Gran Turismo 4

[Balou]

I only did the the rally events with the RSC Rally car.
It is really easy to initiate a drift and keep it steady around the corner - a pedal for acceleration is very helpful there.
Compared to Richard Burns Rally, the drifting (on gravel) in GT4 seems extremely easy. The tracks are much wider as well, although there is one beautiful winter stage that has some narrow parts in it (with fir trees beside the track, if I?m not mistaken).
I think with narrower tracks and only races against the clock (but not set times), the rallying in GT4 would have been more interesting.

The Driving Force Pro wheel works really well with GT4.
They even tried to emulate the characteristics of each car with the response and resistance of the wheel.
For example, some cars feel a little "spongy" when turning the steering wheel, while others feel more direct and smooth.
The 900 degrees mode allows for precise steering, but at the same time doesn?t get in the way of doing quick turns. Getting through the hairpins at Costa Di Almafi in reasonable time requires some effort from your arms though.

A steering wheel is generally a good thing to have in case you like racing games. The DFP wheel seems to be a good deal (also usable on PC), with nice FF effects and the 900 degrees mode.
But I?m not sure if you will like GT4 more afetr getting the wheel, since the bad A.I and other small flaws obviously still remain within the game.
I can imagine the rally driving will be a totally different story though, compared to playing with an analog stick.

[segages]

Speaking of dodgy AI... I always thought it was just my dumb B-spec driver until today. Played through the F1 championship and for each race I put in 2 stints to get a lead and then let Mr B-spec finish the job - I've found he can throw away my lead if I only race to the first pit stop, but he holds out if I race 'til the second.

Anyhow, it gets to the 9th race and I've won all of them so far, and the next best rival is something like 50 points behind me so I figure I'll save some time and B-spec Laguna from the off. Watching the map, after the tyres warm up my driver starts putting the car into the dirt almost every lap on the left hander following the corkscrew. He's not smart and learning from his mistake as he did it on about 80% of the laps he did! What I didn't realise was that all the AI cars were doing the exact same thing! Sometimes they'd get lost on the infield for around 15 seconds per lap. Was pretty funny watching them pile up on that part of the track lap after lap without fail.

Oh well, I got the C9 at last anyway.

[SunLolly]

I'm not sure if i'm going to keep this anymore, I've had my rush of doing my licenses and buying a Skyline, but now i'm bored of it all. Is a great looking game, shame I can't get into it.

I'm in the same boat as you mate. I played this game solid for a few days, then got bored of it. Kind of glad I didn't bother with the wheel also.

Oh well, only paid 99p for it

[Bassman]

What B-spec speed did you have set? I usually go for 3 or 4 as the driver is less likely to take unscheduled excursions into the scenery.

As to which version is best? The American version has more cars that the Japanese. If you have an American GT3 you can get the money and the licenses from that. For the others you need GT3 and Prologue. PAL has the same cars as the American version but has some of the graphical glitches sorted. PAL also has a complete set of Vauxhalls (as well as Opels) to boost the number of cars. The Korean version might be the definitive version as I assume it will have the same extra cars as the American version plus 4 Korean extras (one being a Lexus IS200 GT-1 Race Car).

[mid]

Is it just me, or is there no way to put a qualifying lap in? I can cope with the idea that my B-Spec driver is a load of rubbish (if anyone doesn't believe I'm ****e at the game go look in the Challenge thread, and I'm capable of easily winning races where he comes third or fourth) so I need to do short races myself, but starting every time from the back of the grid is a pain that I didn't have to put up with on 3.

On another note, I tried playing on pad at the weekend, as we were trying two-player. It sucks, royally. All the soul of the racing was missing, and it just seemed completely pointless. If it weren't for the fact that there is a shedload of stuff that needed unlocking, I'd be quite happy with just arcade mode and a wheel, because the handling is so nice, but on a pad there was just no point in playing the game for me.

[Bassman]

If you go into Practice (if the race allows it) your fastest time there will determine your grid position.

I quite like the game with the pad. I am trying to figure a good way to anchor my DFP at the moment so the DFP is not exactly over untilized at the moment.

[segages]

What B-spec speed did you have set? I usually go for 3 or 4 as the driver is less likely to take unscheduled excursions into the scenery.

Yeah, I pretty much always put him on 3 and then go to 2 when I know the lead is big enough. For this though, I even went to 1 to see if it made a difference - no dice.

I'm pretty sure it's an AI bug since all the computer racers were doing the same... lapping fine just after they've pitted before totally losing it lap after lap a few laps later. All the cars, including my B-spec driver, would exit the corkscrew, hammer it around the left-hander which sent them off and then cut across the track onto the grass on the other side before getting stuck next to the wall at the following right-hander.

Glad I didn't bother racing into a lead now as I'd have been pretty miffed when he chucks it on the grass for 10 seconds every other lap.

[mid]

If you go into Practice (if the race allows it) your fastest time there will determine your grid position.

Aaah, that must be it. I guess I've not yet reached the races that offer the option. Which is really dumb, as you need the advantage far more over 2 laps than you do when on later races you've got 5-10 or more to catch the lead.

[Zapp$ter]

Probably a very stupid question but I'll ask it anyway. You know how you get prize cars for winning a set number of races, such as say the sunday cup series of races, well can you win that prize car an infinite number of times? or is there a limit to the number of times you can win them? I know you can go back to a series you've done and clear your records so that you can win the prize car again but I was just wondering if there is a cap on this.

For the first time really I'm making some serious cash. I usually lose interest after a while in most GT games but for some reason I'm hooked on this and I seem to be rinsing a fair few races to rake in the cash. Love my honda civic to bits at the moment. I'm gonna have to try and win the type r races with it(if possible that is).

[Sergeant Syphillis]

Well I've managed to win the Merc SLK race car (the one from the German touring car league) around 30 times now so I doubt they'll be any kind of limit on how many cars you can win, it just wouldn't be necessary.

I agree completely with the replaying races in this game of the series, I think it's mainly down to how enjoyable it is to just drive the cars you're in as opposed to racing just to win cash.

Just like to express my delight in finally purchasing the six black cars \0/, they really are astounding once modified correctly.

[Bassman]

Don't you mean the four black cars?

I lost count of how many times I did the Costa di Amalfi race in the Japanese version (that was before I fount that DTM one).

[Rossco]

Eventually got my USB Stick delivered today so I managed to take some cool pictures of my baby!

[-Taurus-]

Just got this in the mail.
First impressions are good, impressive graphics, the viewpoints are ok, the third view is way better than the third view in the GT4 Prologue.

Haven't raced yet, just done the Nacional B license and won the VW Lupo.

So far so good, let's see when i have more play hours in hand.

What do you do when doing the licenses, try to go for the gold or just stay in bronze? And do must of you achieve the gold?

Now for a little quirks, the tyres sound are a little over the top, i think. Same for the engines, or am i wrong?

And what do you think about the playability with the Dual Schock 2, i think in the tracks it's good, but in the rally is a little more complicated. In my perception, the sensibility of the sticks are a little high, don't you think?

P.S. --> I'm not english, so i would like to know how do you spell "license", is it "license" or "licence"? I write it license, but yesterday i saw in the license tests in GT4 written licence, is this right?

[Rossco]

Yeh it's licence.

When I do them, I just casually try to pass, most times I get bronze, with quite a few silvers thrown in and the odd gold to go along. I'm sure if I tried, I could easily nail Silver and with a bit of effort, Gold too. But I don't see the point in doing that just yet, better just get them out of the way so you can play the game proper.


I haven't really done much rallying so I can't really comment but the Dual Shock 2 is still alright for the road races, I've got a steering wheel coming soon so then I'll be able to make a proper comparison.

[Bassman]

The car I found the best for rallying, so far anyway, was a suitably tuned Dodge Ram.