for both of us; McClaren spun out trying to follow me in the very last lap, after being overtaken by yours truly a lap earlier. True irony which segued nicely into another 2nd place finish, what a good way to compensate my other city course race.
Another race was held, this time in Autumn Ring, but nothing noteworthy happened, other than the appearance of two new drivers; North American drivers LKNNBlanchette and GTP_MooCow. These two drivers would join me and the two "Speed Demons", Vic and MC, for the last two races which I participated in, including Autumn. But that is not the main story. No, that story came next.
Last, but absolutely not least...
"I think I can do one more race"... What infamous last words, huh? If I had known that they would lead to one of the most maniacal races in my GT6 history, I would've cringed badly. The venue? Nurburgring Nordschleife, the full 24h layout in all its demonic glory. Two laps, with day time going so fast that you would be forced to race in pure darkness amongst one of the most evil racetracks in the world. We were not driving Tomahawk Xs, but the Stratos was mad enough to make most people fear such a combination. Alongside freshman drivers LKNN and MooCow, the stage was set for one mad dash which people will soon not forget...
The race started with Vic, per usual standards, running away with 1st place, leaving the remainder of the field to fight amongst themselves for a shot at the 2nd place brass ring. And boy did we fight. If you don't understand the pictures above, I shall explain; McClaren, who had captured 2nd place during the dark second-half of lap 1, found himself victim of a sudden rail tap which sent his car for a loop in the Dotting Hohe section. Me, unaware of the occurence, drove in the right driving line right up to the point when I saw two pop-up headlights aimed squarely at my face. The result is easily obvious and explained by the second of the Nurb pictures; a brutal head-on collision with MC, who was trying to get his car back in the right direction, and two mangled Stratos. Fortunately, since damage wore off thanks to the set rules, we both could fight for the second place once again. And during the fast & furious second lap, we did just that...
LK, myself and McClaren drove as if our lives were in the hands of a ticking time bomb, trying to take advantage of each other's mistakes. Sadly for me, my concentration was slowly fading away, after the effort put in all the previous races, and I had to contend with another unpredictable variant; LK's internet lag, which appeared in the least likely and most important moments. After being shunt off the track by one of those lag attacks, I then had to contend with a McClaren who wanted nothing but to regain the 2nd place which he had lost after the night wipeout. And unfortunately for me, I needed 100% of myself to hold such a strong will back, something which I did not possess at the time. McClaren, in a daring move, took the inside line and sent my car into the rails, after which I could not do much more than try to wrestle away the third place from a distraught LKNN, who had also lost to MC's strong will. Then, to make my matters worst, in Tiergarten, LKNN's Internet connection decided to play one last trick on me and caused his car to simply stop in time, causing my own car to go backwards and into the rails. LK eventually stopped his car, presumably to let me pass after that crash, so I took the opportunity and drove past him to claim one of the most hard-fought third place finishes that I have ever attained in my virtual racing history.
This was indeed a wild night, with plenty of strong drivers and a car which lent itself quite well to this racing world. While people, the true ones who are "ye of little faith", argue and preach about the so-called "Death of Gran Turismo" and flaunt pridefully their other games in acts of arrogance, others just want to enjoy the videogame which they bought, with friends who also share this common goal and want nothing more than to enjoy racing as racing should be. Fast-paced, bumper-to-bumper action with some antics on the side; videogames are first and foremost tools of entertainment, and it seems that most people have lost sight of that goal for the sake of creating game rivalries which are not even friendly, while uncerimoniously preach to anyone who will listen about their "game superiority". This is why I have abandoned the idea of having a "favorite series" when it comes to racing games; each game has something to offer to its owner, no matter how many flaws it may have (and how serious they may be).
Now, for those who claim that us, those who still play GT6 from time to time, are being "oblivious" and "blindly believing in lies", please let us be. We already know the game is flawed, we already know that PD has many internal problems which need fixing. For now, all we want to do is to enjoy the game we have, with similar-minded people.
Is that too much to ask, I wonder?
Oh, and one last thing; if you were wondering where I did get my red for this car, let's just say that it was both a fair hommage (to
@Baron Blitz Red) and a brotherly approach:
See you next time, folks.
👍
Pros:
- Legendary design with rally pedigree that is a mile wide;
- A decent variety when it comes to customization parts;
- Ferrari engine with enough grunt to provide light body with power to take on most similar PP rivals.
Cons:
- Requires a suave hand and a concentration of iron to deal with nervous MR drivetrain;
- The Audi Quattro existing;
- Reminds driver of better times, when Lancia was not a disgrace disguised as a brand, when Bertone was involved in car design (RIP Bertone Urano VGT) and when rallying was a matter of courage and not Sebastian + Volkswagen.
Final Veredict: Legendary; the Stratos is not a Beater due to its agility and strong engine, but it is neither a Sleeper because the innovative wedge shape tells you a story far too well-known to make the Stratos a hidden gem. Make no mistake about it, the Stratos is a legend, and it has done enough in the rally world to be eternally known as one of the greatest cars in rally racing history. It's a Hall Of Fame car, one which represents many dreams which are now only a shade of what they used to be. For Bertone, for Lancia and for rally racing as a whole, the Stratos is a monument which can never be truly forgotten...
Enjoy the Stratos, have fun! 
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