Gran Turismo (1,2, 3, or 4!)

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2004-01-31 10:43pm

Just wondering how many GT fans are to be had here at SD.net. Personally, GT3 is one of my favorite games. The appeal of the realism of these games is undeniable, despite not having any damage modeling whatsoever. I can hardly wait for GT4 (due in North America 6/30/04, I hear), with its 500 cars and 50 tracks. Now THAT's what I call a comprehensive game!

In addition, I was wondering if anyone had heard anything about the latest GT game, or had any particularly fun/insane GT stories to share. Or if anyone thinks GT sucks. It's all good here!

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2004-02-01 12:02am

I love GT3 and have been playing sporadically for a couple yrs now. It's still an awsome game even after all this time and i'm still nowhere near that 100%.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-02-01 01:31am

Yeah, GT3 is awesome, although after I got the F1 car it got a little too easy in most of the races. Can't wait for GT4; I just hope the offer a more interactive upgrade system.

Cal Wright · Post by **Cal Wright** » 2004-02-01 02:59am

I wish GT3 had some of the cars that were in GT2 (mainly the older ones, and that damn Taurus. Hoozah!) but other than that, it is my favorite of the series and damnit, it is the best driving game out there. A friend and I were talking about that today. The way that game is designed, and striving for realistic physics actually makes it easier and funner to play.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2004-02-01 03:00am

I can't say i'll be getting it, since I have no PS2, but does following the series and the upcoming GT4 eagrly count as a fan?

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2004-02-01 09:56am

I'm not a big fan pof racing games but i played GT2 for a while. Had trouble getting the good liscences but i showed my dedication by doing one of the big endurance races!

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2004-02-01 12:04pm

Ahh, those friggin' endurance races. I ran the super speedway race with my Suzuki Escudo like 5 times to get an F1 car(the weakest one, as I recall). Then I ran two other endurance races and got the two best F1 cars in the game on my first try. Go figure.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-02-01 04:15pm

GT3 is fucked up, but pretty fun, espically when you have the Suzuki Escudo break the sound barrier while doing a wheelie.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2004-02-02 12:42pm

I have a love hate relationship with GT games. I love playing them for a while until the things I hate get to be too much and I stop playing. My beefs are always the same, too:

No damage modeling, which isn't really that big a deal in and of itself for me, leads to "magnetic walls" to discourage kareening around the track as a viable tactic, and those piss me off. You know, the ones that have this effect where if you even scrape a wall it will pull you in and slow you down by about 80 mph? I hate that shit.

Ridiculous upgrades are even worse. Just how much usable waste gas is that Miata putting out, anyway? Anybody who knows how a turbo works will know why it's ridiculous to see the kinds of performance increases you get in this game. There's also drawback to more and more HP. If you really put that much power in a Miata, all you'd do is spin the tires. The reason this is even worse and not just a nagging realism problem is that you take these fantasy cars onto the track and dominate everyone in sight, especially in GT3 which did away with the previous games' horsepower limits for no reason that I can fathom.

So no I'm not looking forward to GT4, but yes I'll probably play it. A lot.

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2004-02-02 01:59pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:GT3 is fucked up, but pretty fun, espically when you have the Suzuki Escudo break the sound barrier while doing a wheelie.

How exactly do you do that? I've heard about poppin' wheelies in the Escudo, but have never done it.

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:Ridiculous upgrades are even worse. Just how much usable waste gas is that Miata putting out, anyway? Anybody who knows how a turbo works will know why it's ridiculous to see the kinds of performance increases you get in this game. There's also drawback to more and more HP. If you really put that much power in a Miata, all you'd do is spin the tires. The reason this is even worse and not just a nagging realism problem is that you take these fantasy cars onto the track and dominate everyone in sight, especially in GT3 which did away with the previous games' horsepower limits for no reason that I can fathom.

If you turn traction control off, I've noticed that all you do is spin tires when you put the hammer down in cars like that. It requires a very steady hand to apply the proper throttle control, especially if your PS2 controller's a few years old, like mine is.

And from an automotive standpoint, if you drop a big enough turbo on an engine, you can get high horsepower numbers. The only problem is that you absolutely wreck the powerband, so you're only pushing 400 horse between 5000 and 6000 rpm. Certainly doesn't help you on the track.

That's one of my hopes for GT4: an engine and/or chassis dyno, so you can see what your horsepower and torque curves are doing. That would make it so much easier to customize your gearboxes to make the most out of your vehicle.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2004-02-02 02:49pm

IIRC, the theoretical (not actual, mind you) HP gain from a turbo is around 40%, since it just recycles the useable portion of waste gas that doesn't go through a normal engine cycle. A far cry from the doubling and trebling of HP seen in the GT games.

EDIT: OK, I was wrong. Just looked it up. A turbo uses the waste gas to spin up its turbine in order to force compressed air into the engine. The general complaint still stands, however, since GT games don't properly model the negative effects of turbos like lag time and the aforementioned narrow powerbands. Not to mention the guarantee that the car will be in the shop every other week

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-02-02 03:06pm

Alferd Packer wrote:
How exactly do you do that? I've heard about poppin' wheelies in the Escudo, but have never done it.

You'll have to look it up online (I don't have the game, I saw and did this at someone else's house). But basically you need the car completely stock as it is when you buy it, buy the thing again if you've upgraded it in any way. You then put all down force on the rear wheels, none on the front, shift as much power as possibul to the rear wheels, and then you've got to put in some very specific gear ratios. After that, when you hit about 240mph the front wheels life off (making steering impossible) and the car will rocket up to a thousand plus mph. We've reached 1100 but apparently you can sometimes get past 1500.

You of course want to do this on the test track, and I suggest stopping about half to a third of the way around a turn. Then accelerate and you should reach 240 just as you hit the straight section.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2004-02-02 04:58pm

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:IIRC, the theoretical (not actual, mind you) HP gain from a turbo is around 40%, since it just recycles the useable portion of waste gas that doesn't go through a normal engine cycle. A far cry from the doubling and trebling of HP seen in the GT games.

To be fair, it's only really the first one that goes overboard with how much horsepower you gain from a turbo.

I love the GT games, and have a truly massive collecion of cars on the first one (And still try, off and on, to get the Nismo 400R..).

But alas, I don't think I can play them for a short while.

Since the last time I picked one up, I started learning to drive, and now I'm going to need a wheel controller, because it just feels so much more natural.

And that means having money, and then constructung some kind of living room attachment for it and the pedals.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2004-02-02 08:23pm

I had GT2 and 3, but they got stolen. I quickly found out I was an ace at driving games with GT2, and I continued the good tradition through GT3 and several Need for Speed games. I still miss my Quake tho...