-20%HP Diary/Walkthrough

[Patruck GT2]

In the last days, I spent some time in this old GT2 section, and I was pleased to see it wasn't dead. I also saw some new "diaries", which made me realize there's actually somebody playing this game yet. And also made me envious of these projects.
So, I decided to make my own walkthrough, for the first time in my long GT2-player life. Personally I approve the Idea of obeying the rules of every championship, so you can use a wider range of cars (without this, anytime I started GT2, after a few days, I was already bored by my Supra/Impreza/Silvia). But I don't agree with the "<500HP" rule and with the "Max 3 performed cars" ones, because one of the things I love the most in GT is its capability to completely customize each car, especially when adding lot of power to it. Also, I like the idea of using Street cars only (although I'm afraid this will make it impossible to complete the game), and the ones about tyres limitations...
So, I thought, I needed the follow rules:

1. Only Street cars
2. Obey the event car regulations
3. Only Normal, Sports and Sim tyres. Only Sim for endurances.

But there's another problem here: the beginning of the game will be yet boring, considering that, in the first 20-30 days you don't use race cars/tyres and there aren't event regulations.

Then I got the clue: reducing power limit by -20%. Yet it isn't difficult, but things will get a little more interesting: in the "normal" game, you can, for example, enter the "Compact" cup with a Clio V6 (modified too) and win any race easily. With this -20%, instead, you get this kind of regulations:

98hp = 78hp max
147hp = 118hp max
197hp = 158hp max
246hp = 197hp max
295hp = 236hp max
345hp = 276hp max
394hp = 315hp max
443hp = 354hp max
492hp = 394hp max
591hp = 473hp max
690hp = 552hp max

Which make the beginning part more difficult...
So, let's say I'll follow the first 3 rules plus this power limit for all the game. I hope this diary, as the others, will get frequent updates: they all prove there are lot of ways to play GT2, and, more important, there are a lot of different things GT can mean (Ah, I forgot to say... I'm sorry for my English). So, let's start this and let's see how far will this go...

 

[Patruck GT2]

Day 20
As I hate GT2 license tests (the only thing I like in GTPSP is you haven't got to complete them), I didn't even try to reach gold in any of them, and I completed everyone of them with Bronze in the first 7 days.
On Day 7 I bought a white 1993 Supra (236HP), which had the perfect amount of power to enter the 295hp cups. I managed to win Sunday and Clubman without the need of any upgrade. The only realy difficult race was at Rome-Long circuit, where I had to chase an Audi S4 first, and a TVR Chimaera then.

On Day 13 I upgraded some of the car parts, adding low gear ratios and semi-racing suspension. Then I completed Japan-295 and FR-295 races and, as I hadn't another race to use my Supra, I decided to buy a 1993 154hp Civic Vti, which I upgraded twice to reach different amount of power: 192hp (for 246hp events) and 216hp (for 295 ones).

I sold all the cars I won except the Clio 16V, which I used to complete the first K event. Now, I've successfully competed:

Clubman, Sunday, Compact and Japanese cups (all)
FR cup: stage 1
K cars: stage 1

Day 20 stats:
Credits: 28694
Complete: 6.39%
Total races: 14
Total won: 14
Won percentage: 100%
Total prize: 68000Cr
Total time spent on the track (appr.): 38'50s (less than a Endurance event!)

 

[Patruck GT2]

Day 51
In the last 31 days I definitively discovered that entering each race with -20% Hp from the actual limit can turn into very frustrating competitions. One of the most difficult ones has been K Cup - Seattle Short Course 98Hp, which I tried to complete with a Mugen Beat I had won:
With the standard setup (61hp), ended 2nd after a minivan,
With NA Tune 1 (78hp, the max allowed) finished 2nd, overtaken by a Suzuki Wagon R RR at the last corner
Finally I managed to complete the event adding Semi-Racing suspensions (Actually I didn't thought suspensions could make the difference in a 78hp car).

K cars' Tahiti Road was also difficult: it seems that, after 100mph, the Beat becomes as easy to keep on the track as a go-kart (Yes, there must be a reason because of which normal cars aren't 2 meters long) and I lost control in 2nd lap. Fortunately, AI isn't too fast at Tahiti last corners, so I managed to enter the final straight a bit faster than them and made this weird double-overtake

ending 1st.

Also Grand Touring Grand Valley 493hp was difficult: my 390hp-Honda NSX only reached the 3rd place, so I had to add some gearbox and suspension parts which made it more competitive: at the fourth try, I finally managed to beat that Viper & Jaguar XKR wild bunch. This was the first race for which I had to buy Sport Tyres.

Since that point, I didn't get very difficult competitions: the NA cup was quite easy with the NSX, the Wagon cup was completed with a 313hp (394-315 limit) Subaru Legacy wagon, and the first 3 of the 5 "80s cars" events were won by my Nissan Silvia (150hp) and Lancia Delta Integrale '88 (234 to 270hp, standard suspension and gearbox are surprisingly good, even with that amount of power).

DAY 51 STATS
Game complete: 16.43%
Total events: 45
Won: 36
Won (%): 80.00
average place: 1.22
total prize: 395000 Cr
Cars owned: 14 (13 of which Japanese, 1 Italian)

 

[Welsh-Fury]

I got a feeling like this is a copy of my Diary...

 

[tomo 427 S/C]

Except with more pictures and is more challenging for the player.

 

[Coastin']

Except with more pictures and is more challenging for the player.

For now, i guess.
The more powerful the cars are, the less are 20HP plus worth. But i'll still follow your diary and wish you the best luck.

 

[Welsh-Fury]

Just wondering, what HP do you race on "Free" events?

 

[Patruck GT2]

I got a feeling like this is a copy of my Diary...

For many of its features, I have to admit it's very similar. I opened this diary after reading your one and the "street legal" one. Yes, many rules (for example the rule obeying and the tyres one) are taken from your diary, because I thought they were essential to make the game challenging enough.
Yet is different, because for example in yours you can't have more than 3 customized cars in your garage at the same time, and in mine there isn't a limit of this kind;
Good luck with your diary, anycase

The more powerful the cars are, the less are 20HP plus worth.

I don't think so: it isn't just 20Hp less, it's 20% Hp less: it means that, for example, in 394hp events you have to enter with a max 315hp car: in some of the races (for example, the Grand Touring events or maybe the Classic Car challenge) the lack of power really makes the event challenging.

Just wondering, what HP do you race on "Free" events?

Any HP. This races will of course be the easiest in the game, except the ones which are "Free" but introduce some kind of limitations for the cars to enter.

I'll make the next update on the next week; I'm going to try the Turbo cup and the muscle car one, and maybe the Classic Car one (that will be difficult because a 305HP GT40 will probably be in the starting grid, and my limit HP is 215...)

 

[Parnelli Bone]

I'd agree with you on the Beat, Patruck. It's almost totally useless as a race car. I nicknamed it "the crab" a long time ago, for its habit of trying to skitter sideways across the track while I was trying to make it do something completely different. I also found it odd that the Mazda AZ-1 and Cappy can accept so much more power than the Beat.

http://www.gtcarreviews.com/id156.html

I got kinda frustrated with the Beat after awhile. I did dig driving many other keis, tho. In GT4, the Beat feels a heck of a lot easier to drive--as do all the Keis in this game. But none of them can be hopped up over 130 horses.

 

[Patruck GT2]

It's been a long time since I last posted here. I've got some news.
Since Day 51 (last update), I lost the progress paper (A paper, never thought of doing it with Ms Excel or something like that), so that, when in the last days I recovered the game, I really couldnt' remember what I had done.
Luckily, I had kept some snapshot I had taken, which made me remember the last few races.
I bought a Lancia Delta Integrale ('86-'87 model: more beautiful, cheaper than the Evoluzione's) and slightly modified the weight, the suspension and the engine. I kept it under different power levels, so I could complete the first two events of the 4WD cup (easy). I decided not to focus on the engine but get the best I could from suspension, so I managed to win the whole 394hp events of the 80s cup with a 270hp car...
In my personal opinion, Delta HF is the best way to easily win 80s cup. The Japanese cars which are supposed to chase you really can't go as fast: Delta's got a more flexible engine, better chassis, better steering... This image could be a symbol of the rally cups of the 80s: Delta ahead, Celica behind. Being there, I completed the Lancia stock event.
The last few events I entered were the ones from the Muscle car cup. And they weren't as easy.
First, I picked up the cheapest muscle car in the game: a red Dodge Challenger, which, in all the years I played GT2, I had driven perhaps once or twice before getting nervous.
Dodge Challenger has every single fault you should expect from a muscle car: it's heavy, it has a terrible gearbox (really, terrible: 1st gear doesn't last enough, so when you shift from 2nd to 3rd, the engine litterally DIES), and its steering is just useless. Just a few words about the steering: that must have been a mortal trap in the 70s. The handling is horrible: when you enter a corner, you aren't really sure if the car will understeer or oversteer. If it understeers, you've got to brake without steering, losing time. If it oversteers, you must be as careful as if you were landing with a Boeing 747. Because, if you don't accelerate immediately, it will be as driving on ice.
But these aren't big problems if you know how a muscle car handles. The matters come when you realize this car hasn't any of the main advantage you would expect from a muscle car: it isn't powerful.
289HP? Ridicolous. The other cars in the competition have at least 450, and probably have a better gearbox. This is what I discovred during my first attempt at Seattle Short: I hardly saw them during the corners, but then, on the straight, I could do nothing but cry. I tried and tried.

I had to modify my Challenger, throwing away its main point: cheapness. I installed semi-racing suspension, low gears (5 gears! FIVE!) and took the engine to 380HP. To say the truth, 380 are more than enough: I easily won the other races, including one, in Laguna Seca, where I lost control at the Corkscrew in the first lap and managed to overtake a Stingray Corvette at the very last corner. Now, the only thing that prevents my Challenger from being a decent car (or at least driveable) is that the 5th gear is quite short, so the needle stops at 180Km/h (110-115mph I think), which is ridicolous for a car that powerful.
That's all for now.

Day 64 stats:
Game compete: 20.09%
Total prize: 465,000
Races/Won 57/44 (77.19%)
Average classification: 1.25
Number of my cars: 21
Total value of my cars: 1,453,388