Beating Peugeot's Le Mans test time

[Mindspin13B]

So I fired up my copy of GT4 and jumped in my Pescarolo C60. My goal was to see how close I could come to Peugot's fastest lap time at testing last week. Peugot put down a 3:26:707.

With my Pescarolo at ~850, stock power it has when purchased, I put down a 3:19:xxx

I figured this would be harder, it was a clean lap and on my first try. This seems very unrealistic, any ideas?

[ss_collins]

its unrealistic...

plus the real pesca only has 650 bhp.

Also the track has changed since the game came out making it quicker.

[Mindspin13B]

You sure it only had 650hp? or is that what they claimed? And the changes to the track should be a disadvantage for me since they have less distance to travel.

[Gil Abobeleira]

Do you really think that GT4 is that realistic?

[Mindspin13B]

Close enough, they've tested other cars on other tracks between real cars and the game and it was close apparently. But my car did have an extra 200hp

[chippy minton]

Not sure if you're aware that on BBC's Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson used two identical Honda NSX's around laguna seca. One on GT4, one in real life, and his real life time was really quite considerably slower than his in-game one.

[tux]

in video games you dont have to worry about crashing! and there are many other variables such as wind, grip on the track, traffic

[Gil Abobeleira]

Originally Posted by Mindspin13B

Close enough, they've tested other cars on other tracks between real cars and the game and it was close apparently. But my car did have an extra 200hp

Try GPL with a wheel, then go back to GT4 and see if it still feels real or not

[gregc]

Originally Posted by chippy minton

Not sure if you're aware that on BBC's Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson used two identical Honda NSX's around laguna seca. One on GT4, one in real life, and his real life time was really quite considerably slower than his in-game one.

Funny, that was the first thing I thought of reading the first post. Bit more info - he was 15 seconds slower in real life than on GT4. As already mentioned there's the fear factor that you don't get on your sofa, the g-forces, the adrenaline and so on. A quick search for "Clarkson Laguna" on Youtube will get you the clip in question.

Add in the fact that GT4 isn't that realistic (although I would argue that for something that's what - 2.5 years old, and on the PS2, it doesn't do a bad job at all) then it's not surprising at all that you can go faster round Le Mans than todays, less powerful than in the game, Pescarolo.

[Mindspin13B]

Yea I guess you guys are right. I just figured that with an 04 (?) car that it would be a good challenge. I suppose not. Oh well!

[JAG]

The car itself is quite realistic, but the tyres and track aren't.

Road cars, on road tyres, ARE very realistic, race cars aren't.

You can lap the Nordschleife within 5-10 seconds of the real time set by XYZ road car, but you have to select the correct tyres and use stock road cars.

[Mindspin13B]

I did my lap on super soft tires, maybe if I went down to a harder compound it would be more realistic.

[pitviper]

the harder compound tires do make a difference. Also the lap times around tracks like Laguna and suzuka are naturally going to be a bit closer due to the distance. With the lengths of Le Sarthe and the Ring, any minute differences are more pronounced. you also have much less traffic when you only have 5 opposing cars over 13km!

pit

[Knowlesy]

What I hate about GT is it seems you can't lock the brakes up, which is a really weird thing. You can go so deep into corners and so hard on the brakes it's unreal...

[dj choc ice]

in arcade put the power down as far as it will go, the pescarolo will make about 630bhp and set the weight to 925 or around that and you will have realistic figures, however though ive managed to get 3:24.xxx with these settings at the chicaned sarthe so it shows that GT isnt quite realistic.

[pirenzo]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

What I hate about GT is it seems you can't lock the brakes up, which is a really weird thing. You can go so deep into corners and so hard on the brakes it's unreal...

I dunno, you can kind of lock the brakes. I don't think it diminishes the brake effectiveness too much, but it is quite hard to turn in while you're still hard on the brakes, you generate loads of understeer.
I suppose really there isn't the required sensitivity in the controllers to be able to implement locking brakes properly.

[Knowlesy]

Forza 2 manages it quite well. Perhaps the brakes are a bit too sensitive.

But you really notice how more subtle you have to be in Forza compared to GT.

And I refuse to take a driving game seriously when you can't lay down "11's" on the tarmac.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

What I hate about GT is it seems you can't lock the brakes up, which is a really weird thing. You can go so deep into corners and so hard on the brakes it's unreal...

Probably because 95% of GT4 players use a joypad with digital buttons.

You really need an analogue controller of some sort to modulate the brake pressure in order for the game to correctly simulate braking imo.

[Knowlesy]

You can use the analogue sticks though, so that's a thin excuse.

[gregc]

I'd add that the buttons on the PS2 controller are analogue - I'm a confirmed button-basher for throttle and brake in GT4, and have no trouble modulating the pressure on the buttons.

[Knowlesy]

I use that method too, if only because you can accelerate and brake simultaneously.

XBox controllers are best, with the triggers. I think PS3 has them too now.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by gregc

I'd add that the buttons on the PS2 controller are analogue - I'm a confirmed button-basher for throttle and brake in GT4, and have no trouble modulating the pressure on the buttons.

Well, they are analogue to an extent, however its not what I would term analogue in the purest sense of the word. With the PS2 "active buttons" on the pad you can get maybe 3 or perhaps 4 degrees of pressure.

My pads also stopped applying "100%" pressure after a while, and now I have to push the buttons so hard it hurts my fingers so the pad registers the 100% pressure.

True though Knowlesy, I totally forgot about the sticks for analogue control.

Though, expecting the varying spectrum of players, I think the braking was dumbed down slightly for the mass market.

I can hear the sound of a hundred thousand 10 year olds throwing their pads at the wall as they lock up their brakes ruining their best lap yet of Lemans...

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Gil Abobeleira

Try GPL with a wheel, then go back to GT4 and see if it still feels real or not

You didn't then.........?