Gran Turismo 5

[Bassman]

A spec and levelling being somewhat "broke" have forced PD to try to fix it with the Seasonal Event Bonus Races, though I suspect those were coming anyway. If the game had been Beta tested by the hardcore GT fan, I wonder if it would have turned out any better.

Being bored with repeating my Rome race (and even a Fable III session this afternoon) I let Bob loose in the X2010. FIrst was a couple of Extreme Japanese GT R246 runs (caught up on a little sleep!!). F Alonso was in Blue Arrow mode and was fine left to his own devices. I then went over to the Indy Like the Wind (for better Exp per hour - 8.3K in about 13 minutes). When Alonso's arrow colour changed, I brought in R Hammond who was higher level and made best laps in the 39's (Alonso was in the 40's). Hurrying up got me 38.xxx. I am now Lv 24 B spec but will try to level R Hammond as a couple more Indy races should do the trick. If I can get some more driver levels I'll try some more Extreme Races (German and FGT seem something of a problem for speed).

[saturn-gamer]

Ask yourself; would Yamauchi, perfectionist as he is, be happy with the game that is GT5? It wouldn't make sense if you look at the previous ones. GT PSP's... things... also had a legit reason; PSP Go release.

I think that if it were down to him, this game wouldn't offer standard cars and tracks. Take those inconsistencies away and we have a game that is (still) not really finished yet. The launch was very awkward, obviously rushed for Black friday and X-mas preparations. The install is the weirdest i've experienced and the first batch of patches launched a few days after release were things that should've been in right away... this game was unfinished.

So I honestly think that if it were for Yamauchi himself this game would still not be on the shelves. Sony was probably tired of waiting and missing an X-mas yet again and forced PD to release the damned thing.

Fans whined for a release, fans got the game, fans whine that the game is inconsistent. That sums it all up for me. And I'm one of those fans I admit. Lesson learnt.

Sony sees numbers and critics, so I guess something will happen. Turn 10 could develop 2 commendable Forza games during GT5's development. As GT is Sony's flagship, one would expect a faster output, like one game in 2 or 3 years as was the case in the old days.

[Bassman]

My "money" would have been on a Spring 2011 release (after the last delay). I think if Sony had been patient, a release of the game in the Spring would have resulted in a much more polished offering. I suspect after 3 more patches to get us to Spring the game ought to be a lot better. It may actually have all the features mentioned on the box. The problem is that everyone (pretty much) is blaming PD for the shortcomings in the game where in fact, Sony probably ought to be held responsible. I must admit I would have to be counted among that number but on reflection, the state of the game as released is not PD's fault.

Just think how long it took for GT PSP to appear after the initial news that it was going to be released. It was announced at around the time of GT4 but hit the shelves three years or so later? Considering the limitations of the platform it was a pretty decent offering in my opinion and was capable of head to heads with a number of PSP's. There was no career mode but that was understandable.

[JU!]

Sorry if this has already been asked but I'm confused by the seasonal events. I came 5th in one and got 13,0000 or something, thats fine then raced on it again came 3rd and got 2,0000. Is this because I raced it twice? Can you only race a seasonal event race once to prevent spamming? When you enter a seasonal event it says 45,0000 next to the track then when you're in the menu before the race it races 1st 2,0000 2nd 1,0000 etc. I'm confused to how much cash I will get? Thanks in advance. It was the race where you have to use TVR on Cape Ring I think.

On a side not I did the Mitsubishi Miev seasonal and got a nice 15,0000 or so for coming 2nd.

[doodledude]

Sorry if this has already been asked but I'm confused by the seasonal events. I came 5th in one and got 13,0000 or something, thats fine then raced on it again came 3rd and got 2,0000. Is this because I raced it twice? Can you only race a seasonal event race once to prevent spamming? When you enter a seasonal event it says 45,0000 next to the track then when you're in the menu before the race it races 1st 2,0000 2nd 1,0000 etc. I'm confused to how much cash I will get? Thanks in advance. It was the race where you have to use TVR on Cape Ring I think.

On a side not I did the Mitsubishi Miev seasonal and got a nice 15,0000 or so for coming 2nd.

Basically if you come 5th and get 130,000 you can then only get more credit if you improve on that position next time.
If you come 5th again you don't get any more credit until you improve your position.
If you come 1st in your 1st attempt then you don't need to repeat the event as you won't get anything out of it anymore

[Bassman]

New Seasonals are there. For me it will be a cheap week as I have all the cars. May need some better tyres and an upgrade or two. Use my Race Modded 905HP Corvette ZR-1 on the Corvette race (last one) and that took 4 laps to catch the lead car (out of 5). I suspect an '09 Corvette ZR-1 on decent tyres would probably suffice. I had a Race Modded Capuccino for the first race. Fitted some Racing Softs. Race was easy as a result. Car seemed a little prone to oversteer!

I have been doing the Like the Wind Indy Race some more in B spec and have now reached B spec Lv 25. Now have my sixth driver... S Loeb!

Used my best drive R Hammond for the Grand Valley 300 in the Tommykaira ZZ-II. Took 2 hours 20 minutes. I had a sleep during the first part of the race and woke to see him pitting. Bizarrely he had to get new tyres (no fuel though) at the end of Lap 59 (of 60)! He is now Class 23 which may give him a fighting chance with the NASCAR. I'll probably repeat the Enduro to see if I can get him to Class 24 first though

[JU!]

Basically if you come 5th and get 130,000 you can then only get more credit if you improve on that position next time.
If you come 5th again you don't get any more credit until you improve your position.
If you come 1st in your 1st attempt then you don't need to repeat the event as you won't get anything out of it anymore

Cheers I was so confused. Is that new seasonals I hear Bassman. I'm gonna have a go at those tonight, really like the way it forces you to try different models. Will try yr track too. Need to get to my level 20.

[Bassman]

Been doing the Seasonals on a secondary account. Decided the best mod you can do to a Tuscan is to fit a rear wing. The car felt much more planted at the back (can be adjusted to 20 downforce).

The new Corvette race I had previously done with a Race Modified Corvette ZR-1 '09. This time I went with a slightly less modified version. Race Softs, Cheap Upgrades (ECU, Race Intake, Sports Cat and Sports Exhaust) and a wing. Best lap was 1:31 ish. Had I been that consistent I would have caught up soon after the start of Lap 5. Won by 5 seconds however.

Been doing more B spec. Now up to Lv 26. R Hammond is now Class 25 and S Loeb is now Class 20. Interestingly he is slower now on the Indy Oval than he was initially to the tune of about 2 seconds a lap! I presume a new driver just tends to be less inclined to brake!

[Supergoal]

Is it true that no more than 10 cars or so can be race modded?

I found a list on the internet saying which cars are modable but I was surprised to see how few cars were possible.

[Bassman]

There are 17 cars that can be race modded. I have so far done 7 of them. I suppose it is an improvement over GT4 where there were none. Maybe they will increase the number with future patches.

Talking of patches there still seems to be no sign of the "once a month" that were mentioned in December. Maybe the next one is taking a long time because it is doing a lot. Trouble then is that it will take an age to download. I presume it won't reach the levels of Prologue in terms of the amount that was required to be downloaded which was 6-8 Gb by the time all the extra cars etc. were added!

My lowest B spec driver (K Yamauchi) is now I think Class 12 or 13. I was repeating the "Like the Wind" Indy race while watching some TV at teatime. Being as my best is now Class 25 I may actually give the NASCAR series another go to see if the extra speed of the driver now makes a difference.

[Kubrick]

I am yet to win that Daytona race in the B-spec NASCAR series. That, and the two 24hr races (which will be a doddle) are all I have left to do.

I tried the Daytona race loads of times when my drivers were in their early-mid 20s without success. I could actually coach him into the lead quite regularly, and stay there, but the "pack", or a couple of cars from it, would ALWAYS miraculously tear down the back straight at about 400 KM/H with 1 or 2 laps to go...

I should be better equipped for another attempt now as I've got 3 drivers with a mixture of temperaments in the 30s with my main "hot" driver being Lv37. I'm not convinced they actually improve much with experience though. My drivers seem just as dumb as they were 10 levels ago.

Since earning the Red Bull X2010 for hitting B-spec Lv35, I've been using it to grind A-spec, doing the Indy oval race in the Dream Car Championship - 108K credits / 9800XP every 7m30s...unattended, thanks to some rubber bands on the controller.

[Darwock]

Anyone know the story behind that one extra seasonal event that has been up for a couple of weeks and runs for a month? The one with NO TEXT in the description?

I went into it and it's a drift trial, but this time the car is supplied. Doesn't matter anyway, the same guy that wins them all is at the top for that one too.

I stuck with it until I did well enough to get the 'dream drifter' trophy, and that round put me 7000th in the rankings. I really can't get the hang of drifting.

[Darwock]

God damn it, the used car dealer's timing really sucks! I was sitting on 1,700,000,000 credits.. nearing the limit. The Chaparral 2J appeared for 1,400,000,000 or so and I decided to buy it (should only take a couple of weeks or so to recover the cash via seasonals).

I then did some other stuff in B spec and now it has the Tank Car and a blue FGT in stock, both of which I want to buy. I don't have enough cash in hand. I can do one more seasonal which will give me enough for one, but to get the other I would have to repeat races which will shove it out of the dealership

I know I can get the FGT from the OCD but I haven't liked any of the colours stocked so far. I guess if I'm patient the blue one will appear there too. Is there a big difference in power with the reduced milage compared to the UCD?

(or I suppose I could sell some of my beloved motors, but I really don't want to!)

edit - Doh! the tank car is a prize car anyway, should have checked first, don't mind me

[Bassman]

Yes, it is always worth checking the Prize List!!

I now have three FGT's. The Blue one from the UCD with Engine Ovehaul and Chassis Overhaul for a bit of overkill!! I have the Orange one and the "Green" one (actually two shades of green with white and red) which I actually like the look of and has lower mileage that the others.

Starting to get some new cars from the 1000 Ticket I sent to my other accounts. Picked up a nice Red Commodore SS '04. BMW M3 GTR Racer, Peugeot Rally Car and Blue old model ZR-1 Corvette.

I even passed on that XJR-9 LM in the Online Dealer as it has quite high mileage. Hoping the Ticket will produce one at some point!

[Bassman]

As I'd managed to get a driver to a Class of 29, (B spec of Lv 28) I decided to give the B spec NASCAR Championship a try. The driver in question was S Loeb, my latest driver who fortunately had a upward pointing Blue Arrow for a fair amount of time,

I was using a fully broken in Camry with 892 HP. With some pushing, the first four races were not a huge problem. I eventually got my driver to the front in each of them and went on to win. At the end of the fourth race I had it in the bag with a lead of 145 Points.

Just as well the last race was a formality. I got my driver into the lead and kept his speed up so that he stayed ahead of the pack. Bad mistake. He pitted at the end of Lap 19 for new tyres and finished last!! Got a Gold overall though so no problems.

Another Indy 500 should get me B spec Lv 29.