A car that has been on my wishlist of cars to appear in Gran Turismo Sport was the RE Amemiya μ過給圧上昇7, or the... uh... *checks Google translate* the Micro Boost Pressure Up 7. This thing.
The FD generation Mazda RX-7 is already on its own one of the finest handling, best looking sports car to ever see mass production, in my obviously biased opinion. However, as with most automotive fairy tales, the legend is only half in the machine, with the other half being in the culture it inspired, the competition it bred, and the memories it created for those lucky enough to be able to own one. That is to say, it's impossible to think of RX-7s without mentioning the still thriving aftermarket support for it; no surprise given how great a base for a performance car it is fresh from the factory: lightweight, low slung, low drag, wide spread 2 door body with a perfect 50/50 mass distribution, and a rev happy, compact engine up front driving the rear wheels.
And if one were to think of Rotary specialists in the aftermarket, most will, for good reason, first think of RE Amemiya. Founded by Isami Amemiya, the living legend has modified and raced his own Rotary Engine powered monstrosities in Yatabe, D1GP, and even GT300, and remains active to this day, still coming up with bespoke designs and wild concepts. The 2006 Micro Boost Pressure Up 7 that was last seen in Gran Turismo 6 however, is still by far my favourite FD ever. It retains the flowing, beautiful, natural curves and evocative shape of the FD, yet sports prominent aero parts that are not only fully functional, but seem to build off and further accentuate the pre-existing lines of the FD, instead of destroying them in the name of performance.
I fully admit I am biased, but I wholly believe that this is the sort of principle all aftermarket cars should aspire to, almost as though this car was some sort of tuning bible. So beautiful and so inextricably intertwined into Japanese car culture is this FD, that it looks equally at home in a bustling metropolitan city as it does an isolated mountain pass.
If I had the means to own an FD, I would spec it out EXACTLY like this one, aside from a few nitpicks. First off, I'd retain the pop up headlights, because, come on man, pop up headlights!
Aside from that, a pet peeve of mine is when cars don't come with a third brake light in the middle, or is somehow removed by the owner when de-winging their cars. Even the rear light cluster cover wasn't spared by RE Amemiya in the modification process, and is also a bespoke part, that's been pulled out to act as a small ducktail spoiler. I'm a massive fan of the part, but I really wish it kept the transparency and the middle brake light the stock FD had.
The in-game description of the Micro Boost Pr- look, can I just call it the Boost Up 7 from here on out? The Boost Up 7's in game description is surprisingly modest about the extensive list of changes this FD underwent to become to "Demon Lord of Mountain Passes", yet, I think it's a car that does all the speaking it needs to when you get behind the wheel. Aside from the visible aerodynamic parts, the car's chassis has been stiffened to confidence inspiring levels. The car's suspension was stiffed to more than three times its stock value, at around 18kg/mm, and visibly lowered. 5th and final gear ratios have been stretched out, though the car still retains a 5 speed manual, resulting in long gearing that is optimal for twisty mountain roads. The already spartan interior of the FD gains a power FC controller, bespoke, larger, more informative boost gauge than the pitiful one in the original that looked like an afterthought, and even a speedometer that doesn't max out mid fourth gear. The smallest details are just as important as the big performance changes: redline has been increased by about 500 to 8,500rpm, and the beeper that reminds drivers to shift up has been recalibrated accordingly to come on at 8,000rpm. It's little things like that that really tell me that this car is designed by and for someone who daily drives these things, which instills confidence beyond words, to me. Though, the last 500rpm has nothing really to offer, and is there moreso for engine braking, or for those pesky situations where you need to upshift, but you're fast approaching a corner. This is the one Rotary Engine car you might actually want to short shift at the stock redline of 8,000rpm, as heretic as it may sound.
Also, real quick: the turbo boost gauge in this car actually works! I am still unbelievably mad that the stock FD RX-7's turbo boost gauge in this game only toggles between full boost and no boost, nothing in between. But, hey, at least the gauge moved. The turbo gauge on the FC DOESN'T EVEN FREAKING WORK. I've lauded PD for their insane attention to detail in their cars, especially in this current generation, but wow, how could you miss something as big as a turbo boost gauge?!
A quick little fun fact: the stock radio unit in the JDM only RX-7 Spirit R is filled with atrocious English, as can be seen below:
Push LOAD buttin
Insert duscs after"IN" is displayed
I was genuinely curious as to whether the Boost Up 7 retained these... er... very charming quirks of the stock FD. The radio in the Boost Up 7 however, appears aftermarket as well. I wonder if Amemiya-san just didn't like the audio quality of the stock radio, or the English? Probably the English. Probably.
Surprisingly to me, this car comes fresh from Brand Central with Sports Hard tyres, down from the Sports Softs in GT6. I'm not sure if grip levels directly correlate from GT6 to GTS, but either way, the car feels most natural with Sport Softs, as though the car was set up with around that grip level in mind. With comfort tyres, um... well...
I think easily the biggest difference I felt in the transition from 6 to Sport is that torque curves seem to be a lot better simulated now. I've heard journalists mention how, in the stock FD, the secondary turbo coming on mid corner can cause some hairy scenarios, yet I've never really had that problem in the confines of GT. Maybe it's because I'm sitting in my living room couch, isolated from the physical sensations a good sports car delivers. Maybe it's because the secondary turbo comes on at 4,500rpm in the stock car, and you're basically never dipping that low on the track. Maybe it's because the stock FD never did have that much power to begin with. In the Boost Up 7 though, holy HECK is it pronounced and scary. If you're used to driving Rotary Engine cars, you'd be hard wired to mash the throttle when revs are "low", because Rotaries are very peaky by nature, especially the turbocharged ones. When you mash the throttle in the Boost Up 7 however, it will freaking deliver. It won't even sound like much, but it will freaking deliver. Maybe it won't have the burnout in 4th style of torque muscle cars give you, and maybe it won't give you McLaren F1 throttle response, but it will still give you enough to break the rear tyres sideways if you're not careful, which, truth be told, is a hella scary combo. Oh, and have I mentioned? It's a rather thirsty beast, as Rotaries tend to be. Your rear end will be rapidly lightening over the course of an event, which further takes away from rear grip. If it's any saving grace though, the car retains its nimble, able, and willing handling up to and past its limits, which ironically I find makes it a phenomenal drift car, especially given it's willing and able to break its rear out over a wide rpm range. ...don't take my word for it, though. I can't and won't drift.
Sadly, while the car retains its agility and eagerness in corners, I feel that it has lost any and all of its predictability from 6 to Sport, and hence why I cannot consider it "Handling Nirvana" anymore. Don't get me wrong: on the Sports Soft tyres that I believe it should've come with, it's still an absolute joy to hoon around. I just find that its behaviour changes too much with mortality turned on; that is, the car's behaviour changes too much for my liking when tyre wear and fuel depletion comes into play. And, hey, maybe that was never a priority when RE Amemiya was setting this up for Touge runs in Hot Version. Maybe it's this car finally showing its age. Or maybe it's because I've been spoiled silly by all the bona fide racecars that are the main focus of GT Sport. I've even taken what I currently consider "Handling Nirvana", the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport, and slapped Comfort Softs on it. Of course the pace fell, but its behaviour stayed very consistent with how it would usually handle. I'm probably doing something really asinine by downgrading tyres on a car, but as a street legal car you can drive daily if you're crazy enough, it's all the more important to me that its behaviour stays somewhat consistent, even as the pace falls. Of course, I put no other car to this test, but that's only because I expect and want so much more out of this car, because I love it so much.
That said, my ramble of a "review" is finally over! Enjoy the rest of the photos!
It still bugs the crap out of me that backfires don't look correct at all in panning shots. And so, I took it upon myself to masterfully edit both these standstill and speeding versions of the same shot together to form this absolute god tier class of Van Gothic edit... with MS Paint.
I am not exaggerating when I say that I literally just took the free form select tool, and with all the grace and precision of a drunk duck on land, cut out the still flames and pasted it onto the speeding shot. I think you can still see where the incision lines are, but at this moment this is the best I could do. Freaking GT Sport man. It's been a product that's always pushed me to better myself and explore new frontiers, be it competitive FIA races or just opening my eyes to SVGs in general, and here I am using MS PAINT to fix something that's been broken across multiple generations in the GT family.
Can I also complain about how frame by frame doesn't work properly, in that it doesn't produce smoke or water kick-up, let alone backfires? What even is the point of frame by frame?
In terms of sheer cool factor, 1.51 is right up there with the rain updates. I really love the aftermarket tuner vibe it had with the reintroduction of RE Amemiya and RUF.
Replicas
RIP Yamaji Shinichi. You will never be forgotten.
I chanced upon a tragic tale of a brutal accident that took place in 1998 at Fuji Speedway, which you can read more about here. To summarise, Oota Tetsuya crashed his F355 at the start of the race under severely disgusting conditions, and his car caught fire. Yamaji-san, in his Amemiya RX-7, immediately stopped his car to grab a fire extinguisher and put out the fire, saving Oota's life.
I believe the Amemiya GT300 machine Yamaji-san was driving is the same one featured in Gran Turismo 2, of which this livery is a replica of. It seemed too perfect to not bring this car back to Fuji to remember that tragic accident that, while disgusting in nature, has probably saved countless lives due to the changes it brought into motion. Unfortunately, Yamaji-san passed away in 2014 at age 50.
1998 RE Amemiya FD3S GT300 Livery by Not1Name Download Link.
[R] MAZDA RX-7 GT-C LM Livery by Skyline_539 Download Link.
Nostalgia overload time! I've never been a fan of these replica liveries, because the liveries all scream "racecar" while the body sheepishly whimpers "stock". The Boost Up 7 looks almost like a Gr. 4 machine if I dare say so myself, which makes it a way better candidate for these replica liveries.
~Type RZ 姉妹 Sisters~
1992 ɛ̃fini RX-7 Type RZ RE雨宮仕様 Livery by XSquareStickIt Download Link
2000 Mazda RX-7 Type RZ RE雨宮仕様 Livery by XSquareStickIt Download Link
I admittedly had way too much fun with this car, both on and off the track. This car doesn't come with any physical badging at all, only decals. So I had this brilliant idea of, "DUDE! What if I pretended this to be the Type RZ that got tuned by RE Amemiya?!" And so I dug out a rather obscenely traced RZ decal I made ages ago while learning how to do SVGs, and slapped it onto the car, along with period correct badging both front and rear.
In a photo shoot lobby with a friend, a stranger suddenly joined, and brought along a yellow Amemiya FD, clearly inspired by the one in Initial D driven by Takahashi Keisuke. Now, I'm not suuuper big on Initial D or anything, but I WAS driving a black FD, which was too much of a coincidence for me to not impromptu role play a bit. So... *clears throat*
Darling, please! Don't overtake me! I want you to watch me more! I never want you to stop watching me!
Me: omae wa mou shindeiru
Also me: NANI?!
Yes, this alien actually brought his FD back, from a 90 degree slide half off road! People who can drift are proof of extraterrestrial life.
Lastly, enjoy a video of my horrendous driving. Stock settings, default ABS, Comfort Soft Tyres.
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