Budget Car Challenge

  • Thread starter Airrider
  • 1,553 comments
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I think I've made a good choice, but curious how you guys are doing. Without posting any specifics, and understanding that different cars will fare better on different tracks, what are your early times at Trial Mountain? I'm turning low 1:43s, and curious if I'm on the right track.

Also, any thought of making this a real-time race series as well? We could get some cash and experience while running what should be a very close battle if we organized online. Wins still may not mean anything for the sake of not discounting someone playing at home in a cave, but it should be fun.
 
i would if it was restricted to premium cars.

You could waste hours looking for the best car at the UCD instead of racing, not to mention spending 2/3 of the budget on upgrades (completely disfiguring the car).

Lancer Evolution III GSR '95 Power 271 HP Weight 1260 kg Torque 314 Nm
Price: 16,923 Cr
 
awesome, looking forward to this.... spent the last few hours going through different cars/combo's. think I've settled on one.

couple of quick questions, is anyone bothering to upgrade there tranny?? $6-8ooo is a large chunk of the budget....
And has anyone noticed much difference between the $3000 fixed sport suspension, and the $4500 height adjustable? is it worth the extra $1500???

and my tip for any of you struggling, spend $1500 on a rear wing!!, swapped a clutch out for a wing , and dropped nearly 3 seconds....
 
Crit
I think I've made a good choice, but curious how you guys are doing. Without posting any specifics, and understanding that different cars will fare better on different tracks, what are your early times at Trial Mountain? I'm turning low 1:43s, and curious if I'm on the right track.
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I expect the winning build to be running between 1:30-1:32...
And I can tell you right now, I don't expect to win, lol.
boone_501
couple of quick questions, is anyone bothering to upgrade there tranny?? $6-8ooo is a large chunk of the budget....
And has anyone noticed much difference between the $3000 fixed sport suspension, and the $4500 height adjustable? is it worth the extra $1500???

and my tip for any of you struggling, spend $1500 on a rear wing!!, swapped a clutch out for a wing , and dropped nearly 3 seconds....
Click to expand...

The need for an upgraded tranny will be based on what your car comes with stock.
The 4500 is better than the 3000 suspension in the fact that it allows you to adjust some stuff. If it's enough to justify $1,500, that's up to you.
The rear wing is a good idea, I didn't even consider it when I built mine earlier tonight :/
 
I'm turning low 1:43s, and curious if I'm on the right track.
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I´m already below 1:40. Rearwing is a very good Idea if your car turns out to be powerful (the most I got so far is 400hp), especially with no TractionControl or Hard Tires.

I think most people will go with Sport Soft Tires.

So far, non of my other tryouts beat my first choice, the ´96 3000GT VR-4.
Still I have some ideas left. There are a couple of promising cars. Just need to grab them at the dealership.

I´m looking forward to all the different choices of yours. This is a thrilling challenge. I Like It. 👍
 
Adrenaline
I expect the winning build to be running between 1:30-1:32...
And I can tell you right now, I don't expect to win, lol.
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I reckon you're right there.

Now then, I have a bit of a question... Let's say we've driven the car to the point it's lost power from engine wear; are we allowed a "free" rebuild? Also, I'm assuming the oil change on a new car does cost?
 
I just did 11 laps and my car looks like it got involved in a pile up on the way. :lol: It's amazing how much damage you can inflict just through time trials. Word of advice kids, sideways into a wall is not healthy for your car. :embarrassed:

Are we allowed to post action shots in here?
 
i've submitted a time.... keep going faster the crashing grr! talk about being on the raggediest of ragged edges at points
 
Oh, and can we also decide that paint and wheels are free? I want to take this Lemons racing idea online and see how I fare, but I don't want to look like every other same-colored used car.
 
Yeah, no problem.

Maintain your cars in between events. I don't really think a bunch of worn out cars make for good racing.
 
1:30-1:32 time? That's tough to reach with my current setup. But I'll join for fun anyways!

Also, another few loose ends to tie up.
i) Let's say we have a close transmission in the budget, and the second race is for a raceway like indy, could we switch it back to the stock transmission? (Parts which came with the car orginally)


hyyperactive
Looking at the list there are few cheap cars, like the ALTEZZA Touring Car which does cost only 35k or so and probably comes with racing tires of some sort and is light, powerful and has adjustable suspensions and gearboxes...

Maybe leave racing cars out totally?
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I think it's not allowed as stated here:

Airrider
For those worrying about cars like Skylines appearing everywhere, from what I know that's enough for a used Skyline of some sort, any set of Sports tires and rather light tuning afterwards. Cheaper cars, though, will net one more tuning options. Stealth preorders which came for free and pre-race-prepared or pretuned cars (the Spoon vehicles, HPA Stage II, etc.), however, are not eligible.
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I'd be interested in this, when i find a cheap car in the UCD that takes my fancy i'll register it... theres too much choice available to think of a car i definately want for this haha :P

EDIT:

Found an Astonishingly cheap car for the price, gonna give it a blast and see if its a worthy choice... :P 1.36.3 on my first 4 laps. Not Bad. :P
 
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TimberW
1:30-1:32 time? That's tough to reach with my current setup. But I'll join for fun anyways!

Also, another few loose ends to tie up.
i) Let's say we have a close transmission in the budget, and the second race is for a raceway like indy, could we switch it back to the stock transmission? (Parts which came with the car orginally)

I think it's not allowed as stated here:
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I think that the intent is to build a car to one spec and effectively freeze it at the start of the season. If we impose a 50k cap on the car and allow people to swap parts on and off between races, still under the cap, I think that violates the intent.
 
Crit
I think that the intent is to build a car to one spec and effectively freeze it at the start of the season. If we impose a 50k cap on the car and allow people to swap parts on and off between races, still under the cap, I think that violates the intent.
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Yeap, that's a grey area at the moment. It will make it more competative if you can't swap out parts, and make you choose your parts more wisely. Cause a close-transmission is only good for tight tracks. And also tyres for each race, is the tyres fixed for the season? It'll be good if we could get clarification on this.

But of course, if you've got adjustable parts, such as suspension/LSD, you can tune it accordingly between races right? Just to make it black and white. :)
 
Nice ideal, It is this kind of user thinking that really can bring the life and enjoyment out of the game. Just wished online settings had very in depth user defined restrictions in order to build the ultimate races. Or I would love to have this kind of stuff for arcade time trials if you had a bunch of friends over, each pick a car and set a records laps (however have it so they can enter their own initials by the record time.
 
Yeah, if you have adjustable parts you can tune your car accordingly. Trade-off, of course, is that adjustable parts can get expensive. That's why I'm doing things by a season-by-season basis. If you want to make a new car you have to wait until next season to make your alterations: otherwise, just make do with what you have.

And...greenlightning, what's up with your text? It's barely visible.
 
Airrider, that doesn't clarify the parts which we have within our disposal for use, under the 50K limit. Cause the car came with stock parts, could we still swap back and use them? Or is the car parts is fixed for the whole season?
 
I'm going to say that the parts are fixed for the whole season, or at least this first one.

If that changes, the expect such changes to only be allowed every two events or something like that.
 
Airrider
I'm going to say that the parts are fixed for the whole season, or at least this first one.

If that changes, the expect such changes to only be allowed every two events or something like that.
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Thanks for the clarification
 
I did couple of laps and tried few different things and the best I got was a 1:34.5 and I think just by more driving I go about 1.5 s faster. I did it with a wheel all aids off. What kind of times are you guys getting?
 
Airrider
Seasons won't go on too long. I think each season will be monthly starting from February on.

Every two weeks you'll be allowed to swap your parts, and every month you'll be able to change cars.
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You posted this on page 1

Airrider
I'm going to say that the parts are fixed for the whole season, or at least this first one.

If that changes, the expect such changes to only be allowed every two events or something like that.
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This on page 3.

Pick one, and add it to the OP for everyone to easily find.
My personal opinion, is to avoid complications you don't need, or you risk scaring people away. The less work, tests and variations people have to do, the more they're willing to just build something and race it. Start putting too much time and effort into weekly tunes, bi monthly part changes, and the average players like myself, will be less likely to compete, as it may feel more work than fun. I don't mind getting beat by a better car/driver, but the idea of getting beat, simply because someone spent 10 times the effort re-arranging their car parts every week is just annoying. Keep it light hearted, keep the casual players involved. :)
 
Why not do it like the fin's... At the end of each event any competitor can offer to "buy" any other competitors car for a straight trade and a competitor must accept... This way an extra element could be added to the series. Seeing a car that you tuned get passed around from racer to racer, racking up the miles. This is just an idea but i think it'd be cool
 
MrDinosaw94
Why not do it like the fin's... At the end of each event any competitor can offer to "buy" any other competitors car for a straight trade and a competitor must accept... This way an extra element could be added to the series. Seeing a car that you tuned get passed around from racer to racer, racking up the miles. This is just an idea but i think it'd be cool
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Extremely annoying, since 90% of all the cars entered probably had to be hunted down from the UCD. And this is coming from a guy, who doesn't even expect to be amongst the fastest cars.
 
If any of you are like me, and are currently grinding your way through A-spec, stuck in the low level 20's, you probably dont want to waste much time in practice mode/time trial, NOT earning any XP/$$ 👎

so here's my solution..

Go to A-spec / Expert / Polyphony Digital Cup / Trial mountain.

Here you can do a 5 lap race, against relatively low powered opponents, but still have a challenging race, whilst earning $32,670 and 4273 Xp.

best car i came up against was a Nissan GTR '07, which i managed to beat by 2.5 seconds.:)
Plus , i managed to beat my best time by a further 3 seconds, mainly because of the competition spurring me on. this has brought me down into the VERY low 1:30's! now i just need to replicate that time in time trial!

hope this helps!
 
Adrenaline
Extremely annoying, since 90% of all the cars entered probably had to be hunted down from the UCD. And this is coming from a guy, who doesn't even expect to be amongst the fastest cars.
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Yea but it's encourage people to keep searching for better cars... and rather then going event by event, you could do season by season... it would add another element to the whole idea
 

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