Kyle Patrick

GT6 players were met with a short Maintenance period earlier this week, after which the game moved up to v1.22. Barely tipping the scale at 35 MB, the update fixes a known exploit in Career Mode, where previously-suspended Championships could be restarted on a User-Created Course.

This guest contribution is by Bryan Heitkotter, 2011 United States GT Academy Champion. As the first US GTA graduate, Bryan has driven a wide variety of vehicles over the years, from the wild Juke-R to the GT3 GT-R. He’s also shared the wheel with fellow GT Academy pupil Nick McMillen. Here, Bryan recounts his experience at the 2015 NISMO Festival.

Last month saw Ayrton’s dominating MP4/4 land in FM6, along with six other cars in the eBay Motors Car Pack (in addition to November’s free car, the NISMO GT-R LM). For December, variety is again the order of the day, with a little something for everyone. Two modern cars – one a bruising GT, the other an insane hypercar – are joined by two 90’s racers, a late 80’s Aussie homologation special, the last Ferrari to win overall at Le Mans, and a great big chunk of 50’s Americana.

Need For Speed launched at the beginning of the month to generally favourable reviews. In GTPlanet’s own review, the game’s limited customization features and the AI rubber-banding were two of the standout criticisms. The first patch, released last week, specifically addresses both of those issues, as well as adding more content to the game, free of charge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRkv9Qq_A4E

(EDITOR NOTE: The majority of the links below will only show the sale price starting at 00:01 Friday. eBay UK Lightning Deal links may change and/or expire at any time.)

The last WRS Championship of 2015 is about to get underway. Mentioned earlier this week, the event will be running breathed-upon GT500 cars, hovering around the 600 PP mark, with the first race taking place at Suzuka.

The staff here at GTPlanet have plucked another ribbon from the hundreds currently available in our GT6 Track Database. In our last installment, we covered La Tour Eifel, a rolling fantasy track crafted by one of our own. This week, we’re heading back to the realm of replicas.

After teasing us last week, Fanatec has shown off their newest product in full, the CSL Steering Wheel P1. Compatible with the Club Sport Wheel Bases (the original as well as V2), the CSL wheel is unique among the existing lineup, as it doesn’t require the Universal Wheel Hub to perform on the XBox One.

As GT6’s two year anniversary approaches, our community has hit a slightly shorter milestone of its own. GTPlanet’s weekly Photomode competitions are now in the triple digits, a number that deserves celebration. Like all good celebrations, prizes are up for grabs too, with two Premium memberships available.

Sim racers on Microsoft’s system look set to get a new option in the increasingly-crowded affordable wheel market. Fanatec released the above image on Facebook yesterday, showing a leather-clad wheel with an integrated information panel and centre-line. Visible behind the wheel are the expected flappy-paddles, but beyond that, there isn’t much more info available in the original image Fanatec supplied.

Welcome again to GTPlanet’s GT6 Track of the Week, where we highlight impressive creations from within the community. After the tight, tricky Zandvoort replica from Week 4, we’re moving back to the realm of fantasy circuits.

Back in the early spring of 2015, Forza Horizon 2 had a tie-in car pack (and spin-off, standalone mini-game) with a little movie titled Furious 7. You may have heard of it: not only did it break the record for shortest time for a film to break the $1 billion dollar worldwide gross mark (17 days), it’s gone on to be the second highest-grossing movie of the year. A serious force, then.

Need For Speed is a racing touchstone for a lot of people. Up there with Mario Kart and Gran Turismo, it is a name that crosses boundaries, recognizable to not only the driving-obsessed, but also those that don’t consider video games “their thing”. It even has the necessary cachet to attract Hollywood, delivering a movie last year starring Jesse Pinkman (a move the GT franchise looks likely to follow).

It’s that time again! In between Jordan’s coverage of SEMA – take a look at the finalists if you haven’t yet, before a winner is crowned – we’re delivering another selection hand-picked by the GTPlanet staff from our constantly-growing GT6 Track Database.

While the 44th Tokyo Motor Show brought us plenty of interesting Gran Turismo news – a slightly modified version of Nissan’s Vision GT car made its debut, while Toyota’s new S-FR small sports car was playable – one thing that may have flown under some radars was Polyphony’s newest motion simulator rig, which was set up specifically for taking the little Toyota for a spin in a special limited edition of GT6.

Forza Motorsport 6 continues its monthly DLC schedule this week with the second pack since release, scheduled for release tomorrow, November 3. A predominantly racer-oriented pack, the ride taking centre stage is one of the winningest cars in F1 history: the McLaren MP4/4. Winning all but 1 race in the 1988 season – with 10 1-2 finishes no less – it has a lasting legacy on the sport, introducing the reclined seating position that is still used today. With the legendary teammates (and rivals) of Senna and Prost, it truly is a car for the history books. It’s probably not a stretch to say it should prove a popular choice for players.

We’re a tiny bit late this week – you may have noticed one or two big news articles the last few days – but fear not, the third GTPlanet Track of the Week pick is here!

It’s been a long week, full of ups and downs, for 56 Gran Turismo 6 players. Back on the 5th of the month, the European edition of GT Academy 2015 kicked off in the hot and hazy climate of Abu Dhabi.

This past August, tragedy struck in IndyCar, when Justin Wilson was involved in a fatal accident at Pocono Raceway. It marked the second death in as many months in professional motorsports, with Jules Bianchi passing away the month previous due to injuries he suffered in 2014. In Bianchi’s case, it was the first death related to an on-track accident in F1 since Ayrton Senna’s in 1994; for Wilson, the first since Dan Wheldon in 2011.