posted 04-20-2005 02:26 PM         

Then I'll post one final set of the Zonda Race Car from Grand Valley...

From pole position to third before turn 1...

Being hunted down...

Exiting the hairpin and entering the last turn on the final lap...

Crossing the line for the win.

You may be able to see, especially from the last turn, that the AI tends to try for an early apex. I on the other hand tend to apex later so I can get the power on earlier on exit (slow-in-fast-out). You can see the effect this has by the gap at the finish line - all attributable to the speed out of the last turn. Late apexing does present a problem if the AI is very close at turn entry because it can leave an opening on the inside which the AI can, and sometimes does, capitalize on.

That's all for photos. Hope you like them.

posted 04-21-2005 01:23 PM         

In 1996/97 my company donated some components for the fuel system of the Thrust Supersonic Car (Thrust SSC) and I was able to spend some time at the Farnborough Reasearch Center for a photo shoot. The car, if that is an appropriate term for it, is powered by two Rolls Royce Spey 205 engines from a Phantom Fighter, producing 25,000lbs of thrust, or 100,000hp. It is capable of 0-100mph in 4s and 0-600mph in 16s, and set a land speed record of 763.035mph (average of two runs in opposite directions within 1 hour of each other) at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, in 1997. For non-physicists, that's faster than the speed of sound! I thought that for the speed freaks out there this would be kinda fun on the Vegas Dragstrip. The Test Course, unfortunately, has turns that are much too sharp for the 4 solid aluminum wheels of this 10 ton beast!!!

Here's one of the photographs (and yes - that's yours truly in the foreground). Eat your hearts out Viper addicts.

posted 04-21-2005 07:59 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by miko:
Other commitments and a power outage prevented any GT4 last night so I thought I'd digress a little in this post, especially as I approach the next A-Spec milestone of 35,000 points, and I wonder what awesome prize awaits.

---

Where's that optimist that started posting in this thread?!

I must say, I'm jealous of your job though...

posted 04-22-2005 04:19 AM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by miko:
I thought that for the speed freaks out there this would be kinda fun on the Vegas Dragstrip. The Test Course, unfortunately, has turns that are much too sharp for the 4 solid aluminum wheels of this 10 ton beast!!!

---

4 solid aluminium wheels with rear-wheel steering don't forget. Just like one of these:

posted 04-22-2005 11:27 AM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by Littleg:
4 solid aluminium wheels with rear-wheel steering don't forget.

---

posted 04-22-2005 01:03 PM         

S2 (2'16.778) and S4 (2'16.517) golds were not too difficult due to the time I had spent on Special Conditions Events and that PD seem to have been quite generous on times for the SC courses (I had previously golded S6 and S10 with little trauma). S1 however proved to be a completely different story and I spent at least two hours trying this, filling the ranking board with times between 2'17 and 2'18, but unable to get closer than a quarter-of-a-second to the gold time. I can't remember who said this or the precise wording but "I believe that a chimpanzee with a keyboard, given enough time and random keystrokes, will eventually type a sentence", somewhat describes my approach to achieving golds in the licence tests. For the moment though I'll have to settle for silver making my medal tally 67 gold and 2 silver (I never did get gold on IA16!).

To 'wind-down' from the licence tests I re-ran the NA Cup and Japanese Compact Cup based on information gleaned from other diaries. Thanks, Lugnut! I managed to increase my A-Spec points by 461 from these 10 races alone. I confirmed that winning a Championship does not in itself count towards trophy tally, and that winning a Championship a second time gives another prize car without 'clearing' the data. I was lucky enough to win another Honda Life Step Van which I took straight to the second-hand car lot - one of these in my garage is more than enough. So, although my completion percentage remains the same I did pass the 35,000 point threshold. With 35,303 A-Spec points, normalizing for missions and now 15 re-runs, gives me an average of 60.8 points per race - not quite at Lugnut's Maginot Line - sorry, Mendoza Line - the Maginot Line was a white elephant in France - but at least over the 60 point mark. So, "What was the prize?" I hear you all asking. Well, I'm kind of reluctant to post major spoilers in this thread as I don't want to ruin the game for the rest of you, so all I'll say is...

...Aegroto, dum anima est, spes esse dicitur

posted 04-25-2005 10:27 AM         

S-1: 2'17.264 (silver)
S-2: 2'16.778 (gold)
S-3: 1'26.652 (silver)
S-4: 2'16.517 (gold)
S-5: 1'35.377 (silver)
S-6: 0'56.115 (gold)
S-7: 1'31.748 (silver)
S-8: 1'35.456 (silver)
S-9: 1'51.185 (silver)
S-10: 2'46.454 (gold)
S-11: 1'36.334 (gold)
S-12: 1'58.753 (silver)
S-13: 1'17.127 (silver)
S-14: 2'29.711 (silver)
S-15: 3'23.537 (silver)
S-16: 7'27.789 (silver)

This gives me 68 Gold, 12 Silver and 0 Bronze licences.

The reward for all silver is a Pontiac Solstice Coupe Concept, a neat looking little car that I take for a run in the FR races at the no-oil-change power of 243hp, and increase the A-Spec ratings from 64 to the low 100's, increasing the total series value by 216 points. (Note: 20 re-runs).

Next up is completing the remaining three Manufacturers' Series, viz. Camaro, TVR and Civic races. For the Camaro Races I bought a new SS and ran against a field comprising another SS, Z28 302; SS '69; IROZ and Z28 Coupe. Each race was a 16 point blow-out but I re-ran the series in the IROZ prize car and increased the points value of each race to 108 (23 re-runs).

For the Blackpool Racer series, a trip to the second lots revealed a TVR Cerbera Speed 6 '97, in BRG (well actually Cooper Green metallic but it's close enough). Costing nearly 40k and with 32.5k miles on it, the power is 320hp and the oil is blacker than a miner's jockstrap. I decide to run on 'black oil', with the red oil light on, in order to maximize points and Suzuka East, Special Stage 5, Paris Opera and Fuji '05 are all easy 74/75 point wins over various combinations of V8S '91; T350C '03; Griffith 500 '94; Tuscan Speed 6 '00; Tamora '02 and another Cerbera Speed 6. Laguna Seca, on the other hand, has a 'ringer' show up - a Cerbera Speed 12 - and this turns into a very close race with a points value of 150. I note from Lugnut's Diary that he saw the Speed 12 in every race. I'll have to re-run at some point to see if I can draw the Speed 12 in the other races to maximize A-Spec points. The prize is a Cerbera Speed 12 in chameleon. After the series I do change the oil on the Cerbera Speed 6 and it goes from 320 to 354hp.

Next up is the Civic Series and I find a yellow Civic Type R '98 in the used car lots which actually shows less power than the SiR's due again to black oil. At 165hp the series is non-eventful and realizes 276 A-Spec points in total. The reward is a Civic Mugen Race Car '87 and a post race oil change takes the power to 182hp.

posted 04-25-2005 11:02 AM         

After a few test laps and some tuning I enter the race and line up against a Minolta 88C-V; Nissan R92CP; Gillet Vertigo; another CLK-GTR and a Nissan R89C.

FWIW, my set-up, which I found very stable, was R1 tires, spring rate at 6.5/7.0, ride height at 60/65, shock bound 3/4 and rebound at 2/2; camber and toe at 0/0, stabilizers at 5/5, downforce reduced to minimum and the tranny at 19. The race was rated at 200 points and I was expecting another major 'slipstream' battle but, after catching a tow from the R89C and slingshotting past the other 3 Class C's at 250mph, I drove away from the field to win by 10.218s over the other CLK-GTR. Max speed on the straights was 241mph at just below the red line and around the curves was 235 to 237mph. I could have probably attained a little more top end speed by reducing the transmission to 18 or even 17 but then I would have hit the rev limiter while slipstreaming - as it turned out slipstreaming was not really an issue. My lap times were 1'46.714 / 1'38.098 / 1'38.067 / 1'38.080 / 1'38.023, i.e. within a few hundreths of a second of each other. Bizarrely the Minolta and two Nissans pitted on lap 4, although they were already 7s down at this point. The prize is a slick looking VW W12 Nardo Concept '01. For those who want an easy 200 point, win this is the race to do it in.

The rest of the session comprised 4 re-runs in the MR series, increasing series points by 177 (Note: 27 re-runs) and some testing on the effect of tires at Tsukuba Wet Normal. Here I ran my Subaru Imprezza Prototype RC '01 against a Saleen S7. On R5 tires the points went from my original 45 to 134 and the win was by over 35s. On R3's the points increased to 169 and the win was by over 25s and on R1's the points maxed out at 200 with the win still by over 15s. Another easy 200 points for those who want them. (Note: 30 re-runs). As a treat I bought myself a 6.2 mile Honda S2000 '99.

My last 'normal' special condition event was Grand Canyon Reverse and, despite spending time running test laps in the CZ-3, I could not figure the course out. My times were a good 5s off those in the forward direction and I could not get to grips with all the blind turns. In frustration I took a super rally car to the event and was rewarded with a 2 point race which I still only won by less than 2s. This course in the reverse direction could become my nemesis.

Status update on game day 804:

Completion: 88.4%
A-Spec points: 37,101
A-Spec miles: 5,554
Credits: 2,219230
Prize cars: 145
Total cars: 186
Trophies: 490.

Average A-Spec points is now (37101-8250)/(490-30)=62.7

To do:

posted 04-25-2005 11:09 AM         

It is extremely odd that one player can run the TVR race series nearly Speed 12 free, while another never misses it. No doubt you would have preferred my luck to your own in this instance. For the record, it was at SS R5 and Fuji that I had to resort to blocking maneuvers on the final straight to beat the Speed 12. I'd be interested in knowing (not to mention impressed) if you beat the Speed 12 at either locale without resorting to that.

I'm amused that you've now begun to practice engine abuse to max out your A-Spec points. I know it's all just 1s and 0s on a disc, but I've never been able to bring myself to operate a used car with the black oil in it. Perhaps I'm too afraid that Scully and Mulders aliens are hiding in there.

posted 04-25-2005 11:40 AM         

Starting on pole is the Pontiac GTO 5.7 - Hm! listen to the throb of that V8. Making up the front row from the Chevy Stable is a Camaro SS, with the sex-on-wheels Saleen S7 starting 3rd on the grid, followed by the new, I'd-sell-my-wife-for-one, Ford GT '05. At 5th is the Shelby Supercharged Series 1 and last on the grid is a...

posted 04-25-2005 12:09 PM         

...and they're off. The GTO rounds the hairpin first, followed by the Camaro, then the S7, GT and Shelby and trailing at the rear of the field is the TVR. I expect that the first few laps will be almost 'parade' laps in grid order while the field warms their tires and gets a feel for the conditions.

posted 04-25-2005 12:25 PM         

At the end of lap 15 and the GT is entering the pits for the first of what I estimate will be 5 pit stops. This leaves the S7 in second running about 9s behind the TVR. We'll try to get some comment from the Ford crew after a short commercial break...

posted 04-25-2005 12:34 PM         

...ah! at last the TVR is pitting on lap 18 and the Saleen S7 moves into the lead - that's perked up the crowd who again are cheering and throwing ticker tape. As the TVR exits the pits the S7 has built a 20s lead and the Ford GT is right up his tailpipes in third.

...lap 21 folks and the Saleen pits - looks like a 4-stop strategy for him - with a 15s lead over the TVR. Hurry guys! change those tires, get the gas in, quicker, quicker, oh no!

...the TVR has passed the Saleen in the pits with the GT now 2.434s behind in second place. This is not looking good folks but we'll be right back after these messages...

posted 04-25-2005 12:43 PM         

Well, the GT pitted on lap 31 when he had pulled to within 2s of the TVR. The GTO has been lapped again and the TVR pitted on lap 36, 27s ahead of the Saleen S7. The Saleen passed the TVR in the pits but only had a 2s advantage when the TVR exitted right in front of the Ford GT - hey guy! any chance of using your indicators? Damn British drivers...

...Lap 43 folks, and the TVR has just passed the Saleen to move into first. Looks like the S7 is slowing and needs some fresh rubber...

Back in a jiffy...

posted 04-25-2005 12:52 PM         

...the last few laps saw the GTO and Camaro lapped again by the TVR who pitted on lap 54, 38s ahead of the GeeTee who closed to within 9s when the TVR exitted the pits, and to within 5s while he warmed his tires. The Ford pitted on lap 63, putting the S7 in second place around 17s back. He pitted on lap 67, giving second spot back to the GT who is now 40s off the pace. I'm reminded of a saying from an old colleague of mine, Hurry Stalker, God rest his soul, who infamously said that "The impossible now looks possible".

posted 04-25-2005 01:07 PM         

I tried bribing the pit crews to put sugar in the TVR's gas when he pitted on lap 72, and then the Camaro and GTO drivers to ram the TVR in the sandtraps, but to no avail. It seems that these drivers and pit crews are far more honorable than us reporters...

Anyway, the TVR pitted on lap 72 and was only 10s up on the GT when he resumed, which had reduced to 4s when the GT pitted on lap 79. I don't understand why but the Saleen pitted on lap 89 of a 90 lap race and was pushed into fourth by the Shelby.

So at the end, after 2:19'39.915 and a fastest lap of 1'30.217, the TVR won by over 20s from the Ford GT, and walked away with a 1969 GT40 Race Car.

As the subdued crowd starts to make their way to the exit gates with a newly founded respect for British cars, I want to end with a final word...

...Round bats are still better than flat bats...

"Bissel - you're fired"

Yeah! Yeah!...

posted 04-28-2005 01:41 PM         

I haven't posted for a few days as business commitments and overseas visitors have led me to temporarily hang up the DS2's. This has caused me a few DT's - who said gaming is not addictive - and also caused me to relect on my GT4 experiences, especially when I read with envy all the other posts of people still burning rubber and mashing gears.

The most frequent comments I see, rarely here, often elsewhere, are negative - criticisms of AI competency, berating of points and penalty systems, chastising of game physics especially dirt and snow, and even complaints regarding the difficulty of some courses. I rarely see positive comment or review so here I will set that record straight from one humble man's perspective.

It is true that You can please some of the people all of the time, or all of the people some of the time, but rarely all of the people all of the time and Polyphony Digital were fully aware of that when they developed, marketed and launched GT4. I for one feel that the AI competency is a major step up from previous GT's and indeed other racers. Sure they get it wrong some time, miss their braking points, get into a slide, take the wrong line - but is that any different to us? How many of us can say that we have never made contact with the AI, never hit a barrier or slid off the course, or (perish the thought) never deliberately rammed the AI to get better track position? How often have we heard the AI complain? I know it's not perfect but to see a faster AI car following, slipstreaming, braking early to avoid contact, waiting for me to make a mistake so he can perform a clean passing manoeuvre and then putting 2s a lap on me, is really a very very sophisticated and intelligent thing that gives me significant pleasure. The rally physics are different from previous GT's - but does that make them wrong or untrue to life? How many of us have actually driven offroad to make the comparison? Yes - Grand Canyon is difficult - I've made comment in my diary already about this - but does it really deserve some of the expletives that are being applied (exempt those that are in jest or frustration). If the course had been left out, or the rally physics made the racing that much easier, we'd probably complain that the game was too easy - such is the fickle nature of man. We want difficulty and yet we want simplicity, we want realism and yet we want equality - how many times in the real world of motorsports has somebody been taken out of a race through no fault of their own? - a 5s penalty is a lot better than race elimaination!

posted 04-28-2005 04:46 PM         

I have little disagreement with the bulk of your post. This, however, must be said: the 5-second penalty rule is a copout. It is a white flag waived by the programmers, admitting that they were incapable of creating an AI that could drive within the parameters of the new special conditions courses, and challenge the player at the same time.

Rules that constrain the human game player, but which do not apply to the program-controlled opponent, are only slightly less old than computers themselves. They have ever been a ‘feature’ and have ever been a crutch for game designers that can’t figure out how to make their creations otherwise competitive with the human brain. To steal a phrase from Asimov, making a game of one-sided rules is the last refuge of the incompetent designer. Creating a penalty rule to apply to the human player only is a blunt instrument for solving a problem that the designer was unable to solve within the spirit of the game.

In other contexts, I’ve seen people assert the idea that writing code to govern real time pathfinding is one of the hardest tasks in game programming. I’ve never written a line of computer code, so I just take their word for it that it is so. Viewed narrowly as a pathfinding exercise, we can see vast improvement in the AI, from the low end (no longer gets perpetually stuck in a wall) to the high end (shows ability to actively adjust its paths to take advantage of opportunities presented by the human opponent). Courses like Grand Canyon and Citi d’Aria take rallying to devilishly clever new heights, but also put much greater demands on the AI’s pathfinding abilities. What I see in the new penalty rule is an admission by the designers that they were unable to code pathfinding to match the wit of their new course creations, so they needed a crutch to keep the their cars in the game; hence, the one-sided rule.

The alternative to using a crutch was to shelve the clever courses until they had the AI to match. Personally, had I been running that railroad, that’s what I would have instructed the programmers to do. Protecting half-baked AI with one-sided rules is the kind of thin gruel that a game like GT4 is supposed to be making us forget. Personally, I’d be embarrassed to have that kind of hack trick in my product. Other ideas have had to be scrapped from GT games when they couldn’t be properly executed. It would have been better, IMO, to restrict the rallying to the ‘too easy’ courses and do without the penalty rule than have this obvious wart on the rally side of the game. Using the penalty rule to protect inadequate/unready programming is a copout deserving of criticism, IMO.

I do try to look on the bright side: despite repeatedly threatening this series with the inclusion of drag racing, PD has never followed through on that threat. I have that to be grateful for. On a more serious note, I of course, join your sentiments about this being a great, and very addictive game. I’m anticipating painful withdrawal symptoms myself, as I will have my own houseguests and social duties this weekend.

posted 04-29-2005 04:57 AM         

I do agree with Luggie though, I'd have rather put up with poor AI at the more complex Special Conditions tracks, or just simplified versions of the same, than a difficult-to-predict handicap system that puts a different challenge into the game that has very little to do with real racing and more to do with driving alongside another car like it has explosives strapped to its sides.

I do hope that what I wrote in my diary didn't come across as petulant or a direct complaint about the quality of PD's programming - I really am a very big fan of the series and this game in particular. Mostly I was just venting - poor style, I know.

posted 04-29-2005 02:47 PM         

As a final note here on the subject of Grand Canyon and 5s penalties, and as we are quoting Asimov, "If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist"

On with the game as I was able to get in a couple of after-hours races last night...

Not having enough time to run another 'Endurance', with Infineon at 2:45 being the next shortest, I jump once more into the Extreme Hall and enter the Dream Car Championship. The competition here is comprised of LM and Touring Cars so I enter in my Mercedes CLK Touring Car with R3 tires, a little tweaking of settings, and a stock 472hp. I come up against a mixed origin field of 1. Ford GT LM Race Car Spec II '04; 2. Ford GT LM Race Car '02; 3. Nissan GT-R Concept LM Race Car '02; 4. Chevrolet LM Camaro Race Car '01 and 5. Jaguar XJ220 LM Race Car '01.

Race 1 is 7 laps of Paris Opera and is rated 151 A-Spec points. Based on past experience I decide to practice and qualify in pole position, with the Nissan at #2. I hold the lead from start-to-finish but had the Nissan breathing down my neck for most of the race. The final race positions were exactly as the starting grid positions and the replay showed that all cars were running fast, clean lines and passing opportunities were almost non-existent.

Final positions (difference/fastest lap):

1: Mercedes CLK Touring Car (winner/1'17.977)
2: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (+4.588s/1'18.304)
3: Ford GT LM '02 (+18.366s/1'20.267)
4: Camaro LM (+20.244s/1'20.761)
5: Ford GT LM '04 (+20.999s/1'20.736)
6: Jaguar XJ220 LM (-/1'21.017)

The second race was 4 laps of Tokyo R246 Reverse. With the same set-up as before, again rated 151 points, this time I forego practice and start at #6 with the GT LM '04 on pole. After 1 lap I was in 2nd place, 1.814s behind the GT '04 with the GT '02 in 3rd and the Nissan in 4th. I moved into the lead on the last turn of lap 2 and crossed the line 0.054s ahead of the Ford '04 who retook the lead before the end of the straight. I repassed him on turn 1 of lap 3 and the whole process repeated for lap 4.

Final positions (difference/fastest lap):

1: Mercedes CLK Touring Car (winner/1'36.436)
2: Ford GT LM '04 (+0.107s/1'36.073)
3: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (+0.309s/1'34.365)
4: Ford GT LM '02 (+2.316s/1'35.936)
5: Camaro LM (+7.096s/1'37.161)
6: Jaguar XJ220 LM (+7.584s/1'36.982)

Off to 5 laps of Deep Forest for race 3, again same set-up, again 151 points and again starting at #6. The Mercedes moved into the lead on exit from turn 1 at the start of lap 2 and held it until the finish line.

1: Mercedes CLK Touring Car (winner/1'14.567)
2: Ford GT LM '04 (+3.681s/1'14.792)
3: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (+3.776s/1'13.823)
4: Ford GT LM '02 (+6.601s/1'14.922)
5: Camaro LM (+10.831s/1'15.422)
6: Jaguar XJ220 LM (+13.943s/1'16.226)

As it was getting very late, wife and cat were already well into slumberland the 4th race of the series, 7 laps of Seoul Central Reverse, was my last for the session. Same set-up, 151 points but this time qualifying on pole as the rolling start at Seoul is quite a handicap, the race was led from start-to-finish.

1: Mercedes CLK Touring Car (winner/0'56.364)
2: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (+2.927s/0'56.776)
3: Ford GT LM '02 (+8.232s/0'57.043)
4: Ford GT LM '04 (+13.104s/0'56.587)
5: Camaro LM (+18.065s/0'58.639)
6: Jaguar XJ220 LM (-/0'58.947)

Observations: the Nissan is very very quick; the GT '04, when starting on pole, can drive away from the field, but in qualifying cannot start higher than #5 - I wonder if he requires more than 1 hot lap to get into the 'groove'; the AI are not making mistakes - they are driving fast and very clean lines which makes passing maneouvres from them very rare, especially on tight circuits; in 4 races so far I have only noticed one small nudge and that was from the GT '05.

So, back to 'Home' to save in readiness for Race 5 which is 5 laps of Hong Kong - I can't wait

posted 04-29-2005 07:21 PM         

I've found all the diary threads (especially your's and Lugs' so far) to be packed with useful information and insights but what I thought was lacking a touch was a breakdown of how fast the opponents were running as compared to the player.

"A-ha!", I thought, "Here's my chance to do something the tiniest bit different from the other fine chaps who're working so hard for everyone else's benefit".

And then, as if touched by psi, you promptly begin to give exactly those details in your above post ROFL. I'm crushed .

posted 05-02-2005 12:00 PM         

Back to the Dream Car Championship in the Mercedes CLK Touring Car. Race 5 is 7 laps of Hong Kong. With R3 tires and a stock 472hp the race is rated 151 points and I qualify on pole and lead from start-to-finish. The replay showed that the Camaro held up the Ford GT LM '04 for the whole race. The AI was slow in getting the power down out of the turns because they used too much of the kerb and were therefore bouncing on turn exit.

Final positions (difference/fastest lap):

1: Mercedes CLK Touring Car (winner/1'17.722)
2: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (+4.460s/1'17.782)
3: Camaro LM (+21.114s/1'20.596)
4: Ford GT LM '04 (+22.105s/1'19.922)
5: Ford GT LM '02 (+23.004s/1'19.884)
6: Jaguar XJ220 LM (+29.387s/1'20.884)

Race 6 and off the Test Course for 2 laps of slipstreaming. The Mercedes, in stock trim, was lacking around 20mph to the two Fords so I had to resort to using the stage 3 turbo that I had bought for exactly this eventuality. On R1 tires, minimum downforce, reduced ride height & camber, with the gearbox set at 17, and putting out 628hp, the race was rated 105 points. Staring at #6 on the grid the race soon turned into a shootout between the two Fords and the Mercedes. The lead was exchanged on a number of occasions between these three and the win was by only 0.044s! Surprisingly the Nissan came last, with his top speed maxxing at 189mph - in 7th gear!!!

1: Mercedes CLK Touring Car (winner/1'51.075)
2: Ford GT LM '02 (+0.044s/1'51.000)
3: Ford GT LM '04 (+0.389s/1'51.264)
4: Jaguar XJ220 LM (+13.923s/1'58.167)
5: Camaro LM (+13.957s/1'57.987)
6: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (+20.389s/2'03.239)

Race 7 in the series was, quite literally, the most painful experience I have ever had in a GT race. 27 laps of the Beginner's Course - ouch! Someone at PD either has a perverse sense of humor or is an out-and-out sadist

As you know this course is less than half a mile in length, with a grid comprising cars of between 450 and 600hp, this is a race of...

250 yards hard gas...hard brake...150 yards of feathering the throttle...100 yards full throttle...hard brake...50 yards of feathering the gas...100 yards hard gas...hard brake...200 yards feathering the gas...mind the pit entrance!!!...250 yards of full throttle...and so on for 27 laps. My thumb had started to cramp by the end of the race. Anyway, back to stock configuration with 472hp on R3 tires, the race is rated 151 points and I qualify on pole. During qualification I adjust the transmission and end up with a setting of 5 (normally I run at 14) and was still not using the whole power range The R3 tires were dark orange on the last two laps and I lost nearly 3s a lap to the Nissan who had moved into 2nd when the Ford LM '02 pitted on lap 23. The '02 Ford had thankfully held up the Nissan for the 1st 23 laps The Ford LM '04 did likewise on lap 26 and actually finished the race in pit row.

1: Mercedes CLK Touring Car (winner/0'21.872)
2: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (+0.646s/0'21.734)
3: Camaro LM (+3.718s/0'21.899)
4: Jaguar XJ220 LM (+6.121s/0'22.095)
5: Ford GT LM '04 (+1 lap/0'21.805)
6: Ford GT LM '02 (+1 lap/0'22.009)

Race 8, and back to racing normality, 2 laps of Sarthe II. Again, due to top speed limitations, I fit the stage 3 turbo, switch to R2 tires, set the tranny to 16 and reduce the downforce by 8 clicks front and rear. Starting #6 on the grid, with 628hp, the race is rated 57 points. The Mercedes moved into first at the chicanes at the end of lap 1.

1: Mercedes CLK Touring Car (winner/3'31.908)
2: Ford GT LM '02 (+4.734s/3'32.503)
3: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (+5.315s/3'32.280)
4: Ford GT LM '04 (+6.402s/3'35.153)
5: Camaro LM (+16.062s/3'38.809)
6: Jaguar XJ220 LM (+21.921s/3'38.999)

The penultimate race of the series is 4 laps of El Capitan Reverse. Back on R3's, stock 472hp, with the transmission back to 14 and d/f increased to 35/50, the race is again rated 151 points. Starting at #6 on the grid the race is as easy as one would expect when racing at El Capitan.

1: Mercedes CLK Touring Car (winner/1'43.122)
2: Ford GT LM '04 (+4.991s/1'43.256)
3: Ford GT LM '02 (+6.545s/1'43.758)
4: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (+6.847s/1'43.529)
5: Jaguar XJ220 LM (+14.931s/1'45.044)
6: Camaro LM (+17.047s/1'46.182)

The final race is 7 laps of Cote d'Azur and again, as you would expect, this is an easy win from pole position. R3 tires, transmission to 12, and putting out 469hp (power is starting to reduce) the race is rated 156 points and is led from start-to-finish.

1: Mercedes CLK Touring Car (winner/1'31.304)
2: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (+8.829s/1'32.099)
3: Camaro LM (+31.927s/1'35.528)
4: Ford GT LM '02 (+32.703s/1'35.431)
5: Ford GT LM '04 (+33.639s/1'35.412)
6: Jaguar XJ220 LM (+39.668s/1'36.012)

Final points standings in the Championship:

1: Mercedes CLK Touring Car: 100
2: Nissan GT-R Concept LM: 46
3: Ford GT LM '04 37
4: Ford GT LM '02 36
5: Camaro LM 26
6: Jaguar XJ220 LM 15

The series is worth 400,000 credits (20,000 per race and 200,000 for the championship) and the prize car is the Nissan GT-R Concept LM Race Car '02 that I know I will find a use for.

posted 05-02-2005 01:14 PM         

The next thing I wanted to do was to tidy up the remaining 4 races in the All Stars Championship in the Extreme Hall (remember my previous Zonda escapades!). I decided to run these as individual races to maximize points and later stomp the whole series with an over-powered Class C to get the Championship win.

This is a good opportunity to roll out the newly acquired Nissan LM Prototype and in the first race (race 7 in the series) I draw a field in grid position of...

1: BMW V12 LMR '99
2: Toyota GT-One '99
3: Jaguar XJR-9 '88
4: Camaro LM Race Car '01
5: BMW McLaren F1 GTR '97
6: Yours truly in the Nissan

On R3 tires, with 657hp, the race is rated 187 A-Spec points. After lap 1, I'm in 3rd place, 1.756s behind the V12 Beemer, with the GT-One in second place. I pass the GT-One on Turn 1 of lap 2 but am still in second at the end of the lap now 0.559s behind the BMW. I pass the BMW at the chicane at the end of lap 3 and hold the lead to the finish. This Nissan is one-hell-of-a-car. Using AT the gear shift through the 7 gears is almost instantaneous, the B52 rear wing sticks the car to the track like superglue, and it is very forgiving when a missed braking point requires a little (or indeed a lot) of trail braking.

Final positions (difference/fastest lap)

1: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (Winner/1'47.996)
2: BMW V12 LMR (+3.257s/1'49.028)
3: Toyota GT-One (+6.995s/1'50.139)
4: Jaguar XJR-9 (+9.326s/1'48.675)
5: BMW F1 GTR (-/1'55.382)
6: Camaro LM (-/2'01.402)

Next up is 8 laps of Infineon Stock Car Course (I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ran this course). Again on R3's with 657hp, the race is rated 150 points against (in grid order)...

1: Ford GT LM Race Car '02
2: Jaguar XJR-9 Race Car '88
3: AMG Mercedes CLK-GTR Race Car '98
4: Chaparral 2D Race Car '67
5: Audi R8 Race Car '01
6: The Skyline dream machine!

This ended up being an easy race, moving into 2nd after lap 1, 1.565s behind the Jaguar with the Audi in 3rd, and into 1st at the end of lap 2. The Audi passed the Jaguar on the last lap to take 2nd place. On reviewing the replay I saw that the Jaguar and the Mercedes (and to a much lesser extent the Audi) were spending a lot, and I mean a lot, of time off-roading - I didn't realize that these were rally cars in disguise - but it explained the ease of the win.

Final positions...

1: Nissan GT-R Concept LM (Winner/1'04.581)
2: Audi R8(+7.992s/1'05.156)
3: Jaguar XJR-9 (+9.079s/1'05.881)
4: Mercedes CLK-GTR (-/1'08.468)
5: Ford GT LM '02 (-/1'12.525)
6: Chaparral 2D (-/1'12.185)

The biggest deficiency of the Nissan is a lack of top speed so, reluctant to start buying turbo kits, I change to the Mercedes CLK-GTR Race Car for the 2 laps of Sarthe I. On R3's, with df reduced by 3 clicks front and rear, the 837hp monster gets rated 69 points against a field of a Nissan R390 GT1; Bentley Speed 8; Ford GT LM '02; Nissan R89C and a Playstation Pescarolo C60 Race Car. I discover that the Mercedes is actually quite an awesome car and was surprised to beat the Nissan by a fair margin.

Final positions (difference/lap 1 time/lap 2 time)

1: Mercedes CLK-GTR (Winner/3'27.696/3'23.071)
2: Nissan R89C (+8.697s/3'34.247/3'25.217)
3: Bentley Speed 8 (-/3'36.888/-)
4: Pescarolo C60 (-/3'39.337/-)
5: Nissan R390 (-/3'38.671/-)
6: Ford GT LM '02 (-/3'58.863/-)

The last race to complete in this series is 2 laps of the Nürburgring but that will have to wait for another day - especially as I haven't a clue which car to run.

Status update:

Completion: 91.0%
A-Spec points: 39,590
Average A-Spec points = (39,590-8250)/(509-35) = 66.1

Getting near to 40,000 A-Spec points - maybe this will lead to the Garden of Eden?

Edit note: Having figured out how to form an umlaut, I then put it in the wrong place - now corrected. Also completion percentage corrected from 90.8% to 91.0%.

posted 05-02-2005 01:23 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by GT3mich:
I'm curious. In GT3 the race would continue until all six cars finished the race but in GT4 the race stops after about 15 seconds when finishing in 1st. How do you record the time for the AI cars? I know OG would like this info as well as me.

---

In a championship series the cars keep running all the time the various score sheets come up. So, as long as you don't hurry them along by pressing 'x' the cars run while the results are shown, then the points gained from that race and then the total points accumulated from the series so far. I have found that this gives about 40s of racing after the race has finished compared to the 15ish seconds you get from a 'non-championship' race. You can see from the data of individual races that I have posted that I am unable to get more than about 10 to 15s of post race coverage. I hope this helps.

Edit note: Not sure if the above is clear but you have to be watching the replay from the car you are analyzing. I sometimes have to watch the replay 2 or 3 times to get all of the data from the actual 'on-screen' display - not from the results screen. Hope this is clearer.

posted 05-02-2005 05:04 PM         

The guide focuses mainly on the vehicles & vehicle manufacturers, and on the tracks, and gives very useful advice here such as "go fast", "go slow", and "don't crash" The book is OK as a 'coffee table' or 'bathroom' book, in fact in the latter case the pages on the Ford GT serve multiple purposes

Having said that I did find out two pieces of information of which I was not aware...

1. I had been reluctant to mess around with the ricer wings because they spoil the look of the cars so much, however, according to the guide, you can return to the wing shop and have the car restored to original i.e. wingless condition for 500 credits.

2. The guide lists the 'unlockables' which in the main are prize cars from various races / championships. It adds, however, another category of about 15 cars which it describes as 'rare' unlockables from the Historic Showroom - one of which the Lancia Delta Integrale. If anyone is interested in this list let me know and I'll transpose it here.

posted 05-03-2005 01:58 PM         

As I have to run the whole series again to win the Championship, I bail out of my attempts to win this for 'points' and re-enter the Championship in the Minolta. A-Spec points are only 6 or 7 but these are immaterial as I have already gained significant points for all races bar the 'Ring. The following tables (if they work!) show details of fastest AI laps for reference (and for Sukerkin if he expands his analysis). Note that in a number of cases the fastest laps recorded do not include the last lap of the race where the Minolta had such a large lead (>40s) that the replay stopped recording.

Notes:
1. The Minolta is a tire-eater and I had to run all races with R2 fronts and R1 rears
2. The Minolta was able to run laps that were 2 to 7s faster than the Zonda / Nissan I had previously used (despite the hard tires) with the exception of the Test Course where my slipstreaming adventures in the Zonda were actually faster. Softer tires / better driving would likely reduce the Minolta times by a few seconds, although I was particularly pleased to run close to 6 minutes at the 'Ring.
3. The Ford times for Sarthe and Nürburgring are in parenthesis as these are first lap times
4. Finishing points for the series were: Minolta - 100; Nissan R89C - 53; Audi R8 - 46; Mercedes CLK-GTR - 25; Nissan R390 GT1 - 25; Ford GT LM '04 - 11.
5. The sum of A-Spec points for this series is now 1,594 and my point total on game day 840 has moved to 39,597 at 91.3% completion, with 6,169 A-Spec miles.

All Stars Championship - Extreme Hall

Course	Highest points (car)	F/L (previous)	F/L (Minolta)
High Speed Ring	200 (Zonda RC)	1'01.243	0'56.053
Fuji 80's	187 (Zonda RC)	1'08.402	1'03.704
Laguna Seca	200 (Zonda RC)	1'18.830	1'14.468
Autumn Ring Rev	200 (Zonda RC)	1'12.342	1'09.227
Test Course	194 (Zonda RC)	1'39.073	1'39.615
Grand Valley Rev	200 (Zonda RC)	1'43.093	1'36.180
Suzuka	187 (GT-R Concept LM)	1'47.996	1'43.393
Infineon Stock Car	150 (GT-R Concept LM	1'04.581	1'02.194
Sarthe I	069 (Mercedes CLK-GTR)	3'23.071	3'19.295
Nürburgring	007 (Minolta)	-	6'03.111

All Stars Championship - AI fastest laps vs. Minolta

Course	Nissan R89-C	Audi R8 Race	Nissan R-390	Merc CLK-GTR	Ford GTLM 04
High Speed Ring	1'00.890	1'00.972	1'02.938	1'02.170	1'07.284
Fuji 80's	1'06.061	1'06.336	1'09.227	1'09.161	1'14.973
Laguna Seca	1'17.046	1'18.429	1'20.786	1'20.153	1'24.702
Autumn Ring Rev	1'10.757	1'09.671	1'13.086	1'14.816	1'15.521
Test Course	1'39.754	1'39.694	1'39.967	1'39.401	1'53.300
Grand Valley Rev	1'38.627	1'39.770	1'43.187	1'44.002	1'48.744
Suzuka	1'47.681	1'49.068	1'53.239	1'53.147	1'59.172
Infineon S.C.	1'04.547	1'05.206	1'08.200	1'08.901	1'11.217
Sarthe I	3'24.942	3'26.840	3'32.046	3'33.887	(3'59.696)
Nürburgring	6'09.971	6'10.305	6'25.668	6'23.714	(6'57.945)

posted 05-03-2005 04:22 PM         

<table><tr><td>some text</td></tr>
<tr><td>some text on a new row</td></tr>
<tr><td>some text on a third row</td></tr></table>

posted 05-04-2005 04:45 AM         

Thanks for the table insight too, Santi. I'd figured out from a table Eggie posted yesterday how such artifacts plugged together but solid confirmation is always good .

I'll try and get something of my own posted up by the end of the week and use of tables seems like a good formatting experiment.

posted 05-04-2005 12:37 PM         

In reference to the tables above - how do I remove the two large 'spaces' and reduce the font size in the tables? I would probably work it out given long enough (may be by year 2007!) but figure that you have the solution at your finger tips. I appreciate any help you can provide.