GTPlanet Weekly Rewind: The Race Is On!

It’s finally here, after more than four months of rest and anticipation the 2013 Formula 1 season is about to kick off, in fact for the more fussy among us it could be argued the season has already begun, what with the inaugural weekend having begun today with practice sessions 1 and 2 earlier. The opening race—considered to be the real beginning of the season by those of us less fussy—kicks off this Sunday at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia. Judging by the looks of things it’s going to be a fairly close season.

That’s only going on testing during the winter, and the aforementioned practice sessions – which aren’t approximate representations of pace, so until the race kicks off there’s going to be some doubt when debating who’s going to be at the front and who’s going to be dropping off into the back of the pack. And even after the race there’s going to be initial doubt because things tend to be “odd” at the beginning of F1 seasons.

As you can tell I am definitely excited, perhaps more so than usual, but it’s definitely for good reason, but we’ll continue this later on in the Rewind, now let’s shift the focus back toward the usual swing of things. For the past couple of weeks the Rewind has been expanding and this week will be no different, however, while the announcement of the newest inclusion will be made in this week’s entry the introduction of the actual feature won’t come until next week at the very earliest. As usual, the wait will be worth it once you’ve read what the newest feature will be.

So there’s plenty of excitement and anticipation here to go around the world twofold, so without further ado let’s commence Operation Rewind!

GTPlanet Picture of the Week

This week’s featured image comes to us courtesy of Kalax3, and features Ferrari’s rear-wheel driven power sliding powerhouse, the 599 GTB Fiorano. The picture was shot underneath an overpass at one of my personal favorite locations, Tokyo R246 and looks absolutely stellar.

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.

Project Paper-craft

A growing trend among hobbyist is the art of paper-craft, a free form of model building where the only requirements are a color printer (black and white can be done for an artistic setting), some scissors, glue (or tape), and as any hobby requires first and foremost: patience. The paper-craft project here, started by our very own Castrol96 focuses on cars found within none other than Gran Turismo 5.

There are currently 27 templates on file, ranging from the Civic Type R to the Toyota GT-One (TS020). For more information be sure to stop by the official thread here and be sure to post your own findings and perhaps even help out those of us who are new to the hobby; if purchasing that scale model is too expensive for you then this is your alternative.

GTPlanet Weekly Race Series (WRS) Week 108 – Double Shot

This week you’re in space! Just kidding, but yet I’m not – this week you’re going on an adventure with Suzuki’s very own hardtop roadster, the Cappuccino at Kart Space I. With 64 horsepower to it’s name it’s not exactly what one would call a powerhouse, but with a defined weight of 690 kg (1,521 lbs) it will be hard to not dive into a corner at full speed knowing the Cappuccino will be nimble enough to handle the demand.  The Cappuccino is perhaps being used at the best fitting course for it’s capabilities, but more on this week’s challenge from the Stewards:

“After setting your fast lap on the in-game leaderboard, start chasing that ghost for 2 laps and see how consistent you can be. The game will red-clock you on the tight corners, even if you have 2 wheels on the rumbles, so  beware. Watch out for wall taps, as it sometimes doesn’t red-clock those, but they are still not allowed.”

Stop by the official thread here and 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 Member of the Week/Month

Yes, just as one of you blindly guessed at (you know who you are!) this will undoubtedly be the Rewind’s next premiering (and promising) feature. Ranging from racing series’ being participated in to their first post, the “Member of the Week/Month” will carry with it recognition among the rest of your GTPlanet peers, but fear not the rest of you because at current the idea will be that for every member inducted there will be several questions hand-picked by the GTPlanet community – so it’s a win-win for everyone.

The particulars for those of you who are interested, at the moment, are the following:

• General information (no more than what’s found on your visitor; more information can be posted upon your approval
• Contributions to the website
• First post
• Most popular thread
• Racing series’ participated in or developed

As well as other pertinent bits of information still being finalized. There’s a good chance the feature won’t debut until next month, just to give enough time to iron out all of the details, but when it does make it’s debut I can almost guarantee that it’ll be worth the read. Details will posted in the official Rewind thread as the weeks progress, so stay tuned for that.

GTPlanet Vehicle of the Week

Let’s embrace the Formula 1 opening weekend with this week’s featured vehicle, the Ferrari F2007, the chassis Kimi Räikkönen drove to his first World Driver’s Championship in the final race at Interlagos. 2007 was also the final time Ferrari would bring home a driver’s title (read: not Constructor’s), having lost a solitary point in final standings to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in 2008. The picture comes to us courtesy of SergeyShatokhin, and features the F2007 on one of my personal favorite locations, and F1 event mainstay: Suzuka International Circuit.

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.

Forza Horizon – Pre-order Car Pack Now Available

If you missed out on the pre-order car of your choice for any reason, fret no longer because as of this past Tuesday, March 12th the pre-order car pack is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace for 400 Microsoft Points ($5 USD). The pack includes all five pre-order vehicles which are as follows:

2010 Volkswagen Golf R (B429)
2010 Nissan 370Z (A511)
2012 Aston Martin Virage (A555)
2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (S641)
2009 Ferrari 458 Italia (S672)

These cars are finally available to everyone for collection and customization purposes, so get to it! Unlike the monthly DLC expansions, the pre-order car pack is not covered by the Season Pass.

GTPlanet Tune of the Week

You were probably expecting an F1 tune, weren’t you? Can’t say that I’d fault you for it, but no, this week’s featured tune comes to us courtesy of RKM Motorsport’s VTiRoj, and focuses on the four-wheel driven Subaru Impreza Sport Wagon WRX STi. As most of VTi’s tunes, the name instantly caught my attention and once I found out what was actually for the basis of the tune I was even more interested. The car can be found in the Used Car Dealership (UCD) but instead of me going any further I’ll just let the man himself take reigns:

“Making its return to the GT5 tuning scene is the old Bread Van of Amalfi. Except we don’t have Amalfi anymore, so instead it now resides at Eiger! Fans of the old car will be pleased to hear that The Bread Van II is very similar to the original, just with a slight power boost and sportier suspension settings.

9th Mar 2013 – Revised settings.”

The last bit, while not a comment relating to the tune itself, was necessary to include as the package has been revised and is no longer as floppy as it once was. Which is always a fantastic fix on any car, four-wheel drive or not. Of course you can find the tune here for your viewing and testing pleasures. Have fun!

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.

Brawn GP – The Most Successful Constructor in F1 History

Since last week I’ve been up and down and left and right all sorts of F1-related videos trying to find something suiting to the task of sparking interest in both those already interested in Formula 1, and those not-so-interested in Formula 1. Ranging from onboard laps of Michael Schumacher at Monaco in the F310 to Alain Prost’s onboard lap in the Ferrari 641 at Jerez. Then, just as it was time for me to begin writing this segment up it struck me: why not mention the only Formula 1 constructor with a 100% championship success rate? So, let’s get to it!

BrawnGP, heralded by mastermind strategist Ross Brawn, was a constructor for the 2009 F1 season and was the result of Brawn purchasing Honda’s F1 Racing Team and thus renaming it. With engines supplied by Mercedes-Benz and a driver lineup consisting of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button, on paper the team had all the merits to win, but would they?

2009’s inaugural race, the Australian Grand Prix saw Jenson Button qualify for pole position, with his teammate Rubens Barrichello taking second position; the race was led, from start to finish, by Button with Barrichello remaining in his second position, which gave Brawn a 1-2 finish in the first race of the year for a new team. Jenson would go on to win the rain-shortened Malaysian GP from pole. And with that victory Brawn GP would become the only new constructor to win the first two races since Alfa Romeo in 1950.

Of course the GP-001 and GP-002 were no strangers to controversy with the “double diffuser”, where a hole in the rear allowed for the increased speed of airflow essentially creating more downforce. The team had their troubles on track throughout the season as well with less than stellar results in a couple of races, however, with the fairly consistent results maintained throughout the season they were able to clinch both the Constructor’s and Driver’s Championship in their first—and only—year of contention. In 2010 Brawn GP was renamed Mercedes GP.

GTPlanet Photomode Competitions

In Week 120 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 120, Standard: Lancer vs Impreza… Colors (Head 2 Head) – zambuca, take it away: “This weeks H2H is a battle between colours rather than makes. When I think of the Lancer and Impreza I always picture two significant colour combos: either the Lancer with white rims and red body colour, or the Impreza with gold rims and blue body colour. They both look great, but which one will take the victory? To make this a little more special I will not allow Mitsubishis or Subarus in this competition. Try it out – you will find that most makes look pretty good with these colour combos.”

Week 120, Advanced 2.0: Mattematics – That’s not a spelling error, I assure you.

What are “mattematics” you ask? Look at the word closely. Are you looking? No you’re not, stop that fibbing! Mattematics. Oh you see it now don’t you?! Paint any car you want in a matte finish; blacks and grays are acceptable but creativity with brighter, perhaps even less-than-normal colors are more encouraged. Get out there and start snapping those pictures!

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

Closing Thoughts

Apologies for the later-than-usual delivery, but I’ve been quite busy and only had enough time to write up the opening bits during my usual time of putting this feature together. In any case, I said the wait would be worth it and I sincerely think it has been, however, don’t let that stop you from commenting on what you were expecting because I almost guarantee whatever it was you were expecting I had it in mind at one point or another.

You’ll notice that this week I’ve included 2 videos as opposed to the usual 1, but don’t worry because that won’t impact the feature in two week’s time – it’ll still be a video of some kind. I only used two videos this week because I really wanted to emphasize the excitement, and who doesn’t like listening to a high-revving V8 that could shatter windows? More importantly, the first race of 2013 is this Sunday! Yes, I am excited if you couldn’t tell. Moving away from the F1 fare, if you can recall from an entry in last month’s Rewind, I remarked that my Nexus 7 had croaked and that I wouldn’t have it replaced and would instead opt for a refund – yeah, I lied.

With that said let’s bring this week’s feature to an end, until next week keep racing!

GT5 Photomode images by GT5FREAK500 and Gravitron. 

See more articles on GTPlanet Weekly Rewind.