New GT4 Write-Ups Forum

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Jordan

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Our GT3 Write-Ups forum generated some very interesting threads about some very exciting races. Hopefully even more people can get involved this time, posting threads and discussing different race stories and experiences in Gran Turismo 4. Enjoy the new forum, everyone!
 
Once again, thanks a lot Jordan, i'll post when i'll get GT4 US version. I'm sure there will be a lot of people, new cars, new difficulty, new challenge, and more.

Very good stuff, thanks again.
 
Of course, its a great idea. I find it even more exciting when people will be posting write-ups before we actually get the game, gives us a little previews of what races and the AI are like.

C'mon lucky ones, get some writes up.
 
Congrats and thanks Jordan. I look foreward to more great stories from the GTP community. I remember when I stumbled on this forum and the GT3 writeups refueled my interest in the GT series.
 
:) 👍 Jordan,

I can't wait to do some reviewing of the environmental and visual aspects of the game (usually overlooked by the racing!). Looking at the spectators, buildings and the amazing quality being pumped out of the ps2 etc etc.....

:lol: now looking at it, it sounds abit boring!!!......but its nice to look at how great the graphics look :)

Robin
 
There are lots of 'write-ups' floating around the rest of the board.
Is there any chance some of those will get crossposted here for future reference?

After I got the Ginetta G4 and Lotus Europa I didn't drive many other cars if I didn't have to. Among A and B licsence races there are very few these cars couldn't win.The Ginetta was perfrct if you've reduced the weight and added a tank of nitrous for those sticky situations. The Lotus needed only a wing and nitrous. Nothing else. The Cadillac Cien was the first 'supercar' I won. I drove it in the Stars and Stripes event against the Team Oreca Viper and the Panoz. It was too easy, really. The muscle car event just wasn't fair, but I wasn't driving the Pontiac Sunfire Concept even if it did have a supercharger. The Cadillac is a beast, but it just won't stop. The breaks are completely inadequate. They needed an adjustment kit. This car also needed some downforce. Against Team Oreca I had racing tires of course, but in the muscle car event I was forced to use sports tires. This thing is clearly a race car.

In non championship events, ie 'single races,' you have no opportunity to qualify. So a little time on the course goes a long way. I think it's been mentioned, but you visit each course for free runs, practices, photo drives and 'family cup' races. There is an entrace fee of 300 to 500 cr (Japan). This is a really nice feature. It makes every track (once you've unlocked it) accessible for practice or just tooling about. Upon entering the family cup races you have an option to select the level of your oponents from -10 to 10. I found this to be a pretty good way to judge if your car has what it takes to compete in an event. For the most part raising the level of your oponents mostly raises the performance of thier cars. You get A-spec points for these races as well. I raced in quite a few 200pt races driving the Europa this way. They are only 2 laps, too, so not much room for error.

Many here on the forum have speculated about how these points are awarded and used. So far I have taken a very simplistic view on the matter. I assumed the points were adjusted merely on the power difference between the AI cars and my car. Recently I've run two races that cause me to believe that this point of view may be too simplistic.

Earlier, using the above mentioned G4 and Europa I pulled in lots of A-spec points racing in the Professional Hall, the Special Condition Hall and Family Cup practice races. I assumed this was because I didn't tamper with the power rating. However, recently I ran the Alpine A110 in the 'French car only' cup found in the European Hall. In this race I only got a few A-spec points even though the car was completely stock. Granted, the competition was no competition at the end of the day, so I felt the A-spec points were proportianate.

I had tried the Alpine A310 in a single race of this event, The Special Stage Route 5*. This is one of my stronger courses, as I've been working on it since GT1. I thought of anyplace I should do well here, but I couldn't do better than second, and a distant second at that. The Peugot 205 Turbo (starting to forget exactly the cars) just took off from it's pole position and never looked back, meanwhile I was stuck in traffic, starting from the standard 6th position in a non-championship race. So I stiffened the dampers and lowered the ride. Then I added just a bit more power with a sports muffler and supplied that power with a racing flywheel. This A310 I entered in the Alpine cup to win the A110, which, in stock form is just a step faster than the A310.

The Frence car championship is for normal cars with no modifications, so I hoped this step would be enough. I had confidence and entered the championship straight away. I easily qualified first and felt no competition whatsoever from the rest of the field, though getting only 7 A-spec points! The Peugot was not in the pack this time. The Renault 5 Turbo (Does the 'Maxi Turbo' still look like a normal car, just really fat? I didn't pay enough attention, but it wasn't a race car...) was my chief opponent. He crashed before the race even started on the Paris Opera course. This is no joke. During the roll-up the Renault drove straight into the wall and lost a position before the race even started. Shouln't this be a penalty for the driver who passed him? ;) Circ de Sarthe was a different story. The practice session before the race was my first attempt at this course. I had become a bit overzealous and failed to take any free runs before entering the championship. This track took more than 24 laps to get the feel for it. It's so flat. You just can't see what's coming without the 200m, 100m, 50m pre-turn warnings. There are some really deceptive turns too. Turns that look fast, but are slow. Turns that look slow, but are fast. Even though the majority of the course is straight the kinky parts really are a rude awakening. I had the field until the 180 degree turn around at the end of the back straight. Apparently I didn't do that too well because as I was bearing down on the first 90 degree turn heading back to the Start/Finish the Renault Turbo came out of nowhere pulling in close on my right rear quarter, disturbing the line that was going to let me stay on the gas through the gentle right hander just before the 90 degree left. Thus I found myself spinning through the grass completely unable to maintain control and finally resting in the stand-trap on the far side of the left turn with the Renault safely speeding away. This is only a ONE LAP race!. It was over for me. My lack of confidence on the last quarter of the track left me with a third place finish. This was the only race I didn't win in that championship. The worst part is that I wond the Citroen 2CV. 15ps! Sorry for not describing the turns more accurately. I'm not familiar with the standard jargon. If someone could help me out a bit here that would be great. :)

My strategy for the game is to only use cars that the game has given me. I enjoy the randomness of this. It removes aesthetic decision-making from the process. I DO buy wheels for the cars that I've modified, just for fun and also to remind me that this car is not normal.

So there was only one A/B license race left that I could run without buying a car. In fact it was a race with no license required. The European 1000 mile championship. I had been dreading this for a while, but now there's nothing left and it's getting time to get those international licenses. (I don't know why I chose to break it up this way, but I did) Now this race said it was for normal cars, but for some reason I wanted to see if I could enter the above mentioned Ginetta G4 even though it was weight reduced and even sported a muffler and air cleaner modification. No problem.

So, I guess in GT4 the cars are classed 'normal,' 'tuned,' 'racing,' etc. Even though my 'normal' class car had modificaitons it was still considered 'normal.'

I'm still in the middle of this one. It's easy to see why no license is required. The AI cars are just out Sunday driving. I mean, really, just tooling along like they had no place to go. There is an Alpha Romeo Giulia GTA 1600 that put up a pretty good fight on the Nurburgring until I finally memorized the course on about lap 10 or 12. Since then it's just a game of how many times I can lap the Karmen Ghia. I even took the muffler off just to make it more fair. I still only get 3 A-spec points for this, though.

This was my first experience with pit stops. I like the menu that lets you choose what kind of tires to put on and where to put them, as well as whether you want to take gas or not. The G4 did the whole 95 laps of the Opera on one tank of gas! I think I went 25 laps on one set of Sports Medium tires too.

This same Ginetta also took on the tarmac rally races in the Special Condition Hall. This is where the nitrous came in handy. Otherwise when racing on the Costa di Amalfi course the Lancia Delta would've been too far ahead on the first straightaway and the G4 could never have caught up on the subsequent hill-climbs. The Celicas I raced against on Citta di Aria and George V were also a bit overpowering on the main straights, but I had them in the turns if I could just get around. Thus a little blow of nitrous on a wide section and I was (nearly) home free. These races dished out big A-spec points. Clearly the Ginetta was never supposed to enter these. So far these have probably been the most challenging races.

I mis-typed earlier when I stated that I had finished all of the A/B license races I had cars for. I still have to do the dirt and ice events. I've put these off because I feel like driving in these events has a bad influence on my road driving... Maybe I'm just lazy and don't want to practice for them like I should. They'll be next once I finish the 1000 Mile event. Whenever that is. The Toyota RSC Rally Car is gathering dust while I wait, but I was hoping to get something a little less overpowered for the easy rally events. It's the only 4wd car I have, but it was a slaughter in the Beginner Hall 4wd Event.

Again, I didnt' check the prize car list. The element of surprise is fun. There are times, though, like in GT3 when I wanted to get the good F1 car...

I hope this is what the mods had in mind when they made this topic. If not, I've just spent a lot of time only to annoy people. Please forgive the verbosity and lack of expertise. I tried to double check whenever possible, but there are probably still some errors.

*(this was earlier mistakenly typed Route 11, now edited...thanks for not flaming too hard)

Following also added in edit:
I realize now, that this should have been posted as a topic. Is it too much trouble for a mod to change this to a topic about A/B liscence races? Or am I to be forever shamed by the misplacement of this post...
:)

I could cut the text and resubmit as a topic, but that would invalidate some later replies...

any ideas?
 
rockthing
I had tried the Alpine A310 in a single race of this event, The Special Stage Route 11. This is one of my stronger courses, as I've been working on it since GT1. I thought of anyplace I should do well here, but I couldn't do better than second, and a distant second at that. The Peugot 205 Turbo (starting to forget exactly the cars) just took off from it's pole position and never looked back, meanwhile I was stuck in traffic, starting from the standard 6th position in a non-championship race. So I stiffened the dampers and lowered the ride. Then I added just a bit more power with a sports muffler and supplied that power with a racing flywheel. This A310 I entered in the Alpine cup to win the A110, which, in stock form is just a step faster than the A310.
It must be a typo. 'Special Stage Route 11' is not in GT4
 
meister_dan
What is the purpose of a write-up? Could anybody explain??
Goto the gt3 forums and check out the write-ups there. Simply, it's a storyline writeup about a race/series in GT. Some people do a good job and they are very intriguing/suspenseful.
 
Barbol
It must be a typo. 'Special Stage Route 11' is not in GT4
You're right, that should read R5. I should have posted that whole thing as a topic anyway. Got a little carried away.
:guilty: :ill:

I've gone back to edit and made a notation of my previous error.

A rather newb question:

What is the purpose of a write-up? Could anybody explain??
Is this because I am the one who doesn't seem to know the purpose?
Paranoia?
I guess my 'write-up' was not detailed enough on top of being in the wrong place. I'll revert to lurking and let the real GT freaks take over until I have some replays to reference.

There are some really exciting GT3 Write Ups. I can't recommend that forum highly enough.
 
rockthing
There are lots of 'write-ups' floating around the rest of the board.
Is there any chance some of those will get crossposted here for future reference?

After I got the Ginetta G4 and Lotus Europa I didn't drive many other cars if I didn't have to. Among A and B licsence races there are very few these cars couldn't win.The Ginetta was perfrct if you've reduced the weight and added a tank of nitrous for those sticky situations. The Lotus needed only a wing and nitrous. Nothing else. The Cadillac Cien was the first 'supercar' I won. I drove it in the Stars and Stripes event against the Team Oreca Viper and the Panoz. It was too easy, really. The muscle car event just wasn't fair, but I wasn't driving the Pontiac Sunfire Concept even if it did have a supercharger. The Cadillac is a beast, but it just won't stop. The breaks are completely inadequate. They needed an adjustment kit. This car also needed some downforce. Against Team Oreca I had racing tires of course, but in the muscle car event I was forced to use sports tires. This thing is clearly a race car.

In non championship events, ie 'single races,' you have no opportunity to qualify. So a little time on the course goes a long way. I think it's been mentioned, but you visit each course for free runs, practices, photo drives and 'family cup' races. There is an entrace fee of 300 to 500 cr (Japan). This is a really nice feature. It makes every track (once you've unlocked it) accessible for practice or just tooling about. Upon entering the family cup races you have an option to select the level of your oponents from -10 to 10. I found this to be a pretty good way to judge if your car has what it takes to compete in an event. For the most part raising the level of your oponents mostly raises the performance of thier cars. You get A-spec points for these races as well. I raced in quite a few 200pt races driving the Europa this way. They are only 2 laps, too, so not much room for error.

Many here on the forum have speculated about how these points are awarded and used. So far I have taken a very simplistic view on the matter. I assumed the points were adjusted merely on the power difference between the AI cars and my car. Recently I've run two races that cause me to believe that this point of view may be too simplistic.

Earlier, using the above mentioned G4 and Europa I pulled in lots of A-spec points racing in the Professional Hall, the Special Condition Hall and Family Cup practice races. I assumed this was because I didn't tamper with the power rating. However, recently I ran the Alpine A110 in the 'French car only' cup found in the European Hall. In this race I only got a few A-spec points even though the car was completely stock. Granted, the competition was no competition at the end of the day, so I felt the A-spec points were proportianate.

I had tried the Alpine A310 in a single race of this event, The Special Stage Route 5*. This is one of my stronger courses, as I've been working on it since GT1. I thought of anyplace I should do well here, but I couldn't do better than second, and a distant second at that. The Peugot 205 Turbo (starting to forget exactly the cars) just took off from it's pole position and never looked back, meanwhile I was stuck in traffic, starting from the standard 6th position in a non-championship race. So I stiffened the dampers and lowered the ride. Then I added just a bit more power with a sports muffler and supplied that power with a racing flywheel. This A310 I entered in the Alpine cup to win the A110, which, in stock form is just a step faster than the A310.

The Frence car championship is for normal cars with no modifications, so I hoped this step would be enough. I had confidence and entered the championship straight away. I easily qualified first and felt no competition whatsoever from the rest of the field, though getting only 7 A-spec points! The Peugot was not in the pack this time. The Renault 5 Turbo (Does the 'Maxi Turbo' still look like a normal car, just really fat? I didn't pay enough attention, but it wasn't a race car...) was my chief opponent. He crashed before the race even started on the Paris Opera course. This is no joke. During the roll-up the Renault drove straight into the wall and lost a position before the race even started. Shouln't this be a penalty for the driver who passed him? ;) Circ de Sarthe was a different story. The practice session before the race was my first attempt at this course. I had become a bit overzealous and failed to take any free runs before entering the championship. This track took more than 24 laps to get the feel for it. It's so flat. You just can't see what's coming without the 200m, 100m, 50m pre-turn warnings. There are some really deceptive turns too. Turns that look fast, but are slow. Turns that look slow, but are fast. Even though the majority of the course is straight the kinky parts really are a rude awakening. I had the field until the 180 degree turn around at the end of the back straight. Apparently I didn't do that too well because as I was bearing down on the first 90 degree turn heading back to the Start/Finish the Renault Turbo came out of nowhere pulling in close on my right rear quarter, disturbing the line that was going to let me stay on the gas through the gentle right hander just before the 90 degree left. Thus I found myself spinning through the grass completely unable to maintain control and finally resting in the stand-trap on the far side of the left turn with the Renault safely speeding away. This is only a ONE LAP race!. It was over for me. My lack of confidence on the last quarter of the track left me with a third place finish. This was the only race I didn't win in that championship. The worst part is that I wond the Citroen 2CV. 15ps! Sorry for not describing the turns more accurately. I'm not familiar with the standard jargon. If someone could help me out a bit here that would be great. :)

My strategy for the game is to only use cars that the game has given me. I enjoy the randomness of this. It removes aesthetic decision-making from the process. I DO buy wheels for the cars that I've modified, just for fun and also to remind me that this car is not normal.

So there was only one A/B license race left that I could run without buying a car. In fact it was a race with no license required. The European 1000 mile championship. I had been dreading this for a while, but now there's nothing left and it's getting time to get those international licenses. (I don't know why I chose to break it up this way, but I did) Now this race said it was for normal cars, but for some reason I wanted to see if I could enter the above mentioned Ginetta G4 even though it was weight reduced and even sported a muffler and air cleaner modification. No problem.

So, I guess in GT4 the cars are classed 'normal,' 'tuned,' 'racing,' etc. Even though my 'normal' class car had modificaitons it was still considered 'normal.'

I'm still in the middle of this one. It's easy to see why no license is required. The AI cars are just out Sunday driving. I mean, really, just tooling along like they had no place to go. There is an Alpha Romeo Giulia GTA 1600 that put up a pretty good fight on the Nurburgring until I finally memorized the course on about lap 10 or 12. Since then it's just a game of how many times I can lap the Karmen Ghia. I even took the muffler off just to make it more fair. I still only get 3 A-spec points for this, though.

This was my first experience with pit stops. I like the menu that lets you choose what kind of tires to put on and where to put them, as well as whether you want to take gas or not. The G4 did the whole 95 laps of the Opera on one tank of gas! I think I went 25 laps on one set of Sports Medium tires too.

This same Ginetta also took on the tarmac rally races in the Special Condition Hall. This is where the nitrous came in handy. Otherwise when racing on the Costa di Amalfi course the Lancia Delta would've been too far ahead on the first straightaway and the G4 could never have caught up on the subsequent hill-climbs. The Celicas I raced against on Citta di Aria and George V were also a bit overpowering on the main straights, but I had them in the turns if I could just get around. Thus a little blow of nitrous on a wide section and I was (nearly) home free. These races dished out big A-spec points. Clearly the Ginetta was never supposed to enter these. So far these have probably been the most challenging races.

I mis-typed earlier when I stated that I had finished all of the A/B license races I had cars for. I still have to do the dirt and ice events. I've put these off because I feel like driving in these events has a bad influence on my road driving... Maybe I'm just lazy and don't want to practice for them like I should. They'll be next once I finish the 1000 Mile event. Whenever that is. The Toyota RSC Rally Car is gathering dust while I wait, but I was hoping to get something a little less overpowered for the easy rally events. It's the only 4wd car I have, but it was a slaughter in the Beginner Hall 4wd Event.

Again, I didnt' check the prize car list. The element of surprise is fun. There are times, though, like in GT3 when I wanted to get the good F1 car...

I hope this is what the mods had in mind when they made this topic. If not, I've just spent a lot of time only to annoy people. Please forgive the verbosity and lack of expertise. I tried to double check whenever possible, but there are probably still some errors.

*(this was earlier mistakenly typed Route 11, now edited...thanks for not flaming too hard)

Following also added in edit:
I realize now, that this should have been posted as a topic. Is it too much trouble for a mod to change this to a topic about A/B liscence races? Or am I to be forever shamed by the misplacement of this post...
:)

I could cut the text and resubmit as a topic, but that would invalidate some later replies...

any ideas?
nice read, i liked it.

b
 
Cant get GT4 until the 10th of March, but when i get it, no doubt ill have some wicked stories!I plan to start by buying an EVO (2 or 3)............. Watch this space!
 
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