Paul J. Martinez: Gran Turismo 3

Tonight I'm saying hello to my brand new Esperante GTR-1. I cleared the last three time trials tonight.

Complex String (4:52:395) was very tough and I had to take a short break to clear my head. I was so close it was totally messing with me. I picked up the most time by clearing the first right hand turn as tight as possible and being very smooth on the throttle through the box 90 degree corners and the alternating circles. The high esses ruined a few winning attempts, but in the end I had to play it safe in that section.

Tahiti Maze (1:58:598) and Swiss Alps (1:23:067) were surprisingly difficult. I had very little trouble with neither the Rally License nor the Rally Events. I had thought the Time Trials would be more of the same, but there was very little room for error. I'm not very good at picking a clean rally line and it showed in these two races. Luckily these two races were pretty short and a little perseverance paid off tonight.

W00p!, I'm within 1 second of the magic 4:52:716 that I need to complete Complex String. I should have done it tonight but I started tensing up. When that happens I just have to get away so that's it for the night. It was so close, I had a 2.3 second margin on my best ghost lap and I went off the course on the high esses. I have a good feeling about tomorrow night.

Damn, I just realized that I forgot to save before I shut off the PS2, at least I remembered to save the replay.

I'm still working on the Time Trial for Complex String. It's pretty difficult but I've been making some good progress. Every night I put in about four good attempts. In the beginning I was playing it in Free Run mode because I wanted to be able to get through the whole track without getting a FAIL message. Now I'm able to do about 75% of my attempts without going off track.

Last night I got within 3 seconds of a gold. Not bad, when I started last week I was twenty seconds off the pace. The tough part is that I'm not sure where that 3 seconds is going to come from.

Simulation Mode - Go Race

Beginner League 78 Races
Gold: 78
Silver: 0
Bronze: 0
Unfinished: 0

Amateur League 110 Races
Gold: 110
Silver: 0
Bronze: 0
Unfinished: 0

Professional League 110 Races
Gold: 92
Silver: 1
Bronze: 3
Unfinished: 14

Rally Events 30
Gold: 30
Silver: 0
Bronze: 0
Unfinished: 0

Endurance Races 10
Gold: 6
Silver: 0
Bronze: 0
Unfinished: 4

Simulation Mode - Game Status

Complete: 95.6%
Prize Total: 10,510,100
Wins: 407 / Races: 517 = Win Ratio: 78%
Licenses Acquired: Super, Rally
Gold: 5
Silver: 12
Bronze: 31
Cars Owned: 47
Total Milage: 10877.2 miles
Total Car Value: Cr. 27,502,080
Bonus Cars Acquired: 96
Trophies Acquired: 536