Forza Motorsport 7: Stars at 70

The year 2018 will be remembered as three car companies celebrating their 70th anniversary this year; Land Rover, Lotus, and Porsche, and today, we shall see which one will be the shining star for the next seven decades and to do that, I found a venue that fits to the timeline of these carmakers; Silverstone.







Ah, Silverstone. Born in 1948 from the remnants of an RAF airfield, this track hosted their first grand prix in 1950 and it was forever known as a battleground for the British Grand Prix for many years and beyond. This venue makes it the perfect battleground for three of the most iconic carmakers celebrating their 70th birthday this year. Representing Land Rover is the Range Rover Sport SVR, then for Lotus, it's the Exige S, and for Porsche, the 911 GT3 RS.







Before pitting these three for a one-lap shootout, I took some sighting laps to get to know these machines. Starting on the SVR, Land Rover managed to transform the Range Rover Sport into something else no SUV has ever done before. Known to be one of the fastest SUVs to lap round the Nurburgring, it sets the bar for SUVs everywhere and despite its weight, the raw power of its supercharged V8 and its sporty dynamics mean that this SUV is not afraid to take on corners and upon driving this machine several times, I'm already familiar with its behavior.

The Exige S has gone through several upgrades but rest assured, this hardcore V6-powered track toy remains something that shouldn't be underlooked. It may have defined the philosophy of what a Lotus should be, value aerodynamics over performance, but despite the added supercharged V6 engine on the middle, the Exige remains what a Lotus should be, to be fast elsewhere on the track. A long time ago, I tested it against a hardcore Mustang somewhere and I was amazed that it managed to outrun a GT350 in a rather close margin. This Exige became one of my favorite Lotuses to drive in the game ever since I laid my hands on one.

The 911 GT3 RS is the result of what happens when you give supercar levels to a sportscar that is so brilliant everywhere. Taking a break from all that yelling and exploding things, driving the 911 GT3 RS is all about getting yourselves back at where you're good at, driving the stuff you love and by being as old-school as an 80's superhero show and as hardcore as an extreme track toy, it's becoming the best 911 ever made for purists elsewhere, despite the gearbox woes. You can really clear your mind with everything that doesn't involve driving and enjoy it until you are satisfied.

So, now that I'm familiar with these machines, these representatives are ready to find out which carmaker feels great after 70 years and since Silverstone was been with us for 70 years now, this will be a shootout to remember so let's grab some beer and nachos because it's time for these stars at 70 to show the world what they can do. Roll the tape.



After all three cars showcasing the best that their makers can do, here are the results:

SVR - 2:40.165
Exige - 2:33.704
991 GT3 RS - 2:21.353

Which means, the best carmaker that feels good after 70 years is none other than...Porsche!







Like the city of Rome, Silverstone wasn't built on a day and the same goes for these cars because they took several man hours trying to perfect these machines before emerging them on the roads and tracks at the hands of their potential owners. Land Rover perfected at the art of going places while Lotus remains sticking to the simple recipe that impresses the owners over their lightness principles and Porsche catered different kinds of customers with their offerings inspired by the sportiness of the 911.

Sharing same ages, their differences are what made these carmakers great. So here's for another seventy good years of perfecting such machines for such purposes. You deserve this year to shine, gentlemen.

FH3 Blizzard Mountain: Snow Flower

As everyone remembered, this is the Lotus Exige S. With the added power from its supercharged V6 engine combined with the legendary Lotus dynamics that focused solely on weight loss, it is one of the most extreme Lotuses ever made to cater the most demanding drivers on the road and on the track. However, in a cold climate like Blizzard Mountain, there's no freaking way that this car can race here...or can I?

Because almost all of the cars offered in Forza Horizon 3 can be fitted with studless tires because without it, it would be difficult to drive it here, especially when you got an offroader in your collection. For a rear-wheel drive like the Lotus Exige, it's virtually impossible to drive it through ice so it's ideal to rig it with studless snow tires. Although, even with snow tires, it's still not going to make it through the icy conditions of Blizzard Mountain, or perhaps can you?

To find out, I am giving the Lotus Exige S the "extra service" it deserves. Aside from giving it some snow tires and some performance upgrades for competitive purposes, it's got some familiar looking design that was updated for today. The last time I made a design for the Exige S back in Europe, that Takane Shijou look gave it a more alluring flair and now, I've updated the design to meet Platinum Stars standards. Nothing says I took that looks from the pages of Ridge Racer's Fatalita "Takane SP" special machine.

Anyway, after long hours of extra service, the Exige is ready to take on a scene where different cars are racing through a village during a snowstorm at the dead of night. Severe snowstorm at nightfall? That is very scary and so are the cars getting ready for filming but the show must go on as planned and judging by the challenges set here, looks like I might run into some fierce resistance from the opponents. So, let's get this show started.

Man, that Audi TT S at the end of the race is a real thorn to me during the final lap, and despite my victory at the end of the race packed with extreme icy conditions, it's clear that even with snow tires, rear-wheel drives are almost impossible to survive, although this would pack some added challenge to the drivers who demand more. Like they said, a true champion always adapt to the battlefield, seeing the harsher conditions as a challenge, and taking a rear-wheel drive Lotus on the winter wonderland is a tough act to follow.

Forza Motorsport 6: Sushi vs. Hamburger Redux

Remember several years ago when then-Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson tested an old Lotus Exige S (the one with the supercharged 2ZZ-GE engine in the middle) round the Top Gear Test Track and then raced against The Stig in a Ford Mustang and won? It was the old sushi vs. hamburger debate and now, that tale's about to be retold in its modern-day equivalents.



These are the modern-day equivalents I am talking about. Here, I've been rejoined by the V6-powered Lotus Exige S, the car capable of balancing big power and light weight at the same pace on the track. As for the Mustang side, I've gone for the most track-honed Mustang yet, the all-new GT350. Specifically, a specially-made GT350R. Let's hope this Mustang sounds as it should be because it's been updated twice after problems faced with the GT350's exhaust sound.

Anyway, what can you expect about these two? Well, both of these track-day, road-legal machines are well in tune with the racetracks thanks to its motorsport-derived dynamics that allows themselves to go through the corners as smooth as a baby's buttocks like those triplets in the picture. Although the Lotus Exige S V6 is a bulkier Lotus due to the bulk of its engine, its midship layout and its crafty dynamics still feels like the lightweight Lotus of yesteryears, making it the ideal track toy that you can use it harder and longer, as long as you don't pit in against ultra-lightweight machines like the Atom or the Mono because that would be suicidal.

The GT350R, a special model based on the GT350, is basically a hardcore sixth-generation Mustang I am really like and in fact, I like this one better than the old 1960's GT350 because the old GT350 is for Gran Turismo losers and the new GT350 is fit for Forza faithfuls like you and me. However, there are some idiots, presumably Gran Turismo fans, listed numerous things why they hate the new GT350 as well as many reasons not to buy one. One of the main reasons why is because it's a Forza car and you know how idiots react to cars featured in a Forza game. Anyway, while the V8 engine it powers it is not as powerful as the old GT500, its race-derived dynamics really compensates it and you can really set very fast lap times in this pony car if you set things right. Word of warning, however, is despite its newly sophisticated suspension setup like in the standard Mustang, it can still kick you off like a mechanical bull on the bar.




Now it's time to compare these two round the Top Gear Test Track and see if the whole sushi and hamburger debate still applies in this modern-day equivalents. Let's get crackin...


And now the results. The Lotus Exige S did it in 1:23.130 while the new Shelby GT350 did it in 1:23.389, meaning that light is right when it comes to track-day sportscars and looks like the sushi trumped the hamburger, but only just.

Forza Horizon 2: Driving the Lotus Exige

This is the Lotus Exige S, and it's the fastest and most powerful Lotus ever made thanks to its combination of big power and light weight that is uncanny for most British lightweights. It maybe 500lbs more than the old Exige but it has a Toyota-derived 3.5L V6 engine with added superchargers which develops 345HP of power and 295lb-ft of torque. It does 0-100kph in under four seconds and onwards to 274kph.



Back in the original Horizon, I started to fall in love with Lotus' finest masterpiece not because of its combination of power and lightness but also the agility and the precision it delivers if the setting's left untouched, probably, and it's the same story goes when I drove it on FM5 where all of its goodness starting to come unraveled in most parts of the world. In the world of FH2, it's starting to feel at home when I take it round the parts of the Southern Europe. It's like if love moves in mysterious ways and oh! Speaking of "mysterious", looks like the Exige deserves a special treatment I came up with...





Now here's the little scamp that I came up with and because I'm still in the process of celebrating THE iDOLM@STER's 10th birthday, the theme for my Exige S in FH2 I made is...yes, you've guessed it, Takane Shijou. It's a bit of a "Secret, Secret, I have a secret" thing but trust me, this theme deserves to be persevered because even though she's more of an arrogance and her mysteriousness really keeps you guessing like a nude Irene Adler appeared, you're most likely to spend some time with her until you're fully seduced by her witty charms.

That's why I chose this for my special treatment because this car moves in unpredictable patterns but only when left untouched. On its own, the Exige S is a wonderful car to drive full stop but because it fell onto the category dominated by cars whose power-to-weight ratios eclipsed the almighty Bugatti Veyron, the Exige finds it to be difficult to stick through its opposition and when I improved this car around to Ariel Atom territory, it feels more sensitive when it faces to corner. As a rule, you would never want to max out this car to compete with ultra-light machines because while it's fast on the straights, cornering it can be very nightmarish, and I shall demonstrate it with a championship I've booked for this car.



See? I told you it's much difficult to drive the Exige when maxed out to Ariel Atom levels but still, I've managed to survive all the way to victory. Looks like I won't be doing that again after all this but driving this Exige never made me so thrilling because I had fun driving a Lotus that combines big power and light weight into one unique package and the way it moves is unpredictable. Yes, it's as unpredictable as the design I made for the Exige.

Forza Motorsport 5: The Lotus Exige S V6

This is the Lotus Exige S, or to be accurate, the Lotus Exige S with the V6 engine on it. Launched in the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Exige S balances big power and lightweight, making it the driver's car that delivers a threat against the big boys in track days.



It's a tricky one when Lotus made this car from scratch and the reason why it's longer than the old Exige and it now weighs a ton is because of its supercharged Toyota 3.5L V6 engine derived from the Evora S. But still, with the added power and weighs less than Europe's finest sports cars, the Exige S is truly born for the track and usable for the road. Here in Forza 5, when it comes to drive the Exige S, it takes a lot of science experiments to examine how the Exige S stacks up. Think of it like stuffing things up to the microwave...



When I take this round at the Top Gear Track, it set a lap time of about 1:24.272 and that's not bad for a track-day car with big power in the middle. Although the added weight was not a hindrance for the V6 Exige, Lotus truly knows how to balance it out to create the perfect driver's car; a driver-focused car that is more powerful and lighter, a car that is more track-focused and usable for the road and this car sure does that.

Forza Horizon: The RAGE of the RACER

Forza Horizon's January RECARO Car Pack is out now and to begin, there is one car in the pack that tickles my fancy, if you know what I mean? First and foremost, I once tried the supercharged Evora S, which is the pinnacle of the Lotus range but for some fans they want something lighter because that's what Lotuses are made of. Luckily though, help is at hand because there's now a Lotus that combines big power and lighter weight and here's the result....

A supercharged V6 Toyota engine in a light car...

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the new Lotus Exige S, the V6 model, not the one that has a Toyota Celica engine from the past. Anyway, this is one of the cars from the January RECARO Car Pack that tickles my fancies because this feels just right. Big power in a light car equals a total recipe of RAGE for the RACER within. Sure you'll gonna get people noticing you and then they'll say "teach this sucker a lesson.", "Move out!", "Don't you know how to drive?", "I like your style, kid...", "Excellent cornering!", and the feedback from others just goes on and on but it doesn't matter because what I got here is a Lotus that will make me happy...VERY happy because a supercharged 3.5L V6 Toyota engine in a lightweight car made in Hethel, Norfolk is just what I want to drive in the world of Forza.

Teach this sucker a lesson...

By the moment I drove this brand-new pinnacle of the Lotus range, first impressions isn't going to be a nice one but as I long I got addicted to the V6 Exige, we're going to have a long-distance relationship between me and the Norfolk-built car with a V6 Toyota engine on it but that will be wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey for that. Anyway, thanks to such big V6 engine on it, I was expecting that the weight is now doubled and yes...sort of because by the data, it's now 500 pounds more than the previous Exige but despite its added weight, it can get me through 60 in four seconds and it can do 170mph on a straight line...just. In terms of handling, thanks to being a lightweight Lotus despite a bulky engine on it, it's just so great to handle. It's not hard to master and it doesn't matter if you're not concentrating. It is as emotional as a gloomy schoolgirl but it is as serious as a professional racer who want to brag everything at the luncheon and if by luncheon, mmmm....luncheon meat...

This has some screen presence on it!

What I also like about the new Exige S V6 is its presence, it's "screen presence" if you know what I mean because in my thoughts, the closing credits from a classic video game titled Rage Racer are gonna look good if I was going to parodize it with my might. Maybe a little AMV or a MAD would do but still, it looks fantastically gorgeous, it kinda reminiscent of the fictitious Fatalita from either Rage Racer or the PSV version of Ridge Racer. Is it just me or am I saying it too far?

A very aggressive corner muncher

But still, I love this car. Even though this car's just unfit for my height, I still love this car, all that zany personality, the lightweight body, the bulky engine, the race-focused cockpit, everything, especially its presence at Forza Horizon. This is going to be my favorite car in Horizon for the month of January.

Forza 4 Head to Head: Sushi vs. Hamburger

THIS IS SUSHI VS. HAMBURGER!!

We got so many cars in Forza 4 we haven't tried yet on the Top Gear Test Track so instead of putting one car each, why not do a little head-to-head like some other car magazines do?

This is sushi vs. hamburger! He he he, sorry about that. Must have been watching too much Top Gear but whatever, I've watched an episode of Top Gear when Jeremy Clarkson races the Exige against a Ford Mustang, which was driven by The Stig. Anyway, what I have here is the same kind of cars as seen on Top Gear but they're a bit different. What I have here is a 2005 Ford Mustang GT and a 2006 Lotus Exige Cup 240.

First off, the 2005 Ford Mustang GT. When it was launched, this generation ushered a revival of old-school muscle car designs. That was first. I mean look at it, it kinda reminds me of the first Mustang ever made. Because of the fact that Ford never implemented independent suspension to the Mustang, the handling's a bit too challenging. With such an old-school suspension instead of the independent suspension, you can almost feel that the 2005 Mustang is too much dynamic in terms of handling. Dynamic but challenging, that's one of my philosophy when it comes to checking out the car's handling.

Despite being DYNAMIC, what appreciates me is the noise coming out of the 4.6L V8 engine. Just listen to that noise, you wouldn't believe that this is the noise scientists believed that this is going to be far worse to your eardrums but hey, we all like a bonkers muscle.

Anyway, enough chitter chatter, let's see how good is this car...

...the 2005 Ford Mustang GT crossed the line in 1.32.745.

Now, let's move from hamburger to sushi with the Exige Cup 240.

Back in Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson drove the Exige and he said that it can out-maneuver an Apache helicopter right until to the part that it got locked on and it's over. Later on, he jumped through the Exige S and it defeated the Ford Mustang. This was like sushi vs. hamburger.

Anyway, about this car, the Series 2 Exige, which is a hardcore hardtop version of the Series 2 Elise, was launched in 2004 and it comes with a 1.8L Toyota engine (2ZZ-GE) from the Celica, which produces 190HP of power.

In 2005, a special edition 240R was launched and it was limited up to 50 units, powered by a supercharged version of the 2ZZ-GE engine, which churns out 243HP of power and it was available in yellow or black, representing the colors of Lotus Sport.

Lotus Sport developed track-ready versions of the Exige dubbed as Cup and Cup 240, which were stripped-out versions of the 2006MY Exige, which has no luxury equipement in exchange for uprated clutch, sports exhaust, adjustable suspension, uprated brakes, limited slip differential, switchable traction control, a T45 steel roll-over hoop and Aframe with harness mounts, fuel and ignition kill switches and a fully plumbed in fire extinguisher system.

Anyway, enough analogy for now and into that car. Because this is the Cup 240, the interior's getting some scaffolding and yes, the luxury equipment is gone all in the name of lightweight and for the handling, unlike the Mustang, it isn't a bit too challenging and dynamic. It's just so easy, it's not a hard car. You can brake later, turn harder, and get on the power sooner than the Mustang. Lightweight cars are notoriously fun to drive than heavyweights but let's see how good is this...Exige.



...and the Lotus Cup 240 crossed the line in 1.24.514 so it's better than the 2005 Mustang GT!

NORFOLK - 1   DETROIT - 0

Frankly, the results aren't surprising because stuff sold by gram is always being more exciting than stuff sold by pound. As observed, it seems that small and light cars are more exciting to drive in every different ways. The Exige though, it is the triumph of British engineering.

Lotus Exige S V6

The power of three...what could possibly be? I'm not sure if we do live in the year of the slow invasion but anyway, that would be too wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey spacey-wasey to talk about that later so, for a three's a crowd, we found one that is worth THE POWER OF THREE...

2012 Lotus Exige S

Some people thought that the Lotus Exige is probably a hardtop hardcore version of the Lotus Elise but for this one, NOT ANYMORE IT ISN'T!

Welcome everybody to the all new Lotus Exige S, the hardcore hardtop Lotus now made even better and for starters, the Toyota engine that used to power the old Celica was been thrown away and replaced with the supercharged 3.5L V6 Toyota engine first applied on the Lotus Evora S. So then, what you're looking up here is a lightweight V6 rage racer. It does 0-100kph at around 3.8 seconds and flatout, it can crack it up to 271kph, about 6kph less than the Lotus Evora S.

Yes, I may want to call it a "rage racer" because look at it, from every angle, this new Exige S looks absolutely enraging. Even though it looks enraging, it's about as elegant as Takane Shijou and for the fun of it, this is about as real as the fictitious Fatalita. Look at the bodywork. If you manage to put some Fatalita livery on it, this is just astonishing and truly an envy of your crowd.

Of course, with all that beauty of a Ridge Racer do come with a price. Because the Exige is all about being a serious lightweight car with a Japanese V6 engine on it, the interior is all about being race-focused and what I expect here is the speedometer. It looks kinda like the one from the Evora. Sure it has an audio but I don't care about it. I don't care about the racer-focused interior. What matters here is the Exige S V6's elegance. Think of it as...Takane Shijou in Christie Monteiro's outfit. Here we go...

When I said Takane Shijou in Christie Monteiro's costume, I really do mean it because the handling is just fantastic for a car that weighs about two tons, about as similar as the Lotus Elise. It's not as mild as a luxury car and it's not as dynamic as an American muscle car. The handling is well balanced and easy to drive because of its lightweight body. Couple that with the 6-speed close ratio manual transmission and this car is a bit more fun. This car is not made for the noobs everywhere because this car's a serious track-day racer, doing the capoeira in every single corner. It is a good car but what about being an everyday car?

Sadly though, it isn't. Sure, the Exige may be track-ready and road legal but with all that sports suspension mounted on the Exige S V6, I'm sorry to say that you'll be going to have a very uncomfortable feeling. It maybe elegant on the track but on the road, this is a different story because when you use this car while going out on a date, this is a bit more wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey spacey-wasey and your girlfriend might think that you're driving a car that scares her the most. Funny thing is, there's no power steering. That's it.

Despite all that bonkers technology, this is really the Lotus I like. I am gladly want to ditch the Evora S for this because the Evora's too heavy and too complicating because of the monitor that I can't read in the sunshine. This car, it's all about THE POWER OF THREE. That is by being lighter, powerful, and aggressive than the old Exige.

Photo: Group Lotus