emajnthis

why the hell was there a 6 yo girl with the jetpack?

The screen shots posted above show both an Enzo and an F430, so my only assumption could be that Ferrari is included. Just like DA i'm sold on the steering wheel driver view, i always felt that was necessary for a game of its reputation and caliber and now they're finally meeting that expectation. I'm just blown away at how breath taking and accurate the models are for this game; it seems like the console wars have evolved to the point where you really need to get one of each.

I imagine that since Blu Ray is picking up a lot of these exclusive rights with retailers, it's going to help push them off of shelves similar to when DVD first came out. Whoever is able to get retailers on board usually ends up winning in the end, fortunately for Sony they pushed the correct format this time (unlike betamax).

The movie version slows it way down and also shows the 21 jettison the limbs; i'll pull it off of the shelf and take a look at it when i get home to see if he still has his vertical stabilizers which are part of the arms and also to see if he still has the belly covers which are part of the hips/legs. From memory i think he might have kept the upper hip area for the belly covers but dumped everything from the thigh below.

I completely agree; i had a C&D subscription a couple years ago, and the editors used to write very comprehensive articles, but since their senior editor left i think last year (i forget his name) that magazine has gone to crap. Probably the most notable C&D foul up i recall was when they named the Civic car of the year when everyone else was bashing it. I went to the C&D website only to find Sponsored by Honda plastered everywhere, bunch of sell outs. I've been into Automobile magazine lately, and every now and then R&T will have a fun shoot out worth a glance, but C&D is useless.

I'm watching it because Aishwarya Rai is hot, but that's about it.

looking at the posability of the VF-1 makes me think that other VF's could greatly benefit with the Revoltech treatment; the first that came to mind was the VF-2SS w/o SAP armor, as that is one that always looked cool in the intro pose.

seeing all of the engineering put into this toy gives me high hopes for a future YF-21.

I thought it looked more like a kibble-fied SwordFish II from Cowboy Bebop

pretty much the only two games that PS3 has that i'm remotely interested in is Tekken5:DR and Ninja Gaiden, but definitely not enough for me to actually purchase one. maybe if it drops in the 300 range at some point, i'll pick one up.

There are movies in the past where the sequel was better than the first. T2, Aliens.... T2 and Aliens... nevermind.

Does the comic explain why the cube created beings that were inherently evil? (i.e.:the experiment room, Hummer, etc.) because that to me seemed like the only real plot hole. They discuss how life is born from the cube, yet the objects brought to life by the cube in the film were all inherently evil as opposed to being neutral, kind of doesn't make sense how good (autobots, cybertron, etc.) can be born from the object.

what a coincidence; pfunk and i were actually having a discussion of the Z and the RX-8 at AP. I was a short signature away from purchasing an RX-8 about a year ago but decided it wasn't in my budget at the time. The RX-8's are great cars, and even greater when you turbocharge them; that's not by any means to be a childish "pimp my ride" statement, it's really due to assist in the inherent compression loss at low rpms with the Wankel Rotary (which is why they suck gas), which not only helps your HP but also will provide you better gas mileage. If you can, try to steal a turbocharger from a new RDX, it has a perfect turbo type that would be catered to both compression at low and high RPM providing better power and gas mileage. The only thing that Mazda should do to that motor to assist with its design is to incorporate a type of duel injection system. Have the injection on the first stroke, compression second stroke, and then on the third stroke have a high pressure injector and spark plug (similar to how a diesel is setup) which would allow for not only better ignition, but better fuel/air mixture and less fuel/air being used (especially if turbocharged since more air will be sucked in on the intake stroke). Not only would it assist in the fuel problem but then Mazda could (if they felt the need to) have a diesel version for the euro market. The use of the rotary in that car is also why it handles so well, the motor is basically three main parts, weighs nothing, and is incredibly small allowing for a well balanced vehicle (along w/good suspension components); i've seen photos of people who remove the radiator(s) and the air box and can literally stand in the engine bay (in fact i think seven has a photo of his RX-7 w/the motor out for reference).

uhh.... cool? Never really liked Ironhide, though i still haven't seen the movie either so i guess this doesn't really appeal to me on either side of the fence.

i understand stricter safety as a cause, but i think it has more to do with how manufacturers are meeting the requirements. Rather than reengineer the frame to be lighter and stronger, manufacturers are just adding steel braces and plates to make for stronger rigidity but lots more weight. And safety parts like Bumpers that could be made stronger with modern materials (that new foam crap) are just being reinforced with steel bars which is great and safe but cheaper and heavier. So i think for the general consensus of vehicles most companies are going to go cheap with saefty reinforcement as opposed to some of the sports cars like the vette which are getting the star treatment.

That's what i've been saying, our motors are getting lighter and more powerful and yet the cars are still weighing in at 3500lbs, somethings not adding up right. Also i looked it up, DI is supposed to kick in sometime next year and goes into the Cadillac and something else (Sky/Solstice? i wasn't really paying attention to the article) and push the 3.6L to 300hp with better MPG numbers.

that DOHC 3.6Liter VVT motor is pretty awesome, i'm not sure if they've done it yet, but they're actually supposed to give that motor DI too; you might want to look up the motor specs for the 3.6 in the Acadia to see if they've done that already, it might be the reason the damn thing is so expensive. You get a GM discount anyway though, so i'd imagine it can't be that bad after discounts.

Yeh i know what you mean about VVT, especially when you get into things like intake VVT exhaust VVT and lift control, you're looking at a maintenance nightmare which is why as efficient as it can make things in terms of low end emissions, efficiency, and power, it provides lots of maintenance troubles, engineering, and labor. Like you said DI has been around forever in Diesels and only recently has it hit main stream with gas motors; in fact most of the DI gasoline motors are the original gasoline motor with a DI head stolen from one of the motors in their diesel line up (BMW & Audi are guilty of this). The only companies interested in some shape or form of bringing performance to the diesel market are German companies it seems; American companies associate diesel with trucks and tend to keep it that way, and try to go main stream with hybrid tech which i still think is a technology that wasn't maturely and thoroughly thought through.

also with turbocharged/supercharged vehicles they run at a really low compression ratio usually around 8 or 9 to 1 which means they need to squirt more fuel at the low end to compensate for the lack of compression. In modern turbocharged cars it is remedied with the use of direct injection and VVT which allows for higher compression of 10 or even 11 to 1 which is the current standard for most NA motors while still retaining high end boost compression giving them amazing MPG numbers. DFI is also being used in NA motors to provide better fuel consumption with higher compression ratios (11 to 12 or in some applications even higher) which is also providing the same benefits (though it's not quite as noticeable at the high end). The trade off between force induction and high displacement is similar to the argument between overhead valve and overhead cam, there's a lot of give and take on both ends and neither is better or worse than the other it's just about the application of each and what it's being used for. Normally you don't have a high performance car for gas mileage similar to why you wouldn't have a high displacement overhead cam motor to save engine space. Not to say that it's not possible, but it takes a bit more ingenuity, engineering, and more importantly (like pfunk said) money, and guess whose paying for it in the long run.

It's a good thing there's a powertrain warranty, it's half tempting to purposely burn it up just before 5 years just to get the thing replaced. I remember EVO owners were doing the same thing since Mitsubishi started the 10yr/100,000 warranty coverage, and everyone knows how DSM tranny's crap out.

Nice GXP; keeping it stock is the way to go, pushing too much HP out of a FWD platform will just burn up your tires and give you torque steer, better to keep it quick and reliable.

240Z's make great project cars if you build them up right, the biggest problem you'll probably run into is body work since those things are rust magnets. There are a lot of different motors you can stick into those to make them wicked fast; 350 small block, RB's, SR's, LS, pretty much anything that will fit into that massive engine bay you can easily find parts to get it to fit. The aftermarket is very generous for them you just have to find one that still has some life left in it.

I think this is a franchise that fits in pretty well with what anime is good at representing so it has potential to be pretty good; i'll dl the first episode when i get bored one day.

I had a 91 MR2 and dropped a 3SGTE into it, let me know how things go with your motor replacement.

the GT looks niiiice all race spec'd. I wonder how it'll do once it hits circuits.