3rd Year Anniversary Special - Part 1
Hello readers! Man, I cannot believe that it's been 3 YEARS since I posted the first page of my first ever title of my Gran Turismo fan fiction. I never thought that it would last this long! Though it's just a month overdue to celebrate this, hehehehehe....
This special, 2-part post is my gift to all of the readers, long-time and new alike, just to jog their minds and as well to provide a clear and brief understanding of the story so far. For those who are new here, this post will be important to you as it will
save you from the trouble of reading all of my titles starting from the GT5 Race Reports. But just remember that if you have any trouble about the pace and have questions, feel free to ask, and I'll provide you with references and links.
So let me start with...
GT5 Era (April 2012 to December 2013)
- Takanori's Beginnings -
Takanori Kanonji, a typical high school student living a normal life. His daily chores would be going to school, helping out his mother, Tomoko, and playing Gran Turismo. He would go on with these activities believing he's just contented in helping out in his small family business.
But that thought will change forever as he bumps into a very affluent school girl named Makoto Kurosawa. The young woman is then surprised to hear Takanori's full name, and then makes an effort to get to know him as it turns out that their fathers were once best friends in the world of racing. She invites him to dinner and her father Gan Kurosawa immediately expresses his interest to immerse the young man to the world of racing. Takanori hesitates, but Gan assures him that he would have a much better life coming out of this.
And that's just the start of turning over into a new leaf, as he won his very first race along with a big paycheck. From then on, Takanori revived his lost dream of being the fastest racer, inspired by his missing father, Michiharu Kanonji.
His next major race was a supercar showdown at the Nurburgring GP. Takanori then meets Axel Eisenberg, a racer of equal skill. The pair clashed during the race and Takanori prevailed. Unknown to him, his father was actually watching the race, revealing to his best friend, Sir Ben McCarthy (a British veteran racer who looks after Michiharu) that Takanori and Axel are half siblings.
A year later
, Gan presented to Takanori a white R32 Skyline GT-R that belonged to his father for safekeeping. It was moderately tuned and Takanori was happy to keep it. Axel then arrives and meets Takanori in his home, and was in a big shock after finding out his relation to Takanori, but kept it to himself for a while.
Michiharu and Ben arrived in Tokyo, and the first order of business is to take the GT-R away. Being skilled in martial arts, Ben was instructed by Michiharu to take the car in any means possible, so that he can finally tune it to its ultimate form knowing his time would be short. Ben accomplishes the task swiftly, and the two then get to work on the car.
Upon testing the heavily modified R32 GT-R, Michiharu succumbs to his lung cancer, and is rushed to the hospital. In his final moments, he asked Kaido to fetch Takanori to see his son for one last time. Takanori arrives and the two have one short, but emotional talk until Michiharu passed on.
Powered further by determination after his father's passing, Takanori resolves to fully commit to racing using the R32. He went on winning races using it.
Moving on, Takanori goes to Germany along with Axel to further continue his racing. The pair decided to have a little track day session with a Corvette ZR1. However, a devious plan to kill Axel is behind the scenes, plotted by a French racer named Alexandre who then orders his henchman to sabotage the car. Unfortunately, Takanori is the sole driver and upon running, the Corvette's brakes malfunctioned and sent him crashing. The car explodes and Takanori is seemingly killed.
The grim news reaches Takanori's family, and Makoto breaks down as she has yet to confess her love to Takanori. However, a mysterious figure replaces him as Axel's partner - as the White Stig. This mysterious figure showed exceptional driving skill, and even protected Axel from his assailants at one point. As it turns out, Takanori is alive after all wearing that ominous white suit albeit suffering from retrograde amnesia.
Fortunately, Takanori was able to remember everything. Life returns back to normal.
- Takuma Kanonji, The Twin From The Dark -
Life seems to be back to normal for Takanori. His memories have recovered and he can continue on fulfilling his resolve.
However, another threat is looming, in the form of The Black Stig who also shows unparalleled racing skills, and seems to have an agenda to Takanori. It later turns out that Black Stig is Takuma Kanonji, Takanori's long-lost twin. The pair have been separated from a hospital fire after their birth, and Ben McCarthy took the responsibility of raising Takuma as his son who would later turn to be a man with exceptional talent.
Takuma then decides to settle things with Takanori in a dangerous mountain pass battle. Takanori prevails and then welcomes his long-lost twin to his family.
- New Chapter -
Takanori and Makoto received their bundle of joy, as they are to expect a child. Takuma, on the other hand, works hard to get closer to his family, and spends most of his time helping his mother out in the store.
However, a much bigger threat looms around, as their uncle Tatsumi plans to kill Takanori as a form of vengeance. Takuma manages to sacrifice his life for Takanori. Takanori got devastated and exacts retribution as he murders the entire Yakuza group that Tatsumi led. But Tatsumi decided to settle things fairly through a street race. It was a dangerous race with Tatsumi plotting to take out Takanori, but the latter prevailed once again. Takanori decides to let the law punish his uncle and move on.
Axel once again arrives, and decides to try out the art of going sideways called Drifting. Naturally, for a first-timer, he flunks out and Takanori decided to coach him. Later on, Axel gets the hang of the sport and becomes a drifting sensation.
Meanwhile, unknown to them, Takuma is alive. He sprang back to life just as his adoptive cousin Jenny McCarthy is about to cut him open in the embalming process. Her father named Sander McCarthy takes advantage of the situation and lets Takuma race in a rallying under the guise of Nikko Sakamoto. Eventually, Takuma faces Takanori once again, with Takuma proving the be the superior one of the two. But seeing that it isn't right, Takuma defects Sander with the approval of Jenny.
Takuma returns to Japan, in order to face Takanori again and return to his family. Ben McCarthy first reveals to Takuma that he shall be inheriting his mansion to him soon. But Takuma reassures his adoptive father that he'll never leave him.
Finally, he returns to the Kanonjis, and an emotional reunion took place. The twins have a much stronger bond since then.
Takanori and Makoto decided to move out and settle down in a luxurious condominium. Takuma promises to take care of their mother, and as well as to get closer to her.
Life once again becomes rocky for them, as another challenge arrives. Their adoptive sister, named Sayuki who is a CIA agent decides to warn the Kanonjis as their lives are in danger. Upon further investigation, it turns out that Sander is running the Grim Reapers who plan to exterminate highly-skilled racers. Sander manages to abduct his brother Ben, in order to lure Takuma out. His plan succeeds, until Ben decides to sacrifice his life for Takuma.
Enraged, Takuma almost kills Sander, and lets the authorities arrest Sander instead. To finally extinguish the threat, Takuma races in Suzuka Circuit using his adoptive father's Mazda 787B and after a perilous challenge thanks to another Grim Reaper member trying to take him out, he prevails and his assailant was put behind bars. The Kanonji Twins decide to honor Ben McCarthy as well.
- Suzuka's Fastest -
Meanwhile, another racer is about to make a name for himself. Despite his tender age, he is skilled to drive a GT500-spec racing car. That young racer is named Nobuhiko Hiramoto. His past could be said to be very depressing - his parents have divorced, and his father Hiroyuki apparently died of heart attack in racing in Suzuka.
Nobuhiko's skills gained so much attention, so much so that it even raised eyebrows of his best friend, Daisuke. Nobuhiko reveals his true nature as a racer, and shows what he claims the true skill of a GT500 racer.
Then news of Nobuhiko's exploits have reached Takanori, and he decided to test out the young man's skills. The two have a duel in Suzuka, which Nobuhiko wins.
Takanori decided to recruit Nobuhiko into his racing team, as part of the conquest for the Nurburgring 24 Hours race.
Recruitment is now underway, and time for the heroes to move to the next step...
- The Dream Alliance -
With Nobuhiko now part of Takanori's team, they decided to recruit more members for their global conquest.
Their search ended up in encountering
Ricky McCarthy - an illegitimate child of Ben McCarthy and a Filipina worker. Ricky initially despises Takuma, but eventually gets in the team by successfully overtaking all cars in under 1 lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
With recruitment dealt with, they shift their focus on the Nurburgring 24 Hours. The team is then named
Dream Alliance.
However, they got a shaky start as Nobuhiko encounters an unknown figure who chased him down. It turns out later to be his father. Hiroyuki works for an opposing team also to participate in that grueling endurance race.
And to top off their problems, Nobuhiko reveals to Daisuke that he is about to die, due to his stomach cancer. But then Nobuhiko keeps that knowledge away from his teammates so as not to hinder them.
Eventually, Hiroyuki lures out his son, for a duel in Suzuka. Nobuhiko fights off his disease while racing, and after prevailing he succumbs and dies right on his father's hands. It was a very emotional end, as Nobuhiko finally reunites with his father in his last breaths.
To make it all up, Hiroyuki joins the Dream Alliance, and takes on the endurance race. They are about to face off another adversary -
Kazunori Yamauchi.
The 24 hour race was indeed grueling, with the team's R35 GT-R suffering a turbocharger failure. They all rely everything to Takanori for the last leg, and turns out to race Kazunori as well. Takanori and Kazunori displayed unwavering determination, but only one is the winner. Takanori slips past and emerged victorious as Kazunori's GT-R had mechanical trouble at the very last stretch.
- More Members -
Dream Alliance once again sets out recruiting more members. Takuma finds new love as well.
Back in Germany, they encounter a peculiar man named Nigel Heidelberg. With his high intellect and numerous capabilities, it turns out that Nigel is a robot created using Nobuhiko Hiramoto's racing data. The system of FIA racing registration is explained, with Nanoparticles capturing data from each driver. Nobuhiko's skill is among the top, and a group of scientists aim to exploit it by creating a group of super racers.
Eventually, Nigel discovers his origins and decides to destruct himself in order not to affect the lives of other race car drivers. His creator, Dexter was incarcerated but Hiroyuki decided to save Nigel and kept him for restoration.
Then enter Nobuyuki Hiramoto. Nobuyuki turns out to be the long-lost first son of Hiroyuki. He was abducted while he was playing with Nobuhiko during their youth. He managed to escape captivity when the hideout was burned and was assumed to be dead. Not long after, the Ishida family adopted him.
An eerie series of events were taking place at Suzuka, as Nobuhiko's Supra continues to tear up the track - without its driver.
Nobuyuki eventually reunites with his original family and decides to have a duel with his late little brother in Suzuka. Nobuyuki wins and managed to speak with Nobuhiko's spirit before finally moving on...
- Goodbye Axel, Hello Yuki -
A tuner championship takes place in USA, and Axel wants to take part. It was his lifelong dream to tinker cars. Takuma decides to help Axel realize that dream, and purchased his second FD3S RX-7. In one of its timed runs, Takuma lost control of the FD and crashed. This tested Axel's tuning know-how, and both of them managed to resurrect it in the form of the RE Amemiya FD3S.
Upon returning to Japan, Takuma encounters Yuki "Samui" Kanonji while being invited as a guest teacher of a class in home economics. His astounding trait is his mastery of the winding roads ever since he was 13 years old.
However, tragedy strikes. Axel was killed while saving a boy from being hit by the truck. He left behind his wife and an unborn child. Takuma promises to take care of them both and as well as fulfilling Axel's lifelong dream.
- The Proteges -
The Dream Alliance takes on the next challenge - the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But a group proves to be of hindrance to their plans. The group in question is
The Proteges. It turns out to be a racing team once formed by Sir Ben McCarthy. They all target Takuma Kanonji for a variety of reasons, chief among which are jealousy and his defection from the team.
Dream Alliance members take them on one-by-one, until they encounter another member named
Daigo Kanonji. Daigo has an agenda of his own, as he plans to exterminate his own teammates to lure out Takuma and Takanori as part of his revenge plot. He is the son of Tatsumi.
Daigo captures Takuma, and brainwashes him in order to turn against Takanori. The twins fight, and Takuma manages to fatally wound his twin. Upon hearing Takanori's love for Takuma, Takuma breaks free of the hypnosis and finishes Daigo off. Terrified of what he had done to his beloved twin, Takuma runs away and flies to Europe to cool off.
In solitude, Takuma meditates, but that didn't last long as Ricky and Nigel managed to locate him. Then one day, in a small race track in UK, they meet a man with a balding black hair and goatee - named
Rob Hatch (yes, Rob had hair for once!
) and they discover that he shares the agenda of taking down the last of The Protege members -
Boris Kirsch.
Rob intends to settle the score with Boris after his life being ruined thanks to a scandal. It turns out that Boris set him up, all to thin out the competition. Takuma then gets to know more about Rob, and realizes that they have a lot in common, in particular on how they love their siblings. Takuma also meets
Dennis, who has similarities with Takanori.
In a grueling Nurburgring duel, Rob defeats Boris. But seeing that Boris never gave up, Takuma decides to take Rob in to the team, and continue the battle at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Then came that endurance race. It was a tough battle, with Boris employing every single method to take Takuma out. But Takuma managed to prevail thanks to the motivational words of Takanori who has finally recovered.
- Little Nobu's Return -
Hiroyuki Hiramoto, now the director of Dream Alliance, grants the entire team a rest period. During that time, they return to their other professions. Takanori, Takuma, and Nobuyuki are hosts of a motoring show, doing car reviews for both the show and the magazine.
One day, Nobuyuki was tasked to buy food from the convenience store. He encounters a silver-haired cashier named Toshiro Chouji. He discovers that Toshiro drives an AE86 Levin, and that he joins track day sessions. Intrigued, Nobuyuki invites Toshiro to a racing event, which he won easily.
It turns out, however, that Toshiro is Nobuhiko Hiramoto. His soul has been granted a new life, albeit in a different body and as well as working with Sayuki in the CIA. Before he could reveal the truth though, he is given the task to fly to Germany to investigate a string of illegal races at the Nurburging. He discovers that Boris Kirsch was the mastermind, and immediately thwarts him, though he got shot. Nobuhiko fights off the rules regarding the circumstances of his return, stating that he decides his own fate for his new life. He recovers from coma and sets off to bravely reveal the truth to his family.
The opportunity came along, as he is given another task of shutting down a syndicate. His father is targeted due to a property dispute (as Hiroyuki doesn't want criminals buying his properties). It is then revealed that Toshiro's former life was a syndicate member until he got poisoned by his peer. One night, Nobuhiko's parents were held hostage in their home, and he rushes to save them. He successfully pulls his parents out of danger and takes down the syndicate for good.
Before he can finally reveal the truth, Yuki discovers the signs of his former Senpai. Nobuhiko denies it at first, but Yuki tells his Senpai to stop lying as he can see spirits. Initially, the pair decides to keep it for themselves, until Nobuhiko finds the right time to announce his return by winning a GT500 race in Suzuka, which comes as a shock to everyone, especially that his signature tactics were being displayed. The Hiramotos finally found their utopia, something that Nobuhiko worked really hard even from beyond the grave.
- Path to Formula 1 -
After a brief period of break, Takuma has gotten an invitation from Team Lotus F1. He tags along Nobuhiko as his partner. The two had a tough training regimen as they have little experience in Formula 1. The season also proved to be challenging as well, with the two barely winning the races.
Midway, Takuma encounters his adoptive grandfather - Sir Shaw McCarthy - who turns out to harbor a grudge against his son. However, since Sir Ben has passed on, he shifted his focus on making Takuma's life miserable. Sir Shaw initially presented a facade, earning the trust of Takuma and even allowing him to ride shotgun in his Mazda Furai much to his adoptive grandson's astonishment. Eventually Sir Shaw reveals his true colors, and Takuma steps in to thwart his plans. Takuma defeats Sir Shaw, and forces him to apologize to his son's grave.
In the final round, he encounters Takuma Sato once again. In their previous meeting, their race was a draw, and the two decide to have another go at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In that epic duel, no side gave a quarter, until Takuma Kanonji spun out at the last moment, allowing Sato to win.
- On the way to the next chapter -
Takuma may have prevailed in Formula 1, but his loss against Sato shakes him. Though that didn't affect much in his life and just resolved to himself that he will finally beat him someday.
While he and the rest of his team are enjoying their long break, their vacation became an exciting one as Takuma encounters The Slashers - a collective term for highly skilled street racers across Japan.
Takuma shows disdain to street racing, but is forced to take part anyway since he doesn't back down to any challenge. He races first the WEST Corvette No. 5 in which he defeated soundly.
This draws further attention from
Motoya Iwasaki a.k.a. Jintei who has been challenging Takuma even before the start of his F1 adventures. Takuma decides to accept the challenge, using the third FD3S he bought which will be inherited to his son named
Shinsetsu. However, during practice, the FD broke down and in an unexpected turn of events, Sir Shaw arrives and lends his Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 for the race as part of making it up for his adoptive grandson.
Takuma puts up a great fight against Iwasaki, and overcomes the challenge. Then he delivers a speech about his hatred on street racing.
Suddenly, Yuki arrives, challenging Takuma to another duel. It turns out that Yuki is the Original Slasher and as such came up with the name. The young man aims to test his mettle against one of the fastest racers in the world.
On the day of their duel, rain heavily poured down, and to make things fair for Yuki, Takuma powers down his RE Amemiya FD3S to around 400 horsepower. This also serves another purpose to make it easier to drive on the wet road.
Yuki proved to be a formidable opponent on the touge and fog suddenly came in. Takuma had miscalculated, and what's worse the turbochargers on his FD got shot, narrowing his chances of victory. Despite the situation seemingly hopeless for Takuma, a miracle occurred as the turbos got functioning again. He charges straight through the dense fog to overtake the confused Yuki and takes the victory.
Takuma praises Yuki and assured him that their dreams will be fulfilled together. They prepare for the next string of challenges - the big one being the upcoming FIA GT3 Championship.
That's the entire summary for the GT5 Era titles. I made it as simple as possible, and it's quite a challenge to narrow it down due to a lot of titles. I did not include the Sidestories since they don't make a huge impact on the plot anyway.
Next part would be the summary of the current, GT6 Era. Thanks for reading!
