2ran 2rismo

Let’s make the most out of what we have in the garage! We’ll see if Diego can handle the first race in the FF challenge at Tahiti Road. I use a few dirty tactics here (late braking into other cars, blocking, etc.) The best I can do with Diego is 2nd place. Clearly we are out of our league here as well.

Next I take Diego to the Clubman Cup. There are three different races here. Rome Short, Grindenwald, and Rome Circuit. We attempt all three in succession. The first race goes really well! We somehow manage to beat a Lotus Elise in a <100hp Mazda hatchback :exploding_head: You can just make out its angry blocked face behind us here.

It is an odd group of neat little cars!

The next two Clubman Cup races do not go well. We place 4th at Grindenwald and 6th at the Rome Circuit. Diego feels self-conscious being surrounded by all this Euro luxury.

That’s okay! It’s good to get a feel for what your car can do and what sort of opponents it can deal with. Every race is a blast and a real learning experience.

Diego and I try a few other races including Compact Car World Cup at Rome Short (4th place) and Japan Nationals Midfield Raceway (2nd place). It is now evident that I need to either buy a new car or start tuning.

At least we got some great Mazda vs. Autozam action shots!

Whoops!

We take one more crack at the Japan Nationals Midfield Raceway race and get first!

Time for a game status check.

And a well-deserved wash for Diego.

Thanks for showing your fighting spirit, Diego!

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At this point I can’t decide if I want to start upgrading/tuning Diego or just buy a more powerful car to be competitive. I’ll open a poll in case anyone wants to chime in!

  • Upgrade Diego! Who cares if we tune beyond the chassis’ capabilities!
  • Buy a new FF car (front-engine, front wheel drive)
  • Buy a new FR car (front-engine, rear drive)
  • Buy a new MR car (mid-engine, rear drive)
  • Buy a new AWD car (usually front-engine, all wheel drive)

0 voters

If you care enough about this and pick one of the options that isn’t
upgrading Diego, I’m open to suggestions on what car. I have 47,000 credits.

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sorry for being a traitor, but i was rooting for your opponents in those screenshots.

An XJ!
A Venturi Atlantique 300 Bi-Turbo, jesus christ!
The fabulous Autozam!
The beautiful, gorgeous Megane Coupe. If only it wasn’t so interested in rusting the minute you turned your back on it…

most of all though:
A Peugeot 406 3L V6 coupe, a car i was so in love with for a few years. Shame that the interieur doesn’t match the drop-dead gorgeous bodyshell… but the engine is basically the predecessor of the V6 i have in my C5 estate wagon, gaining 4bhp with minor upgrades (thus deserving a different engine code in the process), so of course i have to be swooned by it.

Sorry. :servbotsalute:




Next car?
Buy a MR-2 and blitz the field. The 840, TVR, CLK benz should be easy to come by when there are corners, not sure about the Clio V6, though that has a very short wheelbase with no overhangs, so the MR-2 should compensate for that. Only the Venturi could be a spoilsport there, I’d expect that to perform as well as the MR-2, if not better… only weakness could be the turbo-lag, so better take care that you do not install a turbo/get the turbo MR-2 (has 200+ bhp iirc)

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It surprises me how much the Seattle track actually has right about Seattle! You can actually place where the track would be if it was real - right on the southwestern end of downtown driving along the waterfront with the old viaduct to the right, the space needle ahead, and as you twist around you see other landmarks near pioneer square such as smith tower and that weird triangle shaped parking garage. Neat!

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Diego was in great company!

The poll has the FF and MR options tied. Since MR got a recommendation, I’ll go with MR. Thanks for voting if you did! Next time I’ll put an actual time limit on the poll.

I really like the non-turbo MR-2 suggestion. Snap oversteer should be more manageable without the sudden rush of a turbo spooling up. Especially if I start upgrading!

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So let’s get that MR2! There is a gorgeous blue first gen model in the used market, but it’s supercharged. And the “origami” MR2s are definitely not the best MR2s. IIRC, the second generation is the best and most potent, but we’re going with a third generation car. In the states, these third gen cars are called the MR2 just like the first and second gen. I guess they were sold as MR-S in Japan. No matter! It’s an MR2 to me! Also, there is an MR-S one make race. Anyway, meet Darius! I might be able to use Darius in the roadster cup down the line. It’s nice to have that possibility!

Let’s stretch this car’s legs and get that one make race taken care of. Not feeling so special with that yellow paint job now :rofl:

That’s great! And Darius will prove to be special for sure! Let’s take our now most powerful car in the garage to finish what we started in the Sunday Cup. Darius takes first in the High Speed Ring and Red Rock Valley Sunday Cup races. There’s even a '98 Mustang GT in the Red Rock race! Another cup complete!

Back to the Clubman cup, Grindenwald and Rome Circuit both take two attempts to get first. But we get it done! Some real stiff competition here comes from the Pug 406 and Darius’ second gen elder.

The Rome Circuit race has some truly intimidating competition. And the field is insanely close for the whole race. Nobody left without body panel damage. And that’s the Clubman Cup complete! Darius’ cost has already been recouped.

Next we’ll try that first race in the Compact Car World Cup. It takes place at the Rome Circuit. Darius’ superior MR layout shines here.

We are awarded another car for winning the first Compact Car World Cup. It’s a Vitz! Meet Nadine! Nadine puts the “fun” in functional. We’ll try the one make Vitz race next time!

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I wish modern racing games still bothered with this sort of editorial content, like, there’s so much in reading about the car that I love that nothing tends to bother with these days, Forza Horizon just flings cars at you without a care

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I’m not sure any subsequent game has even come close to GT2’s Love of the Car.

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especially love of even the mundane car; I feel like we see reliant robins shown off to poke fun at them but never the level of pushing microscopic-displacement kei cars hard around laguna seca

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hmmm, i’d nominate ENTHUSIA as Konami’s First (and only) shot at that formula that may have surpassed that high bar, released back when GT has given up on the fun bits and went Serious FIA Racing™.

It features the usual suspects, true, but then adds an oddbal cast of cars that were never in GT or FM, not because they were trying to be edgy, but because they were curated to represent a specific aspect of a company or its lineup.

The DS 23 Pallas e.g. stood out, or some kei-car variants that never made it into GT. Had the Smart as the european kei-car representative as well! Also, a few cars were brought into the canon of lineups of future GTs or Forzas, e.g. the MG Midget/Frog-eye…

And best of all, a huge truckload of fantasy track, including an uphill/downhill track set around the definitely not Nürburgring area.

But back to GT2 again!

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As promised, I take Nadine to the one make Vitz Trophy. Nothing crazy going on here. It actually takes four attempts to get first. We have a lot of fun in the process though! Nadine is a momentum car with tons of future potential.

The races take place on the Rome Circuit (2nd place), Seattle Short (2nd place), Seattle Short (3rd place), and Deep Forest (1st place).

Some of the Seattle races look not unlike a morning commute!

Next up, I decide it’s time to buy Darius some upgrades. I end up going a bit crazy going for a racing muffler/air cleaner, a sports brake kit, an ECU flash, a full racing transmission, a super-lightweight flywheel, a triple plate clutch, a semi-racing suspension kit, a set of sports tires, and a stage 2 weight reduction. I’ll only post images of upgrades I haven’t purchased for other cars in the past.

Motorsport gets expensive really fast. Good thing this is virtual! I take Darius to the Japan Nationals first Midfield Raceway race and win first after three attempts.

This was a grueling battle. I don’t think I’ll push Darius much further upgrade wise. The lift oversteer is much more intense, but the revs climb super fast now!

I win a prize car for that victory, so off to the garage to see what it is!

I haven’t heard of the Primera, but I HAVE heard of the CVT transmission. :face_vomiting: Luckily, I can choose a manual! I name the Primera Rachel and head to the FF Challenge at Tahiti Road to see what’s what. I’m surprised! Rachel actually handles very well and easily wins on the first try against some strong competition.

Not bad at all! And we get a prize car for our troubles. It’s a Mugen Accord! We’ll call it Frank.

Rachel or Frank may have the stuff to handle some of the other available races. We’ll find out next time!

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love the performance chip bg picture showing a performance computerboard, which requires a square-mile of real estate.

Also, that Accord hits a soft spot, the Euro-spec Type-R version (iirc in GT3?) was one of the cars young moi could have imagined owning one day. It’s funny how this thread is a fuel-sipping trip down memory lane for me,

:servbotsalute:

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Ok. This was a bit of an exaggeration. Rachel won by making an absolutely suicidal maneuver to go from 5th to 1st in the final turn of Tahiti Road:

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Let’s see what tonight has in store! I’m not feeling particularly motivated, but sometimes things change once we get started! I take Frank to the Japan Nationals’ third race at Midfield Raceway. The HP limit for this race is 345hp, and frank has 190. I don’t have a lot of hope, but let’s stretch Frank’s legs!

Ouch! It’s okay, Frank! You were outgunned from the beginning. Sadly there is no one make Accord race, so I park Frank and get Darius out for a shot at the Convertible World Cup. We go to Tahiti Road and we win on the first try! The pack has a lot of expressive faces!

And hey! We get a new car! And it ends up being very special to me! It’s a white Miata with a hardtop. We’ll call it Darina. I daily one of these. Tho mine is not a Mazdaspeed A-Spec model and smells like coolant all the time.

I’m excited to have another FR car in the garage, and it’s even a Miata! Let’s try the FR Challenge Clubman Stage R5 race. This is a 295hp limited race, so who knows how hairy this could get. It takes three attempts, but we end up winning! These roadsters all look good at night.

For Darina’s efforts, we win another car! Sweet! It’s a Sileighty. This is a really strange one as you can see in the description. I’ll call it Albert.

Sadly, Albert immediately gets shunned by Nissan kind. It’s unbelievable that a Sileighty can’t participate in the Silvia & 180SX club. This is an outrage!

Oh well. Let’s see if there’s a one make Darina can participate in. There is! It’s probably the happiest looking race on Earth!

Darina wins, and we get a prize car. I think this is our first prize car from a one make race. Cool! It’s uh… another Miata! This one is a first gen in a “Special Colour”. There is no information box for this mysterious machine we call Melinda. I’m not sure what to do with you, Melinda.

I start the night with seven cars in the garage and end up with ten without spending a dime. Not bad for feeling unmotivated! It’s time for a status check.

Not even 10% complete yet. And things are about to get a lot more difficult!

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Such a good thread.

Feels like the SilEighty being barred from the Silvia (S13)/180SX meet up was an oversight.

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turns are a state of mind

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there’s only one thing left to say/post watching this Initial D-style pass:

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or they wanted to underline the edgy character of not belonging to either camp, being a lone :wolf: out on ta Wangan, arrrrrroooofffffff :wolf:


really loving how unpredictable the progress is in these games, when playing them myself, i did the same thing (try this, try that, get that one, use it here, rinse&repeat) but it never felt as random and wild as it does reading it. Going from a tuned MR-S to a FF Accord to a Sileighty to a Miata... those were the times.

(and maybe a reason why i habe not bothered with FM7s “career mode”, where they basically force the player to jump through hoops to unlock more races (you actually want to do, but are not allowed to. I get the idea, OK, but in the end this means another savestate sitting at ~ 10% completion for eternity)

Also, we lived in happier (car looking) times, that’s for sure!

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Tonight’s racing proves to be just as fruitful as last night’s. I spend a lot of the day thinking about how Albert isn’t allowed to race with the Silvias and 180s and decide to give Albert a chance to let out some aggression! It only takes one race. We head to the Japan Nationals third race at Midfield Raceway. This race has a 345hp limit, so I don’t expect Albert to win, but some aggressive driving and blocking pays off! We get first on the first try!

I can see why the 180/Silvia are such popular drift cars. They handle very predictably and have a torquey power band. Great stuff Albert!

I remember that there are a few more races I can probably win that require an International C Class license. Why not grab that now? I pass all the tests on the first try in about ten minutes! I even get to test out a little 90s American muscle :laughing:

There are only two more licenses left to grab. We’ll do that another time!

Next up let’s see what Darius can compete in. The 80s Sports Car Cup’s first race is limited to 197hp. Darius falls well under that, so let’s see if the game will let me enter a 1999 MR-S into the 80s Sports Car Cup. Yep!

Just like the Gran Turismo 2 I remember from last century, you seem to be able to enter any car into any race as long as it falls within the HP requirement. Let’s go trample some 80s sports cars at Trial Mountain!

There are some 70s cars there as well! At least the Starlets. Darius puts on a bit of a clinic here. A new car is acquired with the victory! It’s a Mugen Civic… Ferio? I name it Max. I’m not a huge Civic fan, but I have to respect a car that makes 100hp/liter. I will bring Max to the Civic one makes down the line. I’m not sure if Max will do anything else.

Next up, Darius takes a shot at the Historic Car Trophy Tahiti Road race. This has a 246hp limit, so I’m not sure how it’ll turn out for Darius. It ends up being another clinic. I’m enjoying the classic cars on the track! Darius just looks goofy next to all these classy old Euros.

Another new car reward. It’s raining cars tonight apparently. We end up with a Mugen S2000. There is no info screen for the Mugen S2000. We’ll call it Melissa. Melissa is very special indeed with a 9000+ RPM redline and more power than anything else in the garage.

I take Melissa to the next Historic Car Trophy race. It’s at Rome Circuit with a 295hp limit. Melissa does not disappoint! We take first!

Another prize car! Good lord! And this one will be pretty special because it’s our first European car. It’s the first non-Japanese car in the garage. It’s a Lotus Europa! Say hello to Carlo!

Next time I’ll see what else Melissa can do and get Max and Carlo out to see if they can compete in one make races.

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S2000’s are a good time in every game I’ve ever used one in

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