Car of the Week 228: COTY GTS Finale

[Racer283]

The names Martin, Aston Martin!

This car has the number plate of the world famous code name for James Bond. This car was officially introduced into the game at the recent FIA Gran Turismo World Tour Event in Sydney, Australia and pretty well known in the racing community. Please welcome this weeks car the Aston Martin DBR9 GT1. This weeks car is chosen by @Baron Blitz Red.

 

[LotusEvoraGTE]

I've been looking forward to the DBR9 since I first saw it on-screen, in-person at the Sydney World Tour weeks ago. Now that it's here, I've been spending the past week driving it and I can safely say it's time well spent.

With BoP enabled and Racing Hard tires, I got a 1:48.288 with the DBR9 at the stomping grounds I call Autopolis; shockingly enough I managed to get around the track with it about 4-5 tenths of a second faster than the V12 Vantage GT3 (which scored a 1:48.732 as well with BoP and RH tires). What I can say is that compared to the Vantage GT3, where it lacks in cornering and handling due to its inferior aerodynamics and its age (it is 10-12 years old, after all!), it makes up for with raw power. I've also given it a shot in the actual FIA component of Sport Mode too (albeit in B/S ratings); I waited until the update dropped to run with Aston Martin for the Manufactuer's Pre-Season and actually ended up in the top half of the grid in 7th place at Tokyo South Outer Loop a couple of nights ago! And just recently I ended up in third at the Nations Cup in Catalunya against a lineup comprised mostly of modern machinery.

Shockingly this thing seems to be really capable in my own hands, even against GT3 race cars of the late 2010's. I can safely crown the Aston Martin DBR9 with a Sleeper rating since it's proof that maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.

To accompany this review, here's a picture from the alternate timeline where Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull Racing for Ravenwest Motorsport.

 

[FullhouseGame]

Apologies about no review last week, I haven’t really had time to fire up the game. Been super busy lately. Hopefully I can make it to tonight’s racing, but I don’t think it’s likely.

 

[Nismonath5]

I'm edging closer and closer to the big reveal. Just waiting for the green light to announce what I've been up to, and boom I'll be able to tell you all.
Anyways, I thought I'd post some quickfire reviews of the cars I've missed lately.

Citroen DS3 - A cute, non-threatening little hot hatch that is quirky and fun but not overly heroic. Dirt cheap, beginner friendly, quick off the mark, and easy to drive while remaining competitive to race against in the lower N class races. I reckon we got a sleeper on our hands!

Lambo GT3 Huracan - Certainly not my first pick in the GT3 class, visually stunning as most Lamborghinis are, but the MR drivetrain makes it a bit moody around corners. Not a fan of tighter, twistier corners, and will bite your head off if you attempt any overly ambitious maneuvers in it. Best to treat it with respect, and drive with care. Neutral for me.

Also, some videos!!



Looking forward to tonight with the DBR9. I played Shift 2 Unleashed, I like my GT1 cars!!

 

[90sEnthusiast]

Hello everyone, I hope you all are well. I had some serious issues I had to take care of and I apologize for just disapearing like I did, and I'm sorry to my team.

I feel better and am looking forwards to more COTW and the challenges.

Cheers to everyone here

 

[Nismonath5]

Hello everyone, I hope you all are well. I had some serious issues I had to take care of and I apologize for just disapearing like I did, and I'm sorry to my team.

I feel better and am looking forwards to more COTW and the challenges.

Cheers to everyone here

No worries bud, hope all is well with you and yours!

 

[90sEnthusiast]

No worries bud, hope all is well with you and yours!

Thank you I really appreciate you! I also appreciate everyone on this forum.

Shout out to my boy @Alex p. and @FullhouseGame (your reviews are immaculate!) and everyone else!
____________________________________

Aston Martin DBR9 GT1

The Gr.3 class is pretty competitive, and there's plenty of good choices. As you can see, I tried my hand with some livery on this car, although I love it's original livery - sans the wing which I loathe but understand why it's there obviously. Looks wise, the DBR9 stands out among it's competitors with a very handsome and sleek body per Aston Martin's usual style.

I took the car to my usual test spot, Sardegna Road Track C. As always, I turned off TC and all that. I was able to run a 0:58.513 while still not driving all that well. Any car that runs this track under a minute is impressive, and with a better driver I could see it running 0:50 possibly.

The DBR9 GT1 has some traits that make it stand out, and acceleration is one of them. First gear is wheelspin city,but when it connects...the pull is seamless all the way to top speed. Which brings me to one of it's downsides - it hits a wall at 186mph. Many other Gr.3 cars hit 200mph, so this car isn't a great choice for certain tracks.

Handling is impressive for a heavier car. It turns rapidly, and will bite you in the ass if you push it in corners. This isnt a difficult car to drive, but I feel a really good player could get the best out of it. Braking is awesome. Stops extremely quickly allowing for easy transitioning in corners as long as you know what you're doing.

All in all, I feel like this car is perfect for certain tracks, and a fail on others. Long straights show it's top speed weakness. However, on most tracks in the game, this car is capable of dominating.

Therefore, I give this car a Neutral + rating. The + is because I feel it's a bit better than neutral, but not a sleeper.

 

[Nismonath5]

The Car That Brought Back Memories!!!!
But not Gran Turismo ones...

Ah, the GT1 class. It was such an awesome and promising group, the latest and greatest super cars dogging it out against each other on some of the world's greatest tracks. The Lamborghini Murcielago, C6 Corvette, Audi R8 LMS, to name but a few. While the GT3 machines of today are no less thrilling, I really loved the GT1 days. Mostly because of NFS Shift 2 Unleashed.

So you can imagine my surprise when I heard that the Aston Martin DBR9 GT1, arguably one of the most popular of the GT1 cars, and for good reason, was being added to GT Sport! I enjoyed watching it in action in Sydney (Si Bishop, the only Kiwi in the Nations Cup, donning the above livery), where it looked like a bit of a challenge to drive, but certainly a bit of fun! I looked forward to being able to try it for myself!

The most obvious thing about this car is that it's in a totally different class. Literally. While it finds itself accompanied by the rest of the Gr.3 lineup, being a GT1 car it's very different to drive. Most notably, it's got much less aero at speed. You only have to look at it to notice the lack of canards, ducts and other aero bits and bobs, and right off the bat you can tell it's a bit lazier on the turn-in. It's got plenty of grunt, and it does have the upper hand on the straights, but cornering requires that much more care and room. It's worth noting I haven't used the DBR9 in an "official" race yet, so I dunno how competitive it is there. BoP might nerf it.

Visually, it's stunning. This is one of my new favorite cars to get creative with and make liveries, it's got a beautiful shape to it, like I said no excess of canards all over the place, just smooth, clean lines to work with. It's why I favour Gr.4 over Gr.3 for livery creation. It's an attractive car!!

As far as actually racing it, I found it pretty hard to use myself on the Tuesday night, it was always fighting me and refusing to turn in as I wanted it, again thanks to less aero. but after a bit more practice I think we're on slightly nicer terms now. I'd like to think that it might be one to use at Daily Race B this week at Blue Moon Bay. I guess we'll find out soon!

It's neutral for me, edging on the side of enjoying it.

 

[bjl23]

The 3rd round of the CROSSOVER CUP finished earlier today and TEAM CHALLENGE HUB where victorious 4 - 1, in a role reversal form the last round.

 

[Racer283]

Next week will be an intervention week as we are going into the third week of race cars. This week we are taking a look at the Lexus Tom's Petronas SC430 '08. This weeks car is chosen by @MisterWaffles

 

[Alex p.]

Great looking car. No, this is not a review lol. Just wanted to share my opinion on the looks.

 

[90sEnthusiast]

Great looking car. No, this is not a review lol. Just wanted to share my opinion on the looks.

I remember when the road car debuted - all the magazines said it looked like a watermelon seed.
My friend had one. Backseats were useless (worse than my '96 3000GT VR-4), but the interior was stunning for the time.
Although it was very much a 'cruising car' in the same vein as the mid 2000s Ford Thunderbird, the Lexus SC430 had the grunt to back it up, and the engine sounded amazing.

Never knew they made a race version. I'm just mad that it costs $800k! I'm gonna have to do some grinding or I'll be left with only $120,000! I want it so bad lol.

 

[Alex p.]

I remember when the road car debuted - all the magazines said it looked like a watermelon seed.
My friend had one. Backseats were useless (worse than my '96 3000GT VR-4), but the interior was stunning for the time.
Although it was very much a 'cruising car' in the same vein as the mid 2000s Ford Thunderbird, the Lexus SC430 had the grunt to back it up, and the engine sounded amazing.

Never knew they made a race version. I'm just mad that it costs $800k! I'm gonna have to do some grinding or I'll be left with only $120,000! I want it so bad lol.

Shame the street version isn't in the game.

 

[90sEnthusiast]

Shame the street version isn't in the game.

I wish it was there too, it'd be a great N300 car!

 

[Draggon]

Delete....the pics of my neighborhood donk SC430 aren't showing up.

 

[TonyJZX]

I dont own any of the 2008 cars never got any as DwGs and really there's no point in buying them as you cant even do a custom race with all the 2008 cars in a group.

I do own the 2016 Lexus and the 2016 Honda NSX Super GT cars as free DwG cars and they are a tad useful as league runners but otherwise...

I'm not sure PD have ever showcased just the 2008 series in sport or whatever.

 

[Nismonath5]

I'm not sure PD have ever showcased just the 2008 series in sport or whatever

I do recall a race a while back where the 2008 Nissan Super GT GTR was the one to pick, for some reason it dominated everything. But I agree, the Gr.2 class in general needs some more love

 

[RobboGTAddict]

Here is two videos of Tuesday's races. The two I won. I'll have more up later tonight.

 

[Draggon]

Here is two videos of Tuesday's races. The two I won. I'll have more up later tonight.

Great job holding up under pressure!

 

[90sEnthusiast]

I do recall a race a while back where the 2008 Nissan Super GT GTR was the one to pick, for some reason it dominated everything. But I agree, the Gr.2 class in general needs some more love

As much as Gr.1-4 aren't my thing, I agree. Out of all the Gr cars Gr.2 needs more cars; out of all the Gr cars I own Gr.2 has the least amount of cars - and possibly the least amount of cars in the game per category.

I really want to pick up this '08 SC430 Gr.2, but $800,000 is a lot and I hate grinding. I think I'll do 3-4 rounds of my grinding race and buy it.

It's funny to me, GTS is really all about racing whereas the past games had that feature but also let you use road cars a lot of the time. When I go online (which is rare) everyone wants to use Gr. cars. Personally, I love messing around with N200-N1000 - road cars have always been my favourite.

I'm really hoping GT7 has focus on racing so called 'Gr.' cars but also has a focus on road cars like previous GT titles. Part of the fun for me is the multiple versions of a platform (like the GTO MR, USDM 3000GT VR-4, etc).

 

[RobboGTAddict]

2 more from Tuesday. The Maggiore race was the race of the night.

 

[90sEnthusiast]

2 more from Tuesday. The Maggiore race was the race of the night.

Jesus, @Vic Reign93 is a beast to be reconed with! He's like a great white shark hunting down prey. Truly amazing to see.

I picked up the '08 SC430 Gr.2, I'll put up a review when I have time. I'll say this, I love how it looks but it's not my favourite car ever.

 

[FullhouseGame]

Well, bad news is that all school classes are cancelled in Canada for obvious reasons. Good news is, I’ll be free for more car reviews finally! I’ll have to grind a bit for the Aston and Lexus, but can’t wait to try them out. Hopefully you guys are all staying healthy!

 

[Nismonath5]

Here's a couple of vids I made!

Also, some of you ready to feel old?

This shot was taken in 2016!!!! 4 darn years ago!!! And yet it still captures the essence of COTW perfectly! It doesn't matter what we drive, we all still manage to battle closer than any FIA race could hope to be!

Trying to remember who's who in this shot, obviously that's my Evo X, has to be @Vic Reign93 in the RUF, then... @Draggon in the 12C? And the Gallardo, I think either @JackRyanWMU or @RobboGTAddict

 

[Racer283]

For intervention week, we will be testing another car that is classic in the tuning world. We will be testing the Nissan 180SX Type X '96. This weeks car is chosen by @90sEnthusiast

 

[Nismonath5]

I'm gonna see if I can't get my car to look like the Nissan 240SX I used to beat NFS Underground 2 single handed.... until I learned there were SUV events to do too

I can guarantee it won't be nearly as riced.

 

[05XR8]

For intervention week, we will be testing another car that is classic in the tuning world. We will be testing the Nissan 180SX Type X '96. This weeks car is chosen by @90sEnthusiast

Wish it looked like this stock.

 

[Draggon]

Also, some of you ready to feel old?

This shot was taken in 2016!!!! 4 darn years ago!!! And yet it still captures the essence of COTW perfectly! It doesn't matter what we drive, we all still manage to battle closer than any FIA race could hope to be!

Trying to remember who's who in this shot, obviously that's my Evo X, has to be @Vic Reign93 in the RUF, then... @Draggon in the 12C? And the Gallardo, I think either @JackRyanWMU or @RobboGTAddict

Yea that could have been me in the 12C. Frankly, I'm "too old" to remember I've been looking for some pics I have when we did a tribute to @skidsolo (?) at Laguna. I know that @Nismonath5 and @Vic Reign93 were there, and maybe @Baron Blitz Red or @Racer283?

 

[JackRyanWMU]

Yea that could have been me in the 12C. Frankly, I'm "too old" to remember I've been looking for some pics I have when we did a tribute to @skidsolo (?) at Laguna. I know that @Nismonath5 and @Vic Reign93 were there, and maybe @Baron Blitz Red or @Racer283?

Here you go:

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Haven't been active in GT Sport lately, but I'm still very much sim-racing. Got Sixth in my division my last iRacing season, this current season I'm doing the GT3 Sprint Series in the Mercedes AMG GT3.

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Edit: Taking my new ride around Baron's house.

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[Alex p.]

Gonna race with ya'll tomorrow!