getting my hands dirty

[ZAGGIN]

PD have ruined the rally sections within the gran turismo series. they have never been as great as they were on GT2. its a crying shame to be honest, because there is a lot of potential with in this area of the game. personally, i never liked the rallying sections on gt3, but i was taken by the tahiti maze track on gran turismo concept. i cant even remember if there was one on gt4 prologue, thats how much it inspired me. at first when i loaded up gt4, i was again not that impressed with the tracks and the handling of the cars. so i didnt give them another thought. i will say this though, the rally road courses (citta, costa, and george paris) are excellent. i use them regularly to flex my skills.
anyway, i had been struggling with the last race in the professional hall - the gran turismo world championship. i couldnt crack it, and it was starting to wind me up. in the end i had to rely on bspec bob. thanks to him i gained access to the extreme hall, but i need a super licence to compete in some of the races (i still hadnt passed the graduation test). whilst i was at the licence center, i thought maybe, i could grab a few silvers or maybe a gold or two on the other licences. in the end i didnt do bad, off the top of my head, i think im on 6 or 7 golds, 25 silvers, and 52 bronze. yeah, i know ive got a long way to go, but at least im moving. anyway, not much liking the thought of doing any rallying, i avoided those tests like the plague. it was only after passing the grand canyon and chamonix tests, that i had an understanding of how the rallying physics model worked. dont get me wrong, im not a rally whizz kid yet, i just barely got bronze on both of them (and that was after numerous failed attempts), but i uderstood thinks better. i was looking at things differently. proof of this was in the fact that i got gold on two later rally licence tests. it was whilst doing these lesser tests, that i made a crucial observation. i noticed how well low powered cars tackled the rallying sections, and how easy it was to pick up the skills needed to put in good times. i then realised my mistake. i had been using high powered or tuned cars for the rallying sections. it explained the many times i had sat there in disbelief wondering why my car wouldnt stop and screaming blue murder! in hindsight i will say this, i think a maxed out nismo 400r was a poor choice of car to tackle chamonix. talk about blinded by the light! i imidiately dived into my garage keen to find a suitable car to tackle the rally sections. after a little experimenting with cars and tracks, i found i had a renewed interest in the rallying on gran turismo 4.
my rally experience on gt4 so far has been a story of loathe to love. i had to force myself to race the rally stages initially, but i find myself wanting to now just for the fun of it. i wont be driving a street racer the next time i get my hands dirty, instead im gonna go light. ive got my eye on this small, sport car, with just enough poke to get me in trouble...

 

[Alfaholic]

That's encouraging. I had also been put off the rallying after a few attempts, in GT4, because I found the physics model less instantly gratifying and enjoyable than it was even in GT3, where I could at least hold a drift for a while. In GT4 the model seems more difficult. It's encouraging to hear that someone who felt similar, has found that with perserverance and less power it gets better. The tarmac circuits are pretty nice though.

As for a dirt stage in GTP, I believe Grand Canyon debuted in that release? Great scenery but it would have been much more exciting if they had allowed your cars to fall off the edge...

 

[Ragnar1211]

Thanks for the info - I think I will re-attempt these as well with a more manageble vehicle, sounds like fun.

 

[snypa]

I guess most of us had to take time to be used to this side of the game.

I also was frustrated at the beginning and found the races tough. Once I realized that I had to press the throttle carefuly, things became easier. The most difficult part is to understand that it's better sometimes to enter the corner slower than you would like to. It helps to pass the corner and have a better exit of it.

Rallying takes time to be controlled, but then it's very grateful.

 

[Mr. Toad]

Is Rally really that bad???

When I picked up GT4 I decided that the rally sections were to be avoided during 'the learning curve'. I've now just begun to play with the settings for the rallies.

With some experimentation I have been able to improve times (and not sucking dust) by adding ballast.
Don't know whether this is a bad approach, but the handling of the car(s) is a bit better. Slides are a bit more contollable.

I seem to want to add the weight of a passenger (approx. 150 lbs.), evenly balanced.

Times still aren't great... Ice is still a pain...

Hope this helps... unsure...


Toad

 

[Alaneye]

I've now managed to do all the Special Condition Hall races. I did the easy and normal dirt rallys in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, but had to buy a Mitsubishi Super Rally car to crack the hard races. Once I'd managed to do Grand Canyon in hard I thought I'd leave the rallys for a bit because I was really dreading the snow rallys after doing the licences.

Eventually I decided to tackle them, first with the Super Rally car, but as Zaggin has said, a powerful car was too much. So I went back to the Evo VIII and managed to do all the snow rallys, though I did sometimes have to do a bit of wall riding to catch up because I'm not really that good a driver.

I think it will be fun to go back to the rallys and just be able to race without worrying about not winning the prize car.
Alan