Rags to Riches - Starter Car Reviews/Discussion

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My Area GT blog has been quiet for a while now, so in lieu of my recent revival of interest in Gran Turismo 2, I'm going to both revive that blog and hopefully get some discussion going on here, by focussing on a topic we've all encountered in our GT playing career - the thorny subject of starter car, i.e. which car we buy first with our initial pot of money and move into the game with.

The starter cars are normally humble, low level, used (in GT2s case particularly), yet have potential to become heroes and legends. Im not the only one who's formed sentimental bonds with my original starter cars as they morph from exhausted old stager barely capable of winning the Sunday Cup to a world-beating king of the racetrack.

Over in my Area GT blog, I'm going to start a series of reviews focusing on potential starter cars, reviewing them in stock form, and analysing their effectiveness in terms of forging an early path into the game, including value for money - bearing in mind it's useful to have money left over to buy early parts. Meanwhile in this thread, I wanna hear your stories of starter car heroics - which cars did you use? What were your experiances with them? What was their finest hour in them?

Have a good day, and I look forward to hearing your stories.
 
I've got one for you. '91 Celica GT-Four RC used in red on day 1.
I used this back when I didn't care about being the same car as the series, (convertible in convertible, etc...) I didn't tune it 'till the races that were 394 or over, and it got to a point that I had only the little guy in my garage. I got a racing modification for the rally races, and it never won a single race.
I still think to this day the Celica is the best starter. Winning just about every race in the game says enough for its reputation. It even won the Super Touring Car races, and the GT300 championship.
 
Wow, no kidding? That's amazing. My two favourite starters, the 1991 Prelude VTEC and 1988 Silvia 1800cc, managed to get a fair way few the game, but still, that is amazing. I'mma go hunt that one down and test it out, Ive never driven the thing before, shockingly! That's an amazing story though. What did it max out at in terms of horsepower once you'd tuned it to the maximum?

Also, my first starter car review is up: 1993 Honda CR-X Del Sol 1.6ESi.

Safe to say, I didn't like it when I started with it on my first play of this game 10 years ago, and I still don't now.
 
I gave up as the rubber-banding issue that saw a 212bhp Skyline struggle to beat 63bhp hatchbacks was laughable.
 
Hahaha, really? What race was that?! I mean, I know the rubberbanding is pretty excessive in some races, but it's never given me much of a problem. I always like it - if Im overkilling a race it helps give it a bit of a challenge :)

Also, another test up: 1991 Toyota Celica GT-Four.

Let's just say n1nj4ofshr3d was right. Brilliant.
 
In my long time I've played GT2, I've found that any car can bring a lot of money, if it is very expandable. K-cars aren't the best, but anything around 197hp is usually great. Also, not tuning cars for a while helps. I like to use cars I used in GT1, like the '92 or '93 (don't know the year) Supra, or the Primera, or my favorite, the '85 Trueno.
 
A turbocharged '93 Supra: you always get one for approx. 4-6k and they're faster than any other for that price tag. 0-60mph in under 7 seconds, top speed over 150mph.
The handling isn't as good, but this also isn't a fault: with that chassis, featuring a cocktail of understeer, oversteer and any other problem a big, fat FR car may have, it's impossible not to learn how to drive properly...
 
If anyone would like to request a Day 1 car to start with, I've got my PSP on today, and I'll try them. Or Falcon787B will, on whatever he plays on. I'm really bored right now.
 
A turbocharged '93 Supra: you always get one for approx. 4-6k and they're faster than any other for that price tag. 0-60mph in under 7 seconds, top speed over 150mph.
The handling isn't as good, but this also isn't a fault: with that chassis, featuring a cocktail of understeer, oversteer and any other problem a big, fat FR car may have, it's impossible not to learn how to drive properly...

Ahh I know what you mean man. Those Supras are pretty beastly. Easy car to drift too, they look mean as hell, almost like a rejected Knight Rider car, and of course theyre powerful - havent they got like 250hp straight outta the box? Great to drive as well.

If anyone would like to request a Day 1 car to start with, I've got my PSP on today, and I'll try them. Or Falcon787B will, on whatever he plays on. I'm really bored right now.

Hey, if you fancy testing out some cars and reviewing them, I'd be happy to post the results on my blog if you want? At the moment I've got a list of cars I fancy trying, and they include:

1991 Honda Prelude 2.0 & 2.2VTEC
1988 Toyota Celica GT-Four
1988 Nissan Silvia Q's 1800cc and other versions of.
1993 Toyota Supra Turbo
Honda Beat

Also, I'm conducting an experiment as to what is the least you can spend for the biggest profit, i.e. buying a really cheap car and using it to win a race which pays out a monster price fund plus prizecar. At the moment I'm attempting the Apricot Hill Enduro in starter cars with barely any mods on, I'm convinced it's possible, I managed it with my tweaked Prelude that had had a tonne of money thrown at it and I was lapping the competition, so I reckon that, the Celica perhaps and the Supra are more than capable of winning the 500,000 prize with just sports tyres and some light engine mods, with a total spendage of about 20,000 or less :)
 
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Let's get started with the '88 Celica GT-Four.
I was really looking forward to using the older Celica's, because the '91 is just a beast of a starter. I cannot believe how disappointed I was trying to win. Not only is the acceleration bad, it is a little too loose for only 180hp. The way I try starters is High Speed Ring in the Sunday cup, and that was a bad idea. It's even slow for a C class car. For the 7,618 credits, stay away. It is a truly aggravating car to get right. If you want a Celica pick the '91.
 
'91 Honda Beat
I'm not inclined to use K-cars that often, but I was impressed with this cute little Honda. 7k credits is a lot for any kind of starter, and that is pretty steep. K-cars are not known for bringing loads of money, so you shouldn't spend a lot. I used the little Beat stock, and went to the Lightweight K cup race 1 in Rome, and did really well, with 3rd place. It has really great acceleration, easy handling, but lacks with top speed. It chugs out around 9000rpms, like any Honda, and it shows. I'd say, comparing all K-cars, it gets second place only beat out by the Cappucino. The Honda Beat would be the best K-car buy if the price wasn't so steep.
 
'93 Toyota Supra (Turbo)
The fastest starter on Day 1 for only around 4k. Monster. The only word to describe any Supra. It truly is a Supra, even though it is squareish and big. Amazing acceleration, top speed, and good handling. Good, because like any Supra, it has a tendency to almost spin out, and has a lot of power in the rear wheels. I tried it stock in Sunday cup's High Speed Ring and Red Rock Valley, and won easily. For the price, I think it is unfair, but it is one of the only starters that I recommend for bringing in way too much money. For any beginner, use the Supra. And if you first pick a bad car, for only 4,000 credits, there's your second chance.
 
Once I tried to escape the Japanese monopoly for starter cars and I proudly bought a Fiat 500 with 22Hp and 520Kg: I thougt it could end 4th or 5th in the K-car cup as well as in the Fiat official cup.
Well, if someone had mine idea too, forget it: it's absolutely impossible not to lose the 5th car's back after 2,3 corners. If you have time to end 6th in a hundred races and afford a real car, then try; I just restarted the game, gamesharked the money and bought an Alfa 155 as starter. In the K car they have 2-3 times your horsepower, in the Fiat cup it's just about the same (modern 500 and 600 and upgraded old ones too).
The worst GT2 starter is Italian: well, I presume that's something to be proud of.

I've written a small review for the '93 Supra, by the way, even if I'm not sure it's precise: after writing it I checked Gtcarreviews one and I found out that the brakes, which I had judged terrible, had been said to be excellent by Parnelli, and quite the same for the handling.
http://patruck.altervista.org/supra93t.html
 
Patruck: Haha! I wondered if there was a car cheap enough to buy new that wasn't Japanese! That's an interesting avenue to explore :) I might investigate the little Fiat.

About the review - we will all have different impressions of cars. Parnelli may have dug the brakes, but you didn't. Neither of you are wrong - that's just opinions. I do think cars like the Silvia and Supra have very sensitive brakes, that if you jam them, it becomes easy to oversteer, so in that regard I agree with you. Mind if I put that review up on my GT blog? I'll credit you with it of course.

n1nj4ofshr3d: Mind if I publish those little snippets up on my blog also? They're pretty bitesize and to the point, exactly what my reviews aren't, haha! Mine are very long and wordy! :P
 
Patruck: Haha! I wondered if there was a car cheap enough to buy new that wasn't Japanese! That's an interesting avenue to explore :) I might investigate the little Fiat.

About the review - we will all have different impressions of cars. Parnelli may have dug the brakes, but you didn't. Neither of you are wrong - that's just opinions. I do think cars like the Silvia and Supra have very sensitive brakes, that if you jam them, it becomes easy to oversteer, so in that regard I agree with you. Mind if I put that review up on my GT blog? I'll credit you with it of course.

n1nj4ofshr3d: Mind if I publish those little snippets up on my blog also? They're pretty bitesize and to the point, exactly what my reviews aren't, haha! Mine are very long and wordy! :P
 
Mind if I put that review up on my GT blog? I'll credit you with it of course.
That's ok; thank you.

We haven't considered another one of these starters: the Sunny GTR: I had never realised how fast it was since I tested it (10 minutes ago): I've entered the 345hp 80s cup with the stock one (Special stage R5) with the stock model and I was surprised: if it wasn't for the last straight, I would have ended in front of a Supra Turbo and of another Sunny which clearly had much more power...
 
The R32 GTS Type M (212hp one) was always my starter. Often in Silver.

I gave up as the rubber-banding issue that saw a 212bhp Skyline struggle to beat 63bhp hatchbacks was laughable

I'll admit I'm not sure what you mean by rubberbanding, but I've never had trouble with my trusty Godzilla.
 
n1nj4ofshr3d: Mind if I publish those little snippets up on my blog also? They're pretty bitesize and to the point, exactly what my reviews aren't, haha! Mine are very long and wordy! :P
Sure, that'd be awesome:tup:
I'll have more throughout the week, and maybe even an endurance or two.
 
As far as rags to riches goes, both the Silvia K's 1800cc and the Supra Twinturbo can be bought and modded with 10K credits to win 80's-5 Tahiti for the R30 Skyline, salable for 125Kcr, or you can take the R30 Skyline to win All Stars-Red Rock for the 500Kcr Speed 12.

The subject of best starter cars has been pretty well covered, though. The above two will get you money quick, though it may not be easy as the Supra handles like the beast it is. In terms of overall best starter cars which will get you into money pretty quick and not be too hard to handle, I'd say RX-7 Inifini III is 1st, Silvia K's 1800cc next. Prelude 2.2 VTEC is best FF by far if you're really lazy about handling. I'd say the GTS-t '91 is the best Skyline option.
 
I'm hoping to do some more reviews after school, for Day 1 cars, and maybe even the new cars for under 10k. I also might do a race report on GT3 Trial Mountain 2 Hour Endurance in another section.
 
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I started with the RX-7 Inifini III. It's almost laughably quicker than the competition, especially in the hands of anyone who can shift weight through the corners. I know the Supra turbo is excellent for straight line speed, but the cornering was so awful that I spent 3 seconds awestruck for every second I was actually racing.
 
I've just tried Silvia Q and Silvia K: they aren't bad, especially for unexperienced drivers: very little understeer (which can only be seen a little in the K version), very little oversteer, very predictable cars when going through a corner.
Actually, in their standard configuration, they aren't good to drift with, as they both suffer from underpowered engines, but (this particulary true for the K) always easy to control: you can start and end a drift a soon as you want. For only 2k credits more, the K version makes the Q almost unneeded, however I presume that, for one who has never played GT2, it would be easier to start with the NA one.
 
As far as rags to riches goes, both the Silvia K's 1800cc and the Supra Twinturbo can be bought and modded with 10K credits to win 80's-5 Tahiti for the R30 Skyline, salable for 125Kcr, or you can take the R30 Skyline to win All Stars-Red Rock for the 500Kcr Speed 12.

I see your logic, but my rules differ - you can NOT use a prizecar, because you will have to have spent money to buy a car to race for that race to win the prizecar, see? Im talking about buying car for the least amount of money and using it to win the most amount of money in one race.

Last night I tried this out...I bought a used Nissan Silvia Ks 2000cc (202hp) for 8,021 credits. Bought sports tyres for 6,000. Total expenditure: 14,021 credits.

I then went and raced it in the Apricot Hill endurance race, up against RX7s, Imprezas, and a Corvette Grand Sport. Won the race by about 14s, was a great race, and I won 500,000 prize money, plus won the Dodge Viper GTS-R racecar, which is sellable for 250,000. So straight away I've made a profit of 485,979 credits, which rises to 735,979 credits once I sold the prizecar. See what I mean? Using a starter car plus a little extra money which can be won in any of the Sunday/Clubman cup races, Ive managed to make a net profit of nearly three quarters of a million credits - now that's rags to riches :)

I'm hoping to do some more reviews after school, for Day 1 cars, and maybe even the new cars for under 10k. I also might do a race report on GT3 Trial Mountain 2 Hour Endurance in another section.

Go for it. I'll leave the car choices up to you :) Link me to the TM endurance report as well once you're done.

I started with the RX-7 Inifini III. It's almost laughably quicker than the competition, especially in the hands of anyone who can shift weight through the corners. I know the Supra turbo is excellent for straight line speed, but the cornering was so awful that I spent 3 seconds awestruck for every second I was actually racing.

Good point. The RX7 is one often overlooked, I think it might have been my 2nd car in GT4. I'll definately investigate it and do a test on it.

I've just tried Silvia Q and Silvia K: they aren't bad, especially for unexperienced drivers: very little understeer (which can only be seen a little in the K version), very little oversteer, very predictable cars when going through a corner.
Actually, in their standard configuration, they aren't good to drift with, as they both suffer from underpowered engines, but (this particulary true for the K) always easy to control: you can start and end a drift a soon as you want. For only 2k credits more, the K version makes the Q almost unneeded, however I presume that, for one who has never played GT2, it would be easier to start with the NA one.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. The Silvia is a lovely car to drive, very smooth, but the underpowered versions mean that, if you get into a slide, you just get bogged down and struggle to regain speed.
 
Last night I tried this out...I bought a used Nissan Silvia Ks 2000cc (202hp) for 8,021 credits. Bought sports tyres for 6,000. Total expenditure: 14,021 credits.

I then went and raced it in the Apricot Hill endurance race, up against RX7s, Imprezas, and a Corvette Grand Sport. Won the race by about 14s, was a great race, and I won 500,000 prize money, plus won the Dodge Viper GTS-R racecar, which is sellable for 250,000. So straight away I've made a profit of 485,979 credits, which rises to 735,979 credits once I sold the prizecar. See what I mean? Using a starter car plus a little extra money which can be won in any of the Sunday/Clubman cup races, Ive managed to make a net profit of nearly three quarters of a million credits - now that's rags to riches :)
:bowdown:You my friend are a true moneymaker, taking a risk like that. And in a Silvia:tup:
I will have a review today, on something. I've going back and forth between Guitar Hero, and Gran Turismo, and I got distracted.:dunce:
 
My first EVER GT2 car was a Nissan Silvia Ks '91, I think. It was dark forest green. It served me well - eventually had it race modded and everything and was capable of beating almost anything it was eligible for, which was cool.

Then, one day my dad though the PS1 had finished saving so he turned it off. It hadn't.:grumpy: It was a black day for sure.:grumpy::grumpy: And to cap it off, I was saving immediately after the 90 laps of Leguna Seca precisely so I wouldn't lose my progress!:grumpy::grumpy::grumpy: So yeah, I've had a few of other 'first' cars since then but they all faded from memory... I miss my Silvia, so I bought a lookalike in GT5!:)

But that was a long time ago now - at least I have a story to tell...
 
Tried the 1986 Mr-2: I had heard that model was a sort of remaquillage of the old Fiat X1/9, which by the way had bought that chassis from Lancia, that, years before, had done the Stratos...
so, Stratos = Lancia X1/9 = Fiat X1/9 = Toyota MR-2 '86 then Stratos = MR-2.
Actually I was wrong: it isn't a bad car nor the slowest of the lot, but it does nothing a Silvia for the same price can't do.
 
'91 Nissan Pulsar GTi-R
I did this one at school, only took 2 races to see that this is an amazing starter. If any remembers in GT1, the Pulsar was over 10k used, but now on Day 1, it's only 7.5k credits in red. With 226hp, Nissan really wanted this little car to do rally, also because it feels like a rally car. Loose steering, great acceleration, and a close gear ratio makes this a great 4WD car to use in any event. I couldn't find a downside to the cute little car. That's why I probably won't use the Pulsar. I like a challenge, but for a beginner, try it out. The Nissan Pulsar goes in the ranks of the '93 Supra and '91 Celica as perfect starters.
 
The Pulsar is a superb car. But it has to be in black!

I still think the Skyline Gts is a great starter too.
 
Awesome thread OP - you inspired me to start up GT2 again; a game I haven't played in roughly 10 years as well.

Started off with a '93 Supra Turbo, seems pretty good, but like others said - cornering is bad, and the analog sticks cannot be used. (Although D pad steering is pretty forgiving)

This game brings back a lot of memories...
 
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