GTPlanet Community Spotlight: Enough to Drive For a Lifetime

– Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo at Goodwood Hillclimb, July 6th, 2015, courtesy of Forza!.

To utter the phrase “What a week this has been!” as has become synonymous with the Spotlight in recent weeks would be a gross understatement. This has been one of the most active weeks for the GTPlanet community in recent memory, and with no end in sight and even more expansion in the works, GTPlanet is not only the de facto standard in bringing forth Gran Turismo news the second it’s available, it is also becoming the standard in delivering news relating to a number of other popular racing games that pique the community’s interest. The question now becomes, for those worried, what has happened to GTPlanet – isn’t this supposed to be a community that celebrates only Gran Turismo?

To reassure those of you asking this very question I say this: GTPlanet will always put Gran Turismo at the forefront and will remain the central focus, but the simple fact of the matter is there are many racing titles that interests the community that deserve exposure as well. It is worth mentioning that you will soon enough be afforded the privilege to have the news you want to read displayed appropriately, but that will be announced in greater detail in due time so keep an eye peeled.

There’s still a little post E3 madness left to cover here as well as the returning Member of the Week segment, in addition to a few other news-worthy pieces, so without further ado: Who’s ready for the Spotlight?

GTPlanet Picture of the Week

This week’s featured image comes to us courtesy of MoMo PeeZero and features the 2011 Aston Martin One-77 putting its 750 horses to work at Special Stage Route X.

If you like what you’re seeing and have a suggestion for next week’s featured image, start a conversation with me, entitle it “GTPlanet Picture of the Week” and fill it to your heart’s content with suggestions and they’ll be featured in upcoming Community Spotlight articles. NOTE: You cannot elect your own work.

GTPlanet Gallery of the Week

This week’s featured gallery, as you’ve no doubt gathered by now, is mazda787’s gallery and brought to you by none other than mazda787. Opened on the 30th of November in 2013, the gallery approaches GTPhotography utilizing an incredible color palette, attention to detail, and clever use of post-processing effects such as levels adjustment and light leaks.

You can find mazda787’s gallery here in all of its splendor if you want to look through an entire catalog that offers a colorful gallery employing a number of differing styles. The latest update being just yesterday, Friday, July 10th.

– Chapparal 2X Vision Gran Turismo, December 21st, 2014.

If you like what you’re seeing and have a suggestion for next week’s featured gallery, start a conversation with me, entitle it “GTPlanet Gallery of the Week” and fill it to your heart’s content with suggestions and they’ll be featured in upcoming Community Spotlight articles. NOTE: You cannot elect your own gallery.

GTPlanet Thread of the Week – 10 Cars to Last a Lifetime

It goes without mention that the GTPlanet community is rife with automotive enthusiasts, all with their fair share of dream rides. Our very own Populuxe Cowboy has devised a very interesting experiment: what if you were given any ten cars you wanted, with the caveat that those ten last you the rest of your life?

“This is a little thought experiment I came up with recently. What if you only got 10 cars to last you the rest of your life? Any ten cars you want, but you don’t get any other cars ever. How would you chose your ten?

If you’re a Mustang guy, you could easily just choose your ten favorite Mustangs and be done with it. Or maybe the R34 Nissan GT-R is the only car you’ve ever cared about. You could get ten of them. Maybe you want some variety so you get one car from ten different companies. Or ten different countries. Maybe you’re into the history of cars so you get one car from each of the last ten decades.

Or you’re more practical and you get ten different types of cars so you have something for every situation. Maybe you get one sensible reliable Japanese sedan and nine of your favorite hyper cars? Or you just pick the ten cars you most love in the world. Yes, concept and custom cars are allowed, but only if they still exist in running condition. Sorry, Mazda Furai fans. Take your beef up with Top Gear. But remember, no other cars ever. That means if you’re 20 now, by the time you’re 90, your newest car will be 70 years old. What would be your ten cars?”

Of course it all boils down to a ‘Top 10’ list but it’s done in a manner where there’s a little bit more personal investment involved. My question would be are you bound to picking out your “Lifetime 10” all at once or can you spread out the selection over the course of time?

My choices would be the following:

• 1953 Plymouth Fury
• 1992 Jaguar XJ220
• 2004 Porsche 911 GT2 (996)
• 2006 Koenigsegg CCX
• 2015 Corvette Z06 (C7)
• 2015 Land Rover Evoque
• 2015 Mazda 6

You’ll notice my list isn’t complete but that shouldn’t deter you from stopping by Populuxe’s thread and having a go at naming ten cars that would last you a lifetime.

#FuelYourSenses – Esso VR Experience

https://youtu.be/n4pbSI3kOsg

Bracket A Death: Are You or Your Team The Best? [GT6 Online Racing]

– Subaru, Amuse, and Toyota going to battle at Bathurst, February 15th, 2015, courtesy of andrea.

This isn’t your typical online tournament, what we have here, championed by our very own GTracerEHTeam, is a tournament that prides itself in a ‘take no prisoners’ approach, you and your team, should you be burdened with one, are to win at any cost and with no remorse. This tournament promises sheer lunacy.

“Allow me to introduce to you a tournament of sheer lunacy. All of your previous qualifications do not matter because all you must do to take this prize is win with no remorse, your team must win with no remorse. The Bracket A Death pictured above applies to all team categories of 2 and 4 driver teams. The Bracket A Death pictured below applies to the solo category only.

The solo category works as you would expect, win and you’re through to the next round. You will note that for the second and third rounds that 3 drivers are pitted against each other, this is extra Death, only one driver advances in each one of these rounds so avoid the Death.

To advance in the team category, teams must have the lowest combined time. Existing GTPlanet teams may field as many teams as they like, beware that the seeding is completely random so fielding more teams could result in two of your teams facing off in the first round.

The Brackets will run between 5:30 and 10 PM Eastern time on Mondays, starting date July 20th (21:30 to 02:00 UTC).

Rules:

Given the nature of the competition some racing contact during races is to be expected to a certain point. Rubbin’s Racin’ but bulldozing is very much reprehensible. Try to avoid contact but in the event it does happen do not take it personally. Penalties for excessive contact are at the discretion of the Steward in whether to penalize and how much to penalize. Penalties will consist of time additions to final times, repeated excessive contact can lead to disqualification and/or ejection from the competition completely.

Drivers are to keep all wheels of their vehicle on the racing surface, which can be defined as anything between the white lines of the track plus the addition of painted rumble strips, green astro-turf does not count. Penalties for exceeding track limits are limited to time additions with the severity at the discretion of the Steward.”

If you want to take part in what sounds like an incredible tournament with an implied emphasis on chaotic fun, you will no doubt want to stop by the thread and join in on things.

GTPlanet Member of the Week

After a little more than one month’s hiatus the Member of the Week has returned and is here to stay with the slight adjustment that the feature will no longer run every week, as evidenced by the past several weeks, due to increased workload. The feature will run bi-weekly for the foreseeable future!

With that said and done, the time to acknowledge a member of the GTPlanet community is upon us. A member who has stood out among the hundreds of thousands of members already here, both old and new alike for all that they’re worth and all they have contributed to the community.

This week’s particular inductee asks me a question you’d think you know what it’s leading to only to then be utterly surprised, and suggests an ideal improvement to the feature here itself. So without further ado let’s give a warm welcome to the newest member to find vacancy in the ever-growing Member of the Week madhouse, dice1998!

You can read the interview in its entirety in the official thread right here.

Horizon Zero Dawn

This was one of the standouts at Sony’s E3 press conference just weeks ago. Developed by the same minds responsible for the Killzone franchise, it is in fact the first new Intellectual Property (IP) made by the studio since 2004, and more interestingly will be Guerilla Games’ first attempt at a role-playing game.

You assume the role of Aloy, a hunter and archer who is progressing through a post-apocalyptic land rife with mechanical creatures, namely robotic dinosaurs. Now I don’t know about you, but the idea of a robotic dinosaur hasn’t piqued my interest this much since Mecha Godzilla, which incidentally is not a dinosaur but the idea remains the same. These robot dinosaurs are vital to Aloy’s survival as you can harvest resources from their bodies to progress further.

The game will be entirely single-player focused (yes!) but won’t be an entirely isolated experience as certain social features will be present in the final product come its release 2016.

I can’t wait.

GTPlanet Vehicle of the Week

– McLaren 570S, July 3rd, 2015, courtesy of X3remes.

The first in McLaren’s all-new Sports Series, the 570S Coupé is pure sports car with a driver optimized layout and will introduce McLaren’s race-derived technologies and design values to a new audience.

Powered by an evolution of the 3.8 liter V8 twin-turbo engine, dubbed M838TE, the unit produces, as its name suggests, 570PS (562 bhp) at 7,400 RPM and 600Nm (443 lb-ft) of torque at 5,000-6,500 RPM. This power is delivered through a seven-speed SSG (Sequential Shift Gearbox) and is transferred to the road via the Pirelli P Zero Corsa rear wheels. With lightweight construction resulting in a class leading power-to-weight ratio, the 570S is able to sprint to 62 mph in 3.2 seconds and will eventually reach a top speed of 204.

GTPlanet Tune of the Week

This week’s featured tune is specifically aimed at this week’s Seasonal Events that feature rally cars, and thus here we are with the 1986 Quattro S1 of Group B insanity that promises to get you form point A to B in as little time as possible.

Be sure to stop by Praiano’s GT6 Tunes thread and give this one a go, but be warned: it uses Sport/Soft compounds. Can you rise to the challenge?

The Last Lap

I’m exhausted. There is so much more going on at GTPlanet these days that it’s all becoming mentally exhausting, which is oddly ironic as it’s never frustrating or even bothersome. It’s simply a lot to grasp a hold of, and with more in the pipeline it’s only going to get more interesting as time progresses. That’s all I’m able to give for this week’s installment of the Spotlight, so if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go sleep for about a week.

Until then, keep racing!

See more articles on GTPlanet Community Spotlight and GTPlanet Member of the Week.