GT4: For Fans Only February 24, 2005

Introduction

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My assumptions

I’m assuming you’re a fan of the Gran Turismo series, or at least driving games. I’m assuming that you’ve already ordered Gran Turismo 4 and read our review from the beginning of the month, and you are probably the type of fan who already knows that February 24, 2005’s episode of The Apprentice will have the teams working on making a promotion strategy for the game (and if you didn’t, you’re probably getting a tape of the show).

My perspective

I didn’t start writing for FiringSquad as a game reviewer. I’ve never been a full-time writer for FS either, even though I started writing for the site in 1999 and “retired” from writing last year. Now, the only time I write is when some website needs some sort of specialized expertise I can bring to the article. One of those specialized areas of expertise is driving games with force feedback wheels. That said, I’m a driving enthusiast and not a hardcore driving game enthusiast.

One of the gee-whiz features of Gran Turismo 4 are the extended endurance races, including several “24 hour” races. This is a race where you drive, non-stop for 24 hours. No breaks. No saving your game half way through (though you can cheat and pause). There are gamers out there with the interest, willingness, and stamina to do the 24-hour endurance race. To those gamers with that kind of stamina and focus, I salute you. I’m not one of those gamers. I enjoy driving, but not that much.

There are other Gran Turismo fans who want to “beat” the game. They want to complete every last race and license challenge in the game with gold, own every car, and even own multiple colors of the same car. They may even keep track of the mileage and oil changes for every one of their virtual cars, as well as their fastest time on the Vegas Drag Strip and the ‘ring for each configuration. To those gamers with that dedication to achieving the highest score, I also salute you. I’m not one of those gamers either. I appreciate fine machines and enjoy driving, but it’s not my only thing.

I enjoy Gran Turismo 4 for its fairly realistic experience of driving. I’m not a professional race car driver, nor do I aspire to become one. I have a colleague who owns a Carrera GT, and another who’s confirmed to be invited to purchase the next Enzo, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy test driving a regular car such as a simple Volvo S60 or even a Mitsubishi Galant. For me, playing a game like GT4 is like skiing down an intermediate difficulty slope. It’s not about going for the triple black diamond and having the impending sense of doom, or taking it too casually on a bunny slope.

Note that I said it was like skiing rather than snowboarding. This was intentional – with snowboarding, you learn the right technique from the very beginning and so while it’s tough to get started, once you make it past the first hurdle, it’s all downhill. Driving is like skiing – it’s pretty easy to get started, but you learn bad habits and it’s much tougher to break those habits.

So, coming back to GT4, I think that if I had access to every single car and every single track in the game from the beginning in the arcade mode, I’d rarely touch the GT World part of the game. I’d already be able to get all my fun from the actual driving. So, this article is here to help those of you out there, reach that goal of being able to drive almost any car you want from GT4’s catalog. Some dedicated fans will call our strategies cheating, but I think it’s simply about having different goals.

In the second half of this article, I’ll talk about some of the tracks and cars in the game that I’ve really enjoyed.




SIDEBAR: Drive safely. Wear a seatbelt.

Early strategies

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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.



SIDEBAR: B-spec is pretty much like Dead or Alive 3’s movie mode

Tsukuba Circuit

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Whether you’re playing Counter-Strike or driving a track in Gran Turismo 4, learning the map is an important part of the game. In Counter-Strike, you’ve got to be aware of all the paths to the bombsite and all the common places for campers. In Gran Turismo 4, you need to be familiar enough with the track so that you always know what’s coming up ahead. Tsukuba has relatively few turns, none of which are blind, and they all look unique. You’ll be able to quickly pick up the track after a few laps.

Once you learn the track, you’ll be able to focus on driving the car itself. You won’t be spending any effort trying to remember what is coming up next and instead can focus on finding the best race line and having the best throttle and steering control. The way that Tsukuba is designed, it’s drivable whether you’re in a minivan or a F1 car. Once you think you’ve mastered Tsukuba, you can move on to the wet version and start the learning process all over again.

So, if there is one track that will help you become a better driver, it’s the Tsukuba circuit. It’s curvy enough to be fun, but simple enough so that you can learn the track quickly.

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Nurburgring Nordschleife/Trial Mountain

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This is unquestionably my favorite track of the game. The Nurburgring is probably the most famous track in the world when it comes to testing stock street-legal cars. European car enthusiasts can simply pay 18 euros to get a lap on the track. Spy shooters can simply camp on the outskirts of this track with their telephoto lens and take photographs of concept and pre-production cars with ease because it is here where many manufacturers test and tune their car

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Trial Mountain

Trial Mountain was one of my favorite tracks from GT3, and it continues to be true in Gran Turismo 4. As a fictional racetrack produced by Polyphony Digital, the scenery is beautifu. The reason why I like Trial Mountain so much is that it’s one of the ideal tracks to practice show drifting. The track is easy to learn. This is more important than ever because if you want to drift, you’ll always need to plan ahead. In addition, there are plenty of wide sweeping turns, giving your more room for error. It’s Trial Mountain where you’ll learn your to be a drift king.

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Circuit De La Sarthe

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The Circuit de la Sarthe is home to the Le Mans 24 hours race. Historically, it was here that Jaguar invented disc brakes and where Mazda proved that the rotary engine could provide racing performance via the R787.

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Cars

When it comes to cars, we all have our favorites. There are a lot of popular cars right now, and I don’t need to tell you about the Evolution VIII MR, Ford GT, Mercedes SLR McLaren, DB9, or Elise. There are some cars, however, that I think are worth mentioning that seem to be less frequently talked about. Some of you will say “well duh, that’s an obvious choice” whereas hopefully there others will decide to drive a car you might not otherwise have considered.

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2005 Ford Mustang GT

The Ford Mustang is one of the most recognized icons of American muscle cars. With the recent redesign, the Mustang is once again evoking the desire that made it famous. Of interest, this version of America's most recognized automobile icon was engineered by a Vietnamese-born immigrant, Hau Thai-Tang, who now heads Ford's SVT division. This a great story of the American dream. Yeah, actors and people with accents can become Governor, but to design America's last real shot at an affordable sports car? That will live on. Even with outdated technology such as a live rear axle, the Mustang GT performs quite admirably in Gran Turismo 4. On the track, it has no trouble keeping up with the 350Z's and 330i's. Track times are very competitive and handling isn't bad. The drawbacks of a solid rear axle, a rough ride, some skittishness when cornering on bumpy surfaces, isn't a major factor in the game. This is to your advantage. I can't wait to see what SVT toys Mr. Hau Thai-Tang has in store, would a SVT mustang that can run with a Ford GT be possible? Only in America.


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Cars (cont’d)

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2005 VW Golf GTI

In GT4, the GTI handles quite nimbly. One of the best parts of GT4 isn't the fact that you can drive F1 cars, but the fact that you can "test drive" a car you might actually be able to afford on famous race tracks, and compare them to F1 cars. It might not have the sleekest profile, but the GTI is a practical car that can take you home quite rapidly. The impressiveness of these common cars in the game is what makes GT4 special. Not all affordable cars handle well though, just try the Prius on a track...

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Audi Quattro

Ask any teenager about all-wheel drive performance cars with a rally heritage, and he’ll tell you about the Lancer Evolution or WRX. Ask anyone who was around in the 80’s and they’ll tell you stories about the Audi Quattro. This was the car that put all-wheel drive on the map. This was the car that put electronic engine management on the map. This was the car that Michele Mouton used to show the world that women could win at the World Rally Championship. This was the car that began the AWD revolution.

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BMW M3/SuperBird

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Plymouth SuperBird

This is the rarest of American muscle cars. The Plymouth SuperBird was built on top of the Plymouth Road Runner platform. The real version actually had a Warner Bros. Road Runner character on the side of the wing, and the horn was the classic Road Runner “beep beep.” This SuperBird variant was released to the public in order to meet NASCAR’s qualifications of having one production car for every two dealerships. Today, people associate enormous rear wings with rice rockets, but the Plymouth had it first in 1970. Even more surprising, the car had a superb ~0.30 drag coefficient – the 2001 Acura NSX was 0.32! Only 135 Superbirds with a Hemi engine were sold in the United States. On the used market, they go anywhere between $125,000 to $300,000 depending on condition.

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BMW M3 CSL

These days the M3 is kind of becoming a common street car -- at least in California. I'm not just talking about 3 series coupes with rims and aero kits, but real M3's. They are more common than 911s, Corvettes, G35s, and that's a small part of the problem. It is a great performance car, but it blends in a little too well. We Americans are still out of luck, but Europe has the new M3 CSL. Basically, the CSL package takes out all the unnecessary stuff, like sound insulation. It also includes more composite, carbon fiber and thermoplastic parts, and extra thin glass, saving 243 lbs. In addition you get more power, 360 hp to be exact. This is 120hp per liter, which isn't bad for a normally aspirated engine. The suspension gets a retuning and the front track is a little wider. BMW's original press release claims a Nurburgring run of less than 8 minutes (30 seconds faster than the regular M3), Alan's time was 8:09.979 after three tries. [Alan’s note: If I had the MOMO Force…] This is Porsche 996 turbo territory. Although the weight savings, power boost, and suspension tweaks seem modest, the improvement on the track shows that the modifications have been well designed. This makes the M3 CSL an even better stealth supercar than the regular M3. Sometimes being discrete does have its advantages. GT4 lets you drive cars that you might be able to afford, but couldn't even buy if you wanted to.

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