seperation of A and B spec.

do you want A & B spec reintegrated into a single career & the addition of B-spec X3

  • this needs to be fixed ASAP.

    Votes: 29 51.8%
  • leave it as it is

    Votes: 23 41.1%
  • dont care.

    Votes: 4 7.1%

  • Total voters
    56
Messages
488
i've read allot of posts regarding the fact that A and B spec has been separated in GT5 and we can no longer share the duties of the endurance races and they have more or less been turned into 2 distinct career modes.

i'm obviously one of those who are not best pleased that we cannot use our "Bobs" to share in the task of beating the enduros but i'm also pissed there is no fast forward in B spec.

so who else wants this sorted out?
 
The way B-Spec worked in GT4 was great. You could call on your B-Spec team mate at any time.

Isnt that th epoint of a team driver anyway?
 
Fast forward in B-spec is a bit silly. It'd become an extremely/overly easy credit farming tool.

B-spec is evidently geared to players that have other stuff to do that takes most of their attention, and will be able to give only a few inputs to the console for a long period of time.

As one of those, I welcome the way it's been implemented.

The only thing that's really missing (and that would remove the need to use Bob) is the ability to save the game during endurance races when you're in the pits. Even if i could call Bob in to replace me during a 24 hours race, I doubt I'd leave the PS3 on that long with the risk of damaging it.
 
I'm enjoying B-Spec. I'm currently at level 8 with B-Spec Frederick. I mainly use it while cooking or doing other choirs around the house so i can continue to win some credits.

My only request would be to allow our driver to take over during the endurance runs. I haven't reached the endurance levels yet. But it would be nice to catch an hour break while my teammate turns laps for me. Hopefully this is something they can implement with an update.
 
B-spec mode is great. I'm really getting into it. I'm at level 23 now and it's definetly great for people who don't have that much time to sit around and play games.
 
B-spec mode is great. I'm really getting into it. I'm at level 23 now and it's definetly great for people who don't have that much time to sit around and play games.

How is it any faster than A-spec? Aren't the races in B-spec LONGER?
 
B-spec mode is great. I'm really getting into it. I'm at level 23 now and it's definetly great for people who don't have that much time to sit around and play games.

That's odd - the few B-spec races I dabbled in required me to watch the B-Spec driver like a hawk - how does that "save time"?

It is by no means a set it and forget it option like it was in GT4. I would set the B-Spec guy up to do the 24 hour races and go off to work etc.

Seems the current B-spec driver is too stupid to find his way out of th epits unassisted ;)
 
as has been mentioned a few times and something i should have said in the OP is...

X3, though a great feature for GT4, is not the be all and end all and we can do without it, but what most of us cant do without is the need to take a break without leaving our consoles on for extended periods of time or even weeks in the endurance races, so this gripe could easily be fixed with a save ability added...

since i haven't got to the endurance races yet, i assume there is no save feature for the 24hr events?
 
My only complaint about the way it is now is that the credit payout on the B-Spec races is to low. The Laguna Seca 200 lap race in B-Spec pays out much less than the A-Spec 5 lap Indy race. Even the A Spec Endurance races pay very little in terms of prize money. It just doesn't seem right to be able to earn more money by driving Indy speedway a few laps than you will earn in the Indy 500.
 
My B-Spec level is now 11, and my highest level driver is 8, and so far:

1. You generally can NOT win if your car isn't 2 times faster than others. Because by using similar cars, your AI driver is normally a lot slower than other AIs.

2. Even if your car is 2 times faster than others you still can lose, e.g. trucks race on Daytona where Bobs just keep braking at "corners". By using the same truck in A-Spec, I don't need to hit brake all the time and can easily overtake other trucks during first U-turn.

3. The Yaris Challenge is painful, you have to be 100% focus for the whole race, and you still need luck to win.

4. If you leave the AI driver unchecked, even with faster car (not a lot faster), it can be overtaken when the pace drops to minimum; it likely makes mistakes by trying to retake the position.

5. Your AI drivers by some unknown reasons do NOT like to overtake other AIs, overtakes mostly happen on non-corner roads; you can forget about the "late brake overtake" trick you usually use in A-Spec, so far I have only seen it happen once, and it's because my AI cannot regain its normal driving line due to other cars' positions.

Anyway, I can't image AI drivers' performance in Extreme races, since the cars are similar at large (I'm still far far far away from getting the beast - X1)......
 
B-Spec is not that hard once you get the hang of it and later on the drivers actually drive pretty well. My B-Spec driver managed to win the Formula GT championship where everyone is driving the same car. He also managed to win the Nascar championship again same car as everyone else.

You do need to give him direction and keep his bar from dropping down very far into the blue or he will slow down and loose his lead. Even then he may be able to win as he will speed up when they catch him but if you direct him and keep his bar near the center then he will be fine in the harder races.

I have 6 drivers now that are above level 20
 
I like B-Spec as it is (for the most part). The only thing I'd like added is an x2 time compression. The races are longer anyway, so I think this could be done without throwing it out of balance. When you first start, it's very frustrating and you definitely have to babysit them through a large portion of the race. But after that, it's not too bad at all.

Once you've got one driver up to lvl 15+, advancing the rest of the drivers becomes much easier - you can basically throw them in the deep end using superior cars and use the knowledge/experience gained from leveling the first driver. With the right combination of car (easy to handle) and track (lots of straights, few technical corners), a new driver can easily win races 5-6 levels above his current level.

Some of the prize cars you get are fantastic as well, and can be invaluable in A-Spec.

Once you're confident of B-Spec Bob's driving ability and you're familiar with the GT5 menu system, you don't even have to switch to the PS3 to assign commands. If I'm watching a movie, for example, or doing something on my computer, I'll have the DS3 controller close by (this is when bluetooth is fantastic, no line of sight needed). If I already know the cursor is pointing at the issue command icon, I just press X on the controller a couple of times, and I know it'll issue the last command to the driver. If your driver typically slows down once his temperament cools down, I'll just mindlessly hit the X button twice every 50-60 seconds without even thinking about it to issue a pace increase.
 
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I entered a level 0 driver into the Grandvalley endurance race as one of the middle drivers. You use 4 drivers here each taking a turn at the wheel and I gave them the Zonda R which easily laps the field even when Bob is in full cool down mode. The result was my driver went from level 0 to level 16 after one race. He now has 5 races under his belt and is level 22 :)

Correction he now has 10 races and is level 23. Same as my first driver who has 80 races under his belt.
 
i like b-spec, especially at the moment
i have very limited time right now due to uni work etc so i dont get much time for a-spec
so i just leave b-spec on during the day while im working and every now and then give an instruction
its winning me money and cars, which are useful for a-spec, and i dont really have to do anything
 
erm...@the last few posters...

this isnt a topic about what you like and dont like about B-spec and its not about the AI's ability and your B-spec strategy or how much time you have to play the game. this is a topic about 2 omissions from GT5 which were in GT4, namely X3 and more importantly, the lack of any save or B-spec take over for the endurance races...

any chance we can stick to the topic at hand please!?
 
After getting into it a little and my driver graduating from being complete morons to somewhat useful drivers, I'm starting to like B-Spec the way it is.
A little repititive due to the lack of events (just the same with A-Spec), but otherwise, it should be left the way it is.
 
X3 was nice but I can live without it. Letting Bob run my races for me is not something that ever interested me anyway so I can live without that as well.

The one thing they changed that I do not care for is the reduced earnings and more laps with Bob is driving.
 
It's fine as it is, if they were combined there would be nothing making the player do the harder races and that would remove the entire point of the game. I kind of wish I'd been made to do the 24h endurances in GT4 but as it was far easier to get Bob to do it I just did that, but in GT5 I'm pretty much definitely going to do them all, one day. Not now, though.

Also the x3, I can see why people want that but that was for balancing, the same reason why races are longer in B-Spec than A, if they were the same length with the same payout then why would you even race?

GT4, for me, turned into running the DTM race in B-Spec over and over and over again until I could buy every car, and then I stopped, except for picking it up now and then to run Tsukuba Time Attacks with my Evos. GT5 won't turn into that simply because B-Spec isn't really the best way to make money and it takes longer than A-Spec.
 
I like it the way it is. It's like having two different games, which is great. When I have time to play I'll hop on A-Spec. When I'm browsing the forums or working from home or watching TV, I'll let B-Spec drive. If I'm trying to have him win tough races then I have to actually help him and look up every 30 seconds or so.

If I'm watching a movie I just let him go in a faster car and he does his thing. If it's one where he'll win as long as he's full hot, despite that not being his ideal, I'll just spam x while I watch TV.
 
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