It's in japanese, but some nice 3D-models are included...

Mazda (http://www.rx-8.mazda.co.jp)

http://www.rx-8.mazda.co.jp/gallery/img/3dcg_photo3.jpg
http://www.rx-8.mazda.co.jp/gallery/img/3dcg_photo2.jpg
http://www.rx-8.mazda.co.jp/gallery/img/3dcg_photo4.jpg

They are slick, and you can spend some time playing with all the features. I really like the one of the interior where you can size people and it will adjust the seats. Pretty neat stuff.

But even with a fast connection (T1 line at work), I had to wait some.

Yeah the sizing thing is pretty cool, but the height only goes up to 5'9! Us Americans are taller and I would love to see if I will fit in the RX-8 before I get it. Like a friend of mine once said "it ain't like yer buying a shirt."

most of the pictures on the japanese website showed an LHD RX-8. kinda funny....

i have to hand it to mazda.co.jp though.... i sorta want to wait 'til 2005 model (for financial reasons too), but this car is looking better and better each time!

Most of these sites were available since last year. But they were all restricted to only their "webmembers". At the time, I thought wouldn't be cool if the rest of RX-8 forums could see this. I'm glad that at least now it's not password protected, but yet it’s still in Japanese and not intended for English readers.

[soapbox]
As you can see, the Japanese site is quite a bit more technical and contains more content than our English site. It irked me to see this. Who make the decision to "dumb-down" the English site? Is it Mazda Japan or MNAO? Are they being elitist or do they think English readers can't appreciate the materials? Regardless, I think English readers, especially North America, deserve a little more respect.
[soapbox]

Ok, I’m done.

and thanks goodduck for supplying us with some goodies therewhen we couldn't get to them. its always bothered me since i found (or was directed to) the mazda japan site. there are things marked in english and look like they might be interesting so i click on the link. but when i get to the page it is entirely in japanese. are other japanese sites like this? and i think mazda didn't let the mnao or other countries put some of this content up tomake it more "exclusive" for the japanese customers. but i could be wrong.

post # 1000! i must be an one opinionated b@#$rd to post so much. of course i am passionate about the subject. thank you to everybody for making this an interesting place to hang out. and thank you to rich, buger, boowanna, wakeech, sputnick, toadman,notav6, hercules, blueadept and anyone else who i have forgotten to mention for helping me learn a few things along the way. and of course boosted7 for providing the forum in the first place. :D

p.s. i wonder if i can catch herc?:eek:

Not a chance. He's got an opinion on everything. :p :D

Originally posted by Toadman
Not a chance. He's got an opinion on everything. :p :D

true, but at least i have a goal hehehe!

Don't get me motivated now :)

I've cut down on my posting lately since the board has been slow :)

But if it speeds up... watch out!

Movies!

Ice testing and Laguna Seca (with 787B) (http://www.rx-8.mazda.co.jp/asx/run02_300k.asx)

LA Auto Show (http://www.rx-8.mazda.co.jp/asx/lashow_300k.asx)

Concept video (Japanese captions) (http://www.rx-8.mazda.co.jp/asx/conceptimage_300k.asx)