Menu Book 4
The fourth Menu Book takes us to the newly unlocked Tsukuba Circuit in Japan, where we need to finish in the top three, unlocking the Tsukuba and Suzuka. After a quite beautiful video showing a babbling brook and some aerial shots of the circuit, head to the tuning shop, where we will meet another delightful character, Rupert.
Rupert (don’t worry, you don’t have to pay attention to their names) owns the tuning shop, but is particularly useful when it comes to explaining what each modification actually does to your car, so if you are ever unsure, click the ‘Learn More’ button on each part and he will give you a handy dandy explanation. The idea here is that you might want to apply some modifications to your Toyato/Mazda/Honda Japanese compact car, however we recommend you save your credits, and go straight to the next race. Soon we will be driving something (slightly) more exciting, so we don’t recommend investing too much time or credits into these cars.
If you are going to upgrade, head back to the garage first and claim your roulette ticket. You could win a completely new car and not even need an upgrade. Watch the video to see what we landed on.
Select World Circuits, and then the championship at the bottom. Championships are a series of races, and you cannot change or add modifications to your car throughout, so make sure before you start that you have visited the tuning shop and done everything you needed to. It will become more important later, when rain becomes a risk, you don’t want to be starting the third race of a championship without wet tyres available, and throw away all the progress you have made in the first two. This championship takes you around the High Speed Ring, then again but in reverse. You will be introduced to another character, Fraga, who won the 2018 Gran Turismo World Tour. He and other Gran Turismo racers will pop up at a lot of events, occasionally offering advice but usually talking about how they got into racing. Read the conversations if you like, but they are not critical so you aren’t missing anything by ignoring them completely. These characters will also compete in the races, and over time you will recognise their cars. Fraga is driving a yellow Civic in this one, and will be your fastest opponent.
To win the championship, you don’t have to win both races, just finish with the highest number of points. The winner takes 12, second 10, and so on, with each place taking 2 points less than the place ahead. This is generally the system used in the World Circuits Championships throughout Gran Turismo 7.
We are taking our favourite orange Toyota once again, without having made any modifications. The High Speed Ring has lots of nice long corners, with good banking. However, the comfort tyres our little Japanese compact is running still mean that the quickest way around this circuit is often quite conservative, staying within the limits of the tyres. If you hear them squealing, you are going too fast. The first and last corners can be taken flat, however if you are creeping towards the outer walls or you can hear the tyres, it’s best to ease off the gas momentarily and bring the car back towards the apex. On the first lap, take advantage of the other cars slipstream and they will give you a big helping hand towards the front.
For the second race, you will be facing the same track in reverse, but this time it is wet. Very wet. Take a minute to watch the game cycle through some very damp images of the circuit, and you’ll be glad you are sitting at home playing video games.
Taking the same slightly conservative approach as the last race, you will easily win this one. Just be sure to brake in a straight line, before the corner! Watch your opposition cars brake lights, and when they brake, you brake. You will easily out accelerate them on corner exits, so don’t risk compromising the entry in the rain. In the tunnel section, finish braking on the dry part of the track and you will gain a full second over those who brake on the wet surface. Take the final corner flat throughout to gain on Fraga.
After completion of the race, you will be presented with your trophy, and 15,000 credits for 1st place. Championships are great for income, as you earn credits for each race, and for the overall result. We were awarded 10,500 credits in each of the two races (7,000 + 50% clean race bonus), and 15,000 for the championship, bringing our earnings for this event up to 36,000, and our balance to 92,500.
Next, you will have the option to select a gift car reward. The game shuffles three cards, a Suzuki Swift Sport ‘17 (PP 410), a Honda Civic Type R (EK) ‘98 (PP 414), and a Honda Integra Type R (DC2) ‘98 (PP 436). There is no strategy here, so cross your fingers and pick a card. We got lucky and got the Integra.
Head back to the Cafe to complete this Menu, and unlock Brand Central, where you can buy new cars.