Ten things we learned this week

Earlier this week, Ford surprised the world when it rolled out the NAIAS showstopper: the new Ford GT. But minutes after the 600bhp Lamborghini-baiting supercar was unveiled, another announcement was made.

Taking the stage in Detroit was not a man from Ford, but from Turn 10 Studios ­- the people behind the Forza franchise. To the delight of gamers around the world, he told us Forza 6 is going ahead. But this time, the Blue Oval's new toy is going to grace the front cover as part of a new partnership between Ford and Forza.

See, the dividing line between gamers and car enthusiasts is becoming ever increasingly blurred.

Car manufacturers now fully appreciate the importance of getting its cars in games. Accurately recreating them in the digitalsphere helps raise awareness to gamers - who are potential buyers - to certain cars and brands. While also seeing what happens if they crash them into pixelated walls at 140mph, of course.

But Ford's tie-in with the game is mutually beneficial for the people making the game, too. A partnership like the one that's been struck gives the game developers an in to precious CAD and technical data which can push their simulations to become ever more realistic.

"The information we're getting from Ford thanks to early access to this project has forced us to push our simulation into places we haven't been before." Alan Hartman, Turn 10's chief, told TG.

"When we heard ‘Ford GT', that was enough to get us hooked. But it was after we heard what they were doing with the car that we knew it was the perfect cover star."

Details on the game are incredibly scant at the moment. Like the Ford GT, it's still in build and development, but expect to see lots of details at the E3 gaming expo in June.

Could this herald the return of The Stig's Digital Cousin? You'll just have to wait and see...

 
The Noble M600 is one of the last bastions of the hairy-chested analogue supercar mob. But now, Leicestershire’s supercar could have finally succumbed to market demands as the company’s ditched the roof and third pedal in one potentially money making swoop.
 
This prototype open-top M600 ‘Speedster’ was shown at the recent Autosport show. Because it utilises a carbonfibre-composite tub, ripping off the roof hasn’t affected the car’s structural rigidity, but that doesn’t mean the spiky car is going to be any less scary.
 
It’s still powered by the deranged 225mph-worthy, twin-turbo Volvo-sourced 4.4-litre V8, putting out a massive 650bhp through the rear wheels. But now instead of using the combination of a stick and your left leg to change gears, a six-speed single-clutch semi-automatic – not dual-clutch ­­– gearbox is being trialed.
 
The car is currently in development, but as soon as we can get behind the wheel, we will. Stay tuned, folks.

It's January. A time of hurried gym subscriptions in aide of personal ‘New Year, New Me' fitness campaigns. However, these are normally reserved for gluttonous, indulgent overeaters who regret that third helping of Christmas pud. But it turns out cars are getting in on the act, too.

This week we found this clip of a Buick Regal low-rider using all its might to skip around like Ali. You've got to love hydraulic suspension, don't ya?

As a Top Gear reader, we trust we can rely on a little assumed knowledge when it comes to Formula 1. Assumed knowledge along the lines of a) its politics are sometimes a little unusual and b) it can be a financially ruinous sport to partake in.

If you've ever doubted these things, or need a punchy reminder featuring some really big numbers, try these on for size. Mercedes - they of ginormous domination in 2014 - are being charged around $5million (around ￡3.3m) to enter 2015's F1 season.

That's almost double the fee Red Bull paid a year ago, and it's because Bernie's upped the prices. The flat rate to enter F1 is now around ￡340,000, while every team must pay for each point they scored in 2014. And while most teams pay around ￡3,300 per point, Mercedes, as champions, must pay ￡4,000. And they scored a lot of points.

Good job Merc's prize money for collecting the constructors' trophy was a reported ￡67million, then...

Some pretty weird stuff happened in 2014, but happily, less than three weeks into its successor, the weirdness continues. Allow us to point you towards this video, where we see British artist Ian Berry - aka Denimu - talk us through his artwork of gone-too-soon F1 hero Ayrton Senna. Nothing unusual about that, you might think.

The clue's in Berry's alter-ego, though. Forget your watercolours or epically comprehensive tins of coloured pencils, Berry uses the material you've probably got wrapped around your legs as you read this. Or in the case of his Senna portrait, materials from the jeans of the F1 icon's family.

Titter all you like about its quirkiness, though, as the picture is for a good cause. Once sold, its proceeds will go to Brazilian charities helping impoverished children.

It's such a rich vein of oddness, we could easily re-nose this feature as ‘Ten things we learned about NASCAR this week' and fill it without too much toil. Even when there's no actual racing.

Kurt Busch (pictured, right, beside Richard Petty) has quite the racing CV, with a string of NASCAR successes, but this week his personal life has been much the more intriguing issue. Namely, his claims that his former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll is a gun-for-hire.

Bush is on trial for abuse claims made by Driscoll, and his defence has certainly attracted a lot of attention.

"Everybody on the outside can tell me I'm crazy, but I lived on the inside and saw it first hand", Busch told the court, recalling an occasion when Driscoll left in camouflage gear to return covered in blood, and others where she'd shown him pictures of bullet-wounded bodies.

While Driscoll didn't respond to the accusations, she conducted a phone interview with the Associated Press outside of court. "I find it interesting that some of the outlandish claims come straight from a fictional movie script I've been working on for eight years", she said. With a verdict expected in early February, this one's got a little more distance to run yet...

If teenagers are to defeat such sweeping stereotypes about not understanding the world, we need better evidence that they have a tacit understanding of why vegetables are actually grown.

An 18-year-old from Clydebank is clearly a little confused, as he's just been charged for using potatoes as a drive-by weapon, lobbing them at pedestrians in three separate incidents. One such bout of ill-behaviour saw a thrown potato quickly followed by a tub of coleslaw, something the injured victim didn't relish one bit.

Can you name a weirder food-based car crime?

For many years, the Ssangyong (R)odius has given us a cheap and easy giggle thanks to its ‘even a mother couldn't love it' looks. Its SUV siblings haven't been much prettier, either, and despite its cars' undeniable value, they've been rather too easy to dismiss in a style-led car market.

It's time for a new joke at TG towers, though. This is the new Ssangyong Tivoli, and curious name aside, it's a decent looking thing. Not beautiful, we concede, but then neither are the Nissan Juke, Renault Captur and Peugeot 2008 it goes wading into battle with later this year.

Its success will likely hinge on its price undercutting those of its established rivals, but with a 126bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine, a choice of transmissions, adjustable steering modes and customisable colour schemes, it's talking the talk so far...

Traffic management isn't a topic we regularly enjoy the intricacies of around a pub table on an evening (honest), but we imagine you'll join us in wonderment watching this video of an American road zipper in action.

One is now in use on San Francisco's frequently clogged-up Golden Gate Bridge; the idea is that it picks up the median barrier from one side of a lane, and relays it on the other, allowing the bridge's six lanes of traffic to be split unevenly - four lanes to two - to favour opposing directions at either end of the day to soften rush hour traffic.

The barrier itself cost $30million and comprises over 3,000 12-inch wide concrete and steel slabs. And it will soak up all but a Sherman tank, which is more than can be said for the floppy plastic pylons it replaces. Admit it, you're mesmerised, aren't you?

All manner of things have inspired special edition cars over the years - racing drivers and circuits, exotic places, expensive materials - most of them valid in their own particular way, we're sure you'll agree.

Land Rover, on the other hand, appears to see inspiration in the most trivial of things. Like when it picks up its post from the doormat, apparently. The latest Range Rover Evoque special edition is called the NW8, a dedication to the first three digits of a north-west London postcode. Really.

Its reasoning? NW8 "has been at the heart of the city's creative scene since the Sixties and is home to the world famous Abbey Road".

So there's surely only one place to reveal a car dedicated to such a specific corner of the world, then. The Montreal motor show. Wait, what?