GTPlanet Weekly Rewind: Breakfast of Champions

What an amazing week this has been. Not only has there been a steady influx of news regarding GT6 and things related to GT6 (with more coming!), but there was also the event of the week, the coveted special as it were; of course I’m referring to the Jalopnik Film Festival.

This will undoubtedly prove itself to be quite the challenge, and by that I mean a challenge to live down. After having seen so much you’ll never want to forget, hearing so many things you’d never thought you would hear in-person, being awe-struck at the very sighting of an in-the-flesh Le Mans winning 1966 Ford GT40 race car, or even the 1956 Porsche 550 Spyder taking cover behind a black wall of fabric shielding itself from the eyes of every ravenous car-loving spectator present, the list of things you would willingly want to forget are at an all-time high of zero.

I haven’t even begun scratching the surface regarding what was there, who was there, and how the current build of Gran Turismo 6 felt. There’s so much to talk about with what feels to be so little time, and to top it all off this is an F1 race weekend.

Madness. Utter and complete madness.

Did I forget to mention there was a bit of a GTPlanet entourage present at the opening night/panel event? I was there, as were Jordan, Kyle [SlipZtrEm], and Alexander [paskowitz]. Once we spent an ample amount of time with the demo we soon started an impromptu competition with the Bilstein R8 LMS Ultra at Silverstone. What more would you expect from us, honestly?

It was difficult for all of us to really set good laps without any audio whatsoever, or at least it seemed that way what with it being drowned out by the music and ambiance of the atmosphere itself. The racing pods were another issue as they were positively uncomfortable, although I would attribute that to me being more of a tall person since there was more than enough room to stretch one’s legs past the positioning of the pedals.

Keep in mind that this is, for all intents and purposes, an incomplete outlook as there were several factors not working in our favors. However, judging purely from the feeling of things one should immediately wipe all considerations and good-tidings brought about with the GT Academy demo that released in July. If you haven’t yet had the chance to test GT6 in it’s latest build, you will be pleasantly surprised once the month of December arrives.

There’s a whole lot more to talk about and i doubt I’ll be able to contain all of my excitement, however, this week’s Rewind will be without a new Member of the Week but you can read last week’s Member interview (which went up a bit late) to tide you over until next week. For the whole kit and kaboodle be sure to stop by the official Member of the Week thread!

With that said, let’s move on!

GTPlanet Picture of the Week

This week’s featured image is all about presentation and peace of mind. Did I say peace of mind? What I really meant was utter chaos and speed with a side-order of danger! Recommended to us by The Stig Farmer and courtesy of zzz_pt, this showcases the almighty GT-R as it looks to outrun a pair of blistering tornadoes.

Have a suggestion for next week’s featured image? Drop me a private message, entitle it “GTPlanet Picture of the Week” and fill it out with your two choices and they’ll be featured in upcoming Rewinds. NOTE: You cannot elect your own work.

Festivities Continued

Kazunori Yamauchi headlined the event with a few other strong guests. Guests such as Ken Block, James Glickenhaus, and Tamir Moscovici. After the panel they were all out in the open ready to talked to, photographed, and even smiled at.

It was an especially surreal experience when myself and Kyle were walking right alongside Yamauchi as if we’d known him for years, and at least one of us went home with something signed by him, whereas I happily settled for a hearty handshake. If only I had remembered to bring my Japan issue copy of GT4. It’s an experience I’ll never forget and it’s unlikely to be dampened by my mind being elsewhere after having prepped the game to bring with me.

Oh the humanity.

Can you spot the staffer? I’ll give you a clue: an intimidating color for charging muscle shall reveal the profile of whom you seek.

There was nothing new revealed at the event, outside of the upcoming “KAZ” film/documentary so don’t think we’ve been torturing you all on that front. It was largely a meet and greet with food, cars, and a video game about cars. In the swing of things I most likely would have missed anything if it were announced, only to be informed by one of my esteemed colleagues.

We also met up with SCEA Marketing Manager Ken Chan, and it all felt so natural, as if we hadn’t just met and were simply reconvening. Ken was promptly teased about the audio in GT and had a fantastic sense of humor about the whole thing; again, it all felt so natural. I never did get a chance to jokingly ask for several prepaid PSN cards though. Next time, perhaps.

KAZ: Pushing The Virtual Divide

Just in case you missed the original posting on Thursday morning, at the Jalopnik Film Festival it was revealed that Yamir Moscovici has been working on a film documenting the passion and drive of Kazunori Yamauchi.

You can read the original post right here.

“Top Secret” Australian Locations Coming to GT6?

While no official announcements have been made regarding Mount Panorama Circuit, Polyphony Digital is rumored to make an announcement at the circuit once the racing season starts up, and the announcement could possibly include more than just Bathurst.

You can get your fill of the original write-up for this matter right here.

Rush – Everyone’s Driven By Something

I will not spoil one solitary moment of this film, no matter how insignificant of a moment or detail it may be. If you enjoy Formula 1 and all of the intense rivalries of the years gone by, you will want to see Rush.

It was the only movie on yesterday’s schedule that I wanted to see without thinking twice, and that’s not to imply the other choices paled in comparison or simply weren’t interesting, as it would be precisely the opposite; all of the movies shown yesterday were fantastic. However, Rush was the main event, the one movie every single person in the theater went crazy for. It was an experience that cannot be replicated. Did I mention the atypical movie trailers—which are what I was fully expecting—were substituted for GT trailers?

The film has released in a limited number of theaters as of yesterday and will release worldwide on the 27th of this month. I implore you to go and see it.

GTPlanet Vehicles of the Week

You read that correctly, vehicles of the week. After the sequence of events over the past two days it would prove incredibly difficult to choose anything but these two incredible machines. Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312T and James Hunt’s championship-winning McLaren M23 are the stars of this week, and for good reason.

Have a suggestion for next week’s featured image? Drop me a private message, entitle it “GTPlanet Vehicle of the Week” and fill it out with your two choices and they’ll be featured in upcoming Rewinds. NOTE: You cannot elect your own work.

Day One Patch for Gran Turismo 6

Confirmed to EuroGamer this past Wednesday, Gran Turismo is set to receive a “fairly large” patch on day one when it releases later this year with further supporting updates over the course of a 12 month period.

“It’s the same every time,” said Yamauchi. “Everything’s very tight. It’s an incredibly tight schedule. As to being able to include everything we want to on day one, we probably won’t be able to. I think for the 12 months following the release we’ll continue to update the software. Because in Gran Turismo 6 we’re preparing a lot of different things we haven’t even touched on yet.”

You can read the original post in all its splendor right here.

GTPlanet Weekly Race Series (WRS) Online Events: Greatest Hits – GT5 Grand Finale

Surely, everything has to come to an end no matter how large the community or the ridiculous amount of fun had with the fantastic outings in the WRS. I’d imagine next to no one will go back to GT5 once its successor has hit shelves, and that’s precisely the point of this event: one final go, and where you go is entirely left up to you.

What is this all about you ask? Two races on Saturday, November 23rd and two more on Sunday the 24th using the “Greatest Hits” format (which you should be familiar with now as it’s been featured here a few times already) but the hook is you, the WRS driver, are allowed to pick from an assortment of one-hundred and seventeen of the historical events featured in the WRS to date.

Nominations run until October 10th, after that the final voting process will last until Thursday the 31st. If you’ve enjoyed the WRS, and you no doubt will have, help to close the GT5 chapter by participating in this fantastic process and race the final events as the community sees necessary.

For the entire rundown you’ll definitely want to stop by the official thread and get your votes in! Remember that you NEED to be registered before officially participating in the WRS, and that can only be done by submitting a time for the official GTP Registry Qualifier.

GTPlanet Tune of the Week

This week’s tune is all about sporty precision, recommended to us by tuning aficionado danbojte and courtesy of praiano63, features the 2003 Honda S2000 Type V.

Tuned for 450PP events, this tune gives you 272 horses at an astounding 9,100 RPM that will not only tear up the track but any and everything within its general path of destruction. Easily controllable and willing to step out a bit when the need arises.

Victory is the name of the game as usual and if it’s a deserving victory that you’e after and you want to do so using a bit of sporty excellence, then you’ll want to stop by and see the tune for yourself.

Exactly like the Picture and Vehicle of the Week features, if you have any suggestions for the upcoming Rewinds be sure to drop me a private message, entitle it “GTPlanet Tune of the Week” and let me know. NOTE: You cannot elect your own work.

More News on the Way?

Because I want to drive you up the wall of insanity, yes, there will be more news. Will I tell you what it is? Not a word.

I’m also going to drive you back down the aforementioned wall a little and advise that expectations be tempered.

GTPlanet Photomode Competitions

In Week 147 of the Standard and Advanced competitions you are to put your best foot forth and show the community just how seriously you take your in-game photography. All you need to know is as follows:

Week 147, Standard: The Prancing Horse – “Ferraris are some of the best looking cars in the world: the 458, Enzo, F430 (just to name a few) look absolutely fantastic.
Take out one of your favorite Ferrari cars and let it “prance” around the track. Remember that the tracks must be Italian. Good Luck!!!!”

Week 147, Advanced 2.0: Mono – “I always thought black and white photos are able to convey a deeper mood and message than its coloured counterparts. Coupled with apt toning and composition, it makes for intense and photos with a very rich mood. So this week, I want you guys to shoot your photos in B/W and just be awed at the entries you guys produce yourselves.”

For all of the relevant information pertaining to this week’s challenges be sure to stop by here and here.

Closing Thoughts

After having gone over so much of what’s happened this past week I cannot shake the feeling that I’m forgetting something I was going to speak of until the ends of this very earth, but alas I have forgotten whatever it was supposed to be. There’s far too much excitement going on in such a compact space; of course I’m referring to these margins, I can use all the disciplines of verbosity possible and none of it would be able to convey just how fantastic the event was. It was something you had to experience on your own.

I know one thing, and that one thing is I desperately need to purchase myself a proper camera because the point and shoot I have now sucks. I think Kyle wanted to laugh at me but instead asked if I had taken a wealth of images. Of course, I lied and said I had when the brutal fact of the matter was I had only taken a handful because it’s so fussy with lighting (granted the lighting wasn’t ideal in the first place but that’s neither here nor there) that I wanted to throw it down to the floor in full-force.

Was it pride that kept me from telling the truth? Absolutely not. It was me behaving that kept me from saying all sorts of rude things – you know, the kind of stuff I’m already known for. What made it better was the food being served, most notably the brownies. I have never had a brownie that good and I’ve been around my fair share of fantastic baked goods.

Now a message from our sponsor, me:

While you’re salivating at the very thought of Gran Turismo 6 finding itself into your PlayStation 3 this coming December why not take the time to become a full-fledged member of our wonderful community. It’s free and we have cake! Okay, we don’t have cake (the cake is and always will be a lie, remember this!) but we do have a strong community and we’re always talking about something interesting. If you aren’t already a member you should join today and maybe you can work out a patented antidote for “Lying Cake Syndrome”. Seriously, it’s been years since I’ve had cake.

My shameless Twitter plug has also returned!

Once again I forgot to mention that I’m on Twitter now. What was once going to be a bit of parody account (because I don’t use Facebook or Twitter for any reason whatsoever) has quickly turned into me using Twitter rather effectively. So, follow me and suggest all things Rewind-worthy from the comfort of your tablets, phones, or Skynet-linked computers. Remember, when the machines finally rise you’ll need someone to write pieces regarding the matter littered with Armageddon-y undertones and I can be just that guy! What were we talking about? Right, Twitter, so if you’ll follow me here the Rewind can be delivered to you in a timely fashion not seen since snail mail. Wait, that’s not the right thing to say!

You will be showered in Rewind, Seasonal Event and future article goodness courtesy of yours truly, so there’s that worth looking forward to once I’ve bothered to get the thing up and running. It can also be used to suggest things for upcoming Rewinds, so that’s now two ways you all can keep me on my toes.

The inaugural Jalopnik Film Festival was just about the best thing I’ve been to that I can accurately recall, and if it happens again next year you can rest assured that I’ll be there – with a new camera to boot!

With this week’s festivities sadly behind me things are slowly getting back to normal and on that bit of a sad note I’ll officially (for I originally forgot to include my signature sign off) bring this week’s Rewind to an end. Until next week, keep racing!

GT5 Photomode image by NBDESIGNZ.

See more articles on GTPlanet Weekly Rewind, Jalopnik Film Festival, and KAZ.