Beater or Sleeper? GT6 Car of the Week Thread



Much like how few anime interest me outside of Cowboy Bebop, few Japanese cars outside of the Acura/Honda NSX really grab my attention. Nissan GT Dash R or Lexus LF Dash A? I respect what they can do, but they wouldn't even make an appearance on my supercar wish list. It's even more true for JDM models for me. Say, "Toyota Corolla" and I think not of Initial D but "Idiot going 50 in the passing lane." But back during the PS1 era of Gran Turismo, there was something I liked about the Honda Integra. I'm not sure what it was, whether it was the non-econobox styling, the speed and competitiveness it had while still having novice-friendly front wheel drive, or maybe just the tenuous connection it had with the NSX with that "Type R" badge.

Fast forward a decade and a half and this revisit of an old friend. I can say some of what I remembered about it wasn't merely optimist nostalgia. Plenty of power, quick and direct steering feel, and it still looks as good as it did back when all you needed to do to cause mass panic was utter, "Y2K." One thing that has changed though, has been me myself. As my skills got better through the iterations of Gran Turismo (as well as a one-console-generation fling with Forza Motorsport), and I've become more adept at keeping rear-drive cars under control, going back to the Integra now felt a bit like putting training wheels back on a bicycle. The Integra's understeer isn't horrible at all, but it will never fool you into thinking it's power isn't going to the front wheels. It's still a good car, still worthy a sleeper designation, but it's no longer one of the first cars I'd call upon for its PP level.



And part of the reason for that is a result of this week's Tuesday night races. It started as a Mr. Regular style riff asking "Which Type R is best Type R?" While I'm not sure we answered that question, it did cause me to turn this week's review into a comparison.



The '08 Honda Civic Type R. A decade newer than this weeks' car, if the Integra had gone to college, gotten married and a middle management job, it would've become the Civic Type R. It's grown older, matured, but there's still some of that excitable kid from high school left in it. Yes, I hear the purists now complaining it's too big and too heavy compared to the old Integra, but what I took away from the '08 Civic is that it can pretty much do whatever the old Integra could do. Buzzy, excitable naturally aspirated four cylinder? Check. Sharp and responsive steering feel? Check. Mild understeer as you chuck it through the corners? I felt the Civic handled every bit as well as the Integra, despite the extra weight.

The only differences I found with the Civic were both positive ones, more power and the premium treatment. In fact, for this weeks' time trial, I was unable to crack the 2:10 mark in 4 laps on the Integra at Tokyo. Hopped in the Civic afterwards (at full horsepower), and promptly laid down a 2:08.316 on the first try. The Integra then, is one of those cars whose biggest fault is having a better alternative sitting a few spaces down the showroom from it.

 
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Another car added to my favorites thanks to CotW. A former go to car for me back when, but walked away long ago and never looked back. My reasoning, because it was the obvious or predictable choice and because I wanted to try other options. Now I welcome it back with open arms.
 
This week we had the chance to test out the '98 Honda Integra Type-R DC2. The Integra is a great car for beginners to the game as it has decent speed and very easy to drive. As for experience drivers, this car is begging to be pushed to it's limits. It took me a race to get a feel for this car and I could definitely push the car to it's limits and not have any consequences. The Integra also has some decent brakes where you could potentially late brake into the turn and make a pass on the inside. Overall this car is great for both beginners and veterans of GT and I would give it a sleeper title.
 
Thanks to the Brazilian GP, this week gets announced a tad early.

tankuroded
I forget which year is it, but the DC2 is my main car for beginner and intermediate A-spec seasonal races - it racked countless wins from there.
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Congratulations tankuroded! You've been selected as this week's winner, and have control over our destiny for the following week. What sort of scrapper do you have in mind?

tankuroded
I pick...
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...it's the 1999 Toyota GT-ONE (TS020)!!!

I'll admit, I didn't see that one coming. But to be fair, there was a road model (sadly no longer in GT), and it was once piloted by Keiichi Tsuchiya, and that's good enough for me! But I'm not quite sure on how I'll be able to take my daughter to school in it.

I guess she can just sit on the rear wing and hope for the best.

Congrats also go out to @RacingOtaku86 for laying down a mind-altering 2:06.252 during last week's time trial, nearly a full second ahead of the pack! This week's challenge is a 24-minute affair around, you guessed it, Le Mans.

With a twist.
 
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CowboyAce57
@ToyGTone
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"CowboyAce57 mentioned you in a post in the thread..."

Oh cool...:D

"Beater or sleeper? COTW..."
Okay...

"Week 97: '99 Toyota GT-One (TS020)"

Uhh...What!? Run run.. run away.! :ill:
This is embarrassing...

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Obviously I drove that Prototype times and times. What I'm going to say is that: this car is fast but it's some times uncontrollable or juat uncomfortable to drive. Is it good? Yes. Is it on the top of the LMP's and Group C cars? Sadly it's far from being on the top in this case.

Unless you did a tune that makes the car much better at handling. I'm (well sadly)...I'm a beater...if you wanna a better LMP then try my younger brother...:D the TS030.

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Man...I wished if they do bring back the road version and fix the livery of the race one...I want to see the correct one's...not the fake "exxon" one instead.
 
The Toyota TS020...a quick history. It was built and campaigned by Toyota Team Europe as preparation for Toyota's entry into Formula One in 2000. One TS020 road car was built to satisfy the homologation requirement for the GT1 class in 1998. The road car now resides in the TMG factory that built the car. The 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans was dubbed "The Race of the Century". It was also Toyota's last chance to win with the GT-One. The 3 cars had all star driver lineups and it was the quickest car in the lead up to the race. The race was a full on dogfight between the Toyotas and the new-for-1999 Mercedes CLRs. The Toyotas had one catastrophic flaw in its design, however. After one stint of fast laps, the left rear tire would overheat and delaminate, which caused two of them to retire during the night and the lone remaining car to drop from the lead with hours to go.
I haven't driven it in the game in awhile, so I need to drive it again. However, it is IMHO the prettiest LMP ever made. It's so unbelievablely gorgeous!
 
McClarenDesign
Congrats also go out to @RacingOtaku86 for laying down a mind-altering 2:06.252 during last week's time trial, nearly a full second ahead of the pack! This week's challenge is a 24-minute affair around, you guessed it, Le Mans.

With a twist.
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turismoslayer
Nice one @RacingOtaku86! Congrats!
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Thanks you two. I do have to admit, I used SRF in that run. I thought the leaders were using it too so I tried it out and the rest is history. I will say that without SRF, my best was a low 2:09 with a possibility of going for a 2:08.
 
Sunday night and the two old geezers got together for this week's nightime TT at Circuit de la Sarthe. We set ourselves an initial goal of 3m 30s laps and on lap 5 of his session @Baron Blitz Red recorded his best of 3:30.076 and I managed to be a full half second slower on my sixth lap with a 3:30.668.

Since recording these last night Baron has gone on to smash through our initial speed ceiling with a :bowdown: 3:27.561 so there's your target guys!

​
 
Baron Blitz Red
ATTENTION!!!:

@McClarenDesign is now Under Investigation for making up car brands as he goes along. ;)

Cheers
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That must be an absolute first in COTW history; rather than resorting to incorrect pictures to showcase certain cars, McClaren has gone the extra mile and invented a brand new car brand and model! This is indeed historical, and must be recorded in that "secret project" that our esteemed friend and COTW's CEO has been brewing over the past few months... It will be a missed oportunity otherwise, a great one at that. :sly:

As for the Toyota "please don't call me oyota" GT-One, I do recognize its value, but as a late 1990's LMP it is stuck in a very bad place performance-wise, and spending large amounts of Money on outdated LMPs is not a policy that I hold dear unfortunately. It is quite pretty, and much like the Celica GT-Four WRC car, it's a great proof of what a car company can do when it comes to exploiting loopholes... A fuel tank that when empty would theoretically double as a storage space, only something that the GT-One's racing class could get away with, gentlemen.
 
What an absolute machine! I have never driven the GT-One in the previous GT's but I can imagine it was a real beast! While lapping Le Mans it was thrilling and exciting pushing the Toyota to it's limit and beyond and yes it lead to some spins but hey it happens.

I have been following this thread for a while and I wish I found it earlier now with the TT's! My best lap so far is 3:28.328 Hopefully I'll take another shot later but for now I'll let my burning DFGT rest.
 
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Thomas2012
What an absolute machine! I have never driven the GT-One in the previous GT's but I can imagine it was a real beast! While lapping Le Mans it was thrilling and exciting pushing the Toyota to it's limit and beyond and yes it lead to some spins but hey it happens.

I have been following this thread for a while and I wish I found it earlier now with the TT's! My best lap so far is 3:28.328 Hopefully I'll take another shot later but for now I'll let my burning DFGT rest.
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@Thomas2012 Excellent time. Welcome to the COTW thread/club :)
 
Baron Blitz Red
ATTENTION!!!:

@McClarenDesign is now Under Investigation for making up car brands as he goes along.
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McClarenDesign
...it's the 1999 Toyota GT-ONE (TS020)!!!
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@Baron Blitz Red is under investigation for bringing "Car of the Week" into ill repute. @McClarenDesign has been cleared of any wrongdoing, and no further action will be taken.

Thomas2012
Thank you :) I've always enjoyed reading the posts everyone does and now I hope I can come up with some at least interesting reads with some decent times đź‘Ť
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@Thomas2012 is under investigation for exceeding the "decent times" limit and unapproved use of Aussie Grit.









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