GRID2 will officially release two weeks from now and the team at Codemasters is making sure they give players plenty of reasons to drool over it.  The latest trailer reveals that several locations in Asia and the middle-east including Yas Marina circuit and various togue passes in Japan will be in GRID2.  We also get confirmation of drifting as well.  Hopefully the drifting will be more than an “add on” to the rest of the game.  See it all for yourself in the new video below.

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Recently, I celebrated my 31st birthday and during that time I reflected on my early childhood and I realized that as an 80s kid I had it good from a pop-culture stand point.  The economy was great, Rocky was kicking everyone’s ass, Teddy Ruxpin was an animatronic bear that read stories to you rather than a hipster DJ, and the cartoons were awesome, especially if you were into cars.  It might even be said that the 80s was the decade of the car-themed cartoon.

There was Transformers, its well meaning knock-off GoBots, Vehicle Voltron, Pole Position, and more.  However one of the biggest of the “car-toons” was M.A.S.K. a show about an underground force called “Mobile Armored Strike Kommand” that used special armored vehicles to fight the evil V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem) syndicate.

The show had everything: cool cars, a random white kid, a goofy robot for comic relief that doubled as the white kid’s scooter, an old man who flew an attack helicopter, and an epic intro song.

The good guys always won, the bad guys were always thwarted, and every episode ended with some type of valuable life lesson like “always wear safety goggles when using tools”.  Unfortunately kids today don’t have it as good as I did but luckily YouTube exists and I can at least temporarily take you back to 1985 with the awesome M.A.S.K. intro below.  If you know the words sing along!

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What results when film geniuses Clash Productions are combined with a snow camo’d Nissan GT-R, a ski slope, and snowmobile chase cameras? Two and a half minutes of AWESOME that is as pure as…well the driven snow (I make no pun apologies!).

This is one of those occasions in which a “where” and especially a “why” are completely unnecessary.  All that you need to know is that a crew out in Sweeden dubbed “Team Ice Ricers” decided to answer the question: “can a GT-R climb a ski slope?” 

The answer is below!

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This year marks the 15th anniversary of Gran Turismo.  Yes, it really has been 15 years since the first time some of us put that sweet disc in our Playstation console and got whisked away to a land where we could have any car we wanted, even cars we’ve never seen before.  It is also confirmation that those of us who remember the very first game really are that damn old.  Christ…

Anyway, to celebrate the anniversary Sony has announced a special event will take place at Silverstone circuit in the UK on May 15th at which, plans for the franchises future will be revealed.  By the location (Silverstone) I am also thinking that a few tidbits about the next GT Academy competition will be made public as well.

I am hoping GT6 will in fact be announced, and that it won’t take 6 years to make.  After all the time we waited for Gran Turismo 5, plus the awesome-ness coming from Drive Club, Gran Turismo better come soon and come correct!  If you want to do some speculating on your own watch the announcement to the announcement video below.

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[Source: YouTube via Jalopnik]

As the Indy Car series left one street circuit (Long Beach) they arrived at another in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Arriving on the home turf of several Indy Car drivers the stakes were high but it was an American who took first blood as Ryan Hunter-Reay managed to capture the pole position.  However, race day was a different story…

SPOILER ALERT BELOW!!!

Ryan hung on to the lead for as long as he could and it became that much harder when Tony Kanaan caught his second wind and hounded the 2012 champion mercilessly.  The two drivers traded the lead back and fourth several times, each time Tony would take the lead the crowd roared.  However, the hometown celebration was short lived when TK’s engine gave out on him.  Ryan lost the lead when the younger drivers came gunning after him from the mid pack.

In the end it was James “Hinchtown” Hincliffe who pulled off a beautiful last lap move on Takuma Sato to take the win.  Marco Andretti rounded out the podium with a third place finish (which also now puts him second in the points behind Sato).  All the race highlights are below and trust me when I say it definitely worth your time to watch!

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Like many drivers, when I am going to a place I have never been before I rely on a GPS to make sure I don’t get lost.  Most of the time it works out just fine.  However, my GPS is pretty old so sometimes it likes to play a game called “update the directions at the last possible freakin’ second” in which a left turn suddenly becomes a right turn and I completely pass where I am supposed to go or I do something stupid and try to make the next turn with less than 20 feet to do it in.  Let me tell you, in real life that is not fun!

Yet, it looks like the brains at Codemasters took a page from my old and busted GPS by turning that malfunction into a game mode for GRID2 called “LiveRoutes”.  How does it work?  Pretty much the same way my crappy GPS does only without the risk of getting lost or actual bodily harm.  Imagine racing through the streets of Paris at triple digit speeds but not knowing where to go next; relying on a GPS to tell you!  Still hard to picture?  Just watch the new trailer below to see it in practice.  It looks a lot more entertaining in a game than it is in real life!

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It may be a while before I could ever afford an Audi but I will be forever grateful to them for giving me a reason to express my Iron Man fanboy-dom all over this blog!  And with Iron Man 3 less than a week away I am in full nerd mode!  In today’s flimsy excuse I present a recently released video from Audi which takes the audience into Tony Stark’s famous workshop.  Not only is his workshop where most of his inventions, including the Iron Man suit itself was born but it also doubles as the garage for all of his rides, including his two Audi R8′s (5.2 V10 and eTron).  Take a look at all of his “cool stuff” (see what I did there?) below.

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If you are like me, you have probably spent a lot of time wondering what it is really like to sit in a formula one car.  All I really know of it is how it is described by commentators during a race.  From what I gathered it seemed like it is actually a pretty uncomfortable experience.  However, if you ask Lewis Hamilton, he will tell you the complete opposite.  In the video below where he explains the seating position in his Mercedes GP PETRONAS car he actually admits to nodding off occasionally while in the garage.  Check it out below.

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I know I am a little behind but hey I took on three days and three different motorsports all by myself!  It was rough, but fun.  By now you probably already know that Takuma Sato made history by winning the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach and becoming the first Japanese driver to win an Indy Car event as well as the first Japanese driver to win at Long Beach.  However, despite what he said in his post race interview, it did not come easy. 

Long Beach is known for being a dangerous narrow street course and the walls ate up plenty of drivers this year, including defending champion Ryan Hunter-Reay.  Sato was able to navigate his way through all of the random carnage unscathed and his team managed a top notch pit stop to keep their driver up front which allowed him to go on and get the victory.  Graham Rahal came second behind Sato and Justin Wilson got his first podium of the season with a third place finish.

If you want to see all the action for yourself check out the highlight reel below.  If you want to see the fruit of my three days of labor hit the red text for the full gallery on our facebook page.

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Last weekend as I fought for the best shots I could get at Formula Drift Long Beach I was at one point startled by a loud buzzing sound which seemed to come from overhead.  I looked up and I saw what I could only describe as a giant hovering robo-spider in the sky above me.  Then, to my surprise it followed the sliding cars below, hovering just 10 to 20 feet above them as they sped by.

It was startling and awesome all at the same time.  I continued to watch the machine work until it eventually swiftly returned back to the photo pit area and landed safely, waiting for the next run so it could take to the skies once again.  This thing was awesome.  It looked evil, sounded alien in nature, but had complete precision in its task.  Upon further inspection I could see that the drone was made almost completely from carbon fiber, even down to the props on each of the 8 electric copter engines.  The drone also utilized a Canon 5D Mark III housed in a cradle underneath.

I was so fascinated by it that I decided to find the “pilot” or “pilots” if you will to learn what they were up to.  Turns out the drone was owned and operated by Kyle Dorosz of Aerial Imagery Works based in Detroit, MI.  Kyle was hired by Formula Drift to get aerial shots of drift battles to use for their television show.  Kyle told me that he occasionally gets hired by parties such as this to film sporting events and the like. 

The particular drone that Kyle was using at Formula Drift actually requires a two man team.  Kyle himself pilots the drone while his associate uses a separate remote to control servos attached to the camera cradle to pan and tilt making sure the action is kept in frame.  The camera man is able to do this via a VR style headset which wirelessly picks up the video feed from the 5D.

In addition to filming for clients Kyle also builds the drones himself and makes them available for sale.  The drone on hand at Formula Drift has a price tag of $35,000.  Which sounds astronomical but the Canon 5D Mark III, video headset, two remotes, charger, and pilot training are all included in the price.  There are also smaller, lighter less expensive models available that utilize smaller cameras (GoPro, etc.). 

You would think his most common clients are from the Hollywood set but according to Kyle his most common customers are law enforcement agencies.  They use the drones for tactical purposes, such as surveying an area before sending in a S.W.A.T. team.

Kyle says the ceiling is technically 10,000 feet but due to FAA regulations, he usually has to keep the ceiling down to 400ft or so.  The battery will last about 10 minutes per flight before needing to be charged again.  The drone also has several safety features.  It can stay airborne even if three out of 8 engines fail and if the battery gets too low to sustain flight an on board computer takes over and uses an auto pilot paired with GPS to send the drone back to the exact point of its last take off.

Maybe we need to invest in one of these drones for MotorworldHype.  It would sure beat getting pelted with tire bits while choking on smoke! 

If you want to see the drone in action check out the short video piece I did below.

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