There's a Tip I think may be useful for you guys... Had it in my FAQ but that's taking a long tim so I'll just toss it out and see if it helps. I'm sure many of you have experienced the frustration of dealing with big lineup changes that create huge points swings. And once you've won on race, how do you make sure to get the same lineup without having to go through the pain of searching through another dozen lineups?
A Systematic way of Hunting for A-Spec points (what can I say, I'm an engineer)
(Oh, and BTW: this is under construction... all contributions are welcome)
What I do is the following...
1) Preview the race a few times to see the target cars + their HP (this indicates whether the opponents are souped up or stock).
2) Go to my garage, sorted by Power to pick a range (usually within 3-5 pages of each other) of cars I'd like to test. A good rule of thumb is a median point around 75% of your opponents HP. Weight and Downforce have a massive effect as well so these are taken into consideration when choosing trial cars.
3) It is *preferable* to have a bunch of different tire and power options already installed on your car. That way you can play around with them against the same lineupby quitting and reentering the race. Drivetrain and suspension upgrades do NOT affect A-Spec points when installed (changing the tranny doesn't affect points although I suspect changing the ride height may - need to test ) . Neither does Nitrous but I like to avoid it because it's kinda cheap.
3) Pick a car, and enter a race. Write down the lineup and points. Repeat this 3-5 times. If the points are decent, race a lap or two to see if you think you can win. If you're points are close to 200p, you may wish to play with the different mods. I personally recommend trying softer tires before more power (if you're already at 200p) and vice versa... take off power before reducing tires. This will depend on the track of course. Tires are more important for places like Hong Kong and Cote but not as important for Seoul, NY or Tokyo which favor power. (Actually, Tokyo is probably the most balanced between needing downforce, power and tires). And then there's El Cap, which the computer is terrible at
3a) If the lineups are terrible it may be a good idea to advance a few days and try again.
4) Do NOT return to the main menu. RESET the console instead.
5) Go to your garage and pick another car. If you notice, the same SET of lineups will be repeated. This works 95% of the time. Sometimes, as you're testing different cars the lineup will FORK. The first lineup will always be the same but the second may change depending on the car. This happened at Dream Car but requires further testing.
5a) NOTE: In general, you can get an oil change, buy parts
6) When picking another car, the questions come up. Do I want to go with a slighty faster car against a harder lineup, or a slower car against a wimpier lineup? That really depends on the makeup of the average lineup. If there are a couple stand out cars... it may be best to wait until they're not in the lineup. The most severe example of this is the 427 at World Classics. Sometimes, you want the stand out car to be there but be BURIED in the lineup. The most severe example of this is the Black Pool Racers. It's actually to a good idea to have the Speed 12 show up as long as he starts 5th
OTOH, sometimes, you need to make sure the lineup is "pure". This is especially true of the LM and Group C/LMP races. If a Vertigo or Camaro shows up at GT World, your points will be gutted.
Example: Dream Car
BMW M3 GTR Race Car
vs RSC Rally Raid, Zonda LM, Suby TC, RX-8 LM, GT Spec II == 111p
vs Jag XJ220, Ford GT, Nissan GT-R Concept, Camaro, 350Z == 178p (IIRC)
pop on R2 tires and I hit the magical 200p!
7) Here's the fun part... Locking Down A Lineup:
Well, after all that work, you certainly don't want to have to redo it, right?
In a championship it's easy:
a) you can check through different lineups at NO penalty (win/loss unaffected) as long as you quit the championship before entering a race.
b) Make sure to save after each race by exiting(press triangle) to the main menu. When you've found a lineup and start racing, if you're having problems beating a track but know it's difficult to find the same lineup, you can reset and try again. Cheap, but effective.
In an individual race, there's a bit more.
a) Find your lineup and start racing. After you win, return to the main menu so your game is saved. Don't do anything more. RESET your console. Go into Race #2 and you'll notice that same set of lineups is there. Find your lineup and start racing. Repeat.
Partially due to this proces, I prefer not to qualify. Too skewed that way...
Anyway, hope that helps... any feedback, refinements to this process you'd like to make are welcome.
) it is a pretty easy win. On courses with long straights, just keep your head and draft. 💡 
No matter how good I could have driven, I would have lost.
Realizing this is the single most important issue for find A-Spec points. Trying a few different lineups is key.
Oh well, see what I can do.
