Considering the addition of a new DTM car to GT7, I did some thinking to suggest how PD could work the addition of new German league cars.
Yesterday I was running some DTM season lap time searches to see where DTM cars from the 90's and 2000's could be categorized in the Polyphony groups - Gr.2, Gr.3 and Gr.4.
From 1993, Class 1 cars were introduced, with the intention of using carbon fiber chassis instead of metal bodies. 2.5-liter V6 engines were used and would develop up to 500 bhp. Both Alfa Romeo and Opel used all-wheel drive.
Gr.4 Cars
Polyphony classifies the AR 155 V6 from the 1993 season in the Gr.4 category. It is a very correct classification in my opinion, because DTM '93 raced at Donington GP Circuit and scored pole position in
1:35.09 and, in 2022, the Mercedes AMG GT4 set the category record with a time of
1:34.856. The GT3 record at Donington was set in 2022 by the McLaren 720S GT3 with a time of
1:26.309. Therefore, there is no reason to question the correct decision of the PD.
In 1993, Audi developed a Class 1 Audi 80 but decided not to use the car in the DTM championship. In any case, it would be entirely possible to add Alfa Romeo's fifth partner. In 1994, BMW replaced the M3 E30 with the M3 E36, AR's sixth partner. The 1994 season cars saw little improvement in performance compared to last season, just two seconds at Donington.
In view of this, Polyphony could bring the season partners of the AR 155 V6 Ti '93 to Gr.4. And they are:
- BMW M3 Sport Evo DTM '93 (Gr.4)
- Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 DTM '93 (Gr.4)
- Opel Omega 3000 24v Evolution 500 3.8 DTM '93 (Gr.4)
- Ford Mustang 5.0 GT DTM '93 (Gr.4)
- Audi 80 B4 Turbo Competition Prototype DTM '93 (Gr.4)
- BMW M3 E36 DTM '94 (Gr.4)
Gr.3 Cars
Something that caught my attention is that the performances of the cars from the 1993 and 1996 seasons are very different, although some cars are nominally the same.
In 1995, the DTM went international with the parallel competition called ITC. The cars from the 1995 and 1996 DTM-ITC seasons, especially the 1996 ones, far outperformed the cars from the 1993 and 1994 seasons. Schneider with the Mercedes C-Class set a time of 1:30.44 at Donington.
Donington was not part of the 1996 DTM-ITC calendar. So I took the Mugello circuit as a reference. This season, with the improved version of the AR 155 V6, Larini set the pole position lap with
1:47.732. The GT3 record at Mugello was set in 2017 by the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 with a time of
1:47.017. In 2011, the 2000s GT1 Salleen S7-R (cars with performance similar to today's GT3) clocked a lap time of
1:49.112. And, by way of comparison, the GT4 record was set in 2019 by the BMW M4 with a time of
1:58.811.
By the way, the wonderful Mercedes C-Class debuted in the 1994 season, but its performances in the following seasons were worthy of a modern GT3 car. The car would not fit well into the Gr.4 category. I suppose it is correct to adhere to the same reasoning for the Opel Calibra V6 4x4. So, personally, I think it's more appropriate to put both in the Gr.3 category.
That said, the 1996 cars could perfectly suit the Gr.3 category of Gran Turismo.
- Opel Calibra V6 4x4 DTM-ITC '96 (Gr.3)
- Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI DTM-ITC '96 (Gr.3)
- Mercedes C-Class DTM-ITC '96 (Gr.3)
Due to poor media exposure and television coverage, the lack of spectators visiting the tracks and huge investments by the teams, Alfa Romeo and Opel announced in September 1997 that they would leave the series. As Mercedes-Benz remained as the sole competitor, the ITC series was then cancelled. In 2000 the DTM celebrated a comeback, featuring much cheaper touring cars.
Taking reference to the fast laps on the Sachsenring track (with layout since 2001), this new generation of DTM cars did
1:21.221 in 2002 with the Opel Astra DTM. The GT3 record on this track is from the year 2017 with a lap time of
1:18.603 made by the Mercedes-AMG GT3.
By the way, in 2003 DTM returns to Donington with this three new cars, which was great for benchmarking performance between generations. Schneider took pole position with the Mercedes CLK with a time of
1:28.206, therefore, a lap time similar to the GT3 record at this track which is
1:26.309 done in 2022.
- AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM '02 (Gr.3)
- Abt-Audi TT-R '02 (Gr.3)
- Opel Astra V8 Coupé '02 (Gr.3)
These cars were already in Gran Turismo 4, 5 and 6.
Gr.2 Cars
In 2004, the second generation of DTM cars from the 2000s began to appear: Opel Vectra GTS V8 DTM, AMG-Mercedes C-Class DTM and Audi A4 Turbo DTM. This generation started to perform much better than the cars mentioned above. In 2005, the DTM raced in Brno, and the AMG-Mercedes C-Class took pole position with a time of
1:52.191. The GT3 record at Brno is
2:01.012, set in 2016 by Lamborghini Huracán. It's ten seconds apart. Therefore, it is very difficult to fit cars from the second half of the 2000s into the Gr.3 category. It would be necessary to do a very aggressive BoP work, which particularly would not work satisfactorily.
On a track shorter than Brno, the GT3 Hockenheim record is
1:38.061 beaten in 2019 by the Mercedes-AMG GT3. With Hockenheimring as a reference, the 2005 DTM took pole position with
1:35.251. In 2008, the pole was set in
1:33.576. In 2013,
1:33.443. In 2018 the pole time was
1:32.379. So, basically, there haven't been any major changes to the DTM. Those three cars from 2005 keep performance similar to the DTM cars that succeeded them in the next thirteen seasons, varying in a few seconds the performance.
The only solution would be to fit these cars into the Gr.2. Well, but between haves and don'ts, of course we would prefer PD to bring the DTM cars from these thirteen seasons 2005-2018 and try to fit them in Gr.2, along with the old Super GT500s from the 2008 season, running together, in a 2008 Class 1 Private Championship or a Dream Race with the 2008 DTM-SuperGT cars in Sport Mode.
The Lexus DTM prototype, which was unveiled at the 2008 Tokyo Motorshow and which appeared in Gran Turismo 6, could also be added to Gr.2 to race cars from the 2008 Super GT and DTM seasons.
These cars would be:
- Opel Vectra GTS V8 DTM '05 (Gr.2)
- AMG-Mercedes C-Class W204 DTM '08 (Gr.2)
- Audi A4 Turbo DTM '08 (Gr.2)
- Lexus IS F Racing Concept '08 (Gr.2)
The big change came in 2019 with the addition of Class 1 regulations with the Super GT. The 2019 race at Hock was in the rain, so lap times are out. In 2020, the DTM pole at Hock was
1:28.337, four to six seconds below the cars of the past thirteen seasons.
Taking into account the addition of the Audi RS5 DTM '19, which in GT7 will run in Gr.2 along with the Super GTs '16 and eventually with new Japanese cars to be added (I believe that!), PD could add the others two cars remainder of the 2019 DTM season, the BMW and Aston Martin.
And I think that bringing the AMG-Mercedes C63 DTM '18 would also be possible, as long as the car had a BoP work to increase power and make the rear wing replacement available in GT Auto. In addition, PD could create dummy cars for the Gr.2 based on the silhouettes of the 2019 DTM-Super GT, such as the Alfa Romeo, Ford, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and Opel below. After all, if PD did it in Gr.3 there's nothing to stop it from doing it in Gr.2.
These are the cars:
- Aston Martin Vantage DTM '19 (Gr.2)
- BMW M4 Turbo DTM '19 (Gr.2)
- Mercedes-AMG C-Coupé C63 DTM '18 (Gr.2)
- Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Gr.2 Race Car Concept
- Ford Mustang Gr.2 Race Car Concept
- Buick Enclave Gr.2 Race Car Concept
- Cadillac ATS Gr.2 Race Car Concept
- Chevrolet Camaro Gr.2 Race Car Concept
- Opel Insignia Gr.2 Race Car Concept
