Car of the Week 228: COTY GTS Finale

  • Thread starter Racer283
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I absolutely love the 996 GT3, unless it’s on slicks. On sports softs, I love how you can manipulate the balance and feel the front end going away. On slicks with stock settings, the balance goes away in a split second and if you can’t catch it at the first twitch, it’s gone. Other than on slicks, it’s by far my favorite car in the new update. Whether it’s a sleeper or not, I don’t know, but it’s possibly the most useful car in the game now. Just so many races you can use it in. It’s definitely a winner in my book though!
 
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911 GT3 (996) 2001 (N400)

I've never been a huge fan of Porsche in real life but ever since I started playing GTS Porsche has become one of my most used cars in the game.

The most recent update brought us two more Porsche's to drive in GTS and both fall into the N-400 class the 996 & 997. There is a big difference between the two in HP so the question I asked myself for this test was. Is there any reason to take the less powerful 996 over the 997..?

The 996 has more of that Classic Porsche look and feel to it that people have come to love over the decade's. On top of its great looks it's also a great handling car that simply can make racing on very twisty tracks a breeze. It's quick, nimble and very agile and that makes It a very fun car to drive.
When entering the GT league the 996 takes on the Beginner & Amateur events with ease but once you step up to the professional events it really struggles to be competitive. It's lack of HP starts to show and the harder you push the 996 the more unstable it becomes making it very difficult to keep it in a straight line.

Putting the 997 through the same test revealed to me it's just better all around car as it can beat all the events it's eligible for in the Premium Sport Lounge. Although not easy but it can be done and that's Impressive for a stock N-400 car competing in N-1000 events. Even on those Stock Sport Hard Tires the 997 stays planted like a rock.


My conclusion.

The 996 really is a great car all the way around from it's handling to it's sound the 996 is not a disappointing car to drive at all.
But at the same time I find it really has no racing appeal over the 997.
Our online race night really reveled that it was very easy to make a mistake by pushing the 996 just a tad to hard. I really expected the 996 to be more planted on the race track.
So I have Two great Porsche's sitting in the same class and one is capable of winning the Premium Sport Lounge events and stays more planted to the racing surface while the other one struggles to make a Podium finish in the same events and can be a handful to drive at times.

The 996 is not a Beater or a Sleeper and if it didn't have a another Porsche sitting in the same class It would probably get more attention. Maybe I will try dropping the power down to N-300 status and see what happens because it's not the best Porsche in the N-400 class as that title goes to the 997 and in the N-500 class that title goes to the Porsche 991.

I'm going Neutral on this one because it simply can't hold its own against the other two Porsche's.
 
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Livery by LICENCE_IV
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I've long viewed the 911 like an iPhone: an inferior product that people pay exorbitant amounts of money for because they're obsessed with a logo. So I greeted the news of two more gussied up Beetles being added to the game with a roll of the eyes and a mutter of, "Well, there's two cars I'll never have to worry about being seen in."

Ah, the joys of Car of the Week sometimes.

To be fair, this generation of the 911 handles fine. Sort of like countries that try out Communism, Porsche took a terrible idea in having the engine dangle 20 feet out the back and ardently stuck with it. Unlike the former though, Porsche actually found a way to make it work halfway decently. The "death by snap-oversteer" moment I anticipated every corner never materialized. The only glaring issue I found was in the transmission. Shifting from first to second gear always caused a few seconds of lag before any revs started to build.

Overall though, I never found the supposed "Nirvana" that 911 pundits claim exists while piloting this car. No matter how well it took a corner, there was no smile to be found on my face.

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Stepping out of the 911 into the Ford GT40 during Tuesday night's races changed that quickly. It wasn't even the fact that it was significantly faster than the 911. It was the sharp styling and the thunderous V-8 symphony of the GT40 that truly put the bulbous 911 and its flat-six "out of tune blender" engine noise to shame. Quite simply, I don't see myself ever coming back to the 911, which in turn makes it a Beater for me.
 
I'm a Porsche type of guy since I grew up with my dad owning couple different 911's and a couple of 944s through out the years. I was glad to finally have Porsches in Gran Tursimo and so after winning the 911 GT3 996 in a daily prize wheel I figured to test this car out in COTW. It's a great starter 911 GT3 as it's pretty predictable and easy to correct if the rear lets go on you. The racing last Tuesday was pretty good all around as there were some close battles. In the end though I enjoyed the 911 GT3 996 but it has more of a neutral standing for me. I think this car would make for a great one make Porsche series.

As for Week 6 of COTW, @TonyJZX is the winner for this week and he choose the first Nissan Z car to appear in GTS.

So lets welcome to the ring the Nissan 300ZX.
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The Z32 is great! Handling is somewhat clumsy in a charming way and one has to admire the design for being so bold. The deep rumble coming from the engine completes it. The 350Z may be better in many ways, but it doesn't speak to my soul like the 300ZX.
 

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Fairlady Z 300ZX TwinTurbo 2seater (Z32) 1989 (N300)

It's about time we finally get our first Nissan road car without the letters GTR attached to it and they couldn't have chosen a better one in my opinion.
This is also our first car from GT6 since COTW has resumed on GTS.

I'm a huge fan of this car and all the things that make the 300ZX special to me are probably the first things most people can't wait to tune out of it. It's sole.
Its a heavy car with a Soft Suspension, Weight Transfer, Body Roll and Turbo Lag and PD did a very good job of replicating all that into this car. Its also got some power and even though its under 300hp once those Twin Turbos spool up its sure doesn't feel like it. Driving it stock can be a challenge sometimes but once you get a feel for all it's characteristics it becomes a car like no other and very rewarding.

It will hold it's own in all the GT league events from Beginner to Amateur but doesn't run away from the field in every event so some are really fun in this car.

In the right hands this car can be a great weapon in it's stock configuration and it's the true definition of a Sleeper.

Here is my GT6 review on the 300zx.

Rinsky
View attachment 691570

1989 Nissan 300ZX TwinTurbo

This is actually one of my top 5 favorite cars in the game because it was one of my favorite cars growing up. It took me a long time to create a tune for this car to get it a top 6 car in online racing. So this was my first time driving it completely stock and it's really a great car once you get the hang of it. Because of this group I'm getting to learn how to drive every car in an completely different way.
I picked this car because I knew it wasn't an easy one to drive at first and I really wanted to hear everyone's opinions.

Thoughts:

Suspension & Handling:
The stock suspension absorbs bumps and curbs very well as you can easily throw one side of the car up on a curb without upsetting the balance or stability but just watch putting that power down on a curb or you'll be facing the opposite way.
Because the car already sits low body roll shouldn't be a major problem right? Wrong. Weighting in at over 1500kg what little body roll it does have really effects weight transfer. Over drive the car into a corner or go to fast thru a chicane and you will quickly find it in an uncontrollable slide. Once you get the feeling for its weight transfer you can start pushing it to the limit and that limit will also allow you to stay off the brakes more offen as it scrubs off just enough speed for quick switchbacks. You will find oversteer with TC off and understeer with TC on. If your someone who likes using TC then TC 4 seems to be the magic number to stop most of the wheel spin under full throttle.

Transmission:
Unlike last week's car Using an Automatic transmission in the 300ZX is not a problem as its always in the right gear and will supply enough torque to easily roast the rubber off those rear tires. At no point does it bog down or struggle for power uphill.

Power:
There is plenty of power on tap making those Rear Comfort Soft Tires scream for every inch of their life. It's so easy to smoke the tires off this thing. It takes alot of practice and finesse to keep from losing grip. The 300ZX TwinTurbo is very sensitive to power upgrades so just by doing a simple oil change will effect the power in a negative way on shorter tracks causing more wheel spin and more of a slide in weight transfer but you can still post very quick and competitive lap time if you work on it.

Brakes:
The brake system is really not that good considering the power and weight of the 300ZX. You can easily push them past their limit resulting in overcooking the front tire, so scrubbing off speed early is a must or it will just lose all grip under heavy late braking. Like I mentioned above you can stay off the brakes thru the faster sections while trying to control the weight transfer, it's just the right amount of balance. Get the first part wrong and brakes won't help you. Again brake early on sharp to hairpin corners the let the cars momentum carry it through the turn before stepping down on the throttle.

Verdict:

With 300ZX and TwinTurbo in its name I don't think anyone would assume Beater or Sleeper at first glance. Actually the complete opposite would come to mind. But this is not a car that delivers instant gratification on the first few laps like others in its class. This car makes you take the time to learn its Behavior. To me this is a driver's car and takes some finesse to go fast, get it right and your rewarded with a fast fun car to drive, get it wrong and she will bite you big time. So in the right hands its definitely a SLEEPER.

Tuning:
This car is very sensitive to power upgrades & tuning adjustments and it's not an easy car to get the balance of both just right. Having over 2500 miles logged on the 300ZX I've spent some hours behind the wheel. While most of that is from test and tuning, racing olny about 300 miles was for our COTW.
I have 3 different setups for this car and one is posted here at GTP the other two are not.
I have a 450pp & 500pp on race soft tires. If anyone from the group would like to try them. Just send me a PM and I will share them with you. Remember tho I'm a pad user.
Click to expand...
 
The base z32 is almost undriveable stock given that it has reasonable power... say 340hp N300 on a 1,460kg frame but its nose heavy.

It does want some weight reduction to make it more competitive... power it doesnt need more of.

Of course its out of its league compared to the hotly contested N300-500 class so I feel like you drive this because you want a challenge.

I do like this car... I like it in real life. I feel like its a great looking and driving car for 1989 and even a simple NA 220hp 5 spd 2+2 coupe seems like a great combo in 2018.

At $39,000 just buy it. In real life I hanker for these old rwd Japanese cars that often lack even ABS.
 
Nissan Fairlady Z 300ZX TT 2seater '89
2,960 cc
276 hp / 6,200 rpm
286.4 ft-lbs / 3,600 rpm
3,329 lbs

Suzuka East
0:59.592

Compare with:

0:58.737 - Toyota Supra RZ
0:59.546 - Honda Civic Type R (FK2)
0:59.897 - Toyota MR2 GT-S
1:00.292 - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.IV GSR
1:00.417 - Toyota Supra 3.0GT Turbo A

Tsukuba
1:06.427

Compare with:

1:05.237 - Toyota Supra RZ
1:05.628 - Honda Civic Type R (FK2)
1:06.373 - Toyota MR2 GT-S
1:06.617 - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.IV GSR
1:07.896 - Toyota Supra 3.0GT Turbo A

On both tracks, 300ZX and MR2 battle it out. MR2 loses at Suzuka by 3 tenths, but fights back at Tsukuba, just barely edging out the 300ZX. The Nissan easily destroys the Supra 3.0GT Turbo A and even ties the Civic Type R, at least at Suzuka.

Great car. More suitable for daily driving than the MR2, but maybe not quite as fun to drive.
 
The 996 GT3 needs to be a bit more RUF around the edges...

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When I heard we were going to spotlight this particular Porsche, I was like yes!!!... till I drove it. No, it's not a Beater by any means, but it's no Sleeper either. But it is a Porsche, and worthy of respect. And respect you need, as it will surprise you in a bad way if you manage to underestimate her.

Although I managed to miss the racing last week (again), I did put the 996 GT3 through it's paces in the Campaign mode of the game. It is capable of winning races against the AI of course, but that's nothing to brag about really. But driving her around the gorgeous scenery of GTSport just made me appreciate the one 996 I do miss even more...

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The RUF RGT. Another "spirited" ride that demands respect. The first generation RGT was 996 based, until they upgraded it to the 997 chassis. In GT6 my RGT had quite a few chances to be brought out of the stable. I'm not so sure of the Porsche version though. But time will tell that story...

I'm going Neutral status for this Porsche.

Cheers
 
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I have driven many porsche.s in real life. They suck. They either push like crazy on the brakes or oversteer like anything. They are pretty, but as a car they are just a beetle. Always make me laugh when a certain group of people buy them. They were commissioned by hitler. I like to look at them, but driving them is not great.

edit: my not so close to stock mustang, but pretty close....I ran it against an 880 hp porsche, granted it was on the button, but it took till a little over 100mph to get past mine.. My friends business owner that built that car was amazed the slow times at the drag strip with a dyno.d motor with that hp. I should of just let off at about 90mph. :) dumb young kid syndrome I guess.
 
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Brilliant racing most of the night. I'm sorry about dropping out of a few of the races. Once I start spinning out, I lose focus and just lose horribly.

Highlight of the night has to be the intense three-way battle between @Baron Blitz Red, G_ASHER and I at Tsukuba and BBR and I swinging at each other for half a race (kind of) with his 300ZX vs my RX500.

So 300ZX. It's...not looking good. It was never meant as a sports car, but more of a GT car if memory serves me right. It had less grip than the featherlight RX500 and worse handling than the NSX and likely half of its peers in the class. The only nice thing about it is that it can hit 176 MPH on a long enough straight.

Ob declares this car a beater.

And yes, I will be recording the Tsukuba replay and sharing it with this thread (maybe tomorrow (thu) or friday). I think I had the best livery.
 
Obelisk
Brilliant racing most of the night. I'm sorry about dropping out of a few of the races. Once I start spinning out, I lose focus and just lose horribly.

Highlight of the night has to be the intense three-way battle between @Baron Blitz Red, G_ASHER and I at Tsukuba and BBR and I swinging at each other for half a race (kind of) with his 300ZX vs my RX500.

So 300ZX. It's...not looking good. It was never meant as a sports car, but more of a GT car if memory serves me right. It had less grip than the featherlight RX500 and worse handling than the NSX and likely half of its peers in the class. The only nice thing about it is that it can hit 176 MPH on a long enough straight.

Ob declares this car a beater.

And yes, I will be recording the Tsukuba replay and sharing it with this thread (maybe tomorrow (thu) or friday). I think I had the best livery.
Click to expand...


share the livery please. I was trying to find a good one for the rx500 and did not really find anything, so I just painted mine and put some wheels on it. Still really ugly, but worked okay in the offline series.

edit; kinda reminds me of the europa.

edit 2: been trying to find one the 300zx also.
 
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The red white and blue 1 would be awesome. I cannot find it. I remember that car. dmn im old.

edit: i used to race imsa and remember those cars. thats the one I was looking for.

edit2: found it. got a decent rx500 also.
 
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What a great night of racing 👍

Obelisk
Highlight of the night has to be the intense three-way battle between @Baron Blitz Red, G_ASHER and I at Tsukuba and BBR and I swinging at each other for half a race (kind of) with his 300ZX vs my RX500.

And yes, I will be recording the Tsukuba replay and sharing it with this thread (maybe tomorrow (thu) or friday). I think I had the best livery.
Click to expand...

Thanks for putting that replay up. Tsukuba was a great race and I was surprised to nab the win, especially from @Baron Blitz Red and you. Don't forget @Racer283, he was right there too. A couple hundred miles of practice in the 300ZX plus thousands of laps at Tsukuba in GT6 improved my chances.

The rest of the night went well, lots of close racing, and really happy all of you showed up. And thanks again @Racer283. I was getting bored with GTSport since the dailies went weekly. I'm now enthused with it again.

As for the car. I think it's a whole lot of fun. It likes to be thrown around, and it seems to be faster when it's on the brink of being out of control. The powerslides and wheelspin that comes with soft suspension and SH tires only adds to the fun for me. That being said..... @Obelisk obliterated all with an RX-500 (although BBR put up a grand fight), and @JackRyanWMU's performance in an NSX showed they are both a whole lot better than the Z. Kudos to Jack, I think the NSX is a real handful out of the box.

My verdict is beater. #becauseMazdabecauseHonda
 
Glad I can keep this going on GTS. For a while it was really up in the air whether it was going to continue or not on GTS but I figured i would give it a shot and take over. Hopefully someday soon @Nismonath5 and @Vic Reign93 can join us in the fun. In the next couple of days I should have my replays up.

Also let me know if there is anyway I can make COTW better, I'm open for suggestions.
 
Hey hey, people!

First off, thank you @Racer283 for getting this all started up and going, it's awesome to see most of the crew from GT6 back racing each other in GTS, and keeping the club going... Brad would be chuffed!

Speaking of @McClarenDesign, he seems to have gone MIA. Last I heard from him was a few weeks after LeMons, when i got his postal address to send him his race license. After that... nothing.

A bit of good news too, some of you from the GT6 days may recall a reason i was uncertain about spearheading the GTS COTW (aside from of course not having a PS4 but more on that in a sec), was the fact that after high school, you need to find some work and you can't exactly say to your boss "Hey can I get Wednesday afternoons off cos I need to play videogames with my mates." Well, I'm juggling two part time jobs at the moment, but neither of them are on Wednesdays. :D so I should be able to join you guys!!

Which brings me to my last point for this message, which is when I'll be getting a ps4. Well, I'm still a bit away as I've had to be smart with my coin, with things like a car and life expenses now coming into play, but the saving is steady. I am accepting donations :lol:

So, uh, yeah, you're pretty much all up to speed on that part of my life. Really good to see you all, it does the heart good seeing the club back alive and pumping! I'll be following this thread very closely and I'm sure @Vic Reign93 will too. :sly:
 
Infineon
I had a blast in this week's COTW race. All great close races except the last race, @Racer283 left me and @Draggon in the dust. Great win!
Car handles great. My only complaint is the ground clearance. At Monza, while driving thru a turn (right after 2nd chicane) I ran over a cone and the car went airborne in the sand trap. Iv had several cars jump a little, but this was a first for me LoL. Car has my Sleeper vote.

livery created by freakinwolfie
View attachment 769136
Click to expand...
That livery is insane. It should come with an epilepsy warning.
 
First I want to say good to hear from you @Nismonath5. Hope to see you soon on the track, but life comes first.

Now for my review of COTW Nissan Fairlady Z 300ZX. I tested the car out at J-Sports Meeting in GT League. I still love driving this car in GTS as much as I did in GT6. But the car needs a little more grip to keep from spinning out in tight turns. I needed to turn TC on 2 to resolve my issue with that using the stock SH tires. With SS tires, it handles the turns perfectly for me with TC turned off. I was able to win all races in the event except at Fuji (2nd place). The R34 GTR was the car to beat in all races, staying close in my rear view mirror all the time, but it out powered me on the long straights. But the GTR has 60 more horsepower and doesn't weigh that much more.
My verdict: SLEEPER

PS_Messages_20181011_100631.jpg
 
Hey there @Nismonath5 , great to see you over here, stranger! I'm looking forward to when you get your PS4 and join in the fun. It's surprising ( to me, anyway ) how much it feels just like what COTW was in GT6. A great (little) family we have here.

I'm hoping we can pick up some new guys to join us on a regular basis, too.

I suggested a "Nismo's GTSport" go fund me page :lol::lol: Seems no one started it for you, or you'd be here by now!
 
Playing with TT's (Twin Turbos) Nissan 300ZX Edition!!!

Qalhhfu.jpg


We had some great racing this week, and I was lucky enough to be there!!! This just showcases the fact that the COTW crew has a diverse field where anybody has a chance of winning... which makes it even better!!! Always has been, always will be! Some examples...





Well, for the first time I'm going to use part of someone's own review to illustrate my thinking...

Draggon
What a great night of racing 👍

As for the car. I think it's a whole lot of fun. It likes to be thrown around, and it seems to be faster when it's on the brink of being out of control. The powerslides and wheelspin that comes with soft suspension and SH tires only adds to the fun for me.
Click to expand...

This is exactly why it's NOT a Beater... it's just way too much fun for that. That's why I'm giving it a Neutral status.

Cheers
 

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