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Yup.Yeah, which means the thing we talked about is on indefinite hold, then?
+1 on delaying until lobbies stabilize.
Yup.Yeah, which means the thing we talked about is on indefinite hold, then?
No issues for me personally, considering I’d rather wait till it’s functional rather than trying to fight it every week and burn people out from continuing with it.Yeah, which means the thing we talked about is on indefinite hold, then?
At the very least, I want to hold off GT7 COTW until the lobbies become somewhat functional. Does anyone have an issue with this?
Unchanged, you still can't change any settings once it's been set up.Well, GT7 is finally back up. Any reports of the state of online lobbies?
I can already hear, somewhere in the distance, Square's keyboard crying out in agony.It's the R34 GT-R. What more needs to be said about it?
I can already hear, somewhere in the distance, Square's keyboard crying out in agony.
I can already hear, somewhere in the distance, Square's keyboard crying out in agony.
Drex absolutely called it, haha. Excellent review my friend."Godzilla". "The forbidden fruit". "The Eastern God of War". "The best car EVARGH". The fifth generation Nissan Skyline GT-R, the R34, is not short of well–earned nicknames. It has an engine that can handle four digit horsepower figures on stock internals if the 8–year old mechanics on the internet are to be believed, and unlike the Supra, it's AWD system means it can actually put the power down. And yet somehow, that didn't stop people from drifting it. The sound of its twin turbo RB26DETT Inline–6 engine was the anthem of many a budding enthusiast in the 90s, shaping an entire generation of us, having starred in games and films such as Gran Turismo and Fast and Furious. It really does beg the question, doesn't it? "It's the R34 GT-R. What more needs to be said about it?"
Ahh, but you see, the GT-R has earned all those credentials when heavily modified, and in a feeble attempt to actually sound my age, "we don't do that here" in Car of the Week. With the endless tuning potential of the R34, and the resultant rarity of bone stock examples, one might think that there's as much point in reviewing a bone stock R34 as there is reviewing the earphones that came with your phone, simply because they're just a formality that don't hold a candle to what's available for a reasonable price outside. The wheels, tyres, exhaust, chip, and oil filter are all stuff on a normal GT-R that gets thrown out in the same arm swing as the plastic seat covers upon the purchase. That means that this unassuming box of a sedan turned into a coupé comes kneecapped from the factory with just 276HP to haul around all of its 1,560kg (3,439lbs), and it's going up against other 276HP sports cars that are lighter and more focused, such as the NA2 NSX-R and FD RX-7. So how's an honest, hard working Godzilla supposed to compete in this climate?
Why, by lying and cheating, of course. As measured by the game, the R34 in its final iteration, the V • spec II Nür, makes a stonking 336HP (250kW) as it sits in factory fresh guise, which is heads and shoulders above the similarly lying and cheating RX-7 and NSX, neither of which even cracks 300HP. How Nissan could legally get away with printing 280PS on the car's brochures when the car is making well over 20% more power, I will never know. Sure, the R34's power–to–mass ratio might still be sagging behind its fellow 2002 compatriots, but its AWD ensures that it will at least out launch them, and still still out–accelerate the poor 5–speed FD even after that. While I've complained that the R32's drivetrain feels like it was set up from the factory to have twice its power, what with its nonexistent high rev range performance and needlessly long gearing, I have no such complaints whatsoever in the 6 speed R34. Yes, it still requires short shifting at about 500rpm below its redline, but that still means that you're shifting the car at a VTEC and Rotary rivaling 8,000rpm!
At this point, it would be a fair assumption to make that the R34 keeps up with its domestic competition via sheer power alone, but it'd also be a wrong one to make. Take the R34 around nefariously twisty mountain roads, and it will quickly make you exhibit speed that you never thought you had the balls for. While RWD sports cars of the era are tail happy, moody, no holds barred bar fights when confronted with bumps, patches of low traction, or adverse camber, the R34 simply wafts past these inconveniences as though a hovercraft. Where RWD cars are asking you to be careful, cognizant, and be ready to lift and correct in case you roll over a dry leaf on the track, the R34 is instead asking of you to relax and trust that everything's going to be okay. My favourite test track, Bathurst, feels like an entirely different stretch of asphalt in the R34 than it does a pure, raw, barbaric RWD sports car. What this translates to is that the R34 has much more adaptability and "real world" speed, even in the context of a video game, as I can set much more consistent lap times in an R34 than most other cars, and I'm including my all–time favourite FD RX-7 with a combined 20,000 track kilometres in that statement.
But, surely a soft suspension setup on a car with a lopsided 57/43 F/R weight distribution would mean that the R34 would become easily unhinged, especially under hard braking afforded by its factory Brembo brakes and 245 section Sport Hard tyres? Well, the disproportionate weight balance of the front heavy car means that the front tyres of the car always feels more capable and does more work despite being of the same size as those of the rear, which can sometimes make the car feel and drive as though an FF, wherein the front wheels dictate everything and the rears simply follow along with no opinion nor objection. Under hard braking and steering however, it's very possible—easy, even—to get the unladen rear end of the car to swing out.
And that's when you unveil the true cornering prowess of the Skyline GT-R.
Here's the thing: the game and the car's brochure may both state that the R34 is an AWD car, and that's because they have to, as it's technically correct. However, to get the most out of an R34, you must drive it as though a front heavy FR car that it is most of the time, sliding it slightly into corners to help rotate it to meet an apex to allow for the most liberal of power administration out of the corner. With that slip angle and all of the road's width, just floor the throttle pedal, and revel in amazement as the car's part–time AWD system hooks up the front tyres, giving the car the traction to full throttle out of most corners while magically ballet dancing on the tightrope that divides grip and slip. What the AWD system does is that it blends the surefootedness of an AWD and the easiness to correct of an FF to help drivers achieve the fastest RWD cornering techniques easily and consistently for as long as the poor front tyres will last, and it still amazes me how the ATTESA-ETS seems to know EXACTLY how much torque to give to the front wheels to balance the understeer up front with the oversteer in the rear! I usually detest these electronic gimmicks in cars because I either don't understand how they work, or they hinder more than help. Nissan engineers on the other hand, have somehow made a system that is easily understood and intuitive to exploit, and it's a system that debuted in 1989!
One might think that modifying a Skyline GT-R is as customary and necessary as removing the plastic covering of the seats of a new car. After all, with it being hobbled just so scrutineers could feasibly turn the other cheek when Nissan lied about having only 276HP due to a Gentlemen's Agreement between Japanese car manufacturers at the time, one might argue that putting a boost controller and a freer flowing exhaust on it is simply putting the finishing touches on the car, or even correcting it, and there are several shops in Japan or overseas that will help you do that and more. But, I think its reputation for being a tuner darling packed with potential waiting to be realised has completely clouded what an amazingly cohesive and entertaining drive it can provide straight from Nissan's Tochigi Plant. As the last and ultimate Skyline GT-R produced near the end of the infamous "276HP era" of Japanese cars, the 2002 Skyline GT-R V • spec II Nür is one of the brightest shining examples of what JDM cars of that era are all about: absent the power to use as a crush against the opposition, everything else has to be refined to a meticulous degree to edge out rivals with the same 276HP power restriction, and perhaps there's no better example of this than the GT-R, the heaviest among its sports car rivals and thus the one with the worst power–to–mass ratio. Every component of the car, every factor of the driving experience, has been balanced with respect to each other so finely that it almost feels a shame to tune it. Add more power to it, and inevitably you will hit a point where you'll need gripper tyres, stiffer suspension, and thus slowly that meticulously balanced cohesiveness unravels, and oftentimes you'll find that, despite the car going faster, it becomes a worse whole that isn't as enjoyable to drive.
Gran Turismo® 7_20220403002135 by XSquare StickIt, on Flickr
Jimmy Broadbent's R32 GT-R by XSquareStickIt livery link (GT7)
NISMO R33GT-R 400R by mshow1215 livery link (GTS)
Skyline GT-R NISMO 400R '97 by mshow1215 livery link (GT7)
What is a stock Skyline GT-R good for then, if it doesn't spit flames and put down four digit power figures on the dyno like it does in the video games and movies? Why, I'd argue it's good for everything: drag, drift, time attacks, or even grocery runs. It's everything anyone can possibly want in a sports car, even—or especially—in stock guise. One might even argue that, absent a strict definition of what a "perfect" car should be, have, and do, the R34 is quite a strong contender for the title of perfection. If there's anything left to be said about the R34, it's that it's the Rule 34 of cars—it's borderline pornographic with how good it is.
Fck yes!!! This car is magic to me. See yall on the track!Okay folks @Racer283 has given me the green light to announce this weeks winner and the car they picked.
Courtesy of @Yard_Sale, We will be driving the 1989 Mercedes Sauber C9 Group C Prototype.👍
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