Mission 14 - Seattle Superbird

[PARAGON GT]

I concur with P.B.. Take the time to learn to drive a manual. It will make a tremendous difference in your driving style. Besides, who drives a race car with an automatic?

I was an auto driver too. Up through GT3 if I remember right. I don't think that I could ever go back to driving an Auto trans again. For me there is a disconnected feeling while driving an auto. With a manual, you feel more in tune with the car because you are literally controlling more aspects of the car.

As a starter car I would suggest a used S2000. Its higher RPM's will allow you to experiment with its power band more. And you can pick and choose when you want to shift. And even better, its not a lot of car to keep control of.

Couple tips.
When breaking, brake first, then downshift. <-- this is important. If you can bring down the car to the speed that you want to take the corner in, you can then find the gear that will keep your RPM's low enough to exit, with out bouncing off the rev limiter.
While you practice, use the dummy light in the center of the tac and speedo. Its a good reference.

Once you learn this it might make this mission a little easier to run through. I might even try it again to see if there is something that I can add to pass it.

 

[Popeye]

THanks Paragon. I welcome all the advice and help going, because your signature is so true.

 

[Diego440]

I would also recommend that if you're going to floor it, do so on 3rd gear, never on 1st or 2nd, since you'll just get massive wheelspin and the car has more than enough power to get going in 3rd from a relatively low speed.

Incidentally, I've been playing GT4 for almost everyday during the last 3 years (it's the only game I play, btw) and I recently tried out this mission and it took me about eight tries... the Superbird really corners like a cargo ship.

 

[PARAGON GT]

THanks Paragon. I welcome all the advice and help going, because your signature is so true.

Thank you. I appreciate the compliment. It took a while to formulate and write out.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

I concur with P.B.. Take the time to learn to drive a manual. It will make a tremendous difference in your driving style. Besides, who drives a race car with an automatic?

I was an auto driver too. Up through GT3 if I remember right. I don't think that I could ever go back to driving an Auto trans again. For me there is a disconnected feeling while driving an auto. With a manual, you feel more in tune with the car because you are literally controlling more aspects of the car.

I'm lucky because back in October of 2003 i was playing Ford Racing (before i got GT1). Very early, when i was very much a noob, i hit "MT" before a race instead of "AT". I didn't mean to do this, but once the race started i was like "ah, what the hey!"

...so that's how i started learning. It kinda helps that my real-life car (actually the last 3) were all stickshifts.

I still occasionally game with an auto-tranny, tho...just for variety's sake, and also to "replicate" a driver who prefers autos. But not for llicenses or missions.

As a starter car I would suggest a used S2000. Its higher RPM's will allow you to experiment with its power band more. And you can pick and choose when you want to shift. And even better, its not a lot of car to keep control of.

Agreed. The torque doles out over a wide range of revs in an S2000, and its handling is very compliant also. 👍

Couple tips.
When breaking, brake first, then downshift. <-- this is important. If you can bring down the car to the speed that you want to take the corner in, you can then find the gear that will keep your RPM's low enough to exit, with out bouncing off the rev limiter.
While you practice, use the dummy light in the center of the tac and speedo. Its a good reference.

The "dummy light" isn't always accurate, but for someone who's learning, it does give at least some sort of reference.

But i find that 80% of the time, i brake later than the light indicates as it flashes. I'm rarely in the gear it suggests, too.

But that's GREAT advice about braking before downshifting! You get more control that way....

the Superbird really corners like a cargo ship.

 

[BAMALS1]

YES FINALLY!!!!!!!!! bY 2.360

 

[Popeye]

Congrats Bamals1. Well done.
I've been away working for a while, so I haven't had a chance to get to it, but I've gotten a few days off so time to get back to it.

 

[granturismohero]

All the cars in that race have mods that jack them up. The buick may be faster than the superbird, but everything else about the buick is worse. The brakes, turning, accelaration, ex. You can use that to advantage to win that race.

 

[Popeye]

Just got it done bu 0.225. Thank god for that.

 

[oldmodelt]

Just won. MOV .350. Took 2 days. Did arcade for 10 laps to practice my line each day to warmup. Ave 1:58.00 in arcade. Homework on 11 was a help. Corners corners corners! Ease into corners is a must. Otherwise with the N2 tires you are driving on ice. Also used AT. Yes it can be done. 31 out of 34 missions complete. Just 13, 15 and the dreaded 34 to go.

 

[oldmodelt]

NO problem, man. You aren't trying my patience at all. So dont worry about it. I'm not autistic, but i am a drug addict....recovering of course. Gt (and a few cool people in my life) help me stay out of trouble. 👍

I'm always here to try and answer questions, tho.

Actually now that i think of it, i'm not sure that the Superbird is on "bad" tires...i think it might just be on S2's, but with TCS on "5"(or whatever default is). Which is why it drives so bad.

Thanks for your help Parnelli.

 

[C-ZETA]

I find this mission UNFAIR. The Special has way more power than any of the opponents, and has much better stats.

 

[Open Addict]

I find this mission UNFAIR. The Special has way more power than any of the opponents, and has much better stats.

Power is not what it is cracked up to be, especially if you cant turn.

So the special has more power and better stats, that's what make's it a challenge. Once you learn how to drive the Superbird, it catches the special. All you need is a little finese and patience. You CAN catch and pass him.

 

[oldmodelt]

Manual will help immensely once you get the hang of it, since you can control how much speed you carry in and out of corners better without the car shifting gears unneccesarily; although i think learning to use manual while you're attempting the missions might lead to lots of frustration. You're gonna need to study and understand engine power-bands and when it is best to shift gears, because it varies from car to car. You can get the best speed from certain areas of your engine's revs, and that's the main benefit of manual gearboxes, but it's not something you'll learn overnight.

It might be better if you take a month or so (i'm being serious) and just do some races & practices while getting used to the manual system. That way you start to learn and even enjoy how manuals work, while you get better at shifting them. As you know, the missions can be frustrating enough, even for pros. Whatever tho, it's your game.

Another AT guy. Will take next mos or two to go back to MT basics. Do you rec the R3 stick for acc/brake or to stick with the buttons. Want to gold the tests and have a chance at #34. One of 3 I haven't finished yet. Thanks for any help you can give.

I find this mission UNFAIR. The Special has way more power than any of the opponents, and has much better stats.

Ditto what Open Addict says. Your advantage is in the corners. Plenty of them. And 3 laps to do it in. I took my time and didn't catch the Special until the last corner on the inside and I use AT. Yes, Parnelli Bone I will change with your help!

 

[wfooshee]

The special has way more power, but it has astonishingly poor braking and cannot turn for anything, from those skinny-ass dragster front tires, and probably weight distribution, too.

I passed it under the freeway before going up the jumps hill on the third lap of my run. It kept catching me but had to brake much earlier than me for the turns. Especially after the long run past the stadium, on that downhill to the hard right, it was right on my butt, then suddenly slowed, a long time before I had to get on the brakes.

It accelerates in a straight line very well. Duh, it's a dragster! It slows down and turns very poorly, and that's its weakness.

Once you're by it, it's not hard to stay ahead of it.

BTW, automatic.

My video is in post #73. You can see that I almost passed the Special going under the freeway at the end of lap 2, and then he left me for dead on the front straight. Yet I had to take avoiding action at the end of the front straight to keep from ramming him in the back. Why? Because he has such bad brakes, he'd been slowing down while I was still running down the straight. The rest of lap 3 you can see me pulling away in the twisties and being caught up on the straights, until he has to brake sooner and drop back.

 

[Austin343]

The weird thing is that the Buick doesn't brake or turn badly. In fact, it does both unrealistically well, because its attributes that wfooshee described should make it not handle well at all. The only reason it's so slow is because the AI is evidently set on the equivalent of B-Spec 1, "Slow." If you were driving it, you would demolish the Superbird in the corners because it has so much more grip than that car. The AI just doesn't make use of it.

 

[wfooshee]

I've never actually driven it, it's not in my garage. Maybe it's set that way in the mission to be more representative of a dragster-style car.

 

[DVNTST8]

43 tries not counting restarts due to penalties...finally.


Now if I could only figure out the dang rallys.

 

[Austin343]

I did a clean run today at this mission that ranks second on GTRP, behind only holl01; if only my pass of the Buick and third lap were neater, I might have had a chance to beat his time. It's strange to see me coasting for so long behind AI cars on a couple occasions, but doing so is the fastest way to make a clean pass.

 

[COOLfiat]

I don't see myself running such a clean lap.LOL

 

[SportWagon]

This mission may be truly impossible for me. Sample videos for other missions show wins by many seconds, but the ones I find for this one are very close. Missions others can win by a large margin I can only win by a small margin. That's just Youtube, though, because the links on the first page don't work on the setup I use when I remember to look. Some descriptions say some people do much better.

I can currently reliably come second by between 8 and 10 seconds, with a best of about 6.5 seconds.

My first lap isn't always too different from demos or other reports. I'm usually in 3rd place, and rarely persist if I'm not. I occasionally pass the Super Bee early in lap 2, but sometimes I have more difficulty. Funny thing is, it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference how early I pass 5th place because I'll usually lose any gains passing 4th place.

Advice to stay in 3rd gear sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't. The demo I found won even though he used 1st gear occasionally. But perhaps he offset that with his other skills.

[Edit: only just managed to view the 5:53.4 demo two posts up... It has a different approach. 9 seconds is still much closer than people manage in some other missions, though].

I think I'll do a many-lap arcade mode race tonight to try to get the flow. It's a pity that the lap time recording is worse when you go over 9 laps in length.

You pass the start line at about 6 seconds. You need to achieve a time better than 6:02.xxx. So you need to be able to get lap times of about 5:56 / 3 or 1:58.6 to win.

Yup, that's what
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=68810&page=2#post2335134
says.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

The Superbird one is tough, but not impossible. You gotta brake really early. And DO NOT brake while steering. You gotta get all your braking done and then steer. Maybe a minor brake-tap in the turn if you need it. But steering while braking heavily is just understeer-city.

But the thing is the Ai doesn't take those corners as well as we can. Especially the leading Buick Special. It blasts down those straights but can barely make the corners. So that's the best place to pick up speed, the turns.

You'll get it SW.

 

[Skython]

The superbird has probably the best turning in the field, so you use that to your advantage, I picked it up quickly and won after 3 tries. The Buick is actually really slow through the corners, I gained about 1 or 2 seconds in one corner.

The best way for me was, as Parnelli Bone said, DO NOT brake and steer. But I also say through some turns, taking it easy is the best option, mainly through from after the corner after the back straight until the next lap, but don't take it too easy.

 

[SportWagon]

I actually found putting on more gas mid-corner decreases understeer in many case? A lot more scientific now, but not really any closer. Though more reliably at about 7 seconds.

 

[AlexGTV]

I find one important corner is 7. Don't be lurred to follow the slow - following the road - racing line of other cars. Instead link corner 6 and the curbs before 7 with a straight line and clip the apex. Do it three times. Win.

 

[SportWagon]

That's the last right-hand turn before the left-handers which end with the internal hairpin?

Yup, I'm beginning to gain many lengths there, and figure out how to sneak by without getting a penalty. Line up, accelerate, and come out very close to the left-hand wall.

 

[AlexGTV]

^&#933;ep that's it. Also a nice overtaking spot.

 

[SportWagon]

Well, 20 some days later, and I finally sort of cheated.

I insinuated the Buick into that little parking area at the last hairpin, without getting a penalty, and he couldn't catch me. I did 6:03.798, 1.25 seconds slower than a normal Buick pace, and he was an additional 1.129 behind me.

At the last checkpoint I was +1.584. Last night I'd had a run where I was +1.593; I couldn't get level with him, and then, while trying to record a nice close loss, I hit the kerbs wrong in the final chicane and ended up going nose first into the outside barrier. I took a while deciding what to do, and decided to finish and keep the replay for reference. So I ended up 3rd, about 17 seconds back.

It takes a lot of practice to get even that close, of course.

The weirdest thing is I can't tell when I'm going fast or slow.
You make a lot of time relative to the AI in the run towards the final hairpin.
When taking the right-hand bend at the top of the hill, it doesn't seem worth trying to get to the left for a traditional racing line; you can get messed up by the bumps, I think.

This will need to do for now; I need to catch up on my sleep tonight. I'll see if I can manage to keep playing a bit over the next few days to try for a cleaner, faster, win. But I'm not positive I'll have the interest.

 

[F310B]

I find it's easy if you drive solid, until the final lap, where you should catch the 1st placed car at the the left hander before the long straight (about halfway throught eh lap). Lump it down the inside and you should be okay. I just drove this myself and it's fine, you don't get a penalty as long as you make him turn into you.

Just did a run and cruised to victory by 2.4 seconds. Lifted off well before the finish as well. Plus I was actually quite drunk. May I recommend manual gears to anyone, it's so much easier, especially in slow corners.

Earlier I was winning an enduro driving the Minolta, except with sports tyres (medium) for the race. Changing down mid-corner is a great way to turn the car. I was winning by 30 seconds or more against the Mazda 787B at Infineon raceway until I quit. It's actually quite a cool challenge. I mean, it's not that hard to beat the computer, even with sports tyres. Run 1:22s at Infineon with sports tyres and you win easily, even against the Mazda 787B. But I guess the point is, manual gears is faster and easier. A lot faster and a lot easier.