Car of the Week 228: COTY GTS Finale

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First time in a gt community Lobby. Good stuff.

I gave too much room into T1 at Suzuka. MAde up some places from last.

I didn't know who was in that Toyota. They kept blocking me in Practice and was slow at the start of the races. Tried to avoid them at NurbGP, but mayhem resulted for a few turns.

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Last race at St. Croix. Love the track and this car. A little bit hectic at the start, but made sure to give folks room to maneuver.
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Had fastest lap at the finish, but someone must have gone quicker. 👍
 
I've used the Pantera on and off in a bunch of different contexts and race type and honestly, it's one of the most composed and calm MRs I've driven in GT Sport. It may not be the fastest of the 70s wedges but it's got a lot of potential that can be wrung out.

I call it a Sleeper and I am so glad they added this machine in GTS.
 
On the night we raced the 97 Supra I posted in the lobby chat that I bet and hope we get the new Supra in the next update. It's the first time I've ever been right on new content.
Most of the Toyota's in this game are fun cars to drive and I bet this car will be one of the top Toyota's in the game now. Should be exciting.
 
On the night we raced the 97 Supra I posted in the lobby chat that I bet and hope we get the new Supra in the next update. It's the first time I've ever been right on new content.
Most of the Toyota's in this game are fun cars to drive and I bet this car will be one of the top Toyota's in the game now. Should be exciting.
Really cool thing is, we'll all be the only ones to sample it in anger, on many real world tracks, in one day!
 
I've used the Pantera on and off in a bunch of different contexts and race type and honestly, it's one of the most composed and calm MRs I've driven in GT Sport. It may not be the fastest of the 70s wedges but it's got a lot of potential that can be wrung out.

I call it a Sleeper and I am so glad they added this machine in GTS.

The Pantera also has one of the best engine sounds in the game.
 
This weeks car was the 97 Supra on SH tires. I honestly don't know how to rate this car anymore since the newest tire model was released. I watched people over drive this car into the corners all night long without losing any time and our race Interlagos was the worst. So many people would over shoot T1 every lap getting the car sliding completely sideways and smoke rolling from all 4 tires and lose almost zero time compared to those who took that corner smoothly.
Because of the insane amount of grip that cars have now its really hard to call anything a beater as you are no longer punished for over driving the cars and at the same time your no longer rewarded for driving the cars smoothly with precision.

After a couple of FIA Manufacturer races under this new model I now have to fully agree with you. As someone who usually makes hay trying to be a safe and consistent as possible, I feel like I'm now at a major disadvantage to the "EVERY LAP NEEDS TO BE A QUALIFYING LAP YOU NOOB SCRUB CASUAL!!!" crowd that I used to give a nonchalant shrug as they careened off course. Now I've seen people be way aggressive and badly overdrive a corner and still keep their position over me.

I'm already starting to lose my want to keep participating in the FIA races just as I was getting to the point where I was really enjoying them.
 
Figured my birthday would be a good time as any to finally get my reviews up. ;)

Two Jay-Z

The Supra has always been the poster boy for the JDM community alongside the R34 Skyline and the FD RX7, with its legendarily overbuilt 3.0 Inline 6(Courtsey of the good economy in Japan at the time so they could afford to overbuild things.) smooth lines and iconic rear wing, you’d think it’s driving experience would be like the second coming of christ. :P

In reality however it’s a different story.

While yes it’s engine can be made to put out 903hp fully tuned, the Supra never feels 100% comfortable taming that level of power anywhere except like SSRX or Le Mans.

I said when we drove it that it was more a GT car than an actual sports car as it felt unwieldy in some turns and not that great under braking as Interlagos showed.

That’s not to say the Supra’s a terrible car, far from it, but it’s not as great as the hype for it makes you believe.

If you want a proper 90’s Japanese sports car, you’re not short of contenders.

Hopefully the soon to be with us New Supra will be more sporty and less grand tourery.

Verdict: Neutral

Boxing Against The Clock

Fun fact, my birthday car was in fact the IOM Subaru TA racer, which is now setup for power tracks and also rallying, the original one will do everything else. :D

I could just say that’s it’s a 4wd version of the Gr3 Wrx as it’s capable of fighting Gr3 cars like the M6 GT3, but that’ll be just scratching the surface.

It’s a car that was built to answer a question that nobody asked, How fast COULD a 4 wheeled machine lap the legendarily fast and lethal Isle Of Man TT?

Subaru already had the record with a slightly modified WRX and it didn’t look like anyone else was gonna throw their name in the hat so the overkill?

Whatever the reason, I’m glad that they did it. :sly:

It hardly gave us any issues(Ok launching it quickly was tricky.), it stopped, turned and accelerated just how you’d expect it to do.

And then there’s the turbo flutter.. :drool:

PD has copped a metric 🤬 ton of flak for sounds in the past, and justifiably for most part, but with GTS, they are steadily ousting those demons. 👍

While 300k for a car you can hardly use in Career is steep, it’s hard to argue with its performance.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍

And lastly, the Pantera.

Hellbound Walk

Obvious references to the band with the same name out the way, on to the Pantera itself. :sly:

The Pantera is one of few classic Italian sports cars that was Italian styled, but American powered with a 351 Ford V8 as it’s pick.

The Pantera’s 5 speed gearbox while decent spaced out, didn’t make it easy to change gears quickly and thus you were cursing when it shifted slower into 3rd than last time, while the guy next to you had a good 2-3 shift and gained ground on you.

Didn’t half sound bad though and was rather forgiving to drive once you adapted to its weight, heck I was pushing like hell on the Seaside route and it didn’t even attempt to try and kill me with snap oversteer. :lol:

As classic mid engined cars go, it’s definitely the most approachable and usable for most skill levels.

Verdict: Sleeper 👍
 
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Nicki Lauda Procar Livery by seanbob666
From my first few laps in the De Tomaso Pantera I knew I had a winner on my hands. The combination of gorgeous Italian bodywork and glorious sounding American V-8 powertrain quickly endeared the car to me. I was also quickly impressed how stable it was in the corners for a mid-engine Italian car. True, it did push a bit on corner entry, but that's a lot easier to work around than sudden oversteer. Yet for some reason on Tuesday I kept finding myself getting blown out of the water by other drivers in their Panteras and wondering what I was doing wrong.

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It wasn't until the end of the night that I realized I was so slow because I wasn't pushing the car nearly hard enough. While some old mid-engine cars require very delicate driving, the Pantera didn't want to be babied at all and just kept giving more and more when asked of it. It may not have the outright speed of a GT40 or a Cobra, but it's much easier to go fast consistently in the Pantera. It really is a wonder this car wasn't a bigger hit with the public. Perhaps it was overlooked at the time, as the muscle car era still had some time left before the oil crisis came along and spoiled the fun.

The Pantera is a Sleeper, and also my early Leader in the Clubhouse for Car of the Year.

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The closest I'll probably ever come to doing an anime cosplay:

 
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I've always liked the Pantera in the game and in real life. Throw in some Italian Styling along with some Ford GT-40 Power slightly detuned from its race configuration and this is what gives the Pantera it's uniqueness. To me it's just more Raw than those high end exotics back then. This car wasn't built for show it was made to race.

I've personally driven around 2000 miles in my game Pantera and it sure doesn't disappoint for a car built in 1971. It's not the fastest in it's N-300 class but it's definitely one of the more fun cars to play around with.
My only negative about the Pantera is that it has more understeer than found on most MR cars. I like MR cars because of their tendency to oversteer and the Pantera falls short in that department but everything else about this car is simply pure attitude.

The Pantera 1971 (N300)
Is a Sleeper all day long.
 
I've never heard of the Pantera before this week :dunce: but it sounds like one of the motor industries greatest hits. Or at least it should be. Italian styling, V8 soundtrack and non of the fragile drawbacks of driving a typical supercar in its day. That's not a beater or a sleeper. It's just right. :cheers:
 
The Pantera is quite different from other MR cars in GT Sport as the oversteer isn't quite as pronounced as others. What I also noticed with the Pantera is that it accelerates out of the corners quite well and it likes to driven hard as you have no fear of losing the back end. It definitely created some great racing on Tuesday. Overall the Pantera is great car and great for an introductory car for sports cars. I give the Pantera a sleeper status and a check mark for being a possible 2019 Car of the Year.

Now we move from an Italian style car with an American V8 engine to the power of the M3 badge. This week we will be testing the BMW M3 Coupe and the BMW M3 GT. This weeks cars were chosen by @MrWaflz55

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The Pantera is quite different from other MR cars in GT Sport as the oversteer isn't quite as pronounced as others. What I also noticed with the Pantera is that it accelerates out of the corners quite well and it likes to driven hard as you have no fear of losing the back end. It definitely created some great racing on Tuesday. Overall the Pantera is great car and great for an introductory car for sports cars. I give the Pantera a sleeper status and a check mark for being a possible 2019 Car of the Year.

Now we move from an Italian style car with an American V8 engine to the power of the M3 badge. This week we will be testing the BMW M3 Coupe and the BMW M3 GT. This weeks cars were chosen by @MrWaflz55

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Aside from reliability, this in my opinion is the best iteration of the M3.
 
BMW M3 '07
3,999 cc
415 hp / 8,500 rpm
295 ft-lbs / 4,000 rpm
3,649 lbs (1,655 kg)

Fastest time at Tsukuba (stock everything)



Its closest rival in-game would be the...

Maserati GranTurismo S '08
4,691 cc
439 hp / 7,000 rpm
362 ft-lbs / 5,000 rpm
3,924 lbs (1,780 kg)



I prefer M3. It handles beautifully. I like it even more than the M4.
 
Ahh BMW’s M3, every car up to the E46 model M3 was either a 4 cylinder or a 6 cylinder, heck even the E46 was mostly 6 cylinders with both the standard and CSL having them.

All except 1 (or 10 as it would turn out to be.)

Like any good story, it involved motorsports, a dominant manufacturer and some cheeky rule bending.:P

(Credit to R&T for this info.)

Way back in 2000 in the GT class of ALMS, BMW was fighting against Porsche, but to say it was a fair fight would be a major exaggeration.

17 cars were in the GT Class, 16 of those cars were Porsche 911’s and the only one was an M3 which did win at Laguna Seca, but that’s the only win it got that year. :crazy:

So for 2001, BMW brought in their new contender which ditched the 6 cylinder for a bespoke 4.0 V8 race engine which was more than capable of taking the fight to Porsche.

Except for one small detail..

The GT Class was production based so the engines had to be used in a road going version of the racer and a certain amount of said road car (10) had to be built, offered to be sold in at least 2 continents within 12 months of the debut.

BMW at this point hadn’t even built one of them, but got cracking with said homologation.

This would be the first M3 road car with a V8, but with a intentionally high €250.000 price tag (BMW didn’t want to sell them.) so seeing one was unlikely.

Fast forward to 2007 and the V8 M3 returns in a mass production form also with a 4.0 V8 making over 410hp.

The E46 GTR? That went on to win 7 of the 10 races and finished 1st and 3rd in the championship in 2001, after which ALMS revised the homologation rules for 2002 which now stated 100 cars had to exist and 1000 engines had to be built.

BMW was rather reluctant to build the original 10 engines due to the cost, 1000 engines meant BMW pretty much noped right out of there and into the European championships where it was still allowed.

But that wasn’t the end for the E46 M3 GTR, it went and found a new following, in the city of Rockport. :cool:



Yep, an icon is coming back, new body, old paint job and an angry V8. :bowdown:
 
Way back when, in 1974 I had a chance to buy a Pantera from the local Mercury dealer. They weren't too well received in my area...the hip and eco-conscious crowd preferred little cars with good fuel economy. If you really had to have a performance vehicle, a BMW 2002 or a 911 might be tolerated. So the Pantera was just a "used car" for sale at a ridiculous $6500. I was going in with friend, and scraped up my half, but he never got his together. Sigh.

I hadn't driven this car in a long time, and was I surprised at how nice it is right out of the box. I think it's one of those that does everything well, even on SH tires. My one and only complaint would be that it needs some aftermarket mufflers. That beautiful engine noise needs to be turned up a tick or three. 👍 Thanks for picking this one @JackRyanWMU.

Obvious verdict: sleeper!

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Guys, sorry for being late on the Pantera but I wanted to combine my post with my Nordschleife hot lap, which I just uploaded (07.55.820):



Well, this car did definatly surpirse me very positively. It has astonoshing stabililty and cornering capabilities for such an old car and its lap time pretty miuch shocked me. Obvious verdict: Sleeper! (Did I get the concept right? A sleeper car is a car, that is basically faster, than you thought it would be?)


And to be more on the topic of today: I also did a hot lap with the M3 on the Nordschleife and achieved a respectable 07.47.626 (replay will be up in about 2 weeks).

The only thing this car is missing is speed (especially acceleration). Other than that, it's perfect. It's just unbelievable how a RWD car can be so stable and when this thing grips, it GRIPS. I also looooove its looks. To me it's rather neutral.
 
@Vic Reign93 Sorry for beign pessimistic but i have to tell this.

Your most wanted livery is wrong. The livery on it is E46 most wanted livery. Offical most wanted livery for the E92 looks like this:

latest


I dont mean to say your livery is bad just it doesnt fit to E92.
 
@Vic Reign93 Sorry for beign pessimistic but i have to tell this.

Your most wanted livery is wrong. The livery on it is E46 most wanted livery. Offical most wanted livery for the E92 looks like this:

latest


I dont mean to say your livery is bad just it doesnt fit to E92.

It’s not my Livery anyway. :P

While that is the case, We sadly don’t have the E46 or it’s race counterpart for the real replica to be made.

And besides, The original MW M3 GTR was a race car that was brought to the world of street racing, I’m taking the design it bared back to the track as a nod to its origins, being built to race out there on the track. :)
 
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