Questions and Thoughts

[TallicaFan2k5]

I just picked up GT4 the other day because I was stuck at like 24% in GT3 and could not win another race no matter what...

so anyway I bring it home, transfer my 100,000 and get a Camaro Z28....1969 I think.... I get it up to 400hp...........now it should be powerfull and fast right???? But it maxed out at 130mph!!!! That was weird.... but I understand that HP doesn't mean speed, but I after spending 100,000 on the car and I was left with something the stock cars in the beginner races could beat...


anyway since then I bought a used Skyline and raced it close to stock in rally races to get a nice 200,000 Rally car...


the Rally races are cool, but the penaltys make me mad as heck! Sometimes you can prevent getting them, and they are a pain when you get one like 20 seconds before winning the race.... sometimes the computer bumps into you when your trying to pass them and you get a penalty!!



Anyway the questions-

What do Aspec points do? I'm collecting them but there doesn't seem a reason to do so... I see Bspec points help your skills or whatever... .... speaking of B-Spec...how do you win????! I've tried races I win by like 30 seconds in Aspec with the same car...and whether I leave him on 5, or vary, lowering it in turns, I still never finish better than 3rd....



And.... Should I spend the money and build up my used Skyline (already put some basics in it), or should I raise money and buy a new one to make good?? Is there a major difference from a new one and used one after I update everything?


Thank You!

 

[Famine]

so anyway I bring it home, transfer my 100,000 and get a Camaro Z28....1969 I think.... I get it up to 400hp...........now it should be powerfull and fast right???? But it maxed out at 130mph!!!! That was weird.... but I understand that HP doesn't mean speed, but I after spending 100,000 on the car and I was left with something the stock cars in the beginner races could beat...

Gearbox.

If your car is geared to a maximum of 130mph then, whether it has 100hp or 100,000hp, it'll reach 130mph maximum.

 

[Uncle Harry]

There are more important things in improving your car than adding horsepower.
Unless you learn this quickly you will allways struggle to win races in GT.
Early on in GT4 you are better served by adding transmission and suspension upgrades to your car than the stage 3 turbos or stage 3 NAs.
By all means fit the race exhaust and race chip with the race transmissions, clutch, flywheel and a semi race suspension. These should be enough for the start.
Learn to tune the settings for the gearbox and suspension and you will reap the rewards.

 

[Smallhorses]

A-spec points are an indicator of race difficulty.
There's a maximum of 200 per race. The don't do anything, it's just bragging rights, the more you have the bigger your ego!

However, if you're entering a 400HP Camaro against things in the Beginner Hall you're probably only getting 2 or 3 per race. If your Camaro is getting beaten by 100HP Japanese & Euro hot hatches, then it's not the cars fault.
You need to practice. A lot.

This may sound harsh, but I'm not picking on you, just helping you to realise the potential of the game, and to banish any notions you had about this being an easy game.

Step 1.
Go get your licences. All of them. They will teach you the racing basics that you're clearly lacking. By learning braking points, cornering techniques in slower cars, you are better prepared to handle the same situations later in more powerful cars. There's a reason in real life that most people learn to drive in a Honda Civic (or similar) and not in a Honda NSX (or similar!) Try not only to get bronze but after you pass each one, watch the demo. All the demos do Gold times. You'll see where you're still losing time as your ghost will be superimposed on the demo.
The licences also teach to race properly since, if you leave the track, you fail.

Step 2.
Get out of the habit of winning races by having a massively fast-in-a-straight-line car and relying on this to help you catch the field after you wreck on each bend.
Learn the tracks. Try to memorise where the bends are coming up. Once you know a circuit you shouldn't have to rely on a superfast car, as you'll be gaining time on the AI racers by taking faster lines through the bends.

Step 3.
Fit a racing gearbox or suspension before upgrading the engine. Tuning the gearbox on your 400HP Camaro would soon have it screaming all the way up to 170mph or more!
Also learn to tune your suspension to help the car take bends faster. This coupled with tyre choice are important. You'll gain more time by having a car on stickier tyres that rides flat than by whacking on a stage 4 turbo!

Hope this helps, welcome to GTPlanet. 👍

 

[DuckRacer]

so anyway I bring it home, transfer my 100,000 and get a Camaro Z28....1969 I think.... I get it up to 400hp...........now it should be powerfull and fast right???? But it maxed out at 130mph!!!! That was weird.... but I understand that HP doesn't mean speed, but I after spending 100,000 on the car and I was left with something the stock cars in the beginner races could beat...

Get the custom transmission, and stretch the gears. Problem solved.

What do Aspec points do? I'm collecting them but there doesn't seem a reason to do so... I see Bspec points help your skills or whatever... .... speaking of B-Spec...how do you win????! I've tried races I win by like 30 seconds in Aspec with the same car...and whether I leave him on 5, or vary, lowering it in turns, I still never finish better than 3rd....

All a-spec points is give you cooler clothes for your driver. You can see them in open top vehicles when doing a time trial, or something like that.

And.... Should I spend the money and build up my used Skyline (already put some basics in it), or should I raise money and buy a new one to make good?? Is there a major difference from a new one and used one after I update everything?

If you fully upgrade the new Skyline and the old Skyline, the newer one will me faster, but a fully modified old Skyline will kill a new stock Skyline.

Thank You!

Your welcome.

 

[TallicaFan2k5]

Well...as I said I totally "pimped" the Camaro...not just engine, I did all the lightweights, the sports transmission or racing whatever, racing tires, racing chip....basically ALMOST everything I could get.....

I'm not that bad of a driver....I wasn't being killed in the beginner cup, but just unfortunate things caused me to lose a race here and there, but I got gold in every single beginner race except FF because I don't have an FF car yet....


I won that Cadillac Cien in the Rally races, that thing is sweet... I used it to win the Clubman cup, and the MR in beginner...easily, with no modifications.... I used the winnings to do the level 2 NA engine upgrade, Nitrous and racing tires... and level 2 weight reduction... I love that car... 900 some HP right now and it looks nice.


I have off work tomorrow night so maybe I will tackle the iB and iA licenses...... but I'm sure that will end up with me putting the controller through a wall in frustration... ...I got iB without too much trouble in GT3, but iA was misery!!! (never completed it)


I don't rely as much on straght-a-way driving as in GT3..... I've gotten pretty good at using the analog gas, so if I'm going into a series of turns I keep in in 2nd gear or low 3rd, and I use variances of acceleration to pull out of turns and all...


I did what the guide said and turned the driving aids to like 8, 3, 3 or something...maybe 7 not sure....



BTW I'm not new to GTplanet...I've been here for a year or so, just haven't posted much. been busy with graduating, and then getting a job and crap...


Thanks again...got to go get ready for work .... nightshift at a gas station, ultimate slacker / gamer career!!!

 

[Smallhorses]

BTW I'm not new to GTplanet...I've been here for a year or so, just haven't posted much. been busy with graduating, and then getting a job and crap...

Oh, sorry. Didn't check your profile, and since you user title says "New Member" I just assumed you were.
That'll teach me not to assume......

 

[Jay]

Well...as I said I totally "pimped" the Camaro...not just engine, I did all the lightweights, the sports transmission or racing whatever, racing tires, racing chip....basically ALMOST everything I could get.....

Buying everything doesnt mean the car will have a high top speed, in fact the close geared transmissions will make your car slower in top speed. You need the full custom transmission and adjust the ratios in settings to increase your top speed.

 

[Car_Guy]

You really should sit down adn start with the B and A liscences with teh goals of getting atleast silvers, it really makes the later liscences better, it takes awhile but it is worth it. and as with said above, GT is not about how much money you can spend on a car, it's abotu how well you can drive, and how well you can tune a car, so it's worth practicing

 

[TallicaFan2k5]

Well I don't really have the time to deal with all the tunings....

can you just give me general ideas?? I don't want to adjust, try it out and re-tweak...with all the loading screens and everything it would take forever....and I don't want to spend every hour of my days off or before work just tuning..

What's the deal with tuning suspension?? I Know about gears pretty well because I would adjust the gears before every race in GT3...

 

[Scaff]

I did what the guide said and turned the driving aids to like 8, 3, 3 or something...maybe 7 not sure....

This is not going to help a great deal, most people find that the driver aids are not actually that much of an aid at all.

I would suggest running with them all set to zero. get used to the car doing what you want it to do, not what the aids want it to do.

If you get a problem with wheelspin then maybe set TCS to 1 or 2, but getting used to controlling it with the throttle is a better idea in the long run.

Well I don't really have the time to deal with all the tunings....

can you just give me general ideas?? I don't want to adjust, try it out and re-tweak...with all the loading screens and everything it would take forever....and I don't want to spend every hour of my days off or before work just tuning..

What's the deal with tuning suspension?? I Know about gears pretty well because I would adjust the gears before every race in GT3...

Unfortunatly no 'magic' formula works for settings, I would suggest starting by looking in the Settings and Tuning forum and trying someone elses settings.

These will almost always need to be tweaked for your own needs, but it may save you some time.

Regards

Scaff

 

[daan]

I have off work tomorrow night so maybe I will tackle the iB and iA licenses...... but I'm sure that will end up with me putting the controller through a wall in frustration... ...I got iB without too much trouble in GT3, but iA was misery!!! (never completed it)

Don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you need to concentrate on your driving skills before you start to worry about settings.

You don't need to go into settings much anyway. I'm at 94% and I haven't touched anything apart from tyres and gears and to switch ASM off and put TCS down/off.

 

[DQuaN]

And if you only got to 24% in GT3 then you need to improve a lot.

 

[Boundary Layer]

first off TallicaFan2k5 - you say you aren't a new member. In that case you should be well aquainted with the forum search function....

Well I don't really have the time to deal with all the tunings....

can you just give me general ideas?? I don't want to adjust, try it out and re-tweak...with all the loading screens and everything it would take forever....and I don't want to spend every hour of my days off or before work just tuning..

What's the deal with tuning suspension?? I Know about gears pretty well because I would adjust the gears before every race in GT3...

You sure you bought the right game? GT4 isn't easy... maybe you want some NeedForSpeed - you can tune cars with a total disregard for proper settings and win with absolutely no driving technique to speak of.

...take a trip to the settings and tuning forum and read a few stickies if you're curious about how to set your suspension.

Like everyone else has said, you seriously need to go back to the license tests and missions. Get an understanding for what it takes to drive quickly. You'll find in later stages of the game (probably by the end of the professional hall or in the extreme hall) that without this foundation the AI will leave you 4 laps down in a 5 lap race. By that point they're driving extremly fast machines - you can't rely on brute power to win, and what's the fun in that anyways.

oh, and about your b-spec driver. Unless he has a lot of skill points, he'll probably lap faster on 3 or 4 than on 5 - he won't run off track near as often.

 

[skyline speed]

Heres my advice(havent read all of this thread exept first post)keep your skyline and do a little to it,like suspension, braking, and weight.Then focus on power,and put a spoiler on it for extra downforce.Keep raceing in special condition races to get some fast,and easy to get cars(like cien).Keep practicing your racing skills, take a try at a couple racing missions and or licences.Keep saving your mony to get a good enough car to race in the new york enduro in b spec(practice that to).Youl get some mony and progress from there.Happy gaming! 👍

 

[Wolfe]

Don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you need to concentrate on your driving skills before you start to worry about settings.

You don't need to go into settings much anyway. I'm at 94% and I haven't touched anything apart from tyres and gears and to switch ASM off and put TCS down/off.

I agree completely. I always just buy the suspension parts and such and leave them as-is. Settings are overrated, some people seem to think they can magically make a bad driver faster.

 

[Sum1s2pid]

i agree--messing around with your suspension without knowing too much about settings can ruin your handling... you would have to be willing to commit lots of practice laps minutely changing one setting on your car at a time to see times drop a mere 0.050 seconds or so a lap (it's somewhat rewarding, and i enjoy it--but it can be a bit *yawn* tedious)... TCS, tires, and gearing are the tuning options that you "need" to be concerned with first... 👍

beware of too much downforce if you opt for the wing kit--unless you're pushing excessive HP or fiddle with your gearing--as your top speeds will suffer...

for just playing/enjoying the game and feel of all of the different cars, it's very tough to lap much faster than the suspension's default settings...

since driving styles vary so much, using someone else's settings may or may not yield you success, but by all means, try it--you may happen upon something that realy works for you...

i mostly limit my suspension adjustments to cars i'm setting up to attempt drifting, or a specific course and time... my tire selection is based on what set will ju-u-ust last the entire race or so i can stay out up to a lap longer than the A.I. before needing to pit... gearing is "set and left" based on a compromise between how responsive the car feels as it accelerates, its top speed, and--to a certain extent--wheelspin if it's excessive or the car is FF... experiment!!