I'm a new GT4 enthusiast. I've grown addicted to the challenge inherent in this style of racing game, having only played arcade-style games in the past. However, that's led me to have a lot of trouble adjusting to GT4. I practice and practice, but I still hardly improve at all. Faster times seem more the product of luck than skill. Specifically, I'm absolutely horrible at cornering. I can never seem to follow 1) guides on getting through corners and 2) the appropriate lines. I typically veer far off the line during a license test and struggle just to get a bronze medal. Is there a way I can practice corners and see some real improvement? I want to start enjoying this game, but now it seems I'm simply obsessed with the challenge.
Getting very frustrated with GT4...
- Thread starter kevin134
- 28 comments
- 4,831 views
- 1,034
- Portugal
- fabmaru
Well practice is all you can do. When I started playing GT4 I was like you. In the other day I was faster in an 60-ish BHP Nissan Be-1 than three years ago in a Nissan 350z roadster. All I did was practice. The license tests help a lot. You could also watch some videos to see other people racing lines.
And by the way, welcome to
And by the way, welcome to
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I'm driving manually on a DS2. Would it help to pick up a cheapo racing wheel? I don't have the cash for one of the Logitech wheels (I don't want to spend more than $50 on a wheel).
Also, I'm stuck on B5 (the guided lap run on Tsukuba circuit in a Mini one) so I went and bought the Mini and I'm going to just run lap after lap after lap.
Also, I'm stuck on B5 (the guided lap run on Tsukuba circuit in a Mini one) so I went and bought the Mini and I'm going to just run lap after lap after lap.
JacoJa
Premium
- 2,327
- Australia
Kevin, Have you been watching the demonstration videos in the licence tests? If you turn on all of the HUD information, you can get a good idea from the driver when to accelerate, brake and steer. That's pretty much how I first learnt. That, and lots of practice.
You'll get the hang of it soon. 👍
You'll get the hang of it soon. 👍
I've been watching the videos but I don't know how to turn on the HUD. I'm getting better on practicing B5 though; I've gotten my best lap time down to 1:20. I'm just having a lot of trouble keeping my speed steady through corners. I seem to have trouble with braking early or late (or too much).
EDIT: It's 1:20 from a 70+mph rolling start, not from a stand still.
EDIT: It's 1:20 from a 70+mph rolling start, not from a stand still.
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- 624
- Australia
There's also good advice here at GT Planet too : https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=64913
It's for Golding the licenses, but the info is still applicable.
Apart from that watch the demonstration runs (once the replay starts hit X, then R1 to cycle the camera views)
Edit: You'll get a lot "luckier" the more you practice.
It's for Golding the licenses, but the info is still applicable.
Apart from that watch the demonstration runs (once the replay starts hit X, then R1 to cycle the camera views)
Edit: You'll get a lot "luckier" the more you practice.
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- 10,550
- Columbia, MD.
- Parnelli_Bones
One thing nobody has mentioned so far (correct me if I'm wrong) is Driving Aids. Are they OFF or ON? I'm guessing they're still on. Now I'm not talking about license tests, I'm talking about just for regular driving & racing around. YOu have no choice to turn them off during the licenses, but the rest of the time you can turn them on or off.
ASM is the main one that kills cornering speed dead as a doornail. Make sure you go into your settings and turn all this stuff off.
You may need to leave TCS on "1" initially, because if you've been driving around with TCS on, turning it completely off can be quite a shock. But trust me on the ASM issue. Turn it OFF and you'll no doubt see seconds drop off your lap times.
ASM is the main one that kills cornering speed dead as a doornail. Make sure you go into your settings and turn all this stuff off.
You may need to leave TCS on "1" initially, because if you've been driving around with TCS on, turning it completely off can be quite a shock. But trust me on the ASM issue. Turn it OFF and you'll no doubt see seconds drop off your lap times.
- 510
Try this, take a good handling, braking car and go to laguna or another track with brake markers. Then start running laps, be sure to make mental notes on where you can improve in each turn. Here an example, If you broke at the 3 marker in the first turn and it was to soon, try inbetween the 2 and 3 next lap. Try to dial in your barke markers first, then worry about your line. After you have decent lines then work on the exit. You only want to mash the gas once on exit, but its ok to go half throttle mid turn to keep moving.
Once you get your braking down I suggest watching an F1 onboard of any track, watch there lines and listen to there throttle control while they go through turns. You should try to find an onboard of the track your running, its ok if you cant, you will still learn from it if you pay attention.
Once you get your braking down I suggest watching an F1 onboard of any track, watch there lines and listen to there throttle control while they go through turns. You should try to find an onboard of the track your running, its ok if you cant, you will still learn from it if you pay attention.
- 109
- OPTION_XIII
Yeah, DS2 user here and I've got pretty good throttle control, given that I can only use about a tenth of an inch to modulate. I feel it's biggest limitation is that you basically have to mash the steering left or right and sort out the details later.
The biggest hint I can give you is about braking points. Use any marker you can to tell you when to apply the brakes, and fiddle with it until you find the best point to brake at. If you have trouble with letting off the brakes at the right time, use the same landmark strategy.
The biggest hint I can give you is about braking points. Use any marker you can to tell you when to apply the brakes, and fiddle with it until you find the best point to brake at. If you have trouble with letting off the brakes at the right time, use the same landmark strategy.
- 624
- Australia
If you've gone from struggling to bronze to gunning for gold in about a day, it seems you've gotten used to GT4 pretty quick. I'd aim for silver then move on to the next licence test when starting out, or they might get a bit boring, as that last second is definitly the hardest to shave off. (You can come back to them later) Also the gold times are pretty tough, I'd be surprised if you went from frustration to gold in one day.
BobK
Premium
- 7,020
- Massachusetts, USA
Just thought I'd mention that B5 is one of the more difficult license tests out of the whole set of 80, surprising because it's in the lowest license.
Unfortunately you don't get a ghost for the "follow the pace car" tests, which is unfortunate as I find the ghost to be one of the best aids in improving.
Not much I can add, I can only repeat what others have said, and that's practice, practice and more practice. And definitely check out that thread that shotamagee mentioned; lots of good tips in there.
Oh, and a DFP or DFGT would likely work wonders for you, I'd recommend one of those over a cheapie wheel.
Unfortunately you don't get a ghost for the "follow the pace car" tests, which is unfortunate as I find the ghost to be one of the best aids in improving.
Not much I can add, I can only repeat what others have said, and that's practice, practice and more practice. And definitely check out that thread that shotamagee mentioned; lots of good tips in there.
Oh, and a DFP or DFGT would likely work wonders for you, I'd recommend one of those over a cheapie wheel.
Well, my data was corrupted 
I didn't lose too much, though. Now I'm blasting through the B license tests (Getting silver medals by my 3rd try on most of them and even grabbing a couple of golds). I'll look into the DFGT. Birthday's coming up, so maybe I can work something out with the folks. Again, I can't thank y'all enough for all the advice and support!
I didn't lose too much, though. Now I'm blasting through the B license tests (Getting silver medals by my 3rd try on most of them and even grabbing a couple of golds). I'll look into the DFGT. Birthday's coming up, so maybe I can work something out with the folks. Again, I can't thank y'all enough for all the advice and support!
Smallhorses
Staff Emeritus
- 7,260
First tip to avoid corruption: TURN OFF AUTOSAVE!
It's a really annoying feature of GT4 that leads to many people losing gamedata. Honestly, it's the first thing I disabled on the game when I got it on launch day way back when, I've completed 2 x 100% gamesaves (each in a different inimitable style) substituted gamesaves back and forth across memory cards to host or assist in hosting 6 x SFGTP LAN events using a MAXDrive, backed up several other peoples saves and restored them, on up to 12 machines at once, and I've never once lost a single gamesave to corruption. Unless you're using the worst possible memory card built by incomprehensibly incompetent cretins in the back end of beyond, it's more or less impossible to wreck a solid-state save unless you somehow disrupt power to it mid-save, which is all the more likely when it's "auto-saving" just when you least expect it.
Also with regards to B5 licence, the staggering amount of time lost is from an incorrect line through the last turn. There's 1-2s to be made up there just by getting the line right, and that's the difference between silver & gold. Don't hug the inside immediately, especially in an FF car, run a little deep, cut in to apex and accelerate all the way out. If you have to lift to avoid drifting wide because of FF understeer you've done it wrong. Don't follow the 4WD pace-car's line!
It's a really annoying feature of GT4 that leads to many people losing gamedata. Honestly, it's the first thing I disabled on the game when I got it on launch day way back when, I've completed 2 x 100% gamesaves (each in a different inimitable style) substituted gamesaves back and forth across memory cards to host or assist in hosting 6 x SFGTP LAN events using a MAXDrive, backed up several other peoples saves and restored them, on up to 12 machines at once, and I've never once lost a single gamesave to corruption. Unless you're using the worst possible memory card built by incomprehensibly incompetent cretins in the back end of beyond, it's more or less impossible to wreck a solid-state save unless you somehow disrupt power to it mid-save, which is all the more likely when it's "auto-saving" just when you least expect it.
Also with regards to B5 licence, the staggering amount of time lost is from an incorrect line through the last turn. There's 1-2s to be made up there just by getting the line right, and that's the difference between silver & gold. Don't hug the inside immediately, especially in an FF car, run a little deep, cut in to apex and accelerate all the way out. If you have to lift to avoid drifting wide because of FF understeer you've done it wrong. Don't follow the 4WD pace-car's line!
- 379
- Florissant, MO
^Disabling autosave. Also thanksYeah, I still have problems with hairpin turns, but I'm absolutely blasting through the Sunday Cup (I know, big accomplishment) in my Mazda Kusabi
Kevin, that's by no means a cheap victory, but just to give you an idea: the Kusabi is actually very fast, even with ballast and N-grade rubber. Now, don't take this as a discouragement. You're actually moving in the right direction, and I even did the same thing you did. I waited until I had the Kusabi (and a silver B license, naturally) before even running the Sunday Cup, and I made sure to start using cars that would net me the highest points with a comfortable margin of victory.
Now, the thing that has changed since that time is my personal interpretation of "comfortable" in regards to the margin of victory. At first, when I was a n00bcaek, I intended to fully destroy the competition and leave nothing but smoldering carcases in my wake. Now, if I manage to win with a 5 second victory, that'd catch me as massive overkill. I'm not ballsy enough to consider that a victory isn't a victory unless you almost didn't get it. I don't really go for the photo finishes, but then again, I only have about 20k a-spec points...
Long story short, keep up the good work. As Flynn can attest, the more you put into the game, the more rewarding it could be.
Definitely. I'm trying to win my races with skill, not muscle. Sometimes my cars simply aren't fast enough in the straights so I'm giving them just enough upgrades to keep the racing challenging without being frustrating. I can typically beat the AI through corners, but when I have a good lead on a car coming out of a corner into a quarter mile straightaway and his car has 50 more horsepower than mine it gets very disheartening.
- 379
- Florissant, MO
Oh, it does indeed. In fact, it can ruin the game for you, until you master that forgotten art of blocking. It's super hard to do if the AI is very far behind you and just comes rocketing past, but if you keep the AI close, it's easier to make the adjustments to keep him from overtaking.
I suggest you look into the 200pt forum closer to the top of the main GT4 page. You don't have to do some of the ludicrous challenges that they tend to take there, but you can learn some super helpful principles that will take you quite a long ways in your enjoyment of the game.
Also, if you do wind up losing a race, don't chalk it up to simply being an impossibility. Go into most any race thinking that it could be won, the only thing standing between you and victory is the requisite skill. If you don't succeed, keep trying til you do. Just like with the license tests, they are doable. If you can get golds on the licenses, there is no reason you can't get max points in most of the races.
Just keep after it, and most of all, enjoy yourself.👍
I suggest you look into the 200pt forum closer to the top of the main GT4 page. You don't have to do some of the ludicrous challenges that they tend to take there, but you can learn some super helpful principles that will take you quite a long ways in your enjoyment of the game.
Also, if you do wind up losing a race, don't chalk it up to simply being an impossibility. Go into most any race thinking that it could be won, the only thing standing between you and victory is the requisite skill. If you don't succeed, keep trying til you do. Just like with the license tests, they are doable. If you can get golds on the licenses, there is no reason you can't get max points in most of the races.
Just keep after it, and most of all, enjoy yourself.👍
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