New car vs old car

[Lazz]

Hi all

I currently have a subaru impreza sedan, I think its the 96 version. Its got just over 400bhp with 6500rpm. I have been considering buying an entirely new car for a while now but I have been struggling to work out the advantages of spending out 28k when the stats are fairly similar to a used car (especially considering with used cars there is more money for upgrades).

I am a big fan of impreza's (though I will consider other cars), I have got 27k credits and recently unlocked a NISMO 400 R 96 (which can be sold for 25k), and I have noticed that when I race against other subaru cars, I tend to get beaten (usually 4th place) despite having 400 bhp, compared to their (usually about) 276.

So does anyone know how the newer cars seem to be so fast?

Thanks for any help

 

[Scaff]

How have you spent your money?

With GT4 throwing money at power only is not always a successful route, remember the old saying "Power is nothing without control".

In other words its no good having 400 horses unless you can get them down on the track. What other upgrades have you made and what settings are you running?

In regard to the older cars vs the newer cars, while the raw figures may look similar or even the same it does not mean the car will always drive the same. Additionally with a lot of the Japanese cars the 'showroom' horsepower figures are often capped by the Japanese gentlemans agrement figure of 276bhp. Often when you get to the car into your garage you will see a higher figure (depends on the car).

Also don't always sell the 400r, have you driven it yet? As its a great car (one of my personally favorites from early in the game).


In short power is not the only route to faster lap times, you also need to ensure that your driving ability allows you to extract the most out of the car and that you tune the car set-up to allow all the cars power to be used. Its amazing what differences in lap times can be obtained without increaseing power but with good suspension set-up and tuning.

Regards

Scaff

 

[Lazz]

How have you spent your money?

With GT4 throwing money at power only is not always a successful route, remember the old saying "Power is nothing without control".

In other words its no good having 400 horses unless you can get them down on the track. What other upgrades have you made and what settings are you running?

In regard to the older cars vs the newer cars, while the raw figures may look similar or even the same it does not mean the car will always drive the same. Additionally with a lot of the Japanese cars the 'showroom' horsepower figures are often capped by the Japanese gentlemans agrement figure of 276bhp. Often when you get to the car into your garage you will see a higher figure (depends on the car).

Also don't always sell the 400r, have you driven it yet? As its a great car (one of my personally favorites from early in the game).


In short power is not the only route to faster lap times, you also need to ensure that your driving ability allows you to extract the most out of the car and that you tune the car set-up to allow all the cars power to be used. Its amazing what differences in lap times can be obtained without increaseing power but with good suspension set-up and tuning.

Regards

Scaff

Hi and thanks for your reply

I haven't spent my money yet. Ive done some more racing with my Impreza and now have 71,000 credits. Im not sure how to get the detailed settings that I see other people on the forum.

All I really know is the bhp, torque etc. I can't remember all the upgrades but I remember a few. I have upgraded all the exhausts, and I think 2 or maybe 3 of the turbo's (sorry for the vagueness). I have done stage 1 one of the thing you spend money on to make the car lighter. (Luckily soon I will be able to have my PS2 in my bedroom so I could name all the parts). Not touched the suspension or brakes yet either.

I haven't sold the 400r because despite it having a lower max speed and acceleration than the impreza, it has really good handling which the impreza seems to lack. I don't know what upgrades would help but certainly the impreza's biggest problem is its tendancy to skid, meaning I really have to brake quite soon on the corners.

I have been considering getting the Subaru Impreza wrx spec c since it looks nice, is one of my fav cars and I've heard many good things about it on this forum but I thought I would await for people's replies.

 

[AdamW]

There's one major area scaff didn't mention, I guess because he considered it too obvious - but maybe it isn't to everyone. That's tyres (or tires, I'm English though :>). Switch from S2s to R5s and you can knock off 20 seconds a lap on a long course. R5s can last through some of the short races you run early in the game - they can usually last for a couple of laps round a course that takes less than two minutes, unless it's a track that's very hard on tyres like El Capitan. Of course it's kinda cheap to run on tyres ten times better than what the AI's running, but if you're having trouble, it'll help you out. But if you're genuinely losing races to similar cars which actually behave as if they have similar or lower power (i.e. you keep up with them or gain ground off the start line - I've seen races where the AI *should* have similar or lower power than me, but clearly has a lot more when you look at performance from the start) you need to practice your driving, I think.

 

[Syntax error]

Another thing to consider is, how many Km's the old Impreza has done. Might be time for a chassis refreshioner (I'm not near my copy of GT4 at the moment but I think that’s what it's called). Although it will cost approximately $50K to get done, you'll notice a substantial increase in performance and handling. That said, if your on a tight budget, it might be cheaper to just buy a new car.

 

[BMWteamPTG]

first off dont get rid of the nismo 400. thats a great car and could be useful in later stages of the game. as for your dilemma with your car, if youre short on cash, you wont be able to get a top of the line car, obviously. but if you do buy one, make sure you get a car that has decent horsepower and good control. a suburu is a good call. great car, decent power, great control. also, you can use it for rallys too. any 4wd car would be a good bet on control. but a rwd is more capable of higher hp. if you can afford a skyline (maybe try winning a few more races) those are great cars with amazing control (4wd)

hope i helped a little

 

[Scaff]

There's one major area scaff didn't mention, I guess because he considered it too obvious - but maybe it isn't to everyone. That's tyres (or tires, I'm English though :>). Switch from S2s to R5s and you can knock off 20 seconds a lap on a long course. R5s can last through some of the short races you run early in the game - they can usually last for a couple of laps round a course that takes less than two minutes, unless it's a track that's very hard on tyres like El Capitan. Of course it's kinda cheap to run on tyres ten times better than what the AI's running, but if you're having trouble, it'll help you out. But if you're genuinely losing races to similar cars which actually behave as if they have similar or lower power (i.e. you keep up with them or gain ground off the start line - I've seen races where the AI *should* have similar or lower power than me, but clearly has a lot more when you look at performance from the start) you need to practice your driving, I think.

Very good point, and I'm amazed I forgot it (as I have a slight obsesion with the subject of tyres - see the GT4 and Brakes thread to see what I mean - link in my thread).

In my opinion tyres are the single most effective mod you can carry out, a long time ago this was put to the test and in an improvemnt in lap time per credit, IIRC tyres came out well in front.

Just remember before you spend a fortune on R5s (and they are very expensive) that a lot of the early races limit you to Sports tyres, so S3's are as soft as you may want to go.

Regards

Scaff

 

[AdamW]

That's true, and S3s offer a noticeable improvement over S2s in grip; they also warm up a lot faster, which is great in the short races at the start of the game. And using S3s feels much less cheat-y than using R5s

 

[300zxfairman]

That's true, and S3s offer a noticeable improvement over S2s in grip; they also warm up a lot faster, which is great in the short races at the start of the game. And using S3s feels much less cheat-y than using R5s

R5's are ment for drag raceing

 

[CanfieldOO7]

With GT4 throwing money at power only is not always a successful route,

QFT

I learned that the long and hard way. Ive blown 200k in upgrades plus 160k on a car only to be dominated by 1 car in the series. All others were trampled by me and that one damned AI car . . .

 

[Lazz]

Hi all and thanks for all the advice I decided to buy a spec c impreza and already I have noticed the difference in performance. Namely handling and acceleration speed