My Diaries

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

Friday, October 12, 2001

After Nearly Two Weeks I Finally Get Another A License Gold on A-8 in Gran Turismo 1

Having got gold on A-3 relatively quickly nearly two weeks ago, I decided to go ahead with the very similar A-8 in which you drive a Supra RZ along the A-3 route and then continue on to finish after rounding the second hairpin on the Grand Valley course.

I finally got gold today, but it really was a surprisingly long, slow and gradual process.

Here are my final standings for my A-8 license test.

It got almost frustrating doing this test. At one point I purchased a Supra RZ and raced it in the Normal Series in order to become more familiar with its handling.

But, in general, I just kept trying, for at least a few runs each day, to at least keep my times down even if I could not seem to get any faster.

I would also save each successive personal best silver replay, actually keeping several of the best, and when I got frustrated I would watch the replays to analyze the fast and slow points of each one.

I stayed up very late to pass the test, and, as often happens, had almost given up on getting the gold, but got it after I thought perhaps I should give up. I actually had difficulty setting good times, and put 28 days on my game before the gold, and yet got only one time on the board in that time, as you can see. (I reset the game if I get too many on-the-board times so as to keep both variety of dates and a wider range of times, as well as to avoid eating up too many days).

The key to this test, as I had read somewhere else, is to eliminate nearly all tire squeal.

As with other high-powered cars I started with a good warmup, but lifted off slightly before the start to try and reduce wheel-spin. I eased my way through the esses on full throttle, clipping both the inside and outside rumblestrips on the last corner so as to apex late with a high exit speed of just over 100mph, and then aim to drive in a straight line, moving gradually across to the right side of the road.

I then eased through the left turn and set up for the hairpin, braking earlier than with the Mazda--just before the tire rubber marks. My course through the hairpin was a little ragged, drifting raggedly with a minimum speed of 52mph, managing to hit the gas as the car lined up for the straight.

Following this was a key to gaining time. I initiated the next left turn early to make it as gradual as possible, and took a smooth course through the esses, arranging to apex late on each corner, especially the second-last one so as to maximize the room for the last corner.

I exited smoothly onto the straight, heading back to the left and then entered the last hairpin a little deep so as to apex late and get a good run on the final straight. The second hairpin looked a little ragged, too, actually, but I held it all together sufficiently to get the gold by a narrow margin.

My shifting points (mph) were something like:

This seems like the hardest license test I've done so far. And yet, people say that A-4 is even harder. I wonder if I will ever get all my A golds and win that TRD 3000GT?