After 3 years I finally have achieved THE GT3 milestone: 48 gold licenses. Untill 2 weeks ago I never managed more than 42 - 6 - 0. All missing gold licenses were S licenses: S2 - S3 - S5 - S6 - S7 - S8.
And guess what? It did not seem all that hard. 12 days ago I started a new game and began the gold hunt. The big difference from other tries is that this time I used manual on all tests except the rally licenses. The time spend playing GT4 Prologue payed off handsomely. After 2 days (some 12 hours) I had all B, A, IB, IA and the first 5 R licenses. Even IA-8 came rather fast using manual.
After that I did not play every day but in two nights (some 5 hours) I finally managed R6. This test keeps me puzzled still. I really cannot tell for sure what is it you have to do to improve your time in this lesson. Of course the obvious things help like finding the right braking points, keeping on the gas as much as possible and driving the shortest line possible while getting the maximum exit speed out of each hairpin but the way to approach each corner seems kinda random. In my (final) goldrun I had a good split time but since I switched off the ghost I only realized that I had the gold after crossing the finishline.
The other R licenses: R7 I got in about an hour and only 15 minutes later I had R8 in gold (only 5th run!). The reason that I got R8 this fast is because of knowing the course so well (what do you expect after 3 years of playing
After this I hessitated starting the S licenses. I did some beginner league races first and even the time trials which I managed all in a day. Even TT10 came within 6 completed laps to my surprise. Before it had taken me weeks to pull it off. The big trick was using manual gear change. This helps a lot, I cannot stress this enough!
I had tried S3 some months ago but could not pull it off. When I started the S-licenses I started out with S3. Using manual I managed a silver medal in 3 runs and 2 hours later I had the gold medal. Being smooth is the key in this test. Combined with good corner speed in the second part of this test it all came together finally. One down, 7 to go.
Right after this I started S4 because I remembered this as a relativly easy test. Wrong. It took me some 3 hours over 2 days before finally getting the gold. The final hairpin was my weak spot in so many runs. I had been consistently faster than the demo after T2 but messed up the hairpin almost every time. Finally I got it right. Not too much sideways getting out of the hairpin I beat the required gold time by the smallest of margins (some 0.04 of a second).
On to S1. This prooved to be easier but the chicane before the final straight was the hard part in this lesson. Getting good exit speed without getting sideways was the thing to do. So in some hour and a half this gold was done. 3 down 5 to go.
The first time around I had a hell of a time getting bronze on S2. This time it took me about an hour to get the gold by almost half a second. Finding the right breakpoints was the most important part. The demo run is very fast in the first sector but after that there are a lot of possibilities to gain back on it. Not entirely wall free (not intentionally though) but when you finally see the gold award appear it does not matter one bit. 4 down, 4 to go.
After that satisfying gold I started the next day on my other frustration: S6. I got the tip to stay in a higher gear to go through the corners. This helps a lot especially in the first corner and in the cork-screw. After some good runs I still was struggling with the final corner. In my gold run I had such a margin after T3 that a mediocre last corner got me the gold. I think I actually might start to like this test 5 down, 3 to go.
Now the Trueno in the wet, S5. While I like the track I do not particularly like this combo and I had tried before to get the gold but never succeeded. This time it came together pretty soon. The main tips are to stay in a higher gear (3rd) for entering sharp corners and switching down a gear when the car is stable. This way you gain a lot in the left corner onto the first straight towards T1, in the hairpin and through the chicane towards the home straight. In about two hours the gold was there. 6 down, 2 to go.
Two more left to go and where to start? I decided on S7. The day before yesterday I started this test and spend some 2 hours on it but could not get more than a silver some 0.7 of the gold time. The hard part is getting the breakpoints right and learning when to use what gear. The Griffith likes to spin when under full power exiting corners. Using higher gearing when going through sharp corners and switching down when the car is stable is the key to a good time (like S5). Yesterday it took me an hour and a half to get it down and the gold came with some 0.2 to spare. 7 down, one to go.
I decided to have a go at S8 right after that. This lesson had been my true nemisis the first time through the game. In another thread I told how it had me put away the game for months. Using a DS1 controller and auto gear changing I simply could not do it. I bought GT concept which had the reward of all licenses in bronze after completing and used this to finally move on with the races. After that I learned about using manual from this site and within 3 runs I had a silver medal
Now, using the tricks from S5 and S7 I managed gold within an hour: 1.27.047 ! And I still lost over half a second compared to my best sector times in this run. Using 3rd gear as the lowest gear really, really helps. Knowing the right lines even more, but after 3 years and completing the game 100% twice already I knew the course already by heart.
So 3 years after I bought the game my quest is finished. Using manual and knowing the tracks and the specifics of most car's behaviour I did it. Anyone care to take longer to repeat this?
CooperS
And guess what? It did not seem all that hard. 12 days ago I started a new game and began the gold hunt. The big difference from other tries is that this time I used manual on all tests except the rally licenses. The time spend playing GT4 Prologue payed off handsomely. After 2 days (some 12 hours) I had all B, A, IB, IA and the first 5 R licenses. Even IA-8 came rather fast using manual.
After that I did not play every day but in two nights (some 5 hours) I finally managed R6. This test keeps me puzzled still. I really cannot tell for sure what is it you have to do to improve your time in this lesson. Of course the obvious things help like finding the right braking points, keeping on the gas as much as possible and driving the shortest line possible while getting the maximum exit speed out of each hairpin but the way to approach each corner seems kinda random. In my (final) goldrun I had a good split time but since I switched off the ghost I only realized that I had the gold after crossing the finishline.
The other R licenses: R7 I got in about an hour and only 15 minutes later I had R8 in gold (only 5th run!). The reason that I got R8 this fast is because of knowing the course so well (what do you expect after 3 years of playing
After this I hessitated starting the S licenses. I did some beginner league races first and even the time trials which I managed all in a day. Even TT10 came within 6 completed laps to my surprise. Before it had taken me weeks to pull it off. The big trick was using manual gear change. This helps a lot, I cannot stress this enough!
I had tried S3 some months ago but could not pull it off. When I started the S-licenses I started out with S3. Using manual I managed a silver medal in 3 runs and 2 hours later I had the gold medal. Being smooth is the key in this test. Combined with good corner speed in the second part of this test it all came together finally. One down, 7 to go.
Right after this I started S4 because I remembered this as a relativly easy test. Wrong. It took me some 3 hours over 2 days before finally getting the gold. The final hairpin was my weak spot in so many runs. I had been consistently faster than the demo after T2 but messed up the hairpin almost every time. Finally I got it right. Not too much sideways getting out of the hairpin I beat the required gold time by the smallest of margins (some 0.04 of a second).
On to S1. This prooved to be easier but the chicane before the final straight was the hard part in this lesson. Getting good exit speed without getting sideways was the thing to do. So in some hour and a half this gold was done. 3 down 5 to go.
The first time around I had a hell of a time getting bronze on S2. This time it took me about an hour to get the gold by almost half a second. Finding the right breakpoints was the most important part. The demo run is very fast in the first sector but after that there are a lot of possibilities to gain back on it. Not entirely wall free (not intentionally though) but when you finally see the gold award appear it does not matter one bit. 4 down, 4 to go.
After that satisfying gold I started the next day on my other frustration: S6. I got the tip to stay in a higher gear to go through the corners. This helps a lot especially in the first corner and in the cork-screw. After some good runs I still was struggling with the final corner. In my gold run I had such a margin after T3 that a mediocre last corner got me the gold. I think I actually might start to like this test
5 down, 3 to go.Now the Trueno in the wet, S5. While I like the track I do not particularly like this combo and I had tried before to get the gold but never succeeded. This time it came together pretty soon. The main tips are to stay in a higher gear (3rd) for entering sharp corners and switching down a gear when the car is stable. This way you gain a lot in the left corner onto the first straight towards T1, in the hairpin and through the chicane towards the home straight. In about two hours the gold was there. 6 down, 2 to go.
Two more left to go and where to start? I decided on S7. The day before yesterday I started this test and spend some 2 hours on it but could not get more than a silver some 0.7 of the gold time. The hard part is getting the breakpoints right and learning when to use what gear. The Griffith likes to spin when under full power exiting corners. Using higher gearing when going through sharp corners and switching down when the car is stable is the key to a good time (like S5). Yesterday it took me an hour and a half to get it down and the gold came with some 0.2 to spare. 7 down, one to go.
I decided to have a go at S8 right after that. This lesson had been my true nemisis the first time through the game. In another thread I told how it had me put away the game for months. Using a DS1 controller and auto gear changing I simply could not do it. I bought GT concept which had the reward of all licenses in bronze after completing and used this to finally move on with the races. After that I learned about using manual from this site and within 3 runs I had a silver medal
Now, using the tricks from S5 and S7 I managed gold within an hour: 1.27.047 ! And I still lost over half a second compared to my best sector times in this run. Using 3rd gear as the lowest gear really, really helps. Knowing the right lines even more, but after 3 years and completing the game 100% twice already I knew the course already by heart.
So 3 years after I bought the game my quest is finished. Using manual and knowing the tracks and the specifics of most car's behaviour I did it. Anyone care to take longer to repeat this?
CooperS
. It was great!
