Getting my dad to handle GT4 properly

[MustangSVT]

Today, I took a little task. Me (and my dad) been playing GT4 since like summer 2005. He's been playing it too since around january this year. I have the Driving Force Pro, and for about a month or so now, we've set up this cool chassis/thingy to hold the wheel and the pedals so we can play properly on the TV. We play on a 52" JVC tv. Anyway, he's really bad at the game and I've been trying to make him drive properly in the game, and tonight he's finally made a step in the right direction. Here's what I did:

I started from the "beggining". I thought of letting him try out the missions but those might be too hard. I just did a race in arcade mode, chose a Mini Cooper (113hp), and did 3lap race on Beginner Course, difficulty 0, no aids, automatic tranny. On first try, he finished 24 sec behind the leader. On consequent tries, he managed to get it down to 3-4 seconds and managing 5th place. I did 2 runs to show him it's doable and on 2nd run I manage a lap of 30.1 or so and got 1st place after 2 laps. After he tried a couple more times (5 or so), he finally managed to get 1st place and also got a lap of 30.8 at one point. Pretty good, finally got him going in the right direction.

Now, the next step is doing a 3 lap race on Autumn Ring Mini with the VW Golf IV R32 (230hp). I managed to get 1st place in 1.5 laps on my first run, so he should be able to get it done after a couple tries (hopefully). I'll let you know guys how it goes.

If anyone else has some stories how they've managed to "coach" a friend (or family member) to get better at this game, let me know. I consider myself pretty damn "good" at this game, and I'm quite pleased I managed to get him from 24sec behind leader to winning a race in a matter of 30 minutes. But that was just the easy part. Gotta try and get him get some better skills.

Why am I doing this you might ask? Well my dad really likes to play this game with the DFP and I got tired of seeing him spin out every single time and take corners completely wrong.

 

[GM]

Yes, I have, and a pain it was doing it .

I was teaching my nine year old brother with a DS2, so damn hard.

First, I give him a Honda Z Act, and I tell him to drive 3 clean laps of Suzuka East, just for a 'warm-up'.

We then go to La Sarthe II, it's his favourite track although he hates La Sarthe I, I drive the Mazdaspeed 6 Touring Car in 2 player with a headstart and his has to catch me over 1 lap. I never knew that the Mazda 6 was so slow compared to his Abt Audi TT.

I then re-run the Megane cup in a stock Megange bought new, we try the first race at Suzuka East, I win by a few seconds while he has troubles coming in the Top 3, he came 3rd.

We then grab a pair of Range Rover Stormers and head to Test Course for a 3 Lap Drafting race. He ended up winning, only becuase he had the draft on the small straight before the finish .

 

[Famine]

If anyone else has some stories how they've managed to "coach" a friend (or family member) to get better at this game, let me know. I consider myself pretty damn "good" at this game, and I'm quite pleased I managed to get him from 24sec behind leader to winning a race in a matter of 30 minutes. But that was just the easy part. Gotta try and get him get some better skills.

Licences would be a good place to start - and the first 10 Driving Missions.

 

[oODrifterOo]

I taught my 10 year old friend (I'm 13 and he's incredibly mature for his age) how to use my DFP. I picked the honda Fit spoon race car and put him on Automn Ring Mini. He couldn't drive at all before I taught him the apex and when to brake. After that he made his way pretty good.

 

[Speedy Samurai]

I let my wife have a few laps around the Motegi Oval in a Daihatsu Midget II. Needless to say, she won't be driving any car of mine in real life. (She is unlicensed.)

 

[Richardrfo]

heh, seems a few people have had a go at teaching then ^_^

I myself let my mum drive the ford escort around ice arena for about 20 laps. needless to say she couldn't do it

but she did improve slightly when i told her to go slowly to get used to it, turn the corners slightly early and to turn back out early so she could get the drift effect.

should've started her on the tarmac really.

 

[Pink_the_Floyd]

My brother is 5 and he's "starting" on GT2, oh dear...

 

[CRXnut]

Tried to teach my wife. She is all over the place on tarmac but she totally kicks a$$ on ice - go figure :-)

 

[Kent]

Famine's right about licenses. 👍
Those are meant to teach all of us, vets and newbs alike, how to play the game.

As for another approach... I would suggest that you watch him play and make sure he follows your directions. Of course, those directions should be brake early and practice.
Braking early is a fundamental, practice is what will help you to understand how cars are going to turn and how long each car will take to slow down.

If you stick with the basics there is no telling how far you can go. 👍

 

[MustangSVT]

The weirdest thing that was happening to my dad was he would be on a straight (with a slow car) and he would end up on the grass for some reason. Like I gave him a M3 and 3 lap race on Fuji 80s, and he would spin out on the main front straight for some weird reason (I believe he would let go of the wheel when he came out of the corner and thus lost all control of the car and it would just spin out). Now he's doing better though.

Kinda funny, he was last night trying to play on Nurburgring with a Scooby WRX, and he spun out so much that it wasnt even funny and he kept complaining. I took a Nissan R92CP, and did a whole lap without spinning out (though I did go barely on the grass a couple of times), he was like .

I will report back with how I manage to get him to improve though.

First, I give him a Honda Z Act, and I tell him to drive 3 clean laps of Suzuka East, just for a 'warm-up'.

We then go to La Sarthe II, it's his favourite track although he hates La Sarthe I, I drive the Mazdaspeed 6 Touring Car in 2 player with a headstart and his has to catch me over 1 lap. I never knew that the Mazda 6 was so slow compared to his Abt Audi TT.

I then re-run the Megane cup in a stock Megange bought new, we try the first race at Suzuka East, I win by a few seconds while he has troubles coming in the Top 3, he came 3rd.

We then grab a pair of Range Rover Stormers and head to Test Course for a 3 Lap Drafting race. He ended up winning, only becuase he had the draft on the small straight before the finish .

Sounds like a lot of fun! 👍

As for another approach... I would suggest that you watch him play and make sure he follows your directions. Of course, those directions should be brake early and practice.
Braking early is a fundamental, practice is what will help you to understand how cars are going to turn and how long each car will take to slow down.

Been saying something to him along those lines.

 

[lucky_brett]

My dad is pretty good at the game, my 2 little brothers really didn't need much help I just told them to do the License and then told them it is more real than Need for Speed Underground. But they were happy that you can have nos, go figure. I miss using my brothers for the endurance races!

 

[AMG.]

......brake early .....

Took me a long time to be convinced of that statement when I read that in various other posts since I've been here.
Now I know better

My father (73) tried a few easy tracks using an Aston / MB. Ended up breaking my DFP

AMG.

 

[TopHat]

My dad won't drive anything besides a Mercedes SL500.... When a car spins out, its the car not him. I said "Most of the time its not the car, its the driver." He then miracoulously learned how to drive, and beat me by 2 seconds at the super speedway, but then again, I was driving a MINI S, and he had a RUF..

 

[Ev0 4 drifter]

me and slider-s15 are trying to teach Peacock to drift, he seems adamant to jump straight in with a zonda, skyline or evo 8 (all fully upgraded) we're currently debating which car to start him 'properly' in.

 

[Implausibility]

I taught one of my good friends how to drive in GT4 well by taking 3 different ghost cars and giving him a car that has the potential to beat each ghosts time. I did this with cars that had different drive trains too. One was FF, one was MR and the last another FF, it forced him to not only see the car in front of him and how much faster it was than him, but it disabled him from trying to steal the line of the ghosts. He had to think for himself almost completely to get the times, but he was able to see himself getting closer and closer each time he went around. It took him about 3 weeks until he could get within 5 or so seconds within my time. Obviously he's not as hardcore of a player as I am, so it's very doubtful that he'll ever reach my times (I sit down for weeks, even drawing out and writing down tidbits of information to improve my line making adjustments every other day). Still, it's impressive he can do that now. I feel that's probably one of the best ways to force someone into becoming capable driver in gt4 (so long as they're willing to sit down that long ), because they're able to become indepedent with their own idea of how to tackle a corner. There's a lot more to learning the game than just developing good reactions and basics of driving, but

 

[oODrifterOo]

me and slider-s15 are trying to teach Peacock to drift, he seems adamant to jump straight in with a zonda, skyline or evo 8 (all fully upgraded) we're currently debating which car to start him 'properly' in.

I am in big need of a drifting tutor

lucky him

 

[MasterGT]

Recently, a bunch of "racing widows" have started playing on-line with ToCA 3. My wife has tried GT 3 & 4 a few times over the years, but only now is she getting into these games and seeing the fun. She is able to control the car much better now (she is unlicenced in RL) and she is preparing for her first real on-line race during the US Thanksgiving weekend.

When the time is right, MistressGT can start GT4, too, and learn from the licences, but right now she doesn't need anything but practice. MissGT is a natural, but she doesn't play much. Only one other wife has played a racing game before, a long time ago, so they are all at different skill levels.

The incentive of playing with similar female drivers has really helped all of them with their self-confidence, shyness and self-esteem. The concentration is so thick around here it can be sliced with a knife!

Fortunately, we have more than one console, so all 3 of us can be on-line with ToCA, at the same time, too! (If you just have dial-up, use ToCA 2 to get on-line.)

Having an incentive and the desire to go for it really helps to get things rolling.

Cheers,

MasterGT

 

[UnoMOTO]

My dad rocked once upon a time at "DRAGSTER" on the atari 2600!

 

[Sureboss]

heh, seems a few people have had a go at teaching then ^_^

I myself let my mum drive the ford escort around ice arena for about 20 laps. needless to say she couldn't do it

but she did improve slightly when i told her to go slowly to get used to it, turn the corners slightly early and to turn back out early so she could get the drift effect.

should've started her on the tarmac really.

Evil sod

 

[bucket of water]

when ever i introduce someone to GT, i give them a GT500 car.

and i pick a rally car and the biggest possible head start to them.
its sorta fun for the first lap, then i just show off

 

[Pagan_2k]

I often play split-screen with my wife, at first she was useless until she found the nissan r92, now she rocks.
After I taught her about braking and turning properly she's been improving steadily.
Its actually a lot of fun, we usually take the same car and whenever I pass her I slow down alot to let her get back in front(actually thats just because I like going past her sideways on corners) although she never slows down for me.

Yesterday we had a very cool race, racing s2000's around grandvalley speedway. On the very last lap, we went through the last s-bend near the end and she was in the lead all the way to the last corner(sweeper), I hit handbrake way early and ended up taking her on the inside, sideways with smoke pouring out(I also just missed her front end by inches). The look on her face was classical cause upto then she thought she was winning.

 

[Mt. Lynx]

I´ve tought my girlfriend to lap Nürburgring in an Audi S4! All I can say is; patience....
She isn´t even a casual gamer, and had never before played a racinggame, so tutoring her to a clean lap took some time! She still not very fast though, and could easily chop 2 minutes on a lap if she would bother to learn correct braking, throttlecontrol and racinglines. Her style is more "cruisin´" than "racing"

I´ve also tought my sister, my mom and my dad to get clean laps around Fuji 80´s, and my dad has even been able to learn Monaco since then!

 

[Der Alta]

Family cups in the Driving park (If memory serves.) you can adjust the difficulty and pick out a car that is applicable. I'd really suggest a low powered MR car as they are the most stable and easiest to drive.

 

[zPhoenix]

Ahh... training the dad... wait! I'm the dad. Anyway, here are some hints on how to train your kid But it should work on dads too.

- Remember that people listen better when they are not frustrated.
- Pick a track with walls. It's easy to avoid frustration when they hit walls instead of spinning out into the sand and loosing a lot of time.
- Pick a car that can win easily, but hopefully one that has low HP, so pick a low-HP track too.
- Add all the tranny, brake and suspension upgrades. Get soft tires.
- Remind them constantly to brake early and that there is no need to floor the accelerator, especially in a turn. Mention that tapping the accelerator helps regain control if you start loosing it.
- Now, here's the kicker. Try to do all of the above on an endurance race. Start the race yourself, get maybe 10 laps ahead, then hand it over. By the end of the endurance race they'll probably have the hang of it.
- Then increase the track difficulty gradually.

 

[Pagan_2k]

- Remember that people listen better when they are not frustrated.

- Remind them constantly to brake early and that there is no need to floor the accelerator, especially in a turn. Mention that tapping the accelerator helps regain control if you start loosing it.

LOL, like a certain female I know, that insists that none of the cars can actually corner.
Everytime she runs off, either me or her boyfriend will say "See that red thing that flashes? When you see it brake!"
After a few million times of hearing that, all you have to say is "See that red thing?" and she flies off the handle.
Its good for a laugh everytime.

 

[ken2903]

Famine's right about licenses. 👍
Those are meant to teach all of us, vets and newbs alike, how to play the game.

i agree, without trying to sound like a jerk , i think i am pretty good at gt4 but i've just bought a G25 and my times have dropped off a little compared to using the DS2 (8,06 v's 8,02 in a stock 330i around the ring)
i'm going to go through the licences again and try to get at least silver on all of them with the wheel.
i think alot of people, myself included, have forgot about the licences once they have passed them. i think they are a great tool that can be used over and over again if need be.
If i were teaching someone how to drive in the game, the licences are the first place i'd start them for sure.

also i should add, its good to see so many parents getting involved with there sons/daugters interests.

 

[dylansan]

I've been mostly trying to teach my mom to play. We used to do races where she had the faster car, and no head start was given, but then I devised a new strategy. I took several laps in a Mercedes Sauber C9, and wrote down my time. Then I took a 300SL and let my mom drive her best lap. After subtracting, I found she could do with a 35 second head start. No more was given because it was her driving in the first place-if anything she should do better. On the first race I took on corner too wide and hit a wall, slowing me to ~25 Mph(just a guess, I didn't come to a complete stop, I bounced off) and by the finish I had just come short. It was fun, and I can tell she is improving.
I once did try taking her through the liscences, but she didn't know enough about it to win.
Another thing I did was read her the driving tips from the Prima game guide, and even some things from the Enthusia manual, like how turning the wheel a lot can cause understeer. She's certainly improvng her driving, as well as learning why the cars handle like they do. Soon I'll be able to try again with the liscences. If she can beat B I'll be happy. If she beats A or golds B I'll be suprised. If she golds A or beats IB, she's cheating.