Test Course: Better off For Racing or for Testing?

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JohnBM01

JohnBM01

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Hello, GTP.

Before I get deep into this topic, I want to say that we will miss you, Pat Tillman. Thank you for defending our country and keeping peace in Iraq. You turned down a multi-million dollar NFL Contract for the Arizona Cardinals to serve for your country. Rest in peace, Pat Tillman. Tillman was 27.

If you have played any GT, you know what you're getting into when you race this big oval. Now personally, I've always considered this track to be more of a testing ground, rather than a race track. In fact, I think it's pointless to go into long races on a big oval where being on the rev limiter is nothing new. I heard of people complain about the Toyota Vitz race where you race on the Test Course. Now if you remember, I had a similar topic about the Test Course and a better test course, but this is a different topic. Is it better off for racing or testing? I'll start.

As much as I enjoy speed, a top speed test whereas you go from 0 to basically your rev limiter tends to get boring, especially long races. I don't think I can do 5+ laps or maybe 10+ laps. Sure, I did "Like the Wind" for good cash and the Mazda 787B, and that was 40 laps. But to me, if you're going to race the Test Course against others, at least let it be against other machines, because I don't think multiple runs across a track basically designed for testing high speeds of cars is actually a race. You want an oval you can race around, Super Speedway is fine enough.

So do you think the Test Course is a race track, or a test track? Reply right away. Oh, and I close with this. My fondest memories of Test Course:

(GT1) doing 240 mph in a Mitsubishi GTO (3000GT)
(GT2) doing 260 mph in a Toyota GT-One Road Car
(GT3) running a car tuned to well over 1,000 hp, the Suzuki Escudo with a Stage 4 Turbo
 
The track name says it all.To me it's a very boring track/oval.I have only raced there when i had to in GT mode(15 laps with a Yaris,pure agony).
I do occasionally go there to see what some of the cars can do when fully tuned.And that's about it.
 
I say make the test track a dirt track! :lol:
 
Originally posted by JohnBM01
Before I get deep into this topic, I want to say that we will miss you, Pat Tillman. Thank you for defending our country and keeping peace in Iraq. You turned down a multi-million dollar NFL Contract for the Arizona Cardinals to serve for your country. Rest in peace, Pat Tillman. Tillman was 27.
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Probably not on its place here in this topic, but as you started, I'd say it is very sad, especially as his death is of little use. Just say thank you to your fantastic president, who seems to be acting mainly in the interest of his Israeli friends and his own career.

To bad that a lot of brillant persons are sacrified for those reasons.
 
The testtrack must not become just another dirttrack, it's all about testing and changing the setup of your car, so it will perform better. It needs to be TARMAC circuit with a lot of different corners, but it must not be as big and dull as the testrack from GT3........(it must be a real track) :cool:
 
complex string is a better 'test track' then the test track is. That giant oval is terrible.
 
I can't do more than a few laps of the Test Course without falling asleep. It actually has a sedative effect on me.
 
No kidding. The track is like 8 miles long.
 
And no other track will allow a 1170hp Zonda to draft up to 267mph. Its wonderful :)

The track is fine for racing.
 
I love the drafting you can do on this track but any race longer than 5 laps gets a liitle boring.That said,if it was taken out I would miss it.
 
You wouldn't find me crying into my pillow if they got rid of that monstrosity. Its the most boring 'track' I've ever had the misfortune to race on.

The test track on TOCA 2 was perfect in my opinion, it had lots of different ovals and corners which could be combined to create some really interesting tracks. It also had some dirt sections and a skidpan.

If the test track is just going to be a huge oval then just leave it as a test track, please don't force us to drive it!

:)
 
They should keep it for testing and thats all. They shouldn't hold any races on it especially not any long races such as the 'Like The Wind' race in GT3.
 
I think the Test Track could offer some really nice races after carefully placing four chicanes (some mid straight and some before curves).

With this track configuration, we could still get some interesting drafts (as the straights could remain long enough), and then do long brake duels with the rivals. This way, Polyphony could add one more interesting track to GT4´s total, without much work.

What do you all think?
 
As it is good for testing, it is also good for racing, but it iis a little bit too long - maybe just 5 miles too long:).

But, it is an oval Test Track to die for.

For in-game, I just can't agree more with the Martinmaxxs' conclusion - adding a just few on-track chicanes would make it one-hell-of-the-ride. Now THAT IS a good sugestion.

Hope thet we'll get even more in final game.
 
Think its good for testing top speed of cars or just play around with and i would love to se a track in GT4 that is identical to the one in GT3. The previous (GT1 and GT2) was not big enough for some of the cars. I wanted the straights to be longer and i got that answer in GT3, but no, i do not want to fall asleep when racing..

/Eddie.
 
Its good for testing max speed but thats about it & if there is racing on it again, I hope there only for the fastest cars for only a couple of laps. Some of those races in GT3 <shudder> simply painful. Thankfully I skipped most of em since I did them all in tournaments & had plenty of points :D
 
I puke at this track:boggled: :sick: :nervous: :yuck: ....I mean they should put it out off the friggin game man!...I dont even use it for testing...:rolleyes:
 
Anyone ever hear of the Ford Proving grounds. It's a Loooooooog oval for testing a car's top speedand it has a road course on the inside for other testing. PD Could replace Test Track with the Proving grounds.
 
Most car manufacturers have "proving grounds". Porsche has the "Weissach", Honda has "Takasu", Nissan even has part of the Nurburgring faithfully represented (including elevation changes) in their testing facilities. Japanese "Best Motoring" drivers often test cars at their respective manufacturer´s "proving grounds". They are able to test max speed, low speed handling, high speed handling, jumps, and also highly banked curves. Really impressive stuff.

The closest to GT3´s Test track is VW´s proving facilites at Ehra-Lessien, which include two parallel straights of 9km each (5.6miles), joined by two banked curves totalling 20km. This is where the Mclaren F1 road car saw an indicated 391km/h (it was oficially recorded at 387km/h). There is a low quality video of this run available on the Internet.

The XBOX game "Mercedes Benz World Racing" had the Mercedes Benz´s proving grounds represented as one of it´s many tracks.

Any of these so called "proving facilities" would be a great addition to Gran Turismo 4 IMHO.
 
I had trouble accessing this site, but now that I'm here, I'm thankful. Anyhow, check this.

I think TOCA2's Test Track is probably the best test course even though I don't have TOCA 2. So how do I know about this course? I downloaded it as it was made available for another racing game, Sports Car GT. You can still race an oval, but also a lot of different road course variations. I think for the "Run and Setting" options, you can choose which course you want to run. A nice idea would be an "ultra shakedown" test, where you test the car on the oval, and all road course variations. You can run each test for as long as you want. To me, I'd say that with this ultra shakedown, you run the best laps at the best speeds possible. When you are done with one test, you can press Start to end the session and choose another variation until all courses have been tested with that car. You can even challenge against a ghost competitor. Someone will have the same car with the same tuning, and challenge you. If you can beat that person's times, you will win a cash bonus. For each record broken, you win new cars, and survive the ultra shakedown records, you'll win an F1 racer or a high-powered, ultra-performing Le Mans race car. Sound neat, huh?

But if PD wants to keep the oval, at least put in road course sections. Or if they wanted to, they could make the Test Course a high-speed road course or a modified oval. It will still carry the Test Course oval, only thing is that you are running on different roads. And if you know your car isn't that fast, you can run a short road course that only uses the main straight, has a medium sections of road with one more intermediate zone to make for three intermediate areas. I mean, what's the point of racing a stock VW New Beetle around a 2, 3, 5 mile course for 3, 6, 10 minutes? Pointless if you ask me. If you want to have a race track that can be used as a Test Course that the cars aren't all that fast, why not have a special short course within Test Course that only uses the main straightaway.

Oh, and one more thing. When using the big oval, you have to do a better job of finding Pit Road without bashing into any walls going into the pits. Now if you'll excuse me, I got some DOA2: Hardore fighting to do. Take care!
 
Test course is for to test your car's speed.
Complex String is for to test your car's handling.

Originally posted by JohnBM01
As much as I enjoy speed, a top speed test whereas you go from 0 to basically your rev limiter tends to get boring, especially long races. I don't think I can do 5+ laps or maybe 10+ laps. Sure, I did "Like the Wind" for good cash and the Mazda 787B, and that was 40 laps.
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It's like doing 40 laps at complex string and that gets more boring then 40 laps on test course.

Ohh...Complex string , I really hate that track.
 
@GT-one TS020 - Just noticed you're sig. When, why, how?
 
Test Track should be used for testing only. Duh. BUT it would be easy to rack up money easily, although it is extremely boring.
 
Only type of racing thats fun on test track is against another human being. Basicly a drafting battle. The replays usually look funny as hell w/ both people trying to get into attacking positions. Unlike on a normal race where your trying to go as fast as possible all of the time. its all about slingshotting in front of ur opponent right before the finnish. other than that. its just a testing track



o, and also i luv 2 player battles on complex string, fowards and reverse. thats the shiznit.. thats how u decide who's a better racer.
 
Originally posted by JohnBM01
Before I get deep into this topic, I want to say that we will miss you, Pat Tillman. Thank you for defending our country and keeping peace in Iraq. You turned down a multi-million dollar NFL Contract for the Arizona Cardinals to serve for your country. Rest in peace, Pat Tillman. Tillman was 27.
Click to expand...

RIP Pat Tillman

And on the topic of test course, it should be a test only course like complex string, but I won't mind one race on it (ex. like the wind). But if it is in numerous series, lets just hope that there is no race like the Vitz race at test course. If someone wanted to make a video game equivilent of Valium, that race would be it.
 
I once fell asleep in Like the wind and I still managed to win.

Please, no more race on it in GT4...
 
Tuning. It's perfect to test various things about your car, but not racing. It's too long.
 
Complex string is good for settling grudges w/ humans....
 
its a nice nascar/irl style racetrack...

Look... If it was a real "Test Track" it would have a section in the middle of the backstreach where you would go into the infeild for a cople of lefts / rights / Chicanes...

Of course he had Complex String for that...

Is there even one race on complex string??
 
I still think that Test Course should be like Complex String and Motor Sport Land (GT2), just be for testing. And if you ask me, Test Course is a joke. If I wanted an oval, I'd rather race Super Speedway. If I wanted a real Test Course, I'd race elsewhere. Heck, I think Tokyo R246 would be a sweet test track if it was a road course rather than a street course.

And here's an idea that will almost NEVER work (even though the Ridge Racer series tried it) is a street course oval.
 
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