GTPlanet

It’s a little funny to me that this week’s Rewind is being presented – the opening act, if you will – by an already prominent staple of the article itself; however, the community here is the central focus of the Rewind, and anything that makes the lives of the many easier will be showcased here.

The inaugural race weekend of the 2014 Formula One season is finally here, and while I maintain a gross of reservations regarding the new engine formula and some of the new/amended rulings, it’s a level of excitement that I couldn’t feign if I honestly tried to.

And another hits your ears, before you even know it, the latest regular episode of RPS is upon us, and it’s a pretty juicy one. Was fun to cover the wide-ranging topics and discuss what’s going on over at GT headquarters – “WHERE’S OUR UPDATE?!”

Today we’ve got our first roundtable discussion with the moderators of GTPlanet! Features moderators @TB, @Wardez, Administrator and GTPedia co-author @Famine as well as site founder @Jordan. Sit back and enjoy, had a good discussion covering many topics you should find entertaining. Expect a regular episode within the week!

Signups are open now for the first ever WRS Team Time Trial Challenge.  The event will feature member organized teams of 5 or 6 drivers, competing against one another in a series of time trial events, over 4 weeks.  Points for the event will be based on a formula that takes both final lap time and handicap into account, allowing drivers of all abilities to contribute to the success of their team.

Twelve days are all that stands between me and the beginning of the 2014 Formula One season, and I’ve kept myself oblivious to most of what has already been unveiled because, well, to be perfectly honest it’s rather confusing. For example, gone are the days of teams preserving their tires throughout the final qualifying session, because now the drivers that get through to Q3 will start the race on the tires used to set their fastest lap times in Q2, should they choose to not run Q3.

Today at 8 pm GMT, WRS Online will host a 2.4 Hour Mixed Class Endurance Race at the Silverstone GP Circuit.  Qualifying and support races have already taken place, and the field of 16 drivers is locked in.  The race will feature 7 GT1 class drivers, and 9 GT3 class drivers, as detailed below.

GTP is host to the GT6 Nurburgring 24 Hours online endurance racing event organized by CORE. Running on its 3rd year for 2014 and on Gran Turismo 6 for the first time. Nine multi-driver teams from all over the world will challenge themselves with the grueling task of completing a 24 hour race in real time. As with real life endurance racing, this race will be all about strategy; it’s not all about speed, the teams that play their driver swaps, pitting, set up and adaptability to changing conditions the best will come out on top.

We’ve been down this road many times in the past and I’m sure many of you know, at least by now, that I’m a photomode junkie. The photomode efforts present in Gran Turismo, and by extension, the efforts present in our very own Photomode Forum for GT6 are quickly becoming a cornerstone of GTPlanet.

If you’ve been around Internet forums like ours over the past ten years, there is a good chance you have come across image hosting service ImageShack. It has grown to become one of the largest image hosting services on the web, and has long been a popular choice for users in our community here on GTPlanet.

WRS Time Trials

The community here at GTPlanet has been as active as ever, if you haven’t taken notice by now, we have a new GT Suggestions forum where you can let your imagination run wild and list your suggestions that you firmly believe would make Gran Turismo the game of your dreams – whether it be with additional vehicles, tracks, or features. There’s plenty of activity already so I’ll take a moment to list off some of my favorites:

WRS Online events are in full swing, with 2 Weekly Races already behind us, and our first Special Event on the horizon.  On the weekend of February 22nd and 23rd, WRS Online will host a 2.4 Hour Mixed Class Endurance Race at the Silverstone GP Circuit.  The event is open to current members of and recent applicants to our GTP_Registry.

It seems that with every new month—some could even say every new week—we’re playing the waiting game until the next big thing comes to Gran Turismo 6, and the aspect itself may have inadvertently become a game within a game to some; being on the lookout for the newest feature or improvement that will further the overall enjoyment of the game itself. It’s devilishly clever and often results in a think-tank of untold proportions.

When we first launched our book, GTPEDIA: GTPlanet’s Guide to the World of Gran Turismo, in November of 2012, we knew it would need to grow and change as the games evolved, and offered free, downloadable updates to cover corrections and new additions.

We’ve got quite the juicy post this time around, and you all deserve it having waited so patiently for our latest episode. It’s been a long time coming, but we think we’ve released something worthwhile in episode 15, where we cover all the news from the past month and do the usual rounds of speculation and distraction during our discussion.

What a week this has been, evolution has become a recurring topic of interest for GT6 not only in the Rewind but the entirety of the news page here at GTPlanet and this past Tuesday Update 1.04 was released providing continual proof that Gran Turismo 6 is a game with a clear intent: to evolve. There are now four new vehicles to race to your hearts content, but the big news – or should I say bigger news is tomorrow is the first of February which means GT6 is preparing to undergo evolution once again. It’s a cycle that’s seemingly never-ending.

On this Wednesday, January 29th, WRS Online will continue to support the online racing platform of GT6, hosting our first official weekly race event on GT6.  The Week 1 WRS Time Trial provides the platform for this race.  This exciting event features a car that’s brand new to the GT series, the Audi S1 quattro Pikes Peak Courtesy Car, on a returning favorite Original Circuit, Apricot Hill.  The races are open to anyone listed in the GTP_Registry.

It appears things are slowly beginning to heat up if this past week’s festivities are any indication, we are quickly closing in on the final days of January and will soon be welcoming the 1st of February, which means an update is on the horizon. What next month’s update(s) will contain is anyone’s guess, but if you tuned in to the roundtable discussion earlier this week then you’ll know what’s been teased, and if you don’t know you’re in for quite the surprise so continue to read on.

Everybody has opinions and ideas on what they’d like to see in a Gran Turismo game, but with thousands of messages posted in GTPlanet’s forums every day, it can be difficult to get a clear picture of what people are really asking for.