Am on a Mission

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Prenote to Moderators: I have used the search function and did not see any threads i could use over, therefore i created this one. If you think there is a thread i might have overlooked and more appropriate to use, feel free to move/close this one.

The purposed of this thread is to present myself and to share my plans on finishing/completing GT5-P



PRESENTATION

Since I recently joined in and signed on this forum GTP, I haven’t presented myself properly, therefore I would like to correct this matter and do so today.

I through fully enjoy racing games and anything related to cars (so long as the games are not too arcady because I have never really been an arcade gamer, I have yet to try BurnOut Paradise)

Anyways my point is that I want to share with you my history with GT and what my point of view and expectations are for GT5.

I am not very good, and far from it, I am still learning (especially drifting which I would love to master) but here is my very light experience with racing games:

One game that is still etched in my mind is:
- The very first Need For Speed, a game I enjoyed very much and to this day, still believe it is the best NFS game!

I then had Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 1 and 2 on PC, which I had fun being a delinquent running away from the law.



Unfortunately, due to school I decided to take a break from this favorite past time of mine, and it wasn’t until years later that I finally decided to buy my first PS (One slim) after having randomly heard about Gran Turismo’s reviews and praises… so I convinced myself to give it a chance and went ahead to buy the console.
But I took a short cut and instead, I bought GT2 when it first came out, understanding it would be very similar to GT, but with more features, cars and slight improvements over GT(1), therefore I considered myself having not missed much from the experience.

Right from the start, I loved it! Instantly when I popped the CD in. I still remember that moment…
I kept the game and played it for years, even when GT3 came out on PS2.
Being still in school at that time, money was an issue for me, so I had to skip on getting the PS2, along with GT Concept, and GT4 Prologue etc…
So during all this time, I had a blast trying to complete GT2 to the fullest… to this day, I don’t consider myself done with it… I got all the Gold Licences and tried to get the most cars possible, along with winning every race in first place. Having done all that, I am still not the best driver, and think that I still have much to learn about driving…

When GT4 was about to come out, at that time, I could not let this game go by without me playing, and worst yet, I could not even bare the thought of me skipping it, so I decided to buy the PS2 (slim) (my first PS2) because of GT4.
Again same scenario as above, I tried to go through the games entirely, and proceed in completing the game step by step, almost religiously. But back then, I started having my first real job, along with young adult responsibilities and going out more often, and therefore I had significantly less time to dedicated myself to games, let alone GT4. I nevertheless got all the Gold Licences and finished almost all the races in first place. I didn’t complete GT4 to the extend that I did with GT2, and even now, I am still hoping to find the time to finish it.



MY DRIVING CONFIGURATION

I never had played GT with a steering before, I wish I had the chance to, but never bought a steering due to money and my living situation, which was not convenient and practical for me to justify an investment on such equipment, since I don’t game often enough or at least as much as I had wished for.

Anyhow, during all this time, the controller has serves me well, and believe it or not, to this day, playing with the D-pad is the best configuration for me. I never really got used to and never got into using the left stick (neither the right for that matter). Maybe that’s why I still suck at driving LOL… It was all with D-pad and X and “square” and of course the L1 and R1 for shifting. Yes! Manual baby, since day one!

I play ONLY and exclusively in Manual Mode without any driving aid, just like in real life. (For info, my cars has been a bmw E30 325i, an E30 320i, E36 328i, all in manual, and you know those have no aids whatsoever, aside from ABS on the e36, and NO traction control even in my e36).

Along with Manual transmission, the other thing i must have is the “helicopter/chase” camera view following the car in the back. I find it much easier to place the car and to detect any slight lose of grip or under/over-steer, which is crucial for me to correct the car instantaneously, without losing much time right away.

I have always hated the bumper or Roof and In-Car views because too restrictive and too hard for me. I could not judge well enough the behavior of the car in those views. By the time the car loses grip or isn’t heading where it’s supposed to be, it would be too late already. (It’s not like in real life where you have more visual inputs and g-force to inform you.)

I consider myself as a Grip driver, by default of NOT knowing how to drift :P, and so the Helicopter view was the best for me to this day, especially to know when to shift at the right moment, I had to to have a visual of the car. Plus my fetish is to look at the car and have always liked watching my driving from the outside.



BEFORE GT5'S RELEASE

Last year around this time, believing that GT5 was soon to be released, I decided to buy the PS3 along with GT5 Prologue to get myself ready. And in anticipation for the full version. I continued playing with the controller D-Pad and X and Square… :) finishing all my licences in Gold.

But a few months ago, I finally decided to play with the Official steering that I bought… what I difference that makes, I love the additional sensations and the added immersion you get from that equipment. And for that reason, I even bought a real bmw e30 driver seat that I found in the car salvage yard. Since then, I love playing with the In-Car Cockpit view, (my 50inch plasma screen also help a lot :D) I no longer play with the helicopter view and much less with the Controller.

In short, this equipment has given a new life to my GT5Prologue experience and I am really learning how to drive properly now with something else other than a controller LOL.

That’s why now I am feel that I want to go through GT5-P from the start again because learning to drive with the steering is so much fun, and I definitely welcome the added challenge. It’s as if I am learning from scratch, it’s different and almost harder for me, transitioning from Controller to Steering. I mean: It feels much more natural to drive and I am able to shave a few more seconds here and there, but I am still going through the learning curve, being so used to the controller. For certain cars, I even drive better and faster with the controller. LOL. My goal now is to reverse that and get myself 100% comfortable with the steering … before GT5 comes out!

Getting myself ready for GT5 release and to experience it with my real car seat, the 50inch plasma and the surround sounds… it will be killer! I am tempted to buy the G25 ;) should i?

In the mean time here are my goals:




SIMPLE EXPECTATIONS

As far as GT5 is concerned, I am giving 100% of my trust to Kaz, and believe he is going to give us something great, no matter what it is… I would still be happy, having more cars to play with (even tho I know those are mainly cars from GT4 and GT-PSP), but the graphics is just an eye candy… I could not care any less about damage or tire marks or weather change. I am already sold as is, even if it’s only a GT4 with better graphics. I am pleased with the GT formula, and no need to change it. I just want to learn how to drive better and to drift… not to crash better or look at my car being destroyed… the whole purpose of racing is to finish first and drive/drift cleanly… I don’t care about crashing.

Do you have something similar in plans and expectations. I am surely squeezing every drop of pleasure out of the GT5-P experience… until GT5 comes out.



CONCLUSION

I might not be the most hardcore GT player, and certainly not the best driver out there, but that does not prevent me from liking and appreciating GT a lot. For me, that’s the racing (sim) game with the best compromise.


Thanks for taking the time to read, i hope this makes your wait for GT5 a bit easier.

cTZNoFtIME
ps: sorry for my bad english :P
 
Wow your table is very detailed and planned. I was also very similiar to your situation, except that I still can't afford a wheel. So to improvise, I changed the X and square configuration to L2 & R2 for brake and gas and left analog stick for steering. Slightly better than x and square, but definitely not as good as a wheel.

Nice read up and I enjoyed it!
 
I do a similar thing to you. (though I have used wheels in GT since GT4P)

I test every car I get in the game around select tracks and various benchmark tests (depending on the GT version) and when I have 100% I just keep buying, testing cars and enjoying the cars, this is the reason I still play GT4 today and haven't completed half of what I wanted to.
I have gone through GT5P pretty much everything I wanted to do (owned GT5P for almost two years) but still play it quite often for the driving.



BTW I agree with the original NFS, fantastic game (for it's time) and IMO the best NFS by a good margin.
 
Just curious. How was the 1st ever need for speed like? Arcadey or quite real? Seems like alot of people have very good impressions of it.
 
Also my first post here and I think your story is great!
Fun to see you set your goals.

Here's a (tiny) screenshot of The Need For Speed:

s_0.jpg
Cockpitview :)
 
Nice read... Good luck on your endeavour.. 👍 Its a pity you werent here about 1 year ago when GT5:P was in its prime... presently it has died out a lot... :) And if you can get your hands on a G25 or G27... I recommend you do... other wheels in that class are also amazing... ie. Fanatac RS wheels...
 
Just curious. How was the 1st ever need for speed like? Arcadey or quite real? Seems like alot of people have very good impressions of it.

Very real for the time, arcadey and dull if you go back now. Originally a 3D0 game, it was ported with mild updates to Saturn and PS1. I bought a PS1 after NFS was a bargain game (still pre-GT) and enjoyed the heck out of it. No analog support at all, it's a pre-DualShock game as well. If you find a copy that isn't scratched for a system that sits unused in your closet, get it.

👍
 
Just curious. How was the 1st ever need for speed like? Arcadey or quite real? Seems like alot of people have very good impressions of it.

Definately on the real side, well as real as was available at the time. Cars felt good, did great realistic burnouts, cockpit views and it had quite long point to point roads through country side, hills and highways. Just fantastic.

The physics by todays standards would be quite basic, but it was solid, featured understeer and oversteer, general good car feeling but there is only so much you can do with a D-pad the hardware calculations.

IMO the best thing to come out of EA.
 
Wow. I guess I definitely would have enjoyed it if I had gotten it last time. Thx for the synopsis.

Now just gotta wait for GT5.
 
Jay
(re: Need for Speed)
IMO the best thing to come out of EA.

Agreed after some thought.

Point-to-point roads .... yum.
 
Oh wait... not the very first NFS... but rather the Road and Track NFS SE (special edition) on PC. That's the one i was referring to.

Which has a tad better graphisms than as shown by "HanTheMan"
http://eanfs.tripod.com/nfssescrnshot.html

The driving physics was really good, and you could really feel the weight of the car, something i didnt feel they were able to reproduce in the NFS2 and beyond.

Jay
Definately on the real side, well as real as was available at the time. Cars felt good, did great realistic burnouts, cockpit views and it had quite long point to point roads through country side, hills and highways. Just fantastic.

The physics by todays standards would be quite basic, but it was solid, featured understeer and oversteer, general good car feeling but there is only so much you can do with a D-pad the hardware calculations.

IMO the best thing to come out of EA.

i agree with all the above... it even had races at different time of day. (but of course it was preset and not dynamic) not extraordinary you might say, but it was pretty good at the time.
 
Wow your table is very detailed and planned. I was also very similiar to your situation, except that I still can't afford a wheel. So to improvise, I changed the X and square configuration to L2 & R2 for brake and gas and left analog stick for steering. Slightly better than x and square, but definitely not as good as a wheel.

Nice read up and I enjoyed it!

LOL... that's because you havent seen the other excel worksheets i made :O

Knowing that i get distracted easily, but at the same time, i wanted to go through the game and keep track of my performance...
so i had to find ways to keep myself focused.
Outlining a step by step program was my solution :p




And just to keep you guys up to date,
I got every car in the game in my garage now... and i am currently finishing all the Constructors' Race while at the same time getting my bank to 2 Millions... i should be done by the end of the week...

And after that, i will be working on my Steering skills and cut down my time with each car on each track... and learning how to drift... Fun Fun until Christmas time!
 
Latest News of my progress on GT5-P:
(one day before the 2010 E3 GT5 news announcements)

- of course i already Got all the Licenses in Gold
- Got all the cars in the game
- i finished all constructor's race in Gold (except for MB SL which i cannot get GOLD, it's been months!)
- got 2 F1 cars
- working toward getting more F1 for GT5 trading.
- practicing with each and every single car on every combination of tracks


so that's my way of killing time before GT5 comes... keeping my hands and finger warm and ready! The wait (hopefully) is soon to be over guys.

👍
 
Well done. I guess you need a new goal. What about the top time trial record for each track and car? There have been some people who actually tried to do this and sort of succeeded up to a certain point :) You will certainly run out of time before the GT5 release, though ;)
 
you guessed it right... my ultimate goal would be to top the charts in all configurations...
but that's such an huge amount of work...

i could push myself to do every day and every night... unfortunately my real life is taking way too much of my time already... :(



it was the same for GT2 and GT4, but because Prologue is a "shorter" game, i am able to go this far and accomplished much more than in the previous two games.


that's why i like GT games so much, the life of the game is so much longer than any other games. (at least for me, i cant get enough and tired of doing laps after laps..)


it's almost an addiction like for some going to Vegas each weekend to gamble...


there is no stop to it...
 
unfortunately my real life is taking way too much of my time already...

That's quite a surrealistic expression :)


There are a number of games you can spend an endless amount of time on. Great value of money, I would say. At least you can try to get one #1 time before GT5 is out.
 
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