FerrariChat GT4 Challege: Lancia Stratos @ the 'Ring

lol Geez Armen, you arn't into this game at all!!
Dont worry... I'll start playing again, then I won't be as embarassed with my times

 

I hate these S class liscences. God, I cant do the grand Canyon one. Why put rally into S class, thats just lame.

 

Because all of the rally races require the S license. Simple.

 

well have a seperate Rally Liscence then, like Gran Turismo 3.

 

I hate this car. Ugh. Okay, I have about 30 seconds to shave off. I better stop using reverse to fix my blunders.

 

My best was something like 8.55.xxx. I'm having a frustrating time just trying to keep the Stratos in control. The wheel base is too short for a course like this, every time I back off from a high speed run the car gets damn near uncontrollable. Beside, the Statos is better on short courses. NEXT TIME PICK A M3 GTR FOR THE RING!

 

100% stock car.
All driver aids turned off.
OE Playstation controller.
Second Lap:
http://www.pbase.com/bill_in_brooklyn/image/45517456/large

I'm very very surprised by the times people are getting and the problems they're having with this car. The way to drive this car is to turn the front end in and then get off the steering in any of the higher speed corners. My first lap I went off the road once and got used to the available grip, I turned an 8:33.0xx. Second lap I didn't go off the road and by the 6'00" mark I was around 15 seconds ahead of my previous lap.

I do play GT4 consistantly, and most of my time is with various cars in time trial at the 'Ring, so this particular challenge was really right up my alley. If anyone's got any questions about the 'Ring, let me know, I've put in roughly 2000 time trial laps there.

Bill in Brooklyn

 

I saved my replay to my memory card, anyone know a way to convert it to MPEG so I can host it up somewhere?

Bill in Brooklyn

 

Bump.

Only a few more hours left.

 

Ok .. got home tonight and took another 3 laps at it. First lap I got over-zealous and spun bad within two minutes. Secondlap I got it down to an 8:17:xxx but I had a spin in there and two corners I wish I had done better. Third lap I nailed .. all in all, I might be able to pick up another 2 or 3 seconds tops, but no more than that:

http://www.pbase.com/bill_in_brooklyn/image/45538323/large

Bill in Brooklyn

 

dammit bill! okay, bill is disqualified for breaking his own record which trumped everyone else's!

 

Ok .. then you're REALLY going to hate this one:

I put in some more laps after reading your post. Kept trying to go through some of the higher speed stuff just a LITTLE bit faster, but kept screwing myself up. Sat back for a second, decided to run a "smooth" lap .. slow down my corner entry a little more, concentrate on keeping the car straight instead of letting it get sideways and scrub speed .... and pulled this one out on either lap 6 or 7. I was actually over 5 seconds up on my previous best around 2/3rds of the way through, but was so excited I got a little hot into the last two turns before the final straight and ended up having to scrub off speed to stay on the track ... cost me at least 2 seconds on the the straight.

http://www.pbase.com/bill_in_brooklyn/image/45544294/large

Bill in Brooklyn

P.S. For those non-believers, I'll ship my memory card to anyone who wants to watch the run or check out the car. I'd need your word on shipping it back though. Does anyone know what I need to buy to save a GT4 replay on my computer as an MPEG? I've seen lots of videos on the web, so I know there's a way. I asked a GT4 forum a few hours ago, but haven't gotten a reply yet.

 

Bill, what top speed are you achieving on the long straight?

 

amazing times Bill. I gotta try it with all the aids turned off instead of the deafulted 10/10/5.

 

I'm watching the replay right now ... give me about 5 and a half minutes =) ...

I'm on AOLIM right now .. "Bill SSB IT" if you want to chat about it.

Bill

 

145 as I make the kink under the bridge ... on to a top of 149 on the following downhill. I should note that I stay full on the throttle through the next chicane and get HARD on the brakes right after that which takes me, nose to the ground, right up to the second gear hard right before the pit entrance.

Bill

 

Oh no .. that's a major problem right there. This car has such a tendency to get sideways, your aids are slowing the car down on EVERY corner. The key to this car is that while you are trying to keep the slip angle down ... it must slip. If electronics are reeling you in, you're dead in the water.

This car actually handles really well. While it is a little tough to control reactive body motion, especially if you throw a wheel off into the dirt, the front end has great turn-in and the car is well balanced. In the high speed stuff, you are definately sideways.

There are many places on this track where I'm sure people aren't utilizing the full track which in many cases, will mean the difference between having to back off the throttle and keeping the throttle buried. Note, the car does react to off-throttle maneuvers the way real mid-engined cars do .. that is to say, badly. Do ALL of your braking in a straight line, turn-in on the brakes or off the throttle (to help the front tires bite), and then IMMEDIATELY get on the gas. If you're nailed your entrance speed right, the throttle will balance the car and because of the low-horsepower of this car ... you won't end up gaining too much speed during the corner. This technique, and understanding which "corners" on this track can be connected into VERY long "straights with flat-out kinks" ... is the key to good times.

A really pleasing, communicative, balanced car that I use on the 'Ring (it's one of my favorite cars), is the M3 CSL. I bought one new and decked it completely out with the exception of forced induction (no Nitrous, no Turbo). After a few hours of suspension fiddling, this car is such a gem. The M3 GTR you can buy new has a slightly better power/weight ratio, but it isn't as amazing in transitions as the CSL, so I get better times at the 'Ring with the CSL. Most other tracks I am a bit quicker with the GTR.

If anyone decides to go the CSL route (I highly recommend it), let me know if you want my suspension settings, they're 100% set for the 'Ring and are a little too soft for most other tracks, but they transform the car on this course.

Bill in Brooklyn

 

I just took a look at my Rankings on the 'Ring ... to give you an idea of how little horsepower plays into this particular track, my two best times with "production" based vehicles (cars bought new and modified, no race cars) are a 6'32.722 with an S2000 and a 6'31.662 with the previously mentioned CSL. I believe both cars are in the 400 HP range which is the relative "low" end of the horsepower scale in my GT4 garage.

Bill in Brooklyn

 

I almost forgot the most important factor in my laptimes .....

I bought the lime-green Stratos and everyone knows lime-green is fastest! =)

Bill

 

Bill Ng wins this round with his insane time of 8'08.917"

The prize is a "Got Speed" edition 1:64 Hot Wheels 360 Modena. It's got good detail, and rubber tires... it's not one of the crappy 99cent hot wheels. I'll send Bill one that is still in the package, the other pic is one that I took out of the package a while back. PM me your mailin address, Bill.

Congrats Bill! I think you should choose our next challenge.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Thanks for the tips on the TC & driver aids Bill. That seemed to help quite a bit, but man, when that back end comes around just a hair more than you want it to, you just wait and wait and wait till it's over. I shaved off quite a bit of time, but nothing competitive...yet.

What about... the ring in any car any mod any tire any configuration... just the balls out fastest you can make it around?

 

I agree, Bill actually won because of the information shared. If you notice I had added a later stipulation that only subscribed members of Fchat could win the prize, but Bill impressed me with the amount of information he was willing to share. He clearly added value to our contest thread and so I waived the "subscriber" requirement.

I like that idea... hey Bill, what do you think?

 

Wow!!!! That's awesome. Thanks guys. I'm going to think about the challenge for a few hours, and post it up tonight. Stay tuned.

Bill in Brooklyn

 

The car's rear stays in line much better on the throttle ... so really concentrate on slowing down early and driving through the corner on the throttle the entire time. Another interesting tidbit, fairly specific to just the Stratos, was that it tends not to be bothered, nor is grip all that affected, by off-road excursions. A few times I found myself using the grass at the apex effectively without having to worry about the car gettings out of control ... it holds its composure well over these terrain transitions.

As far as the "any car any mod" idea ... I'm concerned that some people won't have the bank account to compete and that makes it unfair since some of the really fast rides can cost $4mm+, not to mention that some people might already have an F1 car and others might not.

I'm thinking about doing a theme thing ... maybe I'll come up with a "Spec" Miata of sorts and let loose on the 'Ring with that and any tires. Going to give it some thought and post it tonight.

Bill in Brooklyn

 

I did read that part of it ... but posted my times anyway for comparison. In all fairness, I'm not a subscribed member and you did post that rule, so if you want to stick to that and give it to the rightful winner, by all means please do.

As I just posted, I'm concerned over people being unable to compete financially ... so I'm probably going to pick the car, but either post exactly the modifications allowed, or just allow people to do whatever they want to do with that car, but that car only. I'm going to look it over tonight and decide. I promise I'll make it fun.

My biggest concern is horsepower. The 'Ring is learned so much easier with a sub 400HP vehicle because of the emphasis thrown onto the maintaining of speed, instead of the point and shoot method that can work decently on other tracks.

Bill in Brooklyn