posted 03-10-2005 11:27 PM         

Race Description
Date    | Result / Entries   | My Time   | Best Time | Board    | Admin

Arcade Mini Cooper-S @ Tsukuba / 1 lap / soft tires/ no quick tune
3/29/05 | 4th place of 14    | 1:07.900  | 1:07.419  | GTPlanet | flat-out

Arcade BMW M3 '04 @ Infineon SP / 1 lap / soft tires/ max quick tune
4/14/05 | 3rd place of 187   | Qualifier, private    | GTPlanet | CFM

S-License for your Spare Time
ongoing | Follow link above for details / standings  | Numbers  | me!       

Arcade AC Cars 427 S/C '66 @ Midfield Reverse / 1 lap (25 total laps) / soft tires/ -10% weight
5/8/05  | 2nd place of 12    | 1:17.969  | 1:17.784  | Numbers  | sjaak68

Arcade BMW M3 GTR Race car '01 @ Trial Mountain / 1 lap (25 total laps) / supersoft tires/ No quick tune
5/15/05 | 1st place of 14    | 1:15.968  | ---       | Numbers  | flat-out
[This message has been edited by eggmann (edited 06-21-2005).]
IP: Logged

posted 03-12-2005 12:21 AM         

Happenings:
Gold on S2-5.

Day 18
(GT Day 119)
Game status: 0%/110,000/12/0
Playing time elapsed: 4.5 hours

Happenings:
Gold on S6-8 and Silver on S9-12.

Thoughts:
A bit of a "marathon" day for me, since I had a rare Friday off of work.
After I finished S8 I thought the last half of the S license would probably contain the toughest tests of the game, so I'm trying to get 8 silvers first and then go back for the gold. Based on S9-12, my guess was an accurate one.

posted 03-13-2005 03:32 PM         

Happenings:
No license tests today, just a lot of 2 player races with ms. eggmann.

Thoughts:
Steph won about 90% of the two player races. Looks like I need more practice.

posted 03-13-2005 05:46 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by eggmann:
Steph won about 90% of the two player races. Looks like I need more practice.

---

Sure you weren't just trying to keep the domestic conflicts to a minimum?

posted 03-14-2005 10:56 AM         

Happenings:
Silver on S13-16.
First three races of Sunday Cup won with the Gran Turismo Skyline. The first race was ran twice.

Thoughts:
Only 8 golds left. Hopefully by the end of this week...
As far as the Sunday Cup races, I noticed when I went to save my game after S16 that I had 0.5% completion. I thought, "cool. The game gives completion points for the license tests." However, after looking at the game status screen, I realized there were unexpected stats which weren't zeroes any more. I checked the game diary and it said these were driven in between S12 and S13. Either I drove these sometime yesterday and blacked it out, or Stephanie drove them while I was sleeping. I would guess that the latter occurred, but I can't confirm until tonight.

posted 03-14-2005 05:48 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by eggmann:
As it turns out, I was partially correct on both fronts. At my request, Stephanie drove the Sunday Cup races while I watched, and I didn't remember this happening until she reminded me just now.

---

LOL!! Are you getting THAT old???

posted 03-16-2005 11:22 AM         

My thoughts and plans regarding B-Spec mode

B-Spec sounds like an interesting and worthwhile addition to GT4 - I can train an AI driver to race my cars, sort of like an RPG... but I bought the real driving simulator so that I could "really" drive. When I came home from the store with GT4, I wasn't saying to myself, "I can't wait to watch an AI driver race my cars." In fact I didn't even know this was an option at that time.
So I plan to play 100% A-Spec mode up to 100% completion, as long as there're no B-Spec-only events (which I'd hope there aren't).
Yet at the same time, intrigued by B-Spec, I also plan to make a run at 100% completion using 100% B-Spec mode, or as much as the game allows. (License tests cannot be B-Specced for sure, and I would guess Driving Missions are the same). I haven't decided for certain if I'll run my B-Spec game simultaneously with my A-Spec one, but I'll probably get it started sometime before I complete A-Spec.

Finally, I'd just like to say that I'm not suggesting that anyone else play their game a certain way. There are few things (on gaming message boards anyhow) that bug me more than people who try to say that their approach to playing a game is the only correct one. I don't think there's a "wrong way" to play any video game. Thanks for reading.

posted 03-21-2005 07:06 PM         

Happenings:
Gold on S12-15. 14 seconds from Gold on S16.

Thoughts:
Suzuka's actually a pretty decent track once you learn how to drive it.
S13-15 were too easy as far as "S" tests go. Each took me less than an hour.
S16 should be rather easy as well, since the demo is 7 seconds faster than what's required for Gold. Last night I was 6 seconds ahead of my +14 ghost on nearly every attempt, but it was getting too late and I was too tired to hold it together for an entire lap. Hopefully tonight when I get home from work... I'm getting kinda anxious to try those Driving Missions.

posted 03-23-2005 12:52 PM         

Happenings:
6 seconds from Gold on S16.

posted 03-23-2005 04:31 PM         

Your journal has been very valuable to me in my quest for Gold, I'm on IA-15 and have Golds up to this point except for darned IB-15.

The power loss, mentioned by another poster scared the heck out of me!

Jon

------------------
My Pinball Site:

Pinball Nirvana
http://www.pinballnirvana.com

posted 03-23-2005 05:36 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by JonPurpleHaze:
The power loss, mentioned by another poster scared the heck out of me!

---

posted 03-24-2005 09:00 AM         

A few things I learned here:
- Many attempts make for a decent T1. Mine was 46.2, 0.7 faster than the demo.
- On a lot of the corners where I thought I could lift off the gas (since the gear indicator matched what gear I was already in), it's better to brake briefly, jerk the wheel, and then stomp the accelerator.
- For most of the wide, looong corners, it's good to brake early and accelerate through the whole corner, using throttle control to keep the car on the track.
- This is good practice in general, but especially at this track - come out of every corner thinking about how to get into the next one.
- Do whatever it takes to keep the car on the inside of a corner following the apex!
- The setup for the long final straight is crucial. I was losing almost 3 seconds on this straight (there's T-timers at the beginning and end). My (successful) speed range on this setup corner was 105-115.

posted 03-24-2005 10:08 AM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by eggmann:

LOL! Leave it to that kitana-wielding Sukerkin to provide the horror shows...
It's ironic that our resident electrician was the first to lose power in the middle of his game. :lol:
*Runs off to hide.*

---

You may well run and hide Mr Eggmann! .

A couple of corrections in the interests of more accurate ribaldry and general abuse ... I mean, leg-pulling LOL.

1) It's a Katana (pronounced "Cat Anna" (tho' "Cat Arna" is more usual for a non-Japanese aka "Ignorant Ganjin"))

2) I'm not an electrician ... they fix plugs and wire houses. I'm an Electrical Engineer and Control Systems Engineer and play with much bigger toys like transformers and reactors !

Congrats also on the licence work. I'm trying to catch up but stalled on trying to gold the MGF at Hong Kong pace car test

------------------
Asphalt Kannibals
Did somebody mention TVR's?

posted 03-24-2005 12:50 PM         

Happenings:
Gold on S16!
Missions 1-10 complete.
Mission 11 attempted once, 1 second back.

Thoughts:
80 golds in 30 days, or 55 hours! Quite an accomplishment for me, since GT3 only had 56 tests and took me 2 months. Plus I had 3 different 'guides' for GT3 Gold. This time I did it on my own.
The missions are cool, though most are way too easy. Mission 1 gave me the most trouble out of the first 10, taking about 5 tries. It's just hard to keep the speed up on such a slow car. The rest of them were all passed on the first or second attempt.
Now do I wanna try some OLR, or keep going on the missions? I'm thinking I'm hooked on the Missions, at least for now. If I ever feel like I need a break, I'll try some odd Spot Race.
Diary note- I won't be tracking my Real-life time spent on the game any more. Toward the end of "S", it got to be tedious to look at the clock before and after my sessions and to try to keep it all straight, especially when the time's broken up throughout the day.

posted 03-24-2005 01:32 PM         

So I wish you luck!

------------------
"When faced with certain death, eat strawberries."

Rally Diaries

Mudslingers Paradise

posted 03-24-2005 11:15 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by Thoasiii:
Mission 11 I didn't seem to do very well on. I was 4 seconds back. Interested on how you pass it.

---

posted 03-25-2005 01:12 AM         

35: (mph) This is the minimum speed for this Mission. If you drop below this, the bus blows up and we all go "home." You should reach this speed (or slightly higher) on the approach to the second turn as well as the hairpin.

47: (mph) This is the speed you should try to maintain around the circle. Your approach speed shouldn't dip below 47 if you brake early enough. There are also several later corners where this is a decent speed to take them at. For this Mission, every corner on this track should either be taken at 47 or 35 (other speeds will work, but this is the simplest way to put it.)

Lastly, my split differentials for a winning run:
+27.276 / +21.165 / +17.237 / +13.646 / +5.584 / +3.434 / -1.218

posted 03-25-2005 03:53 PM         

Happenings:
Mission 11 complete.
I loaded up Mission 12, but I realized it was 1:30 a.m. so I exited, saved my game, and went to sleep. This morning I ran flat-out's series warm-up race at GTP, arc Mini @ Tsukuba (Súck-u-báh, Suh-qúe-bah?) for about 30 minutes. 36.139 is good enough for 3rd place (of 10) on the T2 leaderboard so far.

posted 03-29-2005 12:50 PM         

Happenings:
Missions 13&14 completed again, plus Mission 15. Placed 4th in flat-out's Mini race. Edited the first post on page 2 to be my OLR History post.

posted 04-05-2005 08:46 AM         

Happenings:
Wow! It's been a while since I posted here...
Last Tuesday night, I spent about three hours writing out the walkthrough for M15, and then I skipped ahead to Mission 34 to see what all the fuss was about. All my GT4 time in the week since then has been spent either running M34 (mostly waiting for the race to start), or two-player racing with Steph.
Completing Mission 34 successfully (not even mentioning cleanly) is the most difficult single feat (of those which are mandatory for 100% completion) in GT4 as far as I can tell, at least in the NTSC version (PAL has 8 seconds less to wait at the start.)
I spent the first two nights trying to beat it the only way I typically drive, basically following standard OLR rules. While searching for help with the mission, I saw a video at GTP of someone passing it with the aid of four or five “shortcuts” (which will be described in my walkthrough once it’s completed.) Later I lamented having watched this video and “poisoning” my driving habits, because I was five seconds from winning whilst driving cleanly, yet I spent three hours or so learning these shortcuts before I was five seconds back on my best dirty run. Eventually (Sunday night) I passed M34 by less than a second utilizing the shortcuts, and now I’m working on “cleaning it up” for my Driving Missions Guide. A little over two seconds to go…

Thoughts:
PD really does want us to learn this track: pace car test, regular time trial lap, and now this? I suppose later I'll have to drive a 24h race there...

posted 04-11-2005 01:16 PM         

Happenings:
No changes on my Mission 34 progress. I took my slice of humble pie and moved on for now.
What have I done, aside from countless attempts at M34? Not a whole lot...
- Ran the GTPlanet WRS Qual. on a couple different days.
- Improved my S4 & S13 gold times.
- Tried M16 about 3 times.
- Set up the GT4 S-License for your Spare Time thread in the OLR Forum.
- Watched a lot of movies and tv.

Thoughts:
Back to the Mission Guide tonight, starting with #16. I'm also going to start the Special Conditions events whenever I get stuck on a Mission, or just need a break. And there's always room for improvement on my WRS Qual lap too.
My thoughts on B-spec are starting to shift; I'm thinking I'd have a lot more fun bustin' ghosts in OLR for 24 hours than I would driving around the same track over and over, counting how many laps ahead of the AI I get. I'll see how it goes...

posted 04-12-2005 01:46 PM         

Happenings:
Completed Missions 16 & 17. Walkthroughs are complete for each as well.
Spun around on License S6 for a bit.

Thoughts:
Mission 34 really got the virtual calendar moving!

posted 04-14-2005 03:24 PM         

Tried Mission 18 a couple times, never finishing. I think I'll redo the Sarthe S license test before having another go at the mission.
Submitted my Qualifying Lap for the GTP Weekly Race Series, and was placed in Division 1.

If GT3mich happens to see this, did you receive my email this morning?

posted 04-20-2005 12:46 PM         

Tried Mission 18 a couple more times, never finishing. I'll put this one on the shelf alongside Mission 34.
Completed Missions 19 & 20, walkthroughs will be coming.
I went into the "Red Emblem" races at the Nissan dealership with my Skyline Gran Turismo Version (pace car). I ran the first event, and realized this car is way too much. 10 A-spec points I think, and about a 30 second victory. I'll come back to this once I own a 'lesser' Skyline.
Took the S500 to the Lightweight Cup and the last two races of the Sunday Cup. Lightweight A-Spec pts were 9-10 per race, yet I typically won each race by 1 second or less. Sunday Cup A-Spec points were 60-70 and I usually won by about 5 seconds.
I used my unmodified Mazda Kusabi to complete the FF Challenge, good for 50-90 A-Spec points per race and some close competition (1-5 second MOV).
Don't have my game stats written down, maybe tomorrow.