Car of the Week | NISMO 400R '95 (2024)

Happy new year, everyone!

I know what you're here for, and you know what it is: Car of the Year Awards!

Let's just skip the meandering speeches and get right to it, shall we?

Best Looking Car Award:​


  • RE Amemiya μ Boost Up 7

Car That Facilitates The Best Racing:​


  • Mazda Roadster NR-A (ND) '22

Best Sounding Car Award:​


  • Mazda 787B '91

Most Influential Car of GT7 COTW Award:​


  • Mazda RX-7 GT-X (FC) '90

Car of the Year:​


  • Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A (FD) '02

Thanks for the great year, everyone! See you all next year!

......

What? Do you have any idea how much time and effort I put into Car of the Week?! Don't you think I should be rewarded for it by abusing my power ONE day of the year?!

Ahh sheesh, okay, here's the real thing. Car of the Year: as voted by the majority, whatever THEY amount to... (mumble mumble...)


The Best Looking Car Award:​

Talent need not apply! It may drive like a drunk, drink like a desert, and cost more than an alimony, but none of that really matters when you first see the genetically blessed car, which is where half the battle takes place. Now, I'm not saying the nominees of The Best Looking Car Award necessarily fit any of those descriptions, but they have been voted by the majority to have put our (eye)balls in a vice just by simply setting sights on the car. The nominees are...

  • Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V GSR '98
  • Toyota FT-1 VGT Gr.3
  • Porsche 911 Turbo (930) '81
  • Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A (FD) '02
  • Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm '20

Amazingly, two of the nominees have had two votes, and so it falls upon me to cast my vote as a tiebreaker. And the winner is...

(drumroll)

The Porsche 911 Turbo (930) '81!

View attachment 1315548

The 930 Turbo and Giulia GTAm both had two votes, and I personally don't like all the tacky bits stuck onto the Giulia. Besides, I already had the photo above shot and uploaded before Vic cast his pesky vote, and making the Giulia Best Looking Car would've meant retaking another, and ain't nobody got time for dat! Besides, Vic himself had the 930 in his honourable mentions, didn't he? Let's just say that's half a vote Car of the Week | NISMO 400R '95 (1)

I hope you guys realise I could've voted for the FD RX-7 to make this a three way tie instead. Y'all better recognise the sacrifices I make to keep this show going!


The Worst Looking Car Award:​

On the flipside of the retinal spectrum, we find the Yin to the Yang: atrocities against taste and crimes against art. Cars like these are a sordid reminder that the world isn't a fair place, because if it were, a toddler would have the rather high paying jobs of these so–called designers, and yet we here at Car of the Week must expose ourselves to the entirety of the 500,000 polygons of straight FUGLY that somehow passes as automotive design. The unsightly nominees are...

  • Toyota Prius G '09
  • Chaparral 2J '70
  • Genesis X GR3
  • Mini Clubman Vision Gran Turismo
  • DMC DeLorean S2 '04
  • Daihatsu Copen RJ Vision Gran Turismo

With a last minute vote to break the six–way tie causing me to rewrite this entire section, the car with the dubious distinction of taste deficiency is...

(drumroll)

The Toyota Prius G '09!

View attachment 1315712

I personally find the Prius to be a really cool car, and I don't even think it looks bad at all. Maybe it is ugly, and the only reason I don't feel that way is because I'm just so accustomed to seeing them on our roads, born into some sort of dystopian hell that I'm not conscious of. Which would mean that the two people who voted it the Worst Looking Car of 2023 just aren't used to having the Prius beat over their heads yet.

C'mere and let me bash your head in with a Prius!

Regulars' Shoutout:​

We take a bit of a break from the car awards to acknowledge some people that ought to have their own awards. After all, COTW wouldn't be possible without the community that makes it up!

Vic has been one of the mainstays of COTW since its early GT6 days, and has always been THE yardstick to compare oneself against in terms of utter, unadulterated, otherworldy pace, whatever weird or unwieldy machinery we may be in on any particular week! Since then, he's taken up the mantle of hosting the Tuesdays Americas lobby at an ungodly 3 A.M. on his side, and has been doing so almost without break for years now! As one of the most integral members of COTW, let me say a big "THANK YOU!" to all that you do!

SPD may be the newest regular here, but he wasted no time in pulling more than his weight, hitting the ground running with elaborate reviews, wrapped up in unique stories reminiscent of times long past! He shows up to both lobbies, partakes in special challenges... he does it all! Except for maybe saying the three words he's known for in FH5's COTW...

Thank you for being such an active contributor!

And of course, special shoutout to Obelisk as well for bringing SPD from Mexico over to here. Obelisk himself also deserves special mention for being an incredible friend whom I can confide in in more personal matters, from ugly emotions, writing tips, and so on! He was the one that floated the idea of weekly special challenges to me, so you have him to thank for that if you enjoy those!

@RX8 Racer is already a formidable opponent on the track in his own right, but it's only with the advent of Weekly Challenges introduced late this year that I really got to appreciate just how freaking fast he can be given enough time to really practice! And don't go mistaking him for a one trick pony, either; he's smashed a variety of special challenges from time attacks, livery creations, and even last week's photography challenge! And of course, he's stepped up to host the Saturday lobbies when real life hit me hard (quite literally!), and it's something I'm beyond thankful for. So thank you once again!

Back to the cars...

The Most American Car Award:​

Just as the right to free speech and to bear arms have been with America's inception, The Most American Car Award has been with COTW since times immemorial, and has struggled and survived when other awards have been axed along the way! "What's the secret to such longevity?!", you might be asking. Well, apparently, it's being big, powerful, loud, clumsy, wasteful, will–drink–piss–for–fuel–and–still–beat–you–to–the–quarter–mile–by–the–way–wtf's–a–kilometer brash! The screeching eagles, machine gun fire, and profanity–laden theme song played with a healthy backing of explosions might also help...

Unlike the American political system, we actually have more than two options to choose from to represent your values and needs, and the nominees are...

  • Jeep Willys MB '45
  • Dodge Challenger SRT Demon '18
  • Dodge Viper GTS '13

...okay, we have ONE more option than America's political system, but it's a start, alright?!

In a show of unity Americans can only dream of, the winner of all the oil in the world with a whopping four votes is...

(drumroll)

The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon '18!

View attachment 1315551

Style by Sagittarius-A_64: America, f### yeah !
#america #eagle #usa

...something tells me it isn't beating many things to the quarter mile in the game, though. Nor is it THAT powerful most of the time. And it wants to drink race fuel. And last I checked, a Glock isn't on the list of options. But hey, hopefully it will at least get you to the nearest Popeyes before running out of petr— oh, sorry, gas.

Boy, wouldn't it be funny if "The Most American Car" also happens to win the "Beater of the Year" award?!

The 2023 Beater of the Year:​

And now, the big one. You might know it as that feeling when you're in a car that smushes up against the wall every time the track cambers a little, or that distinct sensation of a car blowing up when you turn on the windshield wipers. Or maybe even that slow, creeping realisation of having pissed away your life savings on an utter scam of a car... whose brakes fail on the way home from the dealership, the only thing saving the lives of those children in the orphanage you hit being that the car couldn't go fast enough to be a threat. The 2023 Beater of the Year Award nominees are...

  • Toyota Prius G '09
  • Daihatsu Copen RJ Vision Gran Turismo
  • Toyota Ambulance Himedic '21
  • Dodge Challenger SRT Demon '18
  • De Tomaso Mangusta '69

Legal disclaimer: The fact that there are five nominees is in no way insinuating that we've hit orphanages five times this past year.

We have another tie for the Beater of the Year, with two seperate cars each receiving two votes! Looks like I'm going to have to cast a tiebreaker vote again, which means that the "winner" of the 2023 Beater of the Year award is...

(drumroll)

The De Tomaso Mangusta '69!

View attachment 1315552

If given the choice between the Himedic and Mangusta, the latter is the easy "winner" of my vote. The Himedic may be slow, but it at least won't kill its drivers unless they steer it head on into a wall. Not to mention, it's a fantastic canvas for liveries, and it has some really cool and unique sirens and announcements! AND it's a readily available freebie! How can anyone dunk on that?

The Mangusta on the other hand, is expensive, selectively available, and despite sharing what appears to be the exact same mesh, liveries between the De Tomaso and Dior Mangustas aren't interchangeable. It... also drives the way it does.

If I didn't have to use my vote as a tiebreaker, though? The Kart is a no brainer. I'm surprised NO ONE voted it for Beater of the Year!

The 2023 Car of the Year:​

And here it is: the big one that you've ACTUALLY been waiting for (because we're rerunning this car this week!). The car we wade through cesspools to discover and experience. The car that makes doing this week in and week out worth it. The car that rewrites expectations and resets yardsticks in the minds of everyone who drives it. For as subjective as opinions ought to be, sometimes, there just is a correct answer, and this car, in our unprofessional opinion, is it.

The nominees are...

  • Radical SR3 SL '13
  • Chaparral 2J '70
  • Volkswagen Polo GTI '14
  • Mazda Roadster NR-A (ND) '22
  • BMW M3 Sport Evolution '89

aND the winner is, with an Magnificent 3 votes...

The BMW M3 Sport Evolution '89!

View attachment 1315553

Simple, lightweight, FR, manual gearbox, and dripping with prestige and history. There is almost no argument against an E30 M3, except for maybe its price and availability, but when those things are attached to a car that's actually good, that just seems to make it all the more desirable.

Remember, for this week, we'll be running the 2023 Car of the Year again for the first week of 2024! Our weekly lobbies are at Tuesday, 2nd January, 10 P.M. CST (Host: Vic_Reign93) and Saturday, 6th January, 4 P.M. Singapore time (Host: RX8Racer556) if you'd like to join us in racing 2023 Car of the Year with BoP applied on its default tyres! Surely, the 2023 Car of the Year is going to be a blast to run again, right?

And with that, we begin the cycle anew in 2024! Thanks to everyone who contributed, and hopefully there's more good things to come!

Car of the Week | NISMO 400R '95 (2024)

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