Beater or Sleeper? GT6 Car of the Week Thread

[Braulioaej]

A week has already gone by, almost, and I haven't used this Chaser a single time yet besides a drift trial seasonal event (which it ducking owned).
That thing really pulls off the sleeper look very, very nicely tho, but it's too early for me to tell as I have only driven it sideways. I'm absolutely keeping this thing, and by that I mean I'll use it now and then since I never sell any car in GT games .

Meanwhile I've been having fun with another sleeper, the Honda Odissey. I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet apparently. It can race, it can rally, it can drift, it can take your kids to soccer and then go shopping.
(Just one pic, I promise)

And I still haven't taken any pics from last week's races like I promised, it completely went over my head. I hope to be there this saturday.

 

[Draggon]

That Odyssey is surprising. It can win the 24 minutes of Nurburgring.

 

[Nismonath5]

It's a little underwhelming...
Tom's Toyota Chaser

Asher's choice of colour this week has inspired me to purchase all the TVR colours so I have them on hand if needed. Some of them look so good!!!

This was one of those weeks where I had no prior knowledge of the car, so I didn't know what to expect at all. The Tom's Chaser has been sitting silently in it's dealership for years, and it's never really been used. By anyone. Of course every car has it's fanbase, so no doubt a few people will race about the X540 and it's superior dr-ah blah blah blah, but for the most part it seems noone gives it a second thought.

It's proudly stated as a "tuner car". But with no base model Chaser to compare it to, it's hard to tell what work's been done on it. Your guess is as good as mine, but I reckon it's got a bodykit, a small helping of extra power, possibly some mild weight loss and a bit of suspension work? As I said though, without any base Chaser, it's hard to know for sure.

Palette swaps...

300C can't help but think maybe it's adopted..

How does it feel on the track? Well, it's still quite a bulky car, so it needs extra room to navigate corners. Not good for close pack racing...
The turbo provides quite good assistance, though it's not going to snap any underwear elastic anytime soon. You can hear it doing it's job, but you're left wishing it would give a bit more punch. Cos frankly, it needs it! Still, it does well to hold on to the track, even on sport hards, but the bulky weight means you need to really slow it down to do this. And you'll need plenty of space to do that, cos the brakes aren't exactly top-notch equipment.

We had some awesome races on both Tuesday and Saturday. Some more newbies joining us, good to see this gig's still growing! On Tuesday, I tried to rival the Chaser in the Ferrari 250 GT, but at Apricot Hill it ran out of gears down the front straight, and was overtaken relatively easy. On Saturday, I tried again, this time in the 250 GTO. But
I forgot about it's ridiculous camber settings, and it was again, easily beaten.

"You so much as scratch me, you'll owe me millions!!!!"

I had a great battle with @Niku Driver HC at Mid-Field, me in a Chaser, him in a Commodore. Despite having V8 torque, the Chaser kept right behind him, through means of the turbo, combined with slipstream. So its got some redeeming qualities. But is it enough to save it from a beater status?
Nope. 👎

The X540 is just too bland a car to be exciting. It's got average acceleration, average speed, average weight... nothing about it makes me want to use it in any particular race. Can't really complain for a mere $50k, but still, Beater.

Rest of my pics!

IN OTHER NEWS...

Firstly, I'm under the assumption Brad's got someone lined up for next week's pick and he'll reveal it like he normally does, but of course I've no way of knowing for sure... I'll give it a few days, and if we're left without any word, then I'll ask someone.

Secondly, there was an incident at the beginning of the Mid-Field race on Saturday I wasn't too happy with. And that was relative newbie MadEdward007 blatantly sideswiping both @Vic Reign93 and @Baron Blitz Red as they overtook him on the front straight. They gave him plenty of room, stuck to their lines, had plenty of speed to safely make the overtake, and he still went out of his way to give them both a smack on the right side. All while driving on a straight bit of track.

I watched the replay, and I'd encourage anyone else who might have saved it to view it themselves and give me their opinion. So at this point in time, he's under investigation for unneccesary deliberate contact. I'm all for giving someone a bump to let them know you're there, but there's a difference between a bump and a blatant smash. We're a clean, fun racing club, not a free for all smashfest.

 

[Obelisk]

It's a little underwhelming...
Tom's Toyota ChaserView attachment 601728
Asher's choice of colour this week has inspired me to purchase all the TVR colours so I have them on hand if needed. Some of them look so good!!!

This was one of those weeks where I had no prior knowledge of the car, so I didn't know what to expect at all. The Tom's Chaser has been sitting silently in it's dealership for years, and it's never really been used. By anyone. Of course every car has it's fanbase, so no doubt a few people will race about the X540 and it's superior dr-ah blah blah blah, but for the most part it seems noone gives it a second thought.

It's proudly stated as a "tuner car". But with no base model Chaser to compare it to, it's hard to tell what work's been done on it. Your guess is as good as mine, but I reckon it's got a bodykit, a small helping of extra power, possibly some mild weight loss and a bit of suspension work? As I said though, without any base Chaser, it's hard to know for sure.

View attachment 601729 Palette swaps...

View attachment 601740
300C can't help but think maybe it's adopted..

How does it feel on the track? Well, it's still quite a bulky car, so it needs extra room to navigate corners. Not good for close pack racing...
The turbo provides quite good assistance, though it's not going to snap any underwear elastic anytime soon. You can hear it doing it's job, but you're left wishing it would give a bit more punch. Cos frankly, it needs it! Still, it does well to hold on to the track, even on sport hards, but the bulky weight means you need to really slow it down to do this. And you'll need plenty of space to do that, cos the brakes aren't exactly top-notch equipment.

We had some awesome races on both Tuesday and Saturday. Some more newbies joining us, good to see this gig's still growing! On Tuesday, I tried to rival the Chaser in the Ferrari 250 GT, but at Apricot Hill it ran out of gears down the front straight, and was overtaken relatively easy. On Saturday, I tried again, this time in the 250 GTO. But
I forgot about it's ridiculous camber settings, and it was again, easily beaten.

View attachment 601735
"You so much as scratch me, you'll owe me millions!!!!"

I had a great battle with @Niku Driver HC at Mid-Field, me in a Chaser, him in a Commodore. Despite having V8 torque, the Chaser kept right behind him, through means of the turbo, combined with slipstream. So its got some redeeming qualities. But is it enough to save it from a beater status?
Nope. 👎

The X540 is just too bland a car to be exciting. It's got average acceleration, average speed, average weight... nothing about it makes me want to use it in any particular race. Can't really complain for a mere $50k, but still, Beater.

Rest of my pics!
View attachment 601741 View attachment 601742 View attachment 601743 View attachment 601744 View attachment 601745 View attachment 601746 View attachment 601747 View attachment 601748 View attachment 601749
IN OTHER NEWS...

Firstly, I'm under the assumption Brad's got someone lined up for next week's pick and he'll reveal it like he normally does, but of course I've no way of knowing for sure... I'll give it a few days, and if we're left without any word, then I'll ask someone.

Secondly, there was an incident at the beginning of the Mid-Field race on Saturday I wasn't too happy with. And that was relative newbie MadEdward007 blatantly sideswiping both @Vic Reign93 and @Baron Blitz Red as they overtook him on the front straight. They gave him plenty of room, stuck to their lines, had plenty of speed to safely make the overtake, and he still went out of his way to give them both a smack on the right side. All while driving on a straight bit of track.

I watched the replay, and I'd encourage anyone else who might have saved it to view it themselves and give me their opinion. So at this point in time, he's under investigation for unneccesary deliberate contact. I'm all for giving someone a bump to let them know you're there, but there's a difference between a bump and a blatant smash. We're a clean, fun racing club, not a free for all smashfest.

If I was there, I'd have thrashed him.

 

[Draggon]

Hey @Nismonath5 just a heads up before you buy all the TVRs, the color on my car was Maziora Andromeda ll from the Toyota FT-86 Sports Concept '10. That $500k one .

I didn't see the mess Mr. Ed caused, but I had one myself. On the last lap I was coming into the 180 turn at the bottom of the hill when all of a sudden whoever was in the red Skyline was there in my racing line, stopped, or something close to it. I have no idea if it was on purpose, or he was just being a maroon, but of course I smashed into him. Uncalled for behavior.

I should give a public thank you to @Vic Reign93 for his sportsmanship regarding the incident. He saw what happened and since my car was wounded, had the chance to overtake me for the win as we came to the finish line. He backed off and let me have it. Thanks my friend, things like that keep me coming back every week. 👍

 

[Vic Reign93]

Hey @Nismonath5 just a heads up before you buy all the TVRs, the color on my car was Maziora Andromeda ll from the Toyota FT-86 Sports Concept '10. That $500k one .

I didn't see the mess Mr. Ed caused, but I had one myself. On the last lap I was coming into the 180 turn at the bottom of the hill when all of a sudden whoever was in the red Skyline was there in my racing line, stopped, or something close to it. I have no idea if it was on purpose, or he was just being a maroon, but of course I smashed into him. Uncalled for behavior.

I should give a public thank you to @Vic Reign93 for his sportsmanship regarding the incident. He saw what happened and since my car was wounded, had the chance to overtake me for the win as we came to the finish line. He backed off and let me have it. Thanks my friend, things like that keep me coming back every week. 👍

After seeing it unfold, the racer in me said, "Opportunity to win!", but given the circumstances, i couldn't pull the trigger on the pass.

Like I said afterwards, "Not that way."

Had you made a mistake and we ended in the same place on the other hand, I wouldn't have even second guessed myself on doing it.

 

[Nismonath5]

whoever was in the red Skyline was t

that was also Ed XD

 

[Thematic]

there was an incident at the beginning of the Mid-Field race on Saturday I wasn't too happy with. And that was relative newbie MadEdward007 blatantly sideswiping both @Vic Reign93 and @Baron Blitz Red as they overtook him on the front straight.

The previous week they also tried to take yours truly out at the first left of Tsukuba (lap 3). No brakes and right into the wall. GT chat being what it is, I didn't go into details in the lobby.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

I might post a brief Chaser review later today if I can, but for now I would like to give my five cents on the whole Ed story. The guy never cared about clean racing, plain and simple. Sure, he tried to race a Mercedes at one point, but I could tell from the moment he joined he wanted nothing else but to drift in a grip racing lobby. One of the things that I can use to prove that example happened before the 500PP race at Midfield (which was a crazy mess thanks to his "drifting", as @Nismonath5 stated); during practice, I overtook him in my Mitsubishi GTO as he was sliding, and he honked at me as if I had stolen from his mother or something. During practice, of all moments...

Was it necesary? Of course not, we weren't having a D1 championship here. It's casual racing, not casual drifting. And of course, the race afterwards proved just how much he wasn't caring about following the guidelines for clean, get-out-of-the-proper-race's way of racing. He smashed Baron, which I didn't see (and can't see because I did not save the race replay), and promptly angered him to the point where he left the lobby without saying another word after his display of frustration.

Had it been Brad running the room, I suspect his first answer to Ed's request would've been "Nope" and we would go on about our lives...
So, in essence, the next time someone joins the lobby asking whether he can drift or not, say no. It may be a blunt and rude answer for some, but if people are going to misuse the right we give them by driving like knobs, then we can take said right away from them as well. Nothing against Nismo, I commend him for trying to keep people in the room by allowing their demands to go forth, but it simply did not work for either sides of the grid. Losing one driver is a small price to pay, if said driver can't show some degree of respect for those not interested in drifting.

 

[Nismonath5]

I might post a brief Chaser review later today if I can, but for now I would like to give my five cents on the whole Ed story. The guy never cared about clean racing, plain and simple. Sure, he tried to race a Mercedes at one point, but I could tell from the moment he joined he wanted nothing else but to drift in a grip racing lobby. One of the things that I can use to prove that example happened before the 500PP race at Midfield (which was a crazy mess thanks to his "drifting", as @Nismonath5 stated); during practice, I overtook him in my Mitsubishi GTO as he was sliding, and he honked at me as if I had stolen from his mother or something. During practice, of all moments...

Was it necesary? Of course not, we weren't having a D1 championship here. It's casual racing, not casual drifting. And of course, the race afterwards proved just how much he wasn't caring about following the guidelines for clean, get-out-of-the-proper-race's way of racing. He smashed Baron, which I didn't see (and can't see because I did not save the race replay), and promptly angered him to the point where he left the lobby without saying another word after his display of frustration.

Had it been Brad running the room, I suspect his first answer to Ed's request would've been "Nope" and we would go on about our lives...
So, in essence, the next time someone joins the lobby asking whether he can drift or not, say no. It may be a blunt and rude answer for some, but if people are going to misuse the right we give them by driving like knobs, then we can take said right away from them as well. Nothing against Nismo, I commend him for trying to keep people in the room by allowing their demands to go forth, but it simply did not work for either sides of the grid. Losing one driver is a small price to pay, if said driver can't show some degree of respect for those not interested in drifting.

Yeah, I know what you mean. When I said yes to his drift request, I was hoping his drifting was gonna be more like how Vic does it.... out of the way, being mindful of everyone else... not simply yanking the e brake and sliding into the nearest wall.

So if he shows up again, I'm inclined to give him another shot (but tell him we dont drift) and if he continues running interference then just whoever he angered call a kick out vote.

 

[Draggon]

When I said yes to his drift request, I was hoping his drifting was gonna be more like how Vic does it.... out of the way, being mindful of everyone else... not simply yanking the e brake and sliding into the nearest wall.

I thought the same thing. The guy has spoiled a few races now. I'm all for forgiveness, but maybe one last shot and that's it for him.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

Tom's Chaser X540. Codename: "Dinky Yamato". Also, it's Nismonath's car, who would've thought?​

For me, the Chaser's story is what I like to call "The not-so-little Chaser that couldn't (afford brakes)". Plain and simply, it's a car with plenty of unfulfilled promises that are unnacounted for. Where did it go wrong? Well, I can't say for sure whether the real thing is this underwhelming or if PD messed something trying to translate its capabilities into code, but I can say this Chaser doesn't feel like its weight.

It feels far worse. One race at Red Bull Ring was all I could muster before trying to find something different within the Chaser's performance range that wasn't a massive cheating tool. Throughout the race, I kept wondering about where the car's 330 horses had gone, and why did it feel that I was driving an overpowered FF sedan; no matter what you do, the Chaser doesn't drift on Sports Hard tires, it understeers trying to find grip on corner exits. You'd think having 300-plus horses would be enough to kick the rear out on second gear through a harpin, but the Chaser found a way to subvert that. To make matters worse, the weight distribution is front-biased, meaning that the understeer habits start the moment you brake for a corner. And boy, did I get surprised by these brakes... If I was a moron, I'd just say they were literal China dishes playing the role of brakes, because the Chaser cannot brake for s:censored:t (excuse my French). And to top it all off, the gearbox may be well balanced in terms of gear ratios, but it never feels like you're fighting with a sharp acceleration. In short, the Chaser felt sluggish, no matter what I did. Agressive braking? I'd just plow into innocent drivers. Shift late? It felt no different to shifting early.

Things couldn't have gone worse for my Chaser adventure. So, I eased the pain by driving similar cars. First came the 2006 Infiniti Coupe Concept, or as I like to call it, the "Unrightly-named Skyline". However, despite being unrightly-named, it was rightly better than the tuner house prodigy. Well, Vic was faffing around at the back drifting better than some German dude, which obviously doesn't prove I was the better driver then. And you can argue "Niku, that's a concept car, you hax! You can't compare that to production tuner model...", and rightly so. But when the racing travelled to Midfield, I found the one thing that nailed the Chaser right in the shins;

Holden Commodore SS. Codename "Red Rosary"​

The Holden Commodore SS. Nearly 1.7 tonnes of Australian muscle sedan that would surely faulter against the lighter Japanese underdog and its mighty JDM tuning, right?

Well, that would be a big fat and juicy "nope". Not only it managed to hold the Chaser at bay, it still gave me a top 5 finish despite a bad start and MadEdward happening. Why? It's simple; it is a stable car, but not in the sense where it understeers immediately and ruins your racing line. It has understeer, granted, but only if you really push it near corner exits. Oversteer is more or less negligible, which is commendable for a 1.7-tonne sedan powered by an American small block. And even with a terrible gearbox, with far too close gear rations and next to no useable top speed compared to the Tom's, the Commodore never lost its corner advantage. A good example; the right-hand harpin after the tunnel. Nismonath could muster about 120 km/h at corner exit whilst fighting with terrible understeer and sensitive chassis. Me? I could muster about 140 on the best of exits.
Therefore, the lighter tuner sedan can't outcorner an Aussie battleship with less power and a worse gearbox? Yup, that is simply not acceptable, I'm sorry.
And in the end, both the Chaser and MadEdward have one thing in common; they can't stay focused on driving seriously. They'll try, but it's a half-arsed attempt with a sour face, constantly telling itself "Man, I wish I could be drifting right now..." And when they try to showcase their strengths, you realize that they were both spewing nonsense to pretend that they had some sort of amazing skill, skill which is completely absent from their repertoires. For me, it's Gran Turismo's equivalent to Horizon 3's Silvia S14; they're not that good, they're not that detailed, and there are about 10 to 15 better ways to spend your money if you want to drift. And a Holden Commodore can leave it in the dust through corners. Ta-dah!

"The face of a winner... and the arse of a loser." ​

Best:
-It's the only Chaser you can drive in Gran Turismo (and soon it will be no more thanks to GTS);
-Decent stability;
-Has sleeper looks if you lose the rear spoiler.

Worst:
-Being the only one doesn't mean you're the best;
-Appaling understeer;
-Can you say "China dish brakes"?

Final Veredict: MadBeater - The Chaser had all the tools necessary to be a sleeper hit with the performance sedan crowd. Tom's name, the Tourer V's chassis and years of JTCC experience. But in the end, all it manages to do is being the JDM equivalent to the E55 AMG we once drove for COTW. And those who done such can easily tell you how bad that experience was...

...about as bad as MadEdward's drifting and race standards. Ta-dah!

 

[Braulioaej]

First off, some pics from the TVR week.

Spoiler

Everyone was battling for a position

Meanwhile at the front...

Now onto this week. The Chaser was a bit disappointing, it looked like a sleeper, but it was the very opposite. Understeer, understeer all the way. And the acceleration...it was like a boat, a boat such as a cargo ship. Not what one would expect from a tuned car at all, unless your definition of tuned is a subtle body kit, tiny spoiler and a broken turbo. The only thing going for it is that nice, clean import look, although the front end is a bit underwhelming. It did nicely on that drift trial I did with only a new set of tires though, but that's the only use I imagine it could possibly have, unless a miracle happens after fully tuning it.
Verdict: Show-off beater? Lol.

The more I use the photo mode, the more I get frustrated because of all the area limits the camera has, especially on the vertical axis. Get it together Poliphony, those fixed camera points are not enough and they're mostly lame.

Yellow flag! Guy in front hit the barriers, I hit him then got stuck on the barriers which seem to be made out of rubber.

A chance to overtake him, just to be wasted after as I slow down on the inside of the next turn.

Battle between Nismo and Niku.

Nismo at the front?

Not for too long unfortunately.

Shortly after a good samaritan came to help though.

Speaking of rubber barriers, vik gets clinged by one at about the same time nismo loses control again. And I thought it couldn't get worse.

Add to that the Edward incident, a way more exciting weekend than I remember.
Speaking of which, for some reason ed disappeared from my replays, wth? I didn't get to see what happened then, and now all I could see was blitz' car losing control caused by outer, unseeable forces.

 

[Nismonath5]

First off, some pics from the TVR week.

Spoiler

Everyone was battling for a position

Meanwhile at the front...

Now onto this week. The Chaser was a bit disappointing, it looked like a sleeper, but it was the very opposite. Understeer, understeer all the way. And the acceleration...it was like a boat, a boat such as a cargo ship. Not what one would expect from a tuned car at all, unless your definition of tuned is a subtle body kit, tiny spoiler and a broken turbo. The only thing going for it is that nice, clean import look, although the front end is a bit underwhelming. It did nicely on that drift trial I did with only a new set of tires though, but that's the only use I imagine it could possibly have, unless a miracle happens after fully tuning it.
Verdict: Show-off beater? Lol.

The more I use the photo mode, the more I get frustrated because of all the area limits the camera has, especially on the vertical axis. Get it together Poliphony, those fixed camera points are not enough and they're mostly lame.

Yellow flag! Guy in front hit the barriers, I hit him then got stuck on the barriers which seem to be made out of rubber.

A chance to overtake him, just to be wasted after as I slow down on the inside of the next turn.

Battle between Nismo and Niku.

Nismo at the front?

Not for too long unfortunately.

Shortly after a good samaritan came to help though.

Speaking of rubber barriers, vik gets clinged by one at about the same time nismo loses control again. And I thought it couldn't get worse.

Add to that the Edward incident, a way more exciting weekend than I remember.
Speaking of which, for some reason ed disappeared from my replays, wth? I didn't get to see what happened then, and now all I could see was blitz' car losing control caused by outer, unseeable forces.

Dang camber angles... I thought the GTO would be quite the rival, but with such an amount of camber onthe rear, so little on the front, and sport hard tyres, I was left with the angry little car y'all saw.

To be honest I would sell it, but due to it's price it's more of a collector's piece in my garage..

 

[McClarenDesign]

​

Since I'm fired, guess there's no point in announcing next week's car then, right?

Oh, I see. Add a few more zeros and we'll talk.

....thank you.

Congratulations @NeroTrinityX ! And thanks for the idea!

If nobody likes it, blame Nero....

It's the '08 Autobacs Sportscar Laboratory Garaiya GT300 Base Model!

No time trials, I'll probably lag like hell, but let's see what she's got...

 

[Nismonath5]

Well @Draggon, I just spent about $4m on acquiring new and oddball colours for use in current and future COTWs... XD

The Garaiya, huh? Haven't driven it too much personally, I'm afraid. I used it a bit back in GT5, because it was avaliable as a free test vehicle for tracks I made with the course creator... but other than that I never really had any interest in owning it. Looks like it isn't lacking downforce, though being a GT300 car it may lack top end power... we shall see!

 

[Baron Blitz Red]

Here's the officially unofficial results for the "Canucks know how to warm their hands before" Playing with TT's event...

Monty_YNOS-j: 1:28.044
BaronBlitzRed: 1:29.419
G_ASHER: 1:30.292
kunalpradhan5431: 1:36.061

The "weapon" that we used was as dull as all hell... nothing sharp about it AT ALL. It's a box... which by the way saves people from finding something to bury this thing in. Not even worthy of my time to take a picture of it.

Beater and Forget 'er!!!

As for the Garaiya... it is my favourite of the GT300 class racecars! Another must have weapon in anyone's arsenal!!!

Cheers

 

[Draggon]

The tuner closest to the Chaser in pp is the Trial Celica SSll. It annihilates Tommy Boy's Toyota. Beater for sure. I'm looking forward to this evening. We can use the base model, correct?

 

[Baron Blitz Red]

Sorry for bailing out early people...

I wish I could show you all what I see. The track gets like a skipping record. (showing my age) It's like stuttering, and it happens at the worst of times... like when trying to make a corner. I'm really comfy at Silverstone, but when I start missing corners that badly, the frustration just gets to me.

I can handle certain things, but these mini pauses in the middle of a race, or even Time Trials just drive me insane!

My apologies people, I don't mean to complain... I'm just trying to convey what's going on when I quit. These races I really wanted to work, I adore the Garaiya! And with you people, the racing was bound to be great!

Thanks and cheers to all!

 

[Nismonath5]

Apart from Baron's game issues, we were blessed with some pretty awesome racing!

The Garaiya showed some pretty epic pace across the spectrum of tracks we visited, and it really highlights the benefits of the MR drivetrain! The good balance around corners, the way it dances down Mount Panorama..

It does however suffer from a tenancy to oversteer, especially on rumble strips or the edge of the track surface. If you are unfortunate enough to upset the rear, you can feel the pendulum-like movement of the rear getting more and more violent... back off or kiss the wall, it's your choice!

However Vic showed us that newer doesn't exactly mean better, destroying us all in an '03 Garaiya, no doubt being egged on by Lit

I'm quite liking this one, bring on Saturday!

 

[todally_lit]

As always, it was a pleasure to race with the COTW crew!

Let me share a few notes on the Chaser and the Garaiya.

Chaser: Inept, meaningless, fanciful, pretentious Car model names abound in the automotive world (Mustang, Shadow, Acadia, DeVille). Not in this case! You can be sure that with a Chaser, you will be chasing just about everything in its class. Now, aside from the name, I found the handling and balance to be OK, once you learn this car does not brake and turn, a more straight line braking, full turn (stay off brakes while turning) with early throttle application on corner exit works well and while to greatly satisfying the racing was fun and close! The verdict: pure and unadulterated grocery getting beater.

Garaiya: Annoying name! I wish I could remember how to spell it... more than once I have to refer back to figure it out! ...and talk about a fanciful name: "In numerology the name Garaiya has the birth path 8 and it's meaning is connected to balance between the material and spiritual: power, fame, money." Aside from the name, handling on this car is superb! It does exactly what you want. Unlike the Chaser, this car likes partial throttle applied while turning, you can really control the mid turn attitude with the throttle, lift and it will tuck, apply more throttle and it pushes, but just the right amount will get you to your exact apex and target corner exit. The verdict: not a beater, not a sleeper - just a rewarding race car!

 

[todally_lit]

The track gets like a skipping record. (showing my age) It's like stuttering, and it happens at the worst of times... like when trying to make a corner.

Hey Baron, does the skipping only happen when you're online or does it also happen if you play say a 12 car race with AIs?
As far as I know, the track, your car and others' cars are rendered locally on your PS3. I think the only info that comes from "the web server' is your opponents car location, direction. So if the whole track is skipping it could be a problem local to your PS3 rather than the internet connection. I think an internet connection problem would result in opponents cars "teleporting" or doing jittery stuff - what we refer to as "lagging".
I'm not saying this will help, but at some point I replaced the hard drive with a 128GB SSD - my PS3 has been working pretty sweetly since then. It makes loading, and updates faster, not sure whether it has any effect on gameplay since I didn't have any problems with gameplay before I made the change.

 

[Baron Blitz Red]

Hey Baron, does the skipping only happen when you're online or does it also happen if you play say a 12 car race with AIs?
As far as I know, the track, your car and others' cars are rendered locally on your PS3. I think the only info that comes from "the web server' is your opponents car location, direction. So if the whole track is skipping it could be a problem local to your PS3 rather than the internet connection. I think an internet connection problem would result in opponents cars "teleporting" or doing jittery stuff - what we refer to as "lagging".
I'm not saying this will help, but at some point I replaced the hard drive with a 128GB SSD - my PS3 has been working pretty sweetly since then. It makes loading, and updates faster, not sure whether it has any effect on gameplay since I didn't have any problems with gameplay before I made the change.

Hey hey @todally_lit ... It's an online issue for sure, and it's confined to GT6 to boot. Last night, I had issues with cars teleporting (due to lag), so I left, cleared my cache (again) and rejoined the room. That led to the race at Silverstone, where I started on pole as I was the last to join the room. I got off to a decent start, but straight away I noticed Ash was jumping around in my rearview mirror. I left the group behind for a little bit, but then you started with your charge. That's when the "skipping" started up again.

But here's the trick... the skipping isn't confined to online racing. It also happens during the TT's as well! In either circumstance, you're in a lobby. No matter if I'm alone or with others, when the skipping or stutters start, it costs me time... it can be as little as a tenth of a second, with the worst being over a second, per stutter. Every track has at least 3 separate sectors, so it adds up!

With offline races, whether or not I'm connected to PSN, it runs flawlessly. Through my other "clubs", I've had multiple chances to test this out with the offline A-spec events, and no matter how many AI opponents there are, it's smooth sailing as it should be.

I've been revisiting some older games lately... one of those being NFS Shift. Even though Shift is even older than GT5, you can still do online racing!!! No such issues with that game, or any others that I've thrown in my PS3. No major lag spikes to induce teleporting cars, no skipping, no nothing. Just smooth online play. Not sure why either tbh. With this or any other game, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I wish I could figure out what to fix with GT6...

Cheers

 

[Obelisk]

Hey hey @todally_lit ... It's an online issue for sure, and it's confined to GT6 to boot. Last night, I had issues with cars teleporting (due to lag), so I left, cleared my cache (again) and rejoined the room. That led to the race at Silverstone, where I started on pole as I was the last to join the room. I got off to a decent start, but straight away I noticed Ash was jumping around in my rearview mirror. I left the group behind for a little bit, but then you started with your charge. That's when the "skipping" started up again.

But here's the trick... the skipping isn't confined to online racing. It also happens during the TT's as well! In either circumstance, you're in a lobby. No matter if I'm alone or with others, when the skipping or stutters start, it costs me time... it can be as little as a tenth of a second, with the worst being over a second, per stutter. Every track has at least 3 separate sectors, so it adds up!

With offline races, whether or not I'm connected to PSN, it runs flawlessly. Through my other "clubs", I've had multiple chances to test this out with the offline A-spec events, and no matter how many AI opponents there are, it's smooth sailing as it should be.

I've been revisiting some older games lately... one of those being NFS Shift. Even though Shift is even older than GT5, you can still do online racing!!! No such issues with that game, or any others that I've thrown in my PS3. No major lag spikes to induce teleporting cars, no skipping, no nothing. Just smooth online play. Not sure why either tbh. With this or any other game, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I wish I could figure out what to fix with GT6...

Cheers

Have you tried rebuilding your PS3 database?

 

[Baron Blitz Red]

Have you tried rebuilding your PS3 database?

Yes, I've done that... I can't remember if it was your recommendation or not, but I read here on GTP how to do it and did that straight away.

Cheers

 

[Obelisk]

Yes, I've done that... I can't remember if it was your recommendation or not, but I read here on GTP how to do it and did that straight away.

Cheers

I think it was me.

 

[Nismonath5]

Garia... Garyar.... Garaiara...? Dammit!
I'll get it right one of these days...

Wheeeee! Jumping side by side with Asher.

Pretty brief review this week, mainly because there isn't really much to say about this thing that isn't already obvious. It's a Super GT car, so you know it's gonna be awesome! The question is, how awesome?

First, I didn't realise it was a V6! I knew the original one was an SR20 DET, but just assumed that the powerplant was the same in the v.2, however turns out that's not the case. It's small, and quite maneuverable, meaning it can outstep the bigger, bulkier GT500 cars, but obviously loses out on power. And the looks, oh the looks! It's got that unique supercar-y look, the one that says "I'll put up a fight!"

@Braulioaej stepping the rear out!

@RobboGTAddict zipping around Fuji.

@todally_lit chases down the field

This week's racing was really good, as it normally is when the car is a touring car. Plenty of close, ferocious action keeping everyone on their toes and showcasing the Garaiya's performance. The MR drivetrain meant there were plenty of slides, mostly accidental. But this proved a challenge not normally seen in COTW. Usually when taking a corner at race pace, you must ensure the front wheels are tacked to the road before asking the rear to follow.

But while driving the Garaiya, I found I had to make sure the rear was secure before directing the front. Sounds odd, but all that meant was braking in a straight line, then turning, then accelerating out of it. By breaking it into these three distinct steps, I could keep it nice and stable, with no worry of the rear betraying me.

At Daytona Road Course, I decided to swap out the Garaiya in favour of another mid engine favourite of mine, the Acura NSX LM Race car. On the first lap, I figured this was a great idea, since I pulled a sizeable gap right off the mark.

Bye bye, Vic! I'll send ya a postcard!

Maybe I got too cocky, maybe I had a moment. Whatever the reason, on the final lap I overshot the hairpin by the smallest bit, and Vic pounced. He got away, but I managed to pull him in. However I still lost by an agonizing 0.2 seconds.

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

So anyways, back to the Garaiya. It's no beater. it's a Super GT weapon, capable of being so much more. it makes a great 500pp racer, and appeals to the drivers that perhaps don't like using the typical Japanese GT marquees in the GT300 class (Impreza, IS350, RX-7, etc). It is a bit tricky to grasp when you first climb into it, but after a bit of a warm up, you can do great things with it. I wouldn't be surprised if a competitive driver could use it to win the GT500 championship!

Rest of my pics!!!

Oh, and about Ed...

He joined the lobby on Saturday, and began by apologizing to Baron for last week's incidents. But in the races, he was still taking corners way too aggressively, often slamming into the wall or other drivers. I think I've pinpointed his problem. He's driving as if it's an arcade game. When faced with everyone's criticism, he was again real apologetic, and so I recommended to him that he spend this next week practicing in various cars and on various tracks. I'm not asking him to be a legend, just to tidy up his race craft. If that gets sorted, then he'll be fine.

 

[Baron Blitz Red]

@Nismonath5 ... here's some things you should pass along to him then...

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...cing-olr-rules-guidelines.111241/#post3176790

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/the-good-racecraft-guide.183891/#post-4888688

and please mention that major track cutting like he did at Skyline (Bathurst) is NOT acceptable!!!

Cheers

 

[Draggon]

That jump pic is great Nathan, I've set it as my wallpaper. Props to @Braulioaej for racecraft. As seen in this pic, ( I'm in the pinkish car on the left ) I was closing in on him and Vic quickly and he pulled over to let me by, rather than block me. It was only fleeting, though, as they both passed me back

So my verdict is keeper. I felt like I was in control of the car, unlike last week. That Chaser had a mind of its own and pretty much did what IT wanted to.

 

[Braulioaej]

That jump pic is great Nathan, I've set it as my wallpaper. Props to @Braulioaej for racecraft. As seen in this pic, ( I'm in the pinkish car on the left ) I was closing in on him and Vic quickly and he pulled over to let me by, rather than block me. It was only fleeting, though, as they both passed me back

*pic*

So my verdict is keeper. I felt like I was in control of the car, unlike last week. That Chaser had a mind of its own and pretty much did what IT wanted to.

Least I could do.
You almost made me **** my pants. Having all 3 of us go into the next turn made me super nervous. Then I braked a tad too late, lost control, but somehow squeezed between you and vic without hitting anyone, phew.