Most hated mission?

[Lloyd87]

Well..
I think that the worst mission is the last one in Nurburgring with the Mercedes SLR, not because I don't like the mission, but for 2 reasons: first of all, it's the most difficult mission; second, I must wait 120 seconds before I can start the mission, and I get bored during that time. It's the only mission I have not done yet.

 

[sumbodycool]

Once you learn Nurburgring in and out, Mission 34 will eventually become your favorite mission. That 123 second wait is very annoying, but beside that, it is definitely the most fun/challenging.

 

[jdw]

Me like Nurburgring.
Me hate stupid silly McLaren on Nurburgring.
Me HATE 2 minute wait to drive stupid silly McLaren on Nurburgring! Hmmmph

Well, I haven't finished #34. I have the NA version.

Will it ever happen?

Other than that... I probably hated the Takata around Suzuka in #26 the most.
#13 was tough too. Still have the Superbird at Seattle and 92 around Sarthe left

 

[route_66]

I agree with Famine - Subarus at Suckuba. Lets see.........do I like Imprezas? No. Do I like Tsukuba? No. Do I like being repeatedly being beaten by a 360? No. Do I like paying £20 for a new DS2 after throwing one out the window? No.

Still I've finished them now. (@jdw - haha I've got PAL, 34's nice and fun! j/k)

 

[Bilgewater]

I hate all of them, but the one I really hate is the Superbird at Seattle. It's just not realistic at all because the Buick is much more powerful than the superbird.

It's also ridiculous how they made that thing brake and corner. Well, the problem is that it doesn't have any brakes, and it can't turn, but I'm supposed to beat a more powerful car that actually can handle and has got a huge head start on me?

No, Mr. Yamauchi, I don't think you'll be getting any more of my money simply because of that one mission. Forget the many bugs, the screen jumping, the loading problems, those asinine 24 hour endurances and just blame that one stupid mission for losing this once faithful customer.

 

[mcbain]

Screen jumping? Loading problems?

I thibk the slipstream battles are mucho boring.

 

[atlop]

I hate all of them, but the one I really hate is the Superbird at Seattle. It's just not realistic at all because the Buick is much more powerful than the superbird.

It's also ridiculous how they made that thing brake and corner. Well, the problem is that it doesn't have any brakes, and it can't turn, but I'm supposed to beat a more powerful car that actually can handle and has got a huge head start on me?

I hate this one too. Finally managed to beat it though by a very small margin. Many of the other missions are hard (but I actually did like the New York reverse 3 laps even if it took a long time to beat it), but the Seattle is just unfair.

 

[Skant]

I hate all of them, but the one I really hate is the Superbird at Seattle. It's just not realistic at all because the Buick is much more powerful than the superbird.

It's also ridiculous how they made that thing brake and corner. Well, the problem is that it doesn't have any brakes, and it can't turn, but I'm supposed to beat a more powerful car that actually can handle and has got a huge head start on me?

No, Mr. Yamauchi, I don't think you'll be getting any more of my money simply because of that one mission. Forget the many bugs, the screen jumping, the loading problems, those asinine 24 hour endurances and just blame that one stupid mission for losing this once faithful customer.

Not only is it possible, but it's _easy_.... if you know how to drive the muscle cars.

Here's the thing... many of those muscle cars could turn. I know the modern mindset is to assume that it was silly for those cars to include a steering wheel at all. But they really could turn. Their handling isn't even close to as bad as modern generations think.

GT4 actually reflects this correctly. And my friends are shocked when I follow their Lotus Elise through twisty city tracks in a stock 68 chevy camaro. And they're even more shocked when I pass them in the turns because I can't on the straight away! (The camaro is severely gear limitted on the top speed)

The muscle cars do not handle like modern cars. Their handling is definately more primative. But modern handling has advanced more in making cars easy to drive than it has in making them able to actually turn harder.

I highly recommend to everyone to learn how to drive the muscle cars well. They won't just soak up driver mistakes like modern cars will. So when you try to drive them, you immediately discover all your bad habits. But once you quell your bad habits on a car that punishes you every time you do them... and you go back to driving a modern car... you will find yourself suddenly _much_ faster.

You see, modern cars will tolerate bad technique without much complaint, but it will still hurt your lap times a lot. And because modern handling soaks up so many mistakes, it's hard to realize you're making mistakes... much less learn from them.

Plus the suspensions on those cars are much slower than modern cars... which really gives you a chance to analyze how weight transfer and dynamic balance work. Whereas, in modern cars it can often go by so fast that it just isn't registering at all with the driver.

It's really worth giving these cars a real try.

- Skant

 

[M3E30]

mission 13!!! i hated that mission!!! mission 34 was great!!! i loved it!

 

[Bilgewater]

Okay, so how does one go about getting the superbird to turn? I've tried using the steering wheel, but that doesn't work.

 

[hispeed]

I really hate mission 11. really really hate it!

 

[Teh_Loserer]

Well, I've managed to bead everything up to the Lancia at Monte Carlo. Not saying that one's hard, just that's where I stopped. Yeah, the Superbird was a pain in the ass. And I can drive the muscle cars pretty well, I think what was really holding me back was that I have a DS2. I noticed that if I don't use full steering input in all those sharp corners, but brake sooner, turn shallower and hit a little bit later apex that the car is afaster in the twisties. This is logical and makes sense, it's just hard to do in a car like that on a track like that. I bet it'd be much easier with a DFP to make sure you weren't turning the front wheels too much and sliding into walls as I was.

 

[atlop]

Interesting post snipped to save space.

Lol, when I watched the reply of the run where I finally beat the AI (three laps which I thought was pretty perfect), I noticed my driving was just horrible. Not smooth at all. So you see your mistakes all right!

One guestion though, were you able to take the last chicane without braking? Me not! That was the turn that hurt me most, but the Buick was not apparently even lifting for it.

 

[Teh_Loserer]

Lol, when I watched the reply of the run where I finally beat the AI (three laps which I thought was pretty perfect), I noticed my driving was just horrible. Not smooth at all. So you see your mistakes all right!

One guestion though, were you able to take the last chicane without braking? Me not! That was the turn that hurt me most, but the Buick was not apparently even lifting for it.

I didn't actually have to brake, but I did have to lift to get the right line.

 

[Uncle Harry]

Subarus @ Tsukuba.

Death to all Subaru 360s...

Only have mission 34 to do.... Had my first two attempts last night and was 30 seconds of the pace.

I agree with Famine, this was a pain, I must have missed out by fractions on ten attempts. The position of the AI make it hard to get clean passes on the slow corners which really hurt you.
I used to sit at the start line and press the brake pedal hoping that the 360 will go slower.

Has anybody else noticed the lead AI cars slow down after you pass them?
I have noticed this for the 3 lap missions at Seattle, Infinion, New York and LA Sarthe.
Compare the lap times from when the AI win and when they come second. they will be down by 2- 3 seconds. The quicker you pass them the slower their time wil be.

 

[hispeed]

Did the subaru/360 race (M-30) for the first time a few mins ago. Won on 3rd try by 0.713s
Only trick there was to it was not to get caught behind the other cars, had to ease a little passing the 2nd car to get a clean exit out of the passing corner.

I still really hate M-11!!!!! 1.2s to go, It's within reach now.

 

[gumpy]

The thing I struggle to comprehend with the Superbird at Seattle is that I catch cars 2-5 in the same spots that Daan does on his video but I then can only match the Buick's lap times whereas I need to make up 3 secs per lap.

Given the views on here I may try the analogue steering.

I have had another look at Daan's video and I suspect I may be braking a little harder than Daan. He brakes hard but then backs off the brakes as he is turning.

 

[Uncle Harry]

The thing I struggle to comprehend with the Superbird at Seattle is that I catch cars 2-5 in the same spots that Daan does on his video but I then can only match the Buick's lap times whereas I need to make up 3 secs per lap.

Given the views on here I may try the analogue steering.

I have had another look at Daan's video and I suspect I may be braking a little harder than Daan. He brakes hard but then backs off the brakes as he is turning.

Try not to brake at the chicane at the pit entry, just ease of the gas a little and ease the car through.

Until I stopped braking here I was allways about 4.5 to 5 seconds behind for the next two laps.

I was able to pass 1st at the end of the second lap on my successful attempt at this mission. The closer I got to his back, the slower he seemed to go. (or was I going faster)
I was -3 seconds behind at the start of lap 2 and was able to close the gap and pass just after the railway track.
I had to block going down the straight at the start of lap 3, but after that it was easy.

 

[gumpy]

I have seen people post how to set up the Merc from M34 for practice (S2 tires, ASM off, TCS 2).

Does anyone have setups for some of the other cars for practice.

Specifically I think I will need to practice:

M11 Toyota 2000gt
M13 Peugeot 206 at Paris
M14 Superbird at Seattle
M34

and the Beetle at Suzuka (can't remember the number).

 

[Moloch_horridus]

M12 was my bugbear - big time - no other mission has given me anywhere near that amount of trouble. I finally passed it when I realised that I could accelerate through the left hander after the corkscrew and the car would stick to the track. I had been taking it very easy after going off there numerous times.

It seems to be a characteristic of MR cars that they will turn much better under acceleration.

 

[Skant]

Lol, when I watched the reply of the run where I finally beat the AI (three laps which I thought was pretty perfect), I noticed my driving was just horrible. Not smooth at all. So you see your mistakes all right!

One guestion though, were you able to take the last chicane without braking? Me not! That was the turn that hurt me most, but the Buick was not apparently even lifting for it.

I don't actually remember if I use the brake there or not. I think I might give it a brief stab just to help the nose turn in. But in any case, the key there is early power application... if you've done it right, you can be on full throttle well before the apex.

Okay, so how does one go about getting the superbird to turn? I've tried using the steering wheel, but that doesn't work.

I'd say the correct question is how does one _prevent_ the Superbird from turning. What you have to understand is that the superbird's biggest weakness is not its turning, but it's brakes. This is typical of the older cars. Brakes have improved more than any other system over the years.

Sooooo... what people do is brake too late and arrive at the turn in with the superbird's nose stuffed into the ground. The car _will not_ turn with its nose stuffed into the ground (ie. tilted forward under full brakes). You gotta let go of the brake pedal. Which means getting your braking done earlier.

Other than that, remember that the superbird has much more horsepower than handling, so it favors very late apexes so that you can straighten out the launch out of the turns as much as possible. If you can't lay down the power at or before the apex, you aren't tackling the turn right. (And sideway motoring doesn't count here!)

The thing I struggle to comprehend with the Superbird at Seattle is that I catch cars 2-5 in the same spots that Daan does on his video but I then can only match the Buick's lap times whereas I need to make up 3 secs per lap.

Given the views on here I may try the analogue steering.

I have had another look at Daan's video and I suspect I may be braking a little harder than Daan. He brakes hard but then backs off the brakes as he is turning.

That last chicane isn't really the most important turn on the track. You can make up a lot of time on the complex of turns after the series of uphill jumps early in the lap... if you take a good line through it, there's a lot of it you can actually take flat out without ever lifting at all. Even in the superbird.

There's a lot of sections you can just rocket through if you're willing to use up the entire width of the track. The AI does not. In fact, I'd like to emphasize here that it is important to _NOT_ school your lines off of the AI. The AI always runs a defensive line which protects the inside. You can go much faster with a more open line. You should only run defensive lines when you're defending!

When you start actually using the entire track at Seattle, you'll discover a major advantage that the Superbird has over modern low slung cars.... it has suspension travel! It just loafs right over curbs without any complaint. With more modern cars, you still need to use the whole space, but also have to deal with it getting a little upset by hopping the curbs. But the superbird couldn't care less. It's from the Dukes of Hazard era, and it shows.

- Skant

 

[Bilgewater]

"I'd say the correct question is how does one _prevent_ the Superbird from turning. What you have to understand is that the superbird's biggest weakness is not its turning, but it's brakes. This is typical of the older cars. Brakes have improved more than any other system over the years."

I'm well aware of the fact that if you're braking, you are preventing the superbird from turning. Let off the brakes and it might be capable of some basic manuvering. We aren't talking about turning it into a Lotus killer here. We're just talking about getting it to consider the possibility that there might be a turn up ahead, and maybe, just maybe, if I brake really early, it might be going slow enough to actually attempt a turn.

No, the real problem is that the buick special is, quite simply, much more powerful, and can handle better than a superbird with driving assists on. It's then given a head start, and I'm supposed to beat it while having to thread my way through a bunch of AI drones without hitting any of them, thus avoiding the dreaded five second penalty?

The problem is that it is not realistic. In real life when a car has 200 more hp than you do, and can turn better, you will not catch it. It's that simple. Especially on a track like seattle which is nothing but sharp corners and straightaways. That's just reality. Live with it.

That's why I quit trying seattle. Even if I did win, I know that the only reason I beat that mission is because there are serious flaws in the game. With that kind of a handicap I'd need my grandma driving the Buick to church if I were to entertain any expectations of winning.

 

[jdw]

The problem is that it is not realistic. In real life when a car has 200 more hp than you do, and can turn better, you will not catch it. It's that simple. Especially on a track like seattle which is nothing but sharp corners and straightaways. That's just reality. Live with it. .

You're right of course.

But, if the game were realistic... and didn't have some margin of error to take advantage of. How many people do you suppose would play it?

 

[Bilgewater]

Well that reality of non-reality in the superbird mission is why I refuse to attempt it. Nor anymore of the missions, as they mostly take advantage of the lack of realism inherent in GT4 in order to provide a very difficult goal.

If I wanted goals based on unrealistic game play, I'd break out Ridge Racer. It's not real, but at least those cars can negotiate a turn.

 

[jdw]

Well that reality of non-reality in the superbird mission is why I refuse to attempt it. Nor anymore of the missions, as they mostly take advantage of the lack of realism inherent in GT4 in order to provide a very difficult goal.

If I wanted goals based on unrealistic game play, I'd break out Ridge Racer. It's not real, but at least those cars can negotiate a turn.

Well... Rage Racer is one of my all time favorite racing games. As annoyed as you may be at the Superbird mission, it's sure a hellluva lot more realistic than that

The AI has it's line to follow. It has it's "grades" of AI as well (ala BSpec). It has it's "randomization" which allows it to make errors. It doesn't always follow the best line and isn't always competing at the highest grade.

If it did, it wouldn't be as interesting to play.

So the Buick's driven by your grandmother. Teach her how to drive

 

[Speedy Samurai]

this mission is one of the easier ones, i would say. I usually have most of the final lap to myself.

 

[EvilToast]

the one where you are the r92 cp and you have to pass everyone in 3 laps god that took me like 17 tires, and mission 34 still trying to beat it lol. 👍

 

[Skant]

The problem is that it is not realistic. In real life when a car has 200 more hp than you do, and can turn better, you will not catch it. It's that simple. Especially on a track like seattle which is nothing but sharp corners and straightaways. That's just reality. Live with it.

That's your version of reality. But that's not the real world we live in.

I've outrun a Porsche Carrera GT on the track. And that's car with 200 more hp and that can turn better. And that was in RL.

Like most armchair racers, you're assuming that the stats on the car are the most important thing out on the track. You are underestimating the effect of driver skill. You'd be shocked how little difference it makes what car you're driving out there.

Heck, I've was overhauled by an RX-8. My vette should have easily outclassed him. But he was clearly a better driver than I was. In fact, I tried to keep up with him for a while and school off of his lines. Learned a lot while I could keep up close enough to see. That guy was good!

That's why I quit trying seattle. Even if I did win, I know that the only reason I beat that mission is because there are serious flaws in the game. With that kind of a handicap I'd need my grandma driving the Buick to church if I were to entertain any expectations of winning.

Like many others, you think its unrealistic because the game doesn't match _your_ view of reality. But you don't actually have any RL experience. Your notion of what's realistic comes primarily from magazine reviews and TV ads. And according to them, a car which is a tenth quicker or that pulls .1 more lateral g force can not be beat.

The AI is a decent driver. It is not a great driver. It's realistic to beat it in a weaker car if you're good. And the driving missions are meant to be passable only if you're good. You can't buy the win by just upgrading your car.

- Skant

 

[Ragnar1211]

Okay, so how does one go about getting the superbird to turn? I've tried using the steering wheel, but that doesn't work.

Well I must say that I was baffled for about a week on this mission too, but what a joy it became when I beat that buick. And after I did I did it 2 more times just to show it who was boss!

My success came when I realized there were area's were you didnt need to turn so much, your line is the most important thing with the muscle car, and as Skant mentioned above the muscle cars are not as forgiving but are very capable.

Two huge area's where I picked up time (like over a second in each as the acceleration time is exponential) are the complex after the jump at the beginning and the complex before the underground section near the finish line.

The complex after the jump use the slow in fast out - accelleration is everything. On the first lap you should be in 4th going into the long straight and pass 3rd before the corner - which can be taken very fast. The next compex is very important but easier then the first.

After the long straight slow down much slower than the gear indicator tells you, you can fly into this right hand turn as there is tons of room. Getting your line for the complex is the most important because if you get it right you dont brake at all! I found that I gaind the most time in this section.

Now that I have said all that I think I will do a turn by turn summary in the write-ups for this mission, just since it took me so long and it appears I am not alone.

By the way now that I beat that one I went back to Paris, since it was driving me crazy. But I think driving the boat actually made me a better driver and I was able to win that mission in less than an hour.

Finally - most hated None
Most respected in order of learning and time taken:

#1 Superbird - too many hours but many lessons learned
#2 Ford GT in mission 12
#3 Old Japanese car in Mission 11
#4 Peugot in Paris

Now on to The italian car in Cote'Dzur (spelling wrong I'm sure) still about 10 seconds behind on this one, but it feels easer than missions 11, 12 13 and 14.

 

[Teh_Loserer]

Now on to The italian car in Cote'Dzur (spelling wrong I'm sure) still about 10 seconds behind on this one, but it feels easer than missions 11, 12 13 and 14.

That one's not too hard, really. Took me a few tries, but I got it. Most important, I think, is nailing the dual chicanes following the tunnel and downhill straight, and the sharp chicane right before the finish line. Now I'm on the next one, the Beetles at Suzuka. Man...what a pain. I HATE wrong wheel drive cars.