Yes, we are back! Back to the racetrack where we can spend track days racing each other and share with the mates about how we're doing on the track. There are some trying to get their track-day swagger on, and there are others evaluating each others' cars in the way how they're connected to each other both man and machine.
Here we are, Forza Motorsport 6, the biggest birthday present in honor of the Forza franchise's 10th anniversary. Looks like 10 is the lucky number for 2015, right? So many stuff had their tens happened but enough for that. Let's kick off with the starter car I've chose at the start of Forza Motorsport 6.
And here it is...well, this is obviously familiar to most Forza fans too many. Yes, this is a Toyota 86 and the main reason that I chose this car at the start of the game is because this is by no means one of the most enjoyable cars to drive even a rookie would try to handle this car with ease.
At first, you may find this car prone to oversteering because this car's rear wheel drive but because it doesn't have much power as the other starter cars, it's accessible and very popular among players who recently started their FM6 or got it few days ago thanks to Ultimate Edition early access.
For my opening salvo, I decided to lap this car round the Top Gear Test Track and hold on. Haven't I done this before since FM5? Who cares? It's like an encore performance for me but because this is Forza Motorsport 6, I am seeing improvements happening...nearly.
As I lapped this 86 round the Top Gear track, it had set its first power lap time of my very own Forza 6 Top Gear power lap time of 1:34.472. Not as quick as what Stig set from the TV series but this is how it all begins for me. This is the beginning of a wonderful journey here at FM6.
This car-related article, as posted from Autoindustriya, looks quite interesting for our inner kids. A car enthusiast turned his Toyota 86 (GT86/Scion FR-S) into a character from Disney's Cars for his three year-old kid. Lightning McQueen is the main character of the two Disney Cars movies and as that car nut told, he saw pics on the net about cars decorated in Lightning McQueen's livery and he even told that his son would be cool if he rode Lightning McQueen to school.
He enlisted tuner Speedway Engineering to make his kid's dream a reality, well sort of. And aside from mimicking McQueen's looks, his 86 got tuned to have over 300HP of power thanks to the added turbocharging and ECU mods.
Classified themselves as "tuners", those rear-wheel drive TOYOTA 86 and SUBARU BRZ sport coupes enjoyed their fame and fortune among die-hard car enthusiasts ever since they both showed up in the open last year. There's more to this 86/BRZ modification trends because the folks from LIBERAL showcased the Baruta body kit available for both the 86 and the BRZ coupes.
- Front Bumper Spoiler (BRZ only) - 157,500 Yen
- Rear Bumper Spoiler - 84,000 Yen
- Front Lip Spoiler (requires front bumper) - 47,250 Yen
- Side Spoiler - 68,250 Yen
- 3D stainless molding - 68,250 Yen
- Wide side mirror - 15,750 Yen
- Carbon short antenna - 6,825 Yen
- Carbon antenna cover - 10,500 Yen
ExtremeDrivingTV, a YouTube channel featuring extreme driving from Japan and the "Engrish" subs that leaves us puzzled, showcased what's up for D1 Drifter Manabu Orido's Toyota 86 drift car and you wouldn't believe what you just saw...
Manabu's 86 drift car was rigged with a Corvette V8 engine, but to be specific, a 7.0L V8 engine you would expect on the Corvette Z06. Reason for this cool engine swap is because last year, Manabu became a victim of power shortage and engine troubles on his 86 drift car so he decided to put in a new engine! The 7.0L V8 Corvette engine that powers Manabu's 86 drift car is smaller and 50kg lighter than the previous Lexus V8 engine. It also comes with a genuine dry sump as well.
Find out how does this new engine sums up by watching this Extreme video...
Of course, the Toyota 86Q, which is a mini-me one-off version of the Toyota 86/GT86 (Scion FR-S) sports coupe, which was launched last year alongside its Subaru BRZ twin, really is a Daihatsu Midget truck with some sporting credentials. Yes, they've used the chassis from a Midget truck and then loaded some 86 credentials to make it look like the miniature version so mini, it looks like it's a toy car life sized. Question is, how long did they made this one-off?
To find out, ExtremeDrivingTV has a video clip on how long did the 86Q was made. Wanna know how long? Watch the clip and find out and apologize to their English subtitles because it feels like it's been Google Translated...
The Lexus LFA and the Scion FR-S are what I'm calling it the present-day crowning glories of Toyota Motor Corporation and here in the fantasy world that is Forza Horizon, these new JDM royalties are trying to show what they're capable of...
Walker Lexus Ranger
The thing about the LFA though is that this limited-to-500-units masterpiece feels like a racing car and it sounds like a racing car that's because of Toyota Motor Corporation collaborate with Yamaha to provide some acoustic tuning to the LFA's exhaust so it sounds like a F1 car every time when you're foot is on the pedal. It maybe the first (and last) Japanese grand tourer to have a V10 engine, it maybe rare due to limited production, it maybe carrying a very expensive price tag but this Lexus LFA is a golden opportunity to show off its natural talent in Forza Horizon.
Bringing the sport to Horizon
When the rest of the world called this the TOYOTA 86 or GT86, the North Americans called this the Scion FR-S. Never mind about the analogy because it maybe not as quick as other sports cars but when it comes to corners, this FR-S has good handling. Less grippy, more fun. That's talent to you and me. It behaves and waggles just like its spiritual predecessor, the AE86 Sprinter Trueno. A good story though that my cousin told me that this is the car he should have bought rather than the old white Mazda RX-8 he currently had. I was gonna told that to you but I told my cousin that the FR-S has less of the power than his RX-8 so who cares about it? Even though it's less powerful, the FR-S is the kind of car my cousin would never ever get off from his dreams. It's your fault, cousin. It's your fault. You were given a choice...
The LFA is like a samurai descended from the clouds in the sky while the FR-S is like a ninja swiftly moves in the blink of the eye. A car carrying a huge pricetag and huge power or a car carrying a cheap pricetag, less powerful boxer engine and a natural talent of cornering might sounds ridiculous if you were to choose but the decisions are all up to the drivers. It's the drivers, not the cars, that makes the difference...
The Scion FR-S or whatever you may call it the Toyota GT86
...yes I know. I lied about the whole exclusivity thing. I didn't expect how did this car showed up on Forza Motorsport 4 via the August Playseat Car Pack but in order to figure it out how did this car behave, even though this car is the fruit of its Toyota-Subaru joint venture, I decided to drive it round the track to see what is what....
That scares me off!
Wahhhh! No! No! WAAAAHHHH!!!! WAAAAAHHHH!!!!
Pushing through the limits
WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A brighter way to ruin your underwear
WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! MOMMY!!!!!!! I WANT MY MOMMY!!!!!!
The nightmare ends.
...and that concludes this test drive of the Scion FR-S. It's terrifying but if I want a car better than the Scion FR-S, I should be getting one of these instead...
And it begins....
Some people have told that in last four years or so, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe is just a low-cost rear-wheel drive Korean sports coupe that is cheaper on anything but...NOT ANYMORE IT ISN'T!
Party like a rock star
This new 2013 model of the Genesis Coupe, daintily trimmed as 3.8 Track, looks pretty much the same as the other present-day Hyundai models but now it's lighter and more powerful than ever. It now has a 3.8 V6 Lambda GDi (Gasoline Direct Injection) engine which produces 348HP of power, which means this streak of K-POP is even faster than the old Genesis Coupe and it's even faster than American V6 pony cars and the Infiniti G37S in acceleration and quarter-mile times.
Question is...is it powerful than the Scion FR-S? Let's see....That FR-S has a FA20 D4S Boxer engine that produces about nearly 200HP of power and generally, lighter than the 2013 Genesis Coupe. Let's remember that with the New Genesis Coupe's GDi engine, the kind of engine we won't be getting in the Philippines because of our local fuels' incompatibility, it's more powerful so...let's find out!
Genesis Coupe with the GDi engine trounced the boxer sports coupe
So, the new model beats the FR-S in the straights and it's easier to drive even though it's an FR sportscar made from a rapidly growing country that brought you Koreanovelas and K-POP music to the world or to put it on this way, the Hallyu (Korean wave).
The Hallyu wave has overtaken the otaku!
From behind, the FR-S is all over the place, it was like being chased by a big giant monster trying to swallow me but too slow to catch up on me. I can see that on my rear view mirror or monitor perhaps but hey, don't get me wrong because even though it has a dynamic driving feel, it's still very Hallyu-ish. The makgeoli, the bulgogi, kimchi, K-POP music, K-Dramas, that's what fueled it. Behind the shouty exterior beats the heart of any Japanese or European sports cars trying to catch up. I mean, everyone can drive this one straight away. No problem at all...
Picture a scene: it's a beautiful day when there's a Genesis Coupe waiting to be driven and then some woman in her kissogram outfit getting in. While driving, she's turning into a blonde woman, which later turned into a young African-American woman, and then later on, she's now a ginger-haired middle-aged woman, and soon afterwards, it's that young, ginger-haired woman who was a kissogram before but now, instead of her kissogram uniform, she now wears a brown fitted leather jacket, burgundy v-neck sweater, denim mini-skirt, stockings, and some tan cowboy boots. What? What did I said?
Drawbacks? Well, in real life, you could expect an 8-speed automatic transmission with paddles behind the steering wheel and sadly though, eight gears is too much like the Lexus IS F. What I have here is a 6-speed manual transmission with a clutch pedal below and that means that there's no space for my left foot. Both of them are annoying to me like the annoying orange.
So far as for styling, the FR-S is just um....like a Toyota FT-86 concept car even personal. The Genesis Coupe though is one of the best-looking Korean cars ever built even when it comes with its pointy and shouty Veloster-style nose. They say that this is all part of Hyundai's Fluidic Sculpture and the reason why the Veloster-like face was applied on the Genesis Coupe is because to accommodate their GDi 3.8L V6 engine or an improved and turbocharged 2.0 TCi engine. These two engines combine performance and ecology so if I had the devil's own job, I have my own point to explain why.
As concerned, the biggest problem of this car was it's pricing and with the cost of $33,875 for the Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track, it's expensive than the fully-equipped FR-S. So it's your choice really. You can either have a kissogram attacked you with a cricket bat or a car that can be driven by one.
(applause)
How? How could you not like the FR-S you useless, idioting, coke-drinking, feckless, fat, boring, hopeless, talentless, dull, hypocrite, thumb-sucking, bed-wetting, suede-laden, denim-laden, idiot?
I knew you gonna said that.
(audience laughing)
But we have to actually find out how fast it is by lending it to our tamed racing driver. Some say his favorite Doctor Who girl was actually River Song...
(audience laughing)
...and yet, he received numerous gold medals by stealing them from others...
(audience laughing)
...all we know is he's called The Stig!
(applause)
So, our new 2013 Genesis Coupe did it in 1:29.649 so that's faster than our 930 911 Turbo so, let's finish this day off!
No! No, no, wait! What about the FR-S?
Um....
Tell me....is it better than the New Genesis Coupe?
Now you may probably remember back in the final round of the recently ended GT Academy 2012, we were shocked that the Twin Ring Motegi was included on the event but only the east section of the Road Course. It was like we didn't get it but joy of joys, Twin Ring Motegi is back on Gran Turismo 5 as a DLC. What you have is the complete set; the Road Course, the east section of the Road Course, the west section of the Road Course, and the oval Super Speedway. Two tracks with four layouts. Little known fact that this Honda-owned racetrack has a Gran Turismo cafe on it. Anyone visited on the Gran Turismo cafe?
Anyway, it kinda feels like I forgot all about the Twin Ring Motegi but relearn the Twin Ring Motegi, I need a car that will do that kind of job. Something sporty, something boxer, something 2-door, something RWD.
THE BRAND NEW SCION FR-S!
Bringing Twin Ring Motegi back to GT5 is provided by the new 2013 Scion FR-S
It maybe brand new but actually this Scion FR-S really is more than just brand new. Its FR layout, boxer 4 engine, and the joint venture between Toyota Motor Corporation and Fuji Heavy Industries (makers of Subaru) really made it unique. I was hoping for the Subaru BRZ but who am I caring for? The Scion FR-S really is BRINGING THE SPORT BACK TO THE CAR! Ha ha ha ha!
FR-S drift!
Now you might be saying that this is just the Toyota GT86 with Toyota badges thrown away in favor of Scion badges but still retaining the 86 logo on the sides. I once drove the Toyota 86 last year and I really favored on its handling nature. This experience I had on the GT86 is the same thing I'd experience on the Scion FR-S. You still have the same FA20 engine that powered the TOYOTA 86. It churns out 200 hp @ 7,000 RPM of power and 151 lb.-ft @ 6,600 RPM of torque.
This is somewhat an Americanized GT86
FR Boxer Coupe loves to drift!
When you look at the heritage of the Scion FR-S, it appears that current Toyota CEO, Akio Toyoda, was heavily involved on that project. He's a motorsport enthusiast and he wanted to create a sports car that he would want to drive. Cars like the Sports 800, 2000GT, and the legendary AE86, that's how either the GT86 or the FR-S reminded me of those. You can feel the DNA all over it.
Surely, the GT86 and the FR-S are all the same thing. They have the same looks, they have the same engine, but to spot the difference, the GT86 was the right-hand drive while the FR-S was in the left-hand drive. There's something has to do with this....
You should admit that SONY has the exclusive rights for the TOYOTA 86 and the Scion FR-S because of what I heard, Toyota Motor Corporation will be developing a new feature that will record their 86/FR-S track-day progress through the Playstation. A PS3-capable track-day black box. That's what that is.
If that became reality, the TOYOTA 86 would only work if you are in Tsukuba, Fuji Speedway, Twin Ring Motegi, and Suzuka Circuit. Scion FR-S? Well, it would only work if you're in the Daytona, Laguna Seca, or Indianapolis. Just saying...
Finished touring Twin Ring Motegi with the FR-S
And there we are, I have finally relearned the whole Twin Ring Motegi Road Course with the Scion FR-S. Oh and in case you haven't notice, the SCION FR-S is yours to collect, tune, and race as a free Gran Turismo 5 DLC. Be sure to get it ahead of everybody else because the SCION FR-S is the car that brought Twin Ring Motegi back to GT5. He he he....
Guess I should hand it over to the tamed racing driver....
The Stig's close-up with the FR-S!
Yep, The Stig was very happy, knowing that this close-up shot really is STIG APPROVED.
Inspired from the 2009 FT-86 Concept at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show and this is Toyota's first sports coupe in collaboration with Subaru, welcome to the dawn of the new Toyota as we know it today. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the new SCION FR-S. A sportscar unlike any other.
The FR-S name is somewhat more like the deceased Toyota MR-S but the M letter has been replaced by the letter F. True to its name, this is an FR sports coupe. The exterior design of the FR-S is heavily inspired from the two FT-86 Concept cars, one by Tokyo and one from last year's Geneva. This provides a menacing appearance up close and personal and a prolific rear view, making this a very unique sportscar that was started as a concept and turned into a reality. On the side view, you can expect seeing the "86" logo with some pistons on it, which makes it also unique to the eyes of car enthusiasts.
Inside the FR-S, it's all business for the driver. The interior is just focused solely to be more race-inspired rather than being too comfy. If you look closely at the instrumental panel, you should notice that the tachometer looks somewhat similar to the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG but who cares? That instrument panel is a genuine "FR-S" trademark on it. Because this car's interior is not focused on being luxurious, the driver doesn't bother at all because he was surely focused for some thriller at Laguna Seca, Indianapolis, Road America, Road Atlanta, or Infineon Raceway.
Now, we're into the performance zone. Under the hood, the FR-S is equipped with a new 2.0L D-4S BOXER engine, which is a joint venture between Toyota and Subaru, and they called it FA20. The new FA20 engine develops 200PS of power and 205Nm of torque. It promises about combined MPG from 25 to 28. There are two transmission types available such as a 6-speed manual transmission or a 6-speed Paddle Shit transmission. Those who are looking for some hardcore fun should prefer the 6-speed manual transmission because it completes the 86's characteristics. While the FR-S may not be the fastest, it excels in handling because of the sport-tuned suspension system. If the driver switches to Sport Mode, that sharpens the throttle response and handling, making this 86 a hoodlum you won't escape.
Is the FR-S safe? Well, yes because Toyota added some safety features to the 86, which makes it hard to explain what are those, such as the Vehicle Stability Control, Traction Control, Limited Slip Differential, and six airbags. Uh, why I am explaining about the 86's safety? I don't need it because I always want to turn the traction control off and get this car to drive more dangerously if you're on Mt. Haruna.
Colors available on the FR-S are Raven, Asphalt, Ultramarine, Firestorm, Hot Lava, Argento, and Whiteout.
My comment:
Even with the Stateside name, the Scion FR-S brings the sport back to the car. This car was priced competitively to its rival, the 2012 Hyundai Genesis Coupe. This would be the most interesting must-have for a Scion fan.
