GT6 Two Weeks On

Dear Diary...

I like GT6.
In fact I've kinda got used to the quirky tuning menus, it's not as good as GT5 in that respect, but it's more than made up for in the two tracks that I've been pretty much exclusively racing on....

And, thankfully the holiday season has seen a return of reasonable win amounts for racing, so the grind through the lower ranks has been fun.
Actually, they've been really fun as I have an Evo II Merc for the slow stuff and a couple of TC500 spec racers for anything up to 600pp racing (and a challenge that is too):

Turns out the classic muscle cars are fun too, look what I found!

And of course I had to try a RUF @ Brands. Noice.

But what I like, I really like...

So that is what I enjoy at the moment. And here is that last picture in glorious action:

And below is an almost nostalgic Carlton hooning it around Bathurst...

GT6 - GTQLD Review (sort of)

The question you're all asking I'm sure is what is it like for our league?
Well, I've done some research (and onerous it was too eh).

Look away now if you're saving the surprise...

The Car

Car: AMG C63 - TC500 Spec. Trying to get as close to GT5 spec as I could, for comparison...

Setup
I reckon the PP points are somewhat different, the car I reckon started with higher, so tuning is a lot harder. My C63 (much the same setup as GT5) has a lot of power limiting going on.
I'll not give too much away, but overall a similar car, though it does feel a little under powered.
I've done stuff to the body, and changed wheels etc. Also, it's a custom paint chip.

Tuning, much the same setup as GT5, stiffened & lowered suspension, no aero, camber a bit of diff etc. Pretty much the same as it was in GT5 actually.


The track
In a small voice, I'll say I'm not sure about Bathurst. It's a tricky track to master, so whilst it is great fun it's hard to put in a consistent lap I think. This was one of many laps that I did but one of only a few that actually counted.
In terms of lap times, well I'll let you get the stopwatch out for the video below, but in terms of other lap times:

• 2:04 Outright - that's in something other than a V8 super car.
• 2:08 - Ford / 2007
• 2:22 - Me, three laps in playing Live for Speed in a stock V8 race car.

And here is my lap (about four laps in):

Review

Not sure I need to say too much, there's a video of my largely lame driving above...

I think it's better than GT5, a lot better. Certainly the cars feel more alive and are less forgiving than in GT5. 

It's hard to pinpoint exactly, but I think the turn in on cars is much better, and there's more tyre squeal action, in GT5 this car is impossible to step out almost. In GT6 I swapped ends regularly, but always because of my bad driving, a drift arcade game it is not, at least with a race spec car.

The car seemed a bit asthmatic on the straights, but hoping and bouncing around the bends was plenty fast enough. Overall I'd say similar lap-times to GT5 if I concentrate (and have the same track of course!).

You'll see in the vid there's a few times I have to correct, this game, with these tyres (Racing Medium) it's going to be a proper test of skill over tuning I think. And on that note, I'm certain the tyres aren't as sticky as they were, or as above, something is making the cars more twitchy (good luck with your RUF Evan! - I've bought one and it's errr, interesting even at 460pp!).

Overall, it's a fantastic game for sure. You'll all find out for yourselves, but the interface is largely far superior to the mish-mash of GT5, though I don't like the car selection screen, a better tool needed there I think.
Also, I'm sure it's been mentioned elsewhere, but no more second hand cars - you can buy all the cars in the dealership. This actually is quite overwhelming - there's just hundreds of cars and dealers, unreal really, and of course great fun to go hunting cool cars - El Camino anyone?

Not sure I like the setup screens for handling, you have to adjust then check the pp points - I think that's a step backwards as it's a right pain trying to set the weight/power mix now. And I reckon more than one person will screw up their transmission as it's not clear what your top speed is if you get into ratio adjusting.

Many folks say they'll never go back to GT5, and I'd largely agree, it's like going between GT3 and GT5 - the physics are going to feel very wooden with GT5 now. Which is fine.

A couple of game set-up does & don'ts:

• If you're using a steering wheel, make sure you change the handling from 'arcade' to Professional or Sim. Personally I'm on Professional (the middle setting) but given the physics of these cars I'm going to try Sim I think.
• Don't turn on anti-flicker, I tried it and it introduced a lower frame rate as far as I can tell.

That's about it, open to comments and questions - vague review because I'm figuring you'll find this all out for yourselves soon enough!

[edit] And here is the lap record for Mount Panorama (Bathurst). No, it's not a V8 Supercar...

Just one day to go...

Or about three weeks if you're trusting the Aussie postal service.

Who isn't excited about this, and other cars.

I'll be online racing tonight with a tear in my eye. Events will be centred on created tracks - as we'll not have those until I get back into track editing.

Cheers
Andrew

Apricot Hill

GT6 has Apricot Hill.

This is good news. This is very good news as it's a great test'n'tune track to say the least, and a good all round short track.

And, I remembered I had a video clip from my GT4 days - apologies for the low quality, the technology wasn't all that back then...

Wooo hoo, errr wait...

Now as we know there are some very cool features coming with GT6, and if you fancy a trip to Kuwait (almost completely not a warzone) you can pick up a copy now. If you don't want to spoil the surprise stay off the fourms I say.

But, as in the reveal here, we will see a return of the "coffee break" events.

Great I think you'll agree, but I'll just quote this:

These are mini-games that appear between events in the Career Mode. There are many challenges that can be tried over and over again, such as a cone knockdown event inside a stadium, and eco-challenges where you compete for how far you can drive on just 1 litre of petrol.

I bet we're all excited at how far we can drive on a litre of petrol eh!. Personally, I think we should compete to see how quickly we can burn through that litre - much more fun!

When the rally goes to poo - literally

Mikko Hirvonen eats...

GT5 News.

Well folks, 2 weeks until GT6 is released and I'm a bit sad actually. Sat doing 3 minute hot laps around a custom Toscana road course in a HRC460 car (a few actually) last night and it dawned on me that my well sorted collection of cars is probably never going to see the light of day again. Why would it, the track list that we know is included in GT6 is enough to move things on, new tracks include:

• Goodwood hill climb.
• Ascari
• Brands Hatch
• Silverstone
• Bathurst
• GT Arena (look it up in the link above).
• Willow Springs
• Matterhorn
• Apricot Hill

I bet there are more too...

We also get 25+ launch cars and $1m in the bank to go spend - again, why go back! If you've not got a pre-order, it's worth doing it for the extra cars you get. And of course some ultra classic cars out there too.

For the league two huge questions.... First, and I think this paramount, do we change our name! Ok so not so serious. The other question is do we want to restart the league in the new year in GT6? There are some cool features that we can make use of no doubt, and I do enjoy the racing.

Do let me know folks, without the league I'll just race on, and as time has proven, this game will be a great friend for some time. 

Raise a glass to GT5 folks - it's been fun!

Here are some pics from the racing we've had enjoy!

Cheers

Andrew

I've reached the edge...

...of the Internet again, this time at least it's motorsport related.
No sound to start with.

This is why should fear Russia, they don't break the rules, they have no rules.

GT 86 Meets WRC

Maybe enough to revitalise the WRC scene, but I doubt it:

Toyota Motorsport is developing a rally version of the GT86 sports car that will be eligible to compete in the World Rally Championship.


In other news here are some pics of cars that I've taken of late...

Great Fun

Great Wallpaper

Just Like This

Just Like When This Goes Around A Corner

Red. Neck. Gold. Car

587 Master Car

The Hill. The Mix

Well, you all missed a great day's racing and no mistake.
But, for a short period I took video footage on my phone...

No apologies for quality, this vid just doesn't do the day (or indeed the fact that I thought I'd kept my hand steady) justice.

Same time next year?

And of GT5 - expect to see a hill climb or two in this week's racing!

Oh my....

Look away now if you want to save the surprise of GT6...

Not long to go folks!