Rezz

This probably isn't so weird because it involves manga/anime otaku, but I'll give it a shot. I live on Port Island which is a man made island with lots of cargo ship facilities and residential/commercial mixed in. Anyway, the Kobe international conference hall is on Port Island and once a year they hold some Anime festival which attracts weirdos from all over. (I walk past the place to get to the supermarket so every Sunday I get to see what events are held there.) As per usual theres about 1,000 geeks dressed up in their costumes with an army of photographers taking pics at random. About 99% of the photographers were well behaved but as I go to walk on the overpass there's this guy with a video camera kneeling behind this chick with the camera right up her skirt! Like, the camera was only just visible under the maids uniform lacey skirt thing. The girl is just standing there with a "ho-hum" look on her face while this sicko is filming. I stopped and looked directly at her but she wouldn't make eye contact. The guy was oblivious to everything and kept it going for another 30 seconds or so. She just sort of reluctantly let the guy do as he pleased... wtf. With that I thought "F**k this" and went off to buy the groceries.

Nabari -> typo... glad you could figure it out I thought so too, I just thought the chances of getting a taxi where much greater from Nabari... it's up to you. My car only fits 4 including driver. Sould've asked how big your party was Sounds like you know the way the PT system works, so there's no problem with that then? Just get to whichever station you think is easiest (Muroguchi etc) and hail a taxi. Whether there are taxis there or not is another thing entirely... I'm sure the front desk at the hotel could help you out.

Ok I'm not the resident Osaka drift specialist, but I may be able to help (not that it's recommended). Where are you staying? Because you're going to have to take the Kintetsu Osaka line from Tsuruhashi Station. Tsuruhashi is on the Osaka loop line so it's easily accessable. So Umeda (loop line) -> Tsuruhashi (go to Kintetsu Osaka line platform) -> Nabori Station. Now, as far as I know Nabori Station is closest to Meihan Sportsland, but it's waaaay in the country and you'll have to get a bus or cab to the circuit. I have no idea about the bus, but it's slow travel on tiny country roads out there from what I remember around Nabori. Ok, having said all that, you could twist my arm and get me to drive you out there Bear in mind gas costs a metric ****load and theres tolls to pay too. So bottom line is, pay a fair bit to go by car but get there and leave at your leisure/not worry about the time or, save money but waste time/risk losing your way on PT. Mapion: http://www.mapion.co.jp/c/f?uc=1&nl=34...,&scl=25000

Shot Parts = Short Parts I'm assuming they mean 'sundry parts' Edit: Got it in one Richard

In my experience over the last 7 years in Osaka/Kobe it's been a total mixed bag incorporating everything people have mentioned so far. If I had to sum up driving in a Japanese metro area it would be "generally cramped conditions punctuated by random acts of stupidity, politeness and peril, but for the most part safe if you have eyes in the back of your head".

This is an old thread Neo! I can do it but the pdf is long gone... got a pic or diagram?

I just deleted all the OT posts. I haven't been around here for quite a while but now is a good time to stop a potential OT monster :lol: Please keep posts on topic, this thread doesn't need anymore controversy Edit: Cereal, point taken but I've got to be consistent. By all means continue the discussion via PM. Cheers

Post up what you want done or if it's personal PM it to me or one of the other guys like Poida or Dodgybrooks

If you ignore the bunch of GT-Rs, shakotan, Kaidou racers and old school Zs etc...

Just using the GT Tuned V35 Skyline coupe for drift on Suzuka... the transition from just barely moving in 2nd gear to uncontrolable full oversteer is absolutely rediculous... ends up in an instant on the spot spin every. f**king. time. no matter what settings I use from totally stock all the way to retarded 1,000 degrees toe out etc. You can barely catch it, and when you do, WHIPLASH Monumental fail... GT3 physics for drifting please

NISMO: Ah not really anything different, just 550ps and 1590kg for the 'Spec V', but they did say something about an "over boost function" similar to what Porsche offer on the GT2. This is also one of the things which is 50/50... so time will tell. Smitizen: Apparently the Nissan development team were gunning for 7min 20sec, which due to damp parts of the track didn't materialize. We'll have to wait and see when they return sometime this month. 7min 25sec was hand timed though by an onlooker so the actual time might be different, but def in the sub-30sec bracket.

^^^ Yep that's an older 'chop from Best Car from February. They've since semi-retracted the bit they said about the front bumper having the two intakes on either side, it's 50/50 at the moment whether the Spec V (that's what they're calling it apparently) will actually have them. Having said that it seems they're still testing a lot of different (small) things like a NACA duct here, carbon or titanium bit there... they have to justify the expected 13,000,000 yen price somehow.

Ok fair enough but a) most people have never drifted a 500hp (or even 350hp) Skyline in real life, and b) it seriously takes away from the enjoyment of the game when - in order to take part in one of the games modes ie: drifting - the level of competence needed is so high. This is where 'standard' and 'professional' control modes come in, but it appears Polyphony have made it so you have to use Professional mode to even come close to being able to drift. Compare this to GT3 where drifting was a breeze and everyone has fond memories of, I'd say mimicking the whiplash to such a high degree in GT5 Prologue (and GT4) is just pissing more people off than pleasing them. Polyphony should have an 'easy drift' mode (like GT3) with Standard control settings, and for the GT5 psychos a 'real drift' mode with Professional control settings. Why it is the way it is now I have no idea. Thumbs down Polyphony .. hope they can sort it out in the meantime.

The old "I bet you're no angel either..." response. Sounds like the gaijin image was done no favours that night then, hey? Anyway I was more asking about your opinion on 'advertising the fact' in one thread then denouncing such actions in another. It confused me.

Hey Adam, I saw this and wondered what you thought about it: I'm finding it hard to understand where you're coming from in this instance.

Haven't met you yet actually

I think the "infatuation" with basic Japanese culture is a must for long term residency, because without it, it would be very easy to get into a revolving door of negativity until the point where you would be taking every oportunity to bad-mouth Japan. I've seen this happen and tried to reason with such people that it isn't as bad as what they think but couldn't get anywhere with them. Best just to say Sayonara at that point and put the experience down to 'wrong place at the wrong time' and move on. I do know a few foreign residents in Japan who actually favour Japan over their home country, none of these happen to be Australian (all European except one American) though, and some almost have a disrespectful view of their home country... sounds a bit odd at first but would go a long way to explaining how they cope with being a gaijin day in, day out, without any thought of returning home in their lifetime.

I've left and returned to Japan ("for good" supposedly) about 3 times now... I get sick of the place and decide to leave, find out Australia has changed way too much to be acceptable... which is kind of obvious when you've been in JP for 6+ years all up... only then to return to Japan "for good", then leave again. I've accepted that this is the way things are now, and am setting up my situation to allow for, say, 9 months in Japan and 3 in Australia/Europe/US depending on certain things. I get sick of the crowded places very easily now, whereas when I first got here it was awesome. Also the whole gaijin thing wears very thin the more years you have under your belt ie: you could stay in Japan for 30 years straight and have your own Dojo and be a popular 'Tarento' but still be considered a stupid gaijin by 99% of the population. I keep coming back because of my wife and her family, they are just incredible support. Without them to make sense of all the quirky Japanese customs and traits people have I would've went home and stayed home al looooong time ago. I also love the "away from home" feeling of long term residency in another country... makes coming home for a holiday that much better. The car industry speaks for itself and is a nice secondary reason for staying in Japan... if you're into that of course. Having said all that though, in recent years I've forgotten about all the usual foreigners complaints about living in Japan and have separated from that whole scene almost completely. I haven't been full time employed as a teacher for the last three years and just by having that buffer bewteen the Eigo Senseis and not having to listen to the same old problems and stories that you hear over and over again helps (me at least) to cope with my own personal integration into Japanese society... or "attempt" to integrate! Everyone is different so what I've just typed out will pretty much be usueless to the next guy.

lol... the honour system in it's most vunerable state...

Hey Michael, the 599 race is easy... I found most races are easy if you set the car to 'standard' (I think its called standard) simulation and not 'professional'. The 599/Z06 etc are just too twitchy on full throttle out of 2nd gear corners using the gamepad. Not sure if it's any better with a steering wheel. I reckon the '1-2 finish' F430 race at Suzuka is the best when setting the car to professional simulation... very challenging. I got a white 40G PS3 from Tsutaya in Kobe for 38,500 yen btw, thats a good $200 cheaper than typical Aussie prices which is a real shame.

Has anyone else finished this game? I did it a few weeks ago and the prize car is the 2005 GT-R Poto... without the 'in-car' dashboard view. Pretty underwhelming if you ask me Anyway it's a good game and certainly makes the wait for the full game a bit harder.

I reckon $15K would do nicely in my pocket rather than Nissan's don't you? Especially when people in other markets are getting exactly the same car for less even taking into account exchange rates, taxes, duties etc. I realize AU is a small market compared to the rest but still... surely something can be done.

^^^ Definitely sounds like a worst case senario. I've said before that Nissan AU could get very greedy with this car, I wouldn't be surprised if they do and slap a useless $10K - $15K premium for absolutely no reason other than to make Aussies pay through the nose.

I think funky meant the actual site itself has nothing to do with Nissan... which is right.

I think theres more people going to the press day than on the public days...