What is the meaning of GT-500, GT-300 and GT3 in the race menus?

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I can't really figure out the criteria for these Japanese race categories. It seems like I can use just one car for them all, like the Raybrig HSV 010 for instance. If I tweak the PP by adding or reducing power, I can enter and win all these races in Intl A races and be fine, but there must be a difference or else the classes wouldn't be in existence. What would be the correct car for each class? Can someone help me please?
Thanks, Pete
 
I can't really figure out the criteria for these Japanese race categories. It seems like I can use just one car for them all, like the Raybrig HSV 010 for instance. If I tweak the PP by adding or reducing power, I can enter and win all these races in Intl A races and be fine, but there must be a difference or else the classes wouldn't be in existence. What would be the correct car for each class? Can someone help me please?
Thanks, Pete

Wikipedia is your friend:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_GT
 
What do you mean? In the Super GT series GT3 cars race in GT300. Elsewhere in the world they race on their own.
 
Ahh OK I was thinking "GT3" as being a specific subset of GT-300, not actual straight-up GT3 race cars. I understand.
 
Can't find the thread that listed every car by class, but the GT500/300 cars are in the "Super GT" hopper of the Recommended Dealership, and GT3s are in the Touring Car section.
 
I believe I am right in saying that a GT3 car is a completely different car to a GT300, no?

Think of a GT3 more like a GT1 or a GT2 but to a slightly different set of regulations. GT3 cars must be rear-wheel drive if I remember rightly.

Essentially they are just a different type of car. It's the same as having LMP and GTE cars in the World Endurance Championship. LMPs are split into LMP1-H, LMP1-L, LMP2 (and LMP3) although to a first-time viewer, they may appear very similar.
 
By my way of understanding, you're in to a lifetime of searching the internet with this one.
I am under the impression that GT or whatever are just classes for events at the time of these events, and all entries must comply with the regulations to qualify for entry. These regulations change most years, and so do the cars.
I remember British GT racing a few years back with different classes of GT cars on the track at once. At the time, according to one ex driver turned commentator, the difference between British championship GT2 and GT3 cars was only the width restriction on the tyres, and the size of the air intakes allowed.
In another country's championship it could be very different.
 
GT500 and GT300 is already answered, but for GT3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_GT3

Group GT3, known technically as Cup Grand Touring Cars and commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various auto racing series throughout the world. The GT3 category was initially created in 2005 by the SRO Group as a third rung in the ladder of grand touring motorsport, below the Group GT1 and Group GT2 categories which were utilized in the SRO's FIA GT Championship, and launched its own series in 2006, the FIA GT3 European Championship. Since then, Group GT3 has expanded to become the de facto category for many national and international grand touring series, although some series modify the ruleset from the FIA standard. By 2013, nearly 20 automobile manufacturers have built or been represented with GT3 machines.

;)
 
They're specs regulations; sets of rules and specifications a car should conform with to be eligible to compete in an event. You can get those specs by looking their name up. The most obvious example would be Formula 1. Teams have to build their cars with respect to a set of regulations for it to be eligible to compete in the Formula 1 championship and be called a Formula 1 car, just like GT3 events require cars to comply with the GT3 specifications. A few other popular ones would be the LMP specs (LMP1, LMP2, LMPC...). As for GT300 and GT500, the main distinction is that GT300 caps horsepower at 300 and GT500 at 500, pretty easy to remember :P
 
I can't really figure out the criteria for these Japanese race categories. It seems like I can use just one car for them all, like the Raybrig HSV 010 for instance. If I tweak the PP by adding or reducing power, I can enter and win all these races in Intl A races and be fine, but there must be a difference or else the classes wouldn't be in existence. What would be the correct car for each class?
In GT6's career mode one can use any car he wants in GT300/GT500/GT3 championships as long as it's within the PP limits and with the proper tires.
In online lobbies when I put category restrictions it shows the following cars in my garage:

GT300
Cusco Dunlop Subaru Impreza
Arta Garaya
Weds Sport IS350
Amemyia AsparaDrink RX7
Subaru BRZ R&D Sport
C-West Razo Silvia

GT500
Lamborghini Nomad Diablo GT-1
Nissan Xanavi Nismo Z
Nissan Xanavi Nismo GT-R
Honda Keihin HSV-010
Lexus Denso Dunlop Sard SC430
Honda Raybrig NSX
Toyota YellowHat YMS Supra

GT3
Mercedes SLS AMG GT3
Nissan Nismo GT-R GT3
BMW Z4 GT3
Audi R8 LMS
 
.......The way I remember it, both GT500 and GT300 exists in Japanese racing scene only, while GT3 is somewhat more global; horsepower-wise, I think I saw in an article about SRO - Stephane Ratel Organization, guys who organize Blancpain and FIA GT series - GT3 cars and GT500 cars are similar level, around 500 horses.
SRO performs so-called "Balance-of-Performance" to ensure every racecars participating doesn't hold some sort of advantages over the other.

Here are SRO's link: http://www.sromg.com/

There are also GT4, GT4 Cup, and GT2. Oh and who can forget those insane GT1 machines!!

Edit: here's a little more info on GT3, from Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_GT3
 
The GT300 class of Super GT or JGTC as it used to be known was mainly made up of Japanese cars that were built to GT300 regs and weren't raced anywhere else in the world such as the Wedsports Celica/IS350, the MR-S, the Cusco Imprezas just to name a couple that are in game, they weren't built for any other series so one never saw then outside JGTC. This was all before GT3 even existed. When GT3 kicked off around mid 2000s the main non Japanese cars in GT300 were modified GT2 cars like the Jim Gainer Ferraris, the A Spec Aston Vantage etc. It's only in the first years that we've seen GT3 cars racing in GT300 such as the SLS GT3, McLaren and the BMW Z4 GT3.

I think it's great to see more European cars in the series thanks to co-operation between JAF and SRO but I do miss the grid being full of the crazier cars that only races in Japan such as the Shiden, the Lexus IS with the mid mounted engine and the Garaiya but the two hybrids in the class ( the Prius runs a V8 and the Honda Crz a twin turbo LMP motor) kinda continues the tradition of these cars that you don't see in any other category.
 
Basically, the way they all work as one category:

GT500 - The ones in GT are vastly outdated, current GT300's wouldn't be far off them at all.
GT300 - A blend of GT3 and JAFGT300 cars, BOP'd to keep it all even.
As for GT300 and GT500, the main distinction is that GT300 caps horsepower at 300 and GT500 at 500, pretty easy to remember
This, above, is the biggest misconception about the categories.

It may have been that way in JGTC, but since the GT3 takeover of GT300, the GT3's operate at pretty much full power. The GT300 cars have anywhere from 370-420hp, their advantage coming from aero/COG. Current GT500's are quoted anywhere up to 650.

For comparison on pace, a GT300 GT3 car is roughly 4 seconds a lap quicker than a WEC GTE Pro car.
 
James Courtney the V8 Supercar driver was quoted as saying that he raced with over 600hp when he raced for the Toms team in GT500 in the early 2000s. I think the 500hp power cap was adhered to moreso in the 90s then after the turn of the century ;)
 
James Courtney the V8 Supercar driver was quoted as saying that he raced with over 600hp when he raced for the Toms team in GT500 in the early 2000s. I think the 500hp power cap was adhered to moreso in the 90s then after the turn of the century ;)
Links to an interview or it didn't happen.
 
James Courtney the V8 Supercar driver was quoted as saying that he raced with over 600hp when he raced for the Toms team in GT500 in the early 2000s. I think the 500hp power cap was adhered to moreso in the 90s then after the turn of the century ;)

Maybe that's why R18 is too slow - PD took the "over 530 bhp" too strictly. The actual power might be in the 600.

Yeah I can see this complicating things a bit when trying to recreate the real car and performance - manufacturers being unclear and/or not wanting to reveal the real figures.

Then we wonder why X car is too slow.
 
Links to an interview or it didn't happen.

The interview was in a now defunct Australian print magazine called Speed which hasn't been in publication for some years now, the interview was probably mid 2000s just before he left Japan and started in V8 Supercars. Yes it did happen and I have the magazine in question but I don't have a scanner so you'll have to take my word for it.
 
I always thought of GT300 being like NASCAR Busch Cup and GT500 being like Winston Cup. The GT3's are like the IROC series. Hope that helps.
 

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