Since it was Update Day, I started off the day on the GTP account by buying a pair of Suzuki Jimnys, painting up the second (and fitting snow tires) for the now-revealed GTWS Nations Cup finale. I would have bought the Genesis VGT, but because I watched a second of the Saturday GTWS event last month, I instead was gifted it. In any case, I put the stats for both cars into my spreadsheet.
After adjusting said sheet for the new engine swaps and noting what I have to buy to (eventually) do the swaps, I took the 1,000,000 Cr. for getting silver in the expired time trial and my Extra Menu prizes because I had all 6 cars (indeed, I have all 491 purchasable cars on that account), hoping to get at least 1 of the 4 that one can get from tickets. I didn't, but I got the middle-showing/lowest-possible 100,000 Cr. from the 5-star, and a Toyota FT-1 VGT from the 6-star (sold for 594,900 Cr. as I already had 2). Those proceeds allowed me to get the 6 unique cars with fresh swaps currently available (10 in all with 4 doubles) and widen the doubles.
I ran the GTWS Jimny at Lake Louise for a few practice laps, getting down to a bit under 1:19.9. It didn't take off my roll cage, though the BoP-ing knocked off the 0.09-PP gain it gets with the roll cage and snow tires.
The other Jimny was used for the new Menu Book, stock except for the required tire changes to dirt and snow. At Willow Springs, it was barely enough to get the clean win (0.29 seconds, in 4:58.6) because the AI brakes at the last right-left combo, negating their power advantage (the AI cars act like they're tuned, even on normal difficulty).
The lack of power compared to the AI really became a problem at Lake Louise, so I did a stage 1 weight reduction and added the roll cage I bought for the GTWS Jimny and a full-custom computer chip to bump the power up to 66 hp and the weight down to 2088 lbs. I was still underpowered, but because the AI can't drive well in the snow, I brought it home in a clean 4:07, 1.1 seconds up on 2nd.
The modified Jimny took the last of the Jimny Cup races at Sardegna Windmills by 1.3 seconds in a clean 3:37. Luca wasn't overly talkative when I came back to the cafe, as he tossed the 4-star ticket at me and shoved me out the door. The marathon 4-star Wheel of Despair gave the lowest-possible 10,000 Cr., while the menu book ticket gave a Volkswagen Scirocco. As I had the 3 I want for now, I dumped it for 16,540 Cr.
The time trial at Monza was calling my name, so I rented a Genesis VGT and gave it a flyer. The car is too greasy, and my 1:43.9 is a full 7.5% off the pace.
I finished the GTP portion of the day with the new Weekly Challenges as follows (with no new pre-race chatter):
- A stock elderly Alfa Romeo Giulia at Goodwood in a clean 3:36, with another Giulia and a pair of Citroen DS 21s freshly added to the field
- A S15 Silvia previously tuned for the Silvia Sisters at Deep Forest in a not-clean 5:15, with a couple of 1996 Silvia K's Aeros freshly added to the field
- A stock Mazda3 Gr.4 at Grand Valley in a clean 10:33, with a Nismo 400R freshly added to the field
- A stock Honda Civic Touring Car at Brands Hatch by 1.8 seconds in a clean 8:42
- A stock (with rain tires in the pits) Lamborghini Huracan GT3, using FM3 to set up a 1-stop race (though it turned into 2, with me coming down a lap too early for intermediates), at Tokyo in a not-clean 21:42, with no new content
I left about 150,000 Cr. on the table, getting just over 1.25 million Cr. in just under 50 minutes of racing.
Disappointed, I grabbed the Lexus VGT for the 2 new VGT Trophy races as it had racing medium tires. At Monza, because the Porsche Spyder started so far back and the Genesis started in 2nd behind the pole-sitting Bvlgari (which has racing soft tires, but no real speed) in the Genesis, I survived a massive moment in turn 1 on the last lap to get a 3.6-second win over the Porsche (and 6.3 over the Genesis) in 8:54. That must have cost me the CRB.
The race at Tokyo wasn't as promising, with the Genesis on pole, the Bvlgari in 2nd and the Porsche Spyder in 8th. It took a few resets because I kept scraping things, but because the Porsche got caught up in traffic, I got a 5-second clean win over the Porsche in 9:25.
The Plus account run will be up later...I hope.