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SPACING AND LENGTH
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INTRODUCTION
GTC Africa combines rally racing with wheel-to-wheel racing
action across the continent of Africa. The settings are
definitely intriguing, and some are eye-catching enough that
it is very easy to focus on the scenery (such as Kenya's
waterfall with a rainbow) and not the often-tricky race
course itself. In fact, if an area is particularly scenic,
it is generally an indication that that portion of the
circuit is very difficult.
This game also introduces something rather novel in racing
games: Team Status. In many racing games, all that matters
is that the player earn enough points in a championship to
win the championship. Team Status takes this a step further,
so that the driver's skill - measured in the amount of damage
a car receives during a race - is factored in. Team Status
is only used in Championship Mode.
To begin playing, go first to Options and adjust all the
settings if necessary. Then go to Single Race and
participate in both of the initially-available circuits; this
will give the player a good feel for the game and also allow
the player to test the various cars owned by each team.
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Championship Mode contains three championships: East Coast
Championship, North-South Challenge, and African Tour. It is
especially important to win as many events as possible early
in each championship, as it will become more and more
difficult to perform well in the latter races of a
championship.
In each championship, points are awarded ALMOST in FIA style:
P1 10 points
P2 6 points
P3 4 points
P4 2 points
P5 1 point
P6 0 points
For comparison, FIA style is as follows:
P1 10 points
P2 6 points
P3 4 points
P4 3 points
P5 2 points
P6 1 points
Thus, unless a driver has a significant lead in championship
points entering the final races, simply finishing a race DOES
NOT guarantee earning points.
The East Coast Championship uses the following circuits:
Cape Town
Lesotho
Botswana
Zimbabwe
Zambia
Tanzania
Kenya
Ethiopia
Eritrea
Egypt
The North-South Challenge uses the following circuits:
Egypt
Libya
Tunisia
Morocco
Mali
Nigeria
Congo
Angola
Nambia
Cape Town 2
The African Tour uses all the circuits from the two previous
championships.
==============================================
TEAM STATUS
At the beginning of Championship Mode, the player chooses a
team, and starts with a Team Status of 50%. As the player
performs worse and worse in the championship and the car
receives more and more damage, the Team Status drops; the
better a driver's performance in each race and the less
damage a car receives per race, the Team Status rises.
Fortunately, teams do understand that some damage is likely
to occur in a race; cars swap paint, the rear end swings out
on tight corners and bangs a barrier, etc. Thus, if the car
takes less than 10 points of damage, this has no effect on
the Team Status. However, at 10 or more points of damage,
the Team Status fluctuation per event receives a penalty,
which can generally be offset by performing well in a race.
In an extreme case, the car can receive 30 or more damage
points in a race, which results in a penalty of -6% to Team
Status; only a race win - which earns +8% to Team Status -
will keep the driver's Team Status from dropping after that
race.
Team Status is also important for finishing each race. In
Championship Mode, the driver must complete each race within
the time allotted. If the Team Status is higher than 50%,
the allotted time is slowly raised. However, if the Team
Status is lower than 50%, the allotted time is slowly
reduced. A higher allotted time obviously allows more time
for race completion, thus slightly easing one of the driver's
many concerns during a race. However, as the allotted time
decreases, this adds more and more pressure on the driver.
CIRCUITS
GTC Africa boasts a total of nineteen circuits.
Unfortunately, the game does not provide a circuit overview
until that circuit is loading; a course map is not even
provided until the race is underway. Therefore, here are the
nineteen circuits of GTC Africa, along with both what the
circuit-loading screen states and my personal observations.
Cape Town
Loading Screen: Mainly tarmac road, with a short off-road
hill climb, twisting down into a high-speed coastal
run punctuated by fast bends.
Personal Observations: This first circuit is fairly easy,
but it is still possible to overcook corners and lose
valuable race positions. Extreme care must be taken
along the coast, as several of the corners are much
tighter than they at first appear.
Lesotho
Loading Screen: Dry dirt track with wide sweeping bends,
grit, sand, and a short tarmac section.
Personal Observations: This is also a fairly easy circuit,
but beware the banking on either side of the course, as
it can easily cause the car to flip.
Botswana
Loading Screen: Fast, dry gravel track and a short tarmac
road section with fast straights and tight challenging
corners.
Personal Observations: Good power out of the corners is
key here. Take care in the final straightaway, which
contains several jumps and a narrow bridge; coming off
a jump somewhat askew is likely to destroy any chance
of winning here.
Zimbabwe
Loading Screen: Short tarmac section with dirt track
descending into a twisting muddy gorge, then winding
sharply through the countryside.
Personal Observations: The twisty section between the
mountains is an excellent place to pass by getting on
the inside of an opponent and bumping the other car(s)
off the optimal racing line. Except the twisty
mountain-floor section, the course is fairly well-
marked.
Zambia
Loading Screen: Fast, dusty track, twisting through a
lush, populated valley.
Personal Observations: This course is roughly in a
figure-eight configuration. Take extreme care with
the final portion of the circuit, as the course is
narrow with fences on either side; single-file is
almost certainly preferable here.
Tanzania
Loading Screen: High-altitude tarmac road snaking across a
mountain, covered with ice and snow.
Personal Observations: This is another course in a figure-
eight formation. If running in a pack, go through the
tunnel single-file to avoid incurring A LOT of damage,
as the tunnel is VERY narrow. Also, brake well before
exiting the tunnel, as the road takes a nasty left-hand
perpendicular turn.
Kenya
Loading Screen: Slippery jungle track with tight bends,
opening up onto a baked dirt track twisting across a
sweeping dusty plain.
Personal Observations: Whenever possible, straightline the
consecutive tight S-curves. Also, keep the eyes on the
road, especially around the waterfall.
Ethiopia
Loading Screen: Slippery dirt and mud track with many
tight corners.
Personal Observations: This dusk race has reduced
visibility, so intimate knowledge of the circuit is
key to success here. The course itself is lined with
high, steep banks and occasional boulders, so keep to
the racing surface at all costs!!!! Also, on the
approach to the tunnel, it appears that the tunnel is
essentially non-existent, like the fake tunnels in
Warner Bros.' Wile E. Coyote cartoons; however, keep
powering on through, as the 'fake' appearance is simply
an illusion created by the upward slope of the dirt/mud
road through the tunnel.
Eritrea
Loading Screen: Fast tarmac road climbing from a village
into coastal hills, descending into a sandy, twisting
beach section.
Personal Observations: It is VERY easy to slip off the
road here, especially in the sandy section at the end.
Egypt
Loading Screen: Dusty, tarmac road with sandy sections and
many sharp bends.
Personal Observations: It is VERY easy to overcommit to
the many consecutive hairpin corners. Also, this race
takes place at dusk, so visibility is fairly poor.
Libya
Loading Screen: Hot, dry and barren desert section on
tarmac road, twisting over sand into the cool shadow
of the hills before emerging again onto baking tarmac.
Personal Observations: It is IMPERATIVE to stay on the
racing surface, otherwise, the sand will slow the car
to a snail's pace and allow the competition to quickly
catch up and make easy passes. In the final third of
the circuit, the road runs directly into the blazing
sun, making visibility difficult.
Tunisia
Loading Screen: Largely tarmac roads, with a high-speed
dash past beach-front hotels and a twisting section
past a Roman amphitheater in the desert sands.
Personal Observations: Drivers who get caught out in the
sand here will lose speed, but not nearly as much as in
Libya. Beware the boulders, lampposts, and palm trees
along much of the circuit. Intimate knowledge of the
course is key to success here, as many corners are
unsighted on approach. Shortly after passing the
hotels, the road narrows with fences on either side.
Morocco
Loading Screen: Tarmac road winding through a fortified
town, then dirt road snaking upward into the
surrounding hills.
Personal Observations: This tiny venue is extremely
tricky. There are several points where the road
briefly diverges, which - if used judiciously - can
allow for easily passing a pack of cars. However, the
many trees and lampposts provide constant obstacles all
along the circuit. Also, there is a section of
consecutive hairpin corners - all on an uphill slope -
which will make players wish they were attempting to
pass the Complex String Time Trial in the Arcade Mode
of Gran Turismo 3!!!
Mali
Loading Screen: Cracked earth road skirting a lake before
climbing into a twisting hill section.
Personal Observations: Climbing the mountain is made very
tricky with the position of the sun. Excellent
cornering will be required descending the mountain.
Nigeria
Loading Screen: High-speed circuit with tarmac and dirt
track sections, circling a volcanic crater lake.
Personal Observations: This almost perfectly circular
circuit is highly unique in that it also offers a split
in the course; however, the Start/Finish 'Line' is
actually two Lines as they are located about two-thirds
of the way along this split!!! Perhaps the best path
to take at the split is to the right, as this provides
the best possible racing line when the two paths
rejoin at the entrance of a narrowed corner.
Congo
Loading Screen: Deep jungle mud track with fast bends
and straights with jumps.
Personal Observations: To quote JP from SSX Tricky, 'Le
retour de la jongle!!!' The road is certainly wide
enough for two-wide racing; some sections may even
accommodate three-wide racing. However, there are
barriers on both sides of the road almost the entire
way around the circuit, so there is no recovery area
in case a driver overcooks a corner. It is also quite
interesting seeing the birds fly by :-)
Angola
Loading Screen: Fast dirt track, with a sweeping desert
section.
Personal Observations: This course has several jumps, some
of which can be treacherous because - if taken at full
speed - the landing zone is directly against a barrier.
Some corners are better approached as wide U-type
corners.
Nambia
Loading Screen: Dirt track and tarmac through narrow
gorges and across wooden bridges.
Personal Observations: Due to the narrowness of the
circuit, expect passing here to be extremely difficult,
almost as difficult as passing at the Grand Prix of
Monte Carlo in F1 racing. Fences and rock cliffs line
most of the circuit, with several large boulders also
providing incentive to keep using the brakes.
Cape Town 2
Loading Screen: Inner city, street driving on tarmac with
many tight bends.
Personal Observations: This is even more annoying than the
Complex String circuit in Gran Turismo 3 :-( This
course is almost entire comprised of right-angle turns
which double back on themselves. Even worse, the brief
straightaways between the corners are too long to treat
these as wide U-type corners. Also, plenty of fencing
blocks any possibility of shortcutting a corner, so
passing to the inside of an opponent on braking will be
quite difficult here. Driving on the cobblestone
streets feels really weird if the vibration function is
activated.
WISH LIST
Since race venues are only unlocked by performing well in
Championship Mode, drivers should be permitted the
opportunity to take a few practice laps at each new venue in
Championship Mode. This would be FAR better than 'forcing'
drivers to participate in races with no prior knowledge of
the venues in their first time through the Championships.
Qualifying would be a nice addition to the game :-)
It is very easy to forget how many laps have been completed
and how many remain; having a lap counter, or a message
indicating Final Lap, would be greatly beneficial.
Since accumulating ZERO damage points in a race is rare, this
should be rewarded by the team by raising Team Status,
perhaps by 4% or even by 6%.
CONTACT INFORMATION
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or to be added to my e-mail list for updates to this driving
guide, please contact me at: FEATHER7@IX.NETCOM.COM; also, if
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Wolf Feather Jamie Stafford
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Just as there are many parts needed to make a human a human, there's a
remarkable number of things needed to make an individual what they are.
- Major Kusanagi, _Ghost in the Shell_
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What isn't remembered never happened. - _Serial Experiments Lain_
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