Strategy Guide for GT4

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joey D
  • 85 comments
  • 11,926 views
Name one reason you're going to need a strategy guide. Of course! For some of the tracks as well as license tests. And then sometimes, I use them in Free Run in GT3 to compare my best times to the makers of the GT3 guide by Versus Books. As an example of my times that I beat in GT3 compared to Versus Books:

Deep Forest - VB: 1:10.32; My Best: 0:59.877 (F/090 S)
Rome Circuit - VB: 1:09.32; My Best: 1:08.451 (F/090 S)
Smokey Mountain - VB: 1:01.27; My Best: 0:55.943 (Escudo)
Tahiti Maze - VB: 1:44.27; My Best: 1:41.608 (???)

So there's several uses for a strategy guide. There you have it.
 
My friend is the manager of gamestop, and he gave me the release date for GT4 on Jan. 20th, a week or two before every one else knew so he has been pretty reliable in the past.
Any way he has told me it comes March 11. There were misprints in half of the guide so all of them had to be recalled from the warehouse and reprinted. So there is your date MArch 11.
 
I like the strategy guide to look at, give cool and useful tips, and have a accurate and official
checklist and prize list to look at. It enhances the expirience, it doesn't bring it down.
 
I'm getting the Piggyback guide (Europe) for Gran Turismo 4. Those have never disappointed me. The Metal Gear Solid guides and Final Fantasy guides were excellent. Tons of usefull info and some little surprises. They don't release that often guides, btw.:)
 
Prima books = horrible (only decent Prima guide was for Halo2, but that was under the direction of Piggyback Books). A good example of a poor Prima book is the one for the DOA series...secrets my butt...nothing was revealed!

The GT4 Complete (or GT4 The Bible in Japan) is the book to get. I have the original Japanese version, and (though I can't read Japanese that well) I must say that this is the guide to get. Not only does it detail an insane amount of stats for almost every car in the game, it documents each course, gives tips on driving and tuning theories (to be applied to the game and in real life) as well as offer up a complete listing of the game's soundrack (info on the artists) and a "Travelers' Guide" to many of the tracks that were patterned from real-world locations.

Oh, and the DVD's pretty entertaining to watch. I actually used the DVD to land a few reservations with customers at the Gamestop I work at.
 
Bump. I haven't heard any news on the strategy guides. Every time I call any stores they say to call back the next day and that there is no official date. Any rumors?
 
There is no doubt that the guides are useful, but are they necessary? If forums like this worked to really share information, there wouldnt be a need for a strategy guide.

Personally I think it sucks that the developers ship the game with only the most minimal of manuals, forcing you to buy the guide if you want more detailed information. It seems to be the way games are developed lately. Just another ploy to get more money out of the consumers.

I say we start a thread that talks specifically about car setups. Something detailed that we can use instead of the stupid guide.
 
The Judge
There is no doubt that the guides are useful, but are they necessary? If forums like this worked to really share information, there wouldnt be a need for a strategy guide.

Personally I think it sucks that the developers ship the game with only the most minimal of manuals, forcing you to buy the guide if you want more detailed information. It seems to be the way games are developed lately. Just another ploy to get more money out of the consumers.

I say we start a thread that talks specifically about car setups. Something detailed that we can use instead of the stupid guide.

There's a part of this forum wherepeople post car set-ups
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=145
 
See I don't understand the point behind a racing game stategy guide. Where is the strategy? No book is gonna make you a better racer. Car & track info is nice but you can get all the stuff off the net. I think they only make sense for people who don't have much access to the net.
 
Just figure out how to do the settings and all, i mean thats fun, and do you think the real Racing Teams have an Setup Guide or something, or does F1 drivers have an how to do test book?
 
Not everyone has 2 or 3 or 5 hours to spend playing GT4 everyday testing all the settings and learning what they do.

I'm lucky to get in an hour or half-hour everyother day. :nervous:
I'm looking forward to the guide too.
 
I buy strategy guides for racing games only for collector / enthusiast value if it's a guide for a game I really enjoy (like GT4, obviously). But I agree there's little or no value add for actually getting better at the game. You either understand how to ride a racing line or you don't. You either know how to get through traffic or you don't. You're not going to improve at either one by reading. Only way to get better is practice + following / observing better players. That's one major bummer about no online in GT4. You can learn a LOT in a driving game by getting your ass kicked by better players. Just being able to hang behind them for a few turns after they pass you will teach you WAY more about how to get around a track than you'll ever read in a strategy guide. Man, I wish Sony had something like Xbox Live so I could play GT4 online as easily as I can Project Gotham, TOCA, or (soon) Forza...
 
As much as I hate to say this ( It's so cliche ) " I have a friend that works at G@mestop " he said the collector's edition might be out tomorrow ( Saturday, 12 March). This is the one that's 3?? pages with the making of DVD. The other is scheduled for 26 March. I'm not putting my rep on the line as this is heresay and non admissable in a court of law. Just thought I'd add to the fire. I know I'll buy the guide and the other collector's edition w/DVD, though I wonder if I'm the only one who thinks Prima Really screwed up by not having this guide ready @ launch. What I mean to say is that if I bought the bundle I would return It unopened and just buy my game cheaper (Instead of waiting uncertainly). We'll see how much of a............DONKEY my friend makes me look like tomorrow. Cheers.
 
Well I just asked "my friend at gamestop" and he said the book with the DVD is going to come out on 15 march. There goes my rep, OH well............Cheers.
 
anybody heard a new date yet for the US GT4 Bible? I guess its going by the name of GT4 Complete OR Driving the Game: GT4. I went into my EBGames today, and laid $5 down on a pre-order for it... I guess they're only getting 1 for a city of over 300,000 people. I'm glad that 1 is me.

Lucky to have a good friend working there ;)
 
the more i play through this game the more i realize that other than a nice novelty, the guide wont do much. the only thing i see it aiding in is in the specific car listings for events. because we all know the "etc" is quite annoying. every other bit of information though, i was able to gather here on this site. the only reason i see getting this guide now (at least for me) is something decently interesting to read while at class, work, or on the toilet. :dopey: thats assuming it ever comes out though.
 
That's why I want to get the "Driving the game" or "GT4 Complete" or whatever they decide to call it when it comes out in 2009. It's not so much a guide, but a huge book pertaining to the making of the game.

The only reason I'd want to get the guide is so I don't have to print off all kinds of stuff of GTP, GTX, and other places. I don't want to sort through all that crap to find what I'm looking for. I'd rather look in the book... assuming its half decent.
 
Last update I got from the EB Games in my area(I'm in Ontario Canada) was they'd have it the 1st week of April. Apparently there was a problem between the publishing company and Prima, the developers of the guide. The release date may be different in your area. I suggest contacting your local gaming depot.
 
guides for games are great as supplemental material. I so much enjoy this game but I can't play it all the time. So, while I am on the bus, or sitting on the john or letting my buddy play, I can still be enrapt in the world of Gran Turismo 4. Plus, all those people who are complaining that the US version doesn't have car descriptions may find what they are looking for (to some extent) in the guide.
 
deadmoney
Worst move in the history of video games?

Putting a strategy guide out 2 months AFTER the game is released...

Who screwed up?

LOL, I wonder the same thing. The rumor that I heard was Prima used a picture that they didn't have the right to reproduce and it was held up because of that.

Anyways, I work at Wal-Mart and we just got a shipment of 10 of the Prima guides in today. They are 16.84 and are something like 305 pages long.

Just though you'd all like an update on that.
 
DRIFT GOD
i have the guide's for GT1,GT2 & GT3 so i will definatly be getting the one for GT4 👍

Same here but I'm getting GT4 for the sole reason I can look at pics of all the damn cars instead of going through the list in the garage. Sadly and ironically I think that's one of the main reason GT4 sucks now, it's just too massive.
 
Back