Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Forza Horizon 3: Himmel Mancheese



In case you never know, Porsche returns to the world of Forza and with their new six-year partnership agreement, looks like we'll be seeing Porsches in future installments and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Since Porsche was freed from EA exclusivity, most games are willing and able to feature Stuttgart's finest not just for action racing but for racing simulation to demonstrate Porsche's true capabilities and for the Forza franchise, this is a welcoming feat.



The opening salvo of Porsche's return to Forza is the latest 911 (991) GT3 RS, as seen on Forza Horizon 3's Porsche Car Pack of April. This is known to be one of the fastest track cars Porsche ever made and finally, the 911 everyone wants to get on the groove, especially in the Land Down Under.



The GT3 is the stripped-out model that took Porsche decades of German engineering that brought into this and like its normal model, the 911 GT3 provides some stylish design and spartan driving manners with its organic bodywork, "mild" driving feel, and a decade-old philosophy. The GT3 RS model pushes the GT3 to the extreme by dropping 10kg of weight from the normal GT3, increase the flat-6 engine's size from 3.8 to four liters, and feature unique aerodynamics that makes the track weapon more potent on the racetrack and because it lapped the Nurburgring in under seven minutes and 20 seconds, it's surprisingly faster than the Porsche Carrera GT supercar of 2003.

I miss the 991 911 Turbo from the previous installments but to me, the handling is a bit harsh and mild for a high-powered 911 and now, with the 911 GT3 RS, although it's not as powerful as the Turbo, the handling is really magic to me and finally, some "himmel mancheese" to get our mouth on. This is definitely the 911 everyone's wanting for, although the PDK is out of context for the track toy, and driving the 991 911 GT3 RS is by no means the actual representation of a childhood memory where someone is playing Ridge Racer V and their favorite car was the Himmel EO. This is like that RRV favorite because like that, its stylish design and spartan driving manners makes them very hard to resist such temptation and who can blame them?

Speaking of which, this car got featured in The Grand Tour where Jeremy Clarkson compares it with this...





This is the BMW M4 GTS which I found this on FH3's Alpinestars Car Pack. Like the GT3 RS, this is a stripped-out version of the BMW M4 that rids of everything that doesn't help with driving such as a radio of course and some rear seats, add some unique aerodynamics inspired from its DTM racing champion, and to top it all, arm the six-cylinder in-line turbo engine with water injection to deliver 500HP of power. All sounds great but it's about eight seconds slower than the 911 GT3 RS on the Nurburgring and in The Grand Tour's Eboladrome, two seconds slower than the GT3 RS as well.



Hey, since these two are featured in the show and compared, how about I can compare these two at the only place in Byron Bay I know? How about, you guessed it, The Grand Tour Sprint? Yep, the sprint track with the words "Grand Tour" on it. Sounds catchy but let's get on with it.



And now, the results...

2016 BMW M4 GTS (493hp/442ft-lb/3,329lb/51%/2,979cc/S1 849) - 2:27.381
2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (493hp/339ft-lb/3,131lb/39%/3,996cc/S2 929) - 2:18.906

Hey, The Grand Tour is right about the M4 GTS slower than the GT3 RS. Although I like the way BMW made their response against the track-focused Porsche, they really made a hash of it and there's a metaphor for this one but I don't know what that is.





Feeling pleased about the 911 GT3 RS, I did something special for this Porsche and yes, you get the point. With the design ready, the 911 GT3 RS is ready to take on other 911 drivers in the city for a little cars, coffee, and a race.





Although it lost the comparo, the M4 GTS doesn't want to be left behind so I made a little familiar design for this car and while the 911 GT3 RS is busy wowing the other 911 cars, the M4 GTS will have to hang out with the other city delinquents. Poor girl...



That, ladies and gentlemen, is what you called the Himmel Mancheese.

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