On the GTP account, I went on a spending spree, buying 2 1987 Nissan Skylines (1 to keep in the garage), 3 1993 Honda Civics (1 to keep in the garage, 1 to eventually put an engine into), 2 Volvo 240 SE Estates (1 to keep in the garage), 2 2000 Honda NSX GT500s (1 to keep in the garage), and a 2013 Volvo V40. The first NSX allowed me to collect an engine ticket from Luca, which turned into a Huyara engine, which I promptly put into a waiting 1997 Toyota Supra RZ.
The elder Civic doesn't quite have what it takes at the Japanese FF Challenge at Autopolis, so I resorted to the 1998 Civic to get a half-second win in 3:02.7. It's relatively easy to keep the CRB, so there's that. For a beginner series, 633,000 Cr./hour (give or take loading times and, of course, CRB) isn't too bad.
At the European Sunday Cup 400 at Kyoto, the elder Volvo was betrayed by everything about it, while the newer Volvo, despite the slushbox transmission, was too powerful. I eventually settled on the Alfa Romeo MiTo, and, after being held up by traffic on the first lap, I needed a bit of aggressively-clean driving to get by and hold off the pole-sitting Peugeot 208 by 0.3 seconds in 4:29.8. The 450,000 Cr./hour rate is poor, but it's a Sunday Cup variant.
For the second day in a row, it was a 3-star Wheel of Despair, for the 2nd-lowest-showing/lowest-legal 5,000 Cr. At that point, I decided to take my 1,000,000 Cr. for getting a marginal silver time around Brands Hatch, and rent an elderly Civic to thrash around Tsukuba. I doubt the 1:13.1 will hold for gold, but it's there for now.
I returned to the new races, taking the R31 Skyline to Lake Maggiore for a too-easy 3.2-second win in 5:38. Considering the new FF's payout rate with a "fair-play" car, the 585,000 Cr./hour rate here is a bit disappointing.
The NSX GT500 is almost on par with the better normal AI at St. Croix, and will do better than 4 laps on fuel and the full race on tires. Unfortunately, it starts too far back to be competitive, and in the hands of the AI, is a backmarker. The Corvette Gr.3 is fast enough, but guzzles too much fuel. The Audi R8 LMS Evo will do 4 quick laps on FM2, though I probably should have changed the RH tires on the stop, as I was losing a lot of time on the last 2 laps. Still, I eventually managed a 3-second win in 26:02. The 675,000 Cr./hour rate is very disappointing.
On the Plus account, I bought single copies of the new cars, getting a Mercedes-AMG GT3 engine. The new races went as follows:
- Autopolis Japanese FF Challenge in 2:49 with a stock 2022 Honda Civic
- Kyoto European Sunday Cup 400 in 3:51 with a stock 2016 Audi R8
- Lake Maggiore Japanese FR Challenge in 5:04 with a stock Lexus LFA
- St. Croix WTC 800 in 24:57 with a stock 2008 Nissan GT-R GT500 on a no-stop (FM5) strategy
For the third time of the last five, the 3-star Wheel of Despair showed up. For the second time of those three, it was for the lowest-possible 5,000 Cr.