My Diaries

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

Thu Mar 25, 1999

Wow, what a concept! (car, that is)

So, a red Viper is good, but last night I gave the Concept Car its first real test. I had read about how badly tuned it was, and never got around to trying, and besides, although light, it sounds underpowered (in two senses; er, oh. 560hp maybe not, after all; ah it's a very different "Concept" from the one I will never win and also the Arcade version). Anyway, it looks funny, and purple has an excessive amount of aerodynamic drag, so it had stayed neglected in a corner of my garage. Oh yes, and you see the AI Concept Cars trailing around at the end of the USvs series like sick puppies, so you assume yours won't do much better... I hear there is a yellow one to win too. Yellow is a faster colour, but yellow cars are prone to breakage. Not a problem in Gran Turismo, I suppose (though there was that time my Barracuda 2 broke during SSR11...)

Well, last night I took it out for its first real test. I'd been playing with various stuff in a "non-real" game (i.e. left blank names in some Machine Test records, etc). So, sorting out the gearing is pretty trivial. As a rough approximation, I just cranked the final drive down to a lower number, about 3.6 I think. So it's first time trial of GVEii is almost exactly the same as I ever managed with the Viper GTS-R. That's with strange bottoming out or something due to suspension problems. (I had cranked the aero full up, though).

So I tweaked a few things, assuming I would get the Jet Jaguar FAQ today. I actually did things backwards. I couldn't see why such a light car would bottom out, but that was what it looked like. So I raised the rear spring rate and reduced the rear stabilizer to 1 (to stop the car pissing on trees) and I think reduced the dampers, and I jacked the rear end up; I saved the settings so I'll restore them and perhaps write them down to send to you). Anyway, with those changes it went out and became the first car I have driven around two laps of GEVii in under 1:50, and I felt I couldn't save the record because of the mess I'd made of others.

So I guess today I'll try some more records. I'd actually never noticed it had a full 560bhp, about all you can usefully use. I wonder why its wheels don't spin more?

In short, once won, this definitely does seem to be the car to win the USvs series, and set records in general.

[Now a response to someone who asked me a simple question. Oops]

I found a fully-tuned, race-modified TVR Cerbera to be good for winning UKvsJP and UKvsUS. If you win UKvsJP a couple of times, you will win a Cerbera LM, similar, a little heavier but more powerful (all-round better). Or a fully race-modified Viper can win the USvs series; it's perhaps a little harder to control. But that Viper is better than the prize Viper you win for USvsJP. Or, yeah, the big Japanese monsters can win too. I found a race-modified Supra RZ sufficient; I actually used the Normal Car prize car; it specs exactly the same as the for sale one, so should be the same. If you win the GT Cup you get a Toyota Chaser LM; nice-looking, but barely enough to win the JPvs Series. I.e. I lost with it last weekend, and think if I practised and was lucky I might win. It's the theoretical fast way to break into the International Serieses (which give prize cars which can almost win the other series; well the Cerbera LM runs away with its two), but in practice you're better to enter lots of other races, save up cash, and build yourself a car.

You actually need to brake quite a lot in Gran Turismo, no two ways about it. I'm not sure how tuning "brake controller" settings will interact with a digital controller; with analog brakes I always use 14F/12R--I've never really noticed serious braking drift problems) But a Cerbera LM with full aero will come off the long straight at Grand Valley East ii (e.g. in FR series), and needs only to drop down to 5th if you line it up right. (That's assuming reasonable gearing, of course). Often you can downshift instead of braking, that will slow you down, and, if you steer at the same time, provoke drift.

I hate the four wheel drive cars because they go where the wheels are steering. I.e. it's difficult to control them with the throttle since all four wheels get torque. A fully-tuned '89 Skyline GT-R is almost unbeatable, though. In hard-tuned (ie non-racing) mode, I found that and the GTO pretty much equal. Well, maybe the Skyline had a slight advantage. In racing trim, the Skyline is very close to the the Cerbera LM. Be careful at the Nissan dealership, though; not all Skylines are created equal. They're not even all 4wd! And that GTS4 4wd you can get for a bargain price (ie <10000) on a few days can only be tuned to 333bhp; probably not enough to win the 4WD series, let alone a JPvs series. Oh, the way I found best to run the Skyline was with Turbo Spec 4 but with "normal" intercooler setting, and a semi-racing exhaust. I.e. ignore what the game says about the "intercooler being mandatory for a turbo car". Not having one minimizes the "turbo lag" problem, while still giving you over 800 bhp. Turbo lag in general seemed less noticeable with the Mitsubishi. To get two-wheel drive advantages, try the race-modified Supra RZ.

Similar to the bargain Skyline, the '92 GTO you can get from Mitsubishi on day 1 for Cr8860 can only be taken to 381bhp. To be able to tune to 930bhp, you must get one which says "Twin Turbo".

The car I currently have under investigation is the tuned Concept Car prize car, 560bhp and 1329lb(!), which you might eventually win if you compete enough times in the UKvsUS series.

Probably your next project should be to get a suitable Skyline or GTO to near max spec, and win the MegaSpeed Challenge a few times to get some cash.

If you buy a Viper GTS, and do the IA Viper tests, and perhaps some Viper time trials, you might get good enough to win the "Normal Car" contest, which gives you lots of cash. When I did my IA, I did the Griffiths tests first, then went back and finished the Viper tests. That minimized the problems with learning two cars. After doing the IA, the Normal Car series seems almost easy with a Viper.