With the Single Races over, I'm now heading to the Time Trials, and hopefully to pick up a free Panoz Esperante for career mode. The trials are split into two parts, here's the first..
Trial 1 | Midfield Raceway | Lotus Motor Sport Elise
What a great little run this is. The little Elise is a joy to drive, so nimble and responsive thanks to its great power-to-weight ratio. After one missed run where I was too hot, too soon and into the kitty litter at the turn after the tunnel, I immediately settled in and ran 1'23, passing up the record by over a second. The PD staffer driving the demo car is quite a hesitant chap, preferring to drive a perfect, but slower line, so it's pretty easy to put this one to bed quickly.
Record: 1'24.993
My Time: 1'23.692
Trial 2 | Trial Mountain | Mazda MX-5 1.8RS
I was on the money here from the first run, pulling down a time of 1'49.109, mere tenths off the record. The next run was good enough at 1'47.909, but I wasn't content and ran a third, sub 1'47 lap. That'll do for now, but I'm sure there's up to another second in there.
Record: 1'49.025
My Time: 1'46.995
Trial 3 | Tokyo Route 246 | Honda S2000 Type V
Another case of the happy first lap ending in disaster,
I overcooked the critical last left into the start/finish straight and collected the wall for a fail. In another
feat of cockiness, I've forgone the ritual viewing of
the demo run before this race, so by the end of my second attempt, I'm staring at a time, wondering if
it's good enough. Turns out it certainly was, with a margin of more than two seconds on the record.
Record: 2'02.330
My Time: 2'00.015
Trial 4 | Deep Forest Raceway | Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R V-Spec II
I sense a pattern emerging here. I'm thinking,
'Finally a car with some balls!', and what do I do? Chuck it sideways into the green stuff. Heh. A couple silly errors later, I'm over the line with a sub 1'27,
good for second place. Next run is good for first, but I want more and keep trying. Couple runs later, I get it, just a tad over 1'25. Gotta say this is the most fun and challenging trial so far, the Skyline carries enough speed through the turns to take things beyond the technical. Awesome car.
Record: 1'26.360
My Time: 1'25.067
Trial 5 | Laguna Seca Raceway | Dodge Viper GTS-R Concept
Woot, actually finished a first attempt lap this time, even if it was only good for third place. Anyways, speaking of awesome cars, this sure as hell is one. Oodles of power, virtually no traction problems, turns like an Evo and it's red, with racing stripes. What more could you ask? The track however, isn't one of my favs when it comes to 'limited' racing such as Time Trials and Licence Tests, because it's all too easy to stick a wheel in the sand and blow an otherwise good run. Several of these mishaps later, I 'm settled for a mere 0.5sec off the record and switching to blog mode.
Record: 1'23.178
My Time: 1'22.521
Heh, it was all over far quicker than I'd expected really - I guess I was figuring on tougher times to beat. The perhaps comes down to my years behind a GT controller, and perhaps also due to the switch away from any sort of driving aid. I have a real suspicion that this change is really bringing my times down, and I gotta say the cars feel much better for it - more.. direct. Looking forward to finishing up the TTs tomorrow and launching headlong into the game proper.