Gran Turismo 3, for Sony Playstation 2 Strategy guide ------------------ I'm just starting out at GT3, and have noticed that the existing guides dont seem to be much on initial strategy. Or the ones that are, get way too wordy about it :-) So here's a few ways at maximizing speed of cash flow ==> faster cars. Slow-car start --------------- You'll have to eventually use the Toyota "Vitz" car, if you want to clear all the events. So you might as well start off with it, since it will be really boring after you're used to faster cars, AND it gives you the most amount of initial money left over for tune-ups. You'll probably want to buy a racing chip, a new exhaust, and a tripple clutch. OR, a turbo stage 1 + racing chip OR, start with "sports tires" + racing chip The neat thing about starting this way is that you get to race in the Vitz series of races, which gives $5,000 for a gold in each event, and a bonus 10,000 if you come out the overall point leader after 5 events. Dude, that's $35,000! (Plus, another car, which if you're lucky, WONT be another Vitz) Faster-car start --------------- If you cant bear the thought of starting with something so underpowered, start with a mazda miata. This is a pretty spiffy car that should let you win all three of the "beginner" level Sunday Cup races, once you get used to it. Each "gold" win gets you $1000. If you manage to get gold in all three tracks for an event, you get a new car. Unfortunately, it's not a particularly good car. Important things to buy as soon as possible racing flywheel+tripple clutch: gets you faster shifting engine chip: easy quick boost to HP, and cheap sport tires: better traction: but NOT cheap. You should try moving to the "roadster" competetion as soon as your miata can keep up. First place money moves up to $2500 instead of $1000 [Alternate route, for semi-patient people: Race the "apricot hill" track a few times: enough to buy racing "slick" tires. Then immediately go to the "Endurance race" section, and enter the "Roadster" event. It will take you about 1.5 hours. But you will then have a BOATLOAD of money, and a 1 in 4 chance of winning a formula-1 car.] More stuff to buy: You can optionally start adding things like better exhaust, port polishing, etc. at this point. They aint cheap. HOWEVER!!!! Try to save your money. Because if you manage to get all gold all three roadster competitions, you get a FASTER miata! You generally cannot transfer tuneups between cars -- even similar ones. Out of the shop, the prize miata starts out with about 50 more HP than your original one!! So try to save your money to buff out this second car, rather than your first one. Next step: try to move on as soon as possible to the "NA" (Naturally aspirated) races. Prize money goes up to $5000 for gold!!! A fun thing to buy at this point is the full racing transmission. Once you have it, you can custom-tweak your gear ratios based on what race is next for you. Tweaking this lets you win the "oval" type tracks really really easily. At this point, things get a little fuzzy, because I went nuts and bought myself a mitsu 3000, and maxed it out :-) But the way to get MONDO money at the beginner level, is to start doing the GT challege series of 10 courses. You probably will get blown away after the first few races. But if you can pull off gold in the first few races, you get $10,000 for EACH WIN, and you can do it over and over!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TIP FOR ALL START STYLES: Dont go spending ALL your money on everything you see, because you wont be using the same car forever. Buy what you need to win races, and then stop upgrading your current car further. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TIP FOR FASTER CARS part 1: always buy the best of a part, to avoid wasting money. BUT: dont go buying 5 items, if you can win your next race with 2 items. you wont use this car forever part 2: To get faster cars soon, move to professional level as quickly as possible. Get an ib license, and you can race in the individual heat races on professional level. Win a series, and you'll have a car that will blow away the competition on beginner and amateur. So dont think you have to defeat ALL of the beginner level before moving on. FASTEST CAR I've won so far: Mazda 767B. Although I still prefer the Toyota GT-one (can only get Toyota after wining the GT World Championship in amateur level, or GT All-stars at professional league.) More challenging ----------------- In the "Amateur" category of racing, a lot of races require IA or IB licenses. However, if you have an A license, you can still use one of the categories that has "test track", to get an easy, yet boring $15,000 every time, once you rig your transmission for speed>180mph Once you get an IB license, you can run the "Gran Turismo allstars" group, and get a smooth $25,000 for any first place, including an "easy" win on the "Test track"... as long as you can top 200mph. You can even go "professional", if you rig for max speed, and have a stage 4 turbo. Trouble is, it's twice as long (10 laps) for only 25% extra money ($30,000). Not to mention that you finally have to deal with tyre wear if you're in simulation mode. So for money/per timeslot, the amateur test track will get you richer, "faster".. AND easier. But it was kinda funny to be lapping other cars with my 3000GT at 240mph... twice. Even in "professional" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Must-Win-This-Durn-Race" tip: When your car is lousy, go through the "qualify" hassle to start at "pole position" #1, to guarantee yourself gold. This assumes you can "keep up", but cannot out-accelerate your competition. If they can out-accelerate you, then give up that particular race, until you have a better car. However, when your car can out-accelerate the other competitors, save yourself some time, and just go directly to 'Start'. You'll pull out in front before the first turn anyway :-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Notices: This strategy guide is copyrighted by me, Philip Brown. You may copy it freely, as long as you give me credit for it, and mention that it comes from http://www.bolthole.com/GT3.txt