I sigh and giggle simultaneously while burying my head in as deep as it'd go into my palm as I watch my peers get rammed off with impunity yet again. You know the sport has long since hit rock bottom and is now burrowing into bedrock with drills and explosive charges when people can't even go around an oval without dispute and profanities hurled at each other like kids in racing suits. At this point, I'm not even here to watch legitimate racing anymore. It's a nice bonus if it happens, sure, but I'm here moreso for the drama and childish tantrums that unfold with the certainty of the sun rising each FIA race (and the demolition derby of 458s). You couldn't write drama more organic and legitimate than these races manufacture en masse.
Man, am I glad I pulled out and-
My phone suddenly buzzes. Man, whoever it is, I need to tell them to watch this crap. It's pure gold!
"This week we move from a concept battle to a true racing beast in the GTD division of IMSA. This week we are taking a look at the Gr.3 Lexus RC F GT3. This weeks car is chosen by @RobboGTAddict."
Oh.
Oh shit. Oh god. Oh man. Oh no.
Oh... fuck.
I immediately dial for the head honcho of the race team that I used to race for, their day being ruined live on broadcast notwithstanding.
"Square? What's this a-"
"Look man, can you source me that prototype RC F we ran five years ago back at GT300 Fuji with Emil Frey?"
"What the fuck are you talking about all of a sudden? I'm in the middle of a crap sandwich here and you-"
"Look, it's important, okay?! Your car is totaled anyway. What use is there getting all worked up for?"
"It's precisely because shit has went south that I'm worked up you nincompoop! Did you see-"
"YEAHYEAHYEAHyeahyeah yeah yeah! I saw! He'll be fine. Cap's walked away from way worse. You know that."
Jeremy sighs deeply. "...you're... right. I hope."
"Look, can you get that proto RC F for me? Please? Do you still have it? Is anyone using it?"
I hear what sounds like an arm falling limp against his lacquered wood tabletop, "I'll tell my guys. You'll have to pick it up yourself. Usual price, usual place."
I smile in relief. "Thanks... and I'm sorry."
"Any time." And I hear the hangup tone.
God, it's people like that that make me miss being a racing driver.
*********************************************
The hired AMT truck sheds its skin to reveal an antiqued racing car, shrouded by its own reflections in the rather needlessly elaborate interior of the truck. I climb up onto the bed and get in the car, starting it to reverse it onto the lift that is currently extending out of the bed. God, this brings me back. Even though memories of a time when I wasn't racing Mazda machines are so distant, they feel almost unreal, my body found itself instantly at home: the precise steps and ways to twist yourself to get into the car, where to place my hands on the wheel, etc.. Even the seat is left in my position from when I last ran this. Heck, even the smell of the interior is instantly recogniseable for me. It's amazing how much your body consciously remembers, even as your brain rots with age. Even though I got into a racing car, it felt to me more like I just slipped into a snug time capsule.
Night has long since fallen by the time my last minute order came in, so after I tipped the truckers for their overtime, I drove what is only the ninth racing car into my garage - racing drivers, especially the successful ones, have in excess of thirty for every class, or so I hear. I then mentally prepared for a long, looooong night of prepping this car for tomorrow's racing.
The prototype car I just took delivery of is an early version of the RC F GT3. We private teams ran this prototype car with special approval under the "SPX" category, as a study of feasibility and performance of turning an RC F into a GT3 spec racing car. As the car I'm parking next to can probably already tell you, yes, yes it was feasible and it performs, and attained homologation shortly thereafter in 2017.
Because the prototype car is aimed to be a GT3 car and actively raced, the prototype car is so shockingly similar to the homologated car at first glance that even eagle eyed racing enthusiasts will be hard pressed to tell the two apart, sans the aid of a differentiating livery. Visually, the biggest difference between the two is that the prototype car still has a license plate holder up front, smack in the middle of Lexus' patented obnoxious hexagonal ugly spindle grille. Seriously, I can't be the only one that thinks its way too big and looks like a surprised goldfish with its mouth pinched, can I? Aside from a few vents here and there and a repositioned rain light, not much else visually separates the two cars, which goes to show how close the prototype was to being a GT3 racing car - so much so the folks at Gran Turismo just shrugged after taking one look at it and lumped it into Gr. 3 with the GT3 car and everything else.
How many differences can you spot?
The most important difference between the two cars though, is that the final car has blue pipes peeking through its bonnet vents, as a very cool nod to the road car and the F brand for Lexus, as the road cars' intake manifolds are all painted that same shade of blue. It's such a cool, neat little detail no one expects to find in a purposeful racing car:
On the inside however, the two cars are starkly different, with the prototype car having a stripped out interior for racing, but still bearing some resemblance to the road car, whereas the final car has been fully FIA-ed, with a squared off steering wheel and being more tight and snug in general. The prototype car even has the clock and air con vents from the road going car in the centre console, and an interior item that's just screaming to be adorned by an anime livery on the outside.
Prototype:
Final:
The cars are shockingly similar under the skin, as well. The specs, dimensions, and equipment of the prototype car are very much within GT3 rules: it produces 528PS from its bored out 5.4L V8, and weighs in at exactly 1,300kg (2,866lbs) before Balance of Performance. This is, for all intents and purposes, a GT3 car, only missing official approval and the last 2 or 3% of the polish a GT3 car would normally have, as is most evident in the still existing license plate, interior, and its barebones livery.
However, that is not to say that this is a bad car at all. It's very easy to judge a racing car: if it wins, it's good. If it loses, it's bad. Literally nothing else on a racing car matters, and this ugly duckling (fishing?) of a car won its class at Silverstone, Fuji, and even the Nürburgring endurance, so there is no question about this car's legitimacy or capabilities. If it wasn't successful, I wouldn't be driving a second RC F into my garage tonight.
When we all moved on to the homologated GT3 RC F in 2017, this car was just... left to sit and rot, basically. I'm very surprised Jeremy kept this car around, to be honest. To what end, I don't claim to know. Race cars aren't known to stick around after they've outlived their usefulness, unless they have significant historic value for big manufacturers. I'm very glad Jeremy kept it around, nonetheless, because now I get to see how the prototype car matches up directly against the car it birthed, COTW style.
While most of my cars are so plain, most would argue even their own saliva has more taste, the finalised RC F GT3 is one of the only two racing cars I've ever done a livery on. Tonight, I'm giving this old prototype what will probably be her last shot at life, and last moments in the spotlight, as I dress her up in a counterpart livery to match the homologated car.
If the rest of the COTW members can do it week after week, then I should be able to do it at least once... right? ......oh god, this is going to turn out terrible.
*********************************************
My heart almost leapt out of my mouth as I jolted awake to the thundering sound of door knocks scrambling my head, knocking over a can of coke that I had been sitting beside. Esther the editor's curious face was right in mine as I opened my eyes. Seeing her, I doubt the knocks were actually THAT violent. It just didn't help that the door was hollow... and that my head and ear had been leaning against it when the knocks came.
"WwWwWwwhaaat are you doing here?!", I exclaim in a limbo of sleep and being awake.
"What are you still doing here, is the question." She, hugging her knees together in a squat, is not at all bemused by my plight.
Through the now wide open garage door, the blinding sunrise pierces my eyes. "Frick. What time is it...?"
"7:32 Japan time."
"FUCK!"
"Why are you sleeping on the floor?"
As soon as I gathered my senses and thoughts, I quickly fumble over to cover the car I had been sleeping against this morning with my body. "NO, DON'T LOOK!"
"...are you okay? Are you sure you should be racing tomorrow?"
"I'll be fiiiineeeee......", I blabber, hunched over the roof of the car.
"Have you been up all night designing that?", asks Esther, observing the squeegees, discarded film, soap, spray bottles, cloth, and yet unused decals strewn all over the floor in my immediate vicinity.
"Don't looooook... why are you here? Stop coming into my home all willy nilly... I thought... I could..."
She takes a deep breath and sighs vehemently. Standing up, she says with the same coldness and condescending tone as always, "You can like what you like."
"That's not the problem! It's FUCK UGLY!"
"Well, are you coming or not? You're so late even the truckers had to call me to check in on you. I thought you had died or... something."
"I wish I did."
"Well?", she adopts her fighting stance of arms akimbo and a pout as she restates.
"I'll go, I'll go. I think we can still make it. Please call an Uber for us... I'm sorry."
Face down reaching into her messenger bag for her phone, she says, "It's fine. I've managed worse."
"Thank you", I hastily blurt as I turn to get into the car.
Still face down now from tapping away at her phone, she continues, "You aren't far off, though."
*********************************************
Sleep deprived, and now with jet lag added for more flavour in the ever downward spiral that is my mental state, we found ourselves at Italy's Lago Maggiore circuit. In GT3 machinery that easily exceeds 250km/h (155mph) on the long back straight, no way we were running any shortened configuration of this track today. That would be like going all the way to a Red Light District and asking for just a hug. You're already here. We know what you're here for. You've paid your dues monetarily and morally. Why not get the full exp- *REDACTED* Editor's note: We apologise, but he's still very groggy from his wrecked sleep cycle. We at COTW do not condone nor endorse the sort of behaviour or lifestyle choices Mr. Lee is exhibiting.
This week also saw the return of a certain someone after a long absence of COTW...
Due to my spotty at best concentration, it was admittedly hard to really assess what was going on at the track. Cars were jittering about and it was hard to tell where everyone was or what there intents were at any given point. There was also a stranger on the track, with a rather hilarious, but sadly indicative name that was spoiling proceedings as well. Let's just call him... "Lock Kicker". I may or may not have mixed up the order of the first letters in each word in his alias in my sleep deprived state.
Sleep deprivation or not, driving a racing car is driving a racing car, and adrenaline does about a hundred times better a job at waking anyone than coffee. GT3 cars are my bread and butter as an ex-racing driver, and I've driven in far worse states than this. My performance no doubt was helped greatly by just how easy and intuitive the RC F is to drive. It does what its told, no complaints, no surprises. It's a very well put together, balanced FR chassis, which may come across as rather surprising to some, given that the road car's known to be a bit of a porker. Not requiring turbos to bring it to the GT3 dance at the price of muffing up the torque curve and response, the driving characteristics of the RC F GT3 is superbly easy to get a feel for, and sounds distinctly sick, as an added bonus. It ranks among the top of what I consider to be the easiest Gr. 3 cars to drive, in the company of the superb AMG GT3 from a few weeks before. These are the cars with the least drama, gentlest learning curves, and won't bite (too hard) if you get something wrong, while remaining competitive. I'd recommend either to anyone new to GT3 cars.
I was almost turned into a Yuri sandwich!
In fact, the RC F is so neutral to drive and average in all areas of performance with Gran Turismo's Balance of Performance applied, I can't help but to suspect that this car is the one that the boffins over at GT base Gr. 3 performance around. In the, what, almost three years that the Gran Turismo Championships have been established, and through the category's "monthlies" that is Balance of Performance changes, I don't ever recall a time where the RC F GT3 ever stood out as being fantastic or awful in any area, be it straight line speed, cornering prowess, tyre life or fuel consumption. It's just... shockingly average.
I'll admit, after reviewing a few road cars, these Gr. 3 cars all seem to blend together with nary a difference between them. There will be a few crazy ones out there for sure, mostly the MR ones for being fast and murderous, but the RC F isn't one of them.
Racer and Vic were the only ones rocking the older car in this week's meet. As expected of these experienced drivers to have had the history and connections to dredge up something so outdated on such a short notice. As for me, I alternated between the two cars race to race.
Rob, you got any coffee for a sleep deprived, jet lagged old man?
*********************************************
For race 2, we returned to Austria's Red Bull Ring. Last time we were here in person, I crashed my NSX and was hospitalised. Whee.
Switching over to the prototype car, I pulled an Igor Fraga Lap 1 Turn 1, so I was having a bit of a quiet race by myself for the most part. Rick might've also been caught in the shenanigans I caused (sorry), as he exited Turn 1 some two seconds behind me.
Over the course of the 5 lap sprint race though, not only was I catching the mid pack racers due to infighting, but Rick was also closing the gap to me at a shocking rate in his homologated car, something like half a second a lap or so in the most egregious of examples. Even though the two cars are very similar in terms of power output and mass as-is, with "Balance" of Performance in play, the prototype starkly loses out.
As-Is:
Prototype: 528PS, 1,300kg
Final: 531PS, 1,300kg
"B"oP*:
Prototype: 560PS 106%, 1,339kg (2,952lbs) 103%
Final: 569PS 107%, 1,326kg (2,923lbs) 102%
*As of Ver. 1.61, 29th July 2020.
While the differences seem negligibly minute on paper by road car standards, every percentage makes or breaks a car in a tightly regulated format that is GT3 and 4; cars' balance in these categories are adjusted for by adding or removing a percent at a time, so you can imagine how much the prototype loses out to the finalised car: the prototype already started with less power, and now hit with a percent down on both power and mass.
With how both cars driving almost identical to each other, the shocking difference in "B"oP makes NO sense whatsoever. It's almost as if the folks over at Gran Turismo's offices just don't want anyone to drive the prototype car at all, despite allowing it into their Gr. 3 category.
Not only does BoP shun the prototype car, but the prototype car I find also lacks that last 2 or 3% in refinement to the final car not just in looks, but also in driving dynamics as well. Even though these cars are almost identical in feel behind the wheel, the prototype car has noticeably longer gearing than the final car. The shifts themselves, oddly, are a lot more violent and seem to upset the engine more, causing the revs, and in turn, the car itself as a whole, to jerk and lurch with each upshift for what feels like an eternity in racing conditions. It's shocking, as I've never found a problem with how a racing gearbox shifts before. It's a racing gearbox for crying out loud! It has ONE job: Shift fast! ...and smooth! ...and not break... and be lightwei- bah, you get the point.
How do you guys come up with bespoke liveries (that are actually good) EACH WEEK?!
However, I feel that the prototype car dives into an apex a tad more willingly than the final car, which seems set up for a bit more stability. With the more eager turn in, along with the power and gearing deficit, I was hoping the prototype car might put up a fight with the final car at Red Bull Ring, with tight, technical corner exits punishing overly powerful cars. I was making some progress, but only due to infighting and lock kicker being an asshole to everyone in their immediate vicinity. The prototype car, under no fair and competitive circumstance, can even match the final car in pace, let alone better it.
That's lock kicker in a rear mid engined car, getting taken ROUND THE OUTSIDE by a front engined car. If you think I'm harsh on cars, wait till you see me criticise people.
As usual, most of the fun was had up front between all three podium sitters, Vic, Mustang, and Nat.
Remember when F1 drivers couldn't go two wide at Turn 4 of Red Bull Ring? Oof! Too soon?
Yo, can you three race any closer? It's hard to shoot action when you're all so far apart.
/sarcasm
"Track limits are non-existent when there´s down-to-the-wire racing, sorry." - someone at COTW sometime recently, can't remember.
*********************************************
For race 3, we flew back to Australia to race on my favourite racetrack in the world, Bathurst. With two straights that each go on for about an eternity and a half, I opted back into the final car for this race.
Not quite Australian, but still V8 supercars round Bathurst. We just had to spite Nismo the deserter for not being able to join us this week.
Did I... just attempt to go side by side down Brock's Skyline? If that's not the surest sign of compromised cognitive capabilities, I don't know what is.
Me and Nat were having quite the scuffle for nearly the entire race!
Not the kind of closeness you want when *COUGH COUGH* MY PERCEPTION *COUGH AHEM* is jittery and unstable!
*********************************************
Race 4, Dragon Trail Seaside. I went back to the prototype car, wanting at least ONE good race with it given I spent the whole night doing a livery for it. I didn't manage to finish the livery in time, but it's a prototype car, see? It's meant to be unfinished! Aha? Aha? Ahhh...
This is the last time I'm attempting a livery please don't hate me I'm a good person I really am.
"Gotta stop fast!"
Lock kicker, in a faster car, with Vic's inside going into T1, still gets out-braked by Vic into the first apex. What. A. Tool.
Mustang"Lover"2015, and Baron, in a Mustang.
(Don't worry guys I confirmed he doesn't have a GTP account I can badmouth him all I want :D)
With lock kicker safely nestled deep in some ditch, hopefully a trench in the ocean of Croatia, Rick and I then went on to have a rather intense 1v1 in the closing laps of the 5 lap sprint! Racer had the best seat in the house for our little spar, and was right there to punish anyone for any mistakes or casualties!
The prototype (not the driver, obviously) was so lacking in performance, I forced Rick to take the outside on BOTH turns of the first chicane, and he STILL pulled up alongside me on corner exit!
Two old men dueling!
With the track finally free of idiotic kids with no respect for the elderly, the pressure of the duel with Rick brought out another shortcoming of the prototype car: I find that it is very easily unsettled by bumps and other road imperfections. This is in contrast to what Nat said about the final car in her review, where she praised the final car for being "rock-solid, not being fazed by the big kerbs on the side of the track at all". To compare, I'd like to present to you, me in the prototype car, on the chicane of death on the last lap, where the nose of my car caught so much air I thought it was doing a prayer or something.
Even though the hop looked scary, thanks to the aero of the car, it was quickly grounded again, and ultimately, the hop didn't cost me control of the car or cause a massive accident. It still cost time, though, and it's a stark reminder that this car isn't as refined as it could be.
*********************************************
Race 5 was held in the best racetrack in the world, Spa.
...with a twist.
Admittedly, the race itself was rather quiet for most of us, with the field widely spread out. You might think someone who runs race cars around wet Spa for fun would do well this race, but nope! I was in the final car for this little cruise, on Heavy Wets.
The RC F handled itself very well in the wet, I must say. There were a lot of instances on the first lap where I turned in too early, expecting turn-in understeer conditioned into me from driving two MR racing cars around here in the rain, but that understeer never showed. Driving the RC F in the wet really brings to light the impeccable balance the chassis has; there is ample weight over the front tyres to get them to bite into a corner even in the wet, yet without the huge inertia one would think comes with the mass required to put that weight up front. There is enough weight over the rears on corner exit as well with a full tank of fuel. Even in the wet, on a track that heavily favours a MR layout, the FR RC F retained its composure and (relative) ease to drive, and never once made me frustrated with it in spite of being the proverbial fish out of water (aha, get it? Fish? Because I likened the grille of the thing to a fish? And water, because it's wet? Aha? No...?).
Of course, there are still certain difficulties driving the RC F in the wet - there always will be, such as with a depleted fuel tank, or extremely slow corners like Bus Stop, where quite a few of us over rotated on exit, but those aren't necessarily the car's shortcomings, but moreso inevitable ones every car in its category will suffer from.
The RC F is so easy to drive, Rob even went for a little drift, in lieu of Vic! Instant coffee, just add water?
*********************************************
There was no Race 6. Certainly not at Brand's Hatch. And even if there were, I wouldn't have been driving a nerfed to hell Atenza, going off into the kitty litter facing the completely wrong direction L1 T1. I mean, what are the chances of that exacting set of circumstances ACTUALLY happening? Think about it! The people that want you to believe such tall lies are all bad people and you should work to distance yourself from them, for your own good.
*********************************************
While I've alternated between the two cars in this week's races, I haven't really driven both cars back to back on the same track to draw a more direct comparison. I then drove both back to back in the same conditions at Spa to compare them more directly, without the pressure of a race, and also to see if there is any longevity differences between the cars.
From my testing, tyre wear on these two cars are pretty much identical. The prototype does drink a lot more fuel, since I'm holding 5th for the entire Kemmel Straight, due to its lower gearing. Even with the slightest of rear brake bias, both RC Fs wear the front tyres more, as can be expected from an FR car if you aren't drifting it. In extreme wear cases, I'd argue that there isn't a car better than the RC F to drive, since MR cars become moody, unpredictable messes on ice skate rear tyres, and also because the power is, again, very progressive and predictable as well, due to being NA. In a tightly regulated format with limited power output, there really isn't enough being said about how big an advantage being an NA car is.
To compare how these two cars drive is to split hairs, but here's what I felt: The prototype feels a bit softer up front, which is weird as it's the one more upset by bumps. It has more pronounced front end movement, and because of this, it pitches a bit more up front, meaning it hates long sweeping corners as the front end wallows and lurches more, and will require more lifting of the gas in comparison to the stiffer final car to tuck the front end into an apex of a high speed sweeper. Understeer on power is also more prominent as a result. You need to be a lot more smoother and progressive, i.e. slower, with the prototype car.
The prototype car feels set up more for a tighter, slower track. The softer front end does mean that the prototype has a more keen turn in under braking, without any cost to stability, which is why I like a slight front bias on the prototype car a bit more as it seems to bite better up front, as opposed to the +1 rear I like on the final car. The longer gearing and power deficit also means that the prototype has a MUCH easier time putting down power in 1st and 2nd in comparison to the final car, hence why I feel it's set up more for a tight, low speed corners, with the Bus Stop Chicane and La Source of Spa being standout examples of this.
The softer front end on the prototype doesn't make driving on worn tyres easier, as the front tyres will have long since given up by the time weight is pressed over them, resulting in scrubbing. It does however mean that in extreme wear situations, the car won't completely go limp on you like the stiffer final car, nor does it ask you to adapt your lines as much with tyre wear. However, this useful if you somehow find yourself in a race where there's some stupid rule that says you can only use one set of tyres for the entire race. Whoops, too soon?
In conclusion, the RC F GT3 is a very, very solid Gr. 3 car, and its decidedly average to good performance across the board means you can never really go wrong with it. It never really has been a time attack leaderboard darling car, and unless said darling car is a Huracán, you can bet that the only car being used for the race will be the leaderboard darling car, as well. Really, the only way you'll see an RC F on the track nowadays is in FIA Manufacturer Series, where people don't get to pick their cars for each individual race, but rather pick one manufacturer and race that manufacturer's cars for an entire season.
You won't ever find the FR RC F in a top ten leaderboard time. You might not ever see one in a race. It sure as hell isn't going to win any beauty contests. But, does it have a chance to appear on the podium should anyone choose to field one? There is a very, very real possibility of that in any given race. And for that, the RC F GT3 is a sleeper in my eyes.
As for the prototype car, I feel that it has most of the tools that made the final car so good. For all the differences I point out between it and the final car, it is admittedly splitting hairs. It's not a bad car for what it is, but it's a bad car because of how the governing body currently treats it. With most of the tools for greatness already in hand, all the prototype car needs now is a properly balanced BoP to awaken it and be competitive, which may very well happen in the future for all anyone knows with how often Gr. 3 changes. And because of that, the prototype car too, is a sleeper in my eyes. A sleeping sleeper.
Personal Notes:
As can be seen from the videos, I drove like a complete idiot this week. Some of it is down to connection issues, yes, but I think I take the most blame in being sleep deprived. I want to apologise for my crap driving and I hopefully won't be that sleep deprived going into future meets. I want to apologise especially to Rick, as I've nailed him in at least three of the races we did.
The liveries I've done for the two RC Fs are of the two main characters of the Wii U Exclusive horror game, "Fatal Frame 5 - Maiden of Black Water", also known as "Project Zero" or simply "Zero" in Japan. I think it's one of the best, most well executed horror titles in recent memory, and I SUPER love the mood, atmosphere, and characters involved. I can't recommend it enough to anyone who loves playing, or simply watching, a horror game.
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