GT5 B-Spec hints and tips

[freecar]

Hi all,

firstly I must say, I love and hate B-Spec mode in equal measure, it can be infuriating as hell to get through certain races yet so satisfying when you win a good car you need.

I'm going to tell you a little about how my B-Spec is going, I have five drivers, top is a level 21 and the rest are 15,14 and 13. I am currently grinding in events to get money to buy cars needed to do events.

Levelling up drivers when at a later level is easy, just put a level 0 Bob in a loony car in a level 16 or so race and he'll gain ranks like nobodies business, all my Bobs seem to have similar speed, stamina and strength levels, despite some having only done ten races.

When entering a race you need to consider many things, firstly the tyres, B-Spec restricts tyres far more then A-Spec so make sure you have the best available. Second is your Bobs, is the level of the race lower than your individual Bob level? If not then that effects car selection, you'll need a much more capable car for those races if you want to win, you may also need to babysit your driver to ensure good performance. That is the final thing, the babysitting, if the race is going to be difficult you can't leave your driver to win and hope for the best, you'll need to watch him and constantly manage his mood to ensure good laps and passes.

When pushing your driver's mood around you need to remember a few things, drivers close behind and in front can cause the meter to go up regardless of your input, so whenever in traffic you need to keep saying "reduce pace" to keep the needle in the middle, when in the middle the lap times will be the best and mistakes will be at their minimum. Similarly being out in front or behind will make your needle drop so when in this situation you need to "increase pace" until the middle then "maintain pace" to keep lap times consistent. If you select overtake, your mood will be unaffected so you can't rely on that to keep your pace up, select overtake only when just under middle and you'll pass easily without getting rage or losing so much pace that the overtake fails.

In general, there are few races in B-Spec where you have difficulty winning, most can be over-specced to ensure victory without excessive babysitting and those that are tough can be sorted by grinding and earning a better car or a better rank. For instance win, the minolta in "like the wind" A-Spec to win the same race in B-Spec.

So, anyone got anymore tips they would like to share?

[freecar]

Good stuff, I thought a new thread would help stop the B-Spec hints from getting lost amongst all the other chat!

[freecar]

EvoDelta said:

I think a lot of people are confusing the increase pace command as go faster... I don't think it works like this. By reducing pace he also makes less mistakes, and ends up going faster. If you can't keep him in the mid-range with commands, then I suspect the race or the car is too high a level for the driver.

I thought this but it is bks!!

I'm trying to win like the wind in my minolta and keeping him in the middle is ste! Now I've been spamming the up arrow without respite for 17 laps and I can't see second place! When he took the lead I never let up, spare trhe rod and all that, he just kept pulling and pulling! I had the lead in the middle mood and he couldn't hold it, he kept losing it and going fourth! I've just won by a comfortable three seconds with Bob never leaving the very top of the mood bat for an entire 18 laps!!!! I also got 8342 XP points, not sure how many you'd normally get.

[freecar]

Meoricin said:

Mr Whippy said:

freecar said:

EvoDelta said:

I think a lot of people are confusing the increase pace command as go faster... I don't think it works like this. By reducing pace he also makes less mistakes, and ends up going faster. If you can't keep him in the mid-range with commands, then I suspect the race or the car is too high a level for the driver.

I thought this but it is bks!!

I'm trying to win like the wind in my minolta and keeping him in the middle is ste! Now I've been spamming the up arrow without respite for 17 laps and I can't see second place! When he took the lead I never let up, spare trhe rod and all that, he just kept pulling and pulling! I had the lead in the middle mood and he couldn't hold it, he kept losing it and going fourth! I've just won by a comfortable three seconds with Bob never leaving the very top of the mood bat for an entire 18 laps!!!! I also got 8342 XP points, not sure how many you'd normally get.

There doesn't seem to be much consistency here, which makes it hard to know how to use the driver effectively. PD should have provided a manual or rough guide at least to get you on the right track!?

I've had a driver do best they did for the whole race once their energy/mental were at 0 and they were in the red on the mood bar!

Dave

I've proceeded on the assumption that your driver will drive their best while closest to their 'character'. So for my main driver, he's half-way to red, and I keep him in the red whenever possible. My secondary driver is almost completely cool, so I just leave him to it most of the time - he's not as fast, but he's not as slow as the red guy when he's on full-cool.

I think it's good the way that nobody quite understands the details of how B-spec works. Reminds me of the days before game guides were so readily available, when anything you could work out (accurate or not) was considered gospel.

That's what I assumed, keep your driver where his character sits, but my 23 guy is bang on middle yet did best in the minolta in the second race of like the wind with me never letting his guage drop below max rage!!

[freecar]

tim-b said:

It seems you can push your guy harder when in a slower/easier car - my bob does better lap times right in the red in a FWD car with good tyres, but in a RWD on comforts it's definitely better to keep him cooler. So maybe it's not as simple as keeping the dial centred, maybe it's a case of judging the optimum point for the particular car/driver combo?

I'd agree if my Bob didn't just drive two RWD cars with over 1000bhp/ton and drove like a champ with full on rage!!

[freecar]

Comacchio said:

vdubbin said:

What's the cheapest option for German car for the Schwarzwalde B cup? Tried it in a 905 BHP RS6, but can't do better than 3rd. I'm guessing a lightly fettled R8 should do it, unless there's something cheaper? There was a Yellowbird in the UCD last night that I probably should have picked up…

Edited by vdubbin on Tuesday 14th December 13:20

Ive put him in a 500 hp RUF RGT and hes about 6 corners ahead of the R8 behind me.

-Allan

I used my C63 AMG from the special event tuned up for the first race, in the second he couldn't do it, just kept spinning the tyres until they were gone, did the same with harder compound tyres in the same number of laps!! I bought an SLS AMG and tuned it up, he does it in that without using 25% of the tyres!!

[freecar]

dpbird90 said:

I hate B Spec with a passion. Have just started using it as I need some of the prize cars, but the drivers are so docile its annoying. It took almost 2 laps on the first Sunday cup race for my driver to overtake a Yaris. The car he was driving? My 700bhp Ferrari 458. Pathetic.

B-Spec is a slow burner to start off with, you're right though, you need some of the cars on offer.

Put your ferrari back stock, it'll be easier to drive for Bob, once he's levelled up a few times you'll be able to leave him in a super capable car, provide no guidance and he'll still win it for you, last night four of my Bobs were lapping Grand Valley Speedway in a Mclaren F1 thats tuned on sport tyres, they always win but they spend five laps before pit stop hanging to tail out on knackered tyres! It's a huge XP boost the 60 lap endurance and I just let him get on with it, he's doing it again now in a Mazda Furai, tyres are lasting a lot longer, I needed five pit stops before, probably be one less now! It's a less tiring car for them as well, my main guy still has 25% strength left, he was empty in the F1!

Tyres are VERY IMPORTANT!! B-spec often allows lesser tyres than the equivalent race in A-spec, if you haven't the specific tyres on offer you could be on wets in the dry! Always check before a race too, if your car was on racing tyres and sports are the order of the day the computer will put you on hards not softs!

You don't need two Bobs until you're doing some of the extreme events, you'll need four for the endurance races, I would say wait until the endurances are open before you get more than two bobs as they will level up like idiots in an endurance races, granted you'll probably need more pit stops but you're against standard japanes sports cars in the first unlocked one so easily beatable with a decent car even if you need two additional stops! I've got five bobs but one is being ignored as I only need four in the current races, I'm allowed my last one now and have all six, can't see me needing them until the 24Hr if at all!



Edit, My No1 Bob is now on lap 23 of 60 on his original tyres and just lapped 5 seconds faster than the next fastest driver's lap record! One of my drivers is going to miss out on a stint now! Whole field showing two laps down no strength left physical or mental yet still kaning the map times, he's got to want to pit at the end of this lap surely!?!

Edited by freecar on Wednesday 15th December 13:36

[freecar]

kourgath said:

From the 'other' thread

Bob 1 is level 12 doing the supercar nostalgia at Rome, he's using the Buick Special with plenty of mods he can't do better than 5th with a 1:28.6 best lap, I (with less power and no LSD) 1:20.5 (not brilliant but OK). So created a new Bob a bit hotter and he (level 0) does a 1:27.1 on his first go. Created another Bob middling personality, called him J Herbert, chose green suit yellow helmet. First outing same as above best lap is 1:24 - level 0 and he's power sliding and drifting all the corners. Spun it lap 2 down to 12th (afer a nudge from a Muira). 2 Laps later he's back in fourth. Spun last lap ended 7th.

So it seems pot luck as to how good your Bob is.

Update:
Bob 3 is turning out great seems to enjoy the Countach in the nostalgia races more than the Buick. Plenty of drifting and even slingshot manoeuvres on some of the corners. Though I have fitted a LSD and kept TC on 5.

Bob 3 is now 11 and I can almost trust him for a whole race...

I've read that another PHer has had to sack a driver for being too timid! I must have been quite lucky then as all five of my drivers are ok and four of them are stars, passing on the outside sideways in bends in my Zonda R, harrying their opponents into making a mistake I love them, I end up watching them too much thoughas it's so much fun seeing my guys drive like loonies! I swapped the rears for sports hards with mediums up front in the zonda and it was hilarious, my guy couldn't do more than about seven laps before the rears were dead!

[freecar]

I mentioned this in the OP and maybe later as well. Where you only need two drivers up until the endurance events, if you were to concentrate on the first two drivers you'll be able to enter level 0 Bobs into endurance events, it'll be tough on them and they'll need to pit frequently as they will be knackered but I reckon they'll gain 8 or 10 ranks in their first race! My main driver in the Furai can do nearly half the first endurance event on his own, easy enough to let a noob take the wheel for half a dozen laps before the next best driver takes over to undo any mistakes that he made and win it for you!

[freecar]

Mr Whippy said:

Just generally wondering.

Anyone here on expert B-spec races using the Zonda R?

It can compete in many of the races, throw a turbo on for the turbo series, and the faster tracks, and it's just winning everything easily. Great for speccing up my new b-spec drivers.


Is a Vette ZR1 with race kit going to be better than the Zonda R? Just before I blow a load of dosh on the race kit for it... would rather buy a nice shiny Enzo

Dave

I've used the Zonda loads, it's a great car for B-Spec, I've also got the ZR1RM, I don't really use the ZR1, I've still got the american cup to do yet but I'm passed that and onto the endurance events now which reminds me.

• ********************Rank up your B-spec drivers faster than normal, select only three drivers for an endurance event, my main driver is now only one rank behind my overall B-Spec rank.**********************************

[freecar]

Mr Whippy said:

Arghhh, my Cobra, even with 900kg and 750bhp, isn't enough for that Historic Race... noooo...

And you can't put aero on a Cobra... nooooo... again


There really is nothing to choose from as exotic as the stuff you race against, except £££ cars in the new dealership.

What cars are others using to even have a chance? I didn't finish that far back at all, and was up in 5th at times, but the two Toyota's with turbos hanging out their arses looked pretty rapido!

You need to win like the wind in both A & B spec, you use the car you win in one to win the other and that gives you the toyota 7 620Kg and about 950bhp once upgraded!

Edited by freecar on Thursday 16th December 00:28

[freecar]

Mr Whippy said:

Nice one, thanks!

No worries, I've been there, it's a right stalemate sometimes!

[freecar]

• *****************CONFIRMED***********************

To level up your B-spec drivers, the best events are endurance. As the computer expects four drivers, the xp points are designed to be shared between four, use three drivers and each get more than they would have normally, my B-spec rank is 27 yet my main driver is a rank 28! Higher than the events he can currently enter!!

[freecar]

matsmith said:

My bob just "encouraged" the leader to take a pit stop at the end of lap one (of 7) at the Cape Ring! I couldn't have done it better!

He came so close to being retired, but he seems to be getting there now that I have stopped giving him stupid cars such as a 1200bhp Veyron with hard sports tyres.

Ha ha, I'm glad it's happened to someone else now, I watched my Bob get in a tussle with an NSX only for him to pitch the poor guy backwards into the pits!! Atta Boy!

[freecar]

Mr Whippy said:

freecar said:

Mr Whippy said:

Nice one, thanks!

No worries, I've been there, it's a right stalemate sometimes!

Stuck again.

I'm trying to do like the wind, but to no avail.

My best driver is lvl 18 which I think may be the issue, since it's a lvl 21 race.

Just doing what he did on the truck race, braking LOADS at the bends on the oval.

Tried maxxed out Veyron, Zonda R, Cien, Furai, C6 race spec etc etc... no good. Just brakes hard in them all.


Is this just ste b-spec, or a lvl issue? Just going to get one driver levelled up to 21 ish and see if this issue of not braking will go away... but worried this is a bug in the AI on the banked circuits?!

Any advice much appreciated

Or a lend of a car perhaps


Dave

If you win the race in A-spec you get the Minolta 88-V, use this to win the B-Spec race, for which you'll be given the Toyota 7 which can win the historic cup. I had to keep my Bob at the top of his gauge for the entire race, I constantly and I do mean constantly told him to increase pace for all 18 laps!

[freecar]

working class said:

Mr freecar, on an unrelated matter - YHM.

Just spotted that, replied!

[freecar]

Mr Whippy said:

skibum said:

Cragglea1 said:

Its not long before I lead old BOB outside with the shot gun under my arm. Im in the same boat as every one else. I have given bob a 600bhp Ford truck and at Daytona he seems to break into every corner and then mid corner. Off the start I get like a 5 second lead and then he just looses it all and comes 3rd every race! Im gonna kill him soon!

I think I ended up changing the top speed on the transmission to about 230 - this meant that he started taking more speed into and through the corners.

I've really struggled with Bob on these circuits.

Give him the ZR1 Race car on a 'normal' circuit, and I can punt and pressure my Bob along to win against R8 Lemans stuff, but then get him on the banked circuit in the same car, against lesser cars, and he really is struggling to corner.

Sometimes, with good use of the 'increase pace' as Freecar suggested, at the right times, he'll carry lots more speed into the bend, 165mph say, rather than 145mph... a huge difference.
But it's just not consistent.

I've levelled him up more beyond the level for that race too, but he just doesn't seem capable of driving on these circuits.
Even on Daytona he'll jerk brake over the s/f line weirdly.

Clearly the other AI doesn't have an issue with it, so I'm not sure really where the issue is. Is this a bug, or a 'feature' that doesn't work right, or some kind of unspoken training element where you need to drive Bob many times on these circuits until he is happy on them?
Perhaps a car setup issue but it's hard to detect because Bob doesn't ever say anything to you?
Maybe a fudging element by PD to force you to A-spec to get the Like the Wind prize, or perhaps grind to buy a Lemans car or something!?


Ignoring the historic cup and like the wind in b-spec though, you can happily sail through the other series and races with the Zonda R or Furai... which is now what I am doing. I can return to these buggy races later and finish them off with the X1

Dave

Like the wind isn't actually difficult on B-Spec once you've won it in A-Spec, the Minolta clears it without too many problems, you then win the Toyota 7 which is allegedly the only car you stand a chance with in B-Spec historical cup! I'm still trying to do cote d azur.

[freecar]

I Used a Mclaren F1 that I got for my 2000km ticket. aced it a piece of piss!