Menu Book 7
Menu Book 7 is another collection Menu, for European Hot Hatches. The Mini we just tuned should come in handy here, however after you’ve won one of the three cars on offer it may make sense to switch immediately. The rewards for this one are the Mini Cooper S ‘05, the Abarth 500 ‘09, and the Polo GTI ‘14.
Before we started, we went to the Garage and claimed our reward from Menu Book 5, which was a one star roulette ticket.
We won 10,000 credits, which mostly covered the 11,000 we spent on Menu Book 6 and brought our balance back up to 121,000.
Race 1 – Brands Hatch
The first of the three races is back at Brands Hatch, in another Sunday Cup. This time it’s the European Sunday Cup 400, with a suggested PP of 400. We’ll be taking the Mini we just modified, even though it has a slightly lower PP of 373.
Before starting the race, you will hear from Coque Lopez who will warn you about the first corner, advising you to hold off accelerating after you’ve come off the brakes. The gravel on the outside here will punish you, so be cautious.
We won the race in the ‘65 Mini (albeit on the second attempt), although if you are having trouble go back to the Tuning Shop and buy some more power, or take the 3rd place and come back with the modern Mini you earn as a gift car. We collected 10,500 credits for our win (7000 for 1st + 50% clean race bonus), as well as an additional 4,200 credits for our 3rd place finish on the first attempt.
Race 2 – Alsace Test Course Reverse
For the second race, you can switch to your newly earned ‘05 Mini, with its higher PP of 419, although we stuck with the ‘65 Mini for this one. You’ll be introduced to Baptiste Beauvois, who mainly chats about baguettes, but advises the race will turn dark throughout.
This race is a little trickier, mainly because our frugal modifications have left our Mini with less straight-line speed than the opposition. Take the first corner flat, and use minimal braking just before the right kink to exit onto the straight with more speed than your competitors. We gained most of our time in this section, being patient each lap and chipping away at the opposition’s lead.
Finish this race in the top three to claim the Abarth 500 ‘09. We won the race and picked up the clean race bonus, so also collected 10,500 credits.
Race 3 – Sardegna Road
For the final race, we head to Sardegna, in the imaginatively named Road Track B. Here we can take a 2014 Polo GTI home. Here we are greeted again by our old friend Coque Lopez, who tells us we may struggle if our car is underpowered. The long straight here is going to be a challenge to our ‘65 Mini, so make up the extra speed in the corners wherever possible.
Coque is right, you will lose a lot of time on the main straight. If you followed our advice for tuning, the ‘65 Mini should be running sports soft tyres. This means that with it’s 600kg weight, it should have significantly more cornering grip than the other, heavier cars running the race. Use this to your advantage, there are several corners you can stay flat out on, as well as several where you can take the outside line to overtake without lifting off.
You should now have the ‘14 Polo GTI, completing this Menu collection.
We collected another 10,500 with the clean race bonus and 1st place, bringing our total earnings for this Menu to 31,500 credits, plus an extra 4,200 credits for our failed first attempt, bringing our overall balance up to 156,700 credits.
Menu Book 8
Once you’ve completed Menu Book 7, you’ll unlock GT Auto. GT Auto is where you can customise and maintain vehicles, from livery designs, to oil changes, to aero components. Your first task is straightforward, Wash a car.
Honestly there’s not much to be said here. Go to GT Auto, select Car Maintenance & Service, and then wash your car.
Sarah will pop up again and give you some insight into what all you can get done, before Clayton appears to tell us to keep our car well maintained. Over time, cars performance will deteriorate, however it’s not something we need to worry about now. Just pay 50 credits for the car wash and lets move on.
You’ll unlock the Tokyo Expressway as your reward.
