Menu Book 9
Ok, so this one is slightly different. After the simplicity of Menu Book 8, Menu Book 9 asks you to participate in the Tokyo Highway Parade Race. The only catch is that you need a National B licence to enter, so we have to go back to the Licence Centre and finish Licence B, if you haven’t already. The Tokyo Expressway is an iconic piece of Gran Turismo, so enjoy the short film and then head over to the Licence Centre.
The compass will direct you to World Circuits, but unless you have the National B licence you won’t be able to enter the championship yet.
In the Licence Centre, you should already have B-1, for stopping and starting, so head straight to B-2. Completing all of these will not only unlock the Tokyo Highway Parade Race, but also you will earn a free vehicle for getting Bronze or higher in all events, and another for completing all gold. Most events are pretty easy, but will likely take a few attempts to achieve the Gold time.
Solis will offer advice before each event too.
For the first event, B-2, simply accelerate as hard as you can off the line. Once you approach the 100m board, look out for the double cones on the right hand side of the track. Slam on the brakes as hard as you can just between the double cones and the 200 yard sign. Shift down to benefit from engine braking, and you should stop just inside the blue zone. Easy.
You should collect 3,000 credits for gold in this one.
Licence B-3 Cornering Basics 1
The second event is very straightforward. Simply go round a corner at Alsace. We are not kidding, you are given an ‘02 Diahatsu Copen, which shouldn’t be a challenge to get around this corner. Accelerate from the start, keep the steering smooth, go deep and turn in slightly late to get the car as straight as possible on exit, lift momentarily as you approach the apex, and accelerate to the finish line.
Piece of cake tbh. 3,000 credits banked.
Licence B-4 Cornering Basics 2
Cornering basics 2 is exactly the same corner as cornering basics 1, except this time you are given an ‘03 Audi TT. A faster car, but not exactly a handful. The gold time is pretty forgiving here, you don’t even need to take the corner well to set a good time (see video for evidence). Just accelerate, dab the brakes and lift off, turn in and give it the beans on the way out. If you are struggling, try the approach in the demonstration – lift off from the point of turn in until the apex, the accelerate out.
3,000 more.
Licence B-5 Cornering Basics 3
Cornering basics 3 is a little different, we now have a series of corners to contend with at Tsukuba. You’ll be driving an ‘85 A112 Abarth, a car we don’t remember either. You can take this whole event at full throttle, but be sure to listen to Solis and use the whole width of the track. Move to the very left edge of the track on your approach to the right-hander, and follow the dark tyre marks on the track for the line through the corner. On the exit, move about a car’s width away from the left-hand side of the circuit, and gently steer around the left-hander to the finish line.
We collected 4,000 credits for this one.
Licence B-6 Cornering Basics 4
Similar to before, Cornering Basics 4 is exactly the same corners as the previous challenge, but this time in a faster car. You’ll be driving a Nissan Fairlady Z ‘08, a car you should be slightly more familiar with. Sticking with the same line as before, move to the left on the approach, and this time brake momentarily as you start to turn. As you pass the apex, ease back onto full power for the left-hander. Try to make sure your cornering is smooth so you don’t scrub off too much speed, particularly on the left-hander. Use the whole width of the track, you should cross the finish line on the right-hand side of the track.
Another 4,000 credits, bringing our total for this Menu Book so far to 17,000.
Licence B-7 Cornering Basics 5
For Cornering Basics 5, Solis tells us we’ll be learning how to brake for corners. This time we are heading to Trial Mountain Circuit, and given a lovely 2021 Toyota GR86 RZ. It’s a fairly simple corner, but in a much faster car, and one famously with skinny tyres for excitingly little lateral grip. As you approach the second yellow sign, get ready to brake just before the tree after the sign. As you brake, move the car towards the left hand side of the track. Aim towards the apex, and right as you pass the big rock on the apex, gradually come back onto the power. Try to keep the steering smooth, as too much aggression on the wheel will scrub off too much speed as you approach the finish. The car wants to slide, so don’t go in guns blazing on the controls.
If you’re smooth enough, you’ll collect another 4,000.
Licence B-8 Cornering Basics 6
For Cornering Basics 6, Solis takes us to Mount Panorama Motor Racing Circuit. We’ll be using a silver ‘96 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV, and going round a 90 degree left.
Jumping straight in, accelerate hard from the start. The braking point here is around the 75M point, and you’ll be able to see a shadow on the grown halfway between the 50m and 100m boards. Brake hard at this shadow, keeping the car in a straight line. As you pass the 50m board, start turning towards the apex of the corner. Again, keep the steering smooth and try to avoid hearing the tyre squeal. Right as the finish line comes into view, start coming onto the power and gradually steer out of the corner. Use the full width of the track, accelerating as hard as you can without the car sliding. Avoid running onto the grass and cross the line!
You should collect another 4,000 for this.
Licence B-9 Cornering Basics 7
Cornering Basics 7 takes us to Dragon Trail, an iconic Gran Turismo location. Here you’ll have to face two corners, in a ‘20 Honda Civic type R.
As you approach the first corner, remember the principles you learned earlier about using the full length of the track. Gradually steer in, keeping on the power. Position your car so that your two right-side wheels run right over the kerb, and as you exit the corner let the car move over to the left side of the circuit. With your left wheels now on the white line, make sure the car is straight, and right as the grass changes to sand on the left brake as hard as you can. Try to turn in late, so you can get the car straighter on the exit. If you do it right, you can accelerate before the apex in second gear and change into third as you move across to the left-hand side of the track on the exit of the corner. Accelerate hard again towards the finish.
Finish this one in under 17.500 seconds and you’ll collect 4,000 more credits.
Licence B-10 Driving Basics
B-10 is the final test, a true culmination of everything you’ve done up until this point. Tsukuba Circuit, in a Renault Clio RS ‘16, with a whole series of corners to master. Two key things to keep in mind here, use the whole track, and brake in a straight line.
As you come through the first esses, focus on positioning your car on the right-hand side of the track for the hairpin left. On approach, you’ll notice an access road on the right (a section of tarmac joining the track), use this as a reference point. You want to brake around a car length before this road, just at the point where the car straightens from the corner. Stay in a straight line as you brake for as long as you can, then turn in and stay close to the apex, cutting slightly over the kerb in the second half of the corner. Accelerate smoothly out of the corner, gradually straightening the car’s wheels right-hander and following the dark section on the track. As you approach the right hander, a dash of brakes just before you turn in, and hold off on accelerating until you know you are going to make the exit without running wide. For the final left, stay as close to the left-hand side initially, then let the car drift over to the right as you approach the finish.
You should get 5,000 credits for this one, bringing our total for B-2 to B-10 up to 35,000 credits, and of course our National B Licence!
For completing all Bronze, you will earn the Renault Clio RS ‘16, similar to the one you just drove, except this time in black. It will come in handy soon. If you also achieved gold in all events, you’ll get a Mitsibishi GTO Twin Turbo ‘91, in Passion Red. Both these cars will likely be a higher PP than the rest of your current garage, so rest assured they are a worthwhile reward.
Before Entering the Championship
Before you jump into the Tokyo Highway Parade Championship, you’ll want to change your car. We had a roulette ticket from hitting our Daily Driving Marathon to claim, so claim any tickets you have before continuing. You never know, you might win an even faster car!
At this point we had 15 cars in our garage, as shown in the image. The entry requirements for the Tokyo Highway PArade are simply any road car, so select your highest PP car to make life easy. Our new Mitsu GTO has a PP of 456, so we went with that.
Tokyo Highway Parade Championship
For this championship, you will have to complete two races. Both will take you around the Tokyo Expressway, which is a street circuit made of highways through Tokyo. The first race will take you clockwise around, and the second counter-clockwise. The Tokyo Expressway is a high speed circuit, so keeping your car stable around the higher speed corners is crucial. Avoid contact with the barriers at all costs, as even though they are nicely contoured to the track, you will lose a lot of speed if you rub against them. Use drafting wherever possible, and try avoid contact with the other cars too to claim your 50% clean race bonus at the end. We honestly found our biggest challenge staying clean, as the circuit is narrow, especially at higher speeds on comfort tyres. A few minor collisions occurred (see video!) but we still managed to claim 10,000 + 5,000 clean race bonus.
the points structure is the same as before, with 12 points for the winner and each place below that getting two fewer points than the place above. You do not have to win both races but it is certainly recommended. You’ll be introduced to Rick Kevelham, who offers little advice, simply bragging about his car.
For the second race, you will be driving the Tokyo Expressway in reverse. In terms of the track difficulty, this changes little as it is a fairly easy circuit to navigate (easy to learn, challenging to master, although in the GTO you will easily have enough power that you don’t have to put in an incredible lap), although this time around it will be raining. Patrick Blaksan will be racing you in a suzuki Swift, but you should not find him to be much of a challenge.
Be patient with this one, try to avoid collisions, and you will easily move past the oppositions on the straights. When you fins yourself behind another car, watch out for his brake lights and try to use this as an opportunity to brake with him, but get on the power earlier and accelerate on the exit. Collect another 15,000 for this one, with the clean race bonus.
If you won the championship, you should collect another 20,000 credits for the victory, along with a shiny gold trophy. Our balance is now 245,650 credits, having spent 0 on this Menu Book and won 88,950.
You’ll also get the opportunity to pick a car from three cards, you can select at random from the Mazda Eunos Roadster (NA) ‘89, the Nissan Silvia Q’s (S13) ‘88, and the Toyota Corolla Levin 1600GT APEX (AE86) ‘83. we wanted the AE86, but got the Nissan Silvia.
Head back to the Cafe and you will collect a 1-STar Roulette Ticket from Luca, and unlock the Sport Pavilion.
