The Lexus Weds Sport IS350 '08 is a race car produced by Lexus. It appears in Gran Turismo 5 and Gran Turismo 6.
The car appears to be the #19, driven by Manabu Orido, Tsubasa Abe and Yuhi Sekiguchi, who achieved a 12th place finish in the GT300 Driver's Championship with Orido and Abe, and an 11th place finish in the GT300 Team's Championship in the 2008 Super GT season. Sekiguchi was their third driver in the Suzuka 1000km race and was credited with 37th place in the GT300 Drivers' Championship (last place among the point-scoring drivers).
In-game description[]
"An extreme machine powered by a midship-mounted Formula Nippon engine."
The Lexus Weds Sport IS350 is a Super GT Series racing car based on the company's popular IS sports sedan that's sold in Japan and the U.S.
While 4-door race cars in GT racing are a rarity - one other example being the Subaru Impreza sedan - special rules in the Super GT Series allowed these passenger-haulers to participate. While both the Subaru and Lexus possessed the same number of doors, they were completely different animals, with the major difference being the location of the engine.
Because of a change in vehicle regulations in 2008 that allowed for the repositioning of the engine's location, Lexus decided to mount the IS's 6-cylinder power plant amidships for optimal weight distribution. Therefore, the formidable RV8J, a 3-liter V8 that Toyota supplied to the Formula Nippon Series, was moved behind the driver. The new location of the engine allowed Toyota engineers to lower the height of the nose and hood to dramatically improve aerodynamics efficiency.
Not only did air flow more smoothly over the front section of the car, there was more downforce, meaning better cornering grip through fast turns. Under the skin, the Lexus featured a plethora of high-tech racing hardware that included a stiff tube frame chassis and a completely inboard-mounted suspension system.
Drivers Manabu Orido and Tsubasa Abe were quick from the first contest of the 2008 season, even winning a race that they started dead last.
Acquisition[]
| Game | Purchase location | Credits | Other methods |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gran Turismo 5 | Lexus Dealership (Lv. 13+) | 500,000 | --- |
| Gran Turismo 6 | Lexus Dealership | 500,000 | --- |