Notes, Stats and other Information

[95GTIVR6]

I searched the forum to find a similar topic and I wasn't successful but it could have been my choice of words. Sorry, though, if this is a re-post.

I was really just wondering what everyone on the forum does to increase their playing value for GT4. What I mean by this is really what other notes, stat's of other information you keep when you race or drive.

For example, right after I buy a car I give it an oil change and take one lap of the Nurburgring; then I record the time. The I input the time, along with other miscelaneous information into a large MS-Access databank. In turn, this allows me to sort any of the selected groups and determine which cars are related in the most ways......hense, how I select my recommendations.

Anyways, I really hope that I am not the only one to so weird things like this so if you do something similar then post it up.

Again, I have a feeling this could be a repost so sorry in advance if it is.

 

[ferrari_chris]

I do something similar - Every new car I get I also change the oil and go for a lap of the 'ring. I don't go to the extent of recording all the lap times though (GT4 records the top ten for me). I have three categories I base things on.

Race cars, fast cars and slow cars.

I have a ghost replay saved for each, and when I do my lap of the 'ring I go against this replay. My racecar replay is under 6:30, my fast car replay is about 7:30 and my slow car replay is about 8:30.

I decide which category the car fits into, and load up the appropriate replay. If the car beats the ghost, then I overwrite the ghost replay with a new one.

A pretty crude method, true, but it's my way of getting a rough idea of the speed of a car.

 

[Boundary Layer]

I keep a log of my race game - well more like two.

The first is a collection of excel spreadsheets that contains setups and notes about a vehicle. I don't believe in recording lap times here to compare cars - I'm not a terribly consistent driver, so it'd be easy for me to cloud my judgement by catching a screamer of a lap with one car, and some cruddy ones with another. I just make notes about how the car feels and how it should be driven.

Then the second log is a word document (with embedded spreadsheets) for race series notes and gt mode progress.
Example) For a championship series I record the car I entered, the settings used (referencing the settings log here), the track and number of laps, the AI field, the A-spec points awarded, my qualifying time, the gap to the fastest AI car, my fastest lap time, total time, and MOV. When applicable, I also make notes of when I pit, and when the AI cars pit.

It is time consuming, but I started doing this with the goal of getting butt loads of a-spec points. I wanted to keep track of the cars and settings used in each series so I could go back at a later point if I desired to get more in a 'weaker' car, or with more ballast on the previous one. Recording my a-spec points in such a document makes it easier to track where I can still get more, rather than having to enter each event to see my totals.

Gradually, I just started recording more and more info.

 

[Alfaholic]

I test cars, after an oil change, at the Test Course to determine maximum speed, 400m time and speed, 1000m time and speed, 0-60mph and 0-100mph acceleration, so I can do a performance comparison. I do these tests with no traction aids, which means some cars could probably do much better than I managed, but I feel that how easy they are to launch is as important as the figures they post.

I then take lap times at Tsukuba and Midfield. One circuit is short and understeery and the other is fast and oversteery, so it gives another interesting performance and handling comparison. All road cars that undergo this test run on N2 tyres regardless of age and performance. Lap times are taken in a-spec mode and I will circulate until I feel I am lapping as fast as I ever will in that particular car, and am confident that I am using the most appropriate technique for the car. I do not rely on b-spec Bob because he's way too slow, and I have a suspicion that his ability to stay on the track is far too dependent on the ease of the car he is driving.

I was putting an electronic database with all this information together but at the moment all the data are still stored on paper.

 

[Tornado]

I log all of my laptimes (and I do mean all of them) for the cars I've taken to SSR5 in a giant excel spreadsheet. I divide them by whether they are race or road cars, then how much mods I've done to them, then by drivetrain, then by whether they have downforce or not.

 

[Speedy Samurai]

As well as keeping excel spreadsheets and hot lap times, I have an ongoing GT4 diary in Word. I also have an excel spreadsheet with every race and the amount of Aspec points I have received using different cars, this is to help maximizie my Aspec total.