2003 Z4 Roadster..nice!!! on 2040-cars

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Project CARS vs reality at Laguna Seca shows amazing potential

Project CARS is aiming to be the next great racing sim. Offering a mix of modern and classic cars on famous tracks, developer Slightly Mad Studios is trying to inject a fresh energy into the genre, and at the moment its game looks ready to take on Forza and Gran Turismo.
The game is still about six months from release, and the graphics already look practically photorealistic. The video below shows side-by-side laps of Laguna Seca in a BMW - real life on the left and the game on the right. It's absolutely astounding. Other than some changes to the sponsorship around the track, they are almost identical.
Of course anyone with quality seat time in a racing sim knows that graphics are just one factor. How the game feels is even more important, and without getting hands on, it's impossible to judge yet. However, consider our interest piqued. Project CARS is scheduled to launch in November on the Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One, Nintendo WiiU, Windows PC and Steam OS. Scroll down to check out the video.

First BMW i8 in US to be auctioned off at Pebble Beach

Snag yourself a BMW i8 at the upcoming Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Weekend and you won't only be the first in the US to own this model, you'll be getting a one-of-a-kind version of BMW's new gas-electric plug-in marvel. The special i8 will come with a special exterior paint color (called Frozen Grey Metallic) as well as a modified Pure Impulse Tera World interior that has "Concours d'Elegance Edition" etched in and comes with "Dalbergia Brown leather upholstery, which is tanned using dye derived from plant extracts." Tell all your treehugger friends. The 2014 BMW i8 Concours d'Elegance Edition also has laser headlights (as long as BMW gets government approval for them in the US) and comes with the first BMW Charging Station, professional edition. The standard i8 starts at $135,700 and Gooding & Company expects the special i8 to bring in between $150,000 and $200,000 at the auction. We'll find out Saturday, August 16. As a bonus, there's no reserve. The Concours d'Elegance is not a complete stranger to electric vehicles, hosting an EV display at the Meadow Brook Concours in suburban Detroit last year. One-of-a-Kind BMW i8 Concours d'Elegance Edition to be Auctioned During Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Weekend 25.07.2014 BMW i8 Concours d'Elegance Edition to be sold at Pebble Beach Auctions presented by Gooding & Company with proceeds benefitting the Pebble Beach Company Foundation and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – July 25, 2014... In celebration of the US arrival of the BMW i8, the world's most innovative sports car, a one-of-a-kind 2014 BMW i8 Concours d'Elegance Edition will be auctioned during the weekend of the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, ahead of the official fall sale date. The i8 Concours d'Elegance Edition will be distinguished by a unique paint scheme and interior treatment as well as other features that will make it unlike any other BMW i8 in the world. The BMW i8 Concours d'Elegance Edition will be sold by Gooding & Company, the official auction house of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, during the annual Pebble Beach Auctions at Pebble Beach on Saturday, August 16. Proceeds of the sale will go to the Pebble Beach Company Foundation and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The 2014 BMW i8 Concours d'Elegance Edition will feature BMW Individual Frozen Grey Metallic exterior paint.

What would you drive in 1985?

Bereft of live baseball games to watch, I've turned to the good ship YouTube to watch classic games. While watching the 1985 American League Championship Series last night, several of the broadcast's commercials made its way into the original VHS recording, including those for cars. "Only 8.8% financing on a 1985 Ford Tempo!" What a deal! That got me thinking: what would I drive in 1985?  It sure wouldn't be a Tempo. Or an IROC-Z, for that matter, despite what my Photoshopped 1980s self would indicate in the picture above. I posed this question to my fellow Autobloggists. Only one could actually drive back then, I was only 2 and a few editors weren't even close to being born. Here are our choices, which were simply made with the edict of "Come on, man, be realistic."  West Coast Editor James Riswick: OK, I started this, I'll go first. I like coupes today, so I'm pretty sure I'd drive one back then. I definitely don't see myself driving some badge-engineered GM thing from 1985, and although a Honda Prelude has a certain appeal, I must admit that something European would likely be in order. A BMW maybe? No, I'm too much a contrarian for that. The answer is therefore a 1985 Saab 900 Turbo 3-Door, which is not only a coupe but a hatchback, too. If I could scrounge up enough Reagan-era bucks for the ultra-cool SPG model, that would be rad. The 900 Turbo pictured, which was for auction on Bring a Trailer a few years ago, came with plum-colored Bokhara Red, and you're damn sure I would've had me one of those. Nevermind 1985, I'd probably drive this thing today.   Associate Editor Byron Hurd: I'm going to go with the 1985.5 Ford Mustang SVO, AKA the turbocharged Fox Body that everybody remembers but nobody drives. The mid-year update to the SVO bumped the power up from 175 ponies (yeah, yeah) to 205, making it almost as powerful (on paper, anyway) as the V8-powered GT models offered in the same time frame. I chose this particular car because it's a bit of a time capsule and, simultaneously, a reminder that all things are cyclical. Here we are, 35 years later, and 2.3-liter turbocharged Mustangs are a thing again. Who would have guessed?