It must be said that i'm not a fan of Race 07, and while i welcome the addition of GTRE, there are a number of missing features such as headlights, night racing and above all, live track technology which place it behind GTR2 IMO (remember: this is just my personal opinion).

I have been avidly watching this mod for about 1 year, and finally, it looks as if release is imminent.  Conceived by the GT Italia mod team, the 2006 mod has 5 "new" cars to choose from, as well as revised physics to reflect the relative performance development of the cars (anyone struggling in the MC12 must wonder how it won the Spa 24 hour!). 

Here's the spiel:

The FIA GT 2006 Mod for GTR2 derives by the experience made with the Campionato Italiano GT "Sara Assicurazioni" 2005 mod, which had a great succes everywhere. On this basis we tried to offer to the community a further better mod, with new cars, new phisycs, updated models and unique characteristics.

You'll be able to play the whole 2006 season of the International FIA GT Championship, with all the tracks and all the main cars which really raced in that season. Moreover you'll have different starting grids for every track, according with the real entry lists, and the liveries will change in their particulars according with a particular track. At the Spa 24H ALL the cars will have the special livery used for that race in the real life.

Great attention has been used to create the drivers' files, in order to respect the real forces of the 2006, and from a race to the next one the first classified drivers will have ballasts on their cars, according with their results.

Finally 5 new cars will be available: the astonishing Aston Martin DBR9, the Corvette C6R, the beautiful Ferrari F430 GT, dominator of the GT2 class, and its eternal challenger, the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR, and the "little" Porsche 997 GT3 Cup. Moreover some original cars had been updated to respect the upgrades they had in the 2006 season: Saleen S7R Zakspeed Spec2006, Maserati MC12 Spec2006, Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT Spec2006, Dodge Viper CC Spec2006, Porsche 996 GT3 Special Prospeed Competition.

A great thanks goes to everyone who helped me to make this mod, their names are in the next pages!!! To proceed click on the mod logo.

Enjoy by TopGun and the GT-Italia Mod Team!!!

Personally, i am dying to try the new Ferrari, and the C6, and a proper Aston... all of them in fact.  I am hoping that, if it turns out to be as good as the group's previous offering, we might adopt the series for one of our GTR2 leagues, assuming that they are to continue running alongside GTRE.

Anyways, just thought I'd give you the heads up. 

Screenshots, renders and more info available at http://gt-italiamod.drivingitalia.net/GTR2/indexgtr2_e.html

oh yeah that looks very nice!

I notice the #22 Barwel Aston Martin driven by 1 Tiff Needell of 5th Gear (Season 9, Ep 9) isn't in there. Pity that, I guess he did bag the Italian BMS team (that ran into him).

Its already out. I got hold of it yesterday. It should be out for everyone else tomorrow, but if you want it now go here and sign up and you'll find the download. http://www.drivingitalia.net/forum/ . It really does drive good. The only real "new" model is the dbr9, which we've been seeing "illegal" conversions of for ages. It comes with its own tracks so that they can limit the amount of cars and which cars compete in the event which is pretty cool, but also makes it a 420Mb download. Overall i'd say its worth it and a great addition to gtr2.

edit: i take that back. it does have the 430gt2 and the 997 rsr. The 997 is the same one used in the 2007 ALMS mod, while the model of the 430 isn't as nice as the one in the ALMS mod. It also has the 997 cup car that was in a previous mod for gtr2. cant remember who did that one.

no problem. kinda hell trying to navigate that forum. you'll find it about 2/3 of the way down in the gt-italia mod team sub forum. theres links to the mod and a bug fix at the bottom of the first post.

Downloading now.  Would it be best to install this in a separate GTR2 instal like P&G, or will it work just fine in the main installation?

Cheers,
Steve

It is simply great this 2006 mod. very good cars, nice sounds.
Legal mod? I should think so as they have build new cars and only improved and duplicated the other simbin cars into their own original game.

I think we should use this for the next season in GTR2, but admins should check it out.

Very very good.

30 cars, full graphics. no stutter even at startline.
Nothing less than the original....

Looks like there is a patch for it too.. http://hosted.filefront.com/DrivingItalia/1923493

Shame this one wasn't out before the start of the latest OSJ season.

Finally installed after last night's AlfaTina, and didn't really scratch the surface.  But first impression is that some of the cockpits are mediocre.  Aston sounds nice, and the C6 is the same as the one i already have (WSGT i think), but that's no bad thing, and is probably my favorite car in the game.  New 997 porsche looks pretty.

I entirely agree Frisky... as long as I can drive the C6    I also really like the look of the MC12's in their Vitafone livery; they have a new rear-end with central exhausts, which looks very nice! 

i can't argue with you there, Frisky... the Aston is, like its predecessors, a work of visual poetry 

i agree the aston looks great, but in person nothing beats the sound of the 7L V8.

Indeed... once heard, never forgotten, but the Aston is the loudest car in the pit lane (with the limiter engaged).