My first Enduro race

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I've read on here a few people saying about how they have taken on the endro races, and I've always throught that I'd a) never get that far in the game or b) lose interest. I'm pleased to say that I'm still playing GT4, and today I had a go at my first ever endro race.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but looking at the 'ring 24hr was a little off putting. So I went for the 300km Grand Valley event. A single race of 60 laps round Grand Valley raceway with 400,000cr for the win. I decided to pick a overly fast car, as I didn't want to be racing for 55 laps and find myself lying in 2nd place with laps running out. So I went with the Jaguar XJR-9. I fitted some super hard tyres, nowing full well I'd have pit stops, I wanted the longest lasting tyres money could buy. This, as it turned out was my first mistake.

My opponents were...
Mazda RX8 Concept LM
Audi TT Touring Car
Toyota Castrol Tom's Supra
Audi A4 Touring Car
Ford Falcon XR8

With my power advantage, I'd only win 1 A spec point, but I wasn't too fussed, as this was going to be a learning exercise for me.

Basically to cut a 60 lap story short.........I won. By about 3 laps from the RX-8. I only had three offs worthy of note, but once I was in the lead by turn 3, I never lost it. My fastest lap was my last one. The time was 1:42.152, with a overal time of 1:50:30.252. I did the race in two stints, with a 2hr break in the middle. And one toliet break :embarrassed:

As I'd never driven for this long before, it made a nice change to have to think about pitting, and trying to plan how many more laps I could do on these tyres. With the 2-5 lap races, you don't have to think about that. Coming from Sports Car GT on PC, I didn't have adapting, and I enjoyed flying into the pits every now and then. I did not always full up with fuel, as I wanted to save some time in the pits. Does this weight saved, have any kind of known effect on your cars when racing?

What I've learned from this experiance...
1) Tyres matter. Try to find a balance between the front and back. I fitted Super hard all round. But by the time the fronts were nicely worn in, it was time to change the backs. I should have mixed and matched a little better.
2) LM cars, do not like riding those kerbs. These cars are super low to the ground, and they skip and hop all over the shop if you hit those kerbs. So keep well clear.
3) Braking points. As I have the "normal" display on, it tells me what gear to be in for each corner, and when to brake. Try not to rely too much on this. I only found out near the end, that I could have taken a couple of corners faster, if I'd have trusted my "racing brain" and not the PS2.
4) Stay on the black stuff. On only one occasion I got a wheel on the grass when under braking. In a normal road car, I've been able to catch the spin/slide, but in the LM car I ended up in the kitten litter. So avoid.

I really looking forward to trying some more endros out. This time giving myself a harder challenge by selecting a car with similar power to that of the opporents.

Thanks for reading.
 
nice work, and good luck with the rest, especially the upcomming 24hr races 👍 just wish I had the time to do them in all a-spec :guilty:
 
nice one.
My first enduro was the el Capitan one. Won the Minolte with ease, actually my b-spec driver won it :P. I'm planning to do all enduros in B-spec cause after 1 hour of racing at the same circuit makes me feel bored. So my b-cspec is very useful. Did the complete enduro in b-spec in about 2 hours, in a BMW M3 GTR race car, with sports hard tyres...
 
Could a mod please move to the write up area for me.
It's funny, because I submitted this thread, and then noticed the "write up" area. D'oh!

That first endro was nice and easy. But I did the El Capitan one last night and that was alot harder. I got a massive 116pts because I used the Nismo R400. It was great fun trying to win a race by pit strageies. In the end I won by 32secs, but it was touch and go a couple of times, when I was lagging behind the leading car, with no sight of him pitting.
 
Well done !
Anytime I'm happy to read that someone else is having fun with the game.

But ...
Don't you consider the races of 1000miles league in Beginner Events as an endurance race ?
Or have you reached 25% without playing them ?


Bye,
Alessandro.
 
jamezracer - I fully plan on racing the whole game in a spec. Some will think I'm mad for trying this, but I brought the game to play myself. Not let the PS2 play for me.

alech - I've reached 62% by racing all the Begineer, Professional (expect GT World Championship), Japenese, European (expect the 1000 miles championship), American (expect the 1st event) and most of the manufacturer events. I've left the enduro, special condition, extreme hall and mission hall events until last.

I think I'll tackle the European pre 1970's 1000 miles Championship next. 24 laps round the 'ring sounds like fun to me. But 99 laps of Monaca does not :(
 
I wish I could say my first endurance went as well. I tried the 4h Roadster Endurance in an MX-5 NR-A. My strategy was to alternate stints between myself and my B-Spec driver. This proved to be my downfall. My B-Spec driver, "Little Idiot", managed to lose the race for me quite effectively in his last stint by sheer lack of consistency and a spin that caught me off-guard (I've noticed that his overall lap performance can often be improved by shifting B-Spec modes in certain sectors or turns).

Anyway, I suppose that'll teach me to let "Little Idiot" drive my cars on race day until he's had more practice :guilty:
 
i used the susuki gsx r/4 for all the enduros where race tyres arent allowed.... have won em all!!

and i just did tsukuba hard (special conditions) with it too, beat the sauber!!
 
Thanks to j8mie and thaleppes : that's what I mean.
I "forgot" that I'm going to play all the B-licence events first ,and trying to get all golds before starting the following licence .
So i've already raced the 4 events of 1000miles . In B-spec mode : just a good way to get some easy money.


And there's a question I would like to ask you whithout starting a new thread :
am I missing somenthing or the B-spec speed changes back to 1X every time the car pits in ?
 
alech
And there's a question I would like to ask you whithout starting a new thread :
am I missing somenthing or the B-spec speed changes back to 1X every time the car pits in ?



I have the same question, it does change back to 1x, anything to do about it ?
 
ZeratulSG
I wish I could say my first endurance went as well. I tried the 4h Roadster Endurance in an MX-5 NR-A. My strategy was to alternate stints between myself and my B-Spec driver. This proved to be my downfall. My B-Spec driver, "Little Idiot", managed to lose the race for me quite effectively in his last stint by sheer lack of consistency and a spin that caught me off-guard (I've noticed that his overall lap performance can often be improved by shifting B-Spec modes in certain sectors or turns).

Anyway, I suppose that'll teach me to let "Little Idiot" drive my cars on race day until he's had more practice :guilty:

Sounds like "Little Idiot" needs some more practise. :)

I'm sure I read somewhere on here, that if you tune a car, then the B Spec driver needs time to get used to how the car handles/drives. If you had tuned your car, ths might be causing your driver a problem.

I must admit 4hrs round Tsuskba doesn't sound a lot of fun to me. It's a nasty little track with little or no features worthy of note. I'd much rather do 4hrs round Infineon Raceway or Deep Forest Raceway.
 
j8mie
I think I'll tackle the European pre 1970's 1000 miles Championship next. 24 laps round the 'ring sounds like fun to me. But 99 laps of Monaca does not :(

I also was VERY dissappointed finding Nordschleife at first in the row. I had barely interest left to finish the rest of the races. Nordschleife should've been the last race, so there would have been a good race to the end what to wait for.

In 1000miles I used the 1961 Jaguar E-type coupe (not tuned at all), that I won from some race... Actually quite nice car :) But: 2 A-spec points per race and always winning by at least 4 lap marging... boring..
But it was a great practice, at least the Nordschleife. :) I really learnt the track there..

EDIT:
Small question: What does "Unmodified cars only" actually mean? Does that restrict race cars from the race, because tuned cars are allowed?
Sorry, this may be found from faqs, but I haven't noticed, yet...
 
I just finished the 1000miles series. I also used the stock Jaguar E-Type Coupe '61. I thought "Unmodified cars only" restricts also tuned cars from the race. Not that I wanted to participate with fully tuned E-Type. It was boring enough this way...

EDIT: Oho. Näköjään muitakin suomalaisia täällä->Oh, nice to see other Finns too in here...
 
The "Unmodified cars only" point has been covered a few times on here. But instead of me telling you to search like some on here would, I'll let you know instead :)

There are certain changes to a car that qualify as modifying, one of these is the chassis refresh. Once you apply this (normally only needed on cars from the 2nd hand markets), you'll find you won't be able to enter it into "Unmodified cars only" races anymore. I do know there are a couple of other things that if changed make the car modified, but I can't remember what they are off the top of my head. Hope this helps.

Zandor & Quattro20v - I was planning on using the Jag as well. But 2 a spec points per race, does put me off a bit. I must admit, I was a little surprised at that cars speed in the game. I've never throught of that car as ever having a high top speed, but the figure 138mph sticks in my head for some reason. Which, if correct is very impressive for a 1960's car.
 
I recently completed the 1000 miles (what a monster of a championship!) in a 1970 galant gto. Not bad racing really, down the mulsanne at Sarthe under slipstream and fresh from a oil change i reached a monster top speed of 216 kmh! (break neck speed i tell ya!) with an average lap of around 5:10 it was a loooooooooong 35 laps, and at the ring' she had a peak time of 9:.. somthing o'rather. Again, 9mins* 25 laps equaled (not inculding the AI who done roughly half of the ring for me) a race that took around 4hrs, for 150,000 cr and no car!

This is indeed a disturbing championship, and when raced with the right cars, not one for the faint of heart.
 
Yer, B-Specced most of the 1000 miles. I did the ring and was like "Uber cool" because I got practise but then it was Le Sarthe and monaco or whaever and I just drove until the first pitstop each time.
 
krazyboris
I recently completed the 1000 miles (what a monster of a championship!) in a 1970 galant gto.

I just finished the F1 championship. THATS a monster of a championship. I didnt check the mileage of the first two races, but the last 13 alone come to a total of 2519.21 miles. So I suspect with the other 2 its probably about 2920 miles, since each race is 190-205 miles.

Sure the car is faster... but 3000 miles. It least you dont have to do it in one sitting (24 hrs lol).

PS: right now im at 14:41:50.455 or Le Sarthe I (24 hrs). You know what that means.... a little over 9 hours until 100.0% complete!!!
 
Rockhound18
I just finished the F1 championship. THATS a monster of a championship. I didnt check the mileage of the first two races, but the last 13 alone come to a total of 2519.21 miles. So I suspect with the other 2 its probably about 2920 miles, since each race is 190-205 miles.

Sure the car is faster... but 3000 miles. It least you dont have to do it in one sitting (24 hrs lol).

PS: right now im at 14:41:50.455 or Le Sarthe I (24 hrs). You know what that means.... a little over 9 hours until 100.0% complete!!!

Crumbs chief! When you've been racing for 14hrs and you still have 9 left, that must give you a real sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.

I've yet to tackle "the big ones". As I'm picking off all the manufacturer races and the smaller enduro races.

A tip for newbies to Enduros. Try the "Twin Ring Motegi Super Speedway 100 laper". At first I thought 100 laps would be really boring, but it was great fun flying round that circuit at 200mph+. Working out the best pitting windows, and avoiding the slower cars made for great racing. I might even do that one again :) I used the Toyota Minolta 88C-V Race Car. It just flying without needing any tuning, as is one of my favourite cars in the game.

I must admit there are far too many enduros at Tsukuba. I've never liked that track even in GTP. And the thought of driving a MX-5 round there for 4hrs is not really my idea of fun :(
 
Good enduro to start with would be the El Capitan 200. Use a Zonda C12S (which is sometimes an AI car in the race) for an easy win! One prob tho- it barely brakes even with the racing pad set! I won by 4 laps after 2hrs 5mins! It's one of the easier enduros as it's not too long and is on a good track, UNLIKE TSUKABA!
 
I love the Nurburgring Norschleife, on that track i managed to get an win after 24 hrsfull fighting. I was getting a heart attack when the 2nd place car passed me in the last corner, but i managed to just get passed him with the help of better traction. Because i already won it ones i di'dn't die because of the adrealine level.
I won with 0.785 seconds!!!!!!
I used a tuned Mercedes 1990 DTM car.
 
Just though of a good way to make the races, esp. the 24hr ones more realistic. Wot u could do is turn the brightness down on your TV to make it seem like it's dark, the lights on the cars won't come on, but its the best way I can think of! Best used during the Le Mans races!
 
U2fanman
Just though of a good way to make the races, esp. the 24hr ones more realistic. Wot u could do is turn the brightness down on your TV to make it seem like it's dark, the lights on the cars won't come on, but its the best way I can think of! Best used during the Le Mans races!
And how many crashes have you encountered on the Nurburgring?

Cause in dark your eyes can always pick upo little things like lines and the track, but lesser than in daytime ofcourse.
When we are watching Le Mans we are looking into the headlights of the cars, are behind a tv screen, and we have changing images so our eyes can't get used to the darkness. If you set the brightness lower you can't see the things you would normally see in real night racing.

But is a good try.
 
j8mie
1) Tyres matter. Try to find a balance between the front and back. I fitted Super hard all round. But by the time the fronts were nicely worn in, it was time to change the backs. I should have mixed and matched a little better.

Not sure if you've figured this out yet, but mixing tires does change the balance of the car somewhat significantly.

In particular, putting softer tires on the front will increase the car's oversteer.

You can use other settings to compensate, but it might not work quite like you expect. Sure you can decrease front downforce to compensate for the stickier tires, but is that really a good idea? You might just end up with about the same total level of grip, just with tires that wear out faster...
 
There are certain changes to a car that qualify as modifying, one of these is the chassis refresh. Once you apply this (normally only needed on cars from the 2nd hand markets), you'll find you won't be able to enter it into "Unmodified cars only" races anymore. I do know there are a couple of other things that if changed make the car modified, but I can't remember what they are off the top of my head. Hope this helps.

I thought that it was road legal cars, however modified, were 'unmodified' :indiff:. So that means that race and concept cars cannot be used. But for some reason this does not apply to the competitors: they can, for some reason, race concept cars :irked: (not race cars, though :sly:)
 
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