Thursday, September 29, 2016

GT4 1986 RUF BTR

To celebrate Friday, here are some GT4 pictures of a 1986 RUF BTR in white.


This is the closest you can come to a Porsche (look-alike) in the Gran Turismo game series. 

In fact, it is apparently based on the classic 1978-1989 Porsche 911, as per wikipedia.


It is seen here at Tsumago.


I have it in my Garage as I do have almost all of the cars featured on this blog but I haven't raced it yet so no thoughts on how it drives.


However, it doesn't look too bad.





Monday, September 26, 2016

1970 Chaparral 2J Race Car in GT4 Pictures

GT4 2002 Spyker C8 Laviolette

For today's featured car here is a 2002 Spyker C8 Laviolette in my GT4 pictures.


The location is Nanzenji, Nanzenji Temple, Kyoto, which is "one of the treasures of Kyoto with a 700-year history, established in the Kamakura Era. The serene beauty of the autumn leaves in front of the Sanmon gates will take your breath away".


The Spyker name has some resonance but most of that resonance ended in 1926 when Spyker went bankrupt (the first time) having previously been a coach building company and then producing Benz-engined automobiles.
 

Spyker was "resuscitated" in 2000 by one Maarten de Bruijn who bought the rights to the defunct Spyker name and propeller logo.


See the Spyker propeller log above as rendered in GT4 and photographed by me.


The Laviolette was the first generation of the C8 limited production series Spyker and was succeeded by the C8 Aileron.


Spyker's motto is Nulla tenaci invia est via meaning "No road is blocked for those who persevere". However Spyker didn't persevere enough - it went into bankruptcy a second time some years back and is now defunct again.


When you think of handmade exotic supercars, the Netherlands isn't the first country that comes to mind. But the Spyker C8 is Dutch by birth, built mostly of aluminum, from the frame all the way to the handcrafted body panels. The name Spyker isn't entirely new to the automotive world. Back in the late 1890s, a company called Spyker began producing cars not long after the invention of the automobile. It was primarily known for its production of the world's first 4WD vehicle, but the company disappeared in 1925.
Fast forward to 1997. The name Spyker is resurrected as a low-volume specialty-car manufacturer. The company unveiled the C8 Spyder in October 2000 and the fixed-roof Laviolette coupe in February 2001. Later it released the C8 Double 12S, a street-legal racer whose platform was used as the basis for Spyker's GT racing machines. The Spyder and Laviolette featured the Audi S8's 4.2-liter V8. It came in two variations, one producing 394 HP and the other 443 HP. Mated to this mid-mounted powerplant was a 6-speed sequential gearbox. The 443 HP version of the Laviolette boasted a top speed of 190 mph and 0-62 mph time of 4.2 seconds.
Spyker also developed a racing car called the C8 Double 12R based on the Laviolette but using a 4.0-liter engine. The car raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2002.


This Spyker is not the best rendered car in Gran Turismo 4.



Thursday, September 22, 2016

GT4 2004 FPV F6 Typhoon

Today's car in my GT4 car picture series is a 2004 FPV F6 Typhoon.


Sporting a coat of Mercury Silver, it is parked below in Beacon Hill.


FPV stands for Ford Performance Vehicles, and the manufacturer is based in Australia.


This is a rare car in the world of Gran Turismo as it only appears in GT4 and GT PSP, and the description reads as follows.

The FPV F6 Typhoon was the top-spec model of the XR6 series, based on the MkII facelift of the Ford Falcon, was launched in late 2004 as an entry-level FPV model. The utility version, known as the Tornado, entered production in 2005, based on the brand new BF-series Falcon. In 2005, the BAII F6 Typhoon was disqualified from Motor magazine's annual Performance Car of the Year competition due to clutch failures in 2 separate cars. After initially blaming the magazine's testers, FPV labelled the car as "simply too powerful" and withdrew the car from sale for several months while they engineered a fix. All of the cars released with the clutch issues were recalled. The F6 Typhoon returned, albeit in 6-Speed Automatic BF guise, to win Motor magazine's Australian Performance Car Of The Year award in 2006.



A powerful car and a high-performance vehicle, it goes however for low-key, nondescript, deliberately deceptive "sleeper car" looks.


And now it can be seen at Togakushi Kogen, Nagano, which is a "picturesque part of the prefecture known for traditions and pristine waters. This stage (?) is located on an icy road with a backdrop of beautiful snow-capped peaks".


The front end looks rather like my 2008 ford focus (Europe).




Tuesday, September 20, 2016

GT4 1970 Chaparral 2J Race Car

Now, what is this? A vacuum cleaner? An air con unit?


Noooo, it a car.


It's a Chaparral - the GT4 1970 Chaparral 2J Race Car.


And it's pictured here parked at Nanzenji.


A very powerful car, and with two available turbo upgrades in GT4, its power can be increased to over 1000 bhp.

However, it's rather hard to control, fragile, also likes to fly in GT4 for some reason... I look confused, shouldn't it like stick to the surface?


From the Gran Turismo file.


"Nicknamed "The Vacuum Cleaner", this car took the motoring world by surprise and became an icon in racing history."


The 2J may well be the most innovative, wildest racing machine ever created. The car, characterized by its big boxy rear end, entered the 1970 SCCA Can-Am racing series in North America, as the first machine in the series to feature active ground effects...in the form of a giant vacuum.
The Can-Am series was quite unusual as, at the time, there was no rule to limit the amount of horsepower for its race cars. Chaparral boss, Texas oil magnate Jim Hall, pulled a wild car from his sleeve when he created a race car that utilized two engines: one was a 690 HP powerplant to power the car and the other, an air-cooled snowmobile engine that powered a pair of large fans to suck the air flowing underneath the car, thus making it "stick" to the road surface. The area between the sides of the bodywork and the ground were sealed by floating pieces of high-strength Lexan. Nicknamed "The Vacuum Cleaner", the Chaparral 2J astounded race fans and the other Can-Am drivers alike.
Aside from its odd looks, the 2J often took pole position by several seconds over heady competition that included the previously-dominant McLaren M8D...that is, when it was running. The 2J experienced many mechanical problems in its maiden season, making every race it entered a thrilling event.
Before the start of the 1971 season, the SCCA banned the use of engines used for other than powering the car itself, and the Chaparral 2J was banished from motorsports forever.




Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Driving to GT5 Soundtrack

Here is me driving to GT5's racing playlist.

A lot slower in the real world than in the world of Gran Turismo.

Part 1


Shop RedBubble