Gran Turismo

[AERO_HDT]

I agree, Remy, too many useless threads out there sometimes (I'm guilty of useless threads too you know, hehe).

My connection having been curbed for the next week or so, I am finding it VERY difficult to get an online race. My IP (Telstra) seem to have awesome server capabilities as I'm the host 99% of the time, but I haven't got the bandwidth to support more than 1 player at a time (3 if I'm really lucky, hehe). So I end up with all these races where I lose connection with everyone and I go back, hoping to find a race that someone else can host. But I go back, and sure enough, it picks ME as host again and everyone gets booted off my bandwidth....

So anyways, I DID get in some races where other people were host and I decided to bum around in the Corvette at Suzuka 600PP, thinking I'd be the only guy there. But the host goes by the name of sinsemilia[AU], and surprise surprise, he's in another Corvette too. An orange one.

Ahhhh, I think to myself. Another guy who thinks he can drive a Corvette eh? This should be a good race, I'll wipe the floor with him...

So I'm on the grid, starting in 2nd and he's in 1st and we've got a bunch of AWD guys behind us, looking to swallow the pair of us whole. But the flag drops, and I pounce, blowing the clutch at 5500rpm in 1st gear as the Vette rips off an unholy display of raucous noise and rapidly evaporating rubber, my eyes firmly on my rearview as the Subaru's and Evo's trip over each other, trying to squeeze between two red and orange Z06s that have just obscured the entire starting grid with burnt Bridgestones.

Bang, up into 2nd, then 3rd, the traction has returned and both me and my rival are tearing towards the 1st and 2nd corner at full pelt, still at the front of the field. I've got the inside line and take the lead, keeping the Corvette tight to make sure I don't run wide and nudge him off and also to ensure one of the WRX's doesn't stuff it up my date-hole and ruin what is going to be my finest display of dominance.

Sinsemilia stays tight on my exhaust pipes as we tear away from the carnage behind us, a Brit in a black '07 STi sticking with us I charge up into the esses, the old Z06 struggling through the bends as the front tyres try to heave seven litres of bent eight iron through the corners. Sinsemelia isn't letting his orange Vette shrink in my mirrors as I fall into the usual rhythm, feathering the gas ever so slightly and trying to stay off the brakes as much as possible. I need a smooth, left-right weight transition through here to keep my average speeds up and I'm already pushing the Corvette as hard as I can without risking a run-off. I can hear Sinsemelia behind me and every glance in my mirror I can also see flashes of black Subaru lurking just behind him.

Matter of time before either of them make a mistake.

Gently through Gyaku Bank, accelerate slightly into the start of Dunlop and I'm trying desperately to keep my steering to a minimum whilst keep enough gas to have the balance of the car towards the rear. The lack of anti-roll bars is killing my setup and the despite some stiff springs and shocks, the Corvette still warbles around corners like Dame Edna on stage. Third gear, clip the apex  and feed on the gas, carefully, tentatively, my senses alert to the minutest losses of traction at the rear as the Corvette accelerates away again, over the Dunlop crest towards Degna 1. I look in my rearview briefly to find it not only still full of a rival Chev, but one that's gaining on me hand over fist. The sight throws me momentarily as I pump the clutch and ram the box into fourth, feeling the rear end lift and then squat again as the driveline hooks up with the diff. I'm wide and he's taken the inside line, right on my tail and moving up fast. We'll be side-by-side going into Degna 1...

Impossible! He can't be that quick! My momentarily loss of concentration cost me and the Corvette loses the rear end, giving me no recourse but to lift and correct my line as Sinsemelia sails through into the lead. I slide in just behind him, my rythm gone and it takes me a moment to regroup, my eyes warily on the WRX behind me. Only a matter of time, I reassure myself. Now he's in the lead and I can apply the pressure...

All three of us sail through Degna 1, me somewhat loosely and uncomposed and then a quick downshift and right yank before thundering through Degna 2. I hammer the gas early, feel the rear 335-series tyres grow loose and listen as the 7.0 litre 427 engine screams for 7,000 rpm. Sinsemelia's orange Corvette is line-perfect, he hasn't broken traction, he hasn't made a single mistake yet. And he's pulling away. Now my mirrors are full of the black Subaru, a familiar WRX driver who goes by the name of MrUUnagi...

The WRX is of no concern to me though, what I'm focussed on is the lead driver and as we brake hard for the Suzuka hairpin and then begin our run through 200R and Spoon, the realization begins to dawn on me that I have well and truly met my match and this fellow Aussie (whom I've raced against online before) is a much quicker driver than I am. He's calm, he's composed and he looks like he's doing it easy.

He's already opened up a gap of nearly 1.5 seconds come Spoon and whilst I've got my Corvette on the ragged edge, the chasm is steadily widening and unless he makes a mistake, I've got no answer and I know it. My impatience leaves me with a messy, half slip 'n' slide exit out of Spoon and MrUUnagi is hot on my tail. Lets see how 7.0 litres of naturally aspirated V8 stack up against a boosted Boxer 4, I think as my gaze hardens and I flatten the pedal, set for 130R and a nerve-testing 235km/h terminal speed before I ease off.

We tear down the back straight and I'm amazed at how easy MrUUnagi makes it look, pulling out of my slipstream early and powering past in an ego-shattering display of Subaru power, He's in front of me even before we reach the second sector split and from here, I know my race is over. The gap to Sinsemelia has widened to 2.5 seconds and I watch as MrUUnagi takes off in pursuit of the lead. Less than a lap ago, I was in the lead of this race and now, I'm in third...

Determined not to give up though, I cling stubbornly to the Subaru's rear end through Casio and onto the run for the main straight where we start lap 2. The Subaru is quick, both around corners and has the grunt to keep ahead of me on a straight and I decide to try and step it up a notch, lift the bar and put him under pressure. Still plenty of time to catch my lead back.

Through the esses we go and my renewed efforts result in near disaster as I push the Corvette over the limit and my lines become tardy and slow. MrUUnagi pulls away, Sinsemelia vanishes off into the distance.The WRX tearing away I can accept... but how long can my rival Vette driver keep up his perfect lead? I check the map, to find that the three of us have broken away from the rest of the AWD cars and we're enjoying a healthy lead of more than 10 seconds. MrUUnagi is prone to mistakes, I've seen him make plenty of them, but he's on the ball today and driving superbly. If he keeps it up, he'll catch the orange Chev and take the lead. Best I can do is try and keep them honest...

Lap two flies by with no change in positions, I've pegged the gap after a messy first half which cost me 5 seconds and I'm now trailing by 7.5 seconds. By the start of lap 3, it's blown out to 8.2 seconds and it seems as if Sinsemelia has stretched his lead over MrUUnagi who is also defenseless against the rapidly disappearing orange Z06. But I'm still pushing, looking for that one mistake that will put me back in the game, rowing through the gears and giving my left calf a ***** good workout doing so. I've eased back within the limits of the Vette and refraining from overdriving the car. It looks hopeless though.

But the show ain't over til' the fat lady sings and on lap 3 at Spoon, just when I'd resigned myself to a certain 3rd place, Unagi runs wide, ends up in the sandtrap and hands me back 2nd place. Eureka! My efforts had paid off somewhat after all!

I finished 2nd, 7.5 seconds behind Sinsemelia and in total awe of what had just transpired. He had been totally flawless, superbly quick and he'd run a 7'11 race time in a Corvette Z06. Almost unheard of. My very best time in this car had been a 7'15 and he'd blown my BEST race time out of the water by 4 seconds!

I was ecstatic. Not at losing the race, but at finding a guy who was phenomenally fast. It was the first time I had ever seen anyone other than myself win a 600PP race in a Corvette. Now the calibre of driver's participating in the race evidently wasn't the highest (sub 7 minutes being the norm), but I had yet to meet a driver who could run a front-engine, rear wheel drive car that quick around Suzuka, and in a Corvette of all things. I had to write down his name and post about this race, because after all my frustrations, I was overjoyed that I had witnessed one of the most impressive driving displays I'd seen in a long time. And all with a guy who I was familiar with, but not someone who I rated highly.

How familiar?

sinsemelia[AU] was the very first Aussie who I came across when I first went online in GT5P and I remember very vividly, his standout Skyline Coupe Concept in a field of BMW Tii Concepts. Raced with him lots since then, but never in any context for him to show his true worth and whilst it's taken months, I think I'll be requesting a new Friend on my PSN list.

Cheers for reading, hope you enjoyed it.

[RAYBRIG15]

nice race!!!

i never thought i`d end up playing a FPS(C.O.D.4) more than any GT game,i know its only a demo, but its only really your TT that get the disk into the PS.

Pete`s 2 races sound a good laugh but up until this week,i hope, i`ve not had the chance.

ps just watching the DTM just now, Norisring(sp),i know its been said else where loads of times, but i really hope the racecars in the main game are up to date. Super GT is a deff, just want the current teams,xanavi NISMO R35 GTR anyone!!

[Crow1964]

That sounded how GT5p should be played, well the top 3 anyway. Oh Aero you forgot I was in that race in my muilti coloured TVR, only that when I saw all the others on the start I decided to get out and polish mine instead, LOL.

Good race m8, perhaps you can write some more like that you have a talent for it.

[AERO_HDT]

Now how's that for one-eyedness? Christ, I didn't even see you Crowsy, I'm terribly sorry mate, all I was focused on was Sinsemilia and MrUUnagi in the black WRX. There was a bloke in a yellow Evo 9 as well, methinks, but I completely missed you!

I've got eight days left of insufferable dial-up, hehe. In the meantime, I think I'll be resigned to writing posts as long as my arm to fill the gap inbetween races! I'll wear my keyboard down to mere plastic nubs and my fingers will bleed from frenzied agony!

[MrBurnout]

Truly an amazing race you've had there Aero!

I wish I had done something that impressive. The best thing I've had so far is winning 3 races in a row in Fuji 600PP with a Ferrari 512BB..

I had never seen anyone driving that in a 600PP race and decided to give it a shot.. Turns out I'm as fast in that as I am in an Audi R8 which handles like a dream. Talking about surprises  

[Crow1964]

Aero m8 I wasn't in that race it was my twisted sense of humour that I would have more fun Polishing than racing, lol.

[AERO_HDT]

Hehehe. You make me feel like a dillpot again, Crowsy!

Seriously though, Kazunori himself could have been in that race with Michael Schumacher and the dead ghost of Ayrton Senna and I wouldn't have noticed one whit.

LOL

[RAYBRIG15]

just read that David Coultard might be retiring!!

his race win in monaco 2002 was one of my favorite races, i was sitting in a beach bar in corfu, cold beer and big TV.......nice!!!!

ok guys whats your favorite race and why????

[AERO_HDT]

I have a few favourite races to be honest. I thoroughly enjoy watching the modern F1 tracks like Bahrain, Malaysia, China, Turkey, etc. I also love Spa, and I've come to enjoy Daytona as well.

But seeing as I'm in Australia, I usually watch all the F1 races late at night with only my dog to keep me company, so the premier motorsport event for me is the Bathurst 1000km Enduro, a 6 hour event that's run with the V8 Supercar series. It is and always has been Australia's most watched race and anyone who grew up in this wide, brown land will have fond memories of Sundays in October where mates come over, barbecues are fired up and slabs of cold beer are drunk in front of the telly where we all cheer for the red or blue. GM versus Ford, it didn't really matter if you weren't a motorsport fan, you still had your allegiance to one marque or another. And what a spectacular track it is too, 6.2kms of mountain, followed by the awesome run down the back, Conrod Straight where these 620bhp touring cars would almost break 300km/h.

I remember about four years ago, someone hit a kangaroo at 200km/h....

Roo burger anyone?

[RAYBRIG15]

yeah we get bathhurst on motors tv in europe. ive not watched it from start to finnish but high light, show lasted about 2-3hrs,i think.

great race, awesome track!!!

in GT5........i wonder......i hope!!!