Sunday 25 December 2016

The Christmas Day Truce of 1914

Image courtesy of www.wikipedia.org
Hello you, the name is Luca but you can call me Luca. Merry Christmas all of you or whatever you celebrate around this time, my Christmas day 2016 has been very typically quiet but I am not complaining, I have got a lot of what I wanted for Christmas so I'm okay.

My day has been mostly me staring at my phone, waiting for one of my favourite YouTubers Broughy1322 to hit 100,000 subscribers, and he did it! I also logged onto GTA Online to claim my free unicorn mask which I am very much pleased with, and also after the last few days with helping my friends get money on GTA and mainly my friend Ahmed so he could get his classic Porsche 911.

But it was after I had just been to my Granny's house for Christmas dinner that I got the idea to write this quickly, I don't know if this will be long but I just wanted to write this quick, I don't want to be away from my parents long enough for them to be like "Come down here now you unsocial little shit". Anyway back on track, the thing I want to talk about is the Christmas Day Truce.

T'was the Christmas period 1914, the British soldiers who are in the trenches in France, they were promised to be home by Christmas after the war broke out. The same was told to the German soldiers, and the many months of sitting down in these trenches, ready to shoot an 'enemy' because our governments were at war.

The night descends upon them, and the British soldiers hear the Germans singing Stille Nacht in harmony, the Brits join in with the same song Silent Night and what happens the following morning is perhaps the most symbolic moment of peace and humanity amidst the most violent events of human history. One soldier pops up from behind the British trench, a German soldier is ready to pull the trigger but instead, stand down.

Everyone from the British side and the German side leave their trenches, they exchange season greetings, gifts, food, there was even games of football played between the young Nigel's and Otto's. For the first time, the Brits and Germans were seen to each other to a certain degree, as not a 'target' or any other word to make them nothing more than something to kill, but as individuals. With parents, siblings, partners, children, family back home, a humanisation of all these people, who are all humans and should always have been.

There's this nobility seen with going to war and dying for your country, and my movie I absolutely adore does illustrate this to such a great extent, Testament Of Youth. Behind the act of war, are individuals who shouldn't be reduced down to nothing but a person who lived shorter than they should have.

These men defied what they were told to do, and the unofficial truce of Christmas 102 years ago is a reminder to us all, your fellow human is just that.

2016 has been dreadful, but one thing I want all of you to remember, you have each other. All of you, please remember that and show the ones you love this Christmas, that you do. They are more to you than you should make clear if you don't do that already. That will be all everyone.

I look forward to getting back into my regular type of articles, that I hope you will all stick around to enjoy. Remember everyone, good will to you all as the British and German soldiers displayed, and we need to remind generations to come what these incredible individuals did. Thank you.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and until we meet again.
Luca.

Monday 12 December 2016

Something I like about myself

Hello you. The name is Luca, but you can call me Luca. So, if any of you are unfortunate enough to follow me on Instagram (Due to my over excessive shit-postings), you may have clicked on my story a few days ago and seen something I wrote. The particular example that I am referring to is finding something you like about yourself and writing about it.

Not to sound all guru like, or spiritual or pretentious by being like "Spread peace, love and positivity and the world will be such a better place" or any of that bullshit. Allow me to provide you with the reason why I wrote that, and not to sound like I am asking for pity or anything because that's the last thing I want from this. I may or may not have touched upon this before, I go to something called talking therapy and speak to someone about things that have gone before in my life, the results of those things and how I can best overcome some fears.

One of the things me and the person I speak to there talk about a lot is how I never think of anything that I do as a great thing, and by that I mean, I don't apparently give myself enough credit. This has been a thing I just thought was the norm, that nobody ever thinks of anything good that they do as a great and commendable thing themselves. Though if I feel I've done wrong, I know that fine well and I think everyone should, nonetheless it has resulted in myself being somewhat apparently a tad negative regarding the things I do.

With all of that being said though, I still firmly believe I don't deserve commending for doing good things. Though having been thinking for a bit, I do think despite all the deprecation I throw my own way, what if instead of being me, I was just some unfortunate soul who had to tolerate my existence? The perspective of someone who knows me, who themselves believes their own idea of average is themselves and anything they do, because I can safely say that I see a lot of good in people. One of those people is my friend Emma, who is responsible for me coming up with this idea.

Emma she has her own blog which I will link here (https://emdoesbookreviews.wordpress.com/) where she reviews mainly books - as you can tell by that title - and I highly recommend it for any of you bookworms. I will say here and now though, Emma has gone to university and won't be posting on it extensively but there is already stuff there to enjoy. Like I've just said to Emma, it's like getting into a TV series that has been running for many years, there's already a lot of stuff to enjoy before there's any more to come.

Anyway, I feel like I've gone off topic there. Basically, Emma has always been a huge help in regards to many things, and why she is relevant here is because of her support in regards to my attempts when trying to contact Warner Bros and whoever else to make a movie adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (If you want to know more, click here - https://redsone-shot.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/what-is-voice-with-no-power-part-2.html).

I've never been someone who just thinks of something that should happen and never act on it. As far back as I can remember, I write off to whoever I can if I can see the benefits of something happening, it's why I began this blog because as naïve and pathetic as it may seem, just having it out there is enough for me and hopefully, it can become reality.

Notice there how I used sort of negative words to describe what I do? That's something I've always done but now, I am not just thinking of someone who may look at me and laugh, I am trying to place myself in the mind of another type of person. It was after the comment that Emma left on my article that really stuck a chord with me, that you can go read if you scroll to the bottom of it or I can just copy and paste it here.

'Luca...
It's been a while since we talked, but reading this, reading how you talk about chasing your dreams and not giving up, I've been reminded just how fantastic you are. You know I love your insight for this project (which you have stuck by the entire time) and you know how much this story means to me as well as you, and I am so proud of your determination with it. Chase your dreams, my friend <3

Your friend Emma' - emdoesbookreviews


This was the first time I could ever see a perspective that was a positive one. I've obviously got some amazing friends who mean the world to me that have told me things like that before, I could never see it from their point of view. I never consider myself an interesting person, I have made that clear before but because of this, I unconsciously put myself down. But thanks to Emma, I think I can write this and encourage you to do the same. This is, something I like about myself.

That something is, whatever I am passionate about, I don't just let it go easily and I want to try and put it in the minds of the correct people. But I don't do it out of huge personal gain, by that I mean I don't want to get a huge amount of credit or money, I just want the thing I am pushing for to exist whether I benefit in that manner or not.

A recent example, I had this idea for a new type of racing game called Giro d'Strada. I had decided to try and contact the developers of Assetto Corsa, so I accidentally assumed it was 505 Games who distribute the game rather than make it and they pointed me in the direction of the forums that the actual developers of the game - Kunos Simulazioni - are always checking on. If any of you are interested, here is my forums post here (http://www.assettocorsa.net/forum/index.php?threads/free-roam-based-racing-game-giro-dstrada.40219/#post-802549). I do plan on going into a hell of a lot more detail with my Giro d'Strada idea so stay tuned for that.

As much as it is about me wanting to see a game like this, I am not so unreasonable that I would only ever push for something if only I would like it or it would be convenient for me. If I was like that, I would ask my parents for a LaFerrari Aperta and say they didn't love me if they would not, but thankfully I am not.

My point is, I could take this idea and run with it, try and get a lot of money by making the game myself but I just want this game to exist so I can play it and enjoy it, and for other people to do so as well because I believe there is a gap in the market for a game like this. I would not trust myself to not screw it up also, but whether someone wants to make money off of a concept I've come up with, I don't mind. I'd expect to have some say in the game though at the very least!

If whatever I push for on here or in any other part of life, I never want to gain any notoriety from it. I write about something because I believe in it being a success. Whether it be this game that I have just spoken about, my last article talking about a British based premier single seater championship that will provide an alternative to F1 for some drivers, the Curious Incident movie with Taron Egerton as the main character, a four door convertible Rolls Royce based on the Enus Windsor Drop from GTA Online, or on the flip side a bunch of real life cars that I believe would make great and popular vehicles in GTA, or any possible concept I will conjure up in the future.

It doesn't matter for me that I'd become rich if I claimed these ideas for myself and ran with them. As much of an annoyance it can be that there are absolute dickheads who earn a shit tonne of money for the shady stuff that they do, I am at complete ease with the way I am in regards to all of this.

I do have plans to obviously make my living, I have opportunities that are coming up soon that excite me and I also plan on writing fictional novels (Which I have touched upon before) that may do me well for the future, who knows? If you remember my article on The Accountant, I talk about how I'd love to see novels based on the lore surrounding Ben Affleck's character from the film, and I would do it myself but I do want to see the character and lore done well by a much more celebrated or even acknowledged author. So I'd appreciate being the consumer if someone who was a very good writer decided to write novels about Christian Wolff, since I couldn't trust myself to do it right.

The other thing I like about myself, I'm grateful. I know the term "You can't be sad because people have it worse" is perhaps a very guilt inducing statement but I do carry this with me quite strongly. My birthday was November 27th and I turned 20, and on the day I got a new red hoodie (My third one..), Zootropolis on DVD, some money for my PSN wallet but most of all, my new Logitech G29 steering wheel.

My Instagram followers will know about this. I have it directly in front of me as I write this, and if any of you have seen an article I wrote about gaming racing, I talk about how I miss the times I used to drive on my PS3. Now I can drive on my PS4 and the feeling of turning this force feedback wheel and applying the power on Assetto Corsa whilst driving a LaFerrari around the Nürburgring Nordschleife was amazing.

I am getting a few movies on DVD for Christmas but they aren't that expensive, I just wanted a steering wheel for my games console again and I've got it, I'm set for a while now. Whilst I have acknowledged the quiet life I lead, I am grateful for so much and I am looking forward to what will happen next. Even if whatever is next for me is overwhelming and too much, I have some absolutely wonderful people around me who I am forever grateful for.

I'm seeing Rogue One this weekend with my friends Lauren and Matthew, I cannot wait to see the new Star Wars movie. Tomorrow is first and foremost my dad's birthday but also apparently, a new GTA update is going live called Import/Export which I cannot contain my excitement for. I am playing 'Small Hands' by Keaton Henson as I finish this article and most of all, I am happy with who I am and grateful for what I have. Thank you all.

Before I end, why don't any of you write something similar to this? I know friends who are going through hard times and whilst I don't want to again, come across as a pretentious douchebag, all of you have something that makes you worth it, and no it isn't L'Oreal.

Until we meet again,
Luca.

Friday 9 December 2016

The national F1 alternative - A fan's perspective

Image courtesy of www.motorsport.com
Hello you! The name is Luca, but you can call me Luca, welcome to my Red's One-Shot blog and I am very excited to bring you this article, as I have been waiting to write it for ages. Allow me to provide some background on it though.

Before I do, I want to disclose that whilst I know fine well that I am not selling anything and that means I probably don't need to tell of my biases, I feel it would just be better if I let you guys know here. I am making this article in partnership with the people behind this championship, but I do speak as a fan who is very intrigued by the concept. So to clear this up, I am not paid by Chadwick Motorsport to make this article, I volunteered to write about it from a racing fan's perspective.

On September 13th of this year, motorsport.com published an article talking about a new professional single seater championship that would be racing in Britain and it instantly intrigued me to an incredible degree. The article in question is linked here (http://www.motorsport.com/openwheel/news/gp2-level-single-seater-series-set-for-2017-debut-in-great-britain-826141/) and things that were said in this article included that it would be on the same kind of performance levels as a GP2 car. For those of you who don't know, GP2 is seen as the junior racing series right below Formula One, racing on the same weekend as the F1 drivers alongside the Grand Prix.

The reason why this perked my interest is that it is absolutely unheard of to have a domestic racing championship in Europe at the level of performance. Usually when climbing the racing ladder, you have entry level championships like Formula 4 and Formula Renault 2.0 racing both in national and European championships, then you have the next step up being Formula 3 championships which have been scaled down in terms of national championships since more drivers are choosing to race in the European championships at this level.

But the level that this new British racing championship is unheard of on a national scale, with like I've already said, performance that is very comparable to that of GP2 and Formula V8 3.5. It did make me wonder, how would this appeal to a driver looking to move up the racing ladder into F1? We will get to that in a bit.

Next up, that part where I said, racing in the winter? Before I go on, my contact at Chadwick told me that they are now pursuing a series set in a more traditional format, that being from the beginning months of one year to the later months of that same year.

The original idea was to race between December and March, providing racing drivers at the level of GP2 and Formula V8 3.5 a chance to race during the off season and keep themselves sharp. Maybe also, drivers in lower junior single seater series could utilise this smaller scale championship that will not clash with their main campaign. They could use this to their advantage in order to try their hand at racing these type of cars whilst they don't immediately have a budget, which by the way is a huge problem in racing nowadays and what we will get onto soon.

I know a lot of what I just said is now no longer relevant because I have now been informed that they are pursuing a more traditional schedule structure that most championships follow. Whilst the idea of a winter series at that level would work brilliantly, as many single seater series take place during the European winter months (Examples: Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand, MRF Challenge in India and other parts of Middle Eastern Asia, even a future FIA certified F3 series), but the fact that this series was taking place in the UK during the winter was a concern.

No matter though because now that this UK based championship will now run during the more traditional months, I now have reason to believe that this will now fill a gap in the motor racing market. That reason is as follows.

Speaking extensively about GP2, many F1 drivers have won championships in GP2 since that series' inception in 2005. The inaugural champion was Nico Rosberg, who as we know is now the F1 champion and now has just hung up his helmet, and his team mate for the last few years at the Mercedes GP team and three-time champion Lewis Hamilton, won the GP2 championship the year before moving up to F1. From 2005 to 2011, every single champion graduated to F1 the following year with the exception of 2008 champion Giorgio Pantano, who had a small campaign in F1 with the Jordan team back in 2004.

Since then though, with the amount of drivers trying to make it to F1, it hasn't since been the case that the tradition of the GP2 champion immediately graduates to F1. 2012 champion Davide Valsecchi and 2013 champion Fabio Leimer never got the chance, and since then all the GP2 champions have had to wait a year. That includes Renault F1 driver Jolyon Palmer and McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne, with reigning champion and Red Bull backed Pierre Gasly unable to take one of the Toro Rosso drives and can't stay in GP2 since the rules prohibit the champion from competing.

Vandoorne spent his 2016 campaign in Super Formula, which is the top-line Japanese single seater championship and it seems that Gasly and also former GP3 champion Alex Lynn will be heading over to the Far East to race there this year. Not to discredit Japanese motorsport because as far as Asian based motorsport championships go, Japan are pretty much the only country who embrace it to such an incredible degree.

But when concerning world motorsport, Europe is the main home and we have no proper alternative to F1 here unfortunately, not as far as car performance goes but more in terms of its competitive nature. This is where I believe this series will come in, because thanks to my contact at Chadwick Motorsport, I have been told some incredible figures and facts regarding cost entry that I believe will be incentive enough for many top line drivers to race in this series. This is where I talk about money.

Ever heard the term 'Pay driver' in motorsport? It's a sad fact but motorsport is the only sport (As far as I'm aware) that money plays more of a part in over actual talent, and that's why you will often see drivers who are obviously not as talented as many of their peers, picked for drives in high cost motorsport. I touched on this before in an article I wrote about the chance of video game based racing becoming popularised by the fact that there would be very little in the way of money involved, because the cars used in video games are obviously digitally created so there would not be any need for money to be used to repair the cars.

So in regards to this series, here is what I was told that will be the case for entry into the British based championship. The initial entry costs are £375,000 which will cover pretty much everything such as the cost of each individual car and engine, race entry fees, permits, transport, personnel, maintenance and trackside support, with anything further than that not yet defined in terms of cost. For every season after from then on, the cost will be cut down to just £75,000 due to the car and engine's cost having already been covered in the first season, and this is absolutely remarkable! (Note: These figures may change but the Chadwick Motorsport guys are set on keeping the series costs to as little as possible.)

I just want to get it out there right now, I am not an expert and I have no way of finding out if these numbers are true, but I heard these numbers thrown around when discussing the prices to run for a season in these junior formulae series. GP3 racing cost I believe about US$600,000, Formula Renault 3.5 (Now Formula V8 3.5) costs US$800,000 and GP2 costs an astonishing US$5,000,000 for a season. So to think that after the introductory year after the cars and engines have been developed, for the entry fee to cost less than £100,000 is incredible, so this will allow drivers who don't have as much money to compete in most competitive championships to revitalise their professional single seater career.

The reason why I believe this has been achieved is because Chadwick Motorsport will be running every single entry in the series, and this method was last utilised in the FIA's Formula Two championship which ran between 2009 and 2012. It's a stroke of genius on Chadwick's end to do this, especially considering that for the most part, the series will remain in Britain with I believe one possible overseas round, hopefully at Spa. That's my next point actually.

Being the enthusiastic individual I am, I got talking with my contact at Chadwick regarding this series' possible schedule. I obviously don't run the championship so my word isn't fact in the slightest, but as far as I am concerned, the best racing schedule for this series would be alongside the British GT and the BRDC British F3 championships. Partly because tagging onto the same program will lower the costs of hauling the freight around but mostly because as far as the top line British national racing championships go, the schedule for a weekend alongside British GT and F3 is far less packed than let's say, British Touring Cars.

I've been to Croft many times to watch the BTCC and loved it, but the current TOCA package that always tag along with BTCC and get their races shown on ITV4 is already at its peak when it comes support races. The Chadwick-ran series is planning on having all of its three races on the final day which is exactly what BTCC does, and having a Sunday structured with the first Chadwick-ran series race, then a BRDC F3 race, then Chadwick, BRDC F3, final Chadwick race then the British GT race. Obviously some variables apply there, which I won't get too deep into.

Plus also when you consider the calibre of the circuits that British GT and F3 have been attending in recent years, you have obviously the big guns like Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Donington Park and Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, but then you have some great national circuits like Snetterton, Rockingham and probably my favourite, Oulton Park which just so happens to be the closest to where I live. Unfortunately, no Thruxton but no matter.

Without sounding way too sensationalising of this new series, Chadwick have gone beyond the call of duty when it comes to not only providing drivers who want to continue their single seater career, but also with fans due to the fact that they may be pursuing a one day format for all the races. Like what BTCC does, have one or two practice sessions the previous day before qualifying then leaving all the racing for the big day. That would provide more than enough incentive for the fans to flock up on the day of the racing, and with the main British GT race and one or two British F3 races also there as well.

Just want to add, as far as broadcasting goes for those who want to watch at home. Chadwick are pursuing a YouTube live streaming method which has worked in the past for DTM, and I imagine perhaps they could strike up a deal with ITV, BT or Motors TV to show highlights a week later or maybe even live.

Anyhow, in conclusion! It's a British based championship with cars that use a 4.0-litre V10 that produce 640 horsepower, with according to my contact at Chadwick, ticket prices that will be kept to as little as possible. I may have bias here but when I heard about this championship, my ears perked up and I took notice, and I am writing this as a fan who is excited to see this series happen. Because there will be more than enough drivers who will be willing to compete in this championship and hopefully, all the talented ones will be placed in the series and we can have some great racing in what I am confident will not only be the premier domestic single seater championship, but will be a top line concept for other drivers that are based in Europe to want to hop over to this crummy rock off of the coast of France.

Before I end off, I want to thank Chadwick for authorising me to write this article and entrusted me with a lot of information and I have respected their trust. I would very much like to attend an event at some point, maybe if they do become a part of the British GT and F3 program (Here's hoping) and they go to Oulton Park for the first round, I could go there.

So anyway, if you've made it this far and are not bored to death, I thank you. Hope you enjoyed and I'll be publishing another article in the next coming days.

Alright! That will do, so until we meet again.
Luca.

Saturday 26 November 2016

An idea - New GTA vehicles

Image is my own taken from GTA Online

Hello you! The name is Luca, but you can call me Luca. So it's a safe bet knowing how often I talk about GTA Online, I had been thinking long and hard about what to write before this article and that's why I wrote about The Accountant (Along with the fact I wanted to).

As you can tell, I love my cars and as I have spoke at length before, I have favourites. If you remember back to my Top 5 Favourite vehicles in GTA Online, all of them are in the picture you see there along with my five other vehicles in the same garage. Overall, I have calculated how much I spent buying those vehicles before even upgrading them, it's over $10,000,000 in game!

But of course, that is never enough isn't it? I mean, I have six other properties in GTA that can hold up to 10 vehicles. Those being for just vehicles that are either available now or will be in the next few months, but if we look further into the future, what can we expect? This article will be me proposing ideas for new cars either to be introduced in GTA Online or the next online GTA game.

Overall, after my last purely dedicated article talking about my idea for what I would have named the HVY Stealth, based on the Batmobile Tumbler from The Dark Knight trilogy (Link here - https://redsone-shot.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/an-idea-gta-online-batmobile.html), I wrote it because I wanted to get the idea in the head of Rockstar. I even had a dream the other night that the Stealth was added in a military update and I saw my friend driving it.

But I digress, this article is a pitch for a shit tonne of other vehicles I'd love to see in the game. This includes their real life counterpart, their GTA name, their ideal performance, the class they go in and other details such as design, price, engine sound etc.


Image courtesy of www.moibbik.com

Benefactor Prestige (Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren)

This car has always been a vehicle I'd love to see in GTA. The name Benefactor Prestige comes from the supposed name of the car that later would go on to be the Benefactor Stirling GT, even though that the SLR in real life is a joint effort of both Mercedes and McLaren, so logic would dictate that the Prestige would be a Benefactor and a Progen. I just think Benefactor Prestige sounds better than Progen Prestige or Benefactor Progen Prestige and so on.

The Prestige would be placed in the Supers class and performance wise, it would have the similar sort of statistics to an Overflod Entity XF in that it would have a lot of traction but it would have slightly less power. Price wise, Rockstar do look to get as many people buying Shark Cards so my price for the Prestige would be $1,200,000. If you're not into GTA, I'll put that into perspective, because the Progen T20 is $2,200,000 and even the Pegassi Reaper is $1,595,000.

Last but not least detail, engine sound. Most Benefactor cars in GTA Online have an incredible sounding engine, such as the expanding range for the Schafter - which is a four door executive sedan - has an incredible soundtrack. Unless I say otherwise, most of the vehicles I suggest will share their engine sound with an already existing vehicle in the game, so if any of you who play GTA want to go have an early preview of my concepts, feel free to do so with the Prestige by going to find a Benefactor Schwartzer, which has an amazing engine sound and I feel it will suit the Prestige.

Before I end this off and move onto another vehicle idea, it would probably be a good idea to give the Prestige its own description. For pretty much all vehicles on their respective websites where you can purchase them, they have their own description and some even allude to something worth mocking in relation to the vehicle. You may remember from my HVY Stealth article that I did one for that as well, alluding to the history of its real life counterpart in relation to Batman. So here goes my attempt at a description for the Benefactor Prestige.

"Brits and Germans working together, what could possibly go wrong? With Progen assisting with the development of this car, the Benefactor Prestige is the vehicle of choice if you want to lope from coast to coast multiple times in the fastest and most comfortable way imaginable, and break lap record after lap record on multiple road courses. The ultimate example of a grand tourer and sports car rolled into one incredible machine."

Image courtesy of www.roadandtrack.com

Lampadati Maestro (Alfa Romeo Disco Volante by Touring)
 
I've been falling in love with this car as of recent, the idea of a drop-top Italian sports Grand Tourer with an amazing engine is something that really appeals to me. The Disco Volante is a coach built car made by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera, and is based on the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione.

For the in game equivalent, Lampadati (Which is Maserati's GTA equivalent) would be the manufacturer to house what I've dubbed the Maestro, and it would come as a drop top model. The Spyder model of the Disco Volante that you see in this picture, has a roof that you have to put on and remove by getting out the car and clipping it into or out of place. On GTA, a car like that would require you to go to a mod shop and get rid of the roof or get it back, such examples include the Pfister 811.

On the contrary, there are cars that you can just touch a button and the roof folds away and that is the method I would adopt with the Maestro. Oh and before you comment saying "Then how is it based on the Disco Volante if it doesn't include the same roof system?", may I ask how the Progen T20 is a McLaren P1 if the T20 is All-Wheel Drive and the P1 is Rear-Wheel Drive?

I was inspired by the McLaren 650S Spider's folding roof mechanism, which I felt that after seeing the Disco Volante Spyder's rear end, that same system would work beautifully on the Maestro. I know that when a fictional vehicle is brought into GTA that is based on a real world car, they have to borrow elements from other cars so they don't get sued.

An example of this is the Vapid FMJ which is for the most part is a 2017 Ford GT, but with the front end that borrows heavily from the Aston Martin Vulcan. I ask that keep the rear end of the Disco Volante Spyder for the Maestro, gently rework the front to keep as much of it as possible because this car is visual perfection.

Performance wise, the Maestro would not be particularly sharp and I reckon it would feel quite heavy to drive, not too heavy like a wide body Cadillac but not dart-like and sharp like a Grotti Cheetah. A car like the Maestro would in my opinion, be better off if it handled with a bit of body roll since it is meant to be more of a consistent ground eloper and not a sporty machine.

Relatively powerful, but its party piece is the noise, which I have decided that it will be the same as the Invetero Coquette BlackFin. Which if you read my Top 5 Favourite Vehicles in GTA Online article, you will note that I said that the BlackFin has one of the best engine sounds in the game, and when you lift the throttle off in that thing, it sounds incredible.

Final few things before the description on the in-game website, I am thinking that the Maestro would either go in the Sports or Coupe class, leaning more towards Sports and it would probably join the Ocelot Lynx as an overpriced and uncompetitive car within the class. I say that because the Lynx is based on the Jaguar F-Type and for some reason, costs $1,735,000 and honestly, as contradictory as it may be considering the price I have in mind for the Maestro, the Lynx is not worth that.

However the price I have in mind for the Maestro, I have it higher than that because the car within the context of the GTA world is also a coach building company's exclusive and very rare car, so its cost would be incredible. I would price the Lampadati Maestro at an incredible $2,375,000, which does make it quite expensive of course but it wouldn't be a car you would get for the speed of it, more the desirability of a vehicle like this would make you think about buying it.

Now for the description of the Lampadati Maestro.

"Purpose built by leading coach builders in Italy, the Maestro is priced just right for the kind of person who spends all their energy with underwear models in a pool and needs a quick but relaxing ride home before their wife gets suspicious. Complete with a roof that will fold up and down at will, so the ladies can have a glance at your unappealing fupa. One of only three in the world; you, the Sultan of Brunei and some drug guy."

Before you write in to complain, just log onto GTA and have a look at the descriptions for some of the cars, they're even more in depth than that!


Image courtesy of www.newsautospeed.com

Truffade Python (Bugatti 16C Galibier)

Here we have the cousin of the Veyron, or the Adder in GTA. Of course we know the Adder to be one of the more well known vehicles in GTA, since how popular the Veyron is among car enthusiasts. After a year of GTA Online, the Adder was ranked third in most bought vehicles in the game and only ranked behind the two big DLC cars of 2014, the Grotti Turismo R and the Pegassi Zentorno, which considering the Adder's lack of exposure since it was available from day one of the game, speaks volumes as to how popular the car really is.

Performance wise though, the Adder is only good in races if you're in a race with mainly long straights. It is quite heavy in the corners and as a result, not on the pace of the top level peers of the Supers class. Yet still despite all this as I have already said, the Adder is still one of the most popular cars in the game and I feel having a four door version would be something that a lot of people would want.

Ideas I have had for introducing the Python has been mainly through a possible update that would open up the casino in GTA that many people have been wanting to see for a long time. The Python would only be able to be bought there, for the equivalent of $1,500,000 or 750,000 Casino chips, or you could be tempted to win it for free if the odds were in your favour, but knowing Rockstar they'd make the odds of winning less greater than getting a supply drop on Call Of Duty with one of the newer weapons.

I doubt the casino will ever open in GTA but if they do, the Python will be incentive enough for people to at least enter the building. If you want an example of how introducing a vehicle only by doing a particular task really does work, look at the most recent example with the Shotaro motorcycle that was inspired by Tron, the only way you can unlock that is by playing Deadline and it's fun as hell! I probably would not have bothered with Deadline had the Shotaro been available to buy without the need to play it.

Getting back on topic, we are talking about the Python and as far as performance goes, pretty much the same as the Adder. Only a tiny bit behind with top speed and the same characteristics in the corners only a tiny bit heavier, and shares the same engine sound since it pretty much in many ways, is the same car.

That being said, I am very disappointed with the Adder's colour scheme since the primary colour takes up all of the car except two stripes and the spoiler. So if the Python had to differ in any way from the Adder other than the fact that it has four doors and its engine in front rather than behind the driver, it would be how much of the car the secondary colour takes up, hopefully it is a lot more like the Veyron and Galibier in real life.

Although I did dream up the idea of the Python having the same rear seat interior as a Swift Deluxe or other Yacht exclusive helicopters, with a TV in the middle on the divider between the front and rear seats with champagne and some glasses as well. In hindsight, I am not sure if I would insist on this part, the divider from the Enus Cognoscenti would do just fine.

So the main selling point of this car, it would be the first car in the Supers class that would be able to ferry around four people. It unfortunately won't be the quickest lap time wise since the fastest four seater in GTA is the Benefactor Schafter V12, which is actually quicker around Broughy1322's testing track than the Adder and the Python will already be slower than the Adder.

How did I come to getting the name Python? Well you've obviously noticed a link between the fact that Adder and Python are both snakes so that makes sense. Initially, a friend of mine who funnily enough used to go by the online name Carbon Viper, suggested Python and I liked it at first but I did some more digging, and I found out that the Python is the second largest snake on the planet. The first is the Anaconda, but that name has become tainted for me after Nicki Minge ruined it.

So Python I feel is a very suitable name considering the Truffade Python is bigger than the Truffade Adder and the Python being one of the biggest snakes in existence, means it really is very appropriate. I might be factually wrong so if anyone can correct me, please do so.

Now is where I would put the description for the vehicle, but whether we would see this would depend on if the car would be sold on an in-game website or if they would put a model in the casino. So here goes nothing.

"Truffade are expanding their range to now cater for the type of people who need to get to places in a hurry but don't have the time to drive. Now you can ferry around three unfortunate peasants and flash your metaphorical wiener for them to see, all the while beating the environment into submission with every mile a minute you cover".


Image courtesy of www.bobpetersenengineering.co.uk

Buckingham Merlin (Petersen Meteor 27 litre)

Anyone remember that car from the 'Before shit' Top Gear that has the engine from a Spitfire? Before I do go on, I want to thank Bob Petersen Engineering for getting back to me, telling me the official name of this wonderful creation.

Ever since seeing this on Top Gear, I have been thinking that this would be a car that would turn some heads in the GTA world. For so long I had the Buckingham Merlin down as an Enus (Which is the GTA world's Rolls Royce, Bentley and Maybach) since the Spitfire and Meteor engine used in this vehicle was developed by Rolls Royce and the car itself is based off of a Blower Bentley.

So what made me decide to make into a Buckingham? A brand in GTA that specialises in air vehicles like the Luxor and the Swift. Well if you head to the Bob Mulét barber shop, you'll find a car showroom nearby that has the Pegassi, Pfister, Enus and Grotti logos on their windows but you will also find Buckingham, what?! Why would an air vehicle company have their name and logo on a dealership and be sharing them with highly prestigious car brands? So I thought it would be appropriate that an air vehicle brand would have their first car be very much related to air vehicles.

As for the Merlin part, that comes from the fact that engines from the Spitfire and Meteor are Rolls Royce Merlin engines. I even considered the Buckingham Chap at some point since chap is both a term to refer to someone in old England, and is also a synonym for penis.

It would keep those links to the RAF with a few livery options such as the kind that we see on this Morgan 3-Wheeler (Link to image here - http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/legacy_thumbnail/800x450/format/jpg/quality/85/http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/03/morgan-threewheeler-geneva.jpg). Whilst we are on the subject of the Morgan 3-Wheeler, I'd also bring over some design elements from that with the chrome bars on the back and the exposed intercooler like on the Petersen Meteor.

The Buckingham Merlin would be on the Sports Classics class and have a very high top speed, but would be very heavy and cumbersome when going round corners, mainly understeering when entering the corner. Another characteristic it would have is that when you hit the pedal, it will be prone to spin its wheels a lot and oversteer on the exit of corners, making it a tricky bugger to drive so it would be by no means, the fastest in the Sports Classics around a track but one that will be very rewarding to drive. As for engine sound, I am leaning more towards it sharing its engine sound with the Dewbauchee JB 700, though I am considering also the Stirling GT, Z-Type and Casco engine sounds as well.

So how much for the Buckingham Merlin? After careful consideration, I decided that this vehicle would cost $1,050,000 since I don't expect many people will go out of their way to buy it like they would a typical high end Supers or Sports vehicle. Now for the description of the Buckingham Merlin.

"The powerful image of aerial combat and seeing the blue flames from your fighter bomber's engine in the twilight above Dover, you can now conjure that with this limited edition special vehicle, based off of the 1920's Enus endurance grand prix cars that rocketed the brand to early success. Buckingham commissioned this vehicle with the same engine that took young chaps over the skies of the channel."

Image courtesy of www.autosport.com

Grotti X1 (Formula One car)

I got the idea for an F1 car in GTA after I saw that there was one in Just Cause 3 called the Mugello Farina Duo. It would be one you would buy and store in your garage as appose to calling up Pegasus in order to use it, and you can upgrade it both looks and performance wise.

It would have a default primary and secondary colour so you can have a colour scheme of whatever you wanted, if you for example wanted to drive with the colour scheme of an in-game brand and make your crew logo the same as the in-game brand you want to drive for. I say all of this knowing this will hit a chord with both Broughy1322's Nonchalant Dominance community and GuN1t123's Sweatbuckets community, as they will want to take advantage of this and have their own F1 championships. Sweatbuckets did have a sort of F1 championship but they used the Grotti Turismo R, so really it isn't F1 and should have been called the Grotti Turismo R Challenge.

Back on topic here, another element about this car would be it would introduce a new class system to the game. When the July 2016 Cunning Stunts update was released, three new Supers class cars were introduced which were the Annis RE-7B, the Progen Tyrus and the Emperor ETR-1, which were incredibly overpowered. Broughy1322's tests showed that with the aftermarket spoilers around his Cutting Coroners GP track, the RE-7B lapped it in 57.7 seconds, the ETR-1 did it in 59.1 and the Tyrus did it in 59.3.

In comparison to the majority of the other Supers, the Grotti X80 Proto did 1:01.2 and the Progen T20 did 1:01.9 so the gaps were huge even on Broughy's small city test track. Another prominent GTA racer PeeCarNoo did some tests on a much larger track with a mountain road on the track and the RE-7B was seven seconds quicker than the T20, and this was a huge unbalance in the Supers class and as a result, the Bikers update nerfed the Cunning Stunts Supers and as a result, they are more on the pace of the other Supers.

To prevent the need for doing that with the X1, it will be placed in a new class called Formula which I believe would not be too difficult to implement. The reason why the RE-7B, Tyrus and ETR-1 were so OP to begin with was because unlike pretty much all the other cars in the game, the spoilers didn't add traction but instead the cars had something called a Downforce Multiplier, I won't explain what it is, but it would be necessary on the X1. It would also be the second car in the game after the Karin Sultan RS to have Super Transmission for an upgrade, which I've noticed makes the shifts from gear to gear seamless.

The tyres on the X1 would have writing on the side saying 'Atomic' and 'Corsa', with lines running on the side of the wheels inbetween, and you can change the colours of the writing and lines by having a selection of 'Accent Colours' like you have on the X80 Proto. You wouldn't be able to have any other kind of wheel on the X1, and the wheel options would only have bulletproof enhancements and the tyre smoke option.

Another customisable option could be a race number to have on it, and you can pick numbers that appear on the front of the car among other places which will appear in the primary colour if the number itself is on a part of the car where its the secondary colour, and the other way round as well but if both primary and secondary colours are the same colour, the number would come up in black. As for the number itself, it would be any one between 1 and 99, you can pick when in the mod shop.

What about also a feature that could be quite cool, your own name on the back of the rear wing? Same colouring technique as used on the number and it would be either your Xbox Live, PlayStation Network or Social Club name depending obviously on what platform you're on. This being a feature that was used back when FIA Formula Two still raced. Either this or the name on the sidepods of the car, which was used last in F1 when the HRT team utilised this back in 2010.

Does anyone remember the Kinetic Energy Recovery System that was popularised by F1 and was brought into GTA via the Principe Lectro and Dinka Vindicator? Or 'NOS' as morons who don't want to know any better call it. I plan on the X1 also having KERS, and since Rockstar implemented the content creator so now race creations can now allow vehicles with boost systems such as KERS, and since the X1 will be the sole vehicle in its class, it could make for some interesting racing.

What about price? I have the X1 at $2,850,000 which would make it the most expensive non-weaponised car in the game beating out the X80 Proto by $150,000 but it would make sense considering the money that is thrown around in F1. Oh and as far as engine sound goes, the X1 will have a unique engine sound. Now for the description for the Grotti X1.

"For the inner Middle Eastern oil billionaire in all of us, exclusively for our best (Well.. richest) drivers. Whilst not exactly road legal, we know it won't stop any of you, since nobody who has the money to purchase one of these has a clean criminal record or a clear conscience. Exactly the same as the car that took Claude Speed, Jr. to ten victories this season including on the streets of Los Santos in the LS Grand Prix."

Image courtesy of www.motorstown.com

Ubermacht Morpheus (Veritas RS III)

The 'Caterham that is alright to be seen in' according to Richard Hammond, there's no doubting that the Veritas is striking to look at. The image you see, the Veritas' second seat is folded away but the Morpheus will have two seats, with butterfly doors, encompassing a sleek speedster and roofless design.

So the Morpheus would be in the Supers class and be very pointy and agile like the Grotti Cheetah and Grotti Turismo R, but it would not have plenty of power so it has some balance, and would make up the bottom pile of the competitive group of Supers alongside cars like the Reaper. It would also share its engine sound with the Bravado Verlierer, which has a very crisp and yet also rough sounding engine.

I am struggling with what to say about the Morpheus but I guess I should talk about why I decided on its brand and the reason why it got called what it is. So Ubermacht is the in-game equivalent of BMW, and the Veritas in real life uses BMW engines, I say plural because the concept had a 6.0-litre V12 that BMW supplied, then the models that were released apparently included the 4.0-litre V8 from an M3 and the 5.0-litre V10 from an M5.

The Morpheus part, well we know him to be the Ancient Greek god of dreams (Thanks Wikipedia!) but the idea to name this car Morpheus came from the VIP Work mission Sightseer, where you have to hack into something in order to find some packages. One of the three times you have to hack, you have to line up letters to make an eight letter word and one of those words is Morpheus, another example is Sentinel which funnily enough is also an Ubermacht vehicle in the game.

As far as price goes, I am thinking $845,000 since it isn't a traditional supercar. I can't think of a good description and I realise I have been going on with the amount of cars on this list, sorry if I haven't made this interesting. I do try, believe me.

Image courtesy of www.topspeed.com

Progen Tomahawk (Ariel Atom V8)

A very popular choice I reckon. The Atom is very well known because of the test on Top Gear in which Jeremy Clarkson's face, well that Atom had the engine from a Honda Civic whereas this one is a V8. To be more specific, two 1.5-litre 4 cylinder engines from a Honda motorcycle, welded together which produces an incredible power output of 500 horsepower, which in a car that weighs nearly half a tonne, means it has twice the horsepower per kilogram as a Bugatti Veyron.

So how did I come to the idea of naming it the Progen Tomahawk? Well Progen is McLaren in GTA as we already know, which since Ariel doesn't have a GTA version, I feel there is a lot of links with Progen that would make it appropriate. McLaren and Ariel are both British car brands, which whilst they don't directly involve themselves with each other, we see cars in GTA that are meant to be Fiat and Smart, fall under the Grotti (Ferrari) and Benefactor (Mercedes-Benz) brands, because of the fact those real life brands have a link. So whilst Ariel doesn't have any direct ties with McLaren, the fact they're both high performance British brands is enough.

Another link would be the fact that the Atom has a Honda engine, and in real life, McLaren and Honda are in partnership with the McLaren F1 team using Honda power units, so Progen could be said to use an engine from a Dinka (Honda's GTA equivalent) motorcycle for the Tomahawk. Now I should probably say why I have named it the Tomahawk.

If anyone plays Gran Turismo 6, the Vision GT concept that SRT introduced called the Tomahawk, a car which unfortunately, I never got to play because my PS3 would not update GT6.. oh well. But the Tomahawk took over the mantle of most OP car in Gran Turismo from the Red Bull X cars, with a power output of 2,590 horsepower and a top speed of over 400 miles per hour! Utterly incredible. After hearing that, I decided that Tomahawk was a bad arse name plus it's fitting considering how the actual axe tomahawk is a very light weight but effective weapon.

Visual customisation would be kept to a minimum since the Atom has very little in the way of bodywork, the Progen Tomahawk would have an option to put on its front wing that you see on the V8 Atom but not on the other Atom we saw on Top Gear. The same would go for the spoiler, which will add traction like the vast majority of other spoilers in the game. Colour scheme would be kept to a minimum, with the primary colour where you see the black on the Atom in the picture I have presented, and secondary colour where the red is. The rest of the body will be in typical alloy colour where the gold is in the picture.

I am not sure whether to put the Progen Tomahawk in the Supers or Sports class, leaning more towards Supers but either way, I am thinking pricing it at a very hefty $750,000. A mere bargain compared to its peers though, which would make sense considering these lightweight British sports cars do cost a lot less than the big budget supercars. Since it is Rockstar though, they will probably price this in the million dollar area, I'd hope not though. Now for the description of the car on the website.

"Built in a shed by a man whose wife will leave him once the bank asks him to sell the house in order to pay for further investments. Progen took the concept and in partnership with Dinka's motorcycle engine development, the Tomahawk will turn your face inside out with its incredible power and lack of a windscreen. Probably best to put a helmet on, or at the very least, some goggles."

If I have some more, I will make another article later on down the line. I want to wrap this up right now because it's my birthday tomorrow (27th November) and I want to see what people think of the vehicles I have on this list. These ones are pretty much the necessities, and for you GTA heads out there, tell me what you think and what you would change.

Alright! That will do everyone. Hope you enjoyed what I had to say, hopefully these ideas do get to Rockstar. Doubt they will but I did once tweet out after watching the episode of Top Gear with the Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6 something along the lines of "They need to put that car in GTA" and what happened? The I Am Not A Hipster update introduced the Benefactor Dubsta 6x6. It can happen, and hopefully all of these will.

If you haven't already, look for the 'Follow By Email' option if you're on the desktop version of this site. Put your email in there if you want my articles sent directly to you when they're published, or you can follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat. Thank you for reading and I'll see you all soon!

Until we meet again,
Luca.

Friday 18 November 2016

The Accountant - Potential franchise

Image courtesy of www.rottentomatoes.com
Hello you! The name is Luca, but you can call me Luca and welcome back to my blog, Red's One-Shot. So when I started this blog, my aim was to review movies and I did try at first but never got to a level that I was happy with, so I've never really reviewed a film on here.
 
I have a list of movies that I have seen this year, so far with 27 films and only one that I didn't like (I won't get into what it was just yet, because then people will think I am a hater of said property), but I've liked certain movies more than others and overall, three movies have stood out as my main favourites. One of them is The Accountant.
 
In this film - which is in theatres right now - we have Ben Affleck as Christian Wolff who is a highly-functioning autistic, small town certified accountant who makes his living uncooking the books of dangerous criminal organisations that are experiencing internal embesselment. That's what Wikipedia tells you, but what it doesn't immediately say is that he's also a badass who knows his way around guns and heavy combat.
 
So immediately, the fact that Affleck's character is on the autism spectrum immediately had me intrigued because if you were not already aware, I am also autistic. This however was not something that made me completely bias towards this movie, so if you want to take my opinion with a pinch of salt then feel free. I do have some personal favourite stories about autism, like X+Y and Curious Incident.
 
What sets The Accountant apart is the story as it is one that would be a very typical popcorn blockbuster, but it's a lot more intelligent than that as it does focus a lot on Wolff as a character, not just because he has autism but a biproduct of his autistic traits leading to him being such a reserved and different character when interacting with others, but also just seeing him work with numbers so easily just leaves you in such utter admiration of Wolff. That making him a character that you do gravitate towards, despite the fact he is so softly spoken and has such few words to say.
 
Just for the sake of this, I am going to talk about two Matt Damon characters since both Damon and Affleck have been associated with each other since near the start of their careers. We have seen many Will Hunting characters on screen, those who are very great with numbers and they earn your respect from their intellect, and then we see many Jason Bourne characters who are a lot more physical and in that sense, you are in awe of their ability to fight. Christian Wolff is a rare combination of both, I don't think I have seen a character who combines both of these.
 
As for the film itself, there is something about The Accountant and another amazing film I love, Hanna - directed by Joe Wright and starring Saoirse Ronan as the titular character - is that it elicits some kind of feel to it that it was adapted from a novel. I appreciate the very low key and in the pocket, personal type of stories with lower stakes and very intricate telling of the plot, lore and characters, that's why I loved The Martian so much. This film does scream something like Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels but like Hanna amazingly, it's an original script. I would not be surprised at all if The Accountant was nominated for best original screenplay.
 
I am not going into the details of the plot because I think all of you should go see the film and I don't want to spoil it. There are a few little references that I want to talk about, because there are more than a few links to Batman and I'll just mention them now because I think they're all really cool pieces of trivia. Of course we know that Ben Affleck portrays Batman, being the current caped crusader in the DC movie universe alongside Superman and Wonder Woman.
 
Other interesting links though, we have J.K. Simmons as a treasury agent in The Accountant, and it was confirmed earlier this year that Simmons would hop back on the superhero movie train by portraying Commissioner James Gordon alongside Ben Affleck's Batman. There's also the nursery rhyme Solomon Grundy that Wolff sings to himself quite frequently in this movie, and if you're a very big fan of Batman and the lore surrounding it, you'll know that there is a villain character called Solomon Grundy.
 
There's even a shot in this film where Anna Kendrick's character is looking through a chest of drawers and finds some old school Action Comics books, which is what DC Comics used to be named back in the day. Oh and whilst not actual fact, a lot of people want to see Anna Kendrick be cast as Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Jim Gordon and also Batgirl. I personally do love Anna Kendrick but I've always wanted Molly C. Quinn to be cast as Barbara Gordon, though I would not complain one bit if Anna Kendrick was indeed cast.
 
Putting aside all the probably unintentional Batman links, The Accountant thrives as a movie on its own but I want to see more. This film has been compared to the likes of John Wick in terms of action, whilst I haven't seen John Wick (I know I should), I believe I am right in saying that it is very action heavy and has a simple plot, which by the way isn't a criticism.
 
The Accountant does end with a possibility for a sequel, and the director Gavin O'Connor (Who also directed the incredible Warrior with Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton and Nick Nolte) has said that his plans for a sequel will involve Wolff helping out some children who are involved in child slavery, or something along those lines. I say this needs to happen.
 
Of course again, I have bias but we see so many films based around an autistic character or a genius with any kind of something that holds them back socially. We see them develop through the story and we are fascinated by them, but most of these stories are just standalone stories, but The Accountant has so much interesting lore surrounding it that we need to see more of it.
 
That being said, if this does become a franchise then there will be a lot of duties for Ben Affleck, who is also handling the standalone Batman films as a writer and director as well as obviously starring as the character. He'll also have the occasional movie he will want to do as well, he will be certainly busy if he continues as Bruce Wayne and Christian Wolff.
 
Actually can we just take a moment to talk about Ben Affleck? He was a joke in Hollywood for so long; J.Lo's boyfriend and paparazzi frequent, with Razzie awards for piles of shit like Gigli to now being acclaimed as one of the best directors working today, with an Academy Award to his name for Argo as a director, and proving people wrong when he was cast as Batman by completely owning the role and has set himself up for further greatness. Whilst it isn't such a rise from a fall like what Robert Downey, Jr. experienced, it is great to see Affleck honestly solidify himself as a great from what he used to be seen as by everyone.
 
As someone who is a film fan, this was an incredible movie that I plan on watching many more times. Also, as someone with autism, I don't think I'd plan on writing off to Marvel and have them create an autistic superhero (As cool that would be), but having an assassin and mathematician in a grounded and real world that you can believe, The Accountant is - and forgive me for the Batman quote - the hero autistic people need, and deserves. You know normally, when I am talking to my friends online I sometimes take the piss out of that quote and I'm like, "I am the hero this city... has".
 
So this is my rather deluded plea to Gavin O'Connor, please make a sequel. I know Warner Bros will be happy to see that already this movie has reportedly already made $130 million already worldwide on a budget of $44 million even with its R-Rating, having made 60% of its Box Office in the US, so that would be incentive enough for a sequel to be green lit.
 
Because in this world where the Jack Reacher films are a bit naff, John Wick is amazing with its hard hitting action heavy ways among an array of others, having a franchise with such rich possibilities could lead to some incredible films. Talking earlier about how it felt like it was an adaptation from a novel, I would buy a novelisation of this in a heartbeat despite the fact I know the story. It lends itself so well to a novel, I'd love to see novels of this character either the same as the movie just before the movie version is released or maybe even break off into standalone stories that the films could cherry pick from in the future.
 
I know I've spoken a bit about my intentions to write novels, I could not trust myself with something like this without worrying too much that it wouldn't be any good. I'd trust a much more celebrated and even acknowledged author to write The Accountant novels.
 
In conclusion, I cannot sing enough high praise about The Accountant. I hope you do consider seeing it, and just to put into perspective about how great I consider this film, the only other two favourite films of mine this year (As far as 2016 releases go), Eddie The Eagle and Captain America: Civil War.
 
Alright! That will be it from me today. If you're an avid viewer (First off, why? I'm shit), you'll know what is coming up next, me shamelessly plugging my Twitter or giving you a method to continue tracking my blog. I should copy and paste the last parts of my posts since they're always the same. So my Twitter is @TheLucaFormat, follow me if you think seeing links to my Instagram is worthy of a place on your feed, and if you're on desktop then type in your email into 'Follow By Email'. Or, be a slimy bastard and type in someone's email and they'll start to get my posts randomly.
 
Don't actually do that last part please, I couldn't live with myself! I don't even know if that shit is possible.
 
So with all that being said, thank you so much for reading I truly appreciate it. Hope to see you back here soon, so until we meet again.
 
Luca.

Wednesday 2 November 2016

Corresponding with car makers

Image courtesy of myself
Hello you. The name is Luca, but you can call me Luca and today, I wanted to talk about my efforts in the past to send letters to car companies. Not to perhaps flaunt off "HOW BRILLIANT I AM", more because I'm happy that I have suggested the concept and it may be considered.

I started writing off to car companies when I was still in primary school, and it was after I had seen a Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG that had been fitted with the 5.4-litre supercharged V8 from a Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR, and it had managed to beat a Ferrari Enzo in a drag race. I saw that and thought to myself, "The SLK55 pretty much already uses a detuned and non-supercharged version of the SLR's engine, surely it wouldn't be difficult to mass-produce that", or whatever I would say at the time with my limited vocabulary since I was barely 10 years old.

So I wrote off to Merc and they sent back a letter thanking me for my enthusiasm along with a 1:43 scale model of a McMerc SLR, and it was wonderful to know they at least acknowledged me. They never got round to making the car which in hindsight, I can understand because at the time of course, I had no concept of a best thing overall. Think about it, why would anyone buy an SLR when they can get an SLK which is much faster and most likely a fraction of the price?

Either way, it solidified a confidence in me and now we lead onto the story of how I got the image you're seeing up above. This one is a rather detailed story so here it goes; at some point back in probably 2007-08, we went to Bruntingthorpe where Fifth Gear used to film and I was driven around in a stripped out Ferrari F355, an Ariel Atom and funnily enough, an SLR that had been repossessed from a footballer.

It was an amazing experience there. I reached 155 miles per hour in the Ferrari, I was unable to get a helmet on for our drive in the Atom so I asked that we didn't go so quick so we went about 40 (Laugh at me all you want) and in the SLR, we reached 165 miles per hour, but not before I surprised the guy who drove me in the SLR by flicking up the switch on the gear lever and starting the engine. Not only that but I met someone, who was introduced to me as the next Lewis Hamilton, and whilst I don't unfortunately remember that much about him back then, my mum remembered him, he went on to become an F1 driver by making his debut at the British Grand Prix in 2011 (Which was only my second visit to a Grand Prix after the previous year's British GP) and now drives for Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo.

The reason all of this feeds into this story, my mum fell in love with a Jaguar XJ220 that was being held there. I never really liked the XJ220 because when Jaguar were making it, they were promising big things with it when Jaguar announced they were making it. These included a 6.2-litre V12 powertrain, an all-wheel drive layout with scissor doors (Which open upwards), however the actual car had rear-wheel drive, regular opening doors but worst of all, the same 3.5-litre twin turbocharged V6 powertrain from a Austin Metro rally version.

That last bit was the main thing that bugged me, I don't really like V6 engines for big supercars but overall, the XJ220 was an ambitious project by Jaguar and my 9 years old nearly 10 self wanted 'redemption', even though really the world was not asking for it. So I wrote off to Jaguar and I remember the things I asked.

Because I did not know anything about variables and assumed all cars could be made with the best of everything, I asked for preposterous things like giving the 'New XJ220' things like racing suspension, a massive racing splitter on the front and semi-slick tyres. This being along with a V12 engine, an all-wheel drive system and scissor doors, and so many other huge details that whilst some were possible, others were not and whilst none of them were 'Machine guns', they were not things that would have been within Jaguar's grasp at the time or indeed now. Bare in mind, Jaguar were in the middle of a deep financial crisis and it was before their sale from Ford to the Indian car company Tata.

Nevertheless, if you didn't recognise the signature on the image that I have displayed above, it is that of Jaguar design director, Ian Callum. He is responsible for the design of such incredible cars as the Ford RS200, Ford Escort Cosworth, Aston Martin DB7, Nissan R390, Aston Martin Vanquish, Aston Martin DB9, and Jaguar's most incredible looking modern cars; the XK, XF, XJ, the F-Type and the C-X75 concept car that I do wish was put into production. Just a side note, the C-X75 was the car that Dave Bautista's character in the most recent Bond film used to chase Bond.

So in Callum's first letter to me which also included that design, he thanked me for the ideas and did tell me that it was in Jaguar's plan to do something of the sort in the future. This being in the months before Jaguar announced that their top line models would start using a brand new 5.0-litre V8 as appose to their 4.2-litre V8 that they had used in so many models the proceeding years.

Being the now 11-year old over-enthusiastic kid that I was, I reckon I became the thorn in Ian Callum's side because I sent back so many ideas that were so unrealistic and if I was him, I would have probably been annoyed as well. Back in that period, following my reply from Ian Callum, I saw a magazine from Auto Express with this image on it. By the way, this image isn't the actual car.

Image courtesy of www.autoexpress.co.uk
I was obviously delighted, thinking that this will get made and it was going to have all the things I had suggested to Ian Callum, but I read it and was like "NO! They're not going to give it a V12!" and instead it was going to have the same 5.0-litre Supercharged V8 powertrain that was going to be in their XK-R and XF-R. Now 11-year old me was gutted because the whole point of putting this together was to redeem what the XJ220 promised and never delivered.
 
Fast forward though to 2014, I've had many years to become a reasonable (ish) human being. I started thinking about the possibilities and I wrote back to Ian Callum, apologising for being a hyperactive child who couldn't see past what I could conjure. I then requested that as soon as Jaguar planned to make a mid-engine sports car that could compete with the likes of the Ferrari 458 Italia, the McLaren MP4-12C and Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 (Which now would be the Ferrari 488 GTB, the McLaren 650S and the Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4), to let me know so I could give them some grounded and realistic aims.
 
Mr. Callum was kind enough to respond and he told me that Jaguar were busy with making the F-Pace SUV (Which will be featured in next June's Kingsman sequel!) and they had no immediate plans to make a mid-engine sports car. But very soon, who knows? All I know is, when they do, I have ideas for it that aren't over the top.
 
This car doesn't have a name as of now so let's just call it - since Jaguar like referring to all their concepts with names like this - the X56 since my favourite number is 56. The X56 would have the same 5.0-litre Supercharged V8 that Jaguar are using in all their top line vehicles, but this one would have more in common with the one used in the top of the range F-Type SVR which churns out 575 horsepower @ 6,500 revolutions per minute. Who knows? Maybe when the X56 rolls around, Jaguar will
 
The X56 would also utilise the same 8-Speed ZF Automatic transmission with paddle-shifters offering manual override and it would also have the same all-wheel drive system as seen on the F-Type SVR. Yes this is a wish list but it is a lot better for Jaguar than what I was asking years ago, a V12 with racing tyres etc. I could request for scissor doors on the X56, but it would not be a necessity.
 
I'd love to see this. Mainly because the Jaguar cars nowadays are so incredible with pretty much everything, and the X56 could be a worthy rival to the equivalents at Ferrari, McLaren, Lamborghini and mainly the Audi R8. For me - despite my biases - the X56 despite it being so down on speed to the Ferrari, McLaren and Lambo, would have the advantage of having a Jaguar interior, which in recent years has been the best thing about Jags among many great things.

The main thing about the X56 concept here, there will not be alternative engine models. You won't see one of these with a diesel powered V6 engine, just the F-Type SVR's 575 horsepower 5.0-litre supercharged V8 powertrain, but maybe possibly after seeing the C-X16 model's 92 horsepower electric motor, Jaguar could implement that alongside the X56's V8 to make it a hybrid in the same way the new Honda NSX, the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder all are as well.

Hopefully Jaguar think about creating the X56 concept for real, not with that name as I just made that up for a concept name. Competing with the likes of the Ferrari 488 GTB, McLaren 650S, Lamborghini Huracán, Audi R8 etc., which would mean a price range north of £150,000 for a hard top and £160,000 for a foldaway roof model, at least I am estimating. There's a world of difference between estimation and reality.

Now I want to move swiftly onto the most recent correspondence I had with a car maker. If any of you remember my article on my personal favourite cars in GTA Online, I ranked the Enus Windsor Drop as one of my favourites and said that I would love to see an equivalent to it created in real life.

Image courtesy of myself
After I wrote that, I decided to write off to Rolls Royce requesting that they do create a four door Drophead model. I even sent them a birds eye view design, and even asked if they would start using the 9.0-litre V16 powertrain that was made popular in Johnny English Reborn.

I got a letter back from the front of house manager and he told me that he had handed my proposal over to the designers, and told me that the cars in their range would do just fine with the V12 6.75-litre engine that has been long used since the Phantom was introduced. I can live with that, but asked that should this four door drophead make production, that they at the very least let me have someone drive me and my mum whilst we are in the back. That would be all, even though my friend Ahmed insists I should request to have a model for myself for no money at all.

Though I have proposed a name for the four door drophead model. Initially in my first letter, my friend Ahmed said that the last known four door convertible in the Rolls Royce family tree was the Silver Cloud so I suggested they resurrect that heritage name, but when writing back, I proposed either resurrect the Corniche name or have an entirely new name, and that would be the Maketh.

From the William Harmon quote which was made popular by Kingsman: The Secret Service, 'Manners Maketh Man'.

But that's all I can think to tell you. There's no overall message here, it's just something I would like to tell you guys and I hope the Jaguar X56 concept and the Rolls Royce Maketh make production very soon and that some lucky souls get to enjoy them. Mostly oil billionaires in the Middle East or Simon Cowell, but nevertheless as long as they're out there and people see them as great cars. As far as me getting to drive them, I'll just wait until the next Gran Turismo game.

Alright! That is it from me. If you guys liked what you had to read here and want to stick around for more, look to the top right if you're on a desktop version of this site and there will be a 'Follow By Email' option. Type your email into that, and you will be sent all my future articles directly to you. You can also follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat and I'll be tweeting out every time when I have posted something new.

So until we meet again.
Luca.


Thursday 27 October 2016

Driving for the dream

Image courtesy of www.usgamer.net
Hello you. The name is Luca but you can call me Luca, and recently, life has been on the up for me. If you harken back to a blog post about change that was coming in my life, you'll remember me talking about how so much change was happening and it was overwhelming me. For the few of you who care to know about it, feel free to read on.

I think I am getting a job in a library starting next week, which I have been looking forward to because it'll give me a chance to follow some kind of time structure and order, which I have been needing in my life. I also recently applied for and obtained a Cineworld Unlimited membership so alongside my bus pass, I can now go to and from the nearest Cineworld without it really costing me a penny. I am really looking forward to exercising that since I got my Cineworld Unlimited card today (Well, a couple of days ago now since I started writing this the other day).

Recently, I also started seeing a professional regarding the issues that I have been having. Namely, believing my life is relatively aimless and because I am not going to university, that I am heading nowhere and won't achieve something. It is very beneficial to me so I'm grateful that I can speak about all of the shit that has been bothering me. This isn't an excuse as to why I haven't been making articles regularly, but I do have some promising things in the works right now that I will be showing soon, but onto today's article.

Now what I want to talk about is a dream I have had. Aside from wanting to make a movie adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time with Taron Egerton as the main character and an array of other things, this one concerns competitive racing in an online setting, and like most of my dreams, it does originate from somewhere quite close to me.

I have always been a racer at heart, but if you want to be a racing driver then you have to have a shit tonne of money and be to a very particular extent, very physically fit. I don't have either of those going for me, my family do have an amazing income but that's for the house and a balance of things that keep everyone in the household happy, and as for physicality, I'm a tad tubby and I enjoy KFC too much in order to give it up, I really can't say much else.

For so long, I would live out my racing passion in the form of driving on my PlayStation console. It wasn't until Christmas of 2010 I believe when my parents bought me a PS3 steering wheel, and I held it on a small tea table with my knees holding it underneath whilst laid back on my very low down gaming chair. Much later on, I obtained a proper frame and I've had some amazing memories of driving and racing on mainly Gran Turismo 5 and 6.

However that screeched to a halt around November/December 2014 when I had just got my PlayStation 4 as an early birthday present, and I went back to my PS3 knowing fine well that I'd be able to change between my PS3 and PS4 dependent on if I wanted to play GTA or Gran Turismo, but for some reason my PS3 would not load up Gran Turismo 6. I panicked and tried to find a way but I gave up when it wouldn't do anything, and it kind of broke my heart.

What prompted me to write this also, a car became available on Gran Turismo 6 that I never got the chance to drive, it being the SRT Tomahawk X which can do north of 500 miles per hour and has taken the mantle of quickest and most 'OP' car in the game from the Red Bull X-cars. Seeing a video of that on YouTube, along with the incredibly soulful and exciting music, and memories of my friends who originated from Gran Turismo with the most incredible races, it does put me in a reflective mood and I just wish I could race like that again with my wheel.

Luckily, Gran Turismo Sport is around the corner and that is being released for the PlayStation 4, and my parents have promised me that they will be buying me a PS4 steering wheel so not only can I play GT Sport with it, but also the likes of F1 2016, Assetto Corsa and Project CARS. However I have ideas that I would like to see executed with Gran Turismo Sport, but for that I will have to provide a little bit of background.

You're probably asking "Why is it called Gran Turismo Sport? After Luca just said GT5 and GT6, would it not be GT7?" and to that, I don't blame you for thinking that. The reason why, the international racing regulatory body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile or FIA - who are responsible for Formula One, the World Endurance Championship, Formula E, World Touring Cars, World Rally etc. - recently certified the Gran Turismo franchise with the same highly prestigious licence for their main racing championships.

This means that Gran Turismo Sport will keep track of the progress of players and allow them to be recognised by the FIA, and put them into consideration for selection in the FIA Online World Championship. This is where my idea comes in.

The creators of Gran Turismo in partnership with Nissan and PlayStation are also responsible for GT Academy, where gamers from around the world would participate for a chance of becoming a racing driver for real and it has churned out some incredible talent. The inaugural winner Lucas Ordóñez finished 2nd in class at Le Mans in his first outing, the first British winner Jann Mardenborough went on to race in single seaters and won the All-Japan F3 championship this year.

My point is, Gran Turismo is the definitive driving simulator and now that the FIA are backing this proven pioneering game franchise, it's the perfect transition into making competitive online racing not just a pipe dream, but an actuality. What I mean is, I am sure if you turn on Motors TV or if you occasionally watch a few Formula E specials on BT Sport, you will see such a thing.

On Motors TV, you will occasionally find professional gaming championships like iRacing and TORA, and there was even some serious consideration for the most recent Formula E season to have a video game based round to fill the vacated Moscow ePrix. Whilst that last bit was preposterous, to an extent, this highlights something that plagues modern motorsport.

There are countless examples of drivers who have had to give up racing professionally because of money and sponsorship draining, and because so many drivers can't continue racing, we have a shit tonne of crap drivers who make it to top line level racing that only have their government's funds from their country's oil industry powering them.

The money is needed to help the teams fund the repairs, the costs to travel and so many talented drivers have had to give it up and it is such a shame. But because a racing championship based entirely on a video game will require a lot less money since you won't have to repair the cars, or ship the vehicles from country to country. Plus with the FIA behind this, it would certainly attract a lot of attention, and since we have entered the era of eSports becoming popular, this is a perfect time to do so.

Football club West Ham recently signed 24-year old Sean 'Dragonn' Allen and in doing so, became the first FC to sign an eSports player, Allen was the vice-champion in the 2016 FIFA Interactive World Cup. You also have 'athletes' who play in tournaments on games such as League Of Legends, Dota 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

This is too much of a great opportunity for the motorsport world to miss out on. We could have incredibly competitive and highly contested races in many championships held on Gran Turismo, we could have incredibly well set up events with every entrant into a race based at gaming or motoring events, we could have live commentary and direct feed from the race on both any particular sports TV channel like BT and also a live stream on Twitch, YouTube you name it!

I got this idea when I saw a live stream by Rockstar on Twitch when the Last Team Standing update on GTA Online was released back in October 2014, when they pitched Lui Calibre, Mini Ladd, Daithi De Nogla and MissesMae against KSI and three other Sidemen in an LTS playlist. But along with the competitive gameplay, they were publicising the new outfits, weapons and the vehicles like the Lampadati Furore GT, the LCC Innovation and the Shitzu Hakuchou as well as the update to the content creator to create custom LTS maps.

Apply the same here, Polyphony and whoever else involved can use this to promote their product and with the 'athletes' that will spawn from this, sponsors will see this as a dream with all the possible demographics that this will reach out towards. Infact having spoken briefly about those YouTubers who were asked to be in Rockstar's livestream, you have so many big names on YouTube who could get involved, like I have said already there could be a shit tonne of actual drivers get involved, and pure gamers who see a chance to get into competitive racing, the possibilities are endless!

There is so much potential with this. Just thinking about it, if it was possible then we could have dedicated servers that could hold up to 64 entrants like on the Battlefield games. Which is incredible to consider when that Le Mans in recent years has had only shy of 60 entries, so there are such amazing possibilities with whatever racing we could have.

I'll stop waxing lyrical about all of this now and get to my point, I would like a hand in making all of this happen and when it does happen, I'd love to become a driver. I can see so much great stuff in this, and if I could become a driver for let's say, Fortec Motorsport - who compete in Formula 3 and Formula Renault - and that could lead us to competing at events like PAX or E3, or even Autosport International.

I will end it here but if anyone out there has any power, get me in a room with the people behind the FIA and Gran Turismo and hopefully, us racers at heart can race our heart out.

Alright! Hope you all have enjoyed what I have had to say here. If you like what you've seen and you want to see more, then if you see 'Follow By Email' in the top right, enter your email in there and all my next posts will be sent straight to you. Also, you can follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat and I'll always tweet out when my next post is live.

So that will be all for today, hope you're here again soon and until we meet again.
Luca.