BESTesters: A theme Gallery to top all theme galleries! *Update* 01.17.06 BMW 330i

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Lotus Elise 111R (By Sejtur)

Time At Deep Forest Raceway: 1’28.765

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Let’s start with the sentence: ‘this car is a man’s toy.’ But is it really a toy? First, it’s got great looks; no matter in what angle you look from, it is a tough little car. The four front lights looks really sharp and with the grill it looks like a shark ready to attack. The backside of the Elise doesn’t look bad either. High on its wheels and two exhausts in the middle, with four little round taillights. It looks smooth and rough at the same time, that’s for sure. And when you’re on the inside, driving, you feel like inside a Go-Kart. At least, the characteristics of the car lean to that. Even with all the aids off, you won’t be spinning off the track when you’re eventually a beginner. The gears don’t need to be changed, the gaps between the ratios are fanta. And, what about the acoustics? You have a cool roar behind your back, a pretty nice soundtrack to listen to. It’s the 1796cc engine, placed just behind your seat. The engine will give you his maximum horsepower at 7800 roots per minute, 189hp. And that is, if you put it in a comparing the weight: 860kg and 189hp times twice, almost a supercar. So is it still a man’s toy? It really is. You can cruise around with it with your chick, going 260km/h. And you can drift it when changing the suspension slightly. In short, this car is everything a man with a young mentality needs: a toy.
 
I can tell that this will be a big and great thread. 👍 👍

The pictures and the reviews are great and entertaining. 👍

Just one question though, how did the members get chosen? I don't want to be a member, but that doesn't mean I'm not curious. :dopey:

Keep up the great work. 👍
 
.Duck.
I can tell that this will be a big and great thread. 👍 👍

The pictures and the reviews are great and entertaining. 👍

Just one question though, how did the members get chosen? I don't want to be a member, but that doesn't mean I'm not curious. :dopey:

Keep up the great work. 👍
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I'll pm you how it happened, i am requesting that if ppl have questions, just pm a member or the bestester name. thanx
 
Solid work guys 👍 Race Reports Forum (sort of) meets Photo Forum. Good reading and awesome pics.

If you do take requests I woluld love to see one of you take on the Mazda RX-7 Type-R Bathurst (01) :dopey: (Innocent Mica Blue). A wonderful car to drive and take pictures of.
 
M3_CSL
Solid work guys 👍 Race Reports Forum (sort of) meets Photo Forum. Good reading and awesome pics.

If you do take requests I woluld love to see one of you take on the Mazda RX-7 Type-R Bathurst (01) :dopey: (Innocent Mica Blue). A wonderful car to drive and take pictures of.
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I'll try to do that one( If I can get one.) It might not be that color but I'll try. If I can't get one, then I'll do the Spirit R probably.
 
Driver: ekmatt f00!

BESTesters BMW M3 '04 Report:

Deep Forest Raceway Time: 1'27.129

Exterior:
I love this M3's exterior. GT4 developers could have softened some edges though. For example, the whole front end of the car could've been softer because the way the lights were, you can still see pixels right along the edges. The rear when you look at it, looks very similar to a very pretty woman's booty :D The curves flow nicely :) I like the color I chose for this car. I would have prefered it in black, but I didn't think it would fit right with the track choice I picked. I have put the last set of rims in the BBS selection of the wheels place in GT Auto. Over all for the exterior, 1-10, I would say a 9. I'm from Europe myself, and me and my brother are fanatics of the M3, so yeah, this would be my favorite BMW in the game.



Pro's on the track:
Since this is a FR car, when you go through the corners, it is smooth. The ride height is at a stance where you don't see or feel a lot of body roll in the car. The spring rate is a bit stiff in the front though. I would lower it about 1.0 - 2.0 maximum in the front spring rate. When you go into the corner with this car, you have to put the brake on a little more than you normally would. This is a heavy car, about 1400 kg's I believe. The brakes could use a little upgrade...The tires work very well with this car stock and with no Driving Aids, that's what lets this car move gradually and smoothly in the corners. However...If you just try to go into a turn with full throttle, you will feel the car start to understeer, and then the car will do a little drift, but don't try and drift it because you will eventually go into the wall or the dirt in second. Don't counter steer, just keep steering in the direction you want to go. The speed is very well too. With 344 horsepower to the wheels stock, I say it's very well thought out for the engine plan. Over all, the handling and the pro's on this track from 1-10, I say about 8 or 9. Nothing is great, nothing is bad, it's just a very well tuned BMW M3 :)



Con's on the track:
The major issue with most cars in GT4 is the understeer it has. This BMW does not have that big of an issue as I thought it would. It only understeers while you hold out the throttle through the whole turn. I suggest braking and then turning in slowly when you go into a turn because I guarentee you won't make it the first time around. The body roll is very limited this time. You can barely feel it and barely see it. I had no problem with it forcing me off the track as much as I did with other cars, including the Civic :) No one ever thought I'd say that huh? The torque numbers are good, I just would have expected more since it's a M3 and such :) This M3 drifts time to time when you "feint" with it. For example, swerve side to side, or when you go into a turn and swerve out and then swerve back in. The car's rear end will whip out a tiny bit. This isn't the worst car in the GT4 game, hell, I think it's one of the top 10 in my honest opinon. Now 1 being okay and 10 being bad, this would be a 2. The only major issue is the understeer I believe.



In Conclusion:
For a BMW, I couldn't expect less or more from it. These cars are powerful beasts. I would never mind having one. Even if the wheels were stolen, I still wouldn't mind. With 344 Horsepower to the rear wheels, who can't resist? This is a wonderful car. I highly suggest who ever starts off with a new GT4 file, and transfers their credits and start off with 110, 000 Cr., to buy this car and use it to the max, if you want any specific settings that are tuned, please PM ekMatt9 and I can help you out. 1-10 Overall with this car, I say a 9. All I can say is that I love it :) And it's even fun doing burnouts and donuts in it!!



*NOTE* The burn out picture along with the whip was NOT photo shopped.
 
Great pics Matt! I have a hard time getting a quality shoot out of that track. You did great....liking the write up. Awesome addition :)
 
Thank you VR6gti72. I did my best with the track. I don't like it, I only picked it because of the color of the car and the ocean :)

And 440cuda, thank you also. I wanted the CSL too, but I was low on cash :lol: What did you mean I left out vr6 gallery??
 
G.Boss

Ruf RGT vs. Ruf Yellowbird

Yellowbird time- 1.21.274
RGT time- 1.19.391


Ruf Yellowbird
Ruf, a name that conjures up images of speed, power, beauty, and Porsche, has created a wonderful machine, the Ruf Yellowbird. This beast cranks out over 400 horses that absolutly launch you out of the starting gate. Floor it, and you'll just make a nice big eleven. Point is, it is FAST!

Looks
As you can blatently see, this Ruf is yellow, *surprise surprise* And yellow is not exactly a mans color. In fact, it isn't a mans color or a womans color, it's just a color, and that makes this car look strange, yet appealing in a unique way. Ruf have added many black body panels, especially around the back end, to add contrast to the car and make it look meaner. And I have to say, they did a pretty good job. In todays day and age, it looks retro, yet you can still tell, if it pulls up next to you at a stop light, that in a few seconds, you will become a heavy smoker. :sly:

Track
On the track, this is a fun car. You just let off the throttle a bit, and the back end swoops out like a dogs tail. The problem though, is that the car just doesn't have the power to turn it into a full blown power slide. It just sorta, skids. However, once I learned the point of this, I realized that Ruf engineers are geniuses. In the middle of a corner, while the car is understeering, if you need a bit more angle to make the turn work, you ease up and the car readjusts mid-corner. If you learn to do this smoothly, it can become a great weapon and will significantly improve your times. This does become a problem though. It is great, but you always need your full attention to drive, and a slight miscalculation will send you off the track. Basically, it isn't a car for the faint of heart or the sunday afternoon driver.



Ruf RGT

Looks
Porsche, there is no substitue. And that's it. The curves, the silhoutte, and lines, they are all ledgendary and are known by everyone. You will never mistake a Porsche for a Ferrari or Honda. As you can see, this car is vuluptuous. It isn't bold or crying for attention, but rather held back, while still looking like the car that will beat your a**.

Track
The track is where whis car really shines. It is extremely taut and stiff, with no roll what-so-ever. Also, this car will NOT slide. No matter how hard you drive it, it will stay firmly planted. In fact, for it to lose any grip at all, it would have to be in the air, and even then it would probably drive on the air. Why? Because it's so light. This car just feels miniscule and manueveurs like Ronaldo in the World Cup. There are absolutly no problems with handling when it comes to this car. Ruf/Porsche earn the gold medal for handling. Power wise, this car does feel a bit weak. Not that the speed is slow, but more that the sound doesn't back up the speed up. Until that it, when you reach 7000 rpm. Then the monster just howls like a wolf on steroids. Beautiful. I love it! (Disclaimer: Pics are of drifting because the car was set up for drifting to make pics nicer. You will NOT achieve these results at home. :sly: )





Comparision

Two Rufs, 2 Porsches. So similar, yet so different. One old, one new. One wild, one controlled. One slidey, one grippy. These cars are the two offerings that are the best of both worlds. I like the RGT better because of its looks and speed. It is more stable and calm than the Yellowbird, though to realease anger, the Yellowbird is perfect. In conclusion, they are both amazing machines, that have a lot of life in them, but the RGT smokes the Yellowbird any day of the week.
 
Great addition G. Boss for the BESTesters team!! I love the comparison you did between the 2 Ruf's ;) And the last back fire pic is hawt!! I set it as my desktop background :D
 
: VR6GTI72

Renault Avantime

Deep Forest time 1.43.653


First Impression: I wanted to pick something "different"...and I have an odd fascination with "ugly" cars. This 2 door minivan really appealed to me but I wasn't expecting much especially in stock form. Its a FWD with 208hp and allot of rear end to throw around. As far as looks go....I think its a damn cool car/van/thing. I haven't seen anything like it and figured it was available for a reason. So I hop in and run it through its paces. First stop the Drag strip....



1/4 mile time: 16.803

Well we knew out of the gate that this wasn't going to be a hair raising trip down the strip. It did turn a pretty good number for such a big vehicle. The comfort suspension didn't like a hard launch and stopping was even more of a challenge for it. There is allot weight transfer going on and it makes me nervous thinking about when its going to be on a road race track . On the launch it actually spun the wheels a bit, so that's a plus and it wasn't struggling to get to the red line. If you think about it a 16 second run in such a big vehicle isn't too bad, because there are smaller cars that can run similar times without the extra weight and about the same horsepower. Next stop....The Snow.



So I figure this type of vehicle would most likely visit the snow at some point of its life and thought it would be a good idea to see how it behaves in an extreme environment with the kids in the back...all we need are some kids. We manage to coax 3 kids into the van with some leftover Halloween candy and proceed to take it up the hill real quick before the parents notice. Once on the snow this was actually a tame experience. It responds rather well and once you get the feel of how to get that back end around, the 208 hp have no problem keeping it under control while pulling it out of the apex of hard turns. It also doesn't seem to bog down during gear shifts and stays in the power band for the most part. It pretty predictable and it doesn't make sudden movements so its perfect for that trip skiing. Im impressed at its performance here but its not winning any races. We manage to get down the hill in a timely manner and drop of the kids off at local Dairy Queen before heading home....next stop Deep Forest.



Here is where I was really worried. I took it easy the first couple laps, while Im trying to push the Avantimes limits. I finally get a feel of its "track attitude". Its a FWD so I was already prepared for "under-steer city" and boy oh boy was it. The body roll was nuts. It nose dives into corners if your coming in hot. It did well on the uphill spots and coming out of a hard turn though. I thought it would bog down. It was able to pull itself into the red line well even uphill, that's a plus. For a FWD van it was a really good sport on the track and wasn't nearly as bad as I was prepared for.

All in all its a sporty minivan that pulls its weight surprisingly well in the snow and on the track. With a good suspension it will be a ton better and it will clean up the sloppy body roll of the comfort suspension. On a scale from 1-10 (10 being great) I give it a 6. That's a great score for a FWD van that cant hold a candle to most of the other competition. It wont win any races but its throws it weight around well.
 
Again Great works Guys. This is like a Car & Driver issue that never ends!! I Love it! 'Nother Idea I have. If any of you have a car in real life that is in GT4, do a comparison between the GT4 Car and the real life car. Pics like you take in GT4 too. ;) That would be sweet.
 
speedy_2
Again Great works Guys. This is like a Car & Driver issue that never ends!! I Love it!
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Exept you cant take it into the bathroom with you...well I guess if you have a laptop :yuck:
 
Nice work on the M3 👍 , good reading and high quality pictures, will take one of my own out and try to create some smoke screens :p
 
Mazda RX-7 Type R Bathurst R '01

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Most of the car enthusiasts in the world know the Mazda RX-7. Partly because of its looks, partly because of its speed but mainly because of its engine. Mazda has fine-tuned the concept of a rotary engine to perfection and they even won Le Mans once with a rotary-engined car. But how does this engine perform?

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It feels a bit lifeless at low revs but as the needle gets closer to the redline the turbo gives a significant kick in the back and the engine unleashes all of its 294 wild horses with a unique howl. It's hard to believe that a 1300cc engine can produce this much power but that's the fact.

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The car looks great, a classic sports car with a long nose and aggressive looks. If you see the distinctive front spoiler in your rear-view mirror you can be sure that the next thing that you will be seeing are four round tail lights and a double exhaust. The rear wing is quite modest but it completes the sporty side profile of the RX-7.

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And then to the handling. Thanks to the small size of the engine the car is light and well-balanced. It can be thrown into almost every corner without fear of snap oversteer, it will always be neutral. The RX-7 can be steered slightly on the throttle and drifting is easily possible after changing the tires to ones with less grip.

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The conclusion: an excellent sports car, but not a supercar.

Time on Deep Forest: 1.25.771

+ Handling in every aspect
+ Overall performance
+ Gorgeous looks

- Engine power below 3000rpm

Brought to you by Greycap
 
Wow or something :dopey: , how the heck did you put this together in so short time :confused: :bowdown: ? Every picture is beautiful with the second to last one as my favourite 👍 (I’m a sucker for speed shots) :rolleyes: :cheers:
 
Because I'm just so good. :D

Not really, I already had the car, everything went as planned and I found good angles quickly. The text isn't my best but I hope it'll do. You're welcome. :)
 

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