What advice would you give a newbie?

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Jibaholic

Jibaholic

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Hello, I've gotten addicted to racing games by playing Real Racing 2 on my phone, and let's just say that I'm pretty sure that my wife is getting me a PS3 and a Logitech G27 for Christmas. Woohoo!

So all you GT5 veterans out there - what advice would you give me?

I've read some of the walkthroughs. I'm hoping to eventually clear the game, except possibly for the endurance events. Then I'd like to find a racing league and play online with other clean racers.

I've also read Speed Secrets. I'd like to reread it again, but I think I'll wait until I've been driving with a wheel for while.

Thanks!
 
Good to see you're starting GT5 with a wheel rather than the DS3 controller. 👍

My only advice is to not get frustrated during the early days. It feels like a steep learning curve at first (especially with a wheel), but take your time and don't go jumping into big power cars straight away.
 
Definately good your starting with a wheel. Start with lower powered front wheel drive cars on sport hard tires. They tend to inherently understeer. This will help you get used to smoothness, early braking, and when and where the apexes are that you can power out of. Once you get this down step up into a rear wheel drive car...scion frs would bea great start, bone stock and move up from there. Lastly, remember the gas and brake pedals are not on/off switches. Learn to brake while straight before the entry to the turn, and then modulate and steer with the gas pedal to the apex the corner. Once to or past the apex, power on out of the turn. The idea on exit, is once on full throttle, if you picked the right apex, you should be able to stay on full throttle. i'm not the fastest of the racers in this game, but tge slow in fast out, maintaining control is very consistent and clean. hope this helped. Good luck
 
Patience, patience, patience.

My best advice would be 4 things.

1. Avoid all the driving aids except for ABS if you intend to eventually go online, especially Skid Recovery Force and Traction Control, as most organized leagues or series don't allow their usage. If you do use them you'll literally have to learn to drive all over again to be able to drive without them, so best start where you want to end up. If you don't intend to go online, then do whatever you like.

2. Avoid upgrading to unrealistic tires. Throwing RS tires on everything will put you in the same boat as using the aids, when you get into organized racing that generally avoids the really soft compounds, you'll have to learn to drive all over again. Try to stay close to the native tires for each car, or just use the same tires as other cars when racing against the AI.

3. Use the search function because there's a lot of very useful information on this forum and don't be afraid to ask questions if you can't find the answers in previous threads. You'll find a lot of differing opinions here but the information is generally useful.

4. Find a Tuning Garage in the Tuning Forum, experiment with a few tunes and find someone who tunes cars that suit your driving style. It will save you a lot of time and heartache.
 
I would say try to get a redbull x2010/11 and both chaparral cars as soon as you can especially if your going to play B-Spec mode other than that welcome to Gt5 and hope you enjoy this game as much as I have :)
 
AuToNoMy
I would say try to get a redbull x2010/11 and both chaparral cars as soon as you can especially if your going to play B-Spec mode other than that welcome to Gt5 and hope you enjoy this game as much as I have :)
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Don't go down this road. ^

If you start out with the UFO's, you're just gonna ruin a great experience.

--

Start with a low-end car, and work your way through the events.
As others have said, avoid using any SRF and TCS, and stay away from racing tires on anything other than high-end race cars.
Another good place to start is by taking on the AMG event, found in the special events. Licenses can also learn you basics about the game, but not required like they used to be.

And you can always come on GTP for any advice, suggestions and tips on anything Gran Turismo related.
You'll also find lots of tuning tips here.

Most importantly maybe, patience and practice... Lots of it... :)


Enjoy GT5 with your wheel, the G27 is great. 👍
 
McSoap
Don't go down this road. ^

If you start out with the UFO's, you're just gonna ruin a great experience.
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Yeah I know if you drive the RB X2010/11 the unrealistic grip and ludicrous speed spoill driving experience for any other normal car that's why i don't drive them myself and why I mentioned B-Spec because on my game only my bobs use them especially the seasonal B-Spec race :) and I apologise for not saying it more clearer than what I did the last thing I want to do is ruin this game for anyone it just that B-Spec is flawed and sometimes unfair to the player where your level 40 bob will crash and the cpu driver drive around like they are on train tracks :(
 
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If you want advice to get through the game, I can't help much. If you want advice to become faster and be competitive, this is what I would do.

Don't hop in a slow FWD car. Get in the fastest most brutal thing you can afford, and just drive it around. Concentrate on being smooth rather than aggressive. And take a look at CSLACR's tuning thread. Read the first page it has tons of useful information. The games cause and effect when it comes to tuning is completely backwards (literally) to real life.

Go online and search around till you find some guys that you swear are cheating, then ask them questions, try and follow them to learn the best lines. Remember the lap times they ran at that spec and spend a bit trying to beat them. Challenge yourself right off the bat.

Only use ABS on 1, and remember smoother is faster.

If you don't want to be super fast, and just want to beat A-spec just put racing softs on everything. The AI will ruin your "experience" anyway, and I highly suggest just racing online as soon as you get a nice amount of cars.

The guys in the marketplace often hook you up for free.

Hey guys, this is just my opinion.
 
rosckolove
Get in the fastest most brutal thing you can afford, and just drive it around. Concentrate on being smooth rather than aggressive. And take a look at CSLACR's tuning thread.
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I disagree.

The car should be RWD but not crazy fast. You need to learn the basics of driving lines, weight transfer, braking points, shifting, etc before you can drive something like that. If he learns to drive a crazy car first, he'll bypass all the basics and will have trouble shifting from car to car.

Also, drive stock cars first. Don't need to concern yourself with tuning yet. A good driver can drive anything regardless of the tune; a tune can make you a little faster, but sometimes at the detriment of technique.
 
I meant like a ZR1. Or a 458 Italia. Not an LMP car. I think you should dive into tuning as soon as possible, there is a lot to learn, the sooner the better. I'm not the fastest in the world (yet haha) but this is what I did. I don't own this game, I don't get to play as much as most, but still I am able to be more than competitive, and I did it in a very short time. Why learn how to shoot pistols if you want to snipe people from 2 miles away?
 
rosckolove
Why learn how to shoot pistols if you want to snipe people from 2 miles away?
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Your comparison is not fair. Pistol is to Motorcycle as Shooting People from 2 miles away is to LMP car.

A better comparison would have been, "Why learn how to shoot .22 rifles when you want to snipe people from 2 miles away?"

And the answer to that question is easy. Nobody can effectively use a high end sniper rifle and get an accurate shot at 2 miles away if they have never learned the basics of breathing, aiming, wind variations, etc. Everyone learns those things on smaller rifles and graduate up to the big boys.

The same philosophy should apply for high performance driving, or just about anything else in life.
 
Might as well learn the harder car to drive in the game at the earliest possible time, when the player have the chance to buy it, some example of good cars to improve driving skills :

Lancia Stratos, Cizeta V16T, RUF YellowBird, Ginetta G4, Alpine A310, Renault 5 Turbo, Lotus Elise ( any kind ), Lotus Carlton, etc.

Drive them stock, use any aids that will make you comfortable, use racing tires if necessary at first. Once you can handle them, and gets better in terms of lap times and consistency, lower the tires and take off the aids. Sooner than you know, you will be able to tackle any car in stock form, and tuned car will be a breeze.

A good place to start practice is Cape Ring South, it has all you need for training to handle both slow and fast cars, once you drive it there, you will love the track. Cape Ring North will be the next step up. Try them.
 
The only truth is "It is all about the indian and not the arrow".

A-Spec Beginner stage is fun. You do not need a faster car, but you can make lower Performance Point car's lap quicker than a faster car via learning to drive.
 
Why buy the big rifle right away? So you don't have to relearn how to compensate for a different bullet drop and velocity.

You will get enough practice in easy cars when you begin a spec

Get in the big boy car dude. You will get used to one thing, and then have to relearn how a RWD car works. You will have no idea how to turn the car using the throttle, how to control a car in a slide or any of it. Unless you plan on going 90 miles an hour in a FWD car for the rest of your GT5 career. Learn on what you want to drive.

And challenge yourself. Get a hold of some Lap times, build a car to that spec, and try and see how close you can get. Dive right into it all right away if you want to progress fast.
 
Thanks for the concrete responses!

I think I'll forego the aids. I initially played Real Racing 2 with the assists and learning to drive without them was frustrating. I see there is some debate about fast vs. slow cars and FWD vs. RWD. My inclination is to start with a slow FWD. I ultimately want to be able to drive them all, right? But I'll keep watching the thread and am prepared to change my mind!
 
Jibaholic
Thanks for the concrete responses!

I think I'll forego the aids. I initially played Real Racing 2 with the assists and learning to drive without them was frustrating. I see there is some debate about fast vs. slow cars and FWD vs. RWD. My inclination is to start with a slow FWD. I ultimately want to be able to drive them all, right? But I'll keep watching the thread and am prepared to change my mind!
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I started with the 97 Honda ek its a nice car.. never tuned it till recently but she should do the job for the time being.. you can find her in the car dealership and she's affordable
 
roach2010
I started with the 97 Honda ek its a nice car.. never tuned it till recently but she should do the job for the time being.. you can find her in the car dealership and she's affordable
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I actually started with the gokarts
 
The single player stuff il leave to you, for online racing I'd say start of in the lower pp rooms, 200-400 maybe, clean shuffles are a good place to learn, as other ppl have said be patient, your going to start off by losing alot of races in the beginning purely through lack of experience, im assuming you already know the basics of racing such as driving lines and braking points, have fun and ease your way into it, gt5 is probably the most realistic driving sim on consoles so expect a challenge n take ur time, good luck
 
If you can try to learn how to drift. By learning how to your skill to control a vehicle both in slide and grip racing will improve drastically. Another thing to do is read the book "Speed secrets". http://www.amazon.com/dp/0760305188/?tag=gtplanet-20
This is a brilliant book which will teach you all you really need to know about racing. I read it and since then my racing abilities and understanding have icreased
 
I was never really a drifter, but I always enjoyed the perfect slide around a corner every now and then, I learned to do it perfect. And it does help a lot when you get in some type of trouble for any type of reason. Countless times that skill has saved me in a close race.

So I believe the guy one post above has just given some great advice.
 
I would say log in every day so you get to the maximum 200% bonus for maximum credits for your racing efforts.

Search here or a site of your choosing for "GT5 prize car list/unlockables" so you don't waste your credits on cars you can win.

Do searches here to help find the right car for the A spec and or B spec races you enter if its not clear.

You can find all the information you need here at GT Planet.

Everyone plays the game differently,enjoy it!

It's a huge game and its overwhelming at first but that's what makes it so popular is there are so many different ways to race!

This is my opinion on the driving options,

DRIVING LINE: Yes and as you learn the tracks notice the number boards and markers for braking points in case you decide to turn it off later. Most of the online rooms allow it but I race with a few people that don't.
Snob setting=off but most online rooms allow it.
Fun setting=on or off

TRACTION CONTROL: You decide. I can take it or leave it. Learn to drive with and without it.
Snob setting =off
Fun setting=on or off

SKID RECOVERY FORCE: You decide. This is the big one. Learn to drive with and without it.
Snob setting=off
Fun setting=on or off

ACTIVE STEERING: Never.
Some kind of evil magic.
Snob setting=don't ever even talk about it.

ACTIVE STABILITY MANAGEMENT: Never. Some kind of evil magic.
Snob setting=don't ever even talk about it.

ABS: You decide.
Snob setting=1
Super Snob setting=OFF
Fun setting= on or off
 
Thanks!

I think I'll leave the driving line on for a while.

I've been reading some if the ABS threads, and I admit that I'm torn between 1 and 0. I wonder if I'll learn to drive better with it at 0.

All the other assists off, so I guess that puts me in the aspiring snob category!
 
I learned to drive with ABS 0 since release day, took me 6 months to be on the same pace with ABS 1, well worth the effort IMO, once you drive with ABS 0 proficiently, there's no turning back, check the links on my sig for more info and discussion :D Your choice.
 
Jibaholic
Thanks!

I think I'll leave the driving line on for a while.

I've been reading some if the ABS threads, and I admit that I'm torn between 1 and 0. I wonder if I'll learn to drive better with it at 0.
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Don't leave the line on for too long though. I find it ugly and off putting. If you look at the tarmac, the racing line at corners is always darker and easy to spot. Its also turned off in some online rooms and. Don't rely on the line, learn without and trust in the force.

ABS 0 is ok if you have a wheel and pedals. No good for me and my DS3 though. Just makes big number 11s everytime I brake.

jrkiwiboy
If you can try to learn how to drift. By learning how to your skill to control a vehicle both in slide and grip racing will improve drastically.
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This is true. Drifting really gives you the ability to control a wayward car when not using aids.

The advice about turning off aids is also a good one.
A friend of mine used them and wants to turn them off now. He is finding it very difficult because he now has to unlearn to learn again.
Since turning them off though, he tells me that its a completely different game.

Try and borrow cars from friends and keep all your money and prize tickets.
Cash is good and tickets make great trading currency.

Get your B-Spec drivers out and stick them online for remote racing. I hold these every now and then. I helped a friend who was at level 20, took 2 racing sessions to get him up to level 38.

Ooh, also, try to gold all of your licences too. Might take some time but, well worth it when you have 60 golds on your online profile.

If you need a GT friend, feel free to add me.

Good luck.
 
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Get a regular copy of the game, not the XL or Academy versions, here's why;

Start playing the game offline, without doing any updates at all, this is because you'll get grid starts in A-Spec. After a certain update they all changed to rolling starts which spoils the realism imo.

Don't do any licence tests or special events at first, just buy a Premium MX5 (or Civic) & go straight to Sunday Cup in Beginners A-Spec.

Once you've got over the initial struggle to win cars & money to upgrade them, then connect to the internet & get all the updates. That's the best part of the offline game imo & I wouldn't want you to miss out on it



All the best,

VBR.
 
VBR
Get a regular copy of the game, not the XL or Academy versions, here's why;

Start playing the game offline, without doing any updates at all, this is because you'll get grid starts in A-Spec. After a certain update they all changed to rolling starts which spoils the realism imo.

Once you've got over the initial struggle to win cars & money to upgrade them, then connect to the internet & get all the updates. That's the best part of the offline game imo & I wouldn't want you to miss out on it
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Or, ignore that, update the game and get some free DLC cars to hammer the game with. Get loads of dough without struggling to get a collection of cars started quickly.

Totally up to you though. The options are there.
 
Be prepared to waste your life on menus and black screens. My advice is not to "buy" cars you are not going to use (don't collect), just because the amount of time that takes is obscene.
 

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