Spot Race Challenge Discussion Thread!!

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Hey guys, do we have a date yet for the start of TcV5?

Not yet.......we're still working out the format aren't we?? :)

PF
Hey folks, am having problems (yet again) with the game disk. Whenever I exit a race or time trial the Red Wheel comes up and it's retart time, which makes it hard to compare. Also, I've not done the last Alfa and been able to save it before the RWOD appears. I'll get maybe an hour today to try it again, but may have to offer a shortened review of the Caldinas and hope I can keep a copy of the Alfa long enough to save it.

Those Caldinas have provoked a lot of 'spirited debate' in this house.

I'm curious to see how my factory Caldy goes against the fully tuned shoey example, he's going to get the lap time for sure on that one but I want the other categories to close the gap. :D
 
I'm curious to see how my factory Caldy goes against the fully tuned shoey example, he's going to get the lap time for sure on that one but I want the other categories to close the gap.


Mafs......IDK man, that tune reminds me of my TT. I think it will be closer than you think...... It's going to be a dogfight
 
Unbelievably the wave of Tuner Challenges promoted by the school of exclusivity continue. Once again GME takes on Shogun but this time instead they have traded 60's styling for wagons. Yep Wagons. For those of you who are still reading and actually somewhat excited by the concept of tuned wagons, lets get on with the tunes.

The Base Model
The wagon in question happens to be a little bit special. More people carrier then wagon, this is the Caldina GT-4 is based around a standard Avensis but body style is where the similarities end. The Caldina unlike the Avensis is all-wheel drive and based around a throaty little 2 liter engine know to it's friends as a 3S-GTE. The turbo charged engine was popular with the Celica GT-4's and MR-2's. The idea of a turbo charged people carrier is daft enough and likely to only sell and small numbers. These boys reckon they can find people who want to buy 400+ horsepower wagons. Whatever. I'm not in marketing, I'm a journalist to if we may continue....

The GME Caldina.
I've picked the GME Caldina as first of all its in a more aesthetically pleasing Orange which I prefer and secondly because without a rear wing it may be the underdog in this challenge. As stated this car as 407 horsepower running through a custom transmission and two custom differentials. GME have fitted a center differential controller as well, but it has been taped down to avoid me playing with it. On the track and understandably from both a all wheel drive car and a gigantic “wagon” it's rather resistant on turn in. In lower speed corner's though when you drop the car back to first gear the size of that turbocharger become pretty obvious, there just isn't enough pull out of first gear at lower rpm. What the GME does do though is make you forget that your driving a wagon. I was ripping around Capri semi-consciously and I forgot that I was driving some big Japanese wagon and not in fact a sports car at all. It is genuinely a sport wagon. The GME Caldina feels planted when going round the track and the centre diff controller is set for rear bias though it's not exactly noticeable. Nice to see once again that Toyota is taking the fight to Nissan with the Stagea, if not from a third party like GME.

Shogun Style.

Now onto the Shogun Caldina. It produced the same power as the GME model, has it's own custom gearbox and differentials and has been tuned differently as well. Now the tuner claims that he felt that this was in the same league as the Audi TT that he also built. Now I cannot begin to describe how good the TT was to drive, especially as it was all wheel drive. All I can say was it was the best four wheel drive car I had ever driven. If this car turns out to be as good as that TT, GME could be in trouble. So is it as good as the legendary TT. No, not by a long shot I'm afraid. It's a bit of a hand full to start off with and you can't shake the feeling that what your doing with the wheel actually translates to purposeful movement at the front wheels and in that regard it's a little disappointing. The centre diff is set for a 35/65 split which is always less then idea for spirited driving compared with a conventional rear drive sports car or wagon. On the upside the Shogun Caldina is easy to get off the line if not for a little bit of wheelspin and the short gearing means that it accelerates rather quickly for what is essentially a block.

So which is best.

There's nothing much to pull these car apart from on the specification sheet, either car wouldn't budge in a game of top trumps. Both have extracted large amounts of power out of the 3S engine, over 200hp per liter in fact and beside a rear wing on the Shogun Caldina it's hard to know where the similarities end and the differences start. So lets depart once again for the drag strip.

The Shogun Caldina likes to spin it's wheels off the line before it really gets into it's own stride. Wheelspin was not something I was expecting in a all wheel drive vehicle. Wheelspin is favorable to the GME Caldina however as it simply bogs down off the line, more like your standard all wheel drive vehicle but as a result the GME car won't get off the line properly without a fight or at least without proper training anyway. In contrast Shogun blitzes the GME model in all the straight line tests. When the GME Caldina catches up though it will sail past the Shogun model because it's top speed is only 257 km/h, the GME model hits 284 km/h.

timesforcaldina.jpg


Out on the track however and I'm afraid the Caldina by GME design has the last laugh again. The GME model is incredibly balanced and very well composed that initially I took advantage of it. Everything about the GME Caldina is a joy. As I said earlier the GME Caldina is so car like that you literally forget that your driving a wagon. In stark contrast to the Shogun model. The Shogun is setup with more understeer where the car doesn't respond to your inputs in quite the way that you where expecting. A lot of the driving done in the Shogun model is with your eyes wide open and your head in the game. That brings us onto consistency. The GME Caldina has something that I like to refer to as natural rhythm. Natural rhythm is what I liken to a Nissan Skyline. The Skyline is hard to get used to but after a few laps you bring out the cars natural rhythm and then it will repeatedly lap good consistant laps. The GME Caldina has this rhythm in spades and unlike the Skyline anyone can get in the Caldina and drive it quickly.

With that said and done lets look at the results.

GME Caldina
Comfort :25
Attitude AND Prowess: 23
Power-to-improvement : 7
Perceived Improvement: 10
It may be as good as it can be and maybe it can be improved but it's too close to call.
Total: 65

Shogun Caldina
Comfort :18
It's quicker then the GME Caldina but you can do it once.
Attitude AND Prowess: 18
Understeer
Power-to-improvement : 7
Perceived Improvement: 7

Total: 50 +5 for quickest lap.

Laptimes @Twin Ring Motegi East Section.
Shogun: 1:29
GME 1:30
 
Wow, those stats are quite interesting. I got beaten by 1/2sec on the 1/4 but then turn it into a 3 second advantage by the 1000m mark. :eek: That's just amazing, being 3.5 seconds faster over the latter 600m. I'm chuffed at that, but annoyed at my 1/4 performance.....the WRC Caldina may get a gearbox overhaul at it's expense.

I'll add the scores in a bit too, my son wants to play Thomas The Tank Engine on the computer right now. :P
 
Wow, those stats are quite interesting. I got beaten by 1/2sec on the 1/4 but then turn it into a 3 second advantage by the 1000m mark. :eek: That's just amazing, being 3.5 seconds faster over the latter 600m. I'm chuffed at that, but annoyed at my 1/4 performance.....the WRC Caldina may get a gearbox overhaul at it's expense.

I'll add the scores in a bit too, my son wants to play Thomas The Tank Engine on the computer right now. :P

Sorry but my excel spread sheet is crap to be honest. Those times for the 1000M are wrong. Hold on for a moment and I'll upload some raw data. But for the drag strip I would recommend a second look at the Caldina's gearbox as it seems impossible to launch it without it blogging down.

edit: Have some raw Caldina
raawcladina-1.jpg
 
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Caldina scores

Base Model

Okay folks, truly, this car is crap. You should both feel ashamed for choosing this out of the 700+ cars in the game. The Shoman tune looks like a Matchbox car for a chartered accountant and the GME tune (mine is orange) looks like someone has slipped over in duck crap. I’m now proud of the fact I’d never heard of it before you cretins made me buy two of them.

GME Vol I:
We absolutely hated this car. We were perhaps less patient and considerate after a ton of MDMA, but the understeer this build gave us was so unforgivable that it was thrown within two laps.


GME Vol II:
Suddenly we understood how to make the car work, and were just smashing the previous times (that we’d remembered to put down). However, this seems to me to be an utterly boring drive. To prance around with coasting etc to that degree I’d want 600+hp of Merc to make it worthwhile. To match the 2:04 at GVS as claimed would take far more effort than I’m willing to put in to such a …I dunno. I enjoy accelerating out of corners, mafs, but don’t think I should have to consider every step of the operation for such a profoundly average car.

There is a good chance that the VCD setting of 10 confused our ratings but after 20+ laps it was 50/50 joy/hate. The VCD means it acts largely like an FF car, which is one of mafs’ specialties, but it does not mean we should like it. Mr Lawrence and I, admittedly crap drivers, gave it a poor score due to unreliability.


STILL GOING, HOPE TO DO ONE MORE EDIT BEFORE I LEAVE
 
PF, The VCD is rear biased, only on 10, which is 90% to the rear. I dunno how you've got it going like an FF so far but keep going, I await the full results.

Camryfan, I usually go for a 6500-7000rpm launch to get the 1/4 mile times I set down (and none are claimed, I'm going to start videoing each one to back up what I say). But I'm in agreement, I'll look at it's gearing again in the near future.

It's something I did with the Celica GT-Two way back in the VTC, fixing it as I went along, but not something I like to do for GME, as I try to make sure everything's perfect before I release something to you guys. :)
 
PF, The VCD is rear biased, only on 10, which is 90% to the rear. I dunno how you've got it going like an FF so far but keep going, I await the full results.

Camryfan, I usually go for a 6500-7000rpm launch to get the 1/4 mile times I set down (and none are claimed, I'm going to start videoing each one to back up what I say). But I'm in agreement, I'll look at it's gearing again in the near future.

It's something I did with the Celica GT-Two way back in the VTC, fixing it as I went along, but not something I like to do for GME, as I try to make sure everything's perfect before I release something to you guys. :)

I believe your times. You've just spent more time at the strip then me so your techniques would be stronger than mine.
 
PF, The VCD is rear biased

Thanks mate, I rarely use the VCD so that clears a lot up. For some reason I've always assumed VCD:10=front, so now it all makes much more sense.This now begs the question of the understeer, however, which I had previously attributed to the front bias.

I think that the main problem with both cars is neutralising underteer. Honestly, I think you've both failed on this. Will update later.
 
I'm looking forward to your next installment PF. More interested to see how much our opinions differ regarding these to wagons.
 
I think alittle bit more tuning is in order, Or maybe it driving styles. I will make this car like my TT. Great write up there Camryfan.

WOW Mafs, I beat you in the 1/4 times? I think more of these are in order to make us tuners step up there game! I think this isn't helping my come back lol
 
I believe your times. You've just spent more time at the strip then me so your techniques would be stronger than mine.

That's one side (but others are quicker), and there's a little thing with the 'phantom' clutch I've discovered for non-TCS runs which is helping a lot of my takeoffs at LV now. What this means is when I'm taking off, I'm applying throttle but not enough to make the clutch fully engage in first, sort of slipping it to a degree...but since there's no driveline breakages in the game, I'm utilising it a lot more for GME.

Sho'ey, I'm not surprised your car was quicker on the 1/4. It's setup for circuit not drag and remember, it's a soccer mum car so it has to be adaptable for them to cruise around, but as I said to CamryFan due to your Caldy's comprehensive asswhipping of my Caldy over the first 1000m I'm doing to look at the 'box again. I'm trying to conserve that Top Speed though, because 280'ish km/h (around 175mph) was the rough limit I was looking for in it's top end. Even Camryfan's time of your car was quicker than what I put down for my car on the spec sheet. :embarrassed:

I'm going to add the points into that post again, update our scores ya know. ;)
 
I'm looking over mine tune...... I think I was out to lunch when this tune was made lol. Holy crap this thing sucks! I know it has more than this in it. I wonder what other tunes run like crap in this place. I will be looking at other tunes also.
 
Mine's only 10pts. off perfect in Camryfan's eyes, and it's only a factory model, but since the public wants a quicker product I will provide said product. :cool:

To tell you the truth, none of mine run crap, just some are more perfect to the driver than others. ;) Case in point for you that some are more perfect, look at your Audi TT. I considered that your best car yet....driving perfection, so much so I was thinking of stealing the settings and pushing the performance envelope of that car, it had so much more to give in the chassis. :D:tup:
 
Mine's only 10pts. off perfect in Camryfan's eyes, and it's only a factory model, but since the public wants a quicker product I will provide said product. :cool:

To tell you the truth, none of mine run crap, just some are more perfect to the driver than others. ;) Case in point for you that some are more perfect, look at your Audi TT. I considered that your best car yet....driving perfection, so much so I was thinking of stealing the settings and pushing the performance envelope of that car, it had so much more to give in the chassis. :D:tup:


Go for it, I wonder what it would be like?:nervous: Yes I wanted to do the same! :) I think I need to step it up even more, I think my tuning is getting better; I agree with you there( TT that is), as I was trying to bring it to this car. I don't think all of my tunes are crap, I think I need to Fine tune them more.

Oh and I found it spring rates were off, I won't let it come in to this comp and ask for redo, I'm happy.
 
Go for it, I wonder what it would be like?:nervous:
Depends on how I drive, but I'm thinking 400hp+ wasn't out of the question and aiming for 11s, 1.58's at GVS & 7.20's at 'Ring and go from there.

Oh and I found it spring rates were off, I won't let it come in to this comp and ask for redo, I'm happy.

???? We have almost the exact same spring rates, so I don't think it's that.....I'm thinking your rear dampers are too hard, that's where the biggest change is between our cars.
 
Wow, I come back to see that my Alfa is in a competition with Mafia boy's Alfa. That was a big surprise.

Good reviews guys keep em up
 
Depends on how I drive, but I'm thinking 400hp+ wasn't out of the question and aiming for 11s, 1.58's at GVS & 7.20's at 'Ring and go from there.


Nice man, I want to be the first person to see that tune for sure! that is fast for a nose heavy car, I would lend you my help if needed also


???? We have almost the exact same spring rates, so I don't think it's that.....I'm thinking your rear dampers are too hard, that's where the biggest change is between our cars.


Yes I'm rambling on about stuff today, I think I'm alittle :nervous:,:scared: also. I see what your saying though, I believe thats where some of my understeer is coming from too
 
I tested both the Alfa's and the Caldina's. I didn't think I was elligible to judge since my garage is a sister garage/alliance of Shogun, so I didn't post results.
 
By the way, I should mention that I gave both cars an equal score. (about 79/100). The Shogun tune was too unpredictable and snappy during cornering. The GME was more stable in corners but too prone to understeer in cases and a rather boring drive.

Both cars are a significant improvement on the stock model.
 
Alrighty. A new challenge has come to pass.

GME vs M.T.N.

The car: '95 Honda Integra DC2R - 60,000km version.

The challenges: A 3 way showdown between the cars on the following areas -
1. 400m time
2. 1000m time
3. Top Speed

The spec sheets:
M.T.N's spec sheet!

GME's spec sheet!

I need a couple of volunteers to independently test the cars against eachother and provide a quick report for us. :) Please respond in this thread if you would like to be one of those people and then come back to us to tell us which car reigns supreme.

Thankyou, and may the best garage win. :cool:
 
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