My Diaries

A Lurid Tale of Obsession, Depravity, Wits and Attempted Wit

Wednesday January 19, 2000

Cr10,000 Starter Cars Do Well in Trial Mountain 30 Race of Gran Turismo 2

I've done a lot of Enduros in Gran Turismo 2, and I am not going to report on all of them in the detail I did the Grand Valley 300 in GT1. But I think I will file several reports on Trial Mountain 30 results, in particular using cars having a total value of Cr10,000 (i.e. "starter" cars).

I'm convinced one can quite easily buy the Cr120,000 or so gold 1968 Toyota 2000GT available in Gran Turismo until day 9, and I think the Trial Mountain 30 Race can be used to achieve this. So last night I raced that race in a 1993 Toyota Supra (turbo). Having only Weight Reduction Stage 1, and Turbo Spec 1, and no other fitted parts, this car has a total value less than Cr10,000.

Here were the results:

I got off to a slowish start, but appeared to be about to settle into 4th place for a while, but a mishap negotiating the final esses on the second lap cost me two or three seconds or more, and I dropped to 6th, regaining 5th by the end of that lap.

A first-place finish was out of the question in this race, as the (probably cheating) AI Vector lapped me on lap 5.

I had climbed to 3rd by my first pit stop, on lap 10. In testing the normal tires seemed to last that long; lap 11 was a little tricky and by lap 12 significant time was being lost, so pit stops every 10 appeared optimal. The pit stop dropped me to 5th, but on my new tires I settled into a rhythm and, as the AI cars pitted, had gained 2nd by my second stop.

The second stop dropped me only to 3rd, and I regained 2nd on the road, and that AI car pitted after that, finishing almost 24 seconds behind me.

Here are the lap times I was able to record.

There were no settable settings.

I won the Cr100,000 second prize, and no car. This field was about medium for this race, as far as I can tell. My time was good enough to avoid coming last in any field I've seen so far, if I recall correctly.

If you were starting from day 5 (the earliest you could have your necessary IB license), Cr20,000 (5th place) would be enough to make a useful upgrade--namely to soft racing slicks, and leave enough for the racing exhaust upgrade which will also just squeak under the bhp limit. If you happen to finish last and win only Cr10,000 it's a tough call. It's not clear sports tires are worth the money; you might be better just to enter the race again, and hope for a better finish--in any case, after a second entry you will then have the Cr20,000 for tires and exhaust.

If you won the Cr100,000 upgrades to consider in order probably include WR2, brakes and controller, and driveshaft. With this course, driveshaft seems to make a noticeable difference, and a racing flywheel either makes no difference, or perhaps hurts a bit. If you have enough to do WR3, you will need to tune the suspension, so do not buy WR3 unless you also have enough for a modifiable suspension of some variety. If you have money to spare, consider the racing transmission and clutch.

The best strategy if you win Cr100,000 is probably to leave Cr20,000 and hope the modifications you make allow you to win at least Cr100,000. At that point you will have enough to buy the coveted gold 1968 Toyota 2000GT. It does eventually come back, but I will probably still try and start a game from game 1 to buy it early.

If you win the Cr150,000 first prize, of course, you have enough to buy the 2000GT, and still have some money left over, and will in addition have the Denso Sard Supra GT--a perfectly reasonable car with which to begin winning many of the "free" events.