posted 09-26-2005 12:20 PM         

Very pleased that not only are your family and home safe but all those valuable GT4 memory cards and notes :lol:.

Here's hoping that calm weather will prevail for a while to let you folks get yourselves sorted out.

posted 09-26-2005 12:37 PM         

Using the Renault Clio V6 24v ’00 with black oil, as described by LDM, Apricot Hill, Motegi East, and eventually Seoul, in the Clubman Cup were converted to 200 points.

On to the SC Hall – again! – and where Lugs had pointed out that over 1,000 points were still up for grabs. Game day 2,000 saw me converting SC Normal Chamonix Rev to 200 points in the Element, and then adding both GC and TM races to the 200 point tally, again in the Element. The reverse Ice Arena race was proving more difficult so I went in search for another capable vehicle (Lugs had already used the Mitsubishi Pajero Rally Car ’85) that could beat the Celica Rally Car here, and that would then be able to cope with the outstanding ‘Hard’ races.

After much searching and testing I found a vehicle that – wait for it – I would actually rate above the Mitsu CZ-3 Tarmac. What? I hear you say. Have you gone crazy?

The Ice Arena Normal Reverse and both Ice Arena Hard races finally fell with ease in my new found ‘super car’, and then GC Hard fell at 194 and 200 points. That means that 62 of the 63 SC races are now worth 200 points, with the remaining race sitting at 194. The average for the 63 races is 199.9 and although I could probably squeeze out the additional 6 points, I’m happy to leave Lugs at the top of this pile with maximum points for the Hall .

The car is the Mazda MX Crossport ’05 and I can’t say enough about it for snow and dirt rallies. Rather than wax lyrical I’ll just say “try it and see”.

The Aston Martin Carnival races were upgraded to 151 point victories in a DB7 Vantage Coupe ’00 (BRG of course) on S1 tires and carrying 200kg of junk, the MG Festival races to 125 points each in a used black-oil MGF ’97, again on S1 tires with a full load of ballast, and the Triumph Spitfire Cup was increased to 120 points at EC and TRMW (72hp Spitfire on N2 tires with 200kg ballast), 104 points at ARM and SSR5C (on N3 tires with ballast) and to 89 points at Seoul (on S1 tires). With a minor power upgrade to the V8S, I was also able to add a few points to the TVR Fuji race and this is now at 176. Lastly in the UK races, the Mini Mini Mini bullshit was taken to 42/42/68/42 at Tokyo/SSR5C/Seattle and NY. Getting high points in these races has me completely perplexed.

I added another 200 point win in the Roadster Cup at Tsukuba but Tokyo still eludes me at 156 points. In the German one-make races, the Audi A3 Cup races are all at 111 points in a new A3 (250hp) on N3 tires with 200kg of ballast and the VW Beetle Cup races are at 123 points each in a New Beetle 2.0 ’00 with stage 2 NA tuning (198hp) and R3 tires. I’ve also started the Lupo Cup and completed the first two races for good point’s additions in a regular Lupo GTi ’02. Both of these series have kamikaze AI running on R5 tires (as I discovered when qualifying at Nurby in the Lupo Cup to see all of the AI pit at the end of the warm up lap and then have them smoke me in the race proper by over 10s).

In between all of the above I also competed in 2 Enduros, well actually the same one twice , as I lost power on lap 23 of the GV 300km first time through. The moral here is never start an Endurance Race when a weather ‘event’ is imminent . Once electricity had stabilized I did manage the 200 point win at GV in the Toyota Wedssport Celica (JGTC) ’03 on R1 tires. This was actually a very easy win by over 50s against a Nissan Pennzoil Zexel GT-R (JGTC) ’01; Honda Loctite Mugen NSX (JGTC) ’01; Toyota au Cerumo Supra (JGTC) ’01; Honda NSX-R Prototype LM Race Car ’02 and Audi A4 Touring Car ’04. The Mugen NSX was in second place for most of the race but conceded this to the Zexel GT-R courtesy of his four pit stops compared to the GT-R’s three. The Wedssport Celica also ran the race on three stops with all of the other competitors taking four. Total race time was 1:57’48.702 with a fastest lap of 1’54.829.

After all of the above my point’s total has increased to 94,495 and the 200 point tally to 285. I can see the route, albeit a long route, to another 2,000 points but I’m running out of bullets fast. The last three to four thousand points on this 100k attempt appear, at this point, to be somewhat elusive. If anybody has any experiences or suggestions to help me along they will be very much appreciated. The Resource Table will be updated as a reference for this.

posted 09-26-2005 02:02 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by LaughteranDMirth:
... And when I was testing fields that had the Xanavi GT-R in them, it seemed much faster than what you have shown but I would have to go back and check my notes. I remember it running away from the field like the other cars you mentioned so I never tried it out.

---

There are two Xanavi GT-R's, the Hiroto that I encountered, and the much faster Nismo. Maybe it is the latter of these two that you encountered.

posted 09-27-2005 12:09 AM         

Also wanted to give you a thumbs up on your A-spec achievents, you seem to get through much easier than I do. I seem to work and work spending a whole day or evening just getting through a couple of races. Sometimes it gets frustrating eking out a few points here and there, set and reset just to get in a race so I applaud your dedication.

Nice find in the Crossport, I was actually wondering about it but I do not have one, so now I know?

And I am glad I could be of help to you. Good Luck!

------------------
"When faced with certain death, eat strawberries."

GT4 Diaries

LDM's GT4 Obsessions

GT4 Obsessions Companion Log

posted 09-27-2005 11:10 AM         

GT4 activity now is a case of “if you’ve got power you’ve got track time” and from the track time that I had available last night I was able to complete the remaining VW races as far as I think I can take them. In the process I passed 95k points and, as has become the norm, received no prize. One more milestone to go and I know that my optimism all along has been well founded as the big ‘S’ has already advised me of the prize for 100k – all throttle – no bottle

The remaining VW races, namely the Lupo Cup and the GTi Series, were very different in strategy, but were completed using the same car – the VW Lupo GTi ’02.

For the Lupo Cup I started at Fuji with an NA2 (137hp) and S2 tires for a 166 point win due to the fact that I could overpower the AI on the straight. This wouldn’t work at the remaining venues due the AI using R5 tires and cornering as though rails. The solution here was to drop the tuning, run on R3 tires and then beat them at their own game – at Tsukuba and Infineon for 160 points at 116hp, and at Nurby and Suzuka for 147 points at124hp with a racing exhaust.

The GTi Series was also ran at stock 116hp and HK, Paris and Deep Forest were worth 139 points each on N3 tires with 200kg of ballast, Midfield at 127 points on N3 tires with 100kg of ballast, and Tsukuba at 107 points on S1 tires with 75kg of ballast. The key to winning any of these races was having the Golf GTi ’05 starting at #5 on the grid, and a number of race resets were required to do this.

posted 09-27-2005 03:27 PM         

Thought I would give you a glimpse of my run at the Tokyo 300.

I used the RX-7 also and I did try out the Celica but I like the way the RX-7 drives and felt it was quicker. It was also my first choice so I wanted to try it out. Interesting it seemed for me that the Celica was easier on tires even with a few rocks in the trunk but then again I was pretty hard on the RX-7's tires. And it does not matter as you have to pit twice anyways.

I finished in 1:44'42.427, just a tick behind your time. I did not deal with the last couple of laps in the 20 lap stints and lost time there, possibly because I pushed harder during the first part of the stints. My fast lap was 1'41.557.

The two GT-R's finished 2nd and 3rd, Xanavi then Zexel respectively. The Xanavi was about 14.5 seconds back of me.

The Rest:
Mobile 1 NSX
au Cerumo Supra
Takata Dome NSX

------------------
"When faced with certain death, eat strawberries."

GT4 Diaries

LDM's GT4 Obsessions

posted 09-27-2005 04:00 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by LaughteranDMirth:
Thought I would give you a glimpse of my run at the Tokyo 300.

---

Thanks for that. I always read your diary with much interest anyway.

I think it is remarkable that our total times for this Enduro are within 1s of each other. Even though we used the same car with the same tuning against the same field this is still incredible. Your fastest lap was almost a second better than mine but it looks as though you were cooking your tires more quickly and therefore weren't able to maintain consistent lap times. It's also interesting that the AI finished in a different order - OK same last place - but the Xanavi Hiroto that came second to you was an also ran in my race. You would expect that 'standard' programming would always give the same result so one has to assume that either 'human' intervention has an effect, or that this is far from standard programming. Unfortunately I'm not knowledgeable enough on this subject to comment any further.

Nice job anyway.

posted 09-27-2005 07:55 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by miko:
It's also interesting that the AI finished in a different order - OK same last place - but the Xanavi Hiroto that came second to you was an also ran in my race. You would expect that 'standard' programming would always give the same result so one has to assume that either 'human' intervention has an effect, or that this is far from standard programming. Unfortunately I'm not knowledgeable enough on this subject to comment any further.

---

Since GT3, I've been of the opinion that there is some routine in the AI code that simulates driver skill.

Suppose that the AI in GT4 can be given a rating to tell the game how good each AI driver is, and that you can define this value as any integer from 0 to say... 500, easiest to hardest. PD then theorizes based on your progress that the AI in a certain event should be fairly difficult. PD gives a range of skill to the AI drivers, say in the range of 375 to 425. Then, so the drivers race differently, a random number is introduced such that each AI driver has their skill rated at some number between 425 down to 375, so you end up with something like:

416
397
382
404
409

Granted, even with the same field, there is no guarantee that each car's corresponding driver will be rated identically. LDM's Xanavi GT-R could have drawn a higher number than yours, and therefore would be faster.

Of course, I have no proof of this, but it seems a logical way to do it, and it's also the way I'd do it if I wrote the game.

posted 09-28-2005 12:13 AM         

I also had an aborted attempt at the Tokyo 300 and it was different yet. Which made me think of the AI 'pissed off' factor. In that race I passed the Zexel on the first lap, only to have him pass me back on the front straight, then we battled side-by-side for part of lap two. Now I try to always race clean but there was a bit of bumping and banging in those first two laps. Finally I pulled away after that reaching about an 8 second lead at ten laps. Now in the race miko describes and in my second race the top four AI cars stay very close together. Through a large portion of my race, the Xanavi, Cerumo, Zexel, and the Mobil 1 cars all took turns leading the race/AI pack. In my aborted race attempt the Zexel went on a rampage drawing away from the other cars and catching me by about lap 16. It was very different than either of the other races that were run by myself or miko. So in my rerun I was very careful in passing the AI.

I have also observed that the AI do run very identical laps on their own but the interaction between the AI cars can vary. Add in the affect of us as an unkown as in if we hold a car up or change their line and it could change the results very much. A bit of chaos factor so to speak.

------------------
"When faced with certain death, eat strawberries."

GT4 Diaries

LDM's GT4 Obsessions

posted 09-28-2005 11:21 AM         

I’m still dodging blackouts, but managed to add another 300 or so points – progress has slowed to a crawl on this front. The additions came courtesy of the Super Speedway Enduro, and scraping the dregs from the bottom of the barrel in the Mercedes races.

The SS 150 miles was completed in the Mazda 787B ’91 (new model at a slightly worn 800hp) on R1 tires with 25kg of ballast shifted 10 to the rear, and d/f reduced very slightly to 60/80 (all in the attempt to squeeze a few additional points). The AI was the same as reported by LDM as it’s the first field that comes up that contains all Class C cars including 3 of the big 5, i.e. Minolta; both big Nissans; the Pesky C60 and the Speed 8. I guess the perfect field would replace the C60 and Bentley with the Sauber and Jaguar – but that’s not saying I could beat that line-up .

Luckily the Minolta starts at #5 on the grid otherwise it would have too much car for me to beat, especially as I still haven’t figured out the fastest line on the lower radius curve . The R1’s lasted for 40 laps (could have gone a few more) at which point I switched to R2’s, requiring another pit stop on lap 70, and started chasing down the top 3 cars. The final positions saw the C60 in last place at +3 laps, with the Speed 8 in 5th also at +3 laps, the R89C in 4th and the R92CP in 3rd, both at +1 lap, and the Minolta in 2nd place at +1.754s (phew! That was too close for comfort). Fastest lap was 0’28.705 and race time was 50’40.873 – this time over 30s slower than LDM’s race time. LDM – I’m curious as to the nature of the ‘minor’ set-up change you made and commented on in your diary. Apart from the driving aids, minor d/f reduction and the ballast my 787B was run on completely stock settings. The point’s value for all of this was 135.

So, moving quickly on to the Mercedes races – which were much more fun and much more rewarding, at least from a driving perspective. Here I added another 169 points in total in some very fun races, all of which are now worth over 150 points each. There may be a few additional points here but they’re going to be hard work to get.

posted 09-28-2005 12:01 PM         

FF Challenge: 84 points
Tuning Car: 46 points
NA Sports: 2 points
World Classic: 75 points
GT World: 55 points
GT All Stars: 96 points
PD Cup: 452 points
Formula GT: 365 points
Premium Sports: 143 points
Pan Euro: 7 points
British Lightweight: 87 points (according to Lugs)
1000 Miles!: 372 points
Japanese 70’s: 100 points
Japanese 80’s: 65 points
Japanese Compact: 130 points
Enduros (excl. 24hr races): 533 points
SC Halls: 6 points
BMW Club M: 75 points
Daihatsu Copen: 100 points
Mazda Club RE: 179 points
Nissan March: 100 points
Toyota Vitz: 200 points
Chevy Camaro: 100 points

This would get me to 98,665 points. On the assumption that I’m able to attain all of the above (and some may be overly optimistic), and even adding in 390 points for the 24hr Enduros, this still only gets me to 99,055. Getting to 100k is clearly going to be a major and time consuming struggle. Self imposed house-rules are still being adhered to however, that is, no nitrous and no Dodge Ram .

I’d welcome any input on points that I may have missed.

posted 09-28-2005 04:19 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by miko:
British Lightweight: [b]87 points (according to Lugs)

Lastly, when’s my old sparring partner getting back behind the wheel? [/B]

---

First, what's this 'according to Lugs' disclaimer about? After all this time, do I need to start offering proof? Harumph.

OK, I can understand this much: many has been the time that I've seen you post something about how many points you got in a race and thought, "no friggin' way!" But every time I got behind the wheel and really worked at it, I got there--sometimes past there (I'm thinking of that truck race, ). If you're really committed to this task, you'll give up the 'according to Lugs' mental crutch. When have I ever made a questionable claim? When, for that matter, did I ever claim to have done anything that you, LDM, or a lot of other better drivers, didn't do better, faster, or with a harder car?

'According to Lugs', indeed. Stop making excuses and start making records!

/Stern kick-in-the-rear pep talk mode.

Meanwhile, in response to your last, I'm still enjoying Madden, but still lurking here, which should tell you all you need to know about whether I've quit GT4 or am inclined to get back to it eventually. The way the Bears are playing , you might see me back here sooner than I would have thought. Things might have been different if the good folks of EA Sports hadn't once again bolloxed up the online play mode so badly. I'd love to play the game on line, but what I understand is it's basically not worth it, due to the prevalance of online cheating. OTOH, at least there *is* an online play mode. Some otherwise good games don't even have that, do they?

posted 09-28-2005 07:56 PM         

As far as the Motegi 150, I do not know if I should spill the beans, seeing as I am about 65,000 points behind you in the chase. Can't a guy have a single solitary secret?

------------------
"When faced with certain death, eat strawberries."

GT4 Diaries

LDM's GT4 Obsessions

posted 09-28-2005 09:52 PM         

Please forgive my grumpy ill humor. I've had a bad day.

posted 09-29-2005 12:07 AM         

Shhhhh! Very very secret - The Superspeedway is one place where you want drivers aids. It helps you corner faster and stay off of the wall. The clue was in "inadvertantly made a minor change" as in I forgot my usual routine of removing all drivers aids before starting my race and found I could corner better and had better lap times.

------------------
"When faced with certain death, eat strawberries."

GT4 Diaries

LDM's GT4 Obsessions

posted 09-29-2005 12:27 PM         

Although I still have 4 races to go in this Championship, I’ll give some detail of progress so far. My Element has had a lot of modifications from all of the dirt/snow races and some are irreversible such as port polish, engine balancing and stage 1 & 2 lightening. It may also have a little engine wear (not sure about this), but with just a racing exhaust and chip, at 187hp, on S3 tires, it gets rated 200 points against field #2 (headed by the Honda S2000). With the exhaust and chip removed and replaced by an NA1 tune, power increases to 204hp and points drop to 178. The downside to the Element on tarmac, and this is something that is irrelevant in the dirt races, is that it chews through tires like nothing else I have seen in the game, particularly front tires. This requires some careful tire strategy, not necessarily for better times, but just to make it to the finish line.

When I started this, my objective was to breeze through the first 5 races so that I could get to Motorland with the opportunity to qualify on pole. This changed when, out of curiosity, I lined up for the 6 laps at Motegi on S2 tires at 172hp (no power modifiers at all), get rated 200 points, and proceed to take the victory. Hmm! That was unexpected. The key to this I found, was nothing more than being faster through the turns than the AI (the S2000 and Supra are clearly much faster on the straights), have the racing line on the last third of the straights (which is where the AI caught up) and just hold the line. The AI would come screaming up behind me and then perform something akin to an emergency braking manoeuvre before they rear-ended me. This gave me a clear road at the next turn only for the whole exercise to be repeated on the next straight. The advantage here is that Motegi is long straight-tight turn-long straight-tight turn, unlike Tokyo (which we’ll get to later). I’m sure that the S2000 and Supra lost at least 2s per lap because of this as the Audi A3 eventually finished in 2nd place, about 2s behind the Element.

Moving on to Seattle’s 7 lap race, and with curiosity now at a heightened state, I add the racing exhaust and chip to take me to 187hp, switch to S3 tires, and still get rated 200 points. This was an easy race, my lead over the S2000 being nearly 10s at the start of lap 6. This however was reduced to 1s by the end of the race as my front tires were a very dark orange and turning had become a bit of a problem. It seems that as the AI get their tires up to racing temperature, mine are starting to go off – definitely races of two halves. Anyway another 200 points (although only a 20 point addition) and it’s off to Infineon.

Based on the Seattle tire experience I switched to S2 tires for the 8 laps of the Infineon Stock Car Course, stayed at 187hp, and had a very easy 200 point victory over the S2000 by more than 8s. Infineon is another of the courses that the AI seems to have great difficulty with, it also helped that the S2000 only qualified in 4th place and had a torrid time clearing the traffic. Nevertheless, I’ll take the 20 point addition that I hadn’t previously expected.

On to Tokyo, ah Tokyo – the course that if you look at all of my race data is the one I have the most trouble with. The big difference between Motegi and Tokyo is that the former is fast straights and slow turns, whereas Tokyo is fast, fast, fast. I failed in my 200 point attempt here and had to resort to using an NA1 tune and S3 tires (again very orange by race end) which reduced points to 178, and still only resulted in a marginal victory by less than ¼s. Oh well, let’s move on quickly to Fuji 2005.

Back at 187hp on S3 tires, and 200 points, the 6 laps of Fuji proved a close but relatively easy race. Like Motegi the AI do not handle the turns particularly well here, especially the turns prior to the straight, to the extent that the advantage I could generate on the front of the course was almost exactly the same as the time I lost on the straight. The result was a victory of less than 1s over the S2000. A fun race on a desolate featureless course, and a nice precursor to what I felt was going to be the most painful race of the series – Motorland (yuck!).

The 19 laps of Motorland was where I had ceased my previous attack on this Championship, and as I started to drive it I soon remembered why. Power is not an issue here so the 200 point level of 187hp is ample. The problem is tires and there is not a grade available that allows the Element to complete the race without major steering and traction problems. My only option was to use S1 tires. At the 10 lap mark my lead over the S2000 was around 2s, with the Supra in 3rd about 8s back. This was also where the fronts turned yellow. The S2000 quickly gained on me and breathed in my exhaust for a few laps before he decided to try an aggressive passing move on the outside at the big sweeper before the pits on lap 15. I was having none of it and just held my line, matching the S2000’s speed and drifting outwards because of my now dark orange tires. Oops – the S2000 drove into the pit wall and then entered the pits for an unscheduled stop – not my fault guv, honestly . On lap 17, my front tires now red, the same thing happens with the Supra – pure coincidence guv, really . So, with 1 lap to go I have a 12s lead over an old Mazda RX-7, this is reduced to 5s at the finish line as I went from a fastest lap in the 48s range to a last lap, on bright red front tires, of 56s. As the game took control of the car for the parade lap it went off-road or spun at every turn. I Quickly saved the race replay for future review (and I’m sure laughs) and exited back to home to save the game – power outages are still the norm and I do not, ever, want to have to re-run that race.

That concludes last night's activity. Next up is Sarthe I and I’m sure that my speed deficiencies will present a similar set of problems to Tokyo. El Capitan and Suzuka should be relatively straightforward for 200 point victories, and then the Nürburgring .

posted 09-30-2005 11:58 AM         

The 2 laps of Sarthe I, as expected, required the use of the NA1 tuning on the Element at 204hp, and even then, on S3 tires, I had to become very wide on the straight. Fortunately the AI just sucks through the stadium section so the more than 3s victory is not a true reflection of the rest of the race. Another 178 points though which equates to an addition of 105.

Again as expected, both El Capitan (6 laps) and Suzuka (5 laps) were relatively comfortable 200 point victories with just the racing exhaust and chip, at 187hp on S2 tires.

The Nürburgring was, as usual, a different story. Qualifying on pole and then switching to my 200 point set-up, the S2000, with its 35mph straight line advantage, toasted me. I managed to hold on to the lead until Kesselchen on lap 2 and then got fudded /1/ by over 20s.

/1/ New addition to the Modern English Dictionary… Fudded: Getting your butt kicked at the Nürburgring

The addition of NA1 tuning, and both the racing exhaust and chip, giving 223hp, on S2 tires, proved to be the necessary power additions for me to win this race. Although I was still giving up a lot of top speed, the Element could out accelerate the S2000 on turn exit which led to a very exciting race and a MOV of just over 1s. The downside to this set-up is that point valuation dropped to 162 – I’ll take it though as this is still a nice addition to my previous score.

posted 10-03-2005 04:58 AM         

I'm currently working on the MR Championship but it took five hours yesterday to get a 154 Pointer at New York ! I may have to apologise to my neighbours for the amount of swearing that was going on ! I'm not sure that a 200 Pointer is possible at NY without using NOS to overcome the AI's speed advantage down those long straights.

Only Fuji (which I'm dreading) and El Capitan (which I'm looking forward to) to go ...

------------------
Asphalt Kannibals
Did somebody mention TVR's?

posted 10-03-2005 10:32 AM         

In the Manufacturers races, and following my checklist, I had mixed results in achieving my goals, the biggest disappointment being the Copen Races, none of which reached the triple digit mark, indeed Tsukuba didn’t even make it to the 60 point mark, and I only managed half of the 100 points I had hoped for. Likewise in the Camaro Races I fell 24 points short of my goal, all of which are attributable to me not being able to win Seoul while carrying ballast in the IROZ.

The good news however, is that the BMW Club M (in another black oil M Coupe on R2 tires, with 200kg of ballast), the March Bros (in a black oil Cube X ’98), and the Vitz races (in a used Euro Sport ’00) all exceeded expectations. This, combined with the maxing of the Mazda Club RE races (in an RX-8 Type E (J) ’03) and 238 points in the Civic Races which I hadn’t even accounted for (in a black oil 1500 3dr 25i ’83), left me over 300 points in the black with regard to my checklist. The key to many of these races can be summed up in three words – Tires! – Tires! – Tires! .

Other progress was made in the FF Races (finally giving in and using the PT Cruiser for Midfield and Motegi East for the 200 point wins); the Tuning Car (tidying up Tokyo in the Clio Sport V6 Phase 2 ’03) and the NA Sports (where I toiled for about 2 hours to gain the missing 2 – yes 2 – points at Motegi, again in the Phase 2). The Pan European Championship was also maxed out in the BMW M3 CSL, and although this only added 7 points in total, I didn’t mind as I have a lot fun running the CSL against the Mercedes SLR.

posted 10-03-2005 11:39 AM         

Japanese 80’s Festival – SSR5 Clubman, AH Rev and Suzuka to do. SSR5 and Suzuka were taken to the 200 point mark with relative ease, but like NY above, Apricot Hill required the ‘progressive’ approach and my points went from 180 to 189 to 193 to 199 before I hit the 200 mark. The only reason I’m adding comment here is for the curious fact that on at least two of the starting grids appears a Toyota Celica GTR ST183 4WS. So what’s so strange about this? Well, this is 1991 car in a 1980’s festival – like I said, curious.

Japanese Compact Cup – this was a very, very easy series to sweep, but I though I’d give you the solution in a totally stock car (except for tires and ballast). In the Mitsubishi i ‘03, at an oil change power of 71hp, on S2 tires, the first 10 grids line up valued at 143, 144, 155, 124, 159, 150, 116, 157, 124 and 123. Grid #5 comprises 4 variants of Vitz and a March G#. With N3 tires the point’s value increases to 182, and with N3 tires and 120kg ballast the points reach 200. Qualifying in each race and starting on pole, the only time I wasn’t in the lead for the whole series, was in race 5 at Suzuka East, where the poor standing start performance of the ‘i’ dropped it to 3rd place for a half a lap. Easy points .

Lastly, British Lightweight Series – where Lugs had pointed out an additional 87 available points – huh! – try an additional 148 points . In the Lotus Elan ’62 with 200kg ballast and on N3 tires, Autumn Ring and Apricot Hill were completed at 157 points each (AH took some work) and SSR5 at 176 points on N2 tires. A few additional points could probably be squeezed out here due to the fact that my Elan is at an oil change power level but I’m not interested in pursuing those. The key here was a minor set-up change I made. As you are probably all aware, the Elan is a little tail happy, especially when carrying ballast, made worst by using crappy tires. This was all cured with the 200kg ballast shifted -15 on the weight balance slider and suddenly the Elan, even on N tires, felt like it was running on racing boots. Nice!

posted 10-04-2005 02:38 PM         

The only other progress was made in the All Stars races where both Fuji and Suzuka were added to the 200 point tally in the BMW McLaren. Sarthe however, is way too fast for the Beemer, but I did increase it to 158 in the CLK-GTR. This was against a field that included both big Nissans and the Jaguar. Getting 200 points here looks as though it will be a time consuming problem.

posted 10-04-2005 03:19 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by miko:
Progressing now at glacial speed....

---

Glacial is my normal mode of progression.

quote:

---

Originally posted by miko:
.........Next up is another run at the World Classic Car Championship where I will try one of the 60’s Hondas, in a similar way to LDM.

---

I tried the 800 a bit and it may work, but it will need some tuning. It seemed to lag a lot in the acceleration department. The 600 is definitely on my list to go back and try so maybe you will be able to tell me how it works out.

Good Luck!

------------------
"When faced with certain death, eat strawberries."

GT4 Diaries

LDM's GT4 Obsessions

posted 10-05-2005 11:59 AM         

I did notice a ‘blast-from-the-past’ during this race, or rather when watching the replay of El Capitan, and that was the old Nissan badge of ‘Datsun’ displayed on the front of the hood of the ’68 Fairlady. I remember this marque from the 70’s in the UK, totally crappy cars such as the 100A and the 120Y – in fact the 120Y (IIRC) was once voted the worst car ever made in a Top Gear video and for this honor was used as a missile for a full scale trebuchet. I’ll never forget seeing that thing launched over 400 yards in a replica Roman war machine – awesome .

Moving on I again glanced through the Manufacturer’s races to see if there was anything else that I had missed and, perchance, happened upon a little pot of gold. The RX-8 Cup, previously run in the Type E, was at 110 points each race. Out of curiosity I threw an N2/N3 tire combination and 200kg of ballast on the Type E and entered a championship series against a field that included 3 of the Type S. To cut a long story short each of these races is now worth 183 points so that’s another very nice 365 previously unaccounted for points . The series was actually pretty easy from pole position and took less than an hour compared to the three hours I had spent trying to make the old Fairlady work at NY and Tokyo. Oh well…

Clearly the shackles that are N tires have become much more comfortable through frequent wear and I can use them, at least down to N2, with reasonable confidence – depending on the car of course. With this in mind I will check again the RX-8 races again to see if a grid exists that includes 4 of the Type S, as this will inevitably get rated 200 points and could result in a further 85 points. The Subaru Stars of the Pleiades races could also yield an additional 75 points through the adoption of this strategy. That’s tonight’s plan mapped out.

Point’s total is now 98,469 and the 200 point tally is 319. I have caught up the points deficit I had previously commented on, in fact I am now slightly in the black with regard to the previous checklist to the extent that I can apply a limited amount of race selectivity – no need to run the Sarthe 24hr Endurance Races . 1,531 points to go to hit the 100k mark and I’m ignoring the little two-horned imp that has appeared on my shoulder saying “300 easy points using the Ram in the Truck Races” – salt in your eye, imp!

posted 10-06-2005 10:50 AM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by miko:
I will check again the RX-8 races again to see if a grid exists that includes 4 of the Type S, as this will inevitably get rated 200 points and could result in a further 85 points. The Subaru Stars of the Pleiades races could also yield an additional 75 points through the adoption of this strategy.

---

…I spent an hour entering and exiting the RX-8 races to see if I could find a grid that contained 4 of the Type-S, all to no avail . It appears that there are three cars that appear for these races, the Type-S, Type-E and ‘regular’ RX-8. Every grid had one of these on it so I have to conclude that the most you can see of any one car is three – oh well – so much for the best laid plans of mice and men and all that.

Fortunately the second half of the plan was accomplished in the Subaru Stars of the Pleiades Championship. I did however spend a lot of time trying to find a grid that would rate 200 points for the black oil Impreza Coupe 22B-STi ’98 with 200kg ballast running on S1 tires. This proved another fruitless search, the highest I could find being 198 points. Suck it up Miko, so on N3 tires with 130kg of ballast, Tsukuba was won from pole just by holding the line, Trial Mountain was as easy as you’d expect, Suzuka was won only because the two lead WRX’s wiped out on the esses at the start of lap 2 handing me the lead and the victory, Deep Forest was a case of six kamikaze Subarus (yes – yours truly included – if you can’t beat them, join them ) and Laguna Seca was won easily driving away from the field from pole position. That’s 75 additional points that I will gratefully accept .

I also need to amend something I said earlier…

quote:

---

Originally posted by miko:
Clearly the shackles that are N tires have become much more comfortable through frequent wear and I can use them, at least down to N2, with reasonable confidence – depending on the car of course.

---

The qualification I need to add to this comment is that this only applies to FR vehicles. N tires on FF and 4WD cars are no fun at all as the understeer just gets worse and worse. Minor tuning and shifting of the weight balance can help a little but I have never been able to dial it out completely, except when I had a yaw control fitted.

posted 10-06-2005 12:39 PM         

I am really going to have to practice some with them if I wish to use them - I was getting uncontrollable oversteer absolutely everywhere . Had to restart a number of times before I realised I wasn't going to get anywhere with them until I come up with a driving style that works for such unsticky rubber.

Another oar dipped in the A-SPec thread in Resources by the way.

I'm wondering if this is the right thing to be doing tho' as I can see it cluttering the thread before too long. I may start a seperate thread for each Championship/Set of races in a Hall and plonk my notes in there rather than making a mess of your nice structured thread.

posted 10-06-2005 01:00 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sukerkin:
Another oar dipped in the A-SPec thread in Resources by the way.

I'm wondering if this is the right thing to be doing tho' as I can see it cluttering the thread before too long. I may start a seperate thread for each Championship/Set of races in a Hall and plonk my notes in there rather than making a mess of your nice structured thread.

---

Please feel free to keep "dipping the oars" in the Resource Section thread (and here for that matter) - they are afterall all pulling in the same direction .

posted 10-07-2005 10:48 AM         

The key to these races, at least from a point’s standpoint, is finding the right grid. Assuming that the grids are generated from a pool of cars, it is not unreasonable to expect that the ‘perfect’ field would appear given enough time and enough race resets. This requires a huge amount of patience however, and mine ran out after 1½ hours. During this time I did find an improved grid – just not what I considered to be the perfect one – and this enabled me to add 149 points to these races and convert all of them to triple digits.

Sticking with the Alfa Romeo Spider 1600 Duetto ’66 /1/ I finally found a grid that I could compete with at stock power and even add some tire and ballast handicaps. The grid, and it took some finding, comprised a Ginetta G4; Lotus Elan; Toyota 2000GT; Alfa Speciale and the ’62 Skyline.

/1/ I have tried to enter cars in all of the races in GT4 that stay close to the essence of the races e.g. a JGTC in the All Japan GT etc. etc., and I just couldn’t get my head around the concept that a sixties Honda (or Toyota or Isuzu or Mazda or Nissan) fell into the category of Classic Car. A Honda S500 should not be categorized in the same way as an Austin Healey; D-Type Jag; TR2 and TR3; ’65 Mustang and of course the ’57 T’Bird. /1/

At 110hp, on S1 tires and with 100kg ballast, the races are rated 125 points. The performance of the AI varies according to the track and three different cars took the second place purse. The G4 was of course fast and wild (like a lot of things from the early 60’s ), the Elan clean and consistent, and the surprise of the field the Toyota, was very clean and showed a surprising turn of speed at the Nürburgring, hitting over 130mph on the straight. For this reason I had to add a racing exhaust and chip, taking my power to 120hp, and ditch most of the ballast for a hard fought 103 point win.

posted 10-10-2005 11:09 AM         

The racing that was performed was in the ‘I’d like to have a really long talk with the PD designer who thought it would be fun to race for 14 hours in a 1960’s 110hp car’ series – otherwise known as the 1000 miles! The first order of the day was to assess the competition and the following lists those cars that I saw through a couple of hours of grid resets:

AC Cars 427 S/C ‘66
Alfa Romeo Guilia Sprint GTA 1600 ‘65
Alfa Romeo Guilia Sprint Speciale ‘63
Alfa Romeo Spider 1600 Duetto ‘66
Chevrolet Corvette Coupe (C2) ‘63
Fiat 500 - various
Ginetta G4 ‘64
Honda S800 ‘66
Isuzu Bellett 1600 GT-R ‘69
Isuzu 117 Coupe ‘68
Jaguar E-Type Coupe ‘61
Lotus Elan S1 ‘62
Mazda 110S (L10A) ‘67
Mercedes Benz 300SL Coupe ‘54
Mini Marcos GT ‘70
Nissan Fairlady 2000 (SR311) ‘68
Nissan Silvia (CSP311) ‘65
Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-B (S54A) ‘67
Nissan Skyline 1500 Deluxe (S50D-1)
Nissan Skyline Sport Coupe (BLRA-3) ‘62
Toyota Sports 800 ‘65
VW Karmann Ghia Coupe (Type-1) ‘68

Sticking with my ’66 Alfa Duetto that I’d used for both the World and European Jalopy series, I wanted to find a balanced field that didn’t contain any of the top or bottom end cars and after more resets than I can remember I found the following:

Alfa Romeo Guilia Sprint GTA 1600 ‘65
Mazda 110S (L10A) ‘67
Isuzu 117 Coupe ‘68
Alfa Romeo Guilia Sprint Speciale ‘63
Isuzu Bellett 1600 GT-R ‘69

This seemed a reasonably balanced, mid-quality field, so I headed off to the 25 lap Nurby race, entered my Duetto on N2/N3 tires with 200kg of ballast and got rated 141 points. I’ll take it as my aim is to average 125 points for the four races. To gauge the competition I run an additional 2 laps in qualifying and take an easy pole by over 6s from the GTA. The Duetto doesn’t feel that good on the N2 tires and with the ballast struggles to hit 90mph on the uphill back straight. On the main straight however it makes over 115mph and I feel this will be plenty.

The lights go green and it quickly becomes apparent that the GTA was holding a little back during qualification as we both begin to draw away from the field. Over a complete lap I find that I’m about 6s faster through all of the turns, about 4s slower going up the hill on the back straight, and about 2s slower down the main straight. It doesn’t take a nuclear physicist to see that this will be close. The N2 front tires turn yellow on lap 6 and orange on lap 8 but I’m determined not to pit before the GTA. At the end of lap 8 I know I can’t go for another lap so pull into the pits, delighted to see the GTA following me in. For the first 8 laps the lead has varied between 5s down to ¼s and as we pit you couldn’t put a cigarette paper between the two cars. My lap times have fluctuated between 9’37 and 9’43 meaning that this race will be well over 4 hours.

The next 8 laps follow the same pattern and we duly pit together on lap 16. I know it seems like a poor pit strategy that will result in pitting on lap 24 of a 25 lap race but it is imperative to stay in front of the GTA in order that I can slow him a little at the end of the back straight. Lap 17, lap 18, lap 19, lap 20 – same story – keep going – just 5 laps to go. Lap 21, lap 22, lap 23 and as we start the penultimate lap my lead is less than 1s.

On tires turning rapidly more orange as the lap progresses the GTA starts to get a little more aggressive and I get more than a few nudges up the rear just to remind me that he’s still there. Disaster hits at Bergwerk as the GTA nudges me too hard and muscles himself into the lead. This is the worst place on the course to be passed as it is the turn before the back straight and by the time I reach Klostertal I’m 5s behind. As the GTA pits at the end of the lap it’s decision time – should I pit, change to N3 tires for the final lap, and hope that I can pull back the 8s deficit? – or should I stay out and hope that I can make it through the final lap on bad tires?

I choose the latter, pass the GTA in the pits, and have a 14s lead at the first checkpoint. Now, I’ve just got to hang on for the rest of the lap. Next checkpoint and the lead is down to 12s but at checkpoint 3 has increased to over 13s. Tires are getting worse, dark orange bordering on red, and the Duetto is handling like a Sherman Tank. By the time we finish the back straight the lead is less than 6s – this is going to be close. Through Hedwigshohe I can see the GTA in my mirrors – tight line – hold the apex – don’t let him past – block if needed.

At Eschback it all becomes too much for the Duetto’s tires, running wide the GTA passes me on the inside. With only a quarter of a lap to go, after well over 4 hours of racing, I forgo the lead for good as the GTA drives away from my ailing Alfa to win by over 30s. It’s nearly 2:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and I’m staring at a post race screen that says 0 points. I definitely need to sleep on this one.

posted 10-10-2005 11:33 AM         

This is the first time that I have used N tires in an endurance race. My understanding was that they are supposed to replicate normal road tires that any of us would use on our day-to-day vehicles. If this is the case I’m confused. My day-to-day SUV is probably two to three times heavier than the Alfa Duetto I ran at Nurby and puts out 2½ times the power. I’m ‘hard’ on tires (and brakes for that matter) but I have over 50,000 miles on the clock and the tires have hardly deteriorated at all. How is it that after 8 laps of the Nürburgring, less than 120 miles, the GT4 ‘normal’ tires are shot.

posted 10-10-2005 12:39 PM         

As it is, I threw my headphones across the room in a paddy just trying to 200 Point the High Speed Ring race in the Sunday Cup (Beginners Hall) so I can only imagine my chagrin at such an irritation .

On the tyres endurance point, I can only wave a hand airily at the name 'on the tin'.

Altho' GT4 is very good at approximating the 'feel' of driving, I've come to the conclusion that it is definitely not a simulator and PD are performing a diservice to true simulator software by claiming it is.