A rising star?

[Arppa83]

I just got into the game again yesterday...
The old racing team went "bankrupt" after some stupid things and I wanted a fresh and clean start, so...


Here's my new rising star, "Archie"!
Yesterday he passed the B-Licence test with 16 gold medals +coffee break gold, haven't seen that for a while.
Today, we'll try some test runs with the new wheels from a couple friends (we had a bet who will win all silver/gold medals, we cleared the table).

I hope he's happy with the VW Lupo from the sponsors and leaves that prototype(?) Mazda in the garage until he has seen enough racing...


I hope he doesn't fall to the dark side, like the one before... doing illegal mods for stock car races and dirty moves, eventually causing him getting banned from the race tracks.


We'll see how this goes... stay tuned!

 

[Parnelli Bone]

OKay.

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

That confused me slightly, I'll see what you mean later on.

 

[Arppa83]

Heh, sorry about the confusion.
I was just saying I started a new career game, and try to keep the races fair this time.

I must say the few races I did yesterday were far more fun this way.


My first race was in the stock VW Lupo from B-Licence, on Grand Valley East.
(sorry, no pics )
I had some crazy competition with the 2 other cars in the front of the pack, I think the 1st one was some Suzuki and the other one was a Honda Beat.
On the first corner of 2nd lap, Honda understeered itself on the sand. Bye bye.
Me and the black Zuki were overtaking each other in about every turn on the last lap, I went too wide on the corner before the tunnel, and he got away.
I could not keep up with him and I thought, that was it.
But I kept the gas pedal floored on the final straight, and for my surprise, I was catching up on him! We went side by side on the white start lines.
"Come on VW, just a little more!"

-FINISH LINE-


Whoa! 1st place! Only a few metres from the finish line I passed the Zuk. That must be one of the tightest races I've done so far!




I know, it wasn't a very very fast race, but I'm still a rookie.

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

Ah OK, good luck 👍 Sounds like a fun race alright.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Heh, sorry about the confusion.
I was just saying I started a new career game, and try to keep the races fair this time.

I must say the few races I did yesterday were far more fun this way.


My first race was in the stock VW Lupo from B-Licence, on Grand Valley East.
(sorry, no pics )
I had some crazy competition with the 2 other cars in the front of the pack, I think the 1st one was some Suzuki and the other one was a Honda Beat.
On the first corner of 2nd lap, Honda understeered itself on the sand. Bye bye.
Me and the black Zuki were overtaking each other in about every turn on the last lap, I went too wide on the corner before the tunnel, and he got away.
I could not keep up with him and I thought, that was it.
But I kept the gas pedal floored on the final straight, and for my surprise, I was catching up on him! We went side by side on the white start lines.
"Come on VW, just a little more!"

-FINISH LINE-


Whoa! 1st place! Only a few metres from the finish line I passed the Zuk. That must be one of the tightest races I've done so far!




I know, it wasn't a very very fast race, but I'm still a rookie.

No prob, man...we were all rookies at least once (sometimes more than once Close-racing is the SH:censored:T though....i really dig it myself, too. 👍

 

[Arppa83]

Yea this is the 4th time I'm a rookie in GT4. But I like it, I've never driven this good before!
This time, I'm aiming at improving my driving skill instead of buying all the upgrades on my car first.
Still saving money for a GT wheel...


After a few races in the Lupo, I thought I need another car to run some beginner races, so I looked for used cars.
I bought a white Ballade Sports CR-X 1.5i (identical with the one I had in real life, except for the color), fitted it with road tyres and I'm on my way for some racing.
Keeping it stock for now, can't have too much power cause of the wheelspin.


Sunday Cup was fairly easy, but tight. Only had problems on Clubman S5 reverse, and some :censored:holio in a BMW slammed me on the sand on Autumn Mini (I think a 25 year old little speedster outrunning him was too much for his ego I've seen that IRL ).

Entered Japanese Compact Car Cup.
Took the whole serie with 4 gold, and one silver.



The CRX was too big (hah!) for the K-Car cup, so I bought an used Suzuki Alto. I think some ricer had this car before, by looking at the body kits and stickers on the side.

Did some test runs, I think I blew something up in the first race coz it was going sloooow...
I retired from the race and let the people at Suzuki Sports take a look at it.
Engine was pretty much done for, damn ricers had ruined it by revving it.
I left the car for repairs in the shop, and went home by bus.




In a couple days I got a call from the shop, to come check out something.
As the garage door opened, I saw something that resembled my old white Zuk, with some lowering and a body kit..
"wait, didn't I say I wanted to strip off these stupid wings."

"Look, you obviously don't know what you got here, this is an actual production model, called the Alto Suzuki Sport Limited.
We made this body kit too, you know."

"Oops, sorry. Well, What have you done for it?"

"Just a little something, the base model was pretty good so we just fine-tuned it. Here's a list"

I looked at the paper.
Racing Exhaust 5000;-
Racing Computer Chip 1000;-
Stage 1 Turbo Kit 4200:-
Intercooler 1000;-
New Clutch 1000;-
Sports Flywheel 400:-
Sport Suspension Kit 4300;-
Weight Reduction 6000:-

"Daamn, this is gonna cost me! And I was gonna buy that used Camaro from a dealer, I can't afford this now!"

"Archie-san, after you do a test drive you wont miss that lorry.", the shop owner said and smiled.

"What lorry?", I was thinking to myself while starting the engine...
Motorcycle-ish roaring filled the garage. Hmm, sure didn't sound like this before...
The tuning shop owner waved me goodbye as I headed out, to the Beginner Course test track.


1st lap, just warming the tires.
"hmm cornering feels different now... "
start line, floor it.
"Whoaa!
Holy poopoos, this thing goes like crazy in those corners!
Hard to keep it from going on 2 wheels.
Minor upgrades, huh?"



Got some funny pictures, but uh.. how do I get them out of the PS2?

 

[Arppa83]

--->
After a few weeks of races in the Suzuki team, I was racing in the Prototype League with a tuned Proto-S2.
It could take on other cars, but that black RSX-R/4 was unbeatable in every race. 2nd place just wouldn't be enough...

Once again, I was back at the tuning shop, looking under the bonnet of my green S2, cursing it just wont get faster.
The shop owner happened to walk by, and said
"wait a minute, i might got something for it in the storage room".

He came back carrying a big blue canister
"Now this will do the trick!"

"🤬! Y-you sure? I thought rookies don't use NOS."

"Now don't worry, it will just add a few extra HPs, you wanna beat that RSX-R, right?"

"Yea I guess, I just don't like dying very much!"

"Come back tomorrow, you'll get some advantage for the Twin Ring Motegi race."



RACE DAY

A did some pretty good practise laps, or so I thought until I saw what lap times the RSX-R driver was doing.
He passed by the pits with a wide grin, guess he doesn't mind those few dents I made in his car while trying to pass him on the corner.
Damn poser.
A few others were pointing my car in the pit area and laughing.
"Look, this guy has enough NOS to blow him up to the orbit!"


After the warm-up lap, on the main straight...
Watching the red lights go off, 3 gear, and floor it!
The RSX-R passed the leading S2 in the first corner, I managed to get in the slipstream of other S2s heading for the back straight.
I was 5th in the last turn, with a blue S2 in front of me.
"Okay, let's see what this thing does."
After changing to 3th gear, I hit the red button.
Engine revs raised rapidly and I heard the front wheels lose grip, going 140km/h.
"Oooh ffffff:censored:!"
Blue S2 looked like it was going backwards now, as I went by it.
Changed to 4th gear, tires still smoking, 5th, 6th, no difference.
Speedometer ran out of dial, and I heard the gearbox making grinding sounds. In the middle of the blur, I saw the next turn closing in.
I hit the brakes as hard as I could, but that didn't seem to do much.
I tried to avoid the other cars in the turn, my rear wheels lost that little grip
they still had

"I'm gonna die I'm gonna die!"

The car bounced in the air from the rumble strips, and landed sideways on the sand, stopping in the middle of it.

My heart was still beating 200bpm, I heard the team boss speaking in the headphones.
"Are you all-right Archie-san?"

"I was sure I was gonna die!"

"Well, better luck next time."


I'm not sure that was a positive comment?

 

[Arppa83]

ANd here's the obviously long awaited next chapter! Woohoo!
I'll be doing about 40 more, when i get a National A license.

No seriously, this is the last one and then i'm done



AMERICAN ROAD TRIP

The last race of the Protype serie was held in Seattle.
I was starting from the back of the grid, as usual.
Rolling start, revs up, and GO!

This track was pretty tricky, I was struggling to keep my car on the road.
In the uphill section, I was catching on the others. I missed the braking point after the last jump, and slammed on the back of a GSX-R (not RSX-R, as i wrote, oops) going in front of me. I saw it bashing into the wall in middle of the smoke.

"Damn, he's gonna be p***ed!"

Last lap, chasing a yellow GSX-R.

"Can't overtake him on the turns, he's much faster... the straight is my only chance!"

After the turn I hit the nitrous button
Tires screeching, I was closing in..
going side by side on the last 100 meters...
still can't outrun him even with nos!
FINISH!

Yay! I managed to get a few meters gap between the GSX-R.
Finally, some much-needed credits!




After the race, my team boss told me to come see something.

"Okay, so you need new wheels.
I saw something at the car dealer... it's heavy, normally-aspirated, rear wheel drive..."

"Yess, the Camaro?!" I thought.

"...it's a Volvo!"

"Whaaa...?"
On the parking lot was sitting a rusty, yellow station wagon Volvo.

"It's a 240 GLT, I think that's a luxury model or something."

"Hmm what those letters GLT stand for?
Not "Getting Laid Tonight" i suppose... at least you could pack A LOT of chicks in there if you could get any with it..."
I woke up from my thoughts when he started it up, engine jammed on the high revs.
"DAAAAMN, SHUT IT DOWN!!!"
He got out of the car, and ripped something off the engine.

"Now it should work. You wanna drive?"

Dash looks nice, at least the clock works... oil indicator blinking all the time.

We pulled off, with a trail of smoke and oil behind us.
"You think this thing is gonna last all the way to the harbor?"






hm that's it, going back for some racing

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

Pretty interesting those ones actually 👍

 

[Arppa83]

Yesterday, I saw what I've been looking for in the used car lots...
a metallic purple '97 (or was it 93?) Camaro...

The only thing was, I had poured 40K into tuning that poopoo-ish
Volvo Estate... it's still very after that, too slow for any race class but too tuned for Sunday Cup.
So I was missing about 10 grands of the prize tag.
Took a couple races to collect the money, and when I came back the car was already sold!
DAAMN.

 

[AERO_HDT]

This is a great way to improve your driving skill and a fantastic way to enjoy a game you've already finished. By re-doing the entire game with 'competitive' and difficult cars (no fun beating a Cappuccino in a Viper is there?), Gran Turismo will take on a whole new meaning for you and you'll start appreciating the finer points of the game and the subtle nuances of some cars that you never would have thought of driving before.

Just be careful that you don't overdo the mods...

 

[Arppa83]

Yes it's been pretty fun...
I went to the Japanese Compact Car Cup with the Mitsubishi i , weird car I must say... first I thought "whoa this handles strangely for a fwd car", which it looks like, didn't know it was MR until I looked at the charts in the garage.

If I had a wheel I think I could have had pole position in some races with stock tyres, now I used sports medium tyres for qualification and stock "luxury" wheels for races.
It was quite understeery when braking from high speeds, had to throw it into a drift to get through some corners.
I got 196 A-Spec points for races, pretty good so far.
Won 3 of the 5 events, and champioship gold.
Wasn't too easy

I still hadn't seen the Camaro I was looking for, so I thought I could do some more races and bought an used Toyota Yaris F, and fitted it with a turbo to compete with the RS models.
First race was a nightmare, it just goes straight in the corners
"Turn dammit!" but no, it just understeers itself outside the track.
Probbly the worst car I've driven so far.



Btw I had a pretty funny co-incident in real life, when I was coming from work yesterday, related to that used purple Camaro in GT that was sold before I got the cash for it.

Yesterday, I saw what I've been looking for in the used car lots...
a metallic purple '97 (or was it 93?) Camaro...
Took a couple races to collect the money, and when I came back the car was already sold!
DAAMN.

So I was going home, and what do I see parked on the driveway in front of my house? Yes, a purple '97 Camaro!
"So that's where it did go"
Looks pretty cool IRL too.

 

[Risei]

XD lol thats creepy

Nice reports aswell!

 

[Autofreak4986]

Good luck, Archie!

Oh, and when you get to the Muscle Car Competition (American Events hall), watch out for the Buick Special...especially if the driver's right on your tail!