Special Rally Intermediate question

[waddy2001]

I'm going back to basics, trying to get gold in the special events. So far, the Intermediate Gravel Rally has me stumped. In my last try, I was ahead at the second last time mark by 11 seconds, surely enough for a win. At the end, I was 2.8 seconds behind. To me, knowing how I drive, that is impossible. Is this a glitch? I've got silver, no problem, but gold seems illusive. I started out using rally cars but switched to the Subaru Pro drive four door. I've read other posts about this kind of thing in this event so I guess I'm asking if this is common. There's no way I lost even 10 seconds in that stage. Thanks!
P.S. This is for the first of the Intermediate Rally events, on gravel.

 

[sumbrownkid]

What opposition are you facing? I only really found the expert level rally events somewhat tricky, but once I figured the physics out, I just went S. Loeb on them.

The only real general advice I can give you is practice not to slide too much

 

[IvanOffalich]

Although I did this event quite awhile ago, I do remember something very similar to what you're describing happening to me when I did it. I think I was over 10 seconds ahead on one stage and then behind by the end.

I think, if I remember correctly, the problem was that on the other stages I was losing time and momentum in the turns by sliding and/or spinning the tires too much.

It seems to me that when I reran the race, I purposely took the turns much slower to keep the car from grinding to almost a halt in the turns. Remember, you want to be going fast when you hit a straight, not trying to regain momentum after a slide. The engine will sort of cut out if you're trying to push the car too fast through a turn and it'll feel like it's very sluggish.

Try to hug near, but not against the inside of the turn and ease the throttle forward only when you know you have solid traction. Hitting it too soon will end up slowing you down.

After a little practice, I was able to get a Gold, but to be honest, I do believe it was by a very slim margin, even trying to keep the car in balance. On the stages with many straights, I would get an overwhelming lead, but struggle with the curvy tracks.

Maybe you can improve more than I did, but at least this will give you a good starting point on how to get through it.

 

[waddy2001]

Not expert, intermidiate. What does S. Loeb mean? I try to keep to the inside of the turn and also try to not hit the wall except with the rear of the car. Can't figure out how I lost that many seconds since the last time stamp.

What opposition are you facing? I only really found the expert level rally events somewhat tricky, but once I figured the physics out, I just went S. Loeb on them.

The only real general advice I can give you is practice not to slide too much

 

[sumbrownkid]

Sebastian Loeb? The guy basically Michael Schumachered the WRC, and can be argued to be the one driver that helped kill the WRC's popularity.

And watch the replays and see what the AI is doing. Most likely they are going slow in and fast out with the occasional slide.

 

[JJSCHMITTY2000]

Sebastian Loeb? The guy basically Michael Schumachered the WRC, and can be argued to be the one driver that helped kill the WRC's popularity.

And watch the replays and see what the AI is doing. Most likely they are going slow in and fast out with the occasional slide.

To the guy's question, S. Loeb is one of the best rally drivers there is. Michal Schumacher is also very good, but in Formula 1.

 

[Hyped]

I think you get a time penalty for hitting the wall that gets counted in after the race is done.

 

[iainoflo85]

I think you get a time penalty for hitting the wall that gets counted in after the race is done.

Of course I forgot that the Rally events had penalties. That could explain it.

 

[trackripper123]

I didn't find it a problem, keep sliding to a minimum or at a small angle and turn traction control off! That kills your speed completely in the corners.

 

[waddy2001]

Thanks to all who answered. I finally got it, with a huge whopping lead, in the Lancer III X something or other. I got the car in the dealer section and detuned it to 345 and added dirt tires. Honestly, it was so simple after that. The car held the line I gave it and didn't need any tuning at all. I'd tried all kinds of combinations before but this car was awesome.
In GT4, rally was more prominent, I think. I got my kicks out of it way more than I do in GT5. The last gasp seems to be the Special section, that's why I'm redoing it. For whatever reason, rally seems to be low on PD's list of races but I wish they'd go back to giving it some prominence.
Thanks again!

Although I did this event quite awhile ago, I do remember something very similar to what you're describing happening to me when I did it. I think I was over 10 seconds ahead on one stage and then behind by the end.

I think, if I remember correctly, the problem was that on the other stages I was losing time and momentum in the turns by sliding and/or spinning the tires too much.

It seems to me that when I reran the race, I purposely took the turns much slower to keep the car from grinding to almost a halt in the turns. Remember, you want to be going fast when you hit a straight, not trying to regain momentum after a slide. The engine will sort of cut out if you're trying to push the car too fast through a turn and it'll feel like it's very sluggish.

Try to hug near, but not against the inside of the turn and ease the throttle forward only when you know you have solid traction. Hitting it too soon will end up slowing you down.

After a little practice, I was able to get a Gold, but to be honest, I do believe it was by a very slim margin, even trying to keep the car in balance. On the stages with many straights, I would get an overwhelming lead, but struggle with the curvy tracks.

Maybe you can improve more than I did, but at least this will give you a good starting point on how to get through it.

 

[IvanOffalich]

I agree with you. I enjoyed the Rally Events in GT 3 & 4. I would have much rather have seen more Rally races than see any NASCAR races. I didn't enjoy the NASCAR stuff at all.

On a side note, I've found (dirt) Rally in GT5 to feel "off" compared to the previous games. I'm not sure what it is, but I've been kind of thinking about it since your post and my recent experience with the license test (I think it was in IA).

There seems to be a very tiny thin line where the car can be driven properly in GT5. It feels like the car either goes super slow, or out of control, with very little in between.

I was attempting to get Gold in the test and was driving the Ford Focus on the dirt track (Toscana?). Anyway, as usual with the license tests, I had managed to get a Silver time that was in the hundredths or thousands of a second off the Gold time. I have actually managed to miss Gold by a .001 before. It's quite frustratingly.

My point to this is that I kept managing to get close repeatedly and found myself finishing with my ghost car almost every time. So close each time.

I tried going faster. I tried going slower. I tried to ease the wheel. I tried to feather the accelerator. I tried every combination of everything that I could think of. The car either slid out of control or it crawled to almost a halt & struggled to get rolling again. Even the fine adjustments to my driving didn't seem to work.

Then, and I have absolutely no idea what I did differently, I got to the exit of the last big curve and BOOM, my car shot forward like a rocket and left my ghost car in the dust. I beat the damned Gold time by almost a entire second.

The rest of the run leading up that that curve wasn't any different than previous runs, just the exit of that last curve, as my ghost car was right with me the whole time. That tiny little section before the end could be done a whole second faster, and I have no idea how I managed it.

I really wish I knew because I used to have lots of fun running around Tahiti Maze in the former games and trying to work out how best to maximize my runs.

In GT5 something feels very wrong about the traction somehow. It's like you're driving slowly in mud and then hit solid ice on the dirt tracks. It's hard to find that sweet spot and that sweet spot seems to be very very small.

That said, I've had absolutely no trouble with the snow tracks in GT5. That seems almost the opposite of what it should be. It should be easier to drive on dirt/gravel than snow/ice, shouldn't it?

I managed Golds on the snow tracks for the licenses/Special Events without even trying, many times on the first attempt, but there are still dirt ones that I have only managed Silver on after retrying repeatedly.

I'm not sure what the trick is, but I haven't managed to figure it out yet.

 

[Morgoth_666]

Those snow events are just silly. Great fun to drive but pathetic as "challenges." I recently re-did the intermediate one with my stock '97 Z28 just to have fun and prove the point... still won by a country mile and overtook two cars on one of the tracks. But it sure was fun to drive.

 

[IvanOffalich]

Maybe I ought to break out the Dodge Ram and see how that does on dirt.