My Diaries

A Lurid Tale of Obsession, Depravity, Wits and Attempted Wit

Thu Feb 4, 1999

This is the first real diary entry.

Any previous ones will have been reconstructed from email to Nick.

The night before last I took a "day off" Gran Turismo. This might be the first day I've not played at all since I got the game.

Last night I told myself I would just race the Japan-UK series with the prize Cerbera LM. I assumed I would win easily, but lost on my first attempt. (Came 2nd, actually).

Trial Mountain II was a disaster. I settled for a distant third(?). A computer car taking a kamikaze line through the chicane on SSR5 knocked me completely out of control in a race I seemed to be leading handily, and I took so long recovering I lost. I recovered to 2nd(?) on the finishing straight, however.

At least High Speed Ring was an easy victory.

I got pole position on Grand Valley East, but lost the race, having a lot of problem judging the hairpin after the tunnel, as well as the fast corner after the main straight. (I'm still way too slow on that one at the best of times). I had trouble with the other hairpin too, and went to sixth(?) from a reasonable position on my last negotiation of it. It seems less easy to outbrake the computer cars now. More about that later.

The result was I had 20 points to leading RX7's 30 going into SSR11. That is, I could not possibly win the series. Let's see. 20 points must be 9 + 6 + 4 + 1. (Confirming earlier statements here...) (Actually I might have won SSR5, and it might have been 1+9+9+1; I must start writing this stuff down. (videotape seems excessive)). Surprisingly enough, I had a nice clean SSR11. Starting in sixth, but not completely outclassed in pole times I just carefully negotiated the track, finishing first in a near-even 6:00.XXX. The competitors did not seem to hassle me too much in the chicane, which was a relief. I almost thing the algorithms let you win the race when you're in tha position in the series, to make sure you still like the game.

I thought I read somewhere that the competitors get more experienced as the game progresses. It certainly felt like that in this case. The Cerbera LM no longer seemed to outclass the opposition. On Trial Mountain I could not easily reel them in on the downhill through the tunnel. And coming out the next tunnel after that, on the twisty section to the tricky sharp left-hander the other cars seemed to be going a lot faster than they used to. But it could just be that I was out of practice.

Addiction. I wanted to win another car. I knew the immediate practice would help me, and I was a little bouyed by my success at SSR11. So I tried again. I got pole position for Trial Mountain, but finished second. The first two competitors beat me into the first corner. I really was beginning to suspect the game was changing the parameters. Especially when I also only finished second in SSR5. (This may have been the one which was the result of a competitor taking a kamikaze line). As I start taking more delicate lines through parts of that course, I'm more susceptible to interference from competitors. I think. I won High Speed Ring, and also won Grand Valley East. I won by outdragging the RX7 from the final hairpin, but at least I didn't blow it in the tense situation before that. And that final lap did set a new lap record, so I sort of earned my victory.

So I went into SSR11 leading 30 to 25 over the RX7. 2nd place would guarantee me victory, as would finishing within 4 points of the RX7. (Though I won't swear no other car had a chance of winning had I come sixth).

Anyway, I motored steadily, slightly slower than before, finishing second behind the other Cerbera in the series. The RX7 came next, I believe. As I've seen before, it's almost like the game encourages you to win. Even the fact the RX7 got only 25, and not the possible 30 (given my two wins), indicates that the game does not take a lethal "you must win every race or lose" strategy in these series. I consciously drove conservatively, knowing that it was irrelevant whether the Cerbera won or not as long as I came second.

So that was a fairly positive note. The only downer was that the car I won was once again the green Cerbera LM; the third I've won from this series. I wish at least I could win a purple one. For Cr12000 they don't seem worth selling, so I've still got all three in my garage. I claim I will leave one of them unaltered so I can use it for settings reference. I also claim that if I win a blue one I will sell one of the green ones. But, by all rights, I should have sold this one, so... Perhaps when tax time rolls around.

I was really bad this morning and turned the Gran Turismo Station on before coming to work. I did entirely license sessions, so I didn't need to save them. (Since I won nothing new). I got on the board for B-3 and B-8, but didn't do a silver time on either. (Actually I have silver for both, but neither did I beat G.T. Silver today). Then I frustrated myself with IA-2 (SSR5 TT with a Viper), and also IA-7 (SSR11 TT with a Griffith). IA-7 doesn't seem too bad. You need 2:14 and I managed a 2:23.XXX But I have to consistently get in a non-erroneous run (which gives me 2:2X.XXX), *and* then find ten seconds somewhere.

I managed a 1:32.XXX on SSR5, so on a good run I still need to find three seconds. I'm beginning to experiment with beginning my parabola before braking. On the B-3 test I'm experimenting with counter-steering (I think they call it "fainting" in the manual), so as to rock the car into the main turn. Also somewhat in B-8. I also briefly bought a Mazda Special Model and dragged it to a so-so 400m result. Just to convince myself that you can spend Cr500,000, test the car, and then reset the game and get the money back. Some point soon I should probably make some sort of "reference copy" of the game.