Newbie needs an All-rounder Vehicle

[peterhuh]

Hi!
I'm totally a newbie when comes to cars. Can you guys recommend me a vehicle that will help me get thru most of the races? Maybe a balance between dirfting and gripping would be da best!

Oh, and not those cars that slows down alot after a sharp turn. Thanks! ^^

 

[jwane]

Look through here and see what people are using.

 

[Smallhorses]

In short, no.

There is no magic vehicle for GT4.
I could recommend the Formula GT since it's quick, but try entering it into most races and you're out of luck! e.g. It's not Front wheel drive so you can't do the FF Challenge in it, it's not a truck so you can't do the Sport Truck Races in it, you can't fit Sports or normal tyres to it so you can't do any race with a restriction on tyre types, try entering any of the manufacturer races, and hey, guess what? It's not eligible for a Subaru 360 race! Fancy that?!!!

There's lots of choice in GT4 and some of the races are designed to force you to use the range of vehicles, that PD invested huge amounts of time in creating, in order to complete the game which is great!

If you're looking to do GT4 quickly and on a minimal spending budget, then I'd suggest you go to the race report forum and search on the word "Scrooge"!
A member here went to great lengths to complete the game in this fashion and submitted tonnes of evidence in the form of reports titled "Scrooge does GT4..." in about 4 parts. Find them and have a read. You'll be good to go!

*edit* Aaargh! Tree'd by our esteemed 100,000th member! 👍

 

[VTiRoj]

Drifting will do you no good in a race too, you'll wear out your tyres quicker, not to mention if you get the drift wrong, it might be race over.

I'd say a NSX will get you through most races. MR races, Japanese races (if its an old NSX you can enter the 90's challenge), Type R races (if its a Type R obviously ), NA races, Tuner Cup (you may need to spend a fair bit on the car at this point), S-tyre Endurance races, Sunday Cup, Clubman Cup, Supercar races and the list could go on...

Bottom line is, some cars can do more races than others, but there is, as Smallhorses said, no magic car that can enter every race. But there are a selection of cars that can do a fair few races between them. 👍

The FGT might as well be the magic car for R-tyre races though.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Hi!
I'm totally a newbie when comes to cars. Can you guys recommend me a vehicle that will help me get thru most of the races?

The beauty of a game like GT4 is you've got several hundred cars to play around with. Personally, I'd want to explore many of them, but it's your game....

As the other guys have said, you're simply not gonna find one car that will do almost every race series. This is GT4, not GT2. It is possible to find a car that will do several series, however. I'll leave some mystery here and let you explore, heh heh...

Maybe a balance between dirfting and gripping would be da best!

Dirfting, eh?

...have you tried GT4 yet? If you haven't you're in for some surprises. Drifting in particular can take months to get good at. Grip-racing is what you oughta strive for in your early days. But we'll be honest: you'll have your hands full just learning GT4's physics. What other racing games have you tried, sir?

Oh, and not those cars that slows down alot after a sharp turn. Thanks! ^^

....not sure what you mean. ANY car is gonna need to slow down a lot in a sharp turn. Otherwise you'll wind up understeering or power-sliding till you go off-track if you don't slow down.

 

[Open Addict]

Special conditions hall = Dodge Ram (Suzuki GSX/R4 for tarmac)
that is 63 races out of 522. not bad

 

[CroKidile]

The Cadillac Cien you win in the second Special condition event is a good starter car since it is easy to gain and its very powerful

 

[peterhuh]

wow, thanks for all the replies! Well, i'm not trying to spend the least amount of money. The point is there are simply too many cars in GT4 that had me lost in the sea of choices. I just need a all-rounder car. Something to start with. Learning the physics of GT4, before trying out other variations from there. Maybe a small group of vehicles will do just fine!

Btw, a full left on the Analog Controller is equals to how many degree turn on the real steering wheel?

 

[Skygrasper550]

Something to start with. Learning the physics of GT4, before trying out other variations from there.

hmm.., i would personally recommend an AWD such as the Lancer Evo I or a RWD such as a Mazda RX-7 FC. Both cars are easy to use, and are good starter cars..,

Btw, a full left on the Analog Controller is equals to how many degree turn on the real steering wheel?

that i do not know. what i do know is you need to control the steering in order to avoid understeer..,

 

[Duke]

wow, thanks for all the replies! Well, i'm not trying to spend the least amount of money. The point is there are simply too many cars in GT4 that had me lost in the sea of choices. I just need a all-rounder car. Something to start with. Learning the physics of GT4, before trying out other variations from there. Maybe a small group of vehicles will do just fine!

Btw, a full left on the Analog Controller is equals to how many degree turn on the real steering wheel?

Well, that's hard to tell, but it is equivalent to full left lock, so that would be anywhere from 360-540 degrees. It's not exactly linear, however.

For a good all-rounder, I would investigate the '90/00s Camaro SS or Z28. It's the best bang for the cheap buck in the game, pretty much, and makes a very good platform on which to experiment with suspension tuning.

 

[wfooshee]

Btw, a full left on the Analog Controller is equals to how many degree turn on the real steering wheel?

Sorry, I can't help it:

Um, I'd guess full left. Like all the way turned. As in can't turn any further.

Full right is probably the same, but the other direction.

Center, as in not pressed to either side, should be straight ahead.

And you can use any of the points in between, as well, and have just a little bit of steering.



Ooh! Ooh! Full forward on the right stick is probably about the same as mashing the gas pedal all the way to the floor, too!

I'll leave it up to the reader to figure out full back on the right stick. . . . .

In a serious mode, there is no "degrees" measurement of a steering wheel. Different cars have a different amount of steering input needed to reach a given steering angle, and different cars have a different maximum steering angle available. No fixed relationship.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

wow, thanks for all the replies! Well, i'm not trying to spend the least amount of money. The point is there are simply too many cars in GT4 that had me lost in the sea of choices. I just need a all-rounder car. Something to start with. Learning the physics of GT4, before trying out other variations from there. Maybe a small group of vehicles will do just fine!

OKay, well now that you put it that way here you go. 2 great "starters", both which are cheap and can be found in the used lots.

Front drive: Mitsubishi FTO

Rear drive: Nissan Silvia Q's or 240SX

Both are lowish in power but you'll have bucket-loads of handling. My opinion is they should be easy to drive for a newb because these were 2 early choices of mine way back in my GT1 days. 👍

Btw, a full left on the Analog Controller is equals to how many degree turn on the real steering wheel?

Real steering wheel from a real car? Or a videogame steering wheel?

Real-life cars vary. Some have very quick steering and some have relatively slower "grandfather" type steering boxes.

A videogame steering wheel is different, though. It depens on the make & model I guess.

But when you're using the dual-shock, keep this in mind: Steering input depends how fast you're going. If you're driving very slow (in the game), a full-left on the analog stick will = a full left on a steering wheel.

But when you're going faster (like thru most of Route 246 for instance) a full left on the analog won't equal a full left of steering (real-life or videogame steering) anymore. Otherwise, you'd wind up flipping over at high speed.

It's kinda screwy the way they have the dual-shock steering set up, but under the circumstances (you're steering with your THUMB instead of your arms & hands) it's the best PD can do to simulate.

 

[Ignignoc N Err]

I've gotta agree with Parnelli's advocacy of the Silvia or 240SX. Both are stable, mild cars that can let you iron out your driving skills with little worry of car quirks. It wouldn't hurt to test your skills on a compact, technical course like Tsukuba to get used to finding The Line, cornering dynamics (such as entry, apex and exit) and overtaking within opportunity (track meet works well here).

I too think that Tsukuba is great for honing your skills and testing your set-ups.
A few more cars that I think are ideal for beginners would be a MINI Mini One for a front drive, A BMW 120i for a rear, and to get the feel of a mid engine car without having to deal with the super cars, an '85 Toyota MR2. All three will make for fun learning at Tsukuba.
For learning Nurburgring I used the '62 Lotus Elan. It's grip is so tenacious you can concentrate on the track and not the car. Get the sport exhaust and it's a glorious learning experience.
👍

There's not one little bit of that that I can disagree with. However, I would like to offer up some alternatives that may be a bit easier on the wallet (considering that we're discussing a beginner...) as well as being my favorites.
RWD: Mazda Miata; the '89 version in the used lot is VERY cheap, yet this is one of the most agile (although underpowered) little spiders in the game, with the notable exception of the aforementioned Elan. If you don't drive like a maniac, it should never get away from you, which will help you identify driver errors.
FWD: Autobianchi Abarth (won from Sunday Cup) or VW Lupo (won from B-License, all bronze); you can't beat the price of a free car, and these two light, agile FWD's will quickly teach you how to make the most use of diving into corners, as well as when to get into the throttle on exit (when the wheels are mostly straight). Not terribly powerful, but that's not what you need when you're first getting started.
Mid-Engine: I got nothing. The MR2 is a great suggestion, and it's dead-on in my book!👍
4WD: There is a Subaru Impreza Sedan (WRX, Version IV) for sale from time to time in the used lots for a paltry 10K (check the guides for dates). These tend to be very good 4WD's, in general, and the power shouldn't be too much for you, especially with it's 1250kg curb weight. Prepare for some understeer while grip-racing, though.

 

[Sriram95]

A 4WD Japanese car is a good choice - Mitsubishi Evo 8 MR GSR ( thats what I use to drift and race, fully modifiable, customizeable), Nissan Skyline, Sabaru Impreza STI, Mazda RX7, Honda NXS or a Toyota Supra

 

[jwane]

I too think that Tsukuba is great for honing your skills and testing your set-ups.
A few more cars that I think are ideal for beginners would be a MINI Mini One for a front drive, A BMW 120i for a rear, and to get the feel of a mid engine car without having to deal with the super cars, an '85 Toyota MR2. All three will make for fun learning at Tsukuba.
For learning Nurburgring I used the '62 Lotus Elan. It's grip is so tenacious you can concentrate on the track and not the car. Get the sport exhaust and it's a glorious learning experience.
👍

 

[Kent]

With races for specific models you're going to have to find something to fit the race. Since that's going to be very specific for each race, I'd suggest following the advice of smallhorses and using the "scrooge" approach (although I'm not familiar with the document).

Good luck...

 

[mafia_boy]

OKay, well now that you put it that way here you go. 2 great "starters", both which are cheap and can be found in the used lots.

Front drive: Mitsubishi FTO

Rear drive: Nissan Silvia Q's or 240SX

Both are lowish in power but you'll have bucket-loads of handling. My opinion is they should be easy to drive for a newb because these were 2 early choices of mine way back in my GT1 days. 👍

I've gotta agree with Parnelli's advocacy of the Silvia or 240SX. Both are stable, mild cars that can let you iron out your driving skills with little worry of car quirks.

And on that note, may I suggest taking my done up S14 Q's for a rap (2nd car in the list here!!) or using the S13 setup (can't remember if it's K or Q) that Rotary Junkie and the other tuners have perfected over time. Both cars are very well setup for all conditions with only S3 rubber. With R3's on it, my car has won at Citta Di Aria on Hard against the WRC Lancer '03 and also the El Capitan Enduro on S3's with no real problems.

 

[opendriver]

Overall, I went with the Impreza Spec. C, that was the first car I bought. Its fast, handles great, (somewhat) good on tires and you can easily learn how to drive it