The Crew 2 Second Anniversary, Part 2

For this episode of The Second Anniversary for The Crew 2, I break out my BMW Z4 sDrive35is Rally Raid Edition for an Escape, a Ferrari 488 Pista for a Speedtrap and finish things off with the Mercedes-Benz X-Class for the Rally Raid event on the Arch Park Trail.

The Crew 2 Second Anniversary, Part 1

As the title says, I take part in my first round of Anniversary events with a Mercedes-Benz SLS, Lamborghini Diablo GT and a KTM 1190 RC8R.

Forza Street - My Take On The Game

Another long video where the audio and visual eventually seperate from each other, but I do cover some of the points I wanted to make about Forza Street.

Behind the Wheel - Porsche Carrera Across The Titles

If you were to walk up to any true Porsche aficionado and say "911 Carrera RS 2.7," I bet you would get a reaction.

In today's world, 210 horsepower and 188 lb-ft of torque isn't anything special, but combine that with a car that weighs 2149 lbs and first released in 1972, might make people a bit curious. Then, tell them all that power comes from an air cooled, naturally aspirated flat six cylinder, mounted at the back of this vehicle and you may have given the identity of this legend away.

Only 1590 Carrera RS 2.7 examples were built, starting from the unveiling model at the September 1972 Paris Auto Show and production ending in July 1973.

For me, this car is an unachievable dream, since the last one I found for sale was beyond my reach.

However, there is a way I can emulate the experince of drving this legend, thanks to Forza Horizon 4 and Forza Street and 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS and Real Racing 3 with their version of the 1972 model....

Behind the Wheel - The Mercedes Benz 300 SL Across The Titles

The Mercedes Benz 300 SL ushered in the modern sportscar era when it was unveiled at the New York Autoshow in 1954. The gullwing doors were not only an amazing exercise in design, but also cemented it's own legacy by influencing future vehicle, such as the Bricklin SV-1, Delorean DMC-12 and design descendant, the Mercedes Benz SLS.

This time aroung, I am taking out this legendary "gullwing" wonder across three racing titles. From 2003's Mercedes-Benz World Racing, to Forza Street and finally, The Crew 2.

Real Racing 3 - 2020 Porsche RSR 2020, 24 Hours of Le Mans Race Day

It appears the development team at Real Racing 3 decided to introduce a new level of frustration to the game.

With COVID-19 still gripping the world, the real life Le Mans Series for 2020, which would have taken place in June has been pushed back until September. However, that hasn't stopped a few racing titles from holding their own virtual version of this iconic race.

In Real Racing 3, three vehicles were offered up to be "earned" by players and naturally I chose the Porsche RSR.

A new feature was added to coincide with this event, a driver. A German driver for the German car made sense to me.

Now here is the point of frustration I brought up at the beginning.

Everyone who made the choice to enter this race series saw this screen, clearly stating the final outcome of any upgrades to the vehicle once the event concluded. My previous experience with these storyline events is there is always a trick of some kind and this obvious statement of "Hey, there's a catch to this" took me by surprise.

Based on the remarks I have read on the Real Racing Facebook page and Instagram feed, a great many people didn't bother to read the above disclaimer and just clicked on the "Continue" button." You can come to your own conclusions on who they are blaming for their "lost investment" after collecting their cars.

I took the time to read the disclaimer and started to work on a strategy of minimum M$ investment and maximum gain.

I really wanted that Porsche, but had this feeling the driver was key to making that happen, I just didn't know how....

Throughout the whole series, I kept a close eye on the costs of the vehicle upgrades, how much I was earning from the races, in both M$ and Driver Experience. I decided I would halt my progress at this particular stage  and "work the system" in my favor.

Perhaps "halt" isn't the right word for my choice, but the phrase "returned to" might be closer to the truth.

Up to this point, the M$ spent on the car seemed to be a reasonable "write off" and I was so close to the end when I realized the driver wasn't quite up to a level I really wanted them at. So, I saved my progress, "bought myself" ahead to get a preview of the next level and wound up restoring back to this stage.

I was just done with spending any more M$ on upgrades that don't carry past this series, so I ran this race over and over to replenish the bank and collect as much driver experience as I could. Bare in mind, I was trading off spending M$ on the car versus Gold on the driver levels, but that would carry over from this series.

In the end, I paid to skip the final two events and collected a bit of a hollow victory.

Behind The Wheel - First Kia Sportage Servicing

With three months of ownership down and an unknown amount of time left to go, it was time for the first dealer serving of my 2017 Kia Sportage, since I got it. Turns out I needed a "Schedule 2" service, consisting of an oil change, tire rotation, general inspection and free vacuum and wash.

Yes, it was an overcast day in the Land of the Sunshine Tax (a tongue-in-cheek term for the Okanagan region), but rain or shine, the Sportage needed some dealer attention.

Before I went through the doors and talked to anybody, I stopped and took a long look at the all new Kia Seltos. This was the SX model, comparable to my Sporatge in color and options. However, the 1.6 litre Turbo puts out a lot less power (175 hp and 195 ft - lbs of torque versus 240 hp and 260 ft - lbs of torque) in a slightly lighter, but nearly the same sized I already have.

$4000.00 of a brand new Stinger GT? I am crying on the inside....

So, the Kia Soul GT Line is so good, it gets a pedestal? 

In essence, the GT Line Turbo replaces the SX nameplate, while adding on a lot of external visual cues, inspired by the Stinger GT. A much differently tune 1.6 litre Turbo puts out 201 hp and 195 lb-ft of torque. Bare in mind, no AWD option for the Soul.

With the servicing all done, time to hit the road home....

Behind The Wheel, The Drive South Final

The final video of my Drive North/Drive South series I started last month. In this episode, I drive through the British Columbia town of Taylor, a quick stop at Bijoux Falls Provincial Park, making my way through Prince George and across the bridge over Okanagan Lake.

Forza Street For Android - A First Look

The whole Forza series from Take 10 Studios and Microsoft was a pleasant surprise when I first discovered it and still impresses me now.

My virtual racing days got started with a black Playstation 2, with titles like Need for Speed Underground and Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec and 4 (yes, I even had and loved Midnight Club II for it). I spent hours (which could add up to many, many days) playing, making mistakes, thinking I learned my lessons and discovering I had to go back to driving school.

While Need for Speed would be available on other platforms, Gran Turismo would and still be a Playstation exclusive (granted there are emulators, but they don't complete the experience, like hearing the PS2 startup sound and such), so when it was time to move on from my little black gaming box, Gran Turismo would become a memory.

Yes, the family got a Nintendo Wii U to replace the old Sony, but I was heavily involved with the purchase of this particular title.

The graphic jump from the PS2 to the Wii U was stunning leap forward in my gaming world. The downside was the Nintendo couldn't handle it for long and after an hour or two of playing, the console would freeze up or shut down from overheating. The game was very demanding the the Wii U's available resources.

I can't remember exactly how I came across the mobile ported version of this game, but my Samsung Galaxy Note II became my first "console on the go," with like Shift 2 and others added as time went on.

Then came the Xbox One.

As of right now, there are zero Need for Speed titles on it, but entries from both Forza Motorsport and Horizon series' populate the internal and external hard drives. Like the Wii U before it (we still have it, collecting dust and only cleaned for those "nostalgic" moments), the Xbox One was another graphical evolution. Forza has brought a near-real gaming experience, within the limitations of the time and technology, much like Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec and 4 did, back in the day.

Following in the footsteps of the consoles, my cellphone has been replaced over the years too.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II gave way to the Motorola Nexus 6 and currently on the Huawei P30 Lite. The only title that lived on all three phones has been Real Racing 3, which has more or less, become my "mobile racing standard" I use when trying out other games from the same genre. Despite being over seven years old, the game has aged rather well in both the graphic and playability departments.

Which brings me back to where I got started, Forza Street For Android.

On my Dell Inspiron 7559, I have Forza Street through the Xbox Console Companion app, except I have never fired it up and played it. However, I recently came across and advertisement for a ported version for Android and decided to give it an edited go....