A blow-by-blow account of my latest assault on the long-neglected Gran Turismo 3, last played sometime in 2003. Aside from simply reliving the dream, this time around I'm playing hardball - all driving aids are off for every car in every race. The ultimate aim is to reach 100% completion and have a whole crapload of fun along the way. More...

• 7Jun 07

  God Of War

  So I took a break from GT3 since my game order was delivered. I bought a bunch of old games: Forza, Juiced, Project Gotham Racing 2, V8 Supercars 3 and Rallisport Challenge for XBox, and the odd one out, God Of War for the PS2. God Of War was the first disc to go in a console, and it's been there solidly for over a week.

  Action adventures aren't usually my thing, though I do have Prince of Persia: Sands Of Time. I quite enjoy these, but the replay value isn't the same as a driving game so they tend to get played through once or twice and left to rot. No doubt GoW will go this same route, but I gotta say I've had an awesome time playing this game over the past week.

  • Posted Jun 7, 2007 4:39 am GMT
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• 31May 07

  GT3 B Licence Tests

  Test B-1 | Starting Accelerating And Stopping 1
  Test Course | New Beetle 2.0

  Ok, this is your basic start/stop test, pretty straightforward. The trick is to use manual and start in second gear to maxmise traction off the line. Despite this, I tried a couple runs with an auto tranny and managed gold anyway with a 0'34.937. Start RPM is between 3500 and 4000, 'deadline' rpm (where the rev limiter cuts in) is around 6300 and all going well the braking point is just short of the 950m line. Piece of cake.

  Trying the manual transmission method, you can start in second from redline with minimal traction loss and get a much quicker start. I was able to run a 0'34.430 without too much trouble.

  Gold: 0'35.100
  My Time: 0'34.430

  
  Test B-2 | Starting Accelerating And Stopping 2
  Test Course | Viper GTS

  This is the same test as B-1, but with the much faster FR Viper. Leaving it in manual, I dove right into this one using the same tactics. All that was required was
  to find the right braking point - about midway between the 850m mark and the start of the '900' signwriting
  on the road right before the 900m line. I'm guessing maybe 870m or so. As soon as I hit gold, I moved on - very boring tests.

  Gold: 0'25.200
  My Time: 0'25.189
  

  
  Test B-3 | Basics Of Cornering 1: FF Cars
  Deep Forest | Coupe Turbo Plus

  This is the left hairpin at the end of the Deep Forest start/finish straight - a basic late entry 'hook turn'. I hit gold on the second run, albeit by just a sliver. Figuring as I'm not out to break any records right now, I quickly moved on the next test.

  Gold: 0'31.100
  My Time: 0'31.091
  

  
  Test B-4 | Basics Of Cornering 2: FR Cars
  Deep Forest | Honda S2000

  Again the same test with a different drivetrain, though this time the two cars are more evenly matched for power. This one took quite a few tries before I managed to gold it - lots of silver runs 0.1s or so above the gold target. In the end I hit gold on a run that completely disregarded the suggested line, digging deeper into the turn before a sharp hook back to the apex and out. Launch rpm is found quite low down on the little Honda's high revving gauge - around 3000rpm.

  Gold: 0'29.100
  My Time: 0'29.020
  

  
  Test B-5 | Cornering Response 1: FF Cars
  Grand Valley | Civic Type R

  Ack, who put yo momma's car in the game? This one tries to teach you the somewhat technical esses section at Grand Valley, but you're more likely to learn something about controlling launch traction than anything else. The little Civic really struggles to put the power down off the line, and once it's moving, it struggles to put any power out at all. Beyond the start, just follow the dotted line and you're home and hosed.
  

  Gold: 0'34.400
  My Time: 0'34.372
  

  
  Test B-6 | Cornering Response 2: FR Cars
  Grand Valley | Mazda MX-5 1.8i

  This one proved to be the most challenging so far, if only for the tightness of the gold target. The Mazda is reasonably easy to launch, with the sweet spot just a tad under 5000 rpm. I found it faster to take a slightly wider line right from the start line and then cut in early for the left and ride the ripple strip up to the turn-in point for the following right. This gives you some extra roadway over the suggested line. The Mazda likes to four-wheel drift under deceleration, so you can't be off the power for too long. Only short, medium braking is needed for the tight left hand into the tunnel and again, get back on the power quickly and smoothly. I ran a whole bunch of silvers here before finally striking gold.

  Gold: 0'33.000
  My Time: 0'32.961
  

  
  Test B-7 | Basics Of Sequential Cornering
  Deep Forest | MR2

  This one started out looking very difficult, but it soon proved to be a whole lot easier than expected. The
  car will launch at redline with no wheelspin and you can really throw it into the turns - there's no need to let off the throttle for as long as the dotted line suggests. Once I worked these two things out, the gold came quickly.

  Gold: 0'33.000
  My Time: 0'32.907
  

  
  Test B-8 | Domestic CIass B Licence Final Exam
  Trial Mountain | Skyline R32 GT-R Vspec II

  Heh, this one is tough, we all know it. Reckon I'm gonna save it for another night so I can attack it fresh. Check back in a day or two for the outcome.

  Edit: Took a crack at it after a couple days out and immediately jumped into the silver time zone. Being mostly downhill and off-camber, the Skyline tends to drift, so the key is to minimise this with early and gradual throttle application out of the turns. I took gold after about 20 mins, a damn sight better performance than the last time I ran this test, which took me days of trying before I finally saw the gold.

  Gold: 0'42.800
  My Time: 0'42.713

   

  

  
  Another free pickup for the garage. While it's not in the same league as the Panoz, the little Mazda MX-5 1.8i will do very nicely as a starter car for the Beginner League. Mine was an ugly aqua colour, but hey, beggars can't be choosers, right?
  

  The B tests were a bit of a mixed bag, ranging from screamingly easy to quite challenging, and with a final 'exam' test that really should have been an A or IB test. In all, the golds fell quite quickly and more easily than I recall from other times I've played through the game.

   

  Back to Time Trials Part 2 | On To Licence A Tests

  • Posted May 31, 2007 9:15 am GMT
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• 30May 07

  GT3 Time Trials Part 2

  Today brings the second half of the Arcade Time Trials. I'm looking forward to some challenging runs in some decent equipment, and ultimately to pick up that shiny new Panoz Esperante for career mode..

  
  Trial 6 | Apricot Hill Raceway | Castrol Tom's Supra JGTC

  Now THIS is the supremely addictive GT3 I remember! Being the first run of the night, I started out just feeling my way around the technical Apricot Hill, rolling in for a third placed 1'20 first time through. Pretty soon I began to feel more at home and racked up a first placed 1'18, only a couple tenths below the record. Right then I realised there was a LOT more time to be saved and I set to the task. Lap times fell repeatedly for quite a few runs before they began to bunch up in the high 1'16's. GT fever had struck and I lost count of the laps after that point, but soon eoungh I was either chasing my ghost all the way home or dropping a wheel off the kerb and failing. Time to call it quits.. for now. There's definitely another 0.5sec at least to be shaved here.

  Record: 1'18.558
  My Time: 1'16.313

  
  Trial 7 | Grand Valley Speedway | Castrol Mugen NSX JGTC
  

  First place, first lap. Sweet. But a high 1'48 just wasn't gonna satisfy me tonight. A second run stripped just over a second off my time, and the third took me down into the 1'46's with a fairly tidy run. There's still some room to move, but I'd better get cracking if I'm to get any decent sleep. Besides, I always found MR cars just a trifle, er.. dull.

  Record: 1'49.453
  My Time: 1'46.984
  

  
  Trial 8 | Swiss Alps | Impreza Rally Car Prototype

  

  Woot, another first place on the first lap. Gotta admit I've spent a lot of time at Swiss Alps - I used the track once to see if there was any real difference between the GT3 rally cars, and ran countless laps at Swiss Alps in the testing. As it turns out, there's near to naff all difference between any of them, save perhaps for poorer starts from the FF Xsara. Anyways, I wasn't gonna settle for a measly 0.3 sec below the record, so I ran a couple more laps and dropped another 1.5 sec. Good enough.
  

  Record: 1'23.703
  My Time: 1'21.978

  
  Trial 9 | Tahiti Maze | Lancer Evolution VII Rally Car Prototype

  

  Hmm, I remember this being a bit of a toughy. I guess that stems from there being a bunch of hairpins that'll fail you if you're too hot and smack the wall. Generally I quite like the Maze, but for licences and time trials, let's face it, she's a bit of a bugger. Nonetheless, I'm pressing on. First run yields a third place in the 2'02 area, quickly followed by a run just a smidge over 2'00 flat. Quite a few missed runs later I realised I need to actually slow down for the hairpins and drive through them rather than my usual balls-to-the-wall powersliding approach and notch up a first place run. Funny, I really don't feel like bettering that one right now.

  Record: 1'59.964
  My Time: 1'59.432

  
  Trial 10 | Complex String | Ruf RGT

  Right. The previous nine runs were simply the warmup to this, undoubtedly the most technically challenging course in the game, Individual sections alone aren't so daunting, but then you need to string them all together successfully in a run lasting up to five minutes, you're gonna get a lot of missed runs. And that, I did. When I finally did manage to cross the finish line for the first time, I'd pulled down a respectable third place somewhere in the 4'54 range. Not bad, only five seconds to find. Forty-five minutes later, and despite gaining up to 4 sec on my ghost by the straight beyond the expanding loops, I still hadn't finished a second lap, and I'm running outta time for the night. I figure it's a good time to take a break and pick it up again tomorrow. The wonder lap will surely come then.

  Edit: Back for another round, I was soon back into the swing and actually finishing laps. The first of these was a 4'50, stripping 4sec from the previous night's time and less than a second off the record. A few more tries and it was done, crossing the line well ahead of my ghost, and the record. I gotta say here that there's still plenty in this track, at least another second, if not more. Can't say I'm feeling much like making another run though!

  Record: 4'49.869
  My Time: 4'48.164

   

  
  

   

  And there she is - what a beaut! A brand new Panoz Esperante GTR-1 in my career garage, potentially ready to totally blitz the Beginner and Amateur League competition. But meh, where's the fun in that? To be honest, I'm none too sure exactly what I'm going to do with this car, perhaps sell it and give myself a nice cash boost to start the career off right. For now I think I'll just hang on to it and head to the Licence Tests.

  
  Back to Time Trials Part 1 | On to B Licence Tests

  • Posted May 30, 2007 8:45 am GMT
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