Comparisons between Hong Kong and Nurburgring.

[Aremburgkerve]

WHen I first started doing Ice Arena races (especially reversed) I found myself occasionally powering-up so that I was wall-riding. This isn't entirely unrealistic, tho; because the "walls" at Ice Arena are curved...techinically, your tires are riding the bottom of this curve...rather than your fenders & doors riding along the wall of ice itself. So I felt this was okay.

But now taht I know Ice Arena alot better, I find I actually CAN get a clean lap, and make my time lower than if I wall-ride. It's easier said than done, tho. Usually during a race, I can't help wind up smakcking a wall somewhere.

Me and you both Parnelli, I always seem to clip a wall here and there at the Ice Arena, I find it so hard to keep the car away from the sides. I used to have a lot of problems at HK regarding whacking the wall at nearly every bend but I've improved over time.

Apart from that one damn section, of course!!!

 

[FLK]

I used to hate Hong Kong a lot on my first run through of the GTWC but as I've driven on it more I do actually like the track now. This is may be helped by the fact I do a fair bit of time around the New York track as well and I do generally like city courses especially at night.

In comparison though they are not all that similar, ones in a city on street roads while the other is a winding track on a very uneven surface and has pretty much every type of bend and bump you'll find on any other track that's been in GT. I do feel the Nurburgring requires a lot more concentration due to it's unique length and a real need for a flow to be reached and maintained to get fast laps out of the car.

Hong Kong does have it's own challenge as well and the slow in method does strongly apply here to get fast laps along with avoiding the walls as there is no run off around most of the track. Passing there as well is more difficult due to short straights and narrow corners, which is why I think it can be quite difficult when you first encounter it in the GTWC.

Both tracks have their merits but personally I think they're completely different to one another.

 

[Daceag17]

I still hate tracks like Hong Kong and Opera Paris, too much slow turns in them. Nitrous is what helps the most at these situations, when exiting the slow turns. But I hated that hairpin, until I kept on practicing wall-riding there, I did spun my black R92CP trying to do so in the GTWC (and won the race ), but I gained a lot of experience doing that. Even I beat the hell out of my opponents in a race in Extreme Hall (if I recall correctly it was the Dream Car championship) with the McLaren F1, Ford GT finished 2nd, 45 secs behind. Did the same at the Capri Rally (hard), did some wallride when necessary and went almost to lap the Impreza.

And I love fast tracks like the Ring and Nurburgring, even though the last one has 147 corners, I managed to reach the top speed of my Minolta (248MPH) for ten seconds and do the very last slow turns almost perfect, that's one hell of a car, with an awesome handling. And I always use the hardest compound racing tires for enduros, always helps in my case.

 

[RaidoGT]

Hong Kong is actually one of the main reasons I got GT4 recently, as a diversion from GPL.

Having been in the city a while ago (I may be one of the few people here to have been in/on HK, the Ring, Paris and Tokyo..) the idea of going "to" Tsim sha Shui again and racing around the place really appealed to me. Powering down neonlit Nathan Road and past the notorious Chungking Mansions was one of the attractions not found in other racing games.

There's not much to compare between HK and the Ring, though. Both are 'technical' tracks, granted. But it's easier to pass in Hong Kong (despite GT4's braindead AI), and once you learn to get the proper slow-in fast-out rhythm it does start to get more fun.

It's not very enjoyable in high-performance 900+ BHP cars, though. Like Monaco, then it gets to feel a bit like trying to race a Hummer around a tiny kart track. HK only comes into its own racing smaller, lower-powered cars. Then it can be quite fun.

I find the kink on the waterfront one of the most problematic areas, too, but mainly because the AI is as dimwitted as can be at that point. Take it a tiny bit slow, and they're likely to ram up your @ss or bump you into the wall. Consistently, too.
Personally, I feel the coders and quality checkers for GT4 AI should be taken out and given a public flogging, Japanese-style - because even after *three* earlier revisions they still didn't manage to produce proper AI behaviour. It's not as bad as in some other games, but it's one of the definite weakest points of the game.

PS. Wallriding and grasscutting are for wussies, of course. Personally, I only count completely 'clean' race wins - as it should be, since you wouldn't be able to wallride your way to victory in real life either, and you're only kidding yourself to think you've "won" after doing so in a racing game. Bumping a wall is always a DNF.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Hong Kong is actually one of the main reasons I got GT4 recently, as a diversion from GPL.

Having been in the city a while ago (I may be one of the few people here to have been in/on HK, the Ring, Paris and Tokyo..) the idea of going "to" Tsim sha Shui again and racing around the place really appealed to me. Powering down neonlit Nathan Road and past the notorious Chungking Mansions was one of the attractions not found in other racing games.

I only wish I could go to Hong Kong. Maybe that's why I like this track so much...I dig the visual part just much as the actual challenge of this track.

There's not much to compare between HK and the Ring, though. Both are 'technical' tracks, granted. But it's easier to pass in Hong Kong (despite GT4's braindead AI), and once you learn to get the proper slow-in fast-out rhythm it does start to get more fun.

It's not very enjoyable in high-performance 900+ BHP cars, though. Like Monaco, then it gets to feel a bit like trying to race a Hummer around a tiny kart track. HK only comes into its own racing smaller, lower-powered cars. Then it can be quite fun.

I find the kink on the waterfront one of the most problematic areas, too, but mainly because the AI is as dimwitted as can be at that point. Take it a tiny bit slow, and they're likely to ram up your @ss or bump you into the wall. Consistently, too.
Personally, I feel the coders and quality checkers for GT4 AI should be taken out and given a public flogging, Japanese-style - because even after *three* earlier revisions they still didn't manage to produce proper AI behaviour. It's not as bad as in some other games, but it's one of the definite weakest points of the game.

PS. Wallriding and grasscutting are for wussies, of course. Personally, I only count completely 'clean' race wins - as it should be, since you wouldn't be able to wallride your way to victory in real life either, and you're only kidding yourself to think you've "won" after doing so in a racing game. Bumping a wall is always a DNF.

FINALLY, a new member with some sense! Can I buy you a cyber beer? Or a cybersoda if you're under 21? (18 in some countries & West Virginia).

 

[RaidoGT]

You could buy me any kind of beer in any amount PB - if I liked the stuff, that is

Guess you could say I'm kind of an old hand at simracing though, I can even remember playing the very first game which tried to really simulate racing on a personal computer - 'Revs' (1984ish) on the Acorn BBC and C64. Yep, we're talking 1 MHz CPU's here. Heck, I can even remember getting the local highscore in the very first Pole Position game in the arcades. Think that was 1979 or somesuch..!


Oh, and while it is indeed a bit of a bummer we can't just hop on a plane and go strolling down Hong Kong, it *is* nice that PD took the trouble to include a fairly realistic depiction of the city in GT4 for us to visit and race in, no? For just a few bucks (looks at the games mentioned above and remembers the Space Invaders-style graphics), nowadays I'd say we're pretty darn lucky in that respect actually. 👍

 

[senamic]

Heck, I can even remember getting the local highscore in the very first Pole Position game in the arcades.

👍 Good taste. Parnelli, this man deserves his beer (or soda... yadayadalegal... West Virginia)