Hey everybody. First of all, want to say "Hi" as a new member of the forums.
Second, I wanted to share something and ask your opinions.
I've been playing GT5 religiously since Jan 2nd. My setup is a couch, and a Logitech Driving Force wheel, on a folding table.
My experience with GT5 has been wonderful so far. I've been a great fan of GT4 on PS2 and played Prologue for some time, but got bored with it rather quickly.
As a part of my progress through the races in A-Spec, I've finally came to the "Grand Turismo World Championship" event in Professional Series. It was last event that I had to finish, to complete the entire Professional Series. At that time, I didn't have anything powerful enough to slug it out with the top cars in the line up for that race. After a bit of grinding, I managed to buy this little "gem".
Lotus Espirit Sport 360, 2000 in the Used Dealership.
After a quick change of tires and a fresh oil, I was ready to race.
Wow what a dog of a car that was!!! Fine that it didn't have enough power to stay with the first 5 cars in the lineup, I was planning on fully upgrading it anyways. However driving it, was a nightmare. I'm generally gentle with the throttle, but I like to break late, to pass most of the dumb AI who breaks way too early.
However with this car, a slight push on the accelerator as I was coming out of the corner, would spin out the back wheels, sending me crashing sideways into a wall. Breaking was even worse, a slight dab on the breaks, would just upset the whole thing. Going straight and breaking, was like trying to control a 1.5 ton pendulum. Forget about breaking mid corner, that was a sure way to meet the closest wall, up-close and personal.
Alright I though, so with a little bit of investment in the right parts, and some virtual elbow grease, I'll be able to tune it up to my liking.
It took me a good week, of ripping my hair out, trying to figure out, why this thing was trying to kill me at every bend. It was extremely frustrating, but extremely educational. After brushing up on some excellent, although outdated tuning manuals for GT4 by Scaff, I finally got her to the point where it was behaving like a civilized car... well almost.
It still tries to kill me, if I allow any frivolities with it. However if I keep myself in check, it does everything perfectly. And not only that, but it leaves everybody else in the dust.
Of course it took me a week of tinkering, and tweaking and changing EVERY single dial on suspension, LSD and breaks, but now if it tries to throw me into a wall at any particular track or a bend, I know exactly why its happening, and what to tweak.
After all that, I was still unhappy. I managed to finish most of the races with gold, but I didn't play the Championship itself yet. I still had some bronze and silver, and I wanted to get every track perfect, before diving into the full championship.
The car was still behaving like a bad horse, trying to bite me any chance I let my guard down. So after all that frustration, I figured I might as well give up and get something else.
At that point, I had a bit of money saved from some of those races, and after a bit more of grinding, I had enough to get this:
Mine's BNR 34 Skyline GT-R N1, from standard dealership.
BEAUTIFUL. Car glues itself to the road. Had all the power I needed, and was a proper racing car. Driving it, felt like driving a cart, I really had to throw it around to make it skid, or go wide at an apex....
Beautiful, right?
What a bore!!!
I blazed through the championship, getting gold on every single track, with a gap of 4 seconds plus from the second place car.
As beautifully this car handled, it actually reminded me that I was playing a game.
I missed my little serial killer Lotus. Every bend with that car was a challenge, every straight away, was an opportunity to practice breaking at the end of it, before a corner. And the margin of error was so small, that it would rip my head off, even if I breathed wrong while turning. Not only that, but I had a week of my personal, real world time invested in that virtual piece of junk. I knew every setting, and what they were doing for that car.
So at the end, I switched cars back to the Lotus, and re-did the entire championship, grinning every single time it tried to spin out, showing me my own mistakes. Teaching me how to be a better driver.
....................................................
Now I love my little serial killer. I don't use it everywhere, but whenever I can, I take it out for a drive.
My question is, have any of you had the similar love/hate relationship with one of your cars?
Second, I wanted to share something and ask your opinions.
I've been playing GT5 religiously since Jan 2nd. My setup is a couch, and a Logitech Driving Force wheel, on a folding table.
My experience with GT5 has been wonderful so far. I've been a great fan of GT4 on PS2 and played Prologue for some time, but got bored with it rather quickly.
As a part of my progress through the races in A-Spec, I've finally came to the "Grand Turismo World Championship" event in Professional Series. It was last event that I had to finish, to complete the entire Professional Series. At that time, I didn't have anything powerful enough to slug it out with the top cars in the line up for that race. After a bit of grinding, I managed to buy this little "gem".
Lotus Espirit Sport 360, 2000 in the Used Dealership.
After a quick change of tires and a fresh oil, I was ready to race.
Wow what a dog of a car that was!!! Fine that it didn't have enough power to stay with the first 5 cars in the lineup, I was planning on fully upgrading it anyways. However driving it, was a nightmare. I'm generally gentle with the throttle, but I like to break late, to pass most of the dumb AI who breaks way too early.
However with this car, a slight push on the accelerator as I was coming out of the corner, would spin out the back wheels, sending me crashing sideways into a wall. Breaking was even worse, a slight dab on the breaks, would just upset the whole thing. Going straight and breaking, was like trying to control a 1.5 ton pendulum. Forget about breaking mid corner, that was a sure way to meet the closest wall, up-close and personal.
Alright I though, so with a little bit of investment in the right parts, and some virtual elbow grease, I'll be able to tune it up to my liking.
It took me a good week, of ripping my hair out, trying to figure out, why this thing was trying to kill me at every bend. It was extremely frustrating, but extremely educational. After brushing up on some excellent, although outdated tuning manuals for GT4 by Scaff, I finally got her to the point where it was behaving like a civilized car... well almost.
It still tries to kill me, if I allow any frivolities with it. However if I keep myself in check, it does everything perfectly. And not only that, but it leaves everybody else in the dust.
Of course it took me a week of tinkering, and tweaking and changing EVERY single dial on suspension, LSD and breaks, but now if it tries to throw me into a wall at any particular track or a bend, I know exactly why its happening, and what to tweak.
After all that, I was still unhappy. I managed to finish most of the races with gold, but I didn't play the Championship itself yet. I still had some bronze and silver, and I wanted to get every track perfect, before diving into the full championship.
The car was still behaving like a bad horse, trying to bite me any chance I let my guard down. So after all that frustration, I figured I might as well give up and get something else.
At that point, I had a bit of money saved from some of those races, and after a bit more of grinding, I had enough to get this:
Mine's BNR 34 Skyline GT-R N1, from standard dealership.
BEAUTIFUL. Car glues itself to the road. Had all the power I needed, and was a proper racing car. Driving it, felt like driving a cart, I really had to throw it around to make it skid, or go wide at an apex....
Beautiful, right?
What a bore!!!
I blazed through the championship, getting gold on every single track, with a gap of 4 seconds plus from the second place car.
As beautifully this car handled, it actually reminded me that I was playing a game.
I missed my little serial killer Lotus. Every bend with that car was a challenge, every straight away, was an opportunity to practice breaking at the end of it, before a corner. And the margin of error was so small, that it would rip my head off, even if I breathed wrong while turning. Not only that, but I had a week of my personal, real world time invested in that virtual piece of junk. I knew every setting, and what they were doing for that car.
So at the end, I switched cars back to the Lotus, and re-did the entire championship, grinning every single time it tried to spin out, showing me my own mistakes. Teaching me how to be a better driver.
....................................................
Now I love my little serial killer. I don't use it everywhere, but whenever I can, I take it out for a drive.
My question is, have any of you had the similar love/hate relationship with one of your cars?
