Gran Turismo 5 Progress Page
Friday, May 20, 2011, 10:11PM PDT
Now 3 weeks since the last update. It's been more of the same: either win a race by a large margin, or repeatedly lose a race by a large margin until I have enough money to purchase a car that can win the race by a large margin. Actually, it's been this way since my days of playing Gran Turismo 2. I would say that was my heyday as a GT player, when I got the most enjoyment out of playing the game. Obviously I'm a lot older now, and I don't have as much time to play. I still enjoy the game, but it's not the same as it was back then.
Racing on the Fuji Speedway F
I'm not even going to bother listing times anymore, but I will list the races that I have completed:
Japanese Championship
Schwarzwald League B
Euro Championship
Polyphony Digital Cup
Gallardo Trophy
And I'm now starting on Gran Turismo All Stars.
If I recall correctly, I also unlocked the Extreme Series of races. I look forward to the endurance races.
Saturday, April 30, 2011, 12:43AM PDT
Man, has it really been 2 weeks since the last update? Well, I've gone through a lot of races in this time, so here goes:
In the M3 again, for the German-car-only Schwarzwald League A series of races:
Tokyo R246 5:31.897 (won by at least 41.000 seconds!)
Nurburgring GP/F 6:45.548 (won by at least 37.000 seconds!)
I guess you could say that the M3 was overpowered.
The M3 at Red Bull Hangar-7
Next, the MR Sports Cup, in a Ferrari 512BB '76:
Deep Forest Raceway 7:48.136 (Last place by 46.739!)
Deep Forest Raceway 6:48:983 (won by 01.899 over a W12 Nardo Concept '01)
High Speed Ring 5:43.118 (won by 05.752 over a McLaren F1 '94)
Circuit de la Sarthe 2009 8:42.368 (won by 01.221 over a Ford GT '06)
Although I won the MR Sports Cup in the Ferrari 512BB '76, there was still something odd with this car. It felt like it was driving on ice most of the time, with the rear-end breaking loose seemingly on every turn. Checking the tires, I confirmed I was using soft racing tires, so I wasn't sure what the problem was, exactly. I made a lot of changes to various settings, including ballast, brake balance, and spring/damper firmness, but it was still difficult to control this car, especially after driving the M3 in previous races. I tried to use the Ferrari in the Historic Racing Car Cup, and failed miserably because you really do need a full racing car setup rather than a modded street car:
Deep Forest Raceway 6:50.672 (last place, lost by 25.803 seconds!)
Deep Forest Raceway 6:36.996 (4th place, lost by 13.102 seconds!)
Deep Forest Raceway 6:25.611 (3rd place, lost by 05.476 seconds to a 2D Race Car '67)
Deep Forest Raceway 6:31.121 (4th place, lost by 08.650 seconds to a 2J Race Car '70)
Deep Forest Raceway 6:33.996 (last place, lost by 12.744 seconds!)
Looks like I have to save some money so I can get a real race car, or convert one of my existing cars to a race car.
Saturday, April 16, 2011, 6:25 PM PDT
Had a couple of sessions over the past two days and finished the Tuned Car Championship. I again had trouble against the Amuse S2000 GT1 Turbo. That is one fast car. Eventually, I gave up trying to beat that car with the M3, and went to my trusty old Dodge Challenger SRT8 '08 instead. I'd used that car to beat many races previously, and it was already maxed out with mods, with 784HP. Here are the race results:
Suzuka Circuit 11:08.120 (won by .788)
Grand Valley Speedway 10:16.386 (2nd place, lost by 09.202 and reached Level 21)
Grand Valley Speedway 9:58.069 (2nd place, lost by 04.384 after adjusting max speed to 224 from 255, and adding the adjustable LSD mod to help with braking)
Grand Valley Speedway 10:00.231 (won by 03.725, got lucky this time as the S2000 was not in this race)
Special Stage Route 5 7:34.844 (won by 06.051 after restoring max speed to 255)
Tokyo R246 9:03.854 (2nd place, lost by 06.721 after adjusting max speed to 236)
After switching to the Challenger:
Tokyo R246 8:43.516 (beat the S2000 by 01.668)
And finally, the Championship with all 5 races:
Suzuka Circuit 10:46.804 (won by 01.794)
Road Course - Daytona 9:03.196 (won by 19.629)
Grand Valley Speedway 9:44.590 (won by 03.066, reached Level 22)
Special Stage Route 5 7:23.717 (won by 03.393)
Tokyo R246 8:44.733 (won by 01.635)
Here's a photo of my Challenger after getting pushed off the track and hitting a wall with the rear end (click to view larger version):
Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 10:59 PM PDT - A Race at a Time
Only had time to complete one race today: the Road-Course Daytona race of the Tuned Car Championship in the Expert Series. I attempted to use a near-stock BMW M3 Chrome Line to win this race, and failed miserably. I made 10th place, with a time of 10:24.618. In the past, I had won races rather easily with the M3, so when I chose it this evening it didn't occur to me that it hadn't really been "tuned". I had a sports exhaust, some intake modifications, and medium sports tires.
After I realized this I maxed out the mods, including the 3 stages of engine tuning and racing tires. I won the race, but not without fighting for 1st place in the last couple of laps against an S2000 GT1 Turbo. I won with a time of 9:35.411, just .735 ahead of the S2000.
Sunday, April 10, 2011, 11:59 PM PDT - Page Start
Currently at A-Spec level 20. Finished the Professional Series of races today.