GTPlanet Community Spotlight: The Phantom Equation

La Jiggy Jar Jar Doo – Dur Dur Dur Dee Dur! That is not unintelligible babble and we’ll revisit this later on, I guarantee it’ll be worth your time if you’re looking for a laugh. For now I want you to waddle about in absolute mystery wondering what those words could possibly mean; again, not unintelligible babble and I have not lost my mind.

September is upon us and while we’re only three days into the swing of things this has already proven itself to be one of the most congested months as far as games are concerned. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has been on the scene since 12:00 AM EST September 1st and was followed by the Forza Motorsport 6 demo hours later; the latter will be complimented, or rather superseded by the full featured release on the 10th for those that have indulged in the Ultimate Edition, and the 15th for those that haven’t.

You won’t find any spoilers for MGS V here, but I will say one thing: it is unlike any Metal Gear or Metal Gear Solid game that has preceded it. The sheer amount of activities on-hand is mind numbing and the scope of the open world and the dynamic elements at play makes it an experience unto itself. What I’m saying is, unless Fallout 4 can pull the biggest rabbit out of its hat when it releases this coming November there is no possible way it’s taking the coveted “Game of the Year” title from The Phantom Pain.

Before moving forward let’s discuss the Forza Motorsport 6 demo, and the consensus is, at least in my own estimation, that the 6th entry in the series is so far and above itself that you’re left wondering where it could possibly go next, but that’s a topic for another day.

Weather makes it series debut and is perhaps one of the more well-adjusted implementations of the feature and all it entails, especially in the specific sense of recreating the ambiance associated with it. While the “3D puddles” are nothing new (see Project Gotham Racing 4), the mist is something I can’t recall being in any other game and is very welcomed if for no other reason than it just adds that additional layer to the experience.

If you’re wondering what happened to the Spotlight last week it was withheld simply because I wanted to capitalize on everything that’s happened this past week. Now, there’s a lot of great material to gaze upon this week so I’d strongly suggest grabbing a snack and your favorite drink.

Who’s ready for the Spotlight?

GTPlanet Picture of the Week

This week’s featured image comes to us courtesy of shuriken512 and features the twin-turbocharged Ferrari 488 GTB.

If you like what you’re seeing and have a suggestion for next week’s featured image, start a conversation with me, entitle it “GTPlanet Picture of the Week” and fill it to your heart’s content with suggestions and they’ll be featured in upcoming Community Spotlight articles. NOTE: You cannot elect your own work.

GTPlanet Gallery of the Week

This week’s featured gallery is Robert1’s gallery, and is brought to you by none other than robert1. Opened just yesterday, the 3rd of September in 2015, Robert1’s gallery is, at the moment, exclusively focused on capturing the action that goes on at the racetrack, Silverstone Internation Circuit to be exact. The gallery is almost exclusively dominated by race cars of the open wheel variety but even within this scope there is variety as you’ll find showcases such as the podium ceremonies, an air show, and the drivers arriving on the scene.

You can find the gallery here to look through a gallery that’s still in its infancy but has a wealth of great photos in its catalog. The latest update to the gallery was just yesterday, September 3rd.

If you like what you’re seeing and have a suggestion for next week’s featured gallery, start a conversation with me, entitle it “GTPlanet Gallery of the Week” and fill it to your heart’s content with suggestions and they’ll be featured in upcoming Community Spotlight articles. NOTE: You cannot elect your own gallery.

GTPlanet Thread of the Week – Standing Out

– August 6th, 2015, courtesy of FuzziOn.

When you think of Gran Turismo 6 what is it that stands out the most? In another thread that cuts directly to the point, and recommended to us by VBR, TheAnimeDude poses the question that you’re tasked with answering.

Perhaps nothing specifically relating to GT6 stands out to you, and should that be the case there’s no reason to shy away from the thread and the discussion itself, it can easily be adapted to what makes Gran Turismo stand out in general. This is perhaps one of the easiest discussions to participate in as we all have our understanding of what makes Gran Turismo stand out as it’s obviously done so.

A particular stand out that comes to mind are the oddities, the unknown cars or manufacturers that are intriguing whether it be for their design, specifications, or simply the fact it was an unknown to a great number of people until it was showcased in the game.

What makes Gran Turismo stand out to you? Stop by the thread and let us know!

Lotus T128 for $95,000

If you’re doing a double, perhaps a triple-take all the while thinking that price is laughably incorrect, I can assure you that it isn’t. This is a legitimate, in-the-flesh 2011 Lotus T128 showcar in 2013 dress with one small caveat: the Renault powerplant has been removed. What does this mean? Absolutely nothing in hindsight as it would serve as one of the finest room decorations one could possibly imagine, assuming a plan isn’t put in place to give it a new powerplant and return it to the track.

The car currently resides in Birmingham and was found on the Nashville Craigslist page. Does anyone have a spare $95,000 I could borrow?

Forza Motorsport 6 Demo: Corvette Z06

If you were unable to partake in the demo because you’re without an Xbox One or you’re away from home for an extended period of time the video above shows off how Forza does weather, and it’s impressive.

GTPlanet Member of the Week

We’re once again going to preface this by saying that while there are more nominations on hand now then there has been for the past few months (yes, months) I’d like to keep the momentum going, so if you want to see the Member of the Week continue moving forward you’ll want to send some suggestions my way and remember to title it “GTPlanet Member of the Week”.

With that said and done, the time to acknowledge a member of the GTPlanet community is upon us. A member who has stood out among the hundreds of thousands of members already here, both old and new alike for all that they’re worth and all they have contributed to the community.

This week’s particular inductee is yet another that defines community in a way anyone could agree with, and is another junior member among the ranks at just seventeen months and grew up with Gran Turismo if you could believe that. So without further ado let’s give a warm welcome to the newest member to find vacancy in the ever-growing Member of the Week madhouse, BRRT_Angel!

You can read the interview in its entirety in the official thread right here and remember, the feature is now on an alternating schedule so don’t panic when this particular feature is gone from the Spotlight next week.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 Update 1.20 Now Available

– August 30th, 2015, courtesy of spinner.

Trucks! You have no idea how long I’ve had to hold that in, but alas here we are once again and if it hasn’t become obvious yet, ETS 2 is officially a permanent staple of the Spotlight. Enough of that, let’s discuss the details of the newest update shall we?

There are number of fixes included in the 1.20 update and we’ll get to those but we’re going to cover the three major new features included:

GPS Route Customization

Before this update went live there was no way to customize routes and the only way to navigate around the world without the use of the waypoints provided by a job was to constantly consult the map. Now, that is no longer an issue as not only will you be able to customize the route set by the Route Advisor during deliveries, you can create your own route at will and have a hassle-free roaming experience.

• Adding up to 10 custom waypoints
• Inserting waypoints into existing route
• Interactively moving waypoints
• Adding waypoints at end of a route

Geographically Correct Sun Positioning

This is easily summed up with the following word: accuracy. After having received countless feedback from fans in Scandinavia about the day and night periods being identical in-game to those in Southern Europe, new code has been written that has resulted in astronomically-correct placement in the sky relative to not only to the geographical location but the time of day as well.

Image Spotlight

This particular feature is all about showing off the community-created screenshots on the World of Trucks portal to everyone and no longer just the regular visitors to the page itself.

Further fixes and improvements included in 1.20 are as follows:

AI

• Increased traffic density in city areas
• Added ‘village area’ rule to allow specifying urban area without increased traffic density
• Fixed non-urban speed limit in UK
• Support for spawn_trailer_count attribute of traffic_vehicle_type
• Lower probability of spawning an AI truck without a trailer
• Fixed license plate definitions switched between bus and trailer
• Uses correct wheel position when placing AI trailer wheels on ground
• Fixed rear wheels of AI vehicles not being placed on ground in steep hils
• Fixed vehicles remaining on wrong way lane after avoiding obstacle in some cases
• AI vehicles turn off engine during fueling

Editor

• Free camera supports inverted mouse (respects the c_minvert input constant)
• Changed design of road dialog
• Fixed “grave” key not working with some keyboard layouts (e.g. Hungarian)
• Separate snapping of nodes and control points
• Editor shortcut mapped to bezier patch
• Added support for rotation undo for bezier patch control points
• Increased node joining tolerance to fix problems with joining nodes far away from center of the map
• Grid size shortcut changed from Alt+wheel to Ctrl+wheel

Vehicles

• Mercedes Actros 2014: Fixed speedometer in UK variant, Improved interior, Tweaked normal map, Smoothed some hard edges, Shadowcaster tweaks
• Iveco Hiway: Smoother horns
• DAF XF Euro6: Cleanup of the models
• Scania Streamline: DRL
• Fixed UV on bulk cement trailer
• Fixed missing wheels on brick trailer
• Vertex optimizations of AI trucks for DAF Euro6, Man TGX, Scania R
• Volvo: Original sound of blinker on/off, Original sound of wipers, Equalization of gear_air sounds for interior
• Mercedes Actros, Renault Premium: Fixed armrests missing in the exterior view
• Fixed size of wheels

Misc

• Particles are not generated for lifted wheels
• Mirror resolution setting is not disabled on high quality
• Longer mirror distances on high and ultra settings
• Enabled support for download of additional hand-picked loading screen images from WoTr. All images can be seen using the “Image Spotlight” feature in “Photo Studio”.
• Brake lights activate on slightest pedal touch
• Correct turbo sound used on reverse
• It is possible to use Steam controller-based keyboard for entering search text in mod manager
• Fixed reporting of no-lights offense when driving in rain
• Improved compatibility with Windows XP

GTPlanet Vehicle of the Week

DiRT Rally: Multiplayer Rallycross Update Now Available

The updates continue to roll in for the ever-popular DiRT Rally, a game I’ve yet to try but that’s neither here nor there right now. The Multiplayer Rallycross update is not out in the wild and with it comes three new rallycross cars, the Citroen DS3, MINI Countryman Rallycross, and Subaru WRX STI, as well as a new track by the appetizing name of Hell in Norway.

The update also brings wet weather fun to all rallycross tracks and of course multiplayer functionality for rallycross, allowing players to go head-to-head with one another. The changelog for the update is as follows.

• A new World RX track – Hell, Norway
• New Rallycross drivers including, Liam Doran and Petter Solberg
• Wet weather for all Rallycross tracks
• Three new cars: DS3, MINI Countryman Rallycross, and Subaru WRX STI
• Brand new Wager Daily Event
• Some new advanced gamepad options
• Added a “Very Early” option for your Co-Driver calls
• A frankly amazing set of Hints and Tips for you to read during loading screens
• Removed the additional time penalty when the Off Track Reset Countdown expires and upped the limit on the timer
• We’ll now show you your ‘Fastest lap’ onscreen for an entire Rallycross Event
• Clutch Override which will give you the ability to use your clutch to override the automatic gearbox clutch
• *bleep bloop* new achievements
• Added a toggle for ‘Clutch Override’, which allows you to override the automatic clutch (allowing for clutch kicking)‘
• Advanced gamepad options’ are now available for joysticks… Yup somebody out there is playing DiRT Rally with a joystick
• Message added indicating if you’ve missed the entrance or exit of the joker lap.
• Optimised all routes for Lydden Hill so it chugs less
• Graphical Improvements to all stages on the Holjes Circuit as well as the routes for Powys, Wales and Pikes Peak
• Those excessive gravel surface sounds have been toned down – which should also help with stuttering audio
• Fixed an issue where the Community delta time splits were being incorrectly shown in the Pant Mawr stage from Wales
• Light pods no longer show on day routes when using the bonnet / interior cameras on certain vehicles
• Direct Input slider axis enumeration has been fixed which is a fancy way of saying this should solve issues with pedal bindings, most frequently the clutch
• Rallycross friend leaderboards now only show the players fastest lap time
• Abandoning a Rallycross Daily Event now uploads the stage maximum, rather than the time the game was paused… oops
• Jump starting certain Rallycross tracks no longer results in the players lap counter refusing to increment when passing the start/finish line
• Fix for the Founder liveries disappearing after the player resets their profile
• Community delta times are now displayed correctly in the standings before the event begins
• The Community delta times that were invalid on some tracks have now been reset
• Crossing a reset line will now always result in you receiving a penalty
• The Rallycross AI will now find the correct gear at the start of the race and not comically reverse
• Joker laps will now register even when exiting the joker sector backwards… Because sometimes it’s fun to show off
• The AI will now take the Joker lap in a Rallycross event less than 4 laps
• The AI should no longer accidently take a Joker lap when switching paths after losing control.
• Did you ever see that bug where the Rallycross AI would drive into a barrier, reverse, then drive into again? It was pretty funny but we thought we better fix it
• Used your data to improve our AI across all Rallycross routes. They’ll now put up much more of a challenge.

GTPlanet Tune of the Week

Once every month we showcase the community’s efforts to tame/tune the Car of the Week, and this month is no different, so let’s get right down to business.

“So another month comes, and with some decision making help from Lionheart2113, we present to you three cars that appear to be the same. That is until you uncover their true identities. From the GM Holden Division in Australia, the Commodore and Monaro boast sports car appeal, but let’s be honest, the Corvette powerplant under the hood is what gets them going.

As a GM guy, and current owner of a Pontiac (not the GTO sadly), any opportunity to have fun in a car with a Corvette engine gets me excited. They are a bit heavy and have some understeering issues, but I am sure with some fine tuning, we can improve on them. So grab one of the brothers or their American cousin and show what you got.

As usual, no limits to PP level or tire selection, “run what you brung” as they say. Just give a track choice if you have one in mind, but it would seem that one in particular should be very popular this month. So Strap in, hang on, and let’s have some fun.”

What you have here is a unique challenge for the month of September that just so happens to have three brethren powered by an LS1. How do you intend to tame these out and out muscle cars? If you’re up for the challenge, and want a little thunder from down under, then have a look at this month’s thread and have at it!

Super V8 Now Available in Game Stock Car Extreme

Reiza’s successful Indiegogo campaign has been reported here in the past, as has the Super V8 pictured above, but now the Super V8 car and the home of the Canadian Grand Prix, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, are now available in GSCE courtesy of the recent 1.38 update.

Outside of those two inclusions version 1.38 also includes the following updates:

• Minor Jacarepagua Historic LOD fixes
• Updated trackside ads
• Fixed error with 2 F3 talent files
• Adjusted F-Extreme gear & final drive ratios to better match 2015 standards
• Updated off-track & rumblestrip sounds in closed cockpit cars

Forza Motorsport 6 TV Spot

https://youtu.be/0O1OrTcfqBI

This is one of the best game adverts I’ve seen yet and I get all of the references too which I means I either play too many games, or I’m old. Or both.

Get off my lawn.

The Last Lap

So, let’s address that awesome manner in which this week’s Spotlight was opened: La Jiggy Jar Jar Doo – Dur Dur Dur Dee Dur! Now that you’re reading this again you’re absolutely convinced I’ve lost my mind, well like I said before, I have not. This is in fact a lyric taken from what is perhaps one of the greatest song spoof/parodies you’ll ever listen to. Ladies and gentlemen, “Carl Poppa”.

Is that not the best thing you’ve ever heard? My biggest gripe with this is that it actually shames the music that’s so prevalent now, and now I sound like an old person. Thanks, Obama! For those that watch The Walking Dead you’ll appreciate this just a little bit more than others. Feel free to insert any words from this song into your everyday conversations for a little spontaneity.

As previously stated, September is one incredible yet congested month as far as gaming is concerned. It doesn’t end with next week’s release of Forza Motorsport 6 either, no, if you’ll remember my obsession with a certain game that will remain unnamed until we’re further along in this tale of mine, I retired from the game (yes, that verb is absolutely appropriate consider the hundreds – yes hundreds – of hours played, more likely thousands but we’re not counting that!) because the repetition finally got the best of me and I simply couldn’t take anymore.

End of the story right? Wrong. I was certain it was as I had no motivation or a driving force to make me play anymore, that is until I started paying more and more attention to the Year 2 content that’s launching on the 15th of this month, The Taken King. Which means that, and I’m certain some of you already know what I’m on about, Destiny is once again a part of my gaming life. What am I going to do with three games to play in one month?!

Who’s the handsome individual you’re looking at before even hitting ‘play’? Well, that’s Oryx and he’s bereft of anger that only a god can consume and then diffuse. Why is he angry? Hit play!

This is going to be one incredibly interesting month and I’m looking forward to every single moment of it. If I happen to disappear I’ll need you to call someone because I’m probably in some kind of stupor, lying on the ground saying “Too many cars, too many weapons, I hate Skulls”.

Glen A. Larson, I love ya’, Knight Rider is still awesome, and may you rest in peace, you beautiful person you. Until next week, keep racing!

Trucks.

See more articles on GTPlanet Community Spotlight and GTPlanet Member of the Week.