Miata for Tsakuba

I've been tuning a single car for a single race lately. Full details are available at: Miata for Tsakuba.

Tuning lessons

I've decided to slow down a bit. I'm over 28% complete in the game, but I still don't understand lots of stuff.

I've decided that this week I'll drive one car almost exclusively, so that I can learn to tune a car, understand what it's telling me, and generally become more expert.

I bought a Mazda MX-5 Miata 1800 (J) '94, which is a roadster that doesn't have an extreme amount of horsepower. I bought [i]all[/i] upgrades, so that I could really get a feel for what NA1 vs NA2 feels like.

No pictures yet, but I've managed to turn off driving aids and only spin out when I'm badly hit by an opponent. To me, that's a pretty good sign.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin in Vegas
Originally uploaded by h0ss.

Here's my new Aston Martin Vanquish at a photo shoot in Las Vegas.

I frankly expected this car to be a lot cooler. It has a really nasal sound to it, and while it handled well, it didn't perform great. I had to do a fair amount of tweaking to get it to be competitive on the technical track at Hong Kong.

Now, I don't mind spending the (virtual) bucks to upgrade a car... IMO, if you can afford the car, you need to be able to afford the upgrades.

Still, it was an awful lot of customization needed to succed in Hong Kong.

Right now my B-Spec driver is running it around Fuji 90's. Next I'll send her to Hong Kong. The prize for the Aston Martin series is a DB9 Coupe in a special (unbuyable) color.
You can request a full-sizeimage from Russell just by emailing him!

N�rburgring for Dummie

N�rburgring for Dummies, a guide -- The Official Christopher Heiser Home Page

What more can you ask for?

Race play-by-play at Circuit de la Sarthe

250 miles at Circuit de la Sarthe

That's 35 laps around this 8 mile track. I entered this race (which is just a component of the 1000 miles! series) in my AC 427 Shelby Cobra. I wanted to get a feeling for driving it against other cars that I would encounter during the 1000 miles! championship, so I decided to start a race at Circuit de la Sarthe. This is the track where the Le Mans race is held.

The version raced in the 1000 miles! competition has no chicanes, so it is a very fast track. So fast that I really outclassed the rest of the field. The other cars were:

1) red Nissan Skyline '67
2) silver Fiat 500F '65
3) blue Toyota Sports 800 '65
4) black Mercedes 300 SL Coupe '54
5) beige Lotus Elan S1 '62
6) My AC 427 '63

Of all the cars in the race, only the Mercedes put up any kind of competition, and not really.

Lap 1: I start out by passing everyone.
Time: 4:57:251
Follower: 300SL -10:301 (he was in #2 during the whole race)

Lap 2: One of my best lap times
Time: 4:38:800
Follower: -31:132

Lap 3: I lap the Toyota. Poor guy.
Time: 4:43:749
Follower:-50:136

Lap 4: I don't get the precise time.
Follower: -55:561

Around here I decide on my pit strategy. I don't know what my opponents are doing, but looking at my fuel gauge and my tires, I'll need to pit every 5 or 6 laps. I decide to push and make it every 6 laps, since that will require one full pit stop less than if I did it every 5 laps. I decide that on laps 12 and 24, I will refuel.

Lap 5: I lap the Fiat and the Toyota
Time: 4:45:805
Follower: -1:06:151 (A full minute lead)

Lap 6: Unknown time, the pit stop obscures what I do.

Lap 7: I start the lap with my pit stop, tire change only.
Time: 5:17:104
Follower: -39 seconds

Lap 8: I lap the Toyota and the Skyline. What is that Toyota doing here?
Time: 4:44:675
Follower: -50 seconds

Lap 9: I lap the Lotus. That makes everyone except the Mercedes.
Time: 4:46:310
Follower: -1:03 (I no longer care about thousandths of a second)

Lap 10: Nothing interesting occurs. An average lap, performance-wise.
Time: 4:45:252
Follower: -1:20

Lap 11: A poor lap. I'm starting to need new shoes, and I'm still 2 laps out.
Time: 4:55:957
Follower: -1:20

Lap 12: I start to get control even without new tires.
Time: 4:48
Follower: -1:28

Lap 13: Start out the lap with new tires and a full tank of gas. I lap the Toyota again.
Time: 5:10:905
Follower: -1:18

Lap 14: Poor control rules the day during this lap.
Time: 4:59:684
Follower: -1:25

Lap 15: An average lap.
Time: 4:47:161
Follower: -1:45

Lap 16: I lap the Toyota (again) and the Fiat.
Time: 4:52:453
Follower: -2:15

Lap 17: I lap the Skyline. I enjoy lapping the Skyline, because it's the only red car on the track.
Time: 4:51:701
Follower: -2:25

Lap 18: I lap the Lotus and the Toyota once again.
Time: 4:50
Follower: 2:37

Lap 19: I pit stop for tires and go downstairs for a real-life break. The skyline pits, and I re-lap the Lotus.
Time: 5:10:208
Follower: -2:20

Lap 20: Another average, uneventful lap.
Time: 4:43:947
Follower: -2:30

Lap 21: I lap the Toyota (again) and the Fiat.
Time: 4:42:171
Follower: -2:50

Lap 22: Another uneventful lap.
Time: 4:44:468
Follower: -3:00

Lap 23: I lap the Skyline and... the Toyota. What is this guy doing here?
Time: 4:50:000
Follower: -3:20

Lap 24: Nothing interesting happens. Again. I'm pleased with my driving, given how bad my tires are.
Time: 4:48
Follower: -3:31

Lap 25: I stop for tires and fuel. I'm starting to get very sleepy here.
Time: 5:13:148
Follower: -3:03

Lap 26: I lap the Fiat and... the Toyota.
Time: 4:48:937
Follower: -3:27

Lap 27: I just can't seem to close in on that best lap time from lap 2!
Time: 4:42:733
Follower: -3:38

Lap 28: I'm getting very tired. I decide to stand up, wash my face, and sit bolt upright for a while, rather than reclining. I lap the Lotus, and the Toyota makes a pitstop.
Time: 4:40:838
Follower: -3:51:545

Lap 29: I lap the poor toyota again, and my nemesis in the Mercedes pits. I also get a new best lap time!
Time: 4:38:607
Follower: -4:17

Lap 30: I lap everyone. Well, I lap the Fiat, the Skyline, and the Mercedes.
Time: 4:42:00
Follower: -1 lap (and he never gets better)

Lap 31: I get tires, and re-lap the Skyline from my pitstop. Oh, and the Toyota.
Time: 5:13:919

Lap 32: I don't lap anyone, and drive pretty badly.
Time: 4:44:017

Lap 33: I'm almost there, and I start to drive a little better.
Time: 4:40:632

Lap 34: I lap the Toyota for the last time.
Time: 4:42:015

Lap 35: I lap the Fiat and Elan, and pull out a new best-time for my final lap!
Time: 4:32:686

Total time in race: 2:49:39:296
Money Earned: 150,000 (1st place trophy)
Total number of cars lapped: 28
Times lapping the Toyota: 13
Lead at the end: a full lap ahead of the Mercedes

The best part of the whole race is that I now know how to drive this beast that is the AC427 Shelby Cobra. I'm not extremely good at driving it yet-- I had to dumb it down quite a bit by setting the transmission way below it's theoretical maximum. I could have easily gotten quite a bit more top speed out of the car, but it would probably have made it much less stable.

I also now know the Circuit course (unchicaned) pretty well, and should be able to drive it no matter what car I'm in.

Taking the Lead

Taking the Lead
Originally uploaded by h0ss.

I pull into the lead during a 250-mile race at Circuit de la Sarthre. You can see all of the competitor's cars in this shot.
You can request a full-sizeimage from Russell just by emailing him!

Wheel Station

The Wheel Station is a foldable table for mounting a DFP. This would let me play GT4 with a wheel, and without actually building furniture for the dang thing.

This one might slip past the wife.

AC 427 Cobra

AC 427 Cobra
Originally uploaded by h0ss.

Boy, is this car fast.

I'm preparing myself to run the 1000 miles race, and I decided that I'd go all-out and buy an AC 427 Cobra for the race. It wasn't that much work (well, it was a lot of B-Speccing, but that's neither here nor there) to buy one, but tuning it is a whole nother thing.

This car is SO POWERFUL that it can barely be controlled on the road. It jumps, it skips, it refuses to stop even if you ask politely. In short... this car is a monster.

It's kind of fun, though, to try to bring it under control.
You can request a full-sizeimage from Russell just by emailing him!

ColorWare

ColorWare is a company that 'colorizes' game consoles and computers. These don't look like cheap decals, either, but instead look like really great color applications.

Suzuki GSX-R/4 still

Suzuki GSX-R/4 still
Originally uploaded by h0ss.

This is a great little car, and great looking too.
You can request a full-sizeimage from Russell just by emailing him!

Suzuki GSX-R/4 action

Suzuki GSX-R/4 action
Originally uploaded by h0ss.

It's a lot of fun to take the GSX-R/4 out on the road, since it can be driven top-down (most cars at this level can't).
You can request a full-sizeimage from Russell just by emailing him!

Friday Night Races

Lots done tonight. Started off with a few money races, then evaluated the various races to see where I'd go next. I decided to go with the Suzuki Concepts cup, since it had a cool prize car.

To enter that race, I needed to win the Suzuki K cup. To do that, I bought a used cappucino and put $25k into upgrades. That won the set of races pretty darn handily.

Then I took the prize car from that series (which isn't saleable, btw) and started upgrading it. Over the next hour, it slowly dawned on me that I'd have to purchase each and every upgrade for that car in order to win the prize in the concepts cup. It got frustrating, but I eventually did win by the skin of my teeth. It was some of the most difficult driving that I've done so far in GT4.

It was worth it, though. The stock GSX-R/4 concept car can nearly win at el capitan versus NSXes. That's STOCK. It also qualifies to run (though it's overpowered for) the japanese mini competition.

One nice thing about GT4 is that with B-Spec, I've been sitting here earning money while uploading photos and updating the blog. Woohoo!

Non-Licensed Races

Here's a list of the races that you can do with no license in GT4.

There are a few anomalies, such as races that you can enter with no license, but which require vehicles that can't be won without a license. Since I have a B license currently, and plan to upgrade soonish, that doesn't bother me.

• Beginner's Hall Sunday Cup
• Beginner's Hall FF Challenge
• Beginner's Hall FR Challenge
• Beginner's Hall MR Challenge
• Beginner's Hall 4WD
• Beginner's Hall mini-K
  
• Beginner's Hall Sport Truck
• UK: Mini: Mini Sports Meet
• UK: Lotus: Lotus Classics
• Europe: 1000 miles (yeah right)
• Germany: Audi: A3 Cup
• Germany: BMW: 1 series
• France: Citroen: 2HP-2CV
• Italy: Alfa Romeo: GT Cup
• Japan: Daihatsu: Midget
• Japan: Suzuki: Suzuki Concepts
• Japan: Mitsubishi: Mirage Cup
• Japan: Isuzu: Isuzu Sport Classic
• Japan: Toyota: Vitz race

I'm working my way through these, with the ultimate goal of winning the 1K competition.

Gran Turismo Motoring

Gran Turismo Motoring is a new website about GT4. We'll see if they update regularly.

ASL Garaiya

ASL Garaiya
Originally uploaded by h0ss.

This is the car I used to win the MR championship. It's pretty powerful, which it ought to be... it had a base price of $65K and then I added another $35K in upgrades.

It wasn't the fastest car in the races, but that's OK, since I really didn't do many speed upgrades. I mostly performed manouverability/handling upgrades, so it really does perform quite well. I'll drop in some more power upgrades in a while.

The MR challenge was the last of the beginner's cup events that I had to complete. Now I'm planning on moving on to the single-manufacturer events that don't require a particular license, since those tend to be easier than "license required" races.

All in all, I'm making good headway through the game, and having a LOT of fun.
You can request a full-sizeimage from Russell just by emailing him!

Update

OK, so I haven't posted. I've been too busy racing.

My TVR Griffith 500 (bought used for $20k) is awesome. It handles like nobody's business, and without any serious engine mods it just burns up the track.

Just tonight I've started doing some b-spec racing. This is racing where I set up the car, but let the computer do the actual driving. This frees me to work on my website (or other stuff) while it earns money for me. I've used the Hyundai Clix and the SST Silverado for these races so far, and they're performing like champions.

I don't intend to let the computer do the racing for me when I'm actually interested, but right now I've just got it running some races that I've already won one or more times, and I can just sit back and watch the bucks roll in. Awesome.