The 2018 919 Tribute Tour set records at Spa-Francorchamps and the Nürburgring. The crowds at the Goodwood Festival of Speed saw it run up the famed hill climb course. It ventured across the ocean to thrill Porsche fans at Rennsport Reunion VI, where it came within two seconds of the WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway track record. Now it's back in Germany where it will enjoy a cozy life as a resident of the Porsche Museum. That doesn't mean it will sit still, though. The Museum exercises its cars regularly and brings them out to vintage racing events.
Like when, in the space of one short hour, you're kicked from a run up Goodwood's hill climb behind the sumptuous leather steering wheel of a Renault Alpine A110 to a kart race that nimbly winds around Silverstone's infield, and then on to the surface of the moon where you crest St. George's crater and head towards Hadley Rille in a fittingly floaty lunar rover.
It's Brands Hatch that's the star for me, and not just because it's the one track featured I know intimately in real life. The slopes and inclines of the narrow circuit are the perfect showcase for Gran Turismo 6's new handling model; at the foot of Paddock Hill Bend you can feel the suspension load and compress before you make the ascent to Druids hairpin, and the downhill run to Graham Hill Bend provides a master-class in how to settle an unhappy car. Out into the Kent woods, the crests and cambers of Hawthorn, Westfield and Dingle Dell - a trilogy of right-handers that are best approached as one clean swoop - inspire balletic efforts conducted through springs, dampers and deft pedal-work. It's exquisite stuff.
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