FGT Championship tips!

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hazellnut134

hazellnut134

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joehazell
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hazellnut134
Hey GTplanet, I just finished the Formula GT Championship today, and just wanted to share a few tips with anyone who's struggling.

Practice the races before you enter the Championship. If you do, you'll find them a lot easier, and you need to gold them all for 100% completion anyway.

Practice using the car. You'll get used to it if you practice the races.

Don't use 1st and 2nd gear. Enter every corner at 3rd gear or higher. 1st gear corners can be an exception. You'll spin out if you exit corners at a low gear with full throttle.

Use TCS. I'm good at GT5, but TCS still helps loads. I kept it at 5.

Throttle control is very important. Keep at half your max speed through corners.

Buy a wheel! (optional)

Use ABS. Obviously.

Change your oil!

Don't change to rain tyres for rain. It's never rained on Monza and Suzuka for me, but from what I hear, Soft tyres work best. I guess it makes the race easier, as some people lap the AI.

Take a break every now and then, or you will become mentally worn out like I did. :lol:

Add maximum downforce. This increases the PP of your car!

Change your top speed for each track. I hardly did this, but it should help you gain an extra second gap between you and the AI.

I think the AI boost. Some people say they do, and it seems very likely. I can only get a 5 second lead maximum.

You can cut corners. You can cut some corners on Monza, these are pretty obvious- like the second corner (for Monza). Also, you can go nearly full speed into the second corner on fuji as well, and then you can go a gear higher than recommended on the next bend, where you can overtake the AI.

Concentrate.

And above all, NEVER GIVE UP!

Will update with more tips if I remember any!
 
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Totally agree about golding each race individually first. That way, not only does it provide good practice, you can most likely skip at least one race during the points Championship and still get overall gold for the Championship. 👍

Meaning, if you already have a gold in a specific race, you may not have to gold it in the Championship, too, if you don't need the points from a first place finish to actually win the Championship.
 
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I cannot remember my settings but a wheel is not vital. I clearly won on my first attempt with a controller. Consistency of lap times is hugely important though, because the AI can catch up really fast.
 
I practiced by running the championship. After a couple tries I was good enough to win it. Then I did the races I didn't win in the process. I think I might have had to redo Suzuka once due to silly mistakes. Cote d'Azur took two tries because the slow ignorant parking AI is homicidal.


My own tips:

Tune your gears, it helps a lot.

Find a better suspension setup either online or by tweaking it yourself.

Max aero.

Ignore 1st gear and only use 2nd in some extremely tight corners.

Roll through the slow turns a bit, rather than hard brake and gas into & out of apexes.

Stay wide when following the AI.

Lower the rear brake pressure.

EDIT: Use Sports Hards max. Use Sports Softs max.

Be patient. You don't need to be in first by lap 3, and there is massive boost pulling you to the front(I think) and dragging them behind you(for sure).

Don't ever cut corners. Ever.

Slow down more. Cruise through the corners & you'll gain on them while finding out how much faster you can go.

Take a break between races.

Don't forget - this is fun.
 
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I agree with everything said (except the sports hard tyres maybe. Lol)
Here are the transmission speeds for each track in order. Kmh of course.
380
380+
330
350
380
360
 
I don't think the AI does boost, any time gained on you is perhaps them maintaining tires better?
 
Feralshooter
I agree with everything said (except the sports hard tyres maybe. Lol)
Here are the transmission speeds for each track in order. Kmh of course.
380
380+
330
350
380
360
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Oops that was a typo, I meant sports softs. If you're fast I'm sure it would still be fine, but then you also wouldn't be looking for tips. For the rest of us, sports softs are the way to go.

Race hards are seriously overkill, you'll be having a hard time just not running them over once you're used to the car. It's still plenty easy to make up ground and work through the field on SS, twice if necessary. Maybe RH for Monaco since that track is its own challenge and passes are tough.


But the AI does boost heavily. You'll gain 2-3 seconds per lap while working through the field, then get clear and start running 3 seconds faster than you were before and they'll still catch back up to you. The tires don't wear, but you can overheat them if you push really hard and make some mistakes too.
 
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sumbrownkid
I don't think the AI does boost, any time gained on you is perhaps them maintaining tires better?
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Try pulling over/spinning out and let the whole pack pass you. Running the same lap times that had 2nd right up your backside before will haul in the new first place by 5-10 seconds per lap. Once you're back in first you can't lose them by more than 5 seconds even if you improve lap times. Can only be boost.
 
Feralshooter
Try pulling over/spinning out and let the whole pack pass you. Running the same lap times that had 2nd right up your backside before will haul in the new first place by 5-10 seconds per lap. Once you're back in first you can't lose them by more than 5 seconds even if you improve lap times. Can only be boost.
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yeah, I've faffed around with this too, seems there is a boost factor to you and the AI where needed. I flipped my car on the first corner at the ring (gp track) on lap 4 and still came back from last in under 2 laps.
 
Your comments on boost is a good one I think. I've started the championship several times and given up before the end of the first race every time. Each time I've got into the lead by lap 3 or 4 and started to pull away only to have cars all over me two laps later! What's that all about? It has to be boost as my lap times didn't change enough to explain this any other way.
Frankly I'm not at all impressed by this series in the game. But now at least two of us think boost is involved I may just hang back until lap 16 or 17.
 
byegad
Your comments on boost is a good one I think. I've started the championship several times and given up before the end of the first race every time. Each time I've got into the lead by lap 3 or 4 and started to pull away only to have cars all over me two laps later! What's that all about? It has to be boost as my lap times didn't change enough to explain this any other way.
Frankly I'm not at all impressed by this series in the game. But now at least two of us think boost is involved I may just hang back until lap 16 or 17.
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It's no problem to stay in front of them, just don't expect to ever get away by more than 5 or 6 seconds. Once they get within a second or so, they slow back down to their usual pace of a couple seconds per lap slower than you and drop back again. These races really are just an exercise in patience and staying consistent.

You can just hang back and pass them in the last couple of laps, but in my experience it is a LOT harder to drive behind them than in front of them because they try to kill you repeatedly when you are behind them.
 
Morgoth_666
It's no problem to stay in front of them, just don't expect to ever get away by more than 5 or 6 seconds. Once they get within a second or so, they slow back down to their usual pace of a couple seconds per lap slower than you and drop back again. These races really are just an exercise in patience and staying consistent.

You can just hang back and pass them in the last couple of laps, but in my experience it is a LOT harder to drive behind them than in front of them because they try to kill you repeatedly when you are behind them.
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Yes but they are oing that to me now before lap 10 on the first race because they've caught me and are looking for a way past. Once one touches you you're 10 in an instant. I'm thinking stay back and try to time my passing late enough in the race that I don't get ahead then get caught before lap 20, and early enough to allow time to fight past them all.
 
Whatever helps you win. :)

Personally I always felt safer in front of them, as they usually only got close enough to see my tire smoke. When I was behind they'd constantly ram me at unexpected times with their gearboxes, unsettling my car and making me crash back to 10th from there. Once in front it was only my erratic driving I had to worry about.
 
I only golded this few months ago.l was the last race to complete in the series. my first attempt of the race i gave up when i saw all racers shot pass me. this was back in febuary 2011.

Then my experience with the game got better then i did it and won all races with out restarting.
 
I've done it twice. First time was leading the whole way until I bombed on the last two races and came 2nd overall. Next time I blitzed the feild until the last race. Was winning but wanted to change some settings and had saved before the race so quit game instead of turning off the system. Of course when I came back I had quit the championship. Ouch.
 
I re-tried the Suzuka race today, and I remember why it's the only race in the game I haven't won yet. It's a difficult track and the boosting of the AI makes it extremely annoying. One thing I can't remember, how many times do the AI pit in? Is there a winning strategy that avoids us having to pit? Or is a pit stop mandatory?
 
No-one pits in these races. Race softs will last the whole race no problems so tyre choice is more about how challenging you want it to be.
 
Feralshooter
No-one pits in these races. Race softs will last the whole race no problems so tyre choice is more about how challenging you want it to be.
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OK thanks. I get 3-4 laps in then I ditch it. I'll try the patience technique next try.
 
FGT championship, Y U NO like me? I always lost my concentrate after 15 laps at first race, then my G25 FF gone to weakened. And I spun more often...etc, etc....
 
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If there is boosting, would someone like to explain how I was able to lap the field at Monza in the lightest rain I've ever seen in the game? And no, the AI didn't pit at that end of the first lap, or any other lap for that matter.

It is good to win each race individually though. It takes the pressure off for the championship.
 
Tired Tyres
If there is boosting, would someone like to explain how I was able to lap the field at Monza in the lightest rain I've ever seen in the game? And no, the AI didn't pit at that end of the first lap, or any other lap for that matter.

It is good to win each race individually though. It takes the pressure off for the championship.
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Due to the rain they used intermediate tyres while you used (faster) race softs?
 
Don't know what they ran, but yes, I was on race softs.

If they don't pit at the end of lap 1, I think they should be on race hard tyres.

I do mean really light rain as well. As in raining on the back straight but not on the front straight.
 
Haven't driven this car in a long time, so I did some testing tonight at Monza. No rain - in fact I've never had rain in any A-Spec race with 4 left to win.

Racing Softs let me reliably gain on them below 1:22. I lost a big lead but would have been at least :30 ahead of them by the end if I hadn't. Sadly I never got more than :12 ahead to see if their pace changed beyond the boost I expect at about 4-5 seconds.

The worst mistake I made saw me go way off in the gravel at the second Lesmo corner with an 8 second lead. They got well in front of me(not sure the time gap) but I was able to retake the lead in Parabolica on a lap 10 seconds off my usual pace. They did park for me however, and were fighting with each other as I caught them.

My best laps were low :20s, I'm sure I could have gone a bit faster. I expect fast people to be at least 3-4 seconds faster than me anywhere. There's obviously a few more seconds to gain if you cheat the chicanes too. I could easily gain over a second per lap so lapping them is surely possible, and I've never been good here.

Replay showed their best laps to be in the 1:21.2 range, one car hit a :20.

Then I bought Comfort Softs. With them I easily gained and took the lead running :24s and :23s. I repeatedly easily pulled up to about 4 seconds but then screwed up and fell back. My best was 1:22.6 and I won with no trouble.

Their best times early were all :24-:26. Mostly :25s. After I took over the lead they became :23-:24, and in the second half of the race as I was constantly ahead by a couple of seconds they became all steady :23s. One or maybe two cars ran very high 1:22.

So I did seem to see some reaction by them for whatever reason, and they were significantly faster when I had the Racing Softs on. The RS tires did let me steadily overpower any boost that they did have. I'm rather surprised that there was only a 2.5 second difference between the two compounds, but I imagine I had a lot of time to find on the RSs.

More data might show more, but that's enough of this for now.
 
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I managed to win the Suzuka race yesterday afternoon. There is no doubt that the AI performance is at the very least strangely inconsistent. My lap times ranged from 1:37 all the way down to 1:31. Sometimes, even on a very slow lap, I would easily take 2-4 seconds off their lead. And then on a fast lap I could also take 2-3 seconds off their lead. I also noticed that besides boosting, I suspect that the player gets help in driving his own car. There were several occasions where my car seemed to right itself before going off track as if by divine intervention.

In any case I'm glad to have gotten the gold and now to be done with this infernal series.
 
My 2c, use comfort medium/soft. Trust me.
 
Matty
My 2c, use comfort medium/soft. Trust me.
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I actually quite enjoyed driving Monza on Comfort Softs. The car was still plenty fast enough, and it didn't seem quite as twitchy.
 
Morgoth_666
I actually quite enjoyed driving Monza on Comfort Softs. The car was still plenty fast enough, and it didn't seem quite as twitchy.
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Yep, it's easier to control cause it doesn't react to your inputs as fast so a drift is controllable. So basically you get similar levels of grip but with extra control.
 
hazellnut134
Don't use 1st and 2nd gear. Enter every corner at 3rd gear or higher. 1st gear corners can be an exception. You'll spin out if you exit corners at a low gear with full throttle.
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While the Formula GT isn't an F1 car, it's sort of like one, and F1 cars normally don't use their first couple of gears when making their laps. In the pit lane and coming off the starting grid is about it. Monaco might be an exception, with that exceptionally-tight hairpin.

hazellnut134
Use TCS. I'm good at GT5, but TCS still helps loads. I kept it at 5.

Use ABS. Obviously.
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These aids are still crutches that help less-skilled players limp along. Players can use whatever aids they like, but doing so isn't a strategy that results in the player getting better. I did the FGT events with ABS 0 and TCS 0. Again, while the FGT isn't really an F1 car, it should be pointed out that in real life F1 cars aren't allowed to have TCS or ABS.

hazellnut134
Don't change to rain tyres for rain. It's never rained on Monza and Suzuka for me, but from what I hear, Soft tyres work best. I guess it makes the race easier, as some people lap the AI.
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Shame on Polyphony. In reality this would never work. Unless the "rain" is just a light drizzle (barely getting the track damp), rain tires are always faster in reality; in the rain, of course.

hazellnut134
Add maximum downforce. This increases the PP of your car!
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Maximum downforce isn't always beneficial. If you look at NASCAR versus Formula One, there's a world of difference between their levels of downforce, but in NASCAR you don't need tons of downforce for oval racing, especially with banking. If you look at F1 in real life, whose engineers know a billion times as much about setting up a car as what you or any other GT5 player knows, they usually don't run a maximum-downforce setup. At Monaco they run as much as they can get, but on most tracks they don't, and on Monza they run as little as they can. This is because the extra drag created by all that downforce slows your top-end speed, and you get to a point where what you gain in corners is overshadowed by what is lost in straights.

Ideally you would run in a sweet spot where your gains are highest relative to your losses. Little downforce helps straight-line speed, but means poorer cornering. High downforce improves cornering, but at a loss of straight-line speed. It is best to use whatever amount of downforce results in the gains exceeding the losses most, and on most circuits maximum downforce isn't the way to go.
 
I second Ice Man on the down force statement. I haven't run the whole championship, but when I did the Monza race with a minimal downforce setting I managed a 1:19.2 for a best lap (without cutting) simply because of the extra speed on those long straights. Alas, despite running very consistent 1:20's I only won by 5ish seconds, there's that boost for you.
 
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