GT5's Philosophy towards realism and tuning the hell out of your car

  • Thread starter Thread starter fatmonkey
  • 19 comments
  • 3,410 views
F

fatmonkey

Messages
3
Hi!

Absolutely loving this sim, hooked up a T500 RS (what a difference!) and now finding it fantastic. Played driving games for 20 years, this is probably overall the best.

My main question to other users is do you think there is a line to draw with regarding to just tuning up your car to the point that it no longer really resembles the original perhaps spoiling the character of the individual car. The issue I have is, for example: Take the "Vitz" race in the beginner A-spec level. The car that we have been awarded for one of the other beginner races (I forget which) has no chance of holding out on the main straight against the other cars of the same model, no chance at all. Does this suggest that GT5 expects you to perhaps a little unrealistically heavily upgrade your car?

One other question which im sure has been asked many times before is why is there no access to mechanical damage in A spec? I dont care much about external damage from a visual point of view, more the motivation to not ram another computer opponent out of the way. In arcade mode this is of course possible, seems odd that it is not in the main feature. I reached level 24 and still can't see it anywhere.

Thanks for your thoughts.
 
Last edited:
fatmonkey
Hi!

Absolutely loving this sim, hooked up a T500 RS (what a difference!) and now finding it fantastic. Played driving games for 20 years, this is probably overall the best.

My main question to other users is do you think there is a line to draw with regarding to just tuning up your car to the point that it no longer really resembles the original perhaps spoiling the character of the individual car. The issue I have is, for example: Take the "Vitz" race in the beginner A-spec level. The car that we have been awarded for one of the other beginner races (I forget which) has no chance of holding out on the main straight against the other cars of the same model, no chance at all. Does this suggest that GT5 expects you to perhaps a little unrealistically heavily upgrade your car?

One other question which im sure has been asked many times before is why is there no access to mechanical damage in A spec? I dont care much about external damage from a visual point of view, more the motivation to not ram another computer opponent out of the way. In arcade mode this is of course possible, seems odd that it is not in the main feature. I reached level 24 and still can't see it anywhere.

Thanks for your thoughts.
Click to expand...

A lot of the "to upgrade or not" discussion boils down to personal preference. Many people just "max out" the car and breeze the event, and simply chalk another one up. Others like to extract the maximum challenge from each and every race. I'm somewhere in the middle, and I will agree with you about the Vitz race - that Yaris was the first car I bought a turbo kit for!

As for mechanical damage, it was only included in a recent patch. I'm holding out for more features (like an event creator, as "promised" before launch) that may allow for damage in a more "A-Spec"-like environment.
 
The Vitz race issue you bring up is merely because you were against Vitz Turbo's and you were trying to win with a non turbo Vitz you won.
 
I haven't fully modified any cars, aside from the Kubelwagen, which I did for the lols.

My most powerful car is one of the ferraris or Lambos making around 600hp.
Nothing mad, alot of cars I'll put a couple of things on like the sports cat, sports exhaust and racing filter.

I really don't find changing a car into something completely different, if I was gonna do that I may as well have bought a faster car.
 
I modified as much as I thought I needed at first, and in truth probably did need it. However for fun recently I have gone back and tested to see what I can win with to check if I've improved and in some cases I can see that I have. Where I needed an upgraded car to win beginner races at first I can now take something underpowered right out of the used car lot and win most of those races.

It also helped me see that the AI is pretty handicapped in those races to help out. I might be down 100hp and lose time in the straights but their breaking patterns help me come back.
 
The game really encourage tuning up your car on most of the event. If you look at the typical oppenent list, it often shows cars with a bit more horsepower then their stock version.

I found that tuning up a car horsepower up to match the typical oppenents will often result in a race that is easy to win. So I usually start with upgrading the tire to sport soft than I try to win the race using slipstreaming as much as possible. This give very intense and satisfying races.

The other weakness of the AI is fear. AI Driver will brake a bit early and ensure they have full control (most of the time) when going through curves while I will often brake at the last minute and be slightly putting the car at high risk of collision... Something I would never do with a real car. And that causes some imbalance in the some races IMO.
 
I do feel that the game expects you to tune your car in some situations, but I'm sure you could beat every race with a stock car if you so desired.

The only cars I've tuned to the max were the Viper ACR and the Cobra, mainly just to see how fast I could get them going down LeMans (plus 230mph in a 900somethingkg car with very little downforce is just awesome)

I might give A-spec a go with no tuning at all with my GTP account, see what happens.
 
I think it's a matter of preference for the player and how they want to challenge themselves. Maximizing a car also brings cost to the table, which can take time to recover or you might even end up losing money.

The way most people play the game is to minimize the cost and the number of races, which is a good challenge IMO. There's some strategy involved in purchasing a car, what races you can enter with it, and tuning it for those races to get the most out of your money.

The seasonal events used to be a good gauge of how I personally wanted to play the game, with the restrictions and all. And I believe some people at PD might have had the same ideas before they gave in and took off the restrictions. Now, similar to the a-spec races, it depends on the player. A good example is on the 207 Monaco seasonal. You don't even need to tune anything at all to get the gold, but I see some folks saying they needed this and that HP or this and that tyre.
 
fardoche
The game really encourage tuning up your car on most of the event. If you look at the typical oppenent list, it often shows cars with a bit more horsepower then their stock version.

I found that tuning up a car horsepower up to match the typical oppenents will often result in a race that is easy to win. So I usually start with upgrading the tire to sport soft than I try to win the race using slipstreaming as much as possible. This give very intense and satisfying races.

The other weakness of the AI is fear. AI Driver will brake a bit early and ensure they have full control (most of the time) when going through curves while I will often brake at the last minute and be slightly putting the car at high risk of collision... Something I would never do with a real car. And that causes some imbalance in the some races IMO.
Click to expand...

If your car is new, you have to break in the engine. I think thats why the A.I cars have more horsepower because their car is already broken in 💡
 
I'd say that tuning is the single most subjective thing in the entire game. An example would be that there's ten people who run with x upgrades at y settings(with minor variances) and have a night-and-day moment whereas the next ten people who try these settings will fail horribly and change them. It's all down to what works best with your driving style and, to a lesser degree, your gaming setup.

My tune, which is set up for a 900 degree wheel might not work as well with your 1080 degree wheel or your DS3.
 
Ya Pops
Congratulations! I hate you! ;) 👍
Click to expand...

lol don't worry mate my bank account hates me too!!! Imagine if my wife found out what it REALLY cost............


Cheers for all the replies, I am definitely of the opinion that it is much more fun to race the cars as they originally come as one of the things that I find most appealing about the sim is the massive and impressive variety in feeling between models especially now I'm running a T500, amazing difference from a gamepad which I was very used to. Heavily upgrding just feels like cheating to me and spoiling the authenticity, maybe I'm over-reacting..... Changing tyres is the only thing I feel cool about.

I think though that taking the Vitz race again as an example that it would make more sense when putting a particular make/model restriction on an event it would be better if all cars were the same, I challenge anyone to say they have won that race without a single upgrade (including tyres) of any kind? I regard myself as a pretty reasonable racer but can't do this one....


Judging from what you mentioned Griffith500 about the mechanical damage only appearing in the patch, are we hoping to see it patched into A-spec at some point? Would make such a difference..........
 
fatmonkey
do you think there is a line to draw with regarding to just tuning up your car to the point that it no longer really resembles the original perhaps spoiling the character of the individual car.
Click to expand...

What does that have to do with realism? Tuning in GT5 is pretty tame except for race modifications.

The only line a draw with tuning is permanent tunes since I can remove anything else. If I want a weight reduced car, I'll buy a second one.
 
I can't think of anything you can do in the game that you can't do in real life. There are *plenty* of things you can tune that aren't allowable in game. I don't understand how tuning a Yaris is unrealistic.

People do more to their actual daily drivers than I do to most of my in-game cars.
 
I think it's great to have that option. Some GT5 players are just kids, and in a game, you have to account for their gameplay, too. Being able to tune/upgrade cars to an extreme keeps the game accessible to everybody, whether it's modifications for fun or if it's necessary mods to be able to win a race. It suits a broad audience.

Personally, I like cars close to stock, because I prefer that challenge. But there's nothing unrealistic about slapping a turbo on a car, or racing tires, or a new tranny, or lightening the car a bit. The modifications don't appear to be out of whack in terms of realism.

I do like races like the Vitz race because it forces people to explore that part of the game, like the way the NASCAR and FGT races force you to explore tuning, to a degree.
 
I normally do the basic cheap upgrades on every car: oil change, high flow catalytic converter, air filter, and ECU. Sometimes I add the cheap exhaust, but not always. It's not that I think I need the extra power, but these upgrades provide so much power for so little cost that it seems silly not to add them.
 
When it comes to tuning to win I try the minimum necessary approach. I have yet to do any permanent changes to one of my cars.. ie weight reduction, block upgrades.

As far as tuning for fun. I tune to the point I feel like the car is getting "sloppy". I only tune to my limit.

As far as all improvements being available in real life.. I challenge anyone here to upgrade the ecu in their OLD caburated cars.

Play however you need to to enjoy the game. It is afterall your game.
 
I have never been a big fan of tuning the cars. Last night I re-did the Japan Championship in a stock Legacy B4 GT 2.0GT b.spec 03' against the 330hp+ AI cars.

I lost by 15 points in the end, but it was way more fun than the time I beat it with 30 second leads in every race.
 

Latest Posts

Back