GT infant requires some pablum

[Tic Tach]

Ok, so I figure I'm king of the noobs here. I'm not a big gamer, but bought a PS2 years ago when the first SSX came out, and have played those, a little GTA, ATV, WRC, and Colin Mcrae 3. That's about it, and just with the std controller.

A few years ago I built a dedicated (dark) home theatre room (13' x 19') for watching movies, utilizing a Panasonic AE900 720p projector, 7.1 surround sound, and a 96" (diag) screen. It's pretty sweet, and I do have the PS2 hooked up, but as I have numerous other hobbies/past-times/activities, Gran Turismo just escaped my radar. I know, I know.....what a retard.

As the dreaded Fall & Winter months are not too far away, I started thinking about some gaming entertainment, which lead me to Gran Turismo........which lead me to the G27 wheel.........which lead me to a Playseat. As I'm a pretty handy guy, I thought of building a playseat myself, but then I thought "where do I get a nice seat to start with?"......so I just ordered the Playseat today, and will be getting the G27 wheel very soon.

I'll be just sticking with the PS2 and GT4 for now, and will get a PS3 when GT5 comes out.

So as I know absolutely nothing about the cult......errr.....game of GT, I'm open to any & all tidbits of advice to get going on the right (ahem) track. Things like: Are there cars that one should or should not acquire? (I'll be partial to the Subaru). Buying? Maintaining? etc, etc, etc. As Al Pacino said in Scent of a Woman: "I'm in the dark here!"

 

[DK]

First, start off with a Mazda RX-7 FC3S when you've finished the licences. That will get you through the Japanese 90's Championship. If you like overkill, buy a '91-'99 FD3S and do both the 90's Championship and the Japanese Championship. For the Special Conditions hall, do the tarmac rallies first, so you can win some rally cars to do some proper racing in.

 

[PF]

I'd do it differently.
EDIT: Rule 0: Read hundreds of posts on gtplanet and use the advanced search function to find answers to your questions.
1: Turn off all AIDS and learn to drive the car 'as is' if you use arcade mode. When you get to GT mode:
2: Do at least the first three licenses and get at least silver medals for the first two tests. Then do at least the first ten missions; they're easy and will give you money and a prize car for the first ten. The licenses and missions are well designed to teach you how to take the different corners etc and will teach you the basics (and far more) of GT4 racing.
2a: NEVER sell a prize car from a license or series of missions, because you can't get them again. You've got room for 1000 cars in the garage, and you never know when you'll need one of them.
3: My suggestion would be to buy a '92 Evo for just under 10 grand (or something with similar performance and price) then spend some of the mission prize money to give it a bit more guts. Turn off all AIDS and do the second race championship in the Special Conditions hall, winning the Toyota Rally RSC. Sell it for 265k. You now don't need to worry about credits and can concentrate on acquiring and racing cars rather than doing the Sunday Cup four times just to get a turbo engine.
4: Visit the 3 used car garages and buy a few cars you like. Many (perhaps most?) of these cars can't be bought or won, and the lineups change every 7 game days so check regularly.
5: You can now start on the alarming number of race series in GT4. Don't bother with the Spec Con hall unless a) you love rallying in GT4 or b) you need some more credits. Beginner, Pro, Japanese and American halls would be the best to start with. There's no order you have to do any races or series in, just pick series that look interesting or for which you have the necessary car/s.

From here it's largely up to you as to how you approach this enormous game. My main advice is to race cleanly; don't intentionally bump/smash the AI or otherwise abuse the flaws in the physics engine of the game. Don't enter vastly-overpowered cars to events because you will not learn how to race, which is the point of the game.

I'll try to edit some more stuff on as I think of it. Until then, good luck, and remember that the search function is your friend.

 

[mafia_boy]

Welcome to the world of Gran Turismo Tic Tach. PF has said most of what needs to be said, so mine are just methods about going about the game, and it just adds to what he said above and they go as follows:

Method 1:
1. Start on your licences straightaway to allow you to race the various events you will encounter. There are 16 parts to each licence class (B, A, IB, IA & S) plus 1 coffee break test each licence class. You get various trophies for passing the tests (gold, silver & bronze), with you winning up to three prize cars at the end of that set of tests depending on your performances (ie. gold in all of the tests). That's 15 prize cars in total from the 5 classes. This will improve your driving techniques in the game and learn GT car control.

2. Buy cars you want from the used car lots and the manufacturer showrooms if you don't want to use your prize cars (some are only obtainable once as PF's mentioned!). With 2nd hand cars, pay close attention to buying the 10.0km (6.2mile, depending on whether you use miles or kilometers) cars. Although they cost a little bit more initially compared to a high mile version, they are better as they are more powerful, don't require chassis refreshing (which costs 50,000cr.!) and you know that it's basically a new car.

3. Race to your hearts content. Like PF said, get used to the car without car controlling aids (ASM, TCS) and enjoy the different things that you can do that made GT4 the most realistic racing sim at the time.

Method 2:
1. Buy a car straightaway for under $10,000. in the first week. The best choices would be the Lancer Evo '92 for around $8500, followed by the Toyota Glanza V for just over 5,000 which gives you money for some quick mods like a chip and racing intercooler.

2. Race some events that don't require a licence in the beginner events area and test your skills straightaway.

3. Go gain the licences you require as you progress through the game.

Both of them are tried and true methods of going about it to start off in the right direction.

 

[GTsail]

Welcome aboard Tic Tach!

PF and mafia boy have done a great job of laying out some guidelines for beginning a GT4 racing career.

I would like to emphasize the following:

Step One: Obtain the first two licenses (they really help teach you how to drive the cars and you begin to learn the tracks). Bronze is ok. Obtaining these two licenses will give you two prize cars that can be used early on in the game.

Step Two: Buy your first car. There is no "perfect" first car. PF's recommendation is an excellant one. Or you can use the advanced search function and find some other threads that talk specifically about what car to buy for your first car.

Step Three: Make sure that you do Mission # 1 first (there is a game glitch that you want to avoid), and then do Mission # 2 thru # 10. Note, you can't do the Missions until you finish the first three License Tests.

Step Four: Buy all the Subaru's that you can! (see my Avatar)

Step Five: Enjoy the racing!

Respectfully,
GTsail

 

[Giygas]

Welcome Tic Tach!

If you ever need a certain car but can't find it, it's more than likely that it's a prize car. If I were you, I'd look up the prize car list here, as it's chock full of useful info.

Heres the link: https://www.gtplanet.net/guides/index.php/NA_Prize_Car_List

Also, I'd get a Subaru Impreza as soon as possible to enter the Stars of Pleiades championship in the Subaru dealer. If you win, you get one of the better touring cars in Gt4.

 

[Tic Tach]

Awesome! Those are just the sorts of things I was looking for in terms of guidance. I should be ready to go with the Playseat and G27 in about a week. Is there a later release of GT4 that will play on a PS3, or should I just acquire any old used version for my present PS2?

Also, when I go to purchase a PS3 when GT5 comes out, is there any advantage to the new slim? What size hard drive do I really need?


Thanks for the replies.

I'll try to edit some more stuff on as I think of it. Until then, good luck, and remember that the search function is your friend.

Yes, I have done some searching, but hopefully it can be appreciated just how overwhelming the information is - especially when one is completely unfamiliar with the whole world of GT. It's like handing my grandmother a controller and dumping her into the vast realm of Grand Theft Auto. Cheers though, and thanks for the help.

 

[Apok]

Awesome! Those are just the sorts of things I was looking for in terms of guidance. I should be ready to go with the Playseat and G27 in about a week. Is there a later release of GT4 that will play on a PS3, or should I just acquire any old used version for my present PS2?

Also, when I go to purchase a PS3 when GT5 comes out, is there any advantage to the new slim? What size hard drive do I really need?


Thanks for the replies.




Yes, I have done some searching, but hopefully it can be appreciated just how overwhelming the information is - especially when one is completely unfamiliar with the whole world of GT. It's like handing my grandmother a controller and dumping her into the vast realm of Grand Theft Auto. Cheers though, and thanks for the help.

Any PS2 game will only work with the first 60gb release of the ps3 and I haven't heard of a newer version of the game that would work with later PS3's

And the new slim version of the PS3 has less overheating problems (or so I've heard) and it's smaller of course. Other people will probably know more about the slim vs fat versions.

 

[dylansan]

A few things to remember:
If the prize car says, "this Prize can only be won once," don't sell it. In particular, the Pagani Zonda LM from the mission hall. These cars usually can't be aquired again unless you trade it from another game save.

When you do the missions, do Mission 1 first. otherwise, there will be a glitch where it won't consider that mission complete.

Otherwise, just try to go through the races with cars that are reasonably competitive, not overkill, not impossible. That way you can get the most enjoyment out of the game.

 

[Apok]

One thing to remember would be, that if at the race is "worth" 60 A-spec points that means, that your car is equal to those of your competitors, so this would be the perfect challenge in most cases. Sometimes you have a bunch of slow cars and one really fast car and it will be worth 60 points, so the A-spec rule doesn't apply to all races.

 

[GTsail]

First race:
If you follow the suggestions above, you will have purchased your first car after completing at least the first two License Tests.

You will now have to decide what race to try first.

My suggestion for your first race is to enter the Sunday Cup races in the Beginner Hall using the car that you just purchased (perhaps the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo). This race Series can also be won using the Pontiac Sunfire GXP Concept car that you received as a prize car after obtaining the Domestic A License (Bronze level). These races will give you a quick taste of easy races in GT4 (but won't win you much money).

When you're ready for a greater challenge, PF's suggested Capri Rally race in the Special Condition Hall would be ideal, especially since selling the prize car yields $265,000 (note: its ok to sell this prize car, since its a car that can be won again by just re-running the Capri Rally)(just don't sell any prize cars that cannot be re-won). The 90's Challenge in the Japanese Hall (as suggested by driftking18594) would also be a good early race series since the prize car for it is a NISMO 400R R33 which can be used to win a bunch of races.

I recently began a new game and my first six races were as follows:
1) Sunday Cup (Beginner Hall) driving my: Pontiac Sunfire GXP Concept
2) FR Challenge (Beginner Hall) driving my: NISMO 270R '94
3) FF Challenge (Beginner Hall) driving my: Pontiac Sunfire GXP Concept
4) Capri Rally (Special Conditions) driving my: Pontiac Sunfire GXP Concept
5) Silvia Sisters (Nissan One-Make) driving my: NISMO 270R '94
6) Civic Race (Honda One-Make) driving my: Honda Civic Type R EP '04

If your first purchase is a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, you should be able to use it in the 4WD Challenge (Beginner Hall) series.

The NISMO 270R '94 is the prize car for the completing the International A License at the Bronze level. The Honda Civic Type R '04 was purchased from the Honda dealer.

Have fun!
GTsail

 

[Tic Tach]

Thanks all!

 

[Anathema]

If you are lucky, you can find a Civic Type-R, but the price is $9,990.
Unless you want to throw away almost all of your money, don't buy it.
Buy the Evo or a Mirage Cyborg ZR (if you can find it.)

 

[mafia_boy]

One thing to remember would be, that if at the race is "worth" 60 A-spec points that means, that your car is equal to those of your competitors, so this would be the perfect challenge in most cases. Sometimes you have a bunch of slow cars and one really fast car and it will be worth 60 points, so the A-spec rule doesn't apply to all races.

Actually, it's 100pts if your car is equal to the others in performance. I'm not necessarily talking about straightline performance either, more along the lines of your cars power to weight could be better than the other cars. Just a day or two ago I was racing a fully worked Nissan Primera (Stage 3 turbo, 325hp, all the bits except weight reduction) at Le Sarthe II and came up against the Zonda C12 (395hp), SL55 Merc (475hp), Spyker (450hp), Viper SRT-10 (507hp) & Shelby Cobra (475hp). This gave me a 101pt. race and while I was between 70-170hp lower than they were and slower in the top end by about 10-15km/h, my power to weight was around the same or a little bit less and I had a wing which put the ball back into my court.

If you are lucky, you can find a Civic Type-R, but the price is $9,990.
Unless you want to throw away almost all of your money, don't buy it.
Buy the Evo or a Mirage Cyborg ZR (if you can find it.)

Or, you could follow my suggestion and get the Starlet Glanza V which is cheaper than both, has better mid-range performance and more tuning options. The Mirage is an absolute gutless piece of trash, the only reason I have to touch it is for the Mirage Cup. A better purchase for similar prices would be to get the '95 DC2R Integra Type R for just under 7,800 or the Mitsubishi Eclipse turbo which is around the same price, but the Integra can be bought as a 10.0km version with the '98 DC2R (it's Silver), same with the '95 Eclipse, you can get a 10.0km version.

Seperately, the $9990 Civic you're talking about is the high mileage EK '97 version. You're better off getting the '98 high mileage version for a few dollars more (I think $10,500....not much more) as it handles better and is slightly more powerful, and there's a 10.0km version of it around too. But the best of the Civic's are the Spoon Civic '00 (quickest FF in the game) and the Honda Civic EP '04 which is just as quick after modifying them (you can get 11.4's & 11.5's in the Spoon on the 400m, the EP gets 11.5's & 11.6's on the 400m).

 

[Tic Tach]

Muahahahaha......I just walked in the door with my new G27 wheel from Best Buy. For the Canadians here, after a little denial and arm-wrestling, they matched the $285.23 price from DirectCanada, over the regular Best Buy price of $350.00 I also bought a new copy of GT4 from them as it was only $20.00

Amazon sent me an email today saying that my Playseat order has been shipped, so it won't be long before my tanned face will become the colour of chalk......like that guy in the movie "Powder" - LOL.


*Edit: Actually, Best Buy also took an additional 10% off of the difference, to make it $278.85 (+tax).

 

[Apok]

Actually, it's 100pts if your car is equal to the others in performance. I'm not necessarily talking about straightline performance either, more along the lines of your cars power to weight could be better than the other cars. Just a day or two ago I was racing a fully worked Nissan Primera (Stage 3 turbo, 325hp, all the bits except weight reduction) at Le Sarthe II and came up against the Zonda C12 (395hp), SL55 Merc (475hp), Spyker (450hp), Viper SRT-10 (507hp) & Shelby Cobra (475hp). This gave me a 101pt. race and while I was between 70-170hp lower than they were and slower in the top end by about 10-15km/h, my power to weight was around the same or a little bit less and I had a wing which put the ball back into my court.

Where on earth did I get 60 then?

*backs away slowly*

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Hi, welcome here Tic Tach, have a donut.

...and what do you mean by "dreaded fall and winter?" I'm personally looking forward to both seasons, partially because I happen to love colder weather, and partially because GT5 is coming out just 4 days before my birthday. Now here's a few tips...


> Be aware that this game has artificial Driving Aids installed on every single car you drive. If you're not familiar, these are traction & stability controls which can be adjusted in the Settings menu. Turn this crap OFF as soon as you feel comfortable doing so.

> If you're having problems with wheelspin (tire smoke), try putting TCS on "1", but in the long run, having all the Driving Aids ON will hurt you more than they'll help you. Most cars in this game will be able to offer their best performance with Aids OFF once you get good.

> Explore! Don't be in a rush for the fastest cars and the most money. Overkilling the game with the fastest cars when you're in easy races will only make your skill lacking once you'll get to harder ones.

..There's been a long, long line of gamers showing up here at GTP wondering why they can't "win the World Cup", even though they've got the fastest Group C automobile in the world. So they try to get Bob (that's the B-spec driver) to win it for them...only problem is Bob can't handle these races, either.

....It's because they've rushed thru the game instead of honing their skills. Gran Turismo is a game of skill.

> final tip: understeer. I won't say anything else, other than to survive GT4, you'll need to learn how to deal with understeer!

 

[PF]

Yes, I have done some searching, but hopefully it can be appreciated just how overwhelming the information is - especially when one is completely unfamiliar with the whole world of GT. It's like handing my grandmother a controller and dumping her into the vast realm of Grand Theft Auto. Cheers though, and thanks for the help.

Please don't take my comment as any kind of criticism; your post as a newbie is of the highest quality. It's just that the search function is very very useful.
But also rather crap. You need to use advanced search. Usually I choose 'search GT4 forum' in the right hand list. Often putting the search term in quotes helps. Also note the filters: Search posts/Search Thread Title and for display By Post/By Thread title. If you play with this it will help a lot.

 

[BobK]

Actually, it's 100pts if your car is equal to the others in performance.

Actually, no. It really is 60 points. Take any completely stock car that's eligible for a one-make race where all five of the AI cars are the same (Saleen S7, Citroen 2CV, Triumph Spitfire, etc). Go right from the showroom floor to the race, do not change anything and in particular do not get an oil change. You will invariably be offered 60 pts.

Anyway, some very good advice in this thread. One thing that cannot be emphasized enough is, licenses. Get them. You can skip the coffee breaks, by the way. Get them not just for the prize cars, although some of them will be very useful, but because they're driving lessons in disguise. Bronze them, and make a serious attempt to silver as many as you can. Save the gold for another day.

Also as mentioned previously, do not get into the habit of winning races simply by bolting on more horsepower. If yo fall into that trap, you will eventually encounter a race series that cannot be won on pure muscle alone. That race series is the Gran Turismo World Championship (GTWC), the last race series in the Professional Hall (there are others). But the GTWC is a key series, because you have to win it to unlock the entire Extreme Hall. One of the most common questions asked here on GTP is "How do I win the GTWC?", almost invariably by people who had won up to this point by just bolting on bigger turbos.

But the GTWC is down the road a piece; for now, enjoy the Beginners Hall and Professional Hall races, and whatever other events strike your fancy.

Oh, and most important of all, have fun!

 

[Tic Tach]

What do you mean by "dreaded fall and winter?" I'm personally looking forward to both seasons, partially because I happen to love colder weather

I guess everyone is different; I live in the Pacific Northwest, and for my particular mind & body, the gray winter months zap my energy. I must have a level of S.A.D.S. I absolutley love the heat & sunshine of summer. I was cycling in Italy last summer for 2 weeks, and it was 30 - 35c every day and I was in heaven!

Thanks for the great GT tips!

 

[Tic Tach]

Please don't take my comment as any kind of criticism; your post as a newbie is of the highest quality. It's just that the search function is very very useful.
But also rather crap. You need to use advanced search. Usually I choose 'search GT4 forum' in the right hand list. Often putting the search term in quotes helps. Also note the filters: Search posts/Search Thread Title and for display By Post/By Thread title. If you play with this it will help a lot.

Thanks; no, I didn't take your comment negatively. Without the nuance of facial expressions and tone of voice, text over the 'net often easily gets misunderstood both ways. Yes, I'm very familiar with search functions as I've been very active on other (non-gaming) forums. I guess I was trying to say that it's hard to know what specific questions to ask or search for when one doesn't know the first thing about the particular "worlds" of some games.

I just like to avoid starting in the game without knowing some basic things which will assist me in avoiding developing some bad habits.

Cheers.

 

[mafia_boy]

Actually, no. It really is 60 points. Take any completely stock car that's eligible for a one-make race where all five of the AI cars are the same (Saleen S7, Citroen 2CV, Triumph Spitfire, etc). Go right from the showroom floor to the race, do not change anything and in particular do not get an oil change. You will invariably be offered 60 pts.

Try telling you'll only get 60pts. to the AI in the 206 Cup & Opel Speedster Cup.

 

[BobK]

Try telling you'll only get 60pts. to the AI in the 206 Cup & Opel Speedster Cup.

The AI users two or more different cars in those races, I was talking about the ones where all five of the AI cars are always identical.

Besides, we both know that those two series are special; the AI uses cars that perform way above the level of stock, unmodified cars.

 

[GTsail]

BobK is entirely correct about the 60 points.

Stock vrs. Stock will yield 60 A-spec points.

The AI cars in the Opel Speedster Trophy and the Peugeot 206 Cup Series are not stock, and therefore give you much higher A-spec points.

Respectfully,
GTsail

 

[Azure Flare]

Welcome Tic Tach! Get the Suzuki GSX/R-4 ASAP, it will do almost anything you ask it to do.

 

[Tic Tach]

Welcome Tic Tach! Get the Suzuki GSX/R-4 ASAP, it will do almost anything you ask it to do.

I tried that, and asked it to paint my house and nothing happened. Is there a cheat for that?

 

[Apok]

I tried that, and asked it to paint my house and nothing happened. Is there a cheat for that?

Hmm. Are you sure you changed the oil?



Also:
I was right (about the A-spec points) for once

 

[PF]

Another trick that has worked for me:
At the beginning of every gaming session, spend 10-20min trying to gold one of the license tests. Ideally, you can practice a circuit that you're about to race in a GT mode series.
Example: My favourite license test is International A #15, the Merc Evo '91 at the 'ring. If I know there's a 'ring race I'll use this test as somewhere between Zen meditation and an aggressive pep-talk from a roid-rage football coach.

 

[mafia_boy]

The AI users two or more different cars in those races, I was talking about the ones where all five of the AI cars are always identical.

Besides, we both know that those two series are special; the AI uses cars that perform way above the level of stock, unmodified cars.

I know, I was just stirring because it was set up for that type of comment.

BobK is entirely correct about the 60 points.

Stock vrs. Stock will yield 60 A-spec points.

The AI cars in the Opel Speedster Trophy and the Peugeot 206 Cup Series are not stock, and therefore give you much higher A-spec points.

Respectfully,
GTsail

You know what's funny, is that for all these years I've been aiming for 100pt. races on FC+10's thinking, "oh yeah, I'm pretty even with those cars with my tuned up car". Atleast this is Mafs' lesson learned for the day.

 

[Tic Tach]

Even though I don't have my Playchair yet, I've been muckin' around with the game in arcade/TT mode and have come to following conclusion (in the words of Homer Simpson):

"There's an empty spot I've always had inside me. I tried to fill it with family, religion, community service, but those were all dead ends! I think this chair game is the answer."