[Resolved] Any way to cheese the Grand Valley 300 km Endurance Race?

[MarcelSchmitt]

Hi everybody!
So, I am not a veteran, just someone who missed the GT series so I decided to replay them by starting off with the first game of the series. So far it has not been too difficult: I got all B license tests on gold and passed the remaining two licenses. Got all races on gold but this last one: Grand Valley 300 km Endurance Race. I have already googled and tried quite a few cars but I never manage to drive well enough to make up for the time I need to get the tires changed. Is it just bad driving skills?
How many times should I change tires anyway?
I assume "Racing: H H" are fine?
How come I am the only one who has to change their tires? Seems quite unfair. Or did I simply not notice that my competitors had to change their tires as well?
And most of all: Which car would make it easy?
Thanks!

 

[TeaKanji]

Best options for this are the Concept Car LM (won from UK vs. US), FTO LM (won from US vs. Japan) or Cerbera LM (won from UK vs. Japan). GT1 doesn't simulate tyre grade durability properly in endurances, so softs will last just as long as hards. With those three cars and soft tyres, you should be able to pit every 10-12 laps and maintain a lead over the AI. You'll notice reduced grip once the tyres turn from bright to pale green, but they'll still hold grip for a decent while after that.

The AI does pit, but it doesn't announce it like in GT3 onwards so you'll need to keep an eye on the minimap if you want to keep track. Keep in mind you can exit and re-enter the race to re-roll the line-up as well, so you can find one that doesn't have many scary opponents like the Impreza rally car.

 

[MarcelSchmitt]

Best options for this are the Concept Car LM (won from UK vs. US), FTO LM (won from US vs. Japan) or Cerbera LM (won from UK vs. Japan). GT1 doesn't simulate tyre grade durability properly in endurances, so softs will last just as hard as hards. With those three cars and soft tyres, you should be able to pit every 10-12 laps and maintain a lead over the AI. You'll notice reduced grip once the tyres turn from bright to pale green, but they'll still hold grip for a decent while after that.

The AI does pit, but it doesn't announce it like in GT3 onwards so you'll need to keep an eye on the minimap if you want to keep track. Keep in mind you can exit and re-enter the race to re-roll the line-up as well, so you can find one that doesn't have many scary opponents like the Impreza rally car.

Thank you! I will try that.

Best options for this are the Concept Car LM (won from UK vs. US), FTO LM (won from US vs. Japan) or Cerbera LM (won from UK vs. Japan). GT1 doesn't simulate tyre grade durability properly in endurances, so softs will last just as long as hards. With those three cars and soft tyres, you should be able to pit every 10-12 laps and maintain a lead over the AI. You'll notice reduced grip once the tyres turn from bright to pale green, but they'll still hold grip for a decent while after that.

The AI does pit, but it doesn't announce it like in GT3 onwards so you'll need to keep an eye on the minimap if you want to keep track. Keep in mind you can exit and re-enter the race to re-roll the line-up as well, so you can find one that doesn't have many scary opponents like the Impreza rally car.

I just won the stupid Viper three times in a row instead of the FTO LM -.- Got four of them now

Best options for this are the Concept Car LM (won from UK vs. US), FTO LM (won from US vs. Japan) or Cerbera LM (won from UK vs. Japan). GT1 doesn't simulate tyre grade durability properly in endurances, so softs will last just as long as hards. With those three cars and soft tyres, you should be able to pit every 10-12 laps and maintain a lead over the AI. You'll notice reduced grip once the tyres turn from bright to pale green, but they'll still hold grip for a decent while after that.

The AI does pit, but it doesn't announce it like in GT3 onwards so you'll need to keep an eye on the minimap if you want to keep track. Keep in mind you can exit and re-enter the race to re-roll the line-up as well, so you can find one that doesn't have many scary opponents like the Impreza rally car.

I've just done each of these three races a few times and the results are always the same:

US vs. Japan: I always get the Dodge Viper GTS-R '96 (never the Mitsubishi FTO LM Edition)
UK vs. Japan: I always get the TVR Cerbera LM Edition (never the Honda CR-X del Sol LM Edition)
UK vs. US: I always get the Dodge Concept Car LM Edition (never the Mazda RX-7 A-Spec LM Edition)

WTF? Please help 😭

 

[Pupik]

I've just done each of these three races a few times and the results are always the same:

US vs. Japan: I always get the Dodge Viper GTS-R '96 (never the Mitsubishi FTO LM Edition)
UK vs. Japan: I always get the TVR Cerbera LM Edition (never the Honda CR-X del Sol LM Edition)
UK vs. US: I always get the Dodge Concept Car LM Edition (never the Mazda RX-7 A-Spec LM Edition)

WTF? Please help 😭

If there is the chance to win one of multiple prize cars, there has never been an exact method to get the desired car in any of the early GT series. (I haven't played any since GT4.) That's just the way it goes...

The "good luck charm" has been to race with the make of car you want to win. I look back at GT1 and realized that I rarely won multiples of the same car, compared to GT2 and GT3.

 

[TeaKanji]

I've just done each of these three races a few times and the results are always the same:

US vs. Japan: I always get the Dodge Viper GTS-R '96 (never the Mitsubishi FTO LM Edition)
UK vs. Japan: I always get the TVR Cerbera LM Edition (never the Honda CR-X del Sol LM Edition)
UK vs. US: I always get the Dodge Concept Car LM Edition (never the Mazda RX-7 A-Spec LM Edition)

WTF? Please help 😭

Yeah, I tested this a while back using save states and it's a 50:50 chance of either car. Unfortunate that you kept getting unlucky. Unless you're playing on an emulator and can save state before the championship prize screen so you can reset for the car you want, there's not much advice I can give other than keep trying. The Concept Car LM is the best car in the game though so you should be sorted for all events from here on out.

 

[TumeK5]

I was watching a streamer play Gran Turismo, and he got the Concept Car LM like 7 times in a row before finally getting the RX-7.

 

[MarcelSchmitt]

Yeah, I tested this a while back using save states and it's a 50:50 chance of either car. Unfortunate that you kept getting unlucky. Unless you're playing on an emulator and can save state before the championship prize screen so you can reset for the car you want, there's not much advice I can give other than keep trying. The Concept Car LM is the best car in the game though so you should be sorted for all events from here on out.

Yeah, playing on "real hardware" unfortunately

Exactly, I know from the Wiki there is a 50:50 chance for each car so you're surprised once you get the same car a few times in a row! A 50:50 chance means that most likely a few attempts (per race) should be enough to acquire both cars one can possible win.

Unfortunately, I find the Dodge Concept Car LM Edition quite a bit difficult to handle. Anyway, thank you for the advice, now it's up to me to get good.

Edit: I don't know why I found the wee Concept Car hard to handle last time. I just tried again and it actually made the Grand Valley 300 km Endurance Race very easy. Also, I changed the tires only twice. Pretty sure it is even possible to only have them changed once. My time was 1-36'08"2. I'm sure that's bad considering I drove the Dodge Concept Car LM Edition.

So now I got the black Toyota Castrol SUPRA GT (JGTC) '96 and I got gold at all races from "GT League" and "Special Event". Is there anything left now I could do in the game besides getting gold at all license tests?

 

[TeaKanji]

I don't know why I found the wee Concept Car hard to handle last time. I just tried again and it actually made the Grand Valley 300 km Endurance Race very easy. Also, I changed the tires only twice. Pretty sure it is even possible to only have them changed once. My time was 1-36'08"2. I'm sure that's bad considering I drove the Dodge Concept Car LM Edition.

So now I got the black Toyota Castrol SUPRA GT (JGTC) '96 and I got gold at all races from "GT League" and "Special Event". Is there anything left now I could do in the game besides getting gold at all license tests?

Nicely done. Yep, that's pretty much it. Only optional thing you can do besides all golds in licences is collecting every prize car, but I think you know first-hand by now that it's a potentially very time-consuming series of coin flips. Could also try racing-modifying some cars and trying them out on the track, but almost all of the racing modifications return in GT2 so it's safe to move on.

 

[MarcelSchmitt]

Nicely done. Yep, that's pretty much it. Only optional thing you can do besides all golds in licences is collecting every prize car, but I think you know first-hand by now that it's a potentially very time-consuming series of coin flips. Could also try racing-modifying some cars and trying them out on the track, but almost all of the racing modifications return in GT2 so it's safe to move on.

Cool. Anyway, it was an amazing experience getting back to this game. Kind of a short game, but tons of fun.

 

[Liquid]

If you want a particular prize car and are playing the game with the ability to use save states, you can save state at a championship prize money screen to reroll for a prize car.

I don't recall this race being particularly difficult though.

 

[Crazy_Hyena]

Hi everybody!
So, I am not a veteran, just someone who missed the GT series so I decided to replay them by starting off with the first game of the series. So far it has not been too difficult: I got all B license tests on gold and passed the remaining two licenses. Got all races on gold but this last one: Grand Valley 300 km Endurance Race. I have already googled and tried quite a few cars but I never manage to drive well enough to make up for the time I need to get the tires changed. Is it just bad driving skills?
How many times should I change tires anyway?
I assume "Racing: H H" are fine?
How come I am the only one who has to change their tires? Seems quite unfair. Or did I simply not notice that my competitors had to change their tires as well?
And most of all: Which car would make it easy?
Thanks!

I found the RX-7 Type RZ really good for this race in particular.
Fully upgrade it (including a racing modification and soft racing tires). This brings it up to 527 HP and 900 kg. This car has amazing corner grip due to its light weight, and it is pretty fast on the straights as well.

Settings used:
Suspension and brakes:
Spring Rate - 4.8 (front), 3.6 (rear) - Lowest values.
Ride Height - 100/100 (front/rear) - Ideal values.
Damper - 6/6 (front/rear) - Makes the car less bouncy.
Camber - 1.0 / 0.5 (front / rear) - Helps a little with cornering.
Stabilizer - 2/2 (front/rear)
Brakes - 9/8 (front/rear)

Engine and gearing:
Turbo boost - 6
Gear ratios:
1st - 3.070
2nd - 1.884
3rd - 1.414
4th - 1.106
5th - 0.860
Final - 3.330 - This setup sets the gear ratios into the ideal rev-range (around 6,000 to 7,500 RPM), where the car has the greatest power and torque figures. When racing the RX-7, try to stay above 6,000 RPM for most of the time, as the power and torque figures drops off quite a bit below 6,000.

Downforce - 0.70 / 0.96 (front / rear) - Max values.
Vmax is around 325 km/h with this setup.
It should be relatively easy to beat any opponent with this car and this setup. Make sure to be a little gentle on the throttle in sharp turns as the car has a tendency to be tail-happy.
Grand Valley lap times are usually between 1:30 and 1:35