Now that the 2013 Lexus RX 350 has arrived in U.S. dealerships, longtime Lexus Enthusiast reader & Flow Lexus of Greensboro employee Brendan Bogue has sent over a detailed description of the Display Audio controller first spotted in a 2013 ES promotional video.

The controller turns in either direction continuously to select anything on the screen, and also moves up, down, left, and right. Physically pressing the controller down acts as the “enter” function, and there are also three buttons for Menu, Audio, and Go Back.

Here’s the menu screen:

The different options (phone, climate, etc) rotate in a circle as you rotate the controller.

Here’s the climate control screen:

This screen can be used to change all of the climate settings (though you can still use the climate control buttons on the dash).

However, most of the audio controls are now within the display screen:

For example, you can no longer select a radio preset using the actual radio in the dash – only via the Display Audio controller, or via the steering wheel buttons. Most of the radio control buttons from the previous ’10-’12 RX are missing from the radio.

(Note: the base RX still has the plain white LED display with the preset buttons on the radio).

Special thanks to Brendan for sending in this thorough description of the new Lexus Display Audio system!

Lexus has announced a voluntary safety recall for the 2013 GS 350 F Sport that affects approximately 650 owners — here’s some details:

On certain early 2013 model year GS 350 F-Sport RWD vehicles, the ECU for the VGRS system could cause the steering wheel to become off-centered when restarting the vehicle immediately after the vehicle is parked with the steering wheel turned. Dealers will update the VGRS ECU calibration to address the condition.

The repair is expected to take approximately 30 minutes — affected owners will be notified in early June.

Visit the Lexus website for more details

The wall abruptly ending with the crashing waves almost looks like a Photoshop backdrop — what a great location.

[Source: webCG]

This weekend is the legendary 24h Nürburgring race, and Gazoo Racing will be there racing a Lexus LFA and two Toyota 86s — from the press release:

The 40th edition of the ADAC 24 Hours Nürburgring race this year will be the sixth time for Japan-based GAZOO Racing Team at the world-famous German circuit. Through the team’s various racing activities, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) aims to make ever-better cars by putting its products and people through the challenges such as the endurance race at the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, with each lap exceeding 25 kilometres.

In addition to the GAZOO Racing Lexus LFA (car no. 83, SP8 class), the team also entered two race-prepared Toyota GT86 vehicles (car no. 165 and 166, SP3 class). Seasoned endurance racing drivers will join vehicle development employee drivers from TMC.

Here’s a closer look at the three race cars:

Live coverage of the race has already started over on the Toyota Europe blog, and I’ll be updating throughout the weekend with any notable news. You can also follow the live rankings over at the 24h Nürburgring website.

Best of luck, team!

[Source: Toyota Europe]

For my first photo gallery with the GS 350, I scoured the city of St.Catharines for a derelict building — eventually, I lucked out and found this abandoned gas station:

The Liquid Platinum exterior makes it an absolute joy to photograph — every single curve and crease pulls in the light, and it really brings the GS to life. Really happy with the way these photos turned out.

(The reason I wanted to find a derelict building was because of how these photos with the third-generation GS turned out — makes for a great contrast between subject and background.)

Photographer Kevin King Uy just emailed me these photos of the Lexus LFA with a Mark IV Toyota Supra:

The Supra, along with the 2000GT, are the two high watermarks of Toyota performance production models, and make up at least part of the LFA’s history — great to see these two cars together.

(Thanks Kevin!)

Even though I would have preferred something less conceptual for the RX F Sport, I had to laugh at the laser beams.

The next commercial is even more cerebral:

(Reminds me of the giant-book RX commercial — wonder if that was intentional?)

Quick TV note — Club Lexus moderator & GS 450h owner 1SICKLEX will be appearing on SpeedTV show My Ride Rules tomorrow, May 15th.

The show, which pits four competing car owners against each other, airs at 10pm Eastern — best of luck, Mike!

See more on the SpeedTV website

While there’s very little chance of Hawk landing on the LFA, it sure made for a cool photo (click for a larger version):

Nice team-up here — I wonder if we’ll see Tony Hawk in a LFA of his own sometime in the future?

[Source: Tony Hawk Twitter]

Visible in the photo are the trunk spoiler, rear diffuser, side skirts and the titanium quad-exhaust tips, which are all looking quite chunky due to the silver exterior color — contrast this same kit in Obsidian:

(Wonder if Lexus USA is also considering the slightly-more-subtle Modellista kit as well?)

[Via: Club Lexus]