If an amorphous blob body is legal, so be it. However I lose all excitement for any GT class when I see amorphous blob bodies painted in a single color that in no way are trying to emulate any full scale 1:1 race car. If more people would take some time adding the small details that make a body look like a real race car, I think it would improve the public appeal to our hobby.

Here are some things that are often missing or "wrong" on many r/c bodies regardless of class that detract from the "realistic" racing aspect.
- Strategically placed car numbers appropriate for the body style.
For example in NASCAR you would expect to see car number on the door and a large number on the roof. Most real race cars have easy to find numbers on them.

- Appropriately sized and placed sponsor decals
For example NO REAL race car would normally have a giant sticker on the windshield. I have nothing against R/C product/sponsor decals, but they are often poorly placed or scaled improperly (too big) for the body they are on.

- Missing body details
Most real race cars either have working lights or stickers that represent lenses. Use the ones included with your R/C body.
Real race cars have inlets, vents, exhausts, window nets, etc. Many of the r/c bodies we race have some of these details and often include stickers for them which should be used.
Real race cars have window trim or molding around the windows, often in black. If your car has these stickers please use them or at a minimum get some thin pinstripe tape (sold cheaply at any auto parts store)

USGT
Look at that the body in post 12253. Does that look like a real race car? Of course it doesn't. It is simply a means to an end. It probably was the lightest/best performance/and easiest available body that the racer could choose before the particular event it was raced in. I'm sure on the track it turned impressive lap times. But sitting in the pits does it evoke the excitement you felt the first time you saw a real life racecar in person?

When I watch GT racing in real life or on video I can tell which is a Corvette, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, etc. When I watch most fast R/C racers all I can really say is look at the single color blob going quickly around the track. While there are some classes with more strictly controlled body rules, RC GT racing has always ended up morphing in the lowest CG blobs that only resemble a real car if you squint or cross your eyes real hard. I think that is a shame.

im not the one pissing and moaning about the rules.
Rob sounds like the authority on the matter.

so, if Rob says its a usgt body, its a usgt body, if you don’t like it, don’t buy it.

All others will assume its legal, because Rob said it was.

nothing to do, in any way, shape , or form, with my race director.

Here here

The paint job and wheel dots are not helping, but the mold is actually a good representation. You may not like the real car being included, but it is not a blob.

The whole crying about bodies thing should've died 5 years ago. We run what works period, this is racing. I see this crap repetitively on every post about a new body coming out...."doesn't look real"....."miss the stratus". It's tired....find something else to beat to death on the interwebs. 💯

A friend of mine once reminded me when I expressed a similar sentiment: RC racing and Scale Modeling are NOT the same hobby.
Not all of us are skilled or have the patience and determination to make the cars look like "the real things". Its a fools errand to force everyone into that mold.
Almost any body painted a single color is going to look like an amorphous blob.
I fear that trying to force people to detail their cars to make a minority of scale purists happy, will only serve to drive away participation.
I share your lamentations about how the cars look sometimes, but I've come to accept the reality of it.
Let them Race~!

I tear up bodies way too quick to bother doing anything more than a single color. Although I do always take the time to add the headlight, grill and taillight decals, some Tony's Screws decals and a few sponsor decals. But that is the extent of it! I'm in this hobby for the fun and friendships I've made first and then the competitiveness of racing. I could care less about how the cars look. But I do understand some folks have a passion for painting and that's why when I need something more (like my Losi NASCAR body) I turn to folks like BA Racing for some nice race paint.

With that said, LMH is a much more realistic looking class and I think will put the nail in the coffin in the USGT class. The bodies all look like actual race cars and no one single body is better than the rest (like how the BWOAH is in USGT). Personally I'd like to see the USGT class, since its a spec motor and tire class, morph into like the Porsche GT3 Cup class where everyone is running the same body. This would leave it all down to car setup and driving, and from what I've seen, folks just like tight spec racing.

I don't mind single colors, even though I mostly do 2-3 colors myself. But headlights, grills, vents, etc. stickers are a must-have for me. Even in TC, but in classes who claim more realistic looks, like F1, GT or VTA I'd never consider a body ready for racing without them.

THATS ME!!!!

It seems like i get marks and dents every week from racing and sometimes practicing. I plan on running one color with decals most of the time but occasionally run a body i spent hours painting.

I get your point and I believe it would be 100% spot on if this was a 21.5 TC thread and people were complaining about detailed those bodies to make them look like a real car. If you compare USGT to VTA, VTA has remained close to the "spirit" of the class. There is no forcing in VTA.

The same rational can be applied to the other parts of this hobby.. eg:

• Not everyone has the skill or patience to accurately set up the ride height, camber, toe, droop
• Not everyone has the skill or patience to install electronics cleanly, neatly trim and solder wires, balance a chassis from left to right, front to back
• Not everyone has the skill or patience to continuously clean and maintain an RC car

The above skills are acquired over time with lots of trial, error and frustration. Yet it's part of the learning process. So is the effort in detailing a body for a spec class.

It's not only racers wanting the best aero/shape they can get from a body, but I'd imagine licensing a 1:1 body from an OEM is very expensive. Regarding TC. In the 1:1 car world, sedans are all but dead(at least in North America), so options for a scaled sedan body are probably limited. That would mean using CUV bodies or hatchbacks if they wanted to keep scale with a production vehicle. And screw that. Racers still like their sedan bodies.

Hate me since this is the USGT thread, but I actually like the look of the TC bodies. They don't look like full scale cars, and that's okay. I think they look like RC cars. They feature function over form, have evolved for performance over time, and look cool how they are designed as RC bodies. Same with offroad buggies, they look cool as that's an RC car, but look in no way like a real world buggy. And this is all okay, but some people just can't admit that, nor is that what draws everyone to this hobby.

That said, I still run USGT and VTA because I like to a run a scale looking car as well. I try to paint mine in more realistic schemes and like others have said, always include the grill and lights stickers, usually a number board as well. I also really enjoy the more casual feel of the spec class not needing the latest motor/battery every year. I've been running my exact same USGT motor for 5+ years now...? And its still great and competitive! (Well done Paul). I buy the wrong brand TC motor for this season and I'm losing tenths per lap. So there's other things to draw to USGT and VTA other than just the scale looks.

That said, I bought one of the LMH bodies to try out despite no one running it locally. Maybe garner some interest in some other cool looking cars.

The primary difference between body detailing and the 3 areas you mentioned, however - is that they translate into gains in performance.
Body detailing for realism doesn't directly correlate to faster lap times.
I appreciate that most competitors prefer to expend their efforts on making the cars go faster rather than look pretty. (i ain't one of em..)

This is my 11 year old at last months USGT shoot out, winning first with an uber heavy Tamiya Supra body. Would he have been faster with the montec RSGT3 or the PF Venturi, probably.