In an earlier blog, plenty of ranting was had about the new "cell phone use while driving law" coming into effect in California on 7/1/2008. But this author wonders if the ranting was even necessary or applicable to the myriad of problems on the road.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), vehicle-related fatalities have remained constant for nearly a decade at about 40,000 deaths per year. Sure, new automotive electronic technology, including traction control , stability control, forward collision warning, predictive braking and lane departure warning, have improved safety on the road, but one fact remains clear - the quality of drivers on the road has not improved. And I am willing to bet that the number of fatalities has remained steady because of these aids, not because drivers have become… better drivers.
VTECnical’s 2007 Honda Civic was taken into the dealership after a local Circuit City installed a Pioneer AVIC Z2 navigation system. After an inspection and diagnostic, they deemed Circuit City’s wiring a “fire hazard” and told VTECnical that he couldn’t take his car home. After being quoted by the dealership a whopping $12,119 worth of damage, he is working on getting Circuit City to cover the bill.
This story brings up a few issues that need to be made more clear. The 8thCivic.com forum thread shows that Circuit City is currently working with him on getting this sorted out. But in our opinion, if Circuit City really gets smacked with a $12k check, they are the ones getting screwed. First of all, the bill that was written up is blown out of proportion. Worse case scenario is they mucked up the wiring, dash, and heater. If it really takes a shop 40 hours to replace that, then they obviously have no idea what they are doing. Secondly, a 2007 Civic is only worth about $14,000 according to Kelly Blue Book. If he wanted site navigation so bad, he should have just paid the few extra bucks for the OEM setup. On the other hand, he will probably get a new car out of all this, so props to you VTECnical!
You will be seeing a video shootout between the Dinan 335i and the E92 M3 on WebRidesTV.com this May. In the meantime, let me give you my impression of the most touted M car since the E39 M5.
First off, the M3 we tested was equipped with the six speed manual. Actually, I prefer manual transmissions for driver involvement, to the DSG type paddle shifters which give you no brainer perfect performance shifts every time. Read the rest of this entry »
You might not think much of this video when you watch it until you hear the fact that no CGI was used. The images in this video are comprised entirely of real life footage. His the jump to read about how they did it!
Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here. We’re not going on an Auto Adventure today, rather I’m here to talk about one of the dirty little secrets of the automotive world. Many people feel like eco-friendly green cars are being sidelined by Big Oil, the Big Car companies, and a surprising lack of useful models. Most “experts” agree that electric cars coming from the major auto companies are a long time off in coming, and that projects like the EV-1 prove that they don’t care about the future of automotive technology. However, nobody seems to want to talk about one of the reasons why electric cars haven’t made it to the road. Hit the jump to find out how electric cars have been screwed over by what might have been it’s best hope. Read the rest of this entry »
Now we all love the subaru Impreza. It has AWD, crap-tons of horsepower, and it beats the pants off of all other rally cars in WRC. There has however been a dispute in the car community as to whether the Impreza could be better suited as just a rear wheel drive car instead of an all wheel drive car. Toyota and Subaru have decided to make this possible. There are pros and cons to doing that, a few of the pros are it would be lighter since it didn’t have the extra pieces for all wheel drive and you could replace the inherit understeer with oversteer.(Which could be a con depending on who you ask) Autocar has the full story with their own mockup of what they think it will look like.
Codemasters, the game development studio responsible for past hits such as TOCA and the new title GRID , has created an alliance with Real Time Technologies, a German automotive firm, to share car rendering know-how. The partnership means the two companies will ‘compare notes’ on their rendering and realisation projects, such as RTT’s DeltaGen and RealTrace software tools (which enable car designers to render CAD models in realtime) and Codemasters efforts in driving games (such as the EGO Engine used by Colin McRae: DiRT and Race Driver: GRID.
RTT works with the likes of Adidas, Airbus, Audi, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Dodge, EADS, Lamborghini, Maserati, Porsche, Sony Ericsson and Volvo and works with car designers to create virtual versions on in-production automobiles.
The line between reality and virtu-ality continues to blur. Newbie F1 drivers are known to play simulation games to familiarize themselves with tracks they’ve never driven on. McLaren Mercedes F1, for example, is famous for the simulation facility which allows their drivers to test themselves in various weather and track conditions without ever being there. Is Digital Polyphony, the creator of the Gran Turismo franchise on Sony’s Playstation systems, far behind in creating their own alliance of similar type?
This video produced for Gran Turismo TV follows Series Producer Kazunori Yamauchi as he attempts to break 300 km/h in the car that inspired everything. As you’ll find out in the video, Kazunori states that if it wasn’t for the GT-R, the Gran Turismo game would have never been made.
I must say that it’s quite a treat that the game did get made, as it is the standard by which all other racing games are measured. Whenever the latest Gran Turismo comes out, it has always been the best racing game, period. Although, i’m not so sure that this iteration of the series is really going to blow away the likes of Forza 2, which was released on the xbox 360 a year prior to the upcoming release of the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Forza came sooner, looked nearly as good and also featured damage modeling and an in depth modifications system.
The graphics in Gran Turismo are absolutely phenomenal, and are the best example of the Playstation 3’s visual capabilities, however, looks aren’t everything in games… gameplay is.
I’ve had the chance to play early versions of GT5: Prologue and i liked the looks, but the gameplay wasn’t very addictive. I think the Prologue at a $40 pricepoint will satisfy many enthusiasts and gamers need for a racing sim, but i think a mod system and damage modeling would really make this game last. So hopefully the full version of the game will feature these, but until then, i’m not convinced.
But back to the point of this post, don’t we all wanna go 180+ mph in a GT-R?
Yes, but most of us will only have that chance in the GT5 game, except for the few lucky enough to get their hands on the wheel of an actual GT-R, like Kazunori…
See the attempt here.
Howdy webriders! Dr. VW here. Today’s Auto Adventure is going to be a little different. I’m going to rant a little about the newest automotive law to the hit the streets in sunny California. So fasten your seat belts (it’s the law too ya know) and hang on, ’cause todays rant is going to be a little bumpy.
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