Beater or Sleeper? GT6 Car of the Week Thread

The future is here!
And it's damn sexy... The Toyota FT-1

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Super-sleek and super-sexy. The visuals of the FT-1 appeal!

The Toyota FT-1! :sly: The FT stands for Future Toyota, and the 1 represents "number one" or "the ultimate one". In other words, Toyota are pretty damn confident in this car's abilities. And with good reason! This baby's being hailed as the next Supra, and the Supra wasn't exactly a slouch... The FT-1 has some mighty large boots to fill! Thankfully, it lives up to the hype, with amazing results! :D

Half a million bucks isn't a bad deal for a detailed sports car concept. I can't tell you power or weight figures, because PD refuses to disclose that information to us. All I can tell you is it has enough power, because boy does it go! It's a turbocharged rear wheel drive, and put on sport hard tyres, but despite this it's not an uncontrollable skid machine! It feels really good to drive! :dopey:

The FT-1 boasts a strong launch off the line, rapid acceleration through the gears, and amazing handling through all kinds of corners, both fast and flowing and tight and technical. The pop up rear wing provides much needed downforce at race pace, as well as contributing greatly to the futuristic, sleek physique of the car.

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Right from the first race I knew we were in for a treat!

It's amazing performance was highlighted in our races, because while races at COTW are always on a level playing field as far as PP, there's always one or two drivers who manage to get away... (And even slide some turns in the process) ;)But in the FT-1, the pack seemed to keep nice and close all throughout the night. I had a particularly ferocious few laps at Indy against Ash and Racer, and that last lap three-way fight was a turning point for me. You see, until now I've always been pretty submissive in a battle pack, trying to avoid contact in fear of angering someone. But in that race, I decided that they would need to fight for 3rd place, and I wasn't scared to put a mark on their cars. And look how that turned out! :D

Every race brought me renewed love for the FT-1, whether it was enjoying the driving feel, loving the interior, or battling the other drivers!

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Ash takes the wide line, Racer opts for the apex. Nismo goes for the gap!

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At Silverstone, despite coming third, I beat Vic, which is a win in my book!

Some little things about the FT-1...

You better make sure you love the colour you buy it in, because once you've paid for it you can't change it! You get a pretty good selection though, so it's not all bad. Also, you can't tune it. The only way you can enhance it's performance is by bolting on stickier rubber. And this was a point raised in discussion on Tuesday night, with some people complaining about the lack of tuning options. But really, considering how well it drives, there's nothing I'd want to change about it! :lol: It turns in fine, it holds the line alright, it feels like the sort of car you could drive for hours and not get sick of it.

I really, really love the FT-1. I'm calling it a sleeper and a keeper! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Rest of this week's pics!
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Oooooh! Look at this!
I'm announcing this week's pick early for once! I don't want to jinx it, but hopefully this carries on...

Congratulations @MrWaflz55!!!!

Alright then, this week is...

HOLD UP JUST A MINUTE!!!



Mr. Waffle has proposed that we review a road car / race car combo. But the thing is, we've already reviewed the road car. So this week we'll put the race rally car under scrutiny!

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It's the 1995 Toyota Celica GT-Four (ST205) Rally Car!

Don't be surprised if the officials inspect your cars a bit closer this week... They're still a bit jumpy from the whole restrictor plate drama...

This week's Playing With TT's will be at Toscana, the go-to rally track on GT6!

MrWaflz is looking at hosting a special GT Racecar event at Apricot Hill raceway, and he needs competitors! If you want to enter a vehicle, here are the requirements of participation!

- Achieve a lap time within 1:18 or 1:19 around Apricot Hill. No slower or faster.
- Make sure the car is a GT car. No honkey LMPs allowed.
- Take a picture like the one below and post it on the Duel Of The Week thread.

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But get in quick! The Pagani Zonda R, McLaren F1 GTR and Diablo GT-1 are already taken, so snap up your favourite GT car before someone else does!
 
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Let's get the Miata's biggest shortcoming out of the way first...it will be forever regarded as a "Chick Car" by your average motorist. (And it's portrayal of two Lightning McQueen fangirls in the movie Cars certainly didn't help.) In response, this week I made it my mission to make the Miata look as manly as possible by styling it like a Shelby Cobra Daytona, one of the absolute most masculine cars ever created.

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"I don't think I succeeded, though."
So sadly, if you own this car you will have to explain it to nearly everyone you meet. The lone exception would be the driving enthusiasts that actually do "get" this car and that it's an absolute joy to drive. You get a lightweight balanced chasis, rear-wheel drive, and very snappy handling. Power is very modest, only in the low fields of triple digits, but it allows you to experiment with different lines knowing that you'll easily be able to recover if you overcook a corner.
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This all added up to one of the most fun nights of racing we've had in Car of the Week. It seemed like no matter where you were in the field there was a battle to be had with a couple other drivers. Given the choice, I would absolutely choose to drive this over a Le Mans Prototype any day of the week, it's so much more relaxing and fun than trying to navigate a high-horsepower aero-heavy race car. The 1st generation Miata is a gem and Sleeper.

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And if you ever decide the Miata needs more power, there's an answer for that as well. :sly: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/flyin-miata-habu-mx-5-v-8-test-review
 
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Ah, the Celica. Toyota's iconic 90's rally machine. This beast gets particular favour from me because it features that livery.... The classic white with Castrol red and green stripes. Honestly, this livery was my absolute favourite in my primary school years. I used to decorate my bedroom floor as a race track for my Hotwheels cars, complete with rumble strips, braking markers, sponsorship boards and recovery vehicles. And while I had hundreds of cars, (I still have them :D) I really wanted Hotwheels to make a Castrol-liveried Supra! But despite scribbling and sending off dozens of notes, my wish never got fulfilled. :(

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But enough about the paint job! :lol:

As for the Celica itself, well I'm a bit less knowledgable on that front. I haven't really driven it much, and usually that means I'm either in for a treat, or will have a free space in my garage this time next Monday! :P We shall find out soon....
 
I'm just curious what time we are racing tonight because it's a little past 10:30 central time and no ones on at the moment. Hoped everyone knew we switched to daylight saving time over the weekend and wasn't sure if it would effect our racing tonight.
 
I'm just curious what time we are racing tonight because it's a little past 10:30 central time and no ones on at the moment. Hoped everyone knew we switched to daylight saving time over the weekend and wasn't sure if it would effect our racing tonight.
Sorry Racer, wasn't aware that daylight savings had happened over the weekend over there. I've taken note!
 
Toys for the boys...

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Well, the past 2 weeks have been showcasing what Toyota has had to offer from both the past to the present future. After an impromptu change, the FT-1 was chosen... a more down to earth choice than what could have been not acquired at all.

Although it has some secrets here in GT6, like the power and weight for instance, it's not so secret attribute is the fun factor. Well at least in my mind it is. I like the way it handles, and has enough power to take on quite a few contenders in it's PP range. Hopefully next time 'round, it will have the ability to be tuned in GTSport. I really like the looks of it, especially the VGT version... and really hope we can see that come to life in the real world. Let's have a look at what Jay Leno says about the Sleeper...



Most recently, the older ST205 rally car version of the Celica we've already talked about here...

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...rototype-cn-0706.295599/page-57#post-10501005

This one I'll be giving a Neutral status, even though it's pretty good, there are other rally cars I'd pick long before this one. Besides the iconic Castrol livery, there's just not too much to brag about it. It was ok at this week's Playing with TT's location, but again, there's other cars I'd rather choose.

Cheers
 
Let's get this weeks pick out the way first and I'll keep it short and sweet, It's Neutral and if you want a slightly more in depth review about it and it's technical shenanigans regarding the restrictor, check out when we drove the road car and had both the rally car and Mini VGT as bonus races a little over 2 years ago (Christ where did that time go?! :crazy:).

Moving on to the Toyota FT-1. :)

Now normally I'd read off the spec list of the engine and the cars weight, but the FT-1 gives us a problem, no such stats are available which given when it was unveiled nothing was confirmed is understandable.

However some fellow GTP'ers deduced it has 485hp before oil change and near 520 afterwards and weighs 1320kgs and its definitely a 6 cylinder turbo by the sounds alone and I guess around 3.0 litres of engine displacement.

Power is sent to rear wheels via a 6 speed paddle shift gearbox and although it's a fast shifting box its top speed is lower than you think at around 175mph so on very fast tracks you'll struggle against more established performance cars.

Handling on the other hand is spot on, you make it dance with the throttle and it'll rotate with ease and if you go too far you can still catch it.

It inspires confidence and even if someone brought out a racing car of similar PP it could take the fight to them or in my case, serve them a slice of humble pie and then dropping the Mic on it. :sly: ( The ones who were there that night will know what i'm referring to. ;))

Despite the fact there's next to nothing you can do to modify it, it's a Sleeper purely because of its capabilities. 👍

And last but by no means least, The first gen Mazda MX-5.

Picked by yours truly and given to me for 24 years of duty to this thing called Life by PD. :D

As noted by others, the MX-5 still has the image of it being a hairdressers car, but if you look past that, you'll see why the MX-5 has the record for being the best selling 2 seater sports car of all time.

First gen models these days aren't to expensive, easy to work on, lightweight, great handling and reliable machines.

Yes in stock form they aren't straight line demons, but they are great fun in the corners and the straight line issue can be rectified with a turbo or an engine swap. :P

Turbos, Superchargers, Rotarys, V6's, V8's have all seen duty in an MX-5 engine bay, heck someone even crammed an old 5.3 Jaguar V12 into a first gen MX-5. :drool:

It's not perfect, but like the Miura from a few weeks ago, it's one of if not the first car that comes up in a conversation about a certain category of cars. :)

From a stock performance view it's a Neutral, slow on the straights but quick through the turns.

While it's Neutral, do yourselves a favour and pick one up, just don't take too long in picking which one of the many MX-5/Miatas you want. :crazy:

So in summary,

Celica Rally Car: Neutral
Toyota FT-1: Sleeper 👍
Mazda MX-5: Neutral
 
Silly car!
The car that got caught cheating, prompting Toyota's divorce from WRC..

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"So, erm, I wonder what oil this thing uses...?"

It may look pretty in the photo above, but the Celica I drove this week is in fact absolutely
wrecked, totalled on the last sprint to the finish line! :(

How did this happen??? Well..

I joined in the Saturday lobby for the first time in ages because I was off work this week and could actually spare an hour to have a race. The venue was Bathurst, a track I'm kind of alright with. ;)

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"Which one's gonna win?"
"The one in the Castrol livery!"

Despite starting around 4th, within the first lap I was in the lead with Ash, Vic, Baron and Rob all in hot pursuit! I gained a sizeable lead of around one and a half seconds before Ash started to reel me in. As we went for a second lap around the mountain, he cut my lead by two thirds. When I began to hear him catching me, I took a breath and made sure he stayed back there. He got closer still, but I fended him off, refusing to give this one away without a decent fight!

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Going beyond the apex!

The thing is, I never once looked behind me. I knew he was coming because I heard him. But what I didn't pick up on was that Vic was also catching us...

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So while I'm trying to keep Ash at bay, I'm also leaving a hole for Vic to go for...

I messed up the run over Skyline, and what I didn't notice is that's when Vic made his move on Ash and got by him. So when we made it to the Forrest's Elbow, and the Celica next to me started to pass me, I thought it was Ash. It wasn't until after Conrod Straight, and The Chase, that I realised "Hang on a minute, that's a Union Jack!!!"

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Vic prepares to pass as I cut the elbow a little too close.

With one lap to go, I decided there was nothing else to do other than go hard, try to nick the
victory and reign supreme...
Why did those words enlarge themselves? Weird...
The lap was flawless until Skyline, where again I ran a bit wide in the dirt, but, being a rally car, it didn't hurt me too much. What really hurt was coming out of Forrest's Elbow, I went a bit too wide into the tyres and....

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This slight groove in the tyre wall is what killed my Celica!

...I was brough to a complete standstill, courtesy of the tyre wall. My car was destroyed, so too were my hopes at a win. :eek:

Right, now what did I get out of my time in the Celica?
First thing's first, I'm disregarding the races that I did on Tuesday. That day, I thought I'd try a new button setup, one that swapped the gears with the throttle and brake, essentially making the controls more Forza-ish. It didn't end up having the feel I was going for, and I suffered as a result. So I'm not going to let those races affect my view on it.

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Rally cars aren't my favourite class of cars to race, mainly because they all have one thing in common. They all lack performance on tarmac. I'm not a very off-road person on GT6, so this is a big thing for me. Since they're built for durability and grip, they boast easy-to-drive handling, and the Celica is no different. It also seems as though you need to short shift it to get the most acceleration out of the beast, something I noticed listening to Ash behind me as we battled on the mountain.


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Baron in a Xsara Rally Car spies a Vic in the distance....

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...A few laps later...

I'm kind of neutral on the Celica. It drove well, it served it's purpose, but it was missing something. Some oomph. A vibe of some kind. I'm not quite sure what it is, but it lacks... something...

Neutral from me! 👍👎

I'll post real soon with the new car!
 
Rightio, I'm back, and this week, the honour of picking our fates for this week was chosen by McD himself! (See, he hasn't forgotten about us.... yet....)

Congratulations @RobboGTAddict!!!!

This week, we return to Germany for the first time in a wee while! And to be quite honest, I'm surprised it's taken us this long to pick this beast! It's the iconic German sports car...

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It's the 2004 BMW M3 (E46)!!!!

Currently waiting on Rob to get back to me regarding the location for this week's Playing With TT's, but I'll make the event when I know!

This shape M3 is iconic in my mind for one reason and one reason only...
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Admittedly that's an M3 GTR, not an M3... but still, it's certainly a legendary car! :drool:

See you guys Tuesday!!!! :cheers:
 
The last race (for me) on Saturday was just another example of one of my top 3 favourite personal credos... "Never be afraid to ask a question, only fear the answers".

Someone asked if anyone had ever "wildcarded" an Xsara, and it looked like @MrWaflz55 was going to oblige... until he mentioned the the fact that it was FF, and switched over to the Hyundai.

Now even though I may or may not be known for my opinions on said drivetrain, I jumped, no, dove into my garage to take advantage of the open door lit up by a sea of spotlights all pointing towards one thing... Victory.

Now while @Nismonath5 may be right in thinking rally cars "all lack performance on tarmac", he forgot another saying... "There are exceptions to every rule"... the Renault R5 Turbo Rallye being a very notable exception. I'm a huge fan of Time Trials, and that of course includes the Seasonal Super Lap events. There's been several events for rally cars on road courses, and the Xsara was one of those standouts in a crowd of AWD monsters.

Thankfully I didn't screw up too badly at Midfield, because @Vic Reign93 could've easily won that race if I had. I really enjoy the Xsara... one of the best "Kit cars" ever built.

Cheers
 
Another good report Nismo. I was slowly catching you at Panorama, but not fast enough. I was hoping to keep pressure on you and force you into an error and make the pass. Turns out Vic did that to both of us! At Midfield, I was surprised how fast Baron's Xsara was. I got a good jump on him at the start thanks to wheelspin from the FF drivetrain, but a few turns later he just blew by me.

The last race on Saturday was a bit of a triumph for me. Mr.Waflz chose Toscana. He left early due to a bad choice in cars, and then Vic and I had a great battle to the finish. We both got a good workout for 5 ( long ) laps, and at the finish I was only .5 seconds back.

Even so, I rate the Celica neutral leaning towards meh. There are lots of better choices imo. Witness the Xsara.
 
At Midfield, I was surprised how fast Baron's Xsara was. I got a good jump on him at the start thanks to wheelspin from the FF drivetrain, but a few turns later he just blew by me.

It must be decent enough of a rally car... some notable drivers of the Xsara over the years include Sebastien Loeb, Petter Solberg, Carlos Sainz, Phillippe Bugalski, Francois Duval and Jesus Puras.

Cheers
 
I suppose I should explain as to why I wasn't there last night aside from the final race, 2 things played a factor in it, daylight savings and connection issues. :crazy:

The daylight savings will kick in on Sunday over here, I just need to remember to start hosting this Saturdays racing at 8:00pm to compensate for daylight savings. :)
 
I just realised that the FT-1 didn't get it's own Playing With TT's event! :eek:

If you guys want, I could make an event for it on top of the M3's event. It would still be open for a week, giving all the same fair shot at logging a time! You could have two sets of TT's to play with! :lol:
 
Here's the officially unofficial results for the "Wishing you were in another car when" Playing with TT's event...

BaronBlitzRed: 1:12.237

G_ASHER: 1:12.351

thematic604: 1:13.342

Well this TT taught me how badly I've been taking the first corner for all these years... need my head checked!!!

Cheers
 
BMW M3 '04
3.2L
339 hp / 8,000 rpm
269 ft-lb / 5,000 rpm
1,570 kg (3,461 lbs)
470 pp

Right off the bat, I'm not happy with how much this thing weighs. Nearly 1,600 kg, REALLY? Come on...

Best I could do at Mid-Field is a lowly 1:22 despite desperately trying to break into the 1:21's. Maybe I'll give it another shot this morning. So much to do, not enough time to do it all! Grr...



It hits 142 mph on the straight and slows down to 70 mph for Turn 1.

Cars within 0.500 seconds:

1:21.715 - 474 - Citroën Xsara Rally Car '99
1:21.715 - 454 - Honda NSX Type S '01
1:21.716 - 465 - Renault Sport Clio V6 Trophy 24V '00
1:21.731 - 485 - BMW Z8 '01
1:21.738 - 470 - RUF 3400S '00
1:21.773 - 490 - Nissan C-West Razo Silvia '01
1:21.824 - 466 - Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A (FD) '02
1:21.830 - 489 - Maserati GranTurismo S '08
1:21.849 - 489 - Mitsubishi HSR-II '89
1:21.876 - 471 - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Rally Car '97
1:21.910 - 521 - Cadillac CTS-V Coupe '11
1:21.911 - 480 - Mitsubishi Starion 4WD Rally Car '84
1:21.922 - 518 - Audi RS 6 Avant '08
1:21.933 - 509 - Lexus IS F '07
1:21.939 - 462 - Amuse S2000 R1 '04
1:21.971 - 440 - Lotus Elise 111R '04

1:22.025 - 449 - Honda NSX '01
1:22.142 - 460 - Lotus Evora '09
1:22.147 - 503 - Jaguar XFR '10
1:22.173 - 470 - BMW M3 '04
1:22.174 - 470 - Subaru Impreza WRX STI Spec C '09
1:22.226 - 462 - Mazda RX-7 Type R Bathurst R (FD) '01
1:22.233 - 509 - Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG (R230) '02
1:22.260 - 469 - BMW Z4 M Coupé '08
1:22.288 - 477 - Honda Integra Type R (DC5) Touring Car '04
1:22.292 - 484 - Jaguar XKR R Performance '02
1:22.374 - 471 - Honda Integra Type R Touring Car
1:22.386 - 470 - Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STi Spec C (Type-II) '04
1:22.521 - 459 - Mazda RX-7 Type RS (FD) '98
1:22.529 - 454 - Honda NSX Type S Zero '99
1:22.544 - 447 - Mazda RX-8 Concept (Type-II) '01
1:22.664 - 471 - Subaru S206 NBR Challenge Package '12
1:22.673 - 499 - Mercedes Benz C 63 AMG '08

It's only 1 second slower than the E92 M3 that replaced it.



You could make this look like a regular 3-series rather easily, so in that respect it's certainly a sleeper. It's as quick as the Lotus Evora and Honda NSX, but I would still rather drive either of those two than this. So, it's a beater for me.
 
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The M0.3

Well this week's car was anything but "Most Wanted"... most traded in maybe, but that means you'd have to find a dealership that wants them first. From the bottom of my heart... Good luck with that!

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This wouldn't be the first M car I've given a Beater and Forget 'er rating to, and this one will get added to that dubious list... with more pics attached to the wall of shame. Smile!!! Maybe all those idiot BMW drivers deserve a small reprieve because the car just sucks. Or maybe not. The German giant of cars either dropped the ball, or the game has let them down big time. No matter what excuse you pick, if you really want true M Power, go with this car people...

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Cheers
 
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