From The East / From The South

Chevrolet Camaro Z28 1969

In the fourteen years I've played the various instalments of Gran Turismo I've never really taken a shine to American cars. The first game was heavily skewed towards Japanese makes and even skewed toward particular models - just how many Skylines is enough? GT is often cited as a cause for increased grey imports at the turn of the millennium and back then it was all about Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions, Subaru Imprezas, and Nissan R34 Skylines. My dream car at the time was an Impreza 22B. Being twelve years old at the time, the closest I could get to that dream was a treasured copy of Car magazine with the 22B as its cover story ("Catch 22-B"). The Japanese four doors that were dominating rallying at the time were seen as powerful and nimble yet practical family cars. In comparison, the American manufacturers (the Big Three: GM, Ford, Chrysler) had split personalities across the domestic and international markets. General Motors and Ford had their autonomous European operations, and whilst some of their modern models were present in GT2 (Astra Touring Car, Ford RS2000), domestic US models were largely absent and thought of as gas-guzzling lumps of metal that could just about turn left if given enough space (ie, NASCAR). There were really only two US performance vehicles that could rival the Japanese domination - the Chevrolet Corvette C4 and the Chrysler/Dodge Viper GTS, which was really only one until the C5: the Viper.

The two stripes running over the body barely containing the beast of a truck engine that made the Viper feel so alive when you floored the accelerator because you were pressing X as you didn't have an analogue controller to smoothly feed power to the back wheels. It really was iconic for me to the point that I have a collection of model Vipers. I first got the 1/24 scale in mid December 1998 and then my brother and I bought the four 1/43 scale cars every few days from a shop in Crete in July 1999. I forget exactly when I blew £25 of pocket money on the 1/18 GTS-R, but I specifically remember absolutely having to leave Lidl in possession of the rare "Copperhead" Concept Car model when I saw it sometime in mid 2000. That pull-back-and-go toy somewhat made up for the Copperhead prize car I won in GT that came in a disgusting purple colour rather than orange it was universally depicted in.

Clockwise from top left: Viper GTS-R (1:18), Viper GTS (1:24), two GTS (1:43), two RT/10 (1:43), Concept Car (1:??)

The Viper may not have been a cheap car like the increasingly familiar Japanese four-doors, but it was American. To find more examples of decent US engineering you had to go back to the 60s - the era the Viper actively recalled. I overlooked the muscle cars of the late 60s and early 70s when they were included in Gran Turismo 2 because of my preconceptions. I didn't really play GT3 much, but when I got round to GT4 last year I tried to turn the Ford Taurus into a high performance family saloon. I failed in that moderately expensive experiment having fallen into the trap of thinking NASCAR racers have anything to do with the vehicles they superficially resemble (the headlights are painted on!).

For the past month or so I've been playing GT5 with all assists turned off - no traction control, and especially no ABS. The thing about Anti-Lock Braking Systems in GT5 is that the game treats it as far more than just a means of preventing the brakes from locking up. It's actually a magic system for keeping cars stable under deceleration. I first tried bare-bones driving as a challenge when I was attempting to fix my F40 which let me down earlier in the year. At the first corner of Circuit de La Sarthe I spun off wildly whilst lightly braking. Some reading of the GTPlanet forums revealed that the brake balance of every car is set the same - whether Le Mans Prototype or Volkswagen Beetle. It was this computer-less approach to driving which led me to seek a more mechanical, manual drive. I recalled the stripped-down film Two Lane Blacktop but found the only Pontiac GTO available in the game was a re-badged 2004 Holden.

That left two showrooms offering a drive from the era - Ford and its 1971 Mustang Mach 1, or Chevrolet's 1969 Camaro Z28. Taking the lesser known option, I opted to try the Chevrolet. I gave it a supercharger, a racing air filter, upgraded the intake and exhaust, a front wing - but opted to leave it short of 500 Performance Points. Astonishingly I found it one of the best rides around the Nürburgring. It could be that without the ability to hit 200mph leading up to some of the ring's famous corners and lacking the magic braking system I'm more cautious and therefore more precise around the track. Nevertheless, it does corner well. All the Lamborghinis and Ferraris in the same power rating blast ahead on Ligne Droite des Hunaudières while I trail behind at 155 mph, yet I reduce those leads consistently at the chicanes and in the Porsche Curves. It's a joy to drive and I like nothing more these days than setting up a room without ABS in the open lobby and watching all the 15 year olds fly their supercars into the wall at the first corner as I roar into the distance in a four-decade old Chevy.

Good Lord, is this what it's come to? Hustling kids for electronic money and experience points? Better get back on track and finish these essays before Christmas pressure begins at work.


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