Early strategies

Unlike GT3 where you could unlock cars from playing the arcade mode alone, all of the unlocking comes from progressing further in the game. As you beat more races in the GT World, more tracks are available to you in the arcade mode. So the first goal is to complete as many races as possible. As you win prize cars, they will also be available in arcade mode. However, some cars simply aren’t found in arcade mode –these cars need to be purchased in GT World. Only then can you take them to the track, paying pocket-change of credits to get on. So the second goal is to make as much money as possible.

License Tests

You always will want to start off by doing the license tests. Not only are they requirements for getting into various races, but they’re also a good way to improve your driving skills by breaking bad habits. Those of us who are able to get silver or better on these tests, will really have minimal trouble progressing through the game and may find it more interesting to skip ahead to part two of the article.

But what if you’re not a silver license type of person? Well, you still really want to try to work your way to get bronze on every single license all the way up to the S-licenses. If you’re having trouble, try listening to the tutorial again and work toward it. Remember, don’t try so hard to that you’ll get bored, but remember that it’s worth the effort. If you work your way all the way to the International A, you’ll get a solid Nismo 270R that’s got plenty of power and handling. You’ll out-class many of the competitors in the earlier races. If that’s not possible, you can use the Cien trick…

The Cadillac Cien

Now, if you’re not at a skill level where you can beat International A, an alternative approach is to win the Cadillac Cien early on. That’s the prize car for the first stage in the Special Condition Hall. The Cien was Cadillac’s V12 concept supercar and while it doesn’t handle its power that well, it’s exceptionally fast and will help you easily win the races from the beginner league and professional league.

The Rally d' Umbria course that you need to beat in order to win the Cien is actually pretty easy and does not require any special tires. The road is very narrow and so essentially once you’ve passed the computer, as long as your careful you’ll come out in first. Since you’re going against slower cars, you should have no trouble beating this with a moderately upgraded AE86. The trick is to avoiding the walls as any single penalty will slow you down so much that you’ll be unable to recover. Likewise, on the second “reverse” version of the track, take extra care in keeping your speed during the large turn at the bottom of the hill. Not only is that a location where the computer can easily pass you, but it’s all uphill from there meaning that you’ll need to watch out for turbo lag.

The GT4 Hot Deals Forum

What does, err… your “friend” do when there’s some sort of hot deal that’s limited to one item per customer? He buys the item and then gets back in line a second time, right? Well, you can use that same trick in GT4. For some reason, the second track from the Special Condition Hall is where you’ll have no trouble earning money. The Rally d' Capri is also a tarmac-only track that’s not too difficult either. The prize car, however, is a Toyota RSC Rally Raid Car which is worth more than even a GTR-class car such as the Corvette C5R. Once you win this car, go back to your garage, sell it and re-do the race again. Make sure you tell GT4 to clear your progress for the race so that it’ll award you the car. Sell the car again. Rinse, repeat.

B-spec?

Now that you have an unlimited source of money from the Rally d’Capri track, all you need to do is focus on unlocking new tracks. If there’s a track that requires a special type of vehicle, you can just buy it. You should be able to find enough races that you enjoy to progress enough through the game to unlock all tracks in Arcade mode. The B-spec mode is one additional tool.

In B-spec mode, you coach your driver on how aggressively to drive. It’s not very advanced and the driver isn’t that smart, but one magical feature is the ability to fast forward the clock by 3x. By entering a race with an overpowered car, all you need to do is to drive as aggressively as possible while turning on the pass icon. Once you’re in first place, slow down to a level 2 of aggressiveness and you’ll almost certainly win the race. Remember, you’re not going to get any satisfaction or enjoyment out of doing this, but it’s a means to the end (of getting all of the tracks available in the arcade mode).

Once you’ve gotten a chest of money and unlocked all your tracks, it’s time to enjoy what you have done. So let’s take a look at my favorite tracks, presented in random order.