Walkthrough GRID 2019 Video Walkthrough

I'm already a good ways into this walkthrough. If you wish, you can access my commentary on it via this link to the favorite video game thread, where I started posting it on page 121, and each page thereafter through page 126. I will from now on only post them here. https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...e-been-playing.1915938/page-121#post-22072359

You can also access all prior videos in the series via this link to the full playlist up to this point. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHB6vX_n-5BMy__oo_jF3vg8jKryItuF1

I post these 3 events at a time, and here's the current set of 3 just completed. This set includes TC-1 Special and Super Modified classes, and introduces the updated Stock class Jupiter from original GRID. It's far more than the mere demo derby car it was in the first game, but still hard to control. The Maximum Attack event done in the Super Modified class was relatively easy. The TC-1 Specials Asia event was quite a step up in difficulty, especially the race at Okutama. Nothing compared to the Road Race Championship event in the Stock class Jupiter though. The first two races were manageable, but the combination of the challenging fictional Crescent Valley track, along with AI scripted to drive it very fast, and the tough to handle Jupiter, made it very difficult. I couldn't even manage better than the default 16th place start position via hotlaps, but still managed to podium.

I can usually avoid the game's "Nemesis" system, where AI are scripted to retaliate once brought to that state via hitting them. I know full well I deserved their wrath in the TC-1 Specials Asia event at Zhejiang, after all, I'd spent a fair amount of time prior playing a supercross game. When 1 of the AI in the Road Race Championship at Crescent Valley raged though, he'd been hit no harder than I struck two others, whom remained calm. The raged AI did not take me out though, as I managed to stay ahead of them. Three times at the Crescent Valley race I managed to be in the lead on the last lap, once finishing in first, but the game penalized me down to 6th, and I saw no red text on my lap time, which indicates a track cut. The other 2 times, one of the two fastest AI would PIT maneuver me before I could cross the finish line.

The AI appear to be scripted to drive fastest on the last lap. This is very evident at the race in Okutama in the TC-1 Specials Asia event. At the 19:30 mark, after gaining a substantial lead taking the downhill 90 degree left onto the straight at full gas without braking, the AI somehow managed to catch all the way back up at super speed before I even got to the first turn on the uphill section.





 
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OK, here's the next set of events. Here we have the GT1, Prototype, and F1000 classes.

The GT1 class event is the 4 round American GT Championship, which includes 2 races at the San Francisco Grand Prix Circuit, one of which is reverse direction, a short fast race at the Crescent Valley National Circuit track (which is fictional), and the Indianapolis Sport Circuit Reversed. The first San Fran race was relatively easy. The 2nd race at Crescent Valley was a struggle just to get a 2nd place starting position, but the race itself was pretty manageable to win. The 3rd race at Indianapolis was very rain soaked and slippery, even for the usually grippy Aston Martin Vantage, with poor visibility. I really struggled at first with this one, but eventually managed a 1st place start on hotlaps. The race itself was a bit tougher though, as the AI pressed me hard and capitalized on one slight mistake I made on the final lap. As a result, two of them passed me, but I managed to pass them back on the next turn. This race felt like it was the sole highlight of this event, until I overcame my initial struggles with the 4th reverse direction race at San Fran. which I ended up nailing with very fast times.

The 3 round Prototype event is the FA World Tour Part 2, which takes place at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit, the Zhejiang Full Circuit Reversed, and the Okutama Grand Circuit. Silverstone was pretty easy to get a 1st place start via Hotlaps, and win. The only real challenge being getting a good start. More often than not the Prototype cars want to almost sound like they're going to stall on starts, you really have to time it perfectly. The Zhejiang track is very tight and twisty for these cars, it took tons of perseverance and handbraking just to eek out a 2nd place start. In the race, not once but twice I made a mistake braking too late into the one hairpin turn. The first time it caused me to not be able to overtake the 1st place AI. Fortunately the 2nd time it happened, I had just enough lead to keep the AI behind me from passing me via the apex. I made one other mistake in a twisty section where an AI passed me, but I stayed glued to him and passed him back the next turn. The 3rd race at Okutama was by far the highlight of this event, and the most thrilling to race. I eventually got in a zone and nailed a 1st place start via hotlaps, but the poor starting Prototype really got on my nerves in the race. A few times I managed to keep the lead off the start, and had a pretty good race going a couple times, but I'd always make a bad mistake somewhere. I had a strong feeling this race was fated to be a catch the leader battle for me, and on one try, after taking half a lap to pass one of the AI that jumped me on the start, I decided to persevere and try to catch the leader. It took a whole 2 laps to do it, but I finally caught him, with a blistering fast 2nd lap time. The thing is though, I caught him at the start line area, and the AI always drive the start of the hillclimb just after that, very fast. I was unable to block him, so I just let him pass. We duked it out on the two big sweeping right turns on the first part of the climb, but I prevailed and managed to grind him toward the rail, and then he backed off. I then knew I could win, but on the fast left/right jog before the final part of the downhill, I took a bad line and dragged half the car over the apron and into the dirt. I almost panicked for fear the AI behind me would carry much more speed there and pass me, but he only managed to lightly tap the rear outside corner of my car. I have to tell you, this win felt FAR better than if I had had a good start and kept the lead the whole way, and it's also better to watch. It actually made me glad I blew those chances where I got a good start.

The 3rd F1000 event is a one race Invitational at the Okutama Grand Hillclimb. I was optimistic when I saw sunny skies, because when I did this race in GT1 class with overcast skies and fog, even the fairly grippy Aston Martin Vantage struggled for traction. These little Jedi F1000 cars however, while being more precise with their steering, are also lighter and can spin out easily if not careful. So you really have to be precise in turns and avoid accelerating on curbed aprons. It started out as a real struggle. I finally managed to get a 12th place start via hotlaps, and was able to fairly quickly move up to 5th once or twice, but could never quite catch the top 2 AI. I then started getting better in a few turns, letting off gas slightly vs braking, and braking harder into the 1st bridge to set up the turn better, then handbraking the sharp right turn. As well, a huge revelation was I didn't realize I could take the last part of the downhill portion just before the 2nd bridge full gas, all the way to the sharp left at the first part of the steep climb, where one good brake to set up for the right turn allowed me to go full gas into that right , then left, carrying tons of momentum up the steep section. This resulted in a 7th place start via hotlapping, and passing all but one AI in the race, getting a 2nd. I knew the finish time was good enough to potentially get a 1st place via hotllaps though, so I kept trying for a better start position. The only thing that I needed to perfect at that point was braking and accelerating out of the final 3 hairpins at the top of the climb, without losing much momentum. I then finally managed a 1st place position via a hotlap that was 1.3 sec faster than the fastest AI. I ended up winning the race with a 1 sec slower time than my hotlap, but after looking at all the checkpoints to see where I lost time, it actually had the potential to be faster than the hotlap. I had assumed the place I lost most of the time was where I brushed the rail on the apex of the 1st of the final 3 hairpins, in a panic to keep the AI from passing me on the inside, but it turned out being I was braking too cautiously in and out of the 2nd of the final 3 hairpins. This was a very thrilling race though, and a relief to get over. I have to say though, one of the pleasures of driving the Jedi F1000 cars, is they pretty much always get a good start.



 
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And here's the next set of events. This set includes TC-1 Special, Stock, and Tuner classes, the latter being a new class of tuner for Time Attack. This set I completed all in one day yesterday, as the first event is 3 races, and the other two only 1 race each. I finished editing and uploading them today.

The TC-1 Special event is TC-1 Specials America, and I this time chose the BMW I used to use in prior events. The only reason I chose the Ford Capri on the last TC-1 Special event is in hopes to get a bit better handling on the tight, twisty Zhejiang track. Most everything here was more open and high speed though, save for the San Fran Sprint Circuit, and even it with all it's curb aprons, is far less stressful than Zhejiang. The San Fran race was the only one I labored a bit through, as the Crescent Valley and Indianapolis tracks were easier than expected. So here the ugly duckling, San Fran, was the highlight. I made a bone headed miscalculation at the Crescent Valley track though, forgetting the standing start of the race would be better suited to a deeper 1st turn brake point. than the rolling start of the hotlap. As a result I was rear ended harshly. LOL

The 2nd event is called Thunder in the Desert, and has you driving yet again, the Stock class Jupiter. It's an oval type race, though the Crescent Valley track you race on with it is more like a "Tri Oval". This is a tricky race on keyboard as I expected. One of the bends if you time it just right can be done just by holding down the left steer key. The next is best done via multiple taps of the steer key, as it has a different radius. The 3rd is a tighter bend, so I had to let off gas momentarily then hold down the steer key. This is a very high speed track of course, and the Jupiter can start feeling squirrelly if you're not very careful to use light taps of the steer keys to realign yourself, which I had to do a couple times when I realized I came out of a turn too close to the wall. Plus the AI get a huge draft at these speeds, so I had to block now and then to avoid being slingshotted.

The 3rd event is the Okutama Super Lap Challenge, at the Okutama Grand Circuit. This is a Time Attack event using that tuner I mentioned above. I chose the Audi R8 1:1 because it's power to weight ratio far exceeds everything else available. The real challenge in this race is dealing with the traffic. In the R8, it's easy enough to catch the AI, but passing them without incident isn't always very manageable. I managed to pass one car fairly quickly, but as I approached others, I was either on a tricky, narrow section of the track, or there were multiple cars in a long string. Thus I decided when I got the best lap the first time around by well over 5.5 sec, I'd just stay close to them, as I knew it was probably good enough for a win. I didn't want to risk an incident causing me to go off track and get penalized down to a lower finish position. Before I captured this video, I won on a just prior attempt with a 1:38.371 lap time, but since I forgot I had ShadowPlay Instant Replay set to only 5 min for Ghostrunner, it didn't capture the whole race, so I did it over. This one is about .5 sec slower, but completely clean, with no vehicle or rail contact. The other one was ugly by comparison, with contact with AI and rails, and just plain bad driving in some turns. I passed 3 AI, but two were due to their cars slowing down considerably for some reason.

Of these 3 events, the Time Attack race at Okutama stands out as the overall highlight for me. It was easily the most thrilling to race.



 
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Another set of 3 events. This set includes Prototype, F1000, and Super Tourer classes. Like the last set, this is a short one, as two of the events again have only 1 race each.

The 1st event is the Prototype Super Sprint. It takes place at night at the Crescent Valley Infield Circuit. This event seemed hard to hotlap and race at first, but once I got the hang of taking the little right left jog where you head back to the straight with full gas and no brakes, it became a lot easier.

The 2nd event is the International F1000 Championship. It's a 3 race event that takes place at the Okutama Sprint Circuit at night, Shanghai's Waibaidu Way track at night, and the East Track at Zhejiang Circuit in pouring rain in the day. The Okutama race was more challenging than I expected at first, but once I got the timing down on the 2nd turn, it was more doable. The AI pressed me hard though.

The Waibaidu Way race can be tricky, there's a lot of turns you have to be careful not to carry too much speed into. You really just need to let off gas on the bridge after the start to set up a good hard left, then the hard left just after if taken well will leave a decent gap between you and the AI. There's also the little right/left, left/right jogs onto adjacent streets on the backside of the course that require precise letting off of gas, zigzagging, and accelerating, a section right after you can go full gas into a dog leg left, a hard right, then left you need to temper speed on, and a big sweeping left bend that can be tricky. I actually had it captured then decided to do it over again because despite winning, I chopped up the sweeping bend with two nervous yanks of the wheel. I found the better way to take it is to go a bit deeper into the turn, then coast a bit hard left, then go full gas the rest of the way. Other than that, taking a careful well braked hard left thereafter, will allow you to swing wide left before the right turn thereafter, allowing you to take it full gas. Then there's just a semi hard left back onto the long straight, and if you coast at the start of it, you can finish it full gas and get a serious gap on the AI. These refinements considerably lowered my lap times.

The 3rd race at Zhejiang in pouring rain was a bit nerve racking. There's really not much chance to gap the AI on a track like that, and although the AI are often slower in pouring rain, this was an exception. I ended up guarding the apexes of turns a lot, but managed to eek out a win after getting a 1st place start via hotlap.

The 3rd event is an Invitational that is a classic Group A event at the Indianapolis Road Course at night. At first I thought it was going to be all Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworths (the car you race), but there are a few Nissan Skyline GT-R (R32) cars thrown into the mix as well. This race was kind of a mixed bag for me. After numerous tries, I couldn't manage any better than a 2nd place start via hotlap. Then I got a bit picky and insisted on a result that involved no contact with AI. It was all for the better though, as by then I had gotten the feel of the car, and was gapping them pretty good on a couple of turns. Prior to that they were so close behind me they were often blinking their headlights at me. The thing is though, as I got faster, so did the AI, so lap times dropped considerably.

The highlights for me were the race at Wiabaidu Way in the F1000, and the one at Indianapolis in the RS500 Cosworth. They both require a lot of attention, and were at night with fireworks. It's a cool looking effect, and as summer approaches, it reminded me that I'm hopeful the world will get back to normal soon as more people get vaccinated.



 
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Sorry that this set is a little over a week later than normal. I took some time to try Days Gone, and was engrossed in it. It's not only a very good game, it's replaced The Evil Within as my new favorite zombie survival horror game.

This set includes TC-2, Stock Muscle, and Modified classes. These are also the final events for each of these classes in the career. They are all also 4 round events.

The 1st event is the International TC-2 Championship. It takes place at Zhejiang Full Circuit, Barcelona High Street, Crescent Valley National Circuit, and Brands Hatch GP Circuit. The car I chose this time was the Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR. This is the perfect car for these events, it fit like a glove on each track, even the rain soaked race at Barcelona. I managed a 1st place start position via hotlaps on all but the Zhejiang track, where I settled for a 2nd (though secured the lead on the 1st turn).

The 2nd event is the Muscle Champions Series, which takes place at Havana Paseo de Marti, Barcelona Memorial Run, Shanghai Waibaidu Way, and San Francisco Grand Prix Circuit. The car I chose here was the Camaro SSX Concept, which by far had the best handling and speed, even at Barcelona, which again, was in heavy rain. Since these were basically street venues, I softened the suspension all the way to help the car float over the curbs. I managed a 1st place start via hotlpas on each race.

The 3rd event is the Modified Pro Tour, which takes place at Barcelona Torres Venecianes Loop, San Francisco GP, Sepang International Circiut North Track, and Zhejiang Circuit West Track Reversed. The car I chose for this event was the Honda S2000. Once again I softened the suspension all the way due to the street nature of these venues, to stay in control, over the curbs. This event had not 1 but 2 rain soaked races, at San Francisco and Zhejiang. The car handled every race admirably though. I also got a 1st place start position via hotlpas on each race, even at Zhejiang, which as said was in the rain this time.

The highlight of this set for me was the Muscle Champions Series, particularly the Barcelona Memorial Run and Shanghai Waibaidu Way races. Besides driving a heavy muscle car, the rain soaked conditions at Barcelona, and sunset start time at Shanghai, made maintaining traction and seeing turns in the dark shadows difficult.



 
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OK, another set of events! This set includes GT Group 2, Super Tourer, and Ferrari Cup classes. The GT Group 2 event is also the last one in the career for that class.

The 1st event is the International GT Series Group 2. This event has 4 rounds taking place at Barcelona Marina Gate, Indianapolis Road Course Reversed, Crescent Valley National Circuit, and Brands Hatch GP. This event is also the only one of the three that features races in the rain (Barcelona and Brands Hatch). I chose the Nissan 350Z for this event due to it's steering feeling smoother and less twitchy, which helped a lot. Hotlap wise I did very mediocre, only managing a 2nd, 6th, 3rd, and 2nd. In the races however it did not prove to be a problem, as I was able to quickly take the lead in each one.

The 2nd event is called FA Off The Grid, for which I chose the Ford Falcon FG-X Supercar. This is just a 2 round event at Havana Castillo View, and San Francisco Sprint Circuit. For this event I got a 1st place position via hotlaps on both races. Other than that, the trick is to just be careful on the many curbs (especially in a car that handles like the Super Tourers do), and carrying as much momentum into the turns as possible. I was thankful for the dry conditions though.

The 3rd event is another 2 round one called the European Ferrari F430 Challenge Cup, which is an Invitational. This takes place at Barcelona Cathedral Pass, and Brands Hatch GP. On the one hand I was thankful the F430 handles far better than vintage cars from the 60s like the Ford GT40, on the other, it's still about a decade and a half older than current designs. It's not a huge problem, but on tricky tracks like Barcelona Cathedral Pass, where you need both speed and precision, the slight reduction in traction and increase in steering radius can start to weigh heavy. Even Brands Hatch took many tries to get the feel of.

For these events I softened the suspension for the city street curbed tracks, lengthened the gear ratio for the speedway-like nature of Indianapolis, and used a bit of rear brake bias to minimize understeer in tight turns. The Ferrari F430 was the hardest to tune, but I found going all the way soft on Springs and Dampers, and one click stiffer than that on Anti-Roll Bars, allowed it to soak up the curbs, while not swaying heavily in turns. After using this setting I quickly went from a 3rd place hotlap to 1st at Barcelona Cathedral Pass, which was huge because that is a track that is particularly challenging to pass on, especially in an older vehicle.

I'd have to say the highlight of these events for me was the European Ferrari F430 Challenge Cup, especially the Barcelona Cathedral Pass race.



 
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This set of events is all about one car manufacturer, Ferrari. That is because they are all invitationals, which I've been waiting for some time to unlock, so it was a chance to catch up on them.

The 1st event is a continuation of the Ferrari F430 Challenge Cup, this time in America, which is again a 2 round event. It takes place at Indianapolis Road Course, and San Francisco Sprint Circuit. The 1st one was easy enough, managing a 1st place start position via hotlaps. The 2nd however I only managed a 5th place start. It was at sunset in the pouring rain, which made both visibility and traction difficult. There was a bit of contact in securing 1st place, and my car got scraped up a bit, but being as the game started me off with the car looking a bit motley for some reason, despite no wall contact on the hotlap, I guess it was appropriate.

The 2nd event is a further continuation of the Ferrari F430 Challenge Cup (2 rounds again), this time in Asia. It's IMO the most interesting of this series so far, because in round 1, it features the awesome point to point Okutama Sprint track hill climb (Torii Rush). The 2nd round is at Zhejiang West Track Reversed. I had to work pretty hard on hotlaps in round 1, and managed just a 3rd place start. It was dodgy trying to pass the leader as well, with the race switching leads a few times. The 2nd round was surprisingly very easy, especially since I often struggle at Zhejiang.

The 3rd event is the Ferrari 512 BB LM Sydney Cup, at Sydney Motorsport Park Gardner GP Circuit Reversed. The only thing challenging here was getting used to driving this track at sunset with a fair bit of glare. This car has very responsive steering, which took a little while to tame on certain bends, but it gets good traction and handles well overall, which was a bit surprising for a car over 3 decades old. This event has just this one race at this location, a 5 lapper, which was pretty easy to win.

I'd have to say the highlight for me was definitely round 1 of the Asian Ferrari F430 Challenge Cup at Torii Rush in Okutama. It's a high speed, exhilarating track, yet has a tough grind at the end on a steep hill climb, that has some tricky hairpins you need to maintain momentum on near the end. It's also tricky to pass on it, yet has some spots to facilitate it.



 
Apologies for the delay. I took some time off my video walkthroughs during a heat wave to play Days Gone. I'm nearly done with my current play through on Survival II, and GRID 2019 will be the first walkthrough I get back to playing and posting vids of. Thanks for your patience. ;)
 
Hey, your video walkthroughs are quite helpful. Keep up the good work man ! RESPECT. I really appreciate the hard work, time dedication, and passion you give while making gaming walkthroughs.
Much thanks bro, especially after the last comment I got (which was on my channel) was a guy mocking me for leading a whole race in a GRID 2019 event. I tried to tell the guy he happened to pick a race that was unusually easy to win to comment on, and that most races are fairly hard to even get a decent start position on via hotlaps. He never responded again though, so I thought maybe he was just ticked off about something else when he made the comment. The video I'm referring to is the last one posted above. Apparently he's never seen the ones where I struggle to keep the lead, or in some cases, even win, or come close to winning.
 
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OK, after a little over 3 months delay to take a much needed summer hiatus, I finally have a set of 3 more events to show. These include Super Tourer, Pro Trucks, and Classic Ferrari classes. I'm still shakin off a bit of rust from the time off, but startin to get back the feel of it.

The first is a 4 race event called the International Super Tourers Championship, and is thankfully the final event in this sketchy handling class. For this event I chose as always the Ford Falcon FG-X Supercar. The venues are Havana's Paseo de Marti, Barcelona's Marina Gate, Sydney Motorsport Park's Brabham Circuit, and Shanghai's Waibaidu Way. There are technically two highlights in this event, Marina Gate, and Waibaidu Way. This is because Marina Gate's narrow walled sections and tough S turns and chicanes are really a chore to handle in this class, while Waibaidu Way, being done at night in the pouring rain, was also quite challenging. The nod goes to Marina Gate though, I simply couldn't consistently get better than a 6th place start via hotlaps, and the AI in 1st and 2nd were typically too hard to catch.

The second is another 4 race event called Pro Truck Champions Series, and as you may have guessed, this is as well the last event in this class, which again is good news to me because these beasts handle even worse than Super Tourers. The venues are San Francisco's Short Circuit, Crescent Valley's National Circuit, Shanghai's Nanpu Bridge Circuit, and Indianapolis' Sport Circuit Reversed. The highlight here was clearly the Nanpu Bridge Circuit. For one, it was done in pouring rain, which is challenging enough in the squirrelly trucks, but in reverse direction, you also have a long, increasing radius narrow bridge section you have to take as a semi fast descent. The strange thing is, the only time I got into real potential trouble is where I shouldn't have, in the dry tunnel section. That was merely due to my panicking and looking at the mini map at a bad time when AI were closing in on me. Normally I ace that section pretty well.

The third and last event is a 3 race Invitational called the Ferrari 512 BB LM World Challenge. The venues are Silverstone's GP 2009 Circuit Reversed, Zhejiang's East Track Reversed, and Indianapolis' Sport Circuit Reversed. If I had to pick a highlight here it would be the Silverstone and Indy tracks. The Silverstone track was a bit harder to race, but the Indy track was harder to hotlap. Thankfully none of them were in pouring rain, though I'm not sure it would have mattered, as even this old classic Ferrari handles much better than Super Tourers or Pro Trucks.



 
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I have three more events done now. This set includes Super Modified, GT Group 1, and F1000 classes.

The first is a 4 race event called Super Modified Pro Tour. For this event I chose the very capable Mitsubishi Evolution Lancer VI Time Attack car. The race venues in order of appearance are Havana's Castillo View, Okutama's Mizu Mountain, Sydney Motorsport Park's Amaroo Circuit, and Shanghai's Waibaidu Way. It starts with a fairly short, dry race at night, then progresses to a fairly long sprint race in daytime rain. Next is a very short, dry day race, and it ends with a long, dry race at dusk. All these races were pretty doable, but I'd have to say the highlight for me was the sprint race on Mizu Mountain.

The second is another 4 race event called International GT Series GT Group 1. For this event I chose the Aston Martin Vantage GTE car. The race venues in order of appearance are Sydney Motorsport Park's Brabham Circuit, Shanghai's Nanpu Bridge Circuit, Silverstone GP 2009 Circuit Reversed, and Barcelona's Memorial Run. It starts with a long, dry day race, then onto a long, wet night race. Next is a long, dry day race, and it finishes with a long, dry night race. Both the Shanghai race and Barcelona race were highlights for me, and the toughest by far, but the nod goes to Barcelona. I struggled a long time just to manage a 5th place start, and didn't know if I had any chance of winning. I'll leave it at that.

The third is a 1 race event called FA Face-Off Part 1 in the Jedi F1000 - SPEC. It's also the last F1000 event in the game. This event takes place at Zhejiang's Full Circuit. This event also only has 4 participants, the player's team against the FA Racing Logitech G team. Despite there only being 3 other contenders to try to get best hotlap time over, it was very tough just to get a 3rd place start, but eventually I prevailed and got pole position. It also proved difficult to get used to handling the many tight turns on this track in a formula type car built for speed.



 
Here's the next three events, this set includes only one class, Classic GT. This is because all three events are Classic GT Invitationals. The car you're given to race in all these events is the Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0. These are all 2 race events.

The first event is called the Classic GT City Cup. The race venues are Havana's Paseo de Marti, and Barcelona's Memorial Run. The first race is at day in the sun, the second at night in the rain. Neither of these races were particularly challenging.

The second event is called the Classic GT Series. The race venues are Crescent Valley's Infield Circuit, and Okutama's Grand Circuit. The first race is at day in the rain, the second at sunset and dry. Here the highlight is definitely the Okutama race.

The third event is called the Classic GT Tour. The race venues are Indianapolis' Road Course, and Havana's Revolución Way. The first race is a day race, cloudy and dry, the second is also a day race, but wet. The nod here goes to Indy, more challenge.



 
Here's the next set of events, which includes TC-1 Specials, Oval Stock, and Time Attack classes.

The first is a 4 race event called International TC-1 Specials Championship. For this event I chose the BMW M1 Turbo Group 5. The race venues are Okutama's Sprint Circuit at day and dry, Brands Hatch's GP Circuit Reversed at day in rain, Sydney Motorsport Park's Gardner GP Circuit at night and dry, and Sepang's Full Track at sunset and dry. The highlight here by far is the last race at Sepang. Due to the track's layout and sunset conditions affecting visibility, this track took a while to learn how to race.

The second is a 1 race event called The Chase at Indianapolis, where all cars in the event are the Jupiter San Marino Oval Stock, a fictitious vehicle. This is a flat out, 8 lap oval track race at Indianapolis at night in dry conditions, reaching speeds of 211 MPH. It took some getting used to dropping my lap times, but when I managed a 2nd place start position, I knew I had a chance.

The third is another 1 race event called World Time Attack Challenge. For this event I chose the Audi R8 1:1 due to it's superior power to weight ratio. The race venue for this event is Sydney Motorsport Park's Gardner GP Circuit at day in dry conditions.
I didn't spend much time hotlapping the TC-1 Specials race at Sepang, and settled for a 15th place start. It was evident in learning during the race however key places where I could go full gas in some turns with the right line, and after seeing my fastest lap time, that I could have started in at least 9th place had I known that while hotlapping. It wouldn't have probably affected the outcome though, as at the start there was ample opportunity to pass pretty much the whole GRID. At the 28:10 mark in this race on the 2nd lap, the game flagged my lap time red in the turn as if I'd made a track cut, yet did not show the typical warning message onscreen, nor was I penalized in race finish position. This happens now and then, but rarely, and I'm not sure if it's due to a false positive or something (like both left tires not being entirely beyond the apron simultaneously), but even had the game penalized my finish position, I would have likely won the event anyway, having placed 1st in the other 3 races.

In the Indy Oval race, I maxed my suspension to all the way firm, set gear ratio to the longest, and ramped steering sensitivity from 50% all the way to 75% to assure that I could race it full gas and arc a tight enough turn through the corners just holding down the steer key hard. I finally caught up to the lead AI in lap 7 on the backstretch, but I had hoped I would have done so well before corner #3. As a result I still had an inside line after passing him when I hit corner 3, and had to initiate a power slide at 211 MPH (6:30 mark), because the normal wall-to-inside trajectory was not possible. The reason you see me getting a bit wiggly with the steering just prior to that slide is I was attempting to impart a subtle "Scandinavian Flick" to help initiate the slight sideways slide. This as you may or may not know is a common technique in rally racing whereby you steer the opposite direction of a turn just before steering the direction of the turn, which helps the car pivot sideways a bit. These cars can get squirrely pretty fast just passing someone, and you definitely can easily get out of control with any contact, so all I could hope for was that my slide was precise, and held well. Fortunately it was, and did, WHEW!

In the World Time Attack Challenge event on lap 3 at the 3:33 mark, I thought I might have cut the track, but upon closer examination it appears at least one or both left tires stayed in contact with the outside edge of the apron, vs drifting entirely beyond it.


 
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I have the next set of events for you. These went fairly quickly, as they are all 1 race Invitationals. They are also all in a series called Racing Icons. These include Historic GT, Time Attack, and Group A Touring classes, but all these events are Time Attacks.

The first event is called Racing Icons Gulf GT40, in the Ford GT40. The venue is Silverstone's GP 2009 Circuit, at sunset in rain. This car is very hard to handle in rain, and the conditions made seeing track edges in turns very difficult. You also have to baby the brakes and steering, as it's easy to set the car into a slide or spin if you don't.
I put in a pretty good time the 1st lap, and after making a mistake in the 1st turn on the 2nd lap, allowing the 1 AI I had passed to pass me back, I hoped my 1st lap time would hold. It pretty much had to because I went off track and blew the hairpin before the finish line on the 2nd lap by initiating my drift a bit too early, and got bumped off track by an AI on the 3rd lap, so neither of those laps counted. Fortunately the time held up, and I won.
The second event is called Racing Icons Moby Dick, in the Porsche 935/78 Group 5 "Moby Dick". The venue is Brands Hatch's GP Circuit, in overcast, dry, daytime conditions. The visibility here was far better than the rain race at Silverstone, and this car grips and handles much better than the GT40 being more modern, and built for Time Attack, so it didn't take too long to get the feel of the car and track.
The only slight problem I had was in prior runs at times I'd be approaching an AI at the turn that connects the first two straights leading into the back part of the track, and it would swerve back and forth just before the turn, causing me to smack into it, or even go off track. After making a couple passes on AI in this run though, the next one in front of me was my teammate, whom fortunately harnessed the "whale" well enough to avoid such problems.
The third event is called Racing Icons R32 GT-R, in the Nissan Skyline GT-R Group A (R32). The venue is Sydney Motorsport Park's Gardner GP Circuit, at day in sunshine. I was very surprised, given the legendary handling of the Skyline, that I had to crank steering sensitivity all the way up to 80% to handle the tight turns on this track with enough speed.
Once I got the feel of the car, the only problem was AI blocking my path in ridiculous ways at the worst time. On a prior run I had gone a bit off track on the 1st two laps, but was just over 1 sec ahead of all AI near the end of the 3rd, only to end up having no room to get around a multi car pile up in the right/left turn before the left bend onto the straight leading to the finish. This caused me to go off track, and negate the lead I had. Even on this final attempt, after setting a pretty good time on the 1st lap, shortly into the 2nd lap, the AI in front of me unexpectedly crashed into another stalled on the track, and both sat staggered diagonally, blocking most of the track. This happened just after the 1st tight bend on the track, so I didn't see them in time. I glanced off them pretty hard, but managed to stay on track. Fortunately my 1st lap time was good enough to win the event.


 
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This next set includes Prototype, and Time Attack classes.

The first event is called the International GT Series Prototype. The race venues are Silverstone's Grand Prix Circuit, Crescent Valley's GP Circuit, Sydney Motorsport Park's Gardner GP Circuit, and Sepang's Full Track. For this event, I chose the Acura DPi, as I prefer it's handling over the Cadillac.
This event had two fairly easy races, and two very difficult ones. The harder ones are at Crescent Valley and Sepang. Despite having won the Crescent Valley race at the same track in the same car earlier in the career, but in daytime, the AI, most notably my teammate, proved to be relentless at night. Nor did ANY of the AI suffer pile ups at the hairpin like in the day race. This was exacerbated by my night driving being not quite as good as day, especially on a track like this that's not well lit. I settled for a 2nd place, knowing if I could win at Sepang, I'd still win the event. It turned out the Sepang race was very hard too, I couldn't even get better than a 14th place start. Fortunately, I finally managed a great start from 14th, and with no Nemesis, but it still proved difficult to hold the lead.
The second event is the FA Face-Off Part 2, in the Cadillac DPi-V.R., at Indianapolis' Sport Circuit Reversed. I was surprised the game granted me a 2nd place start position in this 4 participant event, but I was not content to settled for that, so I tried for a pole position start.
I only managed a 3rd place start position via hotlapping, but managed to quickly secure the lead and hold it.
The third event is an Invitational called the Okutama Grand Hillclimb MCA Hammerhead Nissan Silvia (S13). I wouldn't have had any issues with this event if all cars competing in it were of similar handling and performance, but this was far from the case. Many know the Nissan Silvia is highly regarded as a drift car, but this time attack version has about as little traction. It's just ludicrous in an event like this to pit it against a car like the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO, and especially the Audi R8, when they have so much more traction, and in the case of the R8, much more power as well. This resulted in me for the 1st time in the career, to drop difficulty to Medium. I've dropped to Med AI one other time in an Historic event, but I kept assists at level 3, as they are on Hard.
I tried bumping up assists to max like they are on Medium difficulty, but keeping AI on Hard. After numerous hotlaps I was still 6 seconds short of the fastest AI though, which would have meant I'd have no chance to even podium. What was shocking as well is the AI improved their times a whole 7 secs between the hotlaps and the race. You can see even with max assists, when I slow down to take the tightest turns, the tires spin badly when accelerating.



 
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This next set marks the last of the regular career events. After that, it's into the endgame with 6 one-race Showdown events, and 7 GRID World Series events. This is another set of 3 Invitationals, and they're all 1 race events and G7 Specials class.

The first event is called Okutama Grand Hillclimb Porsche 917/30, on the Tenshi Way course. The G7 Specials cars have powerful acceleration, but the Porsche 917/30, which you're forced to use here, has much worse traction than the McLaren M8D in the 2nd event. It was far more of a problem on this track vs the Crescent Valley track in the 3rd event using the same car. I can only attest that to Okutama usually having a bit of fog, tree lined roads, and shade, so the devs may have factored that in and made the tarmac harder to get a grip on. Suffice it to say, I had to lower the difficulty to full Medium, as after trying Hard AI with Medium's max assists, I was still several seconds behind after numerous tries. It doesn't help that this track is pretty narrow in places, and has a lot of walls and railings.
After scraping a wall in one spot on my hotlap, I managed to win the race without contacting any walls or railings, despite being bumped pretty hard by the AI behind me.
The second event is called G7 Specials Face-Off Part 1 at Indianapolis' North Circuit Reversed, and as mentioned, you're given the McLaren M8D. As I said, this car has far more traction than the Porsche, as does the track, and the track is fairly easy to race.
I misjudged braking distance on one of the turns late in the final lap, which is all it took to turn a substantial lead into a narrow win margin.
The third event is called G7 Specials Face-Off Part 2, at the fictitious Crescent Valley Club Circuit track, using the Porsche 917/30 again. The combination of this car on this track proved difficult. It was not unlike my experience with the Truck race here earlier in the career, where I settled for an 11th place start, but managed to win.
I managed a 1st place start after numerous tries, and eeked out a win after a few starts. I thought I had cut the track at one point without the game penalizing me, which was the case in the truck event. Upon closer inspection though, the aprons on this track have a narrow strip of cobblestone along their infield side, which I remained in contact with. So I can only assume that is why I wasn't penalized, it must be part of the apron.



 
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And finally, we arrive at the end game of the career, which starts with Showdowns. This is the first 3 of six total Showdowns, which includes Super Tourer, Oval Stock, and Super Modified classes. These are all 1 race events with 4 participants.

The first event is Super Tourers Showdown Hammerhead Racing, at Barcelona's High Street at night, in the Ford Falcon FG-X Supercar. This event gives you a pole position start, and with no success coming anywhere close to that position via hotlaps, I accepted the bestowment.
I knew this was going to be a matter of staying tight to the apexes and not allowing passing lanes where possible, and I managed to do that for the most part. On the final lap, one AI passed me just before the tight roundabout turn prior to the homestretch, but lacked a good line to take the turn, so I took the lead right back.
The second event is Oval Stocks Showdown Vulpini Racing, at Crescent Valley's GP Circuit at night, in the Jupiter San Marino Oval Stock. This event starts you in 4th, and again, I had no success getting a decent start position via hotlapping. This worried me because this is a pretty tough GP course, and I figured an Oval Stock car would be hard to handle on it.
I eventually got used to driving this type of car on a Grand Prix track with tight turns, but I ended up cranking steering sensitivity from 50% all the way up to 100%. Bumping Linearity from 4 up to 7 also helped keep it from feeling twitchy at speed. The fact that these NASCAR type cars slide a bit actually helped in a lot of turns once I got the feel of it. In fact at the end of the first lap, I nailed the turn sequence before coming back to the homestretch so well, it resulted in a pretty sizeable lead for about half of the 2nd lap.
The third event is Super Modified Showdown DisruptR Time Attack, at Shanghai's Nanpu Bridge Circuit at sunset, in the Auto Gallery Nissan Skyline GT-R (R32). I worried this would be harder than I thought since the team you race is in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI Time Attack, the car I've always chosen for Time Attack.
Right off the bat the Nissan seemed to wallow a bit more than the Mitsubishi, but then I remembered I still had steering sensitivity cranked to 100% from the last event. Dropping it to 92%, and leaving linearity at 7 felt perfect. It wasn't long before I was pulling off some pretty good high speed passes with narrow margin and no contact. I was very pleased with my lap time of 1:26:667, especially since I wasn't even sure if I could break 1:28.


 
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This set concludes the Showdown part of the endgame, and it includes Group 1, R26, and G7 Specials classes. These are also all 1 race events again.

The first event is Group 1 Showdown Euro Rand, in the Aston Martin Vantage GTE, at Brands Hatch's GP Circuit Reversed, at night in the rain. I was glad I got to drive this car, especially at night in rain, as it's the one I always pick for Group 1.
This is the only of the 3 events I hotlapped, as it's the only one I could improve my start position with, and managed the pole position. The race was fairly easy to win.
The second event is R26 Showdown Fernando Alonso, in the Renault R26, at Sepang's Full Track in dry daytime conditions. These are more like full on F1 cars compared to the F1000, and they accelerate very fast and have a 7 speed gearbox. This event has just 3 participants, my teammate and I, and Fernando Alonso. I ended up setting steering sensitivity to 100%, and Linearity to 10. This was by far the toughest race, and the highlight for me.
I managed to take the lead in the first turn. This race waffled between being chaotic and dysfunctional, meaning the AI would either stay glued on my tail, or take a tight turn poorly and lose lots of ground. When they're on it though, you have to take very precise lines and carry adequate speed through turns or they'll pass you.
The third event is G7 Specials Showdown Aurora Motorsport, in the McLaren M8D at Indianapolis' Sport Circuit in dry daytime conditions. I was glad to be able to drive the McLaren instead of having to drive the slippery handling Porsche.
This time there were 4 participants like in the Group 1 race. Despite the 4th place start, I managed to slip into 3rd on the first bend, then first in the tight turn thereafter, with no contact, something that would have been FAR harder in the Porsche. The race wasn't too difficult from there on out.


 
This is the first 3 of the final 7 events in the game, known as the GRID World Series. It includes Super Tourer, Oval Stock, and Super Modified classes. These are all 3-race events.

The first event is GRID World Series Touring, for which I again chose the Ford Falcon FG-X Supercar. The venues are Brands Hatch's GP Circuit at day, Sydney Motorsport Park's Gardner GP Circuit at night, and Barcelona's High Street at afternoon. I set steering sensitivity and linearity to 100/10. The race at Barcelona was the highlight for me.
The 1st race was fairly easy. I didn't do as well as the1st lap on a few turns, which caused the AI to catch up a bit, but none threatened to take the lead. I had a bit of panic late in the 3rd lap on the 2nd race, where I caught an apron which took me off my intended line, but still hung on to the lead. Fortunately I had a very good hotlap in the 3rd race to secure the pole position, otherwise the race would have been much harder.
The second event is GRID World Series Stock, in the Jupiter San Marino Oval Stock. The venues are Indianapolis' Sport Circuit at sunset, Okutama's Sprint Circuit at dusk, and Crescent Valley's Oval Circuit at night in the rain. I left steering sensitivity and linearity at 100/10 for this event. The race at Crescent Valley was the highlight for me.
The first 2 races went well, despite not managing a pole position start on either. I hooked an apron and lost control a bit early in the final lap at Indy, but managed to recover just before the AI caught me and finished with a pretty good lead. The AI were constantly on my back at Okutama, and I lost the lead momentarily a couple times, but managed to hold on for the win. Crescent Valley however was a breeze to get pole position, by about a margin of 3 sec, but the AI also raced about 3 sec faster than their hotlap times. The fastest took off as if he had a car much better than mine, and was uncatchable. None the less, with 2 wins and a 2nd. I still won the event.
The third event is GRID World Series Tuner, which is a Time Attack event, and this time I chose the Subaru Impreza WRX Tomei Cusco. The venues are Zhejiang's Full Circuit at day, Shanghai's Nanpu Bridge Circuit at sunset, and Sydney Motorsport Park's Gardner GP Circuit at night in the rain. Normally I pick the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI Time Attack, as it has superior acceleration, but it was struggling to get through the tight turns at Zhejiang, and was too slow to brake. The Subaru really surprised me at how well it takes tight turns, and how quickly it brakes. I had to drop steering sensitivity and linearity to 80/8, and even at that, the car handled Nanpu Bridge's decreasing radius turn just before the finish line with ease. The race at Zhejiang was the highlight for me.
The Subaru made easy work of the Zhejiang track. I was also able to pass 6 cars at Shanghai, and 5 at Sydney. I should have been more patient when attempting the 6th pass at Shanghai though, which resulted in a scrape of the wall on the bridge.


 
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This is the second set of 3 GRID World Series events, which leaves only one 1-race event, the final one in the career. This set includes Prototype, F1000, and Classic GT classes, and these are all 3-race events. I set steering and linearity to 100/10 in all 3 events.

The first event is GRID World Series GT, for which I chose the Acura DPi. The venues are Shanghai's Waibaidu Way at night, Crescent Valley's Infield Circuit at day in rain, and Havana's Paseo de Marti at day. I'd have to say the highlight for me was the Crescent Valley race, it's a very challenging course, especially in the rain.
The Shanghai race wasn't too tough, but I could only manage a 2nd place start at Crescent Valley, and 4th at Havana. I managed to take the lead relatively easy at Havana on the first turn, but Crescent Valley required a well timed and precise out side line, then inside pass on the first two turns. There was some slight contact at the first turn at the start of the final lap after I was passed momentarily, as the AI that passed me went outside, then tried to cut in sharply in front of me on the turn.
The second event is GRID World Series FA Racing in the Jedi F1000-Spec. The venues are Zhejiang's East Track at dusk, Havana's El Malecon at sunset, and Brands Hatch's Indy Circuit Reversed at day in rain. The highlight for me was definitely the race at Havana. It's a tough course to race, especially the tight turns on the back half.
The races at Zhejiang and Brands hatch were tough to get used to, but once I got the feel of them, weren't much trouble. I managed to get a fairly good gap on the first part of the Havana course, which was further bolstered with a good line around the tight right bend thereafter, as well as the final bend before the home stretch, but the AI were relentless at catching up on the tight turns of the back half.
The third event is GRID World Series Invitational, which is a Classic GT event. This invitational is different from most in the game, as it gives you a choice of 4 cars. I chose the Alpine A110 1800 Group 4, due to it's handling being more to my liking in the1st race. The venues are Zhejiang's Full Circuit Reversed at sunset in rain, Havana's Parque Sprint at day, and Okutama's Grand Circuit at sunset. The highlight for me by far was the very difficult race at Okutama.
The rain soaked course at Zhejiang started out feeling very difficult, even in the Alpine. Once I got the feel of how to handle braking and which lines to use in a few key spots, which resulted in a pole position start, I knew I could win. The race at Havana was pretty easy. After numerous tries at Okutama, I managed to eek out a 5th place start, and doubted I could put in a better run. On race attempts, I at times managed to get into 3rd after the first turn, and even closed in on the 2 lead cars a bit. I could never manage to do consistently well enough to challenge them though, and started realizing, if the game were to crash and lose my hotlap position (which happens at times), I could easily wind up worse then 3rd. So I settled for 3rd, which with two 1sts, was enough to win the event.


 
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And finally the event that ends Career mode for this game. This is just a short 1-race, 2 lap event at San Francisco's Grand Prix Circuit at night in the Prototype class. This event is called GRID World Series Showdown Ravenwest, There are only 4 participants, the player's team against Ravenwest, and all cars are the Cadillac DPi-V.R. If I had to describe this car, it looks and sounds like something Darth Vader would drive, if he were inclined to bother piloting a land vehicle. It looks and sounds very menacing

This race IMO was a bad choice to end the game with. I was hoping for something longer and more challenging, like a nighttime endurance race on one of the tougher tracks like Okutama or Crescent Valley.
It was pretty easy to get the pole position via hotlaps. The top part of the course is easy to get a decent gap on, but somehow one of the AI caught up before the finish line, only to be dropped again up top on the 2nd lap, and not recover again.

Thanks to all whom took the time to watch and/or comment, it was a very long and arduous project to get through. Happy Holidays everyone, and hope you're staying safe from that nasty virus. ;)