Mission 13 - Opera Paris Peugeot 206 rally

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wow, I just love that mission!!!

I kept it for one of the last missions to accomplish, because I do not really like the track. But may be this is just because in most of the races you have to use bad tires to get to the 200 points.

That car handles extremely well and has a lot of grip, please don´t try to drift. It´s all about the braking points and the momentum you carry through the corners in order to have a high exit speed. I used the throttle a lot to avoid braking as often as possible. The easiest way to overtake the other cars is late braking into the corners, especially at the end of the long straight.

Too bad the fun didn´t last very long, completed the mission in the second try with a MOV of 1,5 sec. With some more practice you can easily win this one with a huge margin. May be one day I will do it again.

29 missions down, 5 to go...
 
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Phew! Finally won this mission and won the Jay Leno Tank Car. No more missions to do! Ta-da! :D

Wow Nenad, this was the last mission I did to! Something about it just seemed off to me...
 
Just tried this mission a few dozen times, after taking a break from literally over a hundred goes at Mission 12...and still getting nowhere.

A couple of things spring to mind...the sort of thing a racer might say over the headset to his pit crew...
"Remind me to strangle the idiot who bought the useless tyres on this damn thing"
"Oh, and find me the guy who set up the suspension for so much understeer...and see if you can find me the biggest heaviest spanner you can..."
"No no no...it's perfectly understandable that I get the 5 second penalty when that guy cuts in on my driving line and slams into me..."
"I'm never coming back to Paris again...."

...other than that...:scared:
 
Still flogging along at this one (given up on the GT40 at Laguna Seca for a while).

I'm starting to have my suspicions backed up with this one...you need a specific controller and there does seem to be different versions of the game depending on where you are.
I've watched that video above of the lap time and time again, and I've tried following as clean a line as possible through that first set of corners...all sorts of lines, all sorts of speeds, and even when I fluked the fastest one possible, the fifth place guy was still pulling away from me when I got onto the first short straight before the left hander. There seems to be no way, on my version, to catch and pass him in that first corner. Very odd. I notice a simply massive amount of understeer from that Puegeot as well...I mean, the slipping tyres on cobbles I can understand, but the understeer is just rediculous.
Cornering speeds throughout the lap...You mean a full-on rally car can't negotiate a tight hairpin bend at anything more than about 35kph without understeering straight off into a wall? Really?

On a lighter note, in real life I could imagine what a French crowd would do to organisers who would give a French car a penalty when some damn foriegner in a foreign car cuts thier driver off and the French car ends up with the penalty and the other car is allowed to go on it's merry way...:scared:

Back to it...must be about my fiftieth attempt now...:crazy:

EDIT: another couple of little things I noticed...anyone else with an overseas version seen the same?
1: The severe dip in the tarmac at the end of the beginning couple of turns where you enter the first straight. Chucks you off line every time...and there isn't a real way to avoid it without running wider, which slows you down.
2: The amount of understeer on the left off the first straight...astonishing!
3: The rediculously low speed the car has to go round the tight hairpin and again the level of understeer shown there...double astonishing!
4: I've noticed people saying enter the kink in the long straight doing up near 180kph...how? On mine, understeer means it will slide straight out towards the wall on the right...and believe me, I've tried maybe two dozen different entry lines so far.
5: in the video, the fifth place car is overtaken just after the left hander near the start...once again, how can you carry enough speed to do this after the "s-bends" after the finishing lines?

I really don't want to have to invest a large amount of money in a steering wheel setup...and to be blunt you shouldn't have to just to play the game without endless frustration.

Codebreaker here I come...:yuck:
 
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Still flogging along at this one (given up on the GT40 at Laguna Seca for a while).

I'm starting to have my suspicions backed up with this one...you need a specific controller and there does seem to be different versions of the game depending on where you are.
I've watched that video above of the lap time and time again, and I've tried following as clean a line as possible through that first set of corners...all sorts of lines, all sorts of speeds, and even when I fluked the fastest one possible, the fifth place guy was still pulling away from me when I got onto the first short straight before the left hander. There seems to be no way, on my version, to catch and pass him in that first corner. Very odd. I notice a simply massive amount of understeer from that Puegeot as well...I mean, the slipping tyres on cobbles I can understand, but the understeer is just rediculous.
Cornering speeds throughout the lap...You mean a full-on rally car can't negotiate a tight hairpin bend at anything more than about 35kph without understeering straight off into a wall? Really?

On a lighter note, in real life I could imagine what a French crowd would do to organisers who would give a French car a penalty when some damn foriegner in a foreign car cuts thier driver off and the French car ends up with the penalty and the other car is allowed to go on it's merry way...:scared:

Back to it...must be about my fiftieth attempt now...:crazy:

EDIT: another couple of little things I noticed...anyone else with an overseas version seen the same?
1: The severe dip in the tarmac at the end of the beginning couple of turns where you enter the first straight. Chucks you off line every time...and there isn't a real way to avoid it without running wider, which slows you down.
2: The amount of understeer on the left off the first straight...astonishing!
3: The rediculously low speed the car has to go round the tight hairpin and again the level of understeer shown there...double astonishing!
4: I've noticed people saying enter the kink in the long straight doing up near 180kph...how? On mine, understeer means it will slide straight out towards the wall on the right...and believe me, I've tried maybe two dozen different entry lines so far.
5: in the video, the fifth place car is overtaken just after the left hander near the start...once again, how can you carry enough speed to do this after the "s-bends" after the finishing lines?

I really don't want to have to invest a large amount of money in a steering wheel setup...and to be blunt you shouldn't have to just to play the game without endless frustration.

Codebreaker here I come...:yuck:


Dude, forget the codebreaker. You didn't read or pay attention to what I wrote in your other thread. It sounds like you simply need practice at these tracks. Drop the missions for awhile and just practice driving around them. Being in a car which is similar to the one in the mission helps, but it's not completely necessary. Pay attention to where the best braking zones are, and also to the highest speed you can possibly carry the car thru corners without understeer. Pay attention to what gear you should be in.

In the process of practicing you become a better virtual driver. Using a codebreaker means you'll only be a lazy driver in the long run. Yes, practice seems boring at first, but as you hone your lap times lower and lower, that sense of boredom will eventually go away.

I did Mission 13 the other day (actually I did all missions 1 thru 24) and it took me 2 or 3 tries to get it done. Knowing the tracks back and forth is what helps most of all. Knowing the handling characteristics of the car in the Mission (or any car you're driving) is secondary to this.
 
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Yeah, it really is just your driving that's causing the problems. There are no differences between game versions - it's just that those who have done the mission have figured out how to deal with the understeer and the track's unevenness. I didn't use a wheel for my run, and neither did most people who have been successful (the wheel is actually of minimal help in GT4, which people never seem to realize when using it as an excuse). I'm sorry if I sound blunt, but that was a lot of unfounded complaining in one post.
 
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Let the record show I'm also a dual-shock user, NTSC/N. America. I tried driving with a wheel 3 years ago (in GT3) and did much much worse! I was so bad with a wheel, I gave it back to the store within a week to get my money back!

Back to it...must be about my fiftieth attempt now...:crazy:

EDIT: another couple of little things I noticed...anyone else with an overseas version seen the same?
1: The severe dip in the tarmac at the end of the beginning couple of turns where you enter the first straight. Chucks you off line every time...and there isn't a real way to avoid it without running wider, which slows you down.

Purposely going wide is a bad idea. You gotta get into the turn, back off (release) the throttle, let the bump "chuck" you. The car will be at the very limits of its tire's cornering capability and you may find yourself on the left side of the track about to rub against the barricade there after the bump chucks the car. You may even lightly rub here. This is okay. Just don't be going so fast that you bounce off this barricade, which can cost speed.

2: The amount of understeer on the left off the first straight...astonishing!

Practice helps avoid this. Knowing when to brake, how much to brake, when to let the throttle back in. Etc.

3: The rediculously low speed the car has to go round the tight hairpin and again the level of understeer shown there...double astonishing!

I've done this area in either 1st or 2nd gear. If you're understeering, it means you're going too fast and need to slow down. If you get the Peugeot lined-up correctly early, it's possible to blast out of this area very smoothly, in 1st or 2nd gear, and avoid understeer. Again, if you do it right it means you'll almost be touching the barricade on the left as you leave. Throttle-manipulating is key, as well as knowing when to steer-in and let the steering back off.

4: I've noticed people saying enter the kink in the long straight doing up near 180kph...how? On mine, understeer means it will slide straight out towards the wall on the right...and believe me, I've tried maybe two dozen different entry lines so far.

I usually start turning-in to the left early, as though I'm aiming (sort of) for the inside rumble strip. Just as the curve is approaching, I'll suddenly brake heavily and downshift. It doesn't take much braking action, and the Pug will still be carrying alot of speed. As you leave this curve, don't give throttle (obviously) until you're sure the car isn't going to understeer into the guardrail on the far right.

Again, this takes practice. Lots and lots of practice. And I grit my teeth every time this area comes up, I'm not gonna lie. I don't know how fast I was going when I did M13 the other day. 180 kph = @ 111 mph, and I don't think I was going THIS fast! 180 kph might be the absolute fastest a Mission driver has ever accomplished, but it's definitely not necessary to be going this fast to pass the mission.

5: in the video, the fifth place car is overtaken just after the left hander near the start...once again, how can you carry enough speed to do this after the "s-bends" after the finishing lines?

:

Hmmm, I don't know about that. I remember overtaking the 5th place car at a couple different areas much later than this. I'm not sure what the video shows but there is some leeway here.

Like I said, I just did this test the other day, like 3 times in a row. I overtook the 5th place car down the short straight between the 4th and 5th turns, but later blew it at some point. When I started the mission over, I overtook the 5th place car later--between turns 6 and 7 (the other short straight after the dual-chicane area). Despite passing him later than previous, I still managed to kill Mission 13.

HTH. And sorry if we're being blunt, but we've all been here before. The main solution is practice practice practice, getting to KNOW the track.
 
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I've been trying a few differnet ways of "driving" and actually found that with our wide screen TV, sitting close to the screen and using the "dashboard" view actually made it a lot easier...that's probably coming from my real motor racing background.

This brings up something I've wondered about since starting the Missions...who is the game aimed at? I'm 45 and started playing the game as soon as it came out years back, and with an actual steering wheel in my hand and a real car or bike beneath me, I'm pretty good...not great, but better than average I suppose.
I've noticed guys saying they have no interest at all in motor racing "IRL"...and I think that might be part of my problem...I haven't been approaching it as a video game, but more as a "real driving simulator", and expected the cars to act accordingly...it probably isn't aimed for someone who has driven a hell of a lot of the actual cars that are in the game (not the Le Mans ones of course...), but a lot of the Japanese ones, many of the European ones, some of the Yank ones, and all the Australian ones...and while most of them are pretty damn good, there are, let me assure you, a lot that will make you go "Hmm...don't actually remember it being that bad...".
Frankly, I still think the game should be for everyone who has spent the money on it...not leaving huge areas sealed off for the so-called "truly dedicated gamer" who is at a level most people cannot come near (in hours and literally dozens of tries, I can't get the split time down below 10.05 seconds at that first marker while following the fifth place guy), instead of allowing everyone to enjoy every part of it.

Going to go back and try a few more laps using my "new position" and see what happens...but at this stage, I still stand by my claim that it's more like "work" than "having fun"...:dopey:
 
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I've been trying a few differnet ways of "driving" and actually found that with our wide screen TV, sitting close to the screen and using the "dashboard" view actually made it a lot easier...that's probably coming from my real motor racing background.

This brings up something I've wondered about since starting the Missions...who is the game aimed at? I'm 45 and started playing the game as soon as it came out years back, and with an actual steering wheel in my hand and a real car or bike beneath me, I'm pretty good...not great, but better than average I suppose.
I've noticed guys saying they have no interest at all in motor racing "IRL"...and I think that might be part of my problem...I haven't been approaching it as a video game, but more as a "real driving simulator", and expected the cars to act accordingly...it probably isn't aimed for someone who has driven a hell of a lot of the actual cars that are in the game (not the Le Mans ones of course...), but a lot of the Japanese ones, many of the European ones, some of the Yank ones, and all the Australian ones...and while most of them are pretty damn good, there are, let me assure you, a lot that will make you go "Hmm...don't actually remember it being that bad...".
Frankly, I still think the game should be for everyone who has spent the money on it...not leaving huge areas sealed off for the so-called "truly dedicated gamer" who is at a level most people cannot come near (in hours and literally dozens of tries, I can't get the split time down below 10.05 seconds at that first marker while following the fifth place guy), instead of allowing everyone to enjoy every part of it.

Going to go back and try a few more laps using my "new position" and see what happens...but at this stage, I still stand by my claim that it's more like "work" than "having fun"...:dopey:

I use the roof view in GT4 personally, I think that's what you mean. There's also what I call the bumper view (where you can't see the car at all) and I only use that for the slalom license tests. I never use 3rd-person view; not for Missions or licenses anyways. It's just too inaccurate.

I would disagree that the game should be made easier so everyone can finish it. I would personally start complaining! :embarrassed: You can do it, Wombat, like I said you just need more practice. We have all been where you're at, trust me. And once you finish the Mission (and you will if you stick at it) you'll see that they're not impossible. Except the very last one :( Mission 34. That one was impossible until I cheated it!

I personally have an interest in racing "real-life", but I'm 44 and it's just not likely to happen, which I'm okay with. I don't need any broken bones or insurance premiums at my age, know what I mean? I had a '67 Mustang from ages 18 thru 23 and did my fair share of street racing.
 
Just tried this mission a few dozen times, after taking a break from literally over a hundred goes at Mission 12...and still getting nowhere.

A couple of things spring to mind...the sort of thing a racer might say over the headset to his pit crew...
"Remind me to strangle the idiot who bought the useless tyres on this damn thing"
"Oh, and find me the guy who set up the suspension for so much understeer...and see if you can find me the biggest heaviest spanner you can..."
"No no no...it's perfectly understandable that I get the 5 second penalty when that guy cuts in on my driving line and slams into me..."
"I'm never coming back to Paris again...."

...other than that...:scared:

Stupid ai's with their 5 sec penalties its the same with the rallies what keeps me sane while doing these type of missions is that if you hit them hard enough in the right spot you'll be laughin' and he'll be throttling it into a wall!💡
 
You can do it. I struggled for days with this one. Parnelli and others encouraged me. I'm not the best, but practice makes it in the end. If you read mission 11, i couldn't get that right. It took me over 3,000 attempts, but I got it in the end. Listen to Parnelli, and Austin343, they are right, they know what they are talking about. They helped me loads. Now I go and do 11 just for fun. 13, you will get it. Believe me.
 
Wow. Just over three weeks of attempts. I got it on Tuesday March 8. I actually switched to Automatic Transmission because with manual I seemed to lose too much time in the twisty bits. With Manual I could make better time down the bent main straight, and I think exit the last corner faster. At time the Automatic Transmission seems to act a bit like traction control. But mostly I could concentrate just on fine steering control through the twisty bits.

I began noticing how long it took me to get back to times I had achieved the day before. So on this Monday and Tuesday I actually put it one or two runs before work.

In the evening of March 8 I had done a +0.007, so I kept persisting, staying up a little late. Eventually I won by -1.413, with a time just under 4:37.

I got by Xsara early, before the chicane. Lancer in the first left after the bent main straight. I actually didn't get by Corolla until entering the boot at the far end on lap 2, with a little roughness. And I got by the Escort at the end of the bent main straight. It's so nice when you can clearly see the Focus at the start of lap 3. I closed up slightly, and saw just under two seconds at the last checkpoint. I'd altready blown that once of course. I passed the Focus on the first left after the bent main straight; it seemed a little risky, but it wasn't clear I could merely follow it and win on the last corner (I'd lost once that way, remember).

If I had continued to have trouble, I might have gone back to MT. With MT I had actually passed the Escort at the middle of lap 2 a couple of times, but couldn't close on the Focus??? I might give it a try some time. If it was easier to switch between the two, I might have tried alternating?

It seems important to remember a few places to go fast, even when there's no visible car to chase. I guess that's pretty obvious. In and out of the chicanes. An appropriate compromise between conscious effort and subconscious learning. With AT it was difficult to persuade the computer not to shift down to 4th on the bend in the main straight. But it seemed important to keep it in 5th. With MT I'd actually shift up to 6th early, and downshift for the bend.

And on the last few runs, I did start becoming conscious of the need to relax a bit in a few places. "Avoid over-driving" as someone said.

66 hours? Could be about 1000 attempts if you count abandons. Towards the end I abandoned a lot. The worst thing about the penalties is how inconsistent they are. Some ridiculous actions don't get one, but sometimes the AI nicks you just slightly, and you get the penalty! But early on you should run runs to the end. The practice you get passing one car can be applied to other cars in the same place.

It seems easy to get out of shape for the esses after the start. Often you've passed AI and want to get ahead, But you need to take it easy entering, whether or not there's AI nearby. All-in-all entering those esses isn't as good a place to pass as it seems.
 
In the evening of March 8 I had done a +0.007, so I kept persisting, staying up a little late

Don't ya hate that? Good job, SW, always feels good to complete a mission.

Some ridiculous actions don't get one, but sometimes the AI nicks you just slightly, and you get the penalty!

This is so annoying. I'm hoping that since Kazunori is becoming more and more involved with real-life racing he'll get more insterested in the way penalties are supposed to work in the game.
 
AAARRRGH I HATE THIS 🤬 MISSION!!! FIRST THEY GIVE ME A 🤬 CAR, NOW THE 🤬 AI ARE FORCING ME INTO WALLS

*UPDATE*

YES!!! .133 SECOND DIFFERENCE :)
 
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