Our colleague Noah will surely be saddened by this news and might want to avert his eyes now. An alert AutoblogGreen reader tipped off ABG the other night to some videos on YouTube of a Tesla Roadster street racing with a Ferrari F430, '63 Corvette, Mercedes-Benz SLR and a bike. After checking with Tesla, it turned that it was shot on a closed course while Microsoft was filming a commercial for the upcoming Project Gotham Racing 4 which will be featuring all those vehicles.
A visit to the YouTube account shows there are two more clips of the Ferrari alone. In these, the F430 drifts a bit too wide out of the corner and taps the concrete barrier with the left front corner. Fortunately, it didn't hit very hard and it doesn't appear much damage was done, although it will undoubtedly still be a very expensive day. Slabs of concrete are so much less forgiving than gravel pits! According to Tesla VP Darryl Siry, the finished commercial should appear on the old fashioned tube in mid-August with the game to follow from Microsoft in September. The Ferrari videos are after the jump and the rest showing all the cars are over at ABG.
[Source: AutoblogGreen]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
kramerica5000 @ Jul 20th 2007 1:33PM
I wonder what level of damage simulation they were using :-p
golferal @ Jul 20th 2007 1:41PM
Oweeeees!
Mike @ Jul 20th 2007 1:58PM
Yeah I would have turned the car damage option off before attempting that one. :-P
Looks like Microsoft will be cutting the owner of that car a rather substantial check in the near future. I don't think insurance covers intentional stunt driving!
Mike Jenkins @ Jul 20th 2007 2:00PM
So in other words they're making a commercial about how most of us drive in video games.
Logik @ Jul 20th 2007 2:09PM
Doesn't look like a lot of damage, maybe just a 5k bumper from Ferrari.
Alex @ Jul 20th 2007 2:14PM
They are using it to verify the damage simulation for the game .. haha
All American Dude XX @ Jul 20th 2007 2:32PM
was eddie griffin driving.....zzzziiiing!!!
icu812ru469 @ Jul 20th 2007 2:51PM
Unda cova brotha on the prowl again !!!! Is it me, or are Ferrari's crappy cars? I understand pushing a Taurus too far and a driver just trying to do too much with it, but a Ferrari is a "high performance" vehicle so shouldn't it be able to be PUSHED a little bit. I can't believe that all these people wrecking these Ferraris are driving them beyond a reasonable level, so the design of the vehicles must be flawed somewhere (tires perhaps?).
saimin @ Jul 20th 2007 3:11PM
I'd be a little more quick to blame the driver rather than the car. It's a power oversteer and once the driver realizes he's too deep in the turn he lets off the throttle (maybe an accidental shift?). The expensive meats in the back gain traction and put the car straight. Driver barely has time to brake.
I'd never thought I'd hear a Ferrari called "crappy." Too much Kill Bill influence...
Stone @ Jul 20th 2007 3:39PM
>>are Ferrari's crappy cars
Um no. Take it from someone who's driven one. A Ferrari is not a crappy car. If you spin in a Ferrari you're probably just a crappy driver. Most people need hours of training before you even set foot in one because it has an engine that has 4 times more power and torque than your mom's Taurus.
GeoTracker @ Jul 20th 2007 3:41PM
I'm sure that the driver is never at fault for any accident. According to icu, it's always the car.
Oh the ABS didn't work, the traction control will save me, the stabilty control will stop the spin, I just have to sit in the car and it'll save me cause I have air bags.
The driver has the final say on how a car moves, if they are in over their heads then they will be toast regardless if it's a Yugo or a Ferrari.
icu. please tear up your license and walk.
Lithous @ Jul 20th 2007 6:09PM
Saimin, no self-respecting stunt driver with a Ferrari shifts in the middle of a turn by mistake. Only inexperienced GT500 drivers.
saimin @ Jul 20th 2007 9:23PM
@ Lithous
Ouch! Wonder how many ppl get that one =P
I gotta add though, no self-respecting stunt driver should give a concrete barrier a love tap with an F430 =)
hardyharhar @ Jul 21st 2007 10:56AM
>> are ferraris crappy cars?
are you a crappy commenter?
Pez @ Jul 20th 2007 3:37PM
The guy at the end of the first clips saying "I got it" sounds like freaking Kip Dynamite...
Eric @ Jul 20th 2007 6:31PM
Funny, I had the exact reaction.
Jeff @ Jul 20th 2007 5:21PM
How'd you know my mom drives a Taurus?
I do this all the time in PGR, what's the big deal?
Mike Joooones @ Jul 21st 2007 10:13AM
Corners, something Americans just can't do :)
LedFoot @ Jul 21st 2007 2:00PM
Well, since it's a right hand corner, you're half right....
But seriously, there are literally hundreds of excellent American road racers. Unfortunately there are thousands of half-assed "drifters". Apparently someone in control of an F430 mistook one of the latter for the former.
Although to be perfectly fair, even the best of the pros screw up once in a while. Just usually not on camera, in a street car, while showing off.
MrManhattan @ Jul 21st 2007 10:43AM
Does MS charge players the $8.00 congestion fee before the game will start?
In all seriousness, a game about racing automobiles in Manhattan? Thats sick.