A-Spec points

[snowboyak08]

Hey all, I still play this game, and I keep asking the same question: What were A-Spec points used for in the game?? I know they were to determine how strong/weak our car was against the competition, but there's gotta be something else in the game that made them useful, like making the special cars like the Auto Union Streamline being able to be used outside of Nurburgring Nordschliefe. This is a frustrating topic, everything I come across talks about the strength of our car against competition, but never what was the real purpose for them other than that.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

My opinion is they're mostly about ego. They're just a way for a player to brag. They have very little bearing on how tough a race actually is. I've done 9-point races that are way tougher than 200-point races, for instance.

On the other hand, they do have some bearing on difficulty, which is one of the only things in GT4 which can spur a driver to at least try to toughen up his or her game. IF you enter a car, and find yourself with a 90-point race, it's possible to re-enter the same event with less power for more points.

But my opinion is it's basically a flawed system. PD could have made it even better than it is. I personally never pay attention to A-spec points, but plenty of others do, here.

 

[Remy Zero]

i think this whole concept is a waste of time. I've won 41 point races for instance, easily, yet, 2 days back i struggled at one particular track, can't remember which, Tsukuba i think, with just 6 points! I recall finishing 2nd, about 8 secs behind the winning car.

 

[Open Addict]

I think, from what I read a year or two ago, was that they were going to be used for an online part of the game. But the idea was scrapped before it came out. And what we have left is just reminence of this.

It is a challenge to go for 200 point races, (not some peoples cup of tea mind you) however if you were to get Max possible, it is a overwhelming feeling of accomplishment.

 

[imtheleprechaun]

I think the whole system would be a lot more enjoyable if they had made it easier to figure out how to get more points, without going too far*. For example, when you load up a race you've done before, it says how many points you've won previously. But it doesn't tell you how many points your current setup will net you against the current field, until you start the race! And there's no information offered as to what you could do to get more points. Like, -x HP will net y more points, +x kilos will net y more points, etc. You have to keep starting races and mash your win ratio to find this stuff out. *sigh*.


*not going too far meaning not adding more ballast, or running one too many tire compounds harder, or taking off too much horsepower, than you'd need to to reach 200 points. I guess simply telling you what you current setup will net you against the current lineup right next to the past points achieved stat would suffice for this.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

I think the whole system would be a lot more enjoyable if they had made it easier to figure out how to get more points, without going too far. For example, when you load up a race you've done before, it says how many points you've won previously. But it doesn't tell you how many points your current setup will net you against the current field, until you start the race! And there's no information offered as to what you could do to get more points. Like, -x HP will net y more points, +x kilos will net y more points, etc. You have to keep starting races and mash your win ratio to find this stuff out. *sigh*.

True. I would like to have more pre-race infomation overall . In the original GT, for instance, it would list every car's power and weight. You knew exactly what you were up against. They better return this for GT5 or I'll...I'lll I don't know what I'll do.

I think, from what I read a year or two ago, was that they were going to be used for an online part of the game. But the idea was scrapped before it came out. And what we have left is just reminence of this.

This makes sense. It would explain the unfinished feeling the entire A-spec system has.

 

[imtheleprechaun]

True. I would like to have more pre-race infomation overall . In the original GT, for instance, it would list every car's power and weight. You knew exactly what you were up against. They better return this for GT5 or I'll...I'lll I don't know what I'll do.

Totally agree there, I miss the power/weight info a lot, especially in light of my last post.

Another thing that has just occurred to me after sticking my toe in the waters of a 200pt final FGTC race at Suzuka (in an FGT) - the point system doesn't account the fact that 189 kilos of ballast and practically no downforce is a much bigger disadvantage at tracks like Suzuka and Grand Valley Speedway than it is at say, Le Sarthe or High Speed Ring. It's reallly disappointing to me that I'll have to use another car to get max points in 6 out of 15 FGT races(did manage 200 in 9 of 14 so far though!). And that I have to handicap myself so much to get a remotely competitive race in the FGT.

I think, from what I read a year or two ago, was that they were going to be used for an online part of the game. But the idea was scrapped before it came out. And what we have left is just reminence of this.

This makes sense. It would explain the unfinished feeling the entire A-spec system has.

This is a prime example of why I really don't like console games, and rue the fact that GT will never run on any other platform than a Playstation. I have fantasies about PD releasing the source code to GT4 under the GPL so that resourceful individuals can use the PS2 dvd to extract the assets and launch the greatest PC race-sim community the world has ever seen! I can dream can't I? The whole concept of releasing a product with so many flaws with no intention to do anything about them until the next product (if at all) really gets to me. Alas, I am still hooked on GT. A couple laps of the Nurburgring and my ire is calmed enough not to sell my Playstation to buy a hard drive or something.

Sorry to keep ranting about GT4's flaws, and those of consoles, I'm sure I've made at least one other post so far whining about them. I'll try to keep it down in future.

 

[shepzki]

It is a challenge to go for 200 point races, (not some peoples cup of tea mind you) however if you were to get Max possible, it is a overwhelming feeling of accomplishment.

Totally agree, I have just finished the SL race at Apricot Hill for 200pts after a lot of tries, can't beat that feeling of winning what seems an impossibly difficult race. My goal for now is to get to 105,000 A-Spec points, after that is a bonus for me.

 

[imtheleprechaun]

Whoops, I meant to agree with that too! I'm on track to be over 100,000pts when (if - dunno about Mission 34) I reach 100%, but if it weren't these forums I would not have nearly enough patience to figure out which car to use, with how much handicap, against which field. I've gone through a few race series recording all the tweaks needed to get 200pts with different fields and it's really tedious.

It is definitely very satisfying winning 200pt races you thought were impossible. Some of them I think are going to stay impossible for me, but certainly not a majority at least.

 

[ploopsy]

I dont know why they give points if You cant do anything with them...

Do you get anything cool when you have earned a certain amount?

 

[Open Addict]

Do you get anything cool when you have earned a certain amount?

The feeling of completeness

 

[Uncle Harry]

I dont know why they give points if You cant do anything with them...

Do you get anything cool when you have earned a certain amount?

No in game rewards, but you get your name added to the list here in the 100,000 club or the 111,813 club. 👍

 

[Parnelli Bone]

^Yea, it's that ego thing I mentioned ealier.

hey...I'm KIDDING!

 

[alhajoth]

No in game rewards, but you get your name added to the list here in the 100,000 club or the 111,813 club. 👍

A shot in the dark, but what if there is a reward?
No one has ever reached the theoretical maximum (112,900 if my calculations are correct), so how can we be sure? As the whole A-spec-thing isn't fully implemented like it was supposed to, maybe the reward doesn't take into account the limitations on some of the manufacturers races, so it only kicks in at the theoretical max..
Is it possible to use a cheat-device to give yourself maximum a-spec points to see what happens?

I don't actually believe there is such a reward, just saying we can't really rule it out before all the evidence is in..

 

[imtheleprechaun]

Here's another thing that would have made A-Spec points way funner: A button or a slider to adjust the opponent field - without having to quit and re-enter a race! Couple a "desired A-Spec points" field-shuffling-slider with an "A-Spec points winnable with current setup/opponents" info-box, and you've got something that would get me to pay for GT4 again.