[03x11] February 26th, 2013

[03x11] February 26th, 2013


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Liked tanner driving the 12C, loved the challenge. but they should not waste every episode like this where car is reviewed for the last 2 min only.
 
i'm guessing that Scion was a lot more than $100k to make

but be that as it may, i found it to be fine popcorn entertainment

i know its a stitch up to get tanner to drive the McLaren and i'd rather they just say tanner is gonna drive it rather than come up with excuses why he won but it is what it is...
 
This formula is annoying. "Lets do a challenge to see who gets to drive this super car!" Eh. Look, we all know why Tanner does the speed stuff every time, he is the only pro driver there. I don't like his personality, but, no one can deny he has skill. If they just go with a format of "We're going to try this challenge, then, Tanner will drive crazy car X." I would probably enjoy it more. I hate the fake premise.
 
really enjoyed the episode, tgus is really good at this thing for the past few week
i just wish that race between mp4 and nascar were a bit more serious and real, it seems very staged to me
 
This episode was great, I enjoyed a lot, 9/10 to counterbalance the overscoring of the UK version. Yes, the thing about Tanner winning so he could do the race was a bit contrived, but I don't really mind. I'm glad they included Rutledge for the race against the Nascar stock car. The taxis were very entertaining, much better than any similar thing TGUK has done in the several past seasons. The biggest difference is that the US team isn't deliberately trying to fail.

And was that the real Robert De Niro?
 
This episode was great, I enjoyed a lot, 9/10 to counterbalance the overscoring of the UK version.

I definitely understand about you doing that. Done it myself a couple of times.

I'm glad they included Rutledge for the race against the Nascar stock car.

That's why I had a faint hope at first that Rut might actually win the challenge, just for the comeuppance and the "put your money where your mouth is" factor.

The taxis were very entertaining, much better than any similar thing TGUK has done in the several past seasons. The biggest difference is that the US team isn't deliberately trying to fail.

The one analogue they could have done again was another round of forensic testing at the end of the night. It'd be very interesting to see what was in the back of those "cabs". Remember, TGUK did it twice.

And was that the real Robert De Niro?

As much as it was the real Cher that May chauffeured.
 
Some things that's been annoying me and happened again in this ep: (Speaking just for me, please don't feel offended if you like these :3)

1)- They really, REALLY need to stop with the "car X races car Y" while both cars stay BEHIND the camera car "racing" at 40mph. I know I'm nitpicking but from what I've watched, between a Mclaren and a Nascar, the best car is an SUV with a camera strapped to it (Not saying this doesn't happen in TGUK. it does, and bothers just the same). Yes I am the boring person who points out "they're just going fifty!" while watching most car chases in movies.

2)- "The Need For Speed Most Wanted Start": Ever watched a real race, ANY race in which the cars start the race WHILE doing a burnout? No? That's because It's useless. You burn your tires BEFORE the race, but then you STOP, put the car back in 1st (2nd if you have enough torque, no matter if auto or manual shift), and... start! I thought they had stopped with this but apparently they haven't. You can put a billion horsepower in a car, if you begin to smoke your tires 5 seconds before the race starts "just because it looks badass HURR DURR" you'll have your ass handed to you by any car.

3)- Tanner is a racer. There's no excuse to not go absolutely FLAT OUT in a race track. Specially if apart from the camera SUV, the only other car in the circuit has also a racing driver in it (Unless the McLaren actually wiped the floor with the Nascar but American pride kept them from showing it. Wouldn't surprise me, I don't really think a Nascar is thaaaaaat good in a non-oval circuit)




These were the low points. On to the positive ones:

I'm really REALLY happy to see the guys truly having fun in the challenges, they look like college guys having a good time, and this is great! They ARE younger than the TGUK trio, and they know how to make a show with a feeling of youth to it, a certain "American Pie" craziness, but without resorting to toilet and penis jokes (glad they stopped with the "Rutledge will vomit" ones). Though I must confess I miss the "Rut lost his glasses" joke. He looks like Mr Magoo :D

The "popcorn", "Hollywood" aspects of the episode dropped the grade way low (to me), but the genuine fun, the laughs were so good, and that Scion was so mad that I can't give less than a 6. That's like a B minus! In my time this was a good grade :lol:


There! I criticized TGUS, TGUK, Nascar, Tanner, Need for Speed and American movies. On to the neg reps! Or not, since I'm cute as a button :angel: *grabs flame umbrella*
 
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I will admit that it's nice to see them enjoying themselves, and Nascar vs McLaren was a nice idea, but not very trustworthy. The format and the horrible taxi part ruined it completely.

5/10
 
They really, REALLY need to stop with the "car X races car Y" while both cars stay BEHIND the camera car "racing" at 40mph.*
Those are all pickup shots. TGUK does it all the time. Any show about cars does it as it is the only way to get those angles and make the film (race) more dynamic. That's the benefit of not having a live race. They run them multiple times and then edit it together. I see where you are coming from as it does pull you out of it if you actually start thinking "wait I should be seeing a camera car right now" but you just need to suspend reality for the sake of entertainment. You could tell Tanner was pushing the MP4 pretty hard on the road portion of the track whenever they were shooting from sidelines. So you can bet that he legitimately tried to beat the stock car.
 
3)- Tanner is a racer. There's no excuse to not go absolutely FLAT OUT in a race track. Specially if apart from the camera SUV, the only other car in the circuit has also a racing driver in it (Unless the McLaren actually wiped the floor with the Nascar but American pride kept them from showing it. Wouldn't surprise me, I don't really think a Nascar is thaaaaaat good in a non-oval circuit)

I'm fairly certain Tanner was going flatout except for the few times he slowed down for tracking shots (which may have been after the race like someone else said). If anything, it looked like the Nascar was intentionally going a bit slow. Watch towards the end of the race when theyre on the oval and the driver looks like he kept in low gear longer than he should've. As soon as he changed it rocketed ahead.

As for the Nascar not being good on a nonoval track, the setup is everything. If they had it setup properly then it would've/should've beaten the McLaren easily. I've driven a junior level stock car (~600HP instead of 900 but everything else is similar including weight), and they're not as bad on a traditional circuit as most people think. Really the only thing that holds them back is the weight and the brakes, but they put out an astronomical amount of torque and power, and they have quit a bit of downforce.
 
Watch towards the end of the race when theyre on the oval and the driver looks like he kept in low gear longer than he should've. As soon as he changed it rocketed ahead.

I think that's just another example of editing, like the tracking shots. I hate it in all car shows when they put cars head to head because you rarely get any idea about how the cars compare except for the final result where you have to assume that everything was equal and the actual footage wasn't a true representation. You see the footage constantly cutting between the cars 100 feet apart and inches apart within seconds and it just makes the whole thing off putting.

I'm also all for 'standard' comparisons but as far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong) Nascar runs slick tyres which would offer a massive advantage over the McLarens Pirelli P Zeros and that didn't really seem fair. I mean, in terms of a 'street car' vs 'race car' it makes sense but this seemed more like a specific 'this car' vs 'that car'.
 
Best episode they've done so far. Hilarious fun to watch.

As to the format, I'm glad they got rid of the painful and useless star segment. A few more reviews here and there wouldn't hurt, but the audience/star junk doesn't fit in the one hour commercial slot at all, and is rarely worth watching. The only one that didn't suck complete void was Patrick Warburton, and there are only so many guys like that to interview.

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On the Nascar segment, any stock car built within the last 15 years or so, even if set up for an oval, would rape and pillage the McLaren and any other street car made. A 200 lb weight advantage for the McLaren is not going to touch a 350+ horsepower advantage on a freakin' race car running slicks. The segment was made to be entertaining, and it was.

Anyone who thinks a stock car isn't fast on a road course needs to try driving one sometime. At Watkins Glen they're running lap times in the 1:12 range, which is a few seconds off that of a freakin' Daytona Prototype car. They're taking turn 2 at 125+ mph. That is very, very fast.
 
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I enjoy this format, but wish they would test more new cars.

Also the thing that annoyed me about the taxi challenge, I was recently in Vegas and most of the drop off destinations were essentially just across the road.
 
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