Archive for July, 2010

Well Nissan weren’t messing around when they committed to having a cup car launched this summer. Here, in all her glory is the 2011 Nissan GT-R Club Track Edition – a joint venture between Nissan, NISMO, Nova Engineering and Nordring in Japan. This special edition GT-R will be available to a special owners / racing club setup in Japan known as The Prestige Club of GT-R. Launching at a inc-tax price of 10,479,000 yen, the Club Track Edition will also require a membership to the aforementioned club, which also comes with its own entrance fee. 2 million yen gets you entry, a assigned car number, two official track meets per year and entry into the annual get-together. The annual renewal fee for your membership is 1 million yen. If you’re still keen after hearing the price tag, you better get in soon because memberships are open now and the closing date is September 20th.

If you’re still reading after all that you’re probably more interested in the specs of the car than the membership fees so let’s see what you get for your 10.5 million yen. Firstly, Nismo are quick to point out, this is NOT a street car normally and while a dual function street/track Club Track Edition is not completely out of the question, they’d prefer you kept this car strictly for track to avoid having to switch out the specific race components.

Five colour options are available when ordering, Brilliant White, Black Pearl, Vibrant Red, Dark Metal Grey and Blue Pearl - yep I guess this confirms Nissan WILL be offering a blue on the 2012 Nissan GT-R.

The car comes standard with a 4 point roll cage but an optional 6 point roll cage is available and bumps the price up to 11,130,000 yen.

In terms of upgrades over the standard GT-R, here’s a high level run down…

Safety Equipment Automatic fire suppression system Bonnet Pins (Hood and Trunk) Tow Hooks Suspension 2 Way adjustable Bilstein dampers Upgraded front upper links Brakes Brake Air Guides Management Custom ECM Upgrades Custom TCM Upgrades Custom ABS / VCD Upgrades Electronics NISMO MFD Lap Sensor Kit NISMO MFD Data Logging Kit Cooling Front Differential Cooler w/NACA Duct NISMO Rear Differential Cooler Exterior Front Lip Spoiler Front Under Cover Wheels Front: Rays Forged Aluminum 20×9.5J + 45 Rear: Rays Forged Aluminum 20×10.5J + 25 Tyres Front: Dunlop Direzza Long Life Slick 260/710R20 Rear: Dunlop Direzza Long Life Slick 290/710R20 Engine Power Over 500ps power (over 493 hp) Over 588 Nm torque (over 434 lb/ft) So there you have it, as well as being interesting by itself, this Club Track Edition also gives us an interesting look at the 2012 GT-R aero upgrades, so check out the photos in the gallery below…

Source: GTR-World.net (Japanese)

View Entire Article: Nissan GT-R Club Track Edition Debut, Photos and Specs from GTR-World at GTRBlog.com Originally appeared on and © GTRBlog.com. 2010. | Read comments.

NOTE: This post is from an outside source.

When Power House Amuse launched their massive 90mm titanium exhaust system recently it got a lot of us thinking about just how best to move exhaust gas through this massive system with a relatively puny looking 80mm mid pipe. Little did we know they had this card up their sleeve the whole time.

The new exhaust components are known as “R1000 GT-RR SPL STTI” and are produced by Amuse in Japan using their proprietary STTI (super tough titanium/Ti) material. This Y pipe which was developed in collaboration between GT-RR.COM and Amuse takes the successful design of Amuse’s prior R1000 No. 2 Y Pipes and increases the size 10mm larger to maximize power in higher boost GT-R applications. As a result this new racing system has twin 80mm pipes transitioning into 90mm.

Each order is painstakingly produced by hand in Japan using nothing but 100% titanium. The usual details that Amuse are world famous for can be seen here; including: hollow titanium hangers, superbly controlled heat-treating, and not only exterior polished welds, but deburred and polished interior welds for reduced turbulence.
- GT-RR.com

According to the guys at GT-RR who have fitted up the first one to their own car, the Amuse 90mm mid pipe offers a aggresive exhaust note without any noticeable drone inside. While the race version shown here does not come with any catalytic converters, these may be optioned and you should contact the guys at GT-RR for more info there…

Link: Amuse 90mm STTI R1000 No. 2 90mm RS Mid Pipe @ GT-RR.com

View Entire Article: Power House Amuse R1000 90mm Race Spec STTI Mid Pipe for GT-R at GTRBlog.com Originally appeared on and © GTRBlog.com. 2010. | Read comments.

NOTE: This post is from an outside source.

Great news for our man Lucas Ordoñez (winner of the first GT Academy)! Lucas and his team, RJN Motorsports, have placed their 370Z have qualified first in their class for the Spa 24 Hours race this weekend. I’m not aware of any online live video streams of the race (if you find one, please share it in the comments below), but Lucas has promised me that he’ll be constantly updating his Twitter feed and his Facebook page directly from the paddock throughout the event. Good luck, Lucas!

Related posts:

1. GTPlanet on Track for the 2010 Racing Season
2. Sony On-Track at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2010
3. GTPlanet Interviews GT Academy Winners Tresson, Ordoñez

NOTE: This post is from GT Planet.

Welcome to July 30th, 2010 and this is your week in review. There’s been a lot of work happening here behind the scenes and I am very excited to bring you an update on a few things planned for you guys in Forza 3. We have a look at an upcoming new update for the hoppers, a pair of VIP cars and a look at SEDC Pro Am from the eyes of community member, o9k Chocobo. There’s lots of ground to cover so let’s get started.

Image by Duekracer- See this in more in the Community Gallery

So let’s start off with a bit of news many of you will find very exciting. Last week Fred teased on the boards that a new set of changes was soon coming to the hoppers. While it was too soon to give specifics in the blog last week, we’ve reached a point where we can go ahead and reveal more specifics on the new rollout of changes and additions.

The biggest piece of the set is the introduction of a lobby that a lot of you will be happy about: the Production/Stock car lobby (name is not final). While tuning is a very big part of Forza Motorsport so is having a race against people on a more level playing field. In Production races, it all comes down to how well you hit your corners and how consistent you are around the track. Having this option is something we are very excited about, and something that will allow anyone to get in and race without opening your wallet (after all, tuning can be expensive). This lobby features a nice range of specific car/track combo in its rotation, ranging from a stock Aston Martin DB9 on Silverstone GP to racing alongside eight Honda NSX-R GTs on the Suzuka GP.

Image by Enosh Kasra – See this in more in the Community Gallery

The rotation is currently pre-set and will feature all types of cars, and over the next few weeks we will be tracking which combinations are doing well and which might need to be replaced. On top of that new lobby will be revisions of existing lobbies. That includes the removal of unused hoppers and the introduction of new track rotations into circuit lobbies.
These changes are being tested and we will have more information on these in the next pitpass.

Picking up from our requests the past two weeks in regard to motorsport event photographs and impressions, here is a look at Forzatographer “O9k Chocobo” who has taken his interest in Forza Photography and developed it into a serious interest in real life photography. These pictures were taken at Gresham Motorsports Park last month during a for SEDC Pro Am. You can view his Flickr gallery at this link.

Images by 09k Chocobo

Reminder – Get your Microsoft Points ready because this coming Monday is August 2nd and that means that previously released Forza DLC hits as the XBLA Deal of the Week! The packs will go on sale starting Monday for 240 Microsoft points; the sale includes the Nürburgring GP track to go with the Road & Track, Autoweek, Hot Holidays and Jalopnik car packs. This will only last a week so make sure you get in on this while the offer is still hot!

• AutoWeek Car Show Pack, 240 Microsoft Points
• Hot Holidays Car Pack, 240 Microsoft Points
• Jalopnik Car Pack, 240 Microsoft Points
• Nürburgring GP Track Pack, 240 Microsoft Points
• The Road & Track Car Pack, 240 Microsoft Points

VIP car by Phredesign with tune by RSI Rotax Stig- Coming soon!

There is a new VIP car going out next week from Phredesign which will feature a tune from the winner of the last tuning competition. The paint job is a graffiti-inspired design on the B-Class 2003 Toyota Celica SS-I which will be sitting on a grip tune from “RSI RoTaX STiG”, built for Amalfi. You can see the new VIP car in the picture above.

While on the topic of VIP cars, I am really excited to finally announce that we are rolling out of our brand community VIP car program. This is a program which will bring in original race liveries painted by community painters and also tuned by garages in our community. The first car up is the #18 Takata Dome NSX and it’s from a painter a lot of you may know, artist DB9D9 and tuning club Autoart. It’s a beautiful Fujimi Kaido-inspired livery featuring a stylistic take on Mt. Fuji and the car should hit inboxes in the next two weeks. This is something we plan to continue down the road with different artists so be on the lookout for more of these in the future. If you think you know of an artist who would be perfect for this type of program shoot me a Private message and hit me with the scoop!

Another week down, another one to look forward too! Hope you’re excited for what’s coming down the pipeline, have a safe, fun weekend! I look forward to racing against you guys once this hits the servers.

Community update

Time Trial: When Panda’s Attack!

What: Official Turn 10 Featured Time Trial Challenge

When: Now until Friday August 6th at 12:00PM PDT

Where: Time Trials in Forza Motorsport 3.

Track and Car: Motegi East circuit – Toyota Corolla AE86

How: Navigate to the “Leaderboards” menu and scroll down to “Time Trial”. Scroll down to “When Panda’s Attack!” and “Press A to Start Race” at the top of the leaderboard. Set your best possible lap time!

Upcoming VIP design by DB9D9 tuned by AutoArt

Interested in getting featured in the community update?
The community update is a great way to get one of your upcoming events, leagues, competitions or giveaways noticed. Do you want to get your event featured in this section? Head on over to our brand new community events section and promote your items. Content featured in the community section will be pulled from the events thread.

Classic Car Photo Comp
The newly-formed Modern Muscle Car Club is hosting their second photo comp over at Forza Central. This weeks photography theme is based around classic cars (pre model year 1980). Car choice is not restricted to Muscle cars but you will be eligible for the 250K credit bonus prize if you use one. 1st prize is a 1969 Camaro SS Unicorn car (donated Turn 10) and 2nd place through 6th place will be receiving gift cars from me (all listed in the thread along with the official rules). Deadline: July 30th 10pm EST

Weekly Cars and Credit Give Away!
Does a complete lack of funds have you down? Are you tired of million dollar supercars whizzing by you around every corner? Here’s your chance, these guys are going to give members of our community a chance to upgrade their current ride and step into something a little more luxurious (and fast!). Every week three people will win a vehicle selected by the community, which will be gifted to members of the community.

Image by Quilam94- See this in more in the Community Gallery

Big Bro Tuning & Design (BBTD) 10m CR Livery Photo Contest
The good work over at BBTD continues with their second photomode competition. This competition features one of the largest credit pools to date with a 10,000,000 CR prize fund (doubling the previous contest). As an extra bonus incentive, there’s going to be one lucky entrant walking away with a 1m CR random giveaway prize! There’s also a special 2 million CR “Editor’s Choice” prize for the cream of the crop! Deadline: Extended to Friday 2nd August 2010

IFCA GP2Replica Series 2
Making its second ever outing at the IFCA is the “GP2 Replica Series”, a series aimed at mimicking the format of the popular Formula 1 feeder series where drivers compete in a 2 race format with partially reversed grids. For this series, the AWD 2010 Audi S4 in a spec-built A-532 performance index awaits! The series will begin Tuesday 10th August, with the racing schedule set to 14:00 CST / 20:00 GMT(UK) over 8 weeks. Sign Up now! Deadline: Sign-ups close 16th August

Black vs. White: The Photocomp
A duel of colors, the goal here is simple – Forzatographers must post 1 shot of a black car and 1 shot of a white car which will be entered to win in one of the two categories. A final battle will be held to decide which photo is the ultimate best. Deadline: July 31st, 2010

NOTE: This post is from Forza Motorsport.

Scans of the French PlayStation Official Magazine’s feature on GT5 reveal the magazine is weighing in on two of the game’s most exciting unannounced features. Most confidently, they’ve listed*karting as a major category in the game and even included a small note on the track editor. Of course, the text is in French, but you can see all the scans for yourself right here.

As you may recall, these are two of the most exciting unexpected features which were confirmed last month by Sony Worldwide Studios president and Polyphony Digital executive Shuhei Yoshida. Mr. Yoshida’s interview is almost certainly the source of the magazine’s information, but it’s interesting that they have chosen to place their editorial weight and authority behind his comments.*Thanks to all who sent this in so quickly!

Related posts:

1. Gran Turismo 5 Weather, Track Editor Confirmed
2. GT Academy 2010 French/Swiss Finals Video
3. Sony Rep: GT5 Planned for October 2010

NOTE: This post is from GT Planet.

Nissan Japan have recently announced updates to the GT-R Owners Loyalty Plan including a revised certified used GT-R program and a special GT-R “Fresh-Up Kit” for those certified used cars. The “Fresh-Up Kit” takes care of a number of items that used GT-R owners might look at being in prime condition when they take over ownership of their pre-loved GT-R like new shocks, springs, engine mounts, transmissions mounts and brake lines.

What might really make used GT-R owners feel more comfortable though is the announcement that Nissan will begin to offer replacement parts for the GT-R’s Borgwarner GR6 Dual Clutch Transmission. At this time, parts will only be offered for sale though three specific GT-R specialist service centers; these are Nismo Omori Factory, Nova Engineering and Nordring.

This policy of selling transmission parts means that what previously would have been deemed an entire transmission replacement worthy fault may now be fixed at a much lower price by Nissan authorized repair centres.

What Nissan’s plans are to take this philosophy overseas into Europe and North America are yet to be seen but we’d love for Nissan to let us know…

Source: Nissan Japan
Images: Nissan and BorgWarner

View Entire Article: Nissan Japan Announce Seperate Sales of GR6 Transmission Parts at GTRBlog.com Originally appeared on and © GTRBlog.com. 2010. | Read comments.

NOTE: This post is from an outside source.

Probably the longest compilation of spy video of the 2012 Nissan GT-R testing at Nurburgring yet has made its way up on to YouTube. In the video we can see both the latest 2012 base model GT-R with aero and wheel updates. We can also see what will no doubt be dubbed the SpecM in it’s fully optioned glory.

Latest word on the Nissan GT-R SpecM is that it will not be called the SpecM when it launches in Japan at all. What name they will use is not known yet. It will begin at a base price not much higher than a Premium spec 2012 GT-R but have options up to and exceeding the current SpecV specification.

Nissan is still considering using the SpecM label when it debuts in Europe however so look forward to that.

Video: Auto Motor und Sport

View Entire Article: 2012 Nissan GT-R at Nurburgring – More Spy Video at GTRBlog.comOriginally appeared on and © GTRBlog.com. 2010. | Read comments.

NOTE: This post is from an outside source.

Top Secret have leaked a few images of their upcoming newest product. A carbon fibre hood for the R35 GT-R. As you can see the hood features some large vents to improve engine bay cooling in much the same way as the GT1/GT1 style hoods do.

Looking forward to getting more details on this one soon…

Link: Pre-order Top Secret’s new carbon hood @ GT-RR.com

View Entire Article: Preview: TopSecret Carbon Fibre Hood for Nissan GT-R at GTRBlog.comOriginally appeared on and © GTRBlog.com. 2010. | Read comments.

NOTE: This post is from an outside source.

Programmers from the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Society of Automotive Engineers have found an interesting way to build “green racing” features on top of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. Apparently, the system works by sitting between the steering wheel and the PlayStation 3, watching and recording controller inputs.

The software currently simulates a Chevrolet Corvette with a hybrid engine system running on ethanol, and calculates the player’s overall “Michelin Green X Challenge” score in real-time based on braking and acceleration. Big names such as Joerg Bergmeister and Gunnar Jeannette have already tested the system, but you can give it a try yourself “at all remaining U.S. rounds of the series, at Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, Road America and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.” They’re looking to expand the system to other makes and models, and are looking to implement *”multiplayer down the road”.*Read up on all the details at Michelin’s company blog, and please let me know if any of you are able to try out one of these systems for yourself!

Related posts:

1. GT5 Prologue Rankings App for iPhone/Android
2. Three New 8.2 Megapixel GT5 Night Screenshots
3. GTPlanet on Track for the 2010 Racing Season

NOTE: This post is from GT Planet.

A tip from reader Volcao referenced a few screen grabs from one of the brief*Gran Turismo 5 trailers released last month after E3 2010. His tip prompted me to take a closer look at the video myself and — sure enough — there’s actually a bit of damage shown here (albeit very, very briefly).*Around 45 seconds into the clip, you’ll see a blue JGTC R35 Calsonic Skyline flipped over on its top and then sliding away from the camera.

It’s a dramatic accident for a GT game, and I think Polyphony Digital wants us to focus on the fact that cars can now be turned upside-down. Watching frame-by-frame, though, you’ll notice the car’s hood has suffered from the impact as it crumples in, exposing the top of the tire underneath. Immediately afterwards, we see the side of the car showing dents, damage to aerodynamic components behind the front wheel, and what appears to be missing chunks of the sponsor’s vinyl stickers.

Take a look for yourself in the three screen grabs I’ve provided below. These were snapped from the original version of the video, which you can download here in .mov format (88 MB) or just watch the embedded YouTube clip above.

Related posts:

1. GT5 Demo Shows More Dislodged Bumpers
2. A (Very) Brief Look at Production Car Damage in GT5
3. GT5’s Head-Tracking “Underwhelming”, But Damage “Looking Beautiful”

NOTE: This post is from GT Planet.