Gran Turismo 7: Catalunya Circuit Experience Gold...

[ZaXoFF7]

Has anyone done this Circuit Experience yet? I absolutely despite the way the Huracan feels in it, compared to the rest of the GT3 cars. It's such a pain, and I could only just barely get gold on the first and second sectors. I can only get around 3 tenths from Gold on the third, and 7 tenths from it in the full lap. I don't know why it feels so different from the rest of the GT3 cars used in Circuit Experiences.

My only conclusion -and the only major differentiating factor I've noticed- is that this is one of the events where your vehicle ended up on the wrong tires in Update 1.06, but that this one wasn't noticed, and so it wasn't fixed. Because the rest of the GT3 cars are all on Racing Medium tires in the Circuit Experiences, at least as far as the ones I've done (all of the Americas and Asia-Oceania). But this Huracan is on Racing Hard tires... it feels like the difficulty would be around where the rest of them are, if it was swapped to Racing Mediums...

Is it just that I suck with this car do you think? Or do you reckon something might be up?

 

[woody938]

Geez, you're pretty quick on the license tests too, sounds like that's gonna be hard if it isn't an error.

 

[geomil21]

I stopped playing after I thought about the idea that they will inevitably make more changes to payouts and prizes. When I heard the difficulty of circuit experiences and the meh rewards, I held off. Glad I did because it looks like its all going to get changed over the course of the next few months. I have not toyed with the GT3 class much but the lambo seems off normally compared to the other GT3 cars, but with having a different tire selected, I can only see that as a set-up to make you miss your bed time lol.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

Since I'm doing a video on it, for me it's more important to get everything done, than get any specific value of payouts and whatnot. And I figured since nearly all of these Circuit Experiences are in GT Sport already (and I did them there) it wouldn't be a big deal. And by and large it hasn't been. Most of them seem identical to Sport's versions from what I remember, so the only one I struggled with up to this point was the Counterclockwise Tokyo Expressway - Central Outer Loop.

But I only struggled there, because I was really trying to push to the edges of the track and use the whole thing, meaning I tapped the outside and inside curbs a lot, invalidating countless attempts.

This one though... it feels like I have reached my limit, straight up. At a certain point, I'd put in so many miles (like 200) that I started to wonder if -since it keeps the miles in Circuit Experiences until you exit- the oil was starting to get icky and I was losing horsepower, lololol. It's entirely possible that I'm just doing something wrong, but I tried following the demonstrations perfectly after a while; even putting on TCS like they have. And even that wasn't enough.

EDIT: Yeah... something is definitely up. I turned on GT Sport. The Circuit Experience is using the same car, and same tires. But it feels like a GT3 car, with that insane grip from the downforce. And so I've beaten all three sectors with Gold in just a couple tries. I even smashed my sector three record by nearly a full second. Gonna do the full lap now, but something is definitely up with that car in GT7...

 

[geomil21]

I hear the nurb experience one was tough but then again, its a difficult track for most. I personally have no issues with it but thats because I obsessively drive on it and memorized it.

I have put on over 300 miles on a few cars and the most they lost was about 5hp. not sure if it runs a percentage but one of the cars had 955hp and was reduced to 950. oddly the pp barely even changed.

Also, when are you posting your next video?

 

[ZaXoFF7]

I don't think I'll have an issue with the Nurburgring one either. Or at least I shouldn't, because yeah, I too drive that track a tooooooon. I have ever since GT5 had that Nurburgring Challenge thing, and that Trophy for beating a certain lap time in the GT-R. So the question now would be whether the car in that one is broken too, or not, lol

I used the RX Vision Concept Gr.3 car for most of the optional, longer races that used that class of car in the career races. And once it got to around 200 miles, the oil said Good instead of Excellent. But I failed to look at the difference before I changed it unfortunately.

My next video is actually coming out today, later in the afternoon. Been working on it for legit 10 years now, believe it or not, lol. But my GT7 video will be sometime in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I'm also going to try and squeeze in a funny little April Fool's video if I can find the time.

EDIT: Yuuuuup, just first tried the full lap as well on GT Sport. It feels like a completely different car. Granted, I didn't get a great time, but it was still a second faster than Gold. Something is definitely up. Now I'm starting to wonder if the aero just isn't working on it in GT7.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

Whooh, okay. Sorry for the double-post, but I finally got both the last sector and the full lap. Ended up getting a 1:46.739.

So two things to note. Firstly, yes, the car feels way different. Something about the changes between the games (or maybe a glitch/oversight) has made this version of the car feel way more slippery. More like a GT4 car than GT3. But also, they drastically lowered the Gold times in GT7. I think the sector three time was over a second lower, and the final lap time is around four seconds lower; so low that I don't think GT_Porsche's time in Sport would have even gotten Gold. And if it would've, it'd be within a tenth of a second or so. So, it's possible to beat this Circuit Experience, but holy hell it's far more difficult than any of the Circuit Experiences in GT Sport, or GT7's Asia-Oceania and Americas sections.

I hope the rest of Europe isn't this brutal, or I'll be here for weeks, lol.

 

[geomil21]

I just experienced your rubber band lol. I kept time on this one. 3 laps on Nurb, first two laps I royally screwed up but managed a clean lap for the last. Times are as follows, Lap 1 (7:24) to opponents (7:30), Lap 2 (7:17) to opponents (7:26) and Lap 3 (7:06) to opponents (7:07). To be honest, realizing all of this "catering" going on by the game, it kind of takes some of the fun out of it knowing I will not get solid competition from the AI despite them being fully capable. I really wish they had a 10-digit scale or something for AI difficulty and to stick rigidly to that as far as skill and speed go.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

I honestly just wish it was a toggle in and of itself. Like, I don't have a problem with rubberbanding being included, if people want it. But I really don't, and so I'd prefer just being able to turn it off and then pick the difficulty of the AI separately. Some races might be a bit easier if first place crashes out or something. And some might be a bit harder if they're really on it that time. But that's okay to me, as long as I can limit their ability to randomly keep up no matter what happens.

 

[geomil21]

Thats the funny thing, a form of rubber banding is included as an option in custom race setup (boost), yet I it seems to happen anyways. I have never done a race with it on, but I assume it probably just keeps them at a mediocre skill level and adjusts hp to them and you according to position. I agree with you 100% if they could just have a consistent AI (skill wise) without sudden changes, I would be far more enthused to play. Right now, I might do a race or 2 and then turn it off. Heck, normally I am glued to a new game when I get it, but I find myself going a couple days without even touching it. I feel like I am wasting my time with the low pay and the ever adjusting AI who, if they are either absurdly slow that even rubber banding doesn't help them, or just to far ahead that they start matching or beating your time by the time you are near the front. I can't tell you how many times I have made a nice solid run through the pack, eating down the gap between me and 1st place (cutting anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds a lap), only to have them going nearly the same rate as I am by the time I get to 2nd place. At that point its usually the end of the race and I have to accept it.

 

[geomil21]

doublepost, eh

Ok, so I dont know if I mentioned this here already but one thing that really really annoys me about the AI is not so much the rubber band, but curtesy crap. It's limited to Just the Nurburgring (layouts including the nordschleife). Sometimes I like to do a one on one race against the AI for just one lap. Problem is, if you are keeping up with them, even if you dont have the power to pass them, they will signal, pull to one side and slow down. It completely takes away the challenge and makes the race seem more like a high speed cruise. I know they implemented it as a "neat" little feature for the tourist layout, but sadly it bleeds off for the other 2 current layouts with Nordschleife. This issue was also present in GT Sport and it infuriated me to no end. To see it here as well, is aggravating.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

Honestly, most of the payouts -even with the lower adjustments to some of them- are perfectly fine for me. And I still enjoy the feel of GT enough that I am sad that I'm almost out of content.

And yeah, the way the rubberbanding works is definitely frustrating in no small part due to the fact that it makes it really difficult to judge if a car is fast enough or not. If you only really know by the last lap or two, you have to do a lot of the race each time you make an adjustment to tell whether it made enough of a difference or not. Or else really pay close attention to your per lap gains early on, and then convert it into percentages, and then compare that to the percentage gains when near the end of the race and... ugh, it's just so not the point of the race, you know?

It doesn't surprise me that they haven't allowed players the ability to deactivate the rubberbanding in career races though. I mean, this is the first time they've even allowed you to alter AI difficulty in career races at all, which is ridiculous.

I haven't had too much issue with any curtesy stuff myself. But I also have never paid any attention to that. I'm sure if I did, it'd be equally frustrating for me too.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

Alright, I've done every Circuit Experience other than the Nordschleife. A few more of them in Europe are difficult, but none as difficult as Catalunya. It seems a lot more of the GT3 cars used in them in Europe are using RH tires instead of RMs, compared to the other regions. But the times also seem a bit more lax overall.

However, I tried the first sector of the Nordschleife the other day, and was really struggling to get Gold. I was still just under three tenths off, so I think this is another one that they really ratcheted up the difficulty one. It's in the M6 GT3 Endurance Model, on RHs...

 

[geomil21]

the sectors are one thing, I am just hoping they have a little wiggle room on the full lap of Nurb. I suppose one of these days i should actually do the Circuit experience. I didnt start doing GT sports ones until a little over a year ago.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

Generally I find the sectors more difficult, because they do usually have a bit more leeway on the full laps. It's the ones like Le Mans (which don't have many places to add wiggle room, since they're 90% straights, lol), or like Tokyo Expressway that are generally harder on full laps for me (because it doesn't have tracksides or kurbs; just walls).

But the sectors are like the rawest, purest form of expectations for that one bit of track. So at least in GT7, they demand a lot more out of the player there.

I'll get it eventually either way. But I'm genuinely worried I'll have a tough time given how difficult the first sector was in the time I gave it. Though I've also always been terrible at the first sector. It's by far my worst.

 

[geomil21]

One problem I came across with doing the sectors was, I was treating them like little puzzles just to solve for this moment and not thinking in the way of "in the middle of a race how would I approach it". I noticed that my mind switches between the two perspectives and my time change dramatically. Thats probably just me because I can barely focus on anything. EDIT: Its the mindset of being challenged by a pretend opponent either behind you or ahead of you making it more urgent to get through the sector.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

I used to do that, but now it's more akin to me using the sectors to learn the best approach for that car, and then for the full lap I do a bit slower/safer version of that and see if it works out. If that's not fast enough, I ratchet up the speed on the sectors I do the best, and keep going until I'm eventually doing every sector the way I would've individually. That's sort of how I've always approached time trials and such in general. It's something that some friends and I have loved to do for a long time, so I got really used to consistency first, and then slowly trying to push beyond those limits.

It's the sections that can't really be done that way, which I find the most harrowing. Like the set of chicane-S things, near the end of Dragon Trail - Seaside. Doing the second chicane properly has a really slim margin for success. If your line or timing is slightly off, you're slamming into a wall. But in order to get gold, you kind of have to do it that way, instead of taking the slower approach. Same for the last sector of Le Mans. Keeping the car planted while still not braking and such is really precise and exact. And since it comes at the end of the lap, your instinct is probably to play it safe if you've done really well up to that point. But playing it safe there changes the entire line, and can very easily add literal seconds to your lap time, so you really can't if you want Gold.

 

[geomil21]

ugh dragon trail. My butthole clinches every time I run through that section. A mouse fart could put you on the wrong line and BOOM! In GT Sport, it was a bit easier to work the hop in different ways since the physics seem to give you more room for error. GT7, its find your line, go in, try not to catch air and pray that you have the angle and speed right coming out lol. Not sure why but dragon trail is one of tracks I am really liking.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

Yeah, it's definitely pretty brutal for sure. Honestly, Polyphony is still the absolute best when it comes to creating believable tracks that are also unique and fun to drive. They know how to create tracks that look realistic, but are still interesting, and feel organic in terms of the micro intricacies of the road (bumps, imperfections in corners, banks and crests in spots that don't feel forced, etc.). They always have at least one quirk that just feels like the 'iconic' section of any great track, like Tsukuba's final sweeper, or the corkscrew, the carousel, etc. They somehow channel that sort of highly unique identity extremely well.

Though for me personally, I'm still mostly glad that they brought Trial Mountain back. It's the best drift track I've ever experienced in a game when you drive it in reverse. Very difficult, but incredibly rewarding to hit the two main lines.

EDIT: Oh, also, I was able to finish getting gold on all sectors of the Nordschleife. So all that's left is the full lap. I think I'm gonna keep TCS on for the whole thing. Normally I wouldn't, but I'm just not into the feel of this BMW. The car loves to slip at even the slightest amount too much throttle. And while even when set to 1, the TCS saps a loooooot of power, it's worth it for the consistency since the lap is so long. I hope it doesn't take me too long. And once it's done, I've done everything there is to do in the game at the moment

 

[geomil21]

I've never drifted and don't plan to. I just dont understand the point to it. At least not in the way that its represented in games and in formula drift. I get the whole whipping around on a super tight corner that might be at your turning radius limit, but the whole "dragging your ass along the course making a smoke trail" eludes me on its attraction. let me know how that full lap goes....man that is such a long track, I really really hope the time limit for gold is reachable for an attention deficient person like myself.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

Drifting is an artform. It's about the zen, the flow, the rhythm... it's not so superficial as to be about the smoke, and if you're dragging your ass, you're doing it wrong. Max angle, at the highest speed you can attain, while still finding a proper line to be able to combo corners smoothly, and keeping your car right on the edge of losing control. Honestly, it's just like normal lap time chasing and such in that way. Just from a different perspective.

I've done one lap so far. I made sure to do a "Ensure that I finish so that I at least have a ghost." lap, so I was running at maybe about 70%. Was around seven tenths below Silver, which means I'm around 8.5 seconds away from Gold. I think it'll be tighter than I like, but I'm not sure that it'll be brutally difficult.

EDIT: Second lap, about 85% of my max abilities, with a couple of tiny mistakes. 3.2 seconds off of Gold.

EDIT 2: Running at about 95% now, and I can see the Gold lap, but I'm still 2.8 seconds away. I'm making mistakes now, since I'm pushing so hard, and that lap had two pretty serious ones that -if they didn't cost me Gold outright- cost me a time that was at least less than a second off of Gold...

EDIT 3: I give up for today. I'm too frustrated now. Didn't get any closer, and now I'm struggling to even get past the first half of the lap...

 

[geomil21]

Haha intense read. Sounds like that M3 is gonna be a real handful.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

It's so brutal, lol. I put in nearly 300 miles today, and never got another lap faster than that one. I tried with TCS off, and it's so much faster... Like seriously, the TCS in GT7 is so freaking extreme, even when just set to 1. There was a lap where I definitely had the necessary time between me and my ghost to get Gold with TCS off. But I made one mistake... just like 10% too much throttle coming out of a corner, and the turbo kicked in, and spun it into a wall. I could easily get a fast enough lap in theory, without TCS. But getting a whole lap without a major mistake with TCS off is extremely difficult for me in this car.

I should specify by the way, that I'm on gamepad on PS4. So I can't 'feel the car in the controller' like on PS5, and I don't have the nuance of control that a wheel would offer. Simply don't have the space or the money for a wheel unfortunately. So if you have a wheel it may be a bit easier for you.

Wow, so the time it wants from you in GT7 is 20.100 seconds faster than GT Sport, and the car is far less grounded on top of that. It's a 6:57.900 for Gold in Sport, and a 6:37.800 in GT7...

EDIT: I did a lap on GT Sport. The car is far more grippy at low downforce than in GT7, but it's also a lot more prone to understeer. As such, it's actually a fair amount slower. I still got gold on my first try, with TCS off, but I was around 15 seconds slower than my best in GT7. You can also feel the tire flex in GT7 surprisingly well, now going back to Sport. On a track that rough, and with such high angled kurbs, you can feel the nuances of the tires extremely well compared to Sport.

 

[geomil21]

I have the wheel. Still, I feel like the FFB doesn't respond correctly in some instances. It makes you feel like the tires are doing one thing when they are not. I always find my self correcting my steering just a bit late. Its odd because in gt sport I have my countersteering timed and aimed well but this game asks for more steering input and faster, I feel. One notable thing about having the wheel with the shifter and all that, I drive the cars exactly as intended (clutch and all) but I noted that if you change your transmission type, some still require a clutch while others dont. I never use the paddles unless the car has more than 6 gears. I am just more familiar with the shifter. I have a pretty cheap little set up but it works well enough.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

I would adore having a wheel with an H-shifter, especially if it can also be used sequentially. I want that one that's bundled with GT7, that was 'designed' for it, because everyone says it's a great entry level wheel. I think I'd be quite a bit faster, and I'd enjoy just messing about a lot more if I had one. Or... I know I would, because I have used one. But I have nothing to anchor it to, and no place where I can set the pedals at feet height while sitting down.

I wish gamepad allowed for use of the clutch. It's ridiculous that it still doesn't.

 

[geomil21]

I have a really flimsy little half rig that holds the wheel, pedals and shifter. I bought a computer chair that has no wheels, just one big base. A long time ago in another life, I had a playseat evolution. It was amazing but I gave it to some kid when I stopped playing racing games. Now I have GT7, BeamNG, Asetto Corsa and a few simulators so I ended up getting this thing. Its not bad but I have a feeling the shifter part is going to snap off at some point in the near future.

For some games on PC that allow custom control mapping, I do use clutch on controller as well. I actually got the downshift throttle blip down to where I can confidently downshift mid-turn. I use the right stick up for a clutch, shoulder button for upshift and the X/square button for downshift. It works best in BeamNG.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

I've only used clutch for a substantial amount of time in Forza Motorsport 3... like ten years ago at this point *begins crying uncontrollably*. I got okay with it, but it never got to the point of being second nature like manual gearbox in general has. And I don't think it will if GT doesn't do it, because other sims just don't have enough content to sustain me long enough for it to really sink in.

I like L1 as the clutch, since -because I drift- I like having Square as downshift, Circle as upshift, and X as e-brake, so that I can always slide to and from the e-brake into and out of shifting. I've got a really smooth motion for it that just feels divine to pull off

 

[geomil21]

I tried out the drifting challenge after my last comment. I sucked. I realized with the first one, I just had to drive like normal and let the rear come out a bit and it would tally points, the section was long enough to get gold without trying. The second one with the mustang on the other hand was just annoy and I gave up after a few attempts. I have a feeling and from what I have read online, drifting seems to be easier on a controller than a wheel.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

Yeah, the drift challenges in GT7 are rather strange. The first one is indeed super easy, with the others being a genuine step up in difficulty, but not really representing drifting well? Like, they're okay teaching tools I guess, because they explore how important your line can be. But otherwise, they're too short and awkward to be particularly enjoyable.

In a sense, drifting is easier on controller, because you can effectively go from full lock to opposite lock in an instant. But on the other hand, all of your precision is gone. Not to mention you can't feel the car at all, so you have to rely on visuals. Honestly I recommend the view behind the car anyway, because there's no real easy way to look toward the corner exit and such in other views, since moving the camera while drifting isn't really feasible. The third person view makes up for that fact by allowing you to see much more of the track and showing you what your car is doing.

Gonna get back to the Nurburgring today, and hope I can get a Gold finally...

 

[geomil21]

I'll try the chase cam and see if that helps. Good luck on the Nurb. I just got off there. I had the AI race two of my garage cars against each other, I sat as a third to just observe. One was just a stock Silvia, the other was a somewhat tuned 86 Levin. Turned out to be a really close race where they both had their moments to pass and take the lead. Just for kicks, after the last corner, I blasted all 730+hp and N2O of my car from behind them to steal the win by .010 seconds. good times. stoopid AI lol

 

[ZaXoFF7]

FINALLLLLLLYYYYY, I got it! 6:37.246

So apparently there are ghost options. Usually they're either on the main pre-race menu under Ghosts, or they're under Replay. I totally forgot that GT7 puts them under Settings. There you'll find Ghost Settings. From here, you can tell it to display your personal best ghost, display the Demonstration Ghost, choose how far ahead of you the ghost will be set in case it's too close for comfort, and you can also tell it to reset the ghost's position at the start of every sector, in case it's getting too far ahead of you to keep up.

So I set Reset Ghost Position to ON, and activated the Demonstration ghost, since it gets nearly 10 seconds under Gold. That way I knew that at least if I was somewhat keeping up with the ghost, I was doing well. It took a few tries, but having the Demonstration ghost there to let me know how well I was doing sector to sector (and without having to look backwards at it, because I was never faster than it, lol), I was able to push the car a lot harder than I had before. That's like a... 3.5 second improvement from my previous personal best I think?

Anyway, I'd strongly recommend doing that with the ghost. Also, I did it with TCS at 1, since that's what the ghosts always do. Finally, finally, FINALLY done with all of the launch single player content... and it took 6130.32 miles, 40 hours and 30 minutes of driving, with 113 hours and 20 minutes of total playtime.

Ahh, that reminds me of my friend and I back in the day on GT4, setting purchase limits and trying to create the best cars we could within the budgets, and then racing each other. The Nurburgring was one of our favorite locations for that. It also makes me miss Shuffle races from GT5...

 

[geomil21]

I forgot this tracks my play/drive time. I should check that. I bet I have a stupid high amount of playtime hours and low drive time and mileage. We used to do a budget race thing here too. Back then we had to rely on integrity and everyone submitted their times to one person ( I forget who ran it) and they would post it sector by sector time. It was great watching a race in your head as you read down the list.

Edit:94 play time 57 drive time and 4685miles. So if this was a race, you would be the equivalent of chicago to florida ahead of me, having done so within the driving hours of a work week in the total span of 5 days. I on the other hand look more like I drove Ms Daisy with overtime in 4 days.

Edit2: I just realized something. I used to drive over the road in a semi-truck and your miles for a week are more than double the average for any truck driver. We usually dont exceed 500-600 miles a day. At max we work 77hrs in a week but it was more often around 40-55hrs.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

Ahh, yeah. I've done that with a few friends as well. There's one in particular that just loves comparing lap times to improve himself, but doesn't have PS Plus or anything, so we can't just drive together.

To be fair, a loooooot of those miles are covered so quickly because, you know... racecar go vroom vroom fast Like, probably 300+ of those miles alone are Le Mans, much of which is done at over 200mph. It's always definitely a bit of a shock seeing those miles go up though. I always have to remind myself that it's not the equivalent of driving on the road, lololol.

EDIT: To toss in some comparisons with the other games, in GT Sport (the one I played the least, because I didn't take part in online or Sport mode really at all) I drove 12, 114 miles, spent 213 hours driving, and 103 extra hours in game. I'll check GT 5 and 6 and edit this as I figure those out. I think they have the same stats...

EDIT 2: Oh yeah, I forgot that GT6's stats broke at one point. One day it zeroed out for some reason. They came back next time I turned the game on, but they were lower than before for some reason, as if it had loaded earlier stats or something. Anyway GT6 has 14,088.9 miles, and 168.4 hours driven. There's no total or non-driven playtime. Also, I apparently drove 828.5 miles of the Nurburgring in it

EDIT 3: And it looks like GT5 only has miles and not time. My miles there are 22,015.1. I think GT4 and 3 might also tell you miles, but while I still have the files, I don't have a working PS2 to access them with, unfortunately. So that'll have to do for now.

 

[geomil21]

I could not even guess how many miles I had on those games, its been so long. GT4 was by far the one I probably have the most miles/time. Do you recall on the ps1 a game called test drive le mans? Now THAT was a game I put miles on. I did so many 24hr races almost every weekend.

 

[ZaXoFF7]

I think GT5 is the one I have with the most miles. I played a ton of GT3 and 4 too, but because they didn't have online, I didn't spend near as much time just chilling in them.

I know of Test Drive Le Mans, but I've never played it. I should try it sometime...