Official Mission Hall Thread (help, hints, general discussion, etc.)

[D_Logan]

Raced for about 6 hours Friday on the Nurb w/ the SLR McLaren...best time so far is 7'22...I suck. Oh well, back at it when I get off of work tonight. I WILL BEAT IT , eventually

 

[Rockhound18]

I cannot stress enough, M34 is all about keeping it on the track. If you can keep it on the track without granny-ing it for 13 miles, you stand a chance.

However, you do have to run pretty damn fast... but dont psych yourself out thinking you have to go balls out, bc you dont. If you find yourself going off course (unintentionally) then you are going to hard. Pull it back just a little bit at that part. Even without a great run, if I run consistently on course I still pass the 5th place car on the straight before the karussel.

Dont do stupid things like try to pass a car mid turn. Just let off and then pass on exit. There are no cars in the mission which hold a candle to the SLR on a straight of any length.

Its very do-able once you get the feel for the car. Just make sure you use your brakes, and use them early.

Perhaps good practice would be to run many different cars on the ring with a good amount of HP. (im not saying LMPs, but GTCs and JGTCs and other production beasts) Instead of learning the car, you learn the course more. Once you know the course, it shouldnt take very long to figure out how to run the SLR at a consistent, but high speed.

Keep at it everyone! and good luck 👍

 

[Fortis]

Driving manual HELPS A LOT!!
For example, on the one with the 3 lap race w/the 2000GT, I used manual so I could shift to 1st to get more power out of the turns...

Ok, I have to question your authenticity on this one. In first gear the 2000GT hits the rev limiter at 36 mph, which is too slow to be competitive around New York's technical turns (I'm talking about the series of turns you hit going reverse after the little straight at the top of the map) and win the mission. I know this because this mission is kicking my ass and after downloading daan's video I realize how much I suck.

I think I can safely say that I will never ever reach 100% in this game, there are entire threads devoted to M34 and I can't even get past number 11. I just wish PD didn't make the cars worse in the driving missions than they are straight out of the dealer. I mean....are they trying to get people to break their controllers?

👍 Good luck to people trying M34, I'll never be able to beat it

 

[hispeed]

For a while I thought the missions from 11-34 were close to impossible. Got stuck on 11 a long time, went on, did the nissan z race, much easier, slipstream, no problem, 787B at laguna seca -> did it on 3rd try.
The hardest missions are tough, but as you grow more familiar with the car&track, you'll see that your racing just a little bit better each time.

All missions can be done in Auto gear mode, but Manual gives more control, especially when not to shift (before a tight corner, in a corner or at the bottom of a steep climb). If you have to do it in auto, learn how to "hold" current gear by pressing L2, this can able you to gain more speed in some straights, and prevent shifting as mentioned above.

Don't give up, but it can be healthy to take a break, have a coffe, go for a walk, talk to other people IRL, pay attention to your family........

 

[KaffeinE 86]

I haven't even tried 34 yet, but the three-lap ones, especially with the 2000GT, seem impossible to me. Do you just have to find a really good line and use uber-good technique?

I can do the one-lap magics, probably because I only have to be fast for one lap. Three laps triples the time I have to make a mistake.

I found that it helps to practice in arcade mode, using the same car with the assists on and with the worst tires available. That way, when I try the real mission, I can control the car better.

 

[HoWheels]

Don't give up, but it can be healthy to take a break, have a coffe, go for a walk, talk to other people IRL, pay attention to your family........

Precisely ... I was on a 4-5 hr / day habit for a while (on top of a full time job), but Mission 34 has given me good reason to cool off a little bit.

Now I've got it down to playing a few hours every Sunday, only on Mission 34.
I've been widdling the time gap week by week.
First attempt +34 seconds
then + 29
+23
+18
+12
+9
+8
now I'm +7, and it seems like the closer I get to winning, the more room for improvement I see.

-a

 

[Rockhound18]

This M34 is so much fun to repeat once you can beat it!

It never gets "easy," so it keeps you heart pumping when you are looking to set your new personal best, which I just did.

Here are my split times:
+123.00 (start)
T1 +1'48.880
T2 +1'40.291
T3 +1'30.067
T4 +1'16.971
T5 +1'05.099
T6 +0'53.670
Passed the Merc. SL65 AMG before entering Klostertal
T7 +36.602
Passed the Merc. SL500 between Hedwigshohe and Wippermann
T8 +28.139
T9 +21.585
Passed the Merc. 190 E 2.5 - 16 Evo. before entering Schwalbenschwanz (2nd concrete turn)
T10 +10.445
Passed the Merc. SLK 230 Komp. at Antoniusbuche (base of uphill on straight)
T11 +2.134
Passed the Merc. 300 SL Coupe at bottom of hill between Tiergarten and Hohenrain Schikane
T12 -4.737
Total: 9'09.452 (7'06.452 adj.)

I saved that replay for sure! Now I must go watch it!
PS if you don't know where the turns are located, check out the map on p.7
http://gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=53827&page=7&pp=20
Klostertal is before the Karussel.
Second pass is just after T7 after the S before the right hander.
Schwalbenshwanz (2nd conrete curve) is pretty obvious.
The last 2 passes were on the straight (before the big uphill, and then at the bottom of the hill after Tiergarten)

I wish I had a way to share this video with you guys, but I don't have any devices to upload videos of a mem card. (could i use a USB flash memory device?)

 

[G.T]

No, you can't use a USB Flash memory device to save your replay.

 

[aliraza]

i finished 34 recently, had a good 100 tries, but when the lap started to work, you can just feel its gonna go well, and its soooo hard to compose yourself! But once you'd done it, you felt like a driving champ, and deservedly!!
34 was actually my penultimate, still got 14 i think the one with the Superbird. All the other hard missions i didnt find too bad, such as the 2000gt, as you knew where you could improve, and it was just putting all the bits together. This last mission im on, i just HATE the car, and im just in pains tryin to motivate myself to do it. any tips for this one, apart from repeat!!!
edit: i just finished it, had some spare time, gave it a shot, won!

i actually got a few weeks of exams coming up, so gonna really sit down and play the game after this, still only on 15.5%.
also, couldnt find this in the search, any car tips for gettin 200 A-Spec on the last few series in Professional, the Supercar and GT World?

 

[The_1_GT_Master]

No, you can't use a USB Flash memory device to save your replay.

Can you not transfer the replay file like you do a gamesave file using AR max evo. Then just post the replay file and transfer back to another ps2 using ar max again?? I haven't tried this yet but it seems pretty logical because the replay files are visible when copying gamesaves to the usb pen..
And mission 34 was a living nightmare for me....
the one with the superbird wasn't much better either.

 

[Toshi]

I am 0.955 seconds away from beating Mission 34... so close yet so far. T10 split typically is 15-17 seconds so I have some definite room for improvement on the 2nd half of the Ring.

 

[Wall_Rider]

Well, after what seemed like an eternity; I finally got it(9:12.0)...After hundreds of attempts, and hundreds of practice laps, my hands are sore, and my controller is probably no good anymore since I've torqued it so much the past month. I was getting upset early this morning, because THREE consecutive times, I had finished less than .2 behind the '54, and twice, I was on a sure record-setting pace (probably around a 9:09 lap) but I choked and lost control on the backstretch due the the SLR's nonexistent high-speed stability.

But this should serve as hope everywhere because as far as skill goes, I'm a below average driver (king of the 1-pt. a-spec races), AND I was using a regular controller, AND I was using an automatic trans...and even I got past it, eventually...

I can't upload the replay, and even if i could, it's pretty ugly so I don't know what real help it would be...I was running what I thought was a pretty substandard lap (the last third of the track, I was about 3-4 secs behind the normal pace of dori san and the others), but I decided to continue anyways because I felt I needed practice on the last third...

But as luck would have it, I picked up a little more speed than I was expecting on the backstretch, so it dawned on me that IF i timed it right, and IF i could keep the car straight on the grass without braking, I could use the SLR as a guided missle, pinning that slow '54 to the wall and allowing me a clear shot to the finish line, despite the 5 sec pen (this is an exploit I perfected in GT3, and easily helped me get past missions 11, 12, and 14...if executed correctly, the 5 sec pen actually helps in hairpins turns, because it will slow you down to the proper speed while you knock that soulless drone car right off it's programmed racing line. The only real concern you have is making sure your car is pointed in the right direction after the collision).

LOL...after the little 'bump', the '54 ended up running something like a 9:20 while I got up and danced around the living room, yelling cuss words to no one in particular.

The only real advice I can offer to the average drivers like myself trying to get past the 1- and 3- lap missions is to know when to take a penalty...They are like personal fouls in basketball--There are good pens to take and bad ones to take...Not only can they help in some situations; there is also a very cathartic feeling about slamming a blocking, robotic, oh-so-perfect drone car into a deep wall, or into a sand trap. Specifically for mission 34, I have just a few things to add in addition to everyone else's advice:

1. don't fall into the habit of of conservative braking and scrubbing off too much speed in the turns--that was my #1 mistake, and until I realized it, I couldn't figure out why my seemingly 'perfect' laps couldn't get below 9:20. Experiment in practice and find out the maximum safe speed you can get through some turns with the proper line--it might actually surprise you. You can also powerslide through some long sweeping turns if you can do it consistently (I can't do it right all the time, but when I did, I gained a good amount of time.)

2. if you don't already do it, learn to use the manual transmission--Don't fall into my trap of being chained to the automatic...The SLR is a VERY poorly geared (final drive: 2.64) 'performance' car, and to make things worse, the car makes most of its power in the upper revs...proper use of the manual will make this MUCH easier.

3. Try not to force a pass...about 20 times the last two days, I was on an easy pace to finish the mission only to have the drones veer into my line, cut me off, or make me go off-track or spin out. Never forget: in all these missions and races, the drones are never 'racing', their sole purpose is to slow you up and protect the alpha car, and EVERY second you stay behind them is a second NOT being used to gain ground on the top dog. Find a safe area to pass, and ALWAYS assume that no matter which side you pass on, the drone will cut into your line, and prepare for what your next move might be.

4. Know when to cut the grass...depending on your speed and direction, cutting across the grass will not always save you time. Sometimes it is just better to concede the line if you are in a bad position, and build up more speed while staying on the asphalt. With exception of the chicane in the beginning, I always tried to 'save' the 3-4 later shortcuts, to use as my ace in the hole if I was behind the pace.

5. be extra cautious at high speed (+170 mph), or when driving over uneven parts of track, and on places where you catch air...a lot of demons live inside the track, and love to spin you out when you least expect it...

6. be optimistic and recognize progress. When I first started, I was about 60 seconds behind the '54. It took me a WEEK of work even before I could see another car and finish in 5th place....Try not to get too upset. If after a day of work you can only shave off a couple seconds, be happy with that, recognize that you're getting better and work with that rate of improvement. Read the advice of others and don't get discouraged. The mission is difficult, but NOT as impossible as it first seems. But it will take practice, persistence, close scrutiny of each lap run, in intimate knowledge of each .1 mile of track. What also helped for me was mentally splitting the race up into three parts: the first part was just catching up to the 5th place car, the second part was getting to the backstretch, and the last part was the backstretch and finish.

I also wanted to thank everyone for their advice/support....since I have finished all the missions, I can also porvide my input on the others.

 

[Fortis]

Well, after buying the 2000gt to use as my "practice car", and refining my braking and cornering techniques, coupled with the use of a manual transmission, I managed to beat mission 11. Actually it wasn't as hard as my mind made me think it was. I think I tried it a couple times at first and just because I wasn't way up the pack by lap 2 I psyched myself out and lost hope. I guess these things are designed so that you only pass the lead car at the very end of the race. Daan's video blows me out of the water, I only won by .549 seconds, but that's good enough for me!

Once I started getting good with my practice car I went back to beat it, and my time was down to +10 seconds, then +8 seconds, then +4, then +1 (which sucked because I could see him like 30 feet in front of me), and the next time I tried it I knew I had it halfway through.

I guess there's hope even for lousy drivers like me....

EDIT - OK, just beat mission12 and it only took about 20 minutes, and I beat it even though I went off into the sand at laguna seca more than once. Why the hell was 11 so much harder?

 

[Wall_Rider]

EDIT - OK, just beat mission12 and it only took about 20 minutes, and I beat it even though I went off into the sand at laguna seca more than once. Why the hell was 11 so much harder?

Some just are...I found out that it is much easier to 'bundle' the missions, i.e., do the ones that use the same track or type of car as a group, instead of just going in numerical order...I also did the ones with the older cars (mission 11 and the one with the Plymouth) together.

 

[pompey88]

I've done the 33 missions so far and have tried M34 only twice, but i think im going to leave it to the very last thing to do as im 91.3% done, then i will be even more happy when i have done it!

 

[gumpy]

Some just are...I found out that it is much easier to 'bundle' the missions, i.e., do the ones that use the same track or type of car as a group, instead of just going in numerical order...I also did the ones with the older cars (mission 11 and the one with the Plymouth) together.

I tried the Corvette C5R at Infineon and struggled a little. I then did the Cien and came back to the Corvette and found it ridiculously easy. Then I did the Audi at Infineon. Sound like a plan to me.

 

[hispeed]

EDIT - OK, just beat mission12 and it only took about 20 minutes, and I beat it even though I went off into the sand at laguna seca more than once. Why the hell was 11 so much harder?

11 is so hard because the bloody car accelerates like cold tar in the low revs!
The clue is to break a little early, but not loose too much speed so that you can bring the mid range revs through the corner and quickly accelerate out of the corner.

 

[gumpy]

11 is so hard because the bloody car accelerates like cold tar in the low revs!
The clue is to break a little early, but not loose too much speed so that you can bring the mid range revs through the corner and quickly accelerate out of the corner.

I have not completed mission 11 yet but I will be trying medium brake pressure rather than locking them up - this should prevent losing too much speed.

 

[Toshi]

I am 0.955 seconds away from beating Mission 34... so close yet so far. T10 split typically is 15-17 seconds so I have some definite room for improvement on the 2nd half of the Ring.

... and now I finally beat it and have joined the 100% Club. 👍 9:13.095, no contact with any of the other cars (including the 300SL), 14.4 back at the beginning of the back straight combined with a wickedly fast trip through the final chicane type section.

 

[aprilia4life]

I would like to buy the SLR and run the ring untill i get times around the 9:10 mark required to pass M34.

I would like the SLR to be as close as possible to the real thing (in M34) to run test laps at the ring, is it just a stock SLR with an oil change? Or are there any settings that need to be changed to make it the same?

 

[Wall_Rider]

11 is so hard because the bloody car accelerates like cold tar in the low revs!
The clue is to break a little early, but not loose too much speed so that you can bring the mid range revs through the corner and quickly accelerate out of the corner.

compression braking also helps (slam on the brakes, let off for a split second, and slam on them again...repeat)

 

[Wall_Rider]

I would like to buy the SLR and run the ring untill i get times around the 9:10 mark required to pass M34.

I would like the SLR to be as close as possible to the real thing (in M34) to run test laps at the ring, is it just a stock SLR with an oil change? Or are there any settings that need to be changed to make it the same?

buy the SLR with NO oil change, and buy sport HARD tires....you also need to set ASM to 0 and TCS to 2

 

[Rockhound18]

I would like to buy the SLR and run the ring untill i get times around the 9:10 mark required to pass M34.

I would like the SLR to be as close as possible to the real thing (in M34) to run test laps at the ring, is it just a stock SLR with an oil change? Or are there any settings that need to be changed to make it the same?

You have to go a lot faster then 9:10. You have to beat 9:12, including the 123 second wait. So you actually have to run a lap in 7:09.

Keep in mind that you must start in the 6th grid position (farther from the start line), and you must start from a standstill. So basically you need to run a lap in something like 7:06 or 7:05.

As for settings, I dont know, but it's been posted before in this thread.

 

[Fortis]

I have not completed mission 11 yet but I will be trying medium brake pressure rather than locking them up - this should prevent losing too much speed.

Well just to add my two cents, this is what I tried to do at first but eventually I just threw that strategy out the window because I wasn't winning. Maybe I'm not skilled enough to beat the mission that way, I don't know. My strategy eventually evolved (or rather devolved) into slamming on the brakes (combined with well-timed downshifting from the MT) right before the entrance of the corner, then flooring it through the apex and out of the corner. I also managed to use the car's body roll to my advantage to swing around some corners. When I tried to use gentle braking pressure I just lost too much time slowing down in each turn, plus the 2000gt seems unable to turn under even slight braking pressure, so I figure I might as well lock up the brakes all the way lol.

By slamming on the brakes later than the AI cars, I was able to gain on them substantially in the corners right after long straights. But I guess my crude strategy is why I only won by half a second. But still, a win is a win 👍 . I started using shadows from buildings and lines on the asphalt as braking measures for when I should hit the brakes, and after 5 or 6 tries in a row I got it.


Also, I just tried mission 14 with the superbird. Even with two of these things in my garage I had forgotten that they corner about as effectively as an elephant on roller-skates. Ah well, I'll just have to adopt a new driving strategy I guess...

 

[Rockhound18]

OMG. I just played mission 34 and beat the 300 SL (first place car) with a time of 10'36.427.

I couldn't believe it! I never thought I could beat M34 with such a bad time.

Oh wait, I didn't... I got 5th place... I just blocked the 300 SL for a minute and a half after I passed him.

This is what you do at college at 4 AM once you have done everything else in GT4.

 

[Mr.Slow]

I just finished 13. Took me about 2 hours ... I started pretty well and in my 6th try I missed out by .003 but then I lost my concentration and spent the next 1.5 hours not being able to get closer than 1.5 secs.... In the end I beat it by the same .003 !

 

[Wall_Rider]

more seattle superbird advice:

at the start, go all out and T-bone the 5th place car when it is in the first turn...aim for the passenger side door, and if you do it properly, you will be slowed down to the proper speed AND pointed in precisely the right direction after the penalty.

 

[Mezar5]

I went back and checked my diary, which I didn't even know existed 'til I someone mentioned it. It took me exactly 100 attempts to beat M34. Not something I am proud of. I am very curious how many attempts it has taken others. I have a feeling I am in the high end of the range.

 

[Toshi]

I went back and checked my diary, which I didn't even know existed 'til I someone mentioned it. It took me exactly 100 attempts to beat M34. Not something I am proud of. I am very curious how many attempts it has taken others. I have a feeling I am in the high end of the range.

It took me 18 days according to the diary, but each of those "days" had multiple attempts where I retired early after making a mistake. I'm not sure how far into the race you must be before the game marks it as "Retire", but I'm pretty sure that I tried M34 more than 18 times...

 

[Mezar5]

I actually counted the number of attempts in each day to come up with a total of 100 attempts. I don't know how many days, but I will go back and look.