New seasonal events are now available in Gran Turismo 6. This week’s events are the usual fare, a combination of super lap and drift trial challenges featuring non-race cars and race cars alike, whether they’re from Britian or of the front-engine rear-wheel drive variety.

The emotional investment toward Assetto Corsa now that we’re just over a month away from the console release is almost palpable, and with good reason: console-goers have plenty to look forward as many of those currently enjoying the game on PC will surely attest.

There’s no such thing as “too many tracks”. Any sim racer will tell you that. Of course, just like the available garage that ships with a new title, the track roster is always going to be limited by time. Developers have to walk a fine line, including tracks that (hopefully) please as much of the player base as possible. Some, as it turns out, will end up more popular than others.

Over the past month there have been whispers of a more powerful and better equipped upgrade to the PlayStation 4, commonly referred to as the PlayStation 4.5 or PlayStation 4K. Keeping up the momentum of the first two reports, yet another story has emerged, and the refreshed console may offer a little more promise than originally assumed.

New patents filed by Microsoft seem to indicate that the much-rumored hardware revisions for Xbox could become a reality, with signs pointing toward a slimmer model and possibly an upgraded model. Picked up by NeoGAF user Mike R, the first patent known as ‘Part 1683’ has strong ties to the existing Xbox One’s WLAN Module filings that were registered when the first console was unveiled. These ties are a user manual of the exact same size and the designated model number of “1525” indicates a user manual that is not yet available – practically guaranteeing some sort of new Xbox model will be on the way very soon. Crucially to speculation, the NDA for this patent officially expires on the 25th of June – Just after E3 closes its doors.

If you were a rally car, what kind of life would you like to live after your pavement-punishing career finishes? Would you cruise around local sales auctions, hoping some driver will take you for another exciting motorsport adventure, or would you give yourself over to peaceful days of dust collecting in automotive museums, to the joy and happiness of all the visitors? Our friends over at InsideSimRacing found an even better solution: full-size simulator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOYRkQRdl7k&feature=youtu.be

In the words of R. Kelly, it’s the freakin’ weekend! Here in Toronto, the snow has finally disappeared and temperatures look to be holding in the double digits. Spring has truly sprung.

As revealed late last week, the sonorous Mercedes-AMG GT3 joins Project CARS, further expanding the title’s impressive list of GT3 class racing machinery, and is available to everyone at no additional cost.

After the challenge of trying to perfectly land all the jumps at Oakhill Road, the 25th GTP TOTW, it’s with a slight sigh of relief that we arrive at this week’s featured track. Crafted – as many replicas are – on Eifel Flat, we’re at the lush Yas Marina Circuit, care of member Cole Morgan.

The second season of JD Motorsport Organization and Nissan Canada’s Micra Cup is about to kick off in less than a month. One of the 30 drivers who will get the opportunity to steer the wheel of these one-make machines and reach for the trophy is Nicolas Hammann, the 2014 North American GT Academy champion. As one of the few newcomers who didn’t compete in the previous season, it is a challenging path to conquer, but worth of his talent and skills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_FJ1_nX7IM

Prominent accessory manufacturer Thrustmaster is back in the spotlight with another interesting product – the TMX Force Feedback racing wheel, with highly adaptive force feedback effect. The new steering wheel has been officially designed for Xbox One, but the manufacturer ensures full compatibility on Windows platform PC’s as well.

A recent trend in new rally games is to include some form of Rallycross, as the discipline enjoys an explosion in popularity. Two of 2016’s major rally releases (DiRT Rally and Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo) both represent the sport, with the former having official FIA certification. SLRE counters with 5 circuits whereas DiRT has 3, so from a track perspective SLRE has the edge. Even more so if we include SLRE’s latest DLC pack which includes ‘Hell’ in Norway.

If you’re one of those people on the fence about VR headsets, you might want to look away now, for your wallet’s sake. Youtuber Marcel Pfister has unleashed two videos that combine green screen techniques with Oculus Rift to convincingly drop viewers into the driver’s seat.

Kazunori Yamauchi will be returning to the gruelling Green Hell this year. Polyphony’s man in charge took 2015 off, after an accident during the qualifying session the year before. In a surprising turn, however, Yamauchi will be slotting in behind the wheel of a Bavarian motor for the ADAC qualifier this weekend.

Just last week, we brought you images of the Gran Turismo Hot Wheels collections set to arrive in stores later this year. What we overlooked at the time was that the site responsible for the sneak peak (the T-Hunted blog) also had a smaller, interesting look at the other big console racing tie-up with the diecast giant: Forza.

The merger signals the vision of a “UK racing-genre powerhouse” that will house two of the most successful development teams within the UK. Co-founder of Evolution Studios Mick Hocking will become the VP of Product, highlighting that Codies isn’t simply absorbing the staff, but keeping the team as a creative unit that will bring a new IP to the table in the near future. The combined 45 years of industry experience proposes an exciting time for fans of the racing genre: between the two stalwarts, many iconic intellectual properties across both arcade and simulation disciplines have been released.

Sundays are meant for relaxing. Maybe that’s taken the form of playing your favourite PS4 game straight on your PC. That game might even be DiRT Rally (read Brendan’s excellent review here). Or perhaps you’re still trying to tame a car’s airborne tendencies at Oakhill Road, last week’s Track of the Week.

Including the famous German track Nürburgring Nordschleife in modern video games isn’t the rarity it once was. Console players were technically first introduced to the Green Hell back in 2003 with Project Gotham Racing 2, though that version was scaled up by roughly 10% to increase passing opportunities online. A more accurately-sized model arrived a year later with Gran Turismo 4, and has since spread to numerous other titles in the decade following.