The Grind is Getting Me Down Man

[evilfoxhound]

Is the word "soon" Kaz's favorite word? :/

 

[TsLeng]

Its not a fact, you just assumed again are are wrong again, I got gold on ALL special events that are unlocked......................

What level are you again?

I am on lvl20

All licences done with 40+Gold the rest silver
For challenges that are unlocked already
All TG challenges gold
All Nascar challenges gold
All Kart gold
Beginner and Intermediate AMG challenge completed with mostly gold and one of the advanced at gold
Intermediate rally all gold (not done beginner yet)
Complete the Road rally thing with mostly silver and the odd Gold
Gold all Sebastian Loeb rally challenge

As you see, I have some Special Challenges left not done yet and I am not even all Gold.

As for events.... I only completed Beginner and Amateur. Done one or two events in professional and expert and thats it! So many more events unlocked and not even done!

The only grinding I have done is the Turbo race and not that many times. I think about 10-15 times max.

So what were you doing again?

 

[DaveS1138]

I'm saying the game is forcing me to do whatever event gets me money the fastest/easiest to actually play it like it is a Gran Turismo game.

That's my point exactly.

The game is not forcing you to play that way. You could easily choose to take part in competative races that would be great fun and take longer to level up.

Instead you are choosing to take part in the same boring uncompetative race over and over to level up as fast as possible.

Your choosing to make the game a grind. You could just as easily choose to make it more fun but you dont want to do that since it will take longer.

 

[Joey D]

That's my point exactly.

The game is not forcing you to play that way. You could easily choose to take part in competative races that would be great fun and take longer to level up.

Instead you are choosing to take part in the same boring uncompetative race over and over to level up as fast as possible.

Your choosing to make the game a grind. You could just as easily choose to make it more fun but you dont want to do that since it will take longer.

It's not about levelling up, it's about getting money to buy cars. Toronado never said anything about levels.

 

[Exorcet]

dont want to do that since it will take longer.

And stall progress, defeating the entire purpose.

And again. Just slowing the grind down doesn't make it fun. I guess it does for you, but not everyone else.

The alternative to accepting something subpar is to point out its flaws and get it fixed.

 

[DaveS1138]

It's not about levelling up, it's about getting money to buy cars. Toronado never said anything about levels.

Same thing. I was using it as a phrase to describe progressing to the next event not strictly getting the next level.

And stall progress, defeating the entire purpose.

And again. Just slowing the grind down doesn't make it fun. I guess it does for you, but not everyone else.

The alternative to accepting something subpar is to point out its flaws and get it fixed.

No slowing the grind down does not make it more fun at all. You completely miss my point.

The point of GT is to have fun racing......your not going to do that running the same race over and over again in a car that is never going to loose. You are going to do that by taking part in races that push your skill and that you sometimes loose because of that.

It will take more time since you are not winning every boring race after every boring race......but you are having more fun in the process because the game is challenging you as you earn more money and xp.

 

[Joey D]

Same thing. I was using it as a phrase to describe progressing to the next event not strictly getting the next level.

It's not the same thing though, a majority of the cars I want are level 9 and lower and I reached level 10 pretty quick by just doing normal races. I need money in order to get them, tune them and enjoy them. I could careless about gathering XP right now, all I want it money...which you have to grind boring races to do if you want to gather a bunch of it quickly.

 

[Exorcet]

The point of GT is to have fun racing

Very true. This is why I don't like GT mode. It gets in the way of the entire point.

You are going to do that by taking part in races that push your skill and that you sometimes loose because of that.

I have to disagree there. Because GT mode is so poorly set up, I'll just have to accept whatever races are open to me, regardless of whether I want to do them or not. If I don't want to do a race, there isn't much that could possibly make it fun.

There also isn't much to say about pushing skill when you have to handicap yourself in order to lose. As for practicing, if I want to get better at F1 driving, why should I drive a JGTC car? I should just practice with the F1 car.

but you are having more fun in the process because the game is challenging you as you earn more money and xp.

Like above, I don't see engineering your own defeat as a proper challenge. And it's definitely not fun if there is no incentive to do it in the first place [ie, the race is just plain boring thanks to the AI and mismatched car fields, and repetition, and it's just not what I want to do]. Online is where the challenge is, and its where the longevity is. Unfortunately, I need to get through offline to fully immerse myself online. Believe me, your ideas are not novel. I know that I can play GT a different way. But there is no point to it because it does not lead to where I want to go. If I try to make GT life fun (and I can't really do that in the first place), it will just make it take longer to get to the point where I can ignore GT life completely.

Even if I wanted to play offline (and I probably would if everything was unlocked and the racing was better), I don't have to subject myself to faux races where 14 cars are scenery, and 1 car is clearly two leagues ahead of everything else for a challenge. I could just do free runs (any car, any track, not possible now) and try to beat my own laptimes. I could pick out a crazy car and spend hours trying to tune it (This I could do even now [though my choice of cars is limited], but with only one car, then its back to going off track once I want to move on to the next because I'd have no money). As is, GT5 is needlessly restricting.


In short. It's not fun to take a long detour down a poorly constructed road. I don't need GT telling me when I'm ready to do something. I'll be in charge of that.

 

[Pompous]

What Joey D is saying is something I've experienced. Pre-order cars aside, I have about 10~ cars at the moment. Most of the events I have currently unlocked I cannot do, simply because I dont have the credits to go out and buy, for example, a classic japanese car, or a muscle car, or a classic european car, or a specific type of mazda roadster.

The problem he is singling out isn't the fact that the leveling is a long process, though that is problematic as well, the problem is that for each different event, you need a different car, and simply doing the events doesn't give you enough credits to cover the cost of all the different cars that need to be purchased so that you can continue doing them, much less tune/modify them so that you can actually be competative.

 

[advan031]

Yes I wish it's easier to earn money but I let my b spec driver grind while I do something else.

 

[curtis_boy]

It needs way more events why 1000+ cars for so little number of events and the events are really not implemented well its just here your

'this level now you can do this race with this car"

needs an update to unlock 300 way more challenging and interesting events

 

[James2097]

The fact it is highly necessary to grind b-spec mode to win certain prize cars is beyond ridiculous. I f-ing hate b-spec.

 

[MaccGyver]

I got*pissed off after level 15.
So all i do now is race my Lambo online ( no money to buy anything else .
I don't plan on playing anymore A-Spec either.
So im gonna race my Lambo till they patch in Xp and Prize money for online.
The Single player is brutal.

 

[StevenDunn99]

What level are you again?

I am on lvl20

All licences done with 40+Gold the rest silver
For challenges that are unlocked already
All TG challenges gold
All Nascar challenges gold
All Kart gold
Beginner and Intermediate AMG challenge completed with mostly gold and one of the advanced at gold
Intermediate rally all gold (not done beginner yet)
Complete the Road rally thing with mostly silver and the odd Gold
Gold all Sebastian Loeb rally challenge

As you see, I have some Special Challenges left not done yet and I am not even all Gold.

As for events.... I only completed Beginner and Amateur. Done one or two events in professional and expert and thats it!

Nice one ! 👍 A man after my own heart, you are approaching the game in the same way as myself, though I am a little behind you. fwiw, apart from the Honda Civic I have not bought anything; no cars, no upgrades and had no freebies.

Sadly all GT games have grinding, and it is a real downer on the game at times, but you just have to mix'n'match events and races to create the variety.

 

[JDMKING13]

Just completed the Special event Nurburg with all gold, and very happy took a long time.

 

[Sameiru]

To spice up the grind I find that it's best to try events in cars that are much slower than the competition, creating a great challenge and the thrilling race.

 

[magburner]

The idea is for you to make the races competative. Don't grab something that is going to make the race to easy for you. Grab something that will result in very close racing so that some races you win, some you loose.

Yeah, I've been thinking about this. PD could aid in the process by giving more information about the expected competition if they included additional in the typical opponents tab at the race entry screen. Things like weight, HP, tires, and power-to-weight ratio would all help to create a close challenge.

In GT4, I used to race a car with a power-to-weight ratio close to the slowest likely car that would enter the event. It made for some excellent racing. 👍

 

[Paulski]

What I also do; after a couple of A-spec events (ie 6) I take some prize cars (or other cars bought for one specific event) to give them a spin in events I already completed. Preferably without tuning. Sure, it's not the fastest way, but much more fun than repeating the same supercar oval race all the time

Also, when I buy a new car for a specific event (ie Gallardo for the Lambo event) I don't immeadiately go to that event. I start off with some lower lvl events to get a feeling for the car and earn a bit extra credits with it.

 

[Imari]

I was thinking the other night how cool it would have been if after you had beaten an event once it popped up with the option to redo the event in a car under a certain horsepower and over a certain weight. A hard mode, if you will. That way people can still storm the Clubman Cup in their Veyron, but there's something for those who want a challenge.

But back on topic, I'm hitting this problem hardcore in B-Spec. I'm halfway through level 20, I've done everything but the stupid historic car race (which doesn't give that much XP) and I'm WELL short of enough for level 21. Like, half a bar at least. So I'm stuck grinding on the one high level event I have until I can get to 21. And it's not like B-Spec is exciting to redo races like A-Spec. You do it once, job done, move on. But it's just not possible. Awful, awful game design.

 

[skywolf23]

I just wish there was the old gt tricks of using a rubber band to fix your controller, get that escunado rally car get it over 1000+ hp and let it grind the wall in endurance mode on the racing oval wake up ohh look lots of cr.

Or i wish the million plus i had saved up in gt5p plus all my cars would have been ported over.......i mean formula 1 car, every car in the game at lest one of each some in several colors. F1 costs what in gt5 10 20 million?

And whats the top cash hand out 85k at level 20 21? Races should have payed more in some races, race series should have had bonus payouts a lot higher just cause the good cars cost an arm and a leg. And you have to buy most of the cars to enter the events to win the car you need for the events. Also you have to tune it up some cause the ai drivers often have aero kits or some upgrades that will put you behind the 8 ball when trying to win in a fully stock car.

And b spec is great and all for some free cash when you need a break form driving but to even get your driver leveled up you need to upgrade the heck out of cars so they can win events at all, then you got to micro manage them else they will plow into barriers left and right even in stock cars on the city tracks, or they will cruise along like a sunday drive on faster tracks even in a op car for the event and let the ai pass them. And to get them leveled up you need to run events over and over and over since they do not have the special events and license tests we have to level us up.

 

[Tenacious D]

GT5 is truly baffling.

The level system works okay for B-Spec racing, but makes no sense for A-Spec Single Player gaming. For us, that's what License Tests and cash prizes were all about. The economy in Gran Turismo kept you from blowing through the game. Experience and leveling wouldn't be such a big deal if there were ways to earn a good amount of it.

But you can't. Most everything in GT5 is tied into the leveling system. If you want to buy a lot of the cool or essential cars in GT5, you can't many times because you're broke and because you need more XP. If you want to do some of the cooler events of GT5, you can't because you either need XP, or you need credits and XP to buy the cars needed to do those events. And if that wasn't bad enough, then there's the puny used lots and the frustrating prize cars which often make no sense and sometimes have no purpose.

The leveling system erects these huge walls in the game you can't get around. And the game isn't all that big to start with. So the level system makes a rather small game even smaller. To get out of it, you need to slog through events endlessly that you might be sick of.

I thought it was a dumb idea in Forza, and I think it's an even dumber idea for GT5, unless Kas has a cool trick up his sleeve he's going to surprise us with. Man, I'm hoping to reach level 20 soon, but I'm in the same boat all of you are. Boxed in to certain race zones because I just can't do certain things. And when I crack open that last door? I hope Kaz has some great things in store for us afterward.

I played GT4 for 14 months straight, because there were a thousand things to do. I went back to it months later because there were still things I hadn't done yet. And still haven't. But GT5 is looking even smaller than GT3, unless Kaz and his lads get cracking.

I love this game, but I hope I don't end up beating my head against a wall because I'm fighting a losing battle with the game system itself.

 

[AngloAmerican]

Off topic but would 50% be the total needed to finish A Spec, and the other 50% is made up from B Spec??.

AA

 

[pantherjag]

personally i dont think the leveling system or game progression is flawed, the people moaning about grinding have simply went the wrong way about playing the game.

im level 23 and have yet to repeat an event unless i have failed it, i have plenty of credits in the bank and a garage bulging with cars that can be sold if nessecary.

I strongly suspect the people who are now grinding simply played the game in a flawed manner and have no one but themselves to blame, by this i mean that they probably did all the licences too early getting the xp from that and the same for the special events getting the xp and big credits too early. They then probably went on to spend those early credits on unrequired cars or tuning cars up to much for the event they were entering. Now there left with nothing but A spec events they have already done to keep doing till they level up

Whenever i purchase a car for an event i aim to do as little upgrading as required, il spend a few thousand on some cheap upgrades then enter the event, 90% of the time spending 3-5 thousand credits on a car is enough to get the job done. no point spending 50 thousand credits upgrading a mini that il use for 1 or 2 races and probably never again. I also use my b-spec driver to gather in some credits, he's quite good now so all i have to do is give him a decent car and he gets the job done, whilst he's pulling money in for me i watch telly, 15 mins later i start him on another race and repeat.

At level 23 i have done all the beginner, amateur and proffesional events in a-spec and dabbled in extreme but more to the point i still have 30 off the 60 license test to to and at least 1 stage of each of the specials to do(in most i have 2 stages and iv not touched the SL rally challange yet) Along with cars avaliable to sell i have no worries where the credits or xp is coming from nor worries that il be grinding anytime soon in this game.

In short if your now grinding along at around level 20-25 you have simply lacked a strategy as you played the early part of the game and therefore the flaw has been the human element rather than the game.

Happy grinding good sirs

 

[AngloAmerican]

personally i dont think the leveling system or game progression is flawed, the people moaning about grinding have simply went the wrong way about playing the game.

im level 23 and have yet to repeat an event unless i have failed it, i have plenty of credits in the bank and a garage bulging with cars that can be sold if nessecary.

I strongly suspect the people who are now grinding simply played the game in a flawed manner and have no one but themselves to blame, by this i mean that they probably did all the licences too early getting the xp from that and the same for the special events getting the xp and big credits too early. They then probably went on to spend those early credits on unrequired cars or tuning cars up to much for the event they were entering. Now there left with nothing but A spec events they have already done to keep doing till they level up

Whenever i purchase a car for an event i aim to do as little upgrading as required, il spend a few thousand on some cheap upgrades then enter the event, 90% of the time spending 3-5 thousand credits on a car is enough to get the job done. no point spending 50 thousand credits upgrading a mini that il use for 1 or 2 races and probably never again. I also use my b-spec driver to gather in some credits, he's quite good now so all i have to do is give him a decent car and he gets the job done, whilst he's pulling money in for me i watch telly, 15 mins later i start him on another race and repeat.

At level 23 i have done all the beginner, amateur and proffesional events in a-spec and dabbled in extreme but more to the point i still have 30 off the 60 license test to to and at least 1 stage of each of the specials to do(in most i have 2 stages and iv not touched the SL rally challange yet) Along with cars avaliable to sell i have no worries where the credits or xp is coming from nor worries that il be grinding anytime soon in this game.

In short if your now grinding along at around level 20-25 you have simply lacked a strategy as you played the early part of the game and therefore the flaw has been the human element rather than the game.

Happy grinding good sirs

I thought it was a racing game and not an RTS game

AA

 

[TsLeng]

Found out today that the bonus cars are really useful!
Finally after much procrastination (because there is no broadband yet) I used my mobile internet connection to redeem the stealth and chromeline cars

To put it simply, they were a real help. Saves me tons of cash since they can be used for many events. Must be tough if you have to actually buy a race car to say, enter the GT world championship. >.<

PD need to fix the money thing to make it easier to earn $$.

 

[Exorcet]

I strongly suspect the people who are now grinding simply played the game in a flawed manner and have no one but themselves to blame, by this i mean that they probably did all the licences too early getting the xp from that and the same for the special events getting the xp and big credits too early. They then probably went on to spend those early credits on unrequired cars or tuning cars up to much for the event they were entering. Now there left with nothing but A spec events they have already done to keep doing till they level up

That would imply that the better a player is and the more freedom the player wants, the more grinding that player would have to do.

The system is flawed.

 

[msako]

Wow. I just read this entire thread. Talk about grinding!

I think it is a good thing that so many are complaining about this. It is exactly what they were probably trying to achieve. Without an investment of time all they have is an instant gratification kiddie game. This game is deep and it is designed to hone skills which can only be honed via hard work, long hours, trial and error and a lot of dedication. Call it a grind. I call it a great way to develop one's skills as deep as possible. I politely disagree with the complaints here. I think a game as polished as this one is as close to state-of-the-art perfection as it gets.

 

[Tornado]

Without an investment of time all they have is an instant gratification kiddie game.

Wasn't a problem with previous games in the series.

This game is deep and it is designed to hone skills which can only be honed via hard work, long hours, trial and error and a lot of dedication.

One of those has no place in modern game design, and has nothing to do with skill. And GT4 did all but that one anyways.

I call it a great way to develop one's skills as deep as possible.

GT4 allowed this as well. The only difference was it was the player's prerogative to seek out doing so. GT5 instead forces the player to do so whether they want to or not.

 

[Exorcet]

Wow. I just read this entire thread. Talk about grinding!

I think it is a good thing that so many are complaining about this. It is exactly what they were probably trying to achieve. Without an investment of time all they have is an instant gratification kiddie game. This game is deep and it is designed to hone skills which can only be honed via hard work, long hours, trial and error and a lot of dedication. Call it a grind. I call it a great way to develop one's skills as deep as possible. I politely disagree with the complaints here. I think a game as polished as this one is as close to state-of-the-art perfection as it gets.

I think someone posted a thread about how they got bored and decided to ram into other cars during an endurance race.

Grinding isn't practice. Practice comes from wanting to get better. Not from being forced into frustration out of boredom.

If someone wants to get better, they should probably avoid single player anyway (except free run). Go online, and find actual drivers to learn from.

 

[JamboGT]

Am still confused about all this. I had to grind for a total of five races so far and I am now level 25 and about to start endurance racing. What have I done differently? My only repeats were about 6 American Championship Indy races!