Beater or Sleeper? GT6 Car of the Week Thread

Helluva race today! I think we all know who wins...

Congratulations Italy!!!!

And now, my first love...

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It's the 1992 Ferrari F40!!!

Excuse me. I need new pants.
 
Helluva race today! I think we all know who wins...

Congratulations Italy!!!!

And now, my first love...

1024full-ferrari-f40.jpg


It's the 1992 Ferrari F40!!!

Excuse me. I need new pants.

Is this not the shortest car reveal we've ever seen from McD? And fair enough, with an icon like the F40, there's really not much else that needs to be said! :sly:

You'd think the holidays would mean I'd have plenty of time to do my review and take part in all the races bright and early, yes? No. That's not how it's working out at all. Now I have even less time, since I'm working pretty much every day these holidays to cope with the rush of kids the park gets every holiday. Hopefully will have my review up tomorrow! :dopey:
 
Is this not the shortest car reveal we've ever seen from McD?

At least he gave us the gratuitous babe pic. Google "mrhobbscoffee". All but you @Nismonath5 , your'e not old enough yet. Something suspicious is going on... the COTW and duel of the week seem to be copying each other. Not that I'm complaining, but over a 1000 cars and we run the same ones both places?

Oh, nevermind, I am complaining. Pay no attention. Carry on! :P:tup:👍
 
Yeah, I know I'm overdue for doing reviews, took an extended break that included a week-long vacation to the Mid-South. No, I'm not going to try to cover all the weeks I missed. Sometimes, I just can't come up with something funny or interesting for a particular car. Deal with it.

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I hate to say it, but the Ferrari 430 is a Beater. Sure it is a Ferrari and is a pretty good car by itself, but akin to the Olsen twins, it's hopelessly overshadowed by its younger, more talented and more attractive younger sibling.

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Even having to drive with reduced power, the 458 Italia was still a far superior car, able to both accelerate quicker in the straights and brake harder into the corners than it's predecessor. Had I not made a mistake early in the race at Monza, my podium finish might have easily been a win.

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"Missed it by THAT much."
As for the Subaru 360.....ugh, the slowness and the tininess.

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Now, I could take up precious bandwidth describing how slow the 360 is, but it's probably more effective to show a couple of cars that easily left it in the dust.

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Yep, getting destroyed by both the Werhmacht Jeep and the Hippie Bus puts the 360 solidly in "Worst Car of the Year" contendership, and it's only April.
 
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Well, I've given up on a proper review for the 360 due to lack of time, lots of work to do and extreme tiredness, so I'll sum it up real quick...
(Funny, you'd think school holidays would mean relaxation. In my case, it only ramps up the workload.)

The Subaru 360-noscope is slow. Very slow. It was beaten by a Sambabus and a Kulbelwagen, which both gave perspective to the 360's slowness and destroyed my belief in the PP system. as far as PP, the Sambabus had no chance, yet it ended up thrashing the 360. I discovered that freewheeling was in some cases faster than staying on the limiter, and managed to have the world's quietest duel with Vic. A top speed of 80km/h really isn't going to snap any underwear elastic, and in all honestly the only reason you'd get one in GT6 is for historical value. Other than that, everything about it screams beater.
 
F40 in GT6 we have the 5th anniversary edition of the F40 a car designed to celebrate the 40 years since a chap called Enzo set up his car company.

So let's look at the car.
Pop Up Headlamps - Check
V8 engine... - Check
...behind the driver - Check
Water cooled Twin Turbocharger - Check and Check
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics scoops - Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check.
Triple pipe exhausts... Different.
Anti Lock Brakes - Nope
Traction Control - Nope
Paint - Rosso Corsa - but it is about half a nanometer thick so you stand close to the car... you can actually hear the carbonfibre weave underneath the frugal paint.

Now if the chassis was made form good old fashioned Italian steel, things would be different but the girls at Maranello made a normal welded steel tube frame then bonded it to Kevlar panels, cutting weight by 20% but increasing the chassis's tortional rigidity by a factor of 3. "Light as a feather, stiff as a board!"

Price - Well this may be a sore point. Well you can either have one F40 OR you can buy a Ruf "Yellow bird" CTR AND a Lamborghini Countach and still have enough kazulas to buy a turbocharged 1987 Buick GNX. But who wants a Buick?

Now that my GT6 wallet is as light as the Ferrari, let us step inside.
Open the door,
... hmm silly European left hand drive sinister silliness!
Open the Left Door. Right leg in, crouch down don't hit your head on the door frame, arse on the seat and, *schlock* buttocks in place, left leg in. Five point harness, clicked into the centre buckle. Now, for an Italian car the driving position is pretty reasonable, I am almost facing forwards, almost. Tug ropes to open the door. Lots of naked carbon fibre (Phwaor!) and smelly epoxy resin (Eugh!) on show. Turn the Key - That's the Fuel and Electrical systems woken up. Let's push the squidgy starter button, just to the right of the wheel. And that 3 litre twin turbo Engine burbles into life.

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First impressions are great. Steering as direct as Vettel's pointing finger. Brakes as strong and silent as a Kimi Räikkönen cocktail... Bwoah! Maybe the alloy centered, cast Iron brakes feel a bit long. The car has a racing car feel spartan and stark. It even has drilled holes in the pedals to save weight. But the weight balance of this car may be a surprise 40:60 - that is alot of mass acting on the rear wheels along with that turbo powah. This does mean the rear tyres will getting a hammering. And this is a proper car for drivers and not some technological terror. (Such as the - Porsche 959 with your Cup holders and Laser Guided windscreen wipers.)

The Ferrari has all the basics, with added lightness from the Bullet proof composites. Speaking of Bulletproof the engine is a beast - can run at 187mph for 2 days and if you want you can opt for a beefier Turbo for some All day Race Action down at the track. This would pump the F40 up to 700bhp, so running it to a peak of a mere 478bhp means the engine should be a destressed as the driver.

yeah yeah yeah...But is it a Beater or a Sleeper?
It is expensive... only has one colour... has a lacklustre Fiat horn... So obviously it is a beater...
But it is a rear wheel drive car with mid mounted twin turbo engine comes with a large helping of oversteer and has no "I can drive real good" hero buttons, so obviously it is a sleepah purely as it isn't a dog of understeer like so many cars.

I guess it is mostly a sleeper, mostly.
 
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Ryk
Price - Well this may be a sore point. Well you can either have one F40 OR you can buy a Ruf "Yellow bird" CTR AND a Lamborghini Countach and still have enough kazulas to buy a turbocharged 1987 Buick GNX. But who wants a Buick?

Funny you should ask. Just took mine on it's first Tail of the Dragon visit a couple weeks ago. :sly:

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40 Ways to Die!!!!!!!
It was true then, it's true now...

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After dragging through a week of racing at speeds that wouldn't even get you a ticket over here, I was keen to drive anything that actually went fast. I was not disappointed in that regard...

The Ferrari F40: Initial impressions
Upon purchasing my F40, I took it for a test drive at Mid-Field to see what it can do. And, in a move of mild overconfidence, I decided to run without TCS, ASM or even ABS. Hahaha, THAT was a dumb move. The F40 pounced, jumped and tried to wrestle me to the ground, and that was before I git the first split! By lap 30, I was in a good groove and able to wrangle the beast around the circuit. But still, it took over half an hour just to complete a lap without wall contact, and at the same time set a respectable lap time!

Race day!
I raced on Tuesday with ABS and TCS back on, but still the F40 gave me trouble... It suffers from turbo lag, which makes it infuriatingly gutless.... but then as soon as the boost kicks in, the power goes from zero to hero! Usually, this meant smoking tyres, spinning and wall-crunching woes. It also felt quite reluctant to turn, you can't throw it into a corner the way you would, say, a Porsche 911 or McLaren F1. No, you have to really slow down in a straight line, feed it in nice and smooth, then put the power down!

Victory wasn't an option for me this week. The F40 straight up denied me any wins, any respectable placings, and when I swapped it out for an Audi R8 CL, Baron bested me, true to form.

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Bye bye, Nismo!

As I write this review, I can't help but compare the F40 to the Dodge Daytona.

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Think about it. They're both famous for being the first cars to top 200mph (The Daytona for NASCARs, the F40 for road cars), they both sport large, angular rear wings, and they both have exteneded noses and rears. Yes, in a way I suppose the F40 is the Italian's answer to the Daytona...

...anyhoo, where was I?

Ah!

As I was saying, the F40's a real b:censored:ch to drive.

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Street racing and tunnel blasting!

As I previously mentioned though, the F40's calling wasn't handling, it was speed. Provided you have enough of a straight, the immense acceleration is impressive. You can hear the turbos delivering that pure boost, a loud and pronounced sound indeed! It's fun to blast down Circuit De La Sarthe's straight at 320km/h+, right up until the part where you have to brake really hard and fight to get it around the hairpin!

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But if you're reading this and have never driven an F40, don't be mistaken. It's not undriveable, it just requires a bit more practise prior to an event. It's also one of those cars that really needs more grip, but with GT6 the way it is, it gets stuck on SH tyres and left to slide all over the show like it's on ice skates.

I'd call it a beater due to the sheer difficulty to drive, but in fact I'm thinking quite the opposite. I reckon that this is one of those cars that's worth learning how to master, and mastering it will in fact make you a better driver. Do what I did and have a go at being fast with no TCS, ASM or ABS. Quite a learning curve in mechanical sympathy and being smooth!

For this reason, and the fact that it's drop dead gorgeous, the F40 is a sleeper! 👍
 
It's also one of those cars that really needs more grip, but with GT6 the way it is, it gets stuck on SH tyres and left to slide all over the show like it's on ice skates.

I must object: this sort of machine is not in its element on sports tyres. Comfort medium (or soft) is where you will start to have "oh!" and "ahs".

edit: quoted right now, I agree about the familiarity thing. It isn't the car to pick for someone who says 'they're all the same to me'.
 
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Time to blow off the dust and get some reviews written up, let's see if I remember how to do this. :P

We'll get the 2 Italian Stallions out the way first, Starting with the F430 Scuderia, a lighter, more powerful track focused version of the standard F430.

Making over 500hp from a 4.3 V8 and sent to the rear wheels via a faster shifting 6 speed paddle shift gearbox, the Scud was capable of near enough 200mph and 0-60 in around 3.5 seconds.

Of course the handling was upgraded to accommodate the extra power, but in GT6, it didn't feel like that was the case.

As noted before by @Nismonath5 when he was fighting the Scud, it felt tricky and unstable like it wasn't on the right tyres, good if you want to go drifting, but not so if you really want the most out it's abilities.

Despite the carbon brakes, you really had to stand on them to slow down which was why a lot of us did have varying degrees of off roading at Bathurst as we were expecting a lot more bite from them. :P

The Scud had its rivals as well, including it's eventual successor the 458 Italia to contend with.

The racing was good and fun, unless you were Nismo of course who the Ferrari's for some reason decided to single out for a little fun. :cool:

If I had consider everything, the 430 Scuderia is a Neutral verdict, it'll serve you well, but you're left with the feeling it's missing something that makes it what it truly is.

Verdict: Netural

And now on to this weeks car, the F40.

Now it's no secret that MC loves this car to bits and that's partly why I'm gonna do this write up next to an underground shelter because it's very possible he might go nuclear over this.

The F40 in GT6 is a Beater... :odd:

(Distant Air Raid Sirens going off)

Ohhhh crap. :scared:

In what's becoming a thing in GT6, the ball has once again been dropped by PD.

We'll start with the weight, Dry weight is 1100kgs, Curb weight without a driver is 1250kgs and the weight of the one we is consistent with the heavier US spec model that's around 1350kgs.

Weight distribution is a 40-60 split which is actually more rear heavy than the RUF Yellowbird which is a 41-59 split despite being a rear engined car. :crazy:

Power is another issue because the US spec version had its power increased to compensate for the weight to 503 hp, but we don't have that power stock as it uses the Hp stat from the EU spec version of around 470 hp before oil change.

Gearing is also very long as well with 150mph being possible in 3RD gear which i'm pretty sure is wrong for both versions of the F40.

And the cherry on this particular sundae, the suspension is quite soft which combined with the heavier than real life rear weight distribution makes it really tail happy under braking, despite the fact it's rear tyres are huge 335 section tyres.

Now before MC decides to go full TSAR bomb on me, I just want to clarify that if represented right, the F40 is an absolute joy to drive and I love it, but in GT6, in stock form it's just not possible unless you tune it to correct those errors.

Also it lost to a C7 Corvette driven by Jack at Fuji and no I wasn't in it, I was in the Yellowbird at the back going sideways.:D:lol:

Verdict: Beater 👎 (I don't like this verdict anymore than MC might.)

Now providing he hasn't nuked us just yet, I'll get the Mini out the way next. :sly:

The Mini Clubman VGT, the tamest of all the VGT's and the most unhinged of all the Minis.

Packing a turbo 4 cylinder ( i'm guessing a 2.0 litre.) making nearly 400hp after an oil change and sent to all 4 wheels via a 6 speed gearbox.

Handling is almost typical of a 4wd, good stability with some understeer at the limits, but it's still quite chuckable due to weighing a little over a ton.

Sounds pretty decent, good paint choices ( although black with red stripes was the popular choice.) and it can go rallying as well.

Compared to other VGT's it's a Beater and compared to other Mini's, it's a Sleeper.

Overall though, I would consider it a Sleeper. :)👍

And finally we have the oddball, the Subaru 360.

The first mass production car built by Subaru ( The Subaru 1500 was the first car they built and only 20 were made.) the 360 was built to comply with the Kei car rules of the time which limited engine size to 360cc.

Weighing just over 400kgs and powered by a 356cc 2 cylinder engine making 16hp which went up to 25hp by the end of its production run or 36hp if you got the twin carb version which actually made 100hp per litre (36hp in a 356cc engine.).:eek:

Sent through a 3 speed manual (4 speed in later models.) to the rear tyres, It wasn't fast at all as it took 37 seconds to hit 60mph which was in fact its top speed.:crazy:

Now because all cars in GT6 have rev limiters, our top speed is around 50mph unless you did what Nismo and I did and freewheeled it going downhill which made for a near silent version of Inital D. :lol:

Now I knew the 360 was gonna get compared to the Honda ACT Z so what I did was I picked one track which infamously gave the ACT many issues and that was the Mini Matterhorn track.

Biggest proof it was better than the ACT? It could get out the pitlane under its own power due to shorter gearing. :sly:

Best part about the 360 was despite going slow enough to hold up a funeral procession it was quite fun to throw into the turns and not need to brake.

If you plan on racing it stock, pack yourself some snacks as it'll take awhile to get anywhere, but i'll still take it over the ACT. :P

Yeah it's a beater as it lost to a hippy van and some Third Reich war vehicle, but if you throw some go faster parts at it, like turbos and a bottle of laughing gas, it'll be an absolute barrel of laughs to drive.

Verdict: Beater 👎( But pick one up if you plan on tuning it.👍)
 
The Dominatrix of the car world...

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There are certain pleasures that shouldn't be discussed in the general public, for fear of being labelled a freak. And the Ferrari F40 is the epitome of BDSM on four wheels. Absolutely gorgeous, sexy beyond description and dangerous... you know you shouldn't like it, but yet here you are, again, looking for more. And you paid really good money to do it.

This is how I describe this car... you're not in control. You will never tame her. She will give you a taste of how good she can make you feel, and rip it away if your mind slips for even a nano second. She DEMANDS your complete attention, and will make you pay dearly if you don't give it to her. If you're not scared, it's because you're already dead. It's her rules, and you'll find those out when she wants you to... expect brutal, painful lessons.

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Obewan tries to get caught up on his reviews of other COTW cars...

Yes, there are problems with the stock GT6 version... @Vic Reign93 summed those up quite well in his review. Sadly, it's not the only Ferrari that got botched up in this version of the virtual world. Yet, I still love this car... the whips and chains aspect of its personality draw me in instead of making me run home to mommy. It's addictive, and with any addiction, it will destroy you if you're not strong enough. The consequences can be severe, and THAT is the allure...

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Is this how you want me to face the competition, Mistress??? Vic Reign

The rewards can be few and far between. Vic and I had some good races on Tuesday, LeMans being the one that stood out in my mind. No, I didn't win... and my Mistress made me me pay several times over, but yet I was still smiling and begging for more. It is that feeling alone that possesses my soul. The only way this a Beater... is when she brings out the riding crop. She'll be forever in my heart, even if she doesn't let me near her. Neutral status as it sits stock.

Cheers
 
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Alright, no word from McD, that means I get to pick a picker!
And my girlfriend can have this pick because already, I know exactly what she's gonna say!

Congratulations Rhiannon Williams!!!!!

Do you people have any idea how much gas we've used lately?! We gotta cut down. And as punishment to ease the consumption, we're spending a week in an electric...

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It's the 2011 Nissan Leaf G!!!!!!

Instant power, zero emissions, it's a Nissan... it ain't all bad!
This week's Playing With TT's will be at one of the Cape Ring circuits... haven't decided which one yet. See ya Tuesday!

(Sidenote: @McClarenDesign, mate, the OP could really use an update!)
 
At the Green Hell, I decided to see what the range was at full tilt... I got just past Ex Muhle before it totally ran out of juice. Now I know... :lol:

It's actually kind of fun, but not as fun as when I brought it out to hunt Insights in the infamous Thunderdome massacre. THAT was fun... I think I still have the replay for that one kicking around.

Cheers
 

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