The Gran Turismo 3: A-spec Apocalypse Zone

A Not-Quick 100% Guide

100% Guide Page - How to get to 100% in the shortest amount of time possible:

First off, I suggest you try Arcade mode. There are a few reasons for this.
First and foremost, each Arcade race gives you percentage points towards your GT3 game total. Secondly, by completing all of the races at Hard level (Beginner is 2 laps, Amateur is 3 laps, Hard is 5 laps, the unnecessary Pro is 10 laps with tyre wear), you win bonus cars for the Arcade and Two Player modes. Thirdly, you can take the time to learn all of the tracks ready for full on GT Mode. And lastly if, and I mean if, you can complete the Arcade Time Attack/Time Trial mode you win a free car (Panoz Esperante GTR-1 - 588hp, 1150kg) for use in GT Mode. However, TA10 on Complex String with a Ruf RGT is an absolute demon, and took me over a month first time round. Don’t worry too much about losing the odd race - these figures don’t count towards your GT Mode race win percentage.
Now, Arcade mode isn’t easy (except on Easy level, then it is). I’d suggest the surest way of winning through is take on the C-class cars. It may not be the quickest way, but some cars are clearly quicker than others - Lexus IS200 for example - unlike S-class where they’re all fairly close. This particularly applies to the Test Course Race. Rally cars don’t matter. Pick one - you’ll win. I used the Subaru Impreza ’01 WRC Prototype and the Lancer Evo7 RC Prototype mostly. Every time you complete the easy level on one area (A-F) you’ll open up the races for the next area. Medium difficulty rewards you with one or two cars, Hard with another one or two:

Area A - Mazda MX-5 ’89 (C-class), C-West Silvia (S-class)
Area B - Audi TT 1.8T 225 (C-class), Lancia Delta HF Integrale (R-class)
Area C - Mazda RX-8 (A-class), Gillet Vertigo (S-class)
Area D - Nissan Z Concept (A-class), Pagani Zonda Racer (S-class)
Area E - Ruf RGT (A-class), TVR Tuscan (A-class), Panoz Esperante GTR-1 (S-class), R390 GT1 LM (S-class)
Area F - Toyota GT-ONE TS020 (S-class), Mazda 787B (S-class), Viper GTS-R ’02 Concept (S-class), TVR Speed 12 (S-class)

Next up, and I know this isn’t very interesting, do the licences ASAFP. They’re not that tough in general (although IA-1, IA-4 and S-8 deserve a little respect), especially for the seasoned GT player. Each time you start a licence test anew, a day goes by, so if you want to keep your days down, pause and restart every time you foul up. It’s odd that you can only enter one licence test a day, when each of the GT Mode tournament Championships (over 5, 7 or even 10 races) last only a day in total, but hey...
As before, you get a prize car for hitting all Golds, and if you do, hurrah! You won’t have the age old "Which car to start with?" problem (doubly so if you’ve got that Panoz from arcade Time Attack). These prize cars can be found elsewhere (in the races .doc file and the prizes page), so I won’t go into detail here.

Now, which car to start with (see)? Here’s your choices:

Chrysler PT Cruiser (145hp/1270kg) 17980cr
VW Beetle (109hp/1256kg) 15930cr
Daihatsu Cuore (61hp/700kg) 11140cr
Daihatsu Sirion (114hp/840kg) 13900cr
Mazda Demio (95hp/960kg) 14660cr
Mazda MX-5 ’89 1.8 (130hp/980kg) 16900cr
Mazda MX-5 ’89 1.6 (114hp/940kg) 17000cr
Suzuki Alto (61hp/710kg) 12220cr
Toyota Trueno (?hp/925kg) 13550cr
Toyota Yaris 1.3 (?hp/?kg) 12880cr
Toyota Yaris 1.5RS (?hp/940kg) 14530cr

The Cruiser is extremely ugly, very expensive (no room for modifications here) and lurches around a bit.
The Beetle has a very low Power-to-Weight ratio and is phenomenally ugly. At least it opens the Beetle Cup to you though. For you to lose badly.
Amazingly the Cuore TR-XX-XX-XX-XX-4R-RT-TX-XR-X4-TX-XT-RX-X4-4R has an even lower PWR. It’s 4WD, so can lose in those races and has bugger-all potential, save for Kei Cup races. It’s cheap though.
The stablemate Sirion has the highest PWR of the lot here, but it rolls around a lot and isn’t very pretty at all.
The Demio is a Demio. Haven’t you been paying attention?
The MX-5s open the most competitions for you (NA tune for NA cup, Turbo tune for Turbo cup. They even have their own Endurance race for totally unmodified MX-5s), have a high PWR and are quite attractive.
The Alto is a Cuore, but worse and more expensive (go figure)...
The Trueno is more powerful than the MX-5s (and FR too) and cheaper.
The Yaris 1.3 isn’t much good, but the 1.5RS is the best small FF, and has it’s own competition (although you may want to tune the thing first).

I picked the 16900 MX-5. It has the widest range of competitions available to it, and can win most with relative ease and a little tuning. The Trueno is the quicker car though. Enter the NA Cup for 5000 a race win and rack up the cash for your next purchase. If you prefer not to start with FR cars, choose the Yaris 1.5RS, but really you can’t lose control of the MX-5, so don’t fret.

My next buy was a Lancer Evo7 RS. You really want to run this in (200km to first oil change), but keep the MX-5 (or anything you’ve won you particularly like) to win money and buy parts for the Lancer. When it’s full of turbo, use it to stuff the opposition in the Evolution and 4WD championships on all levels. Have a go at the Japanese Championships on amateur if you like. But don’t overuse it.

The most useful car you can get at this stage is the Honda Integra Type-R. Feed it soft/supersoft tyres and as many tuning parts (clutch and ‘box first, power afterwards) as you can. Race (and win) the beginner Type-R meeting. For this you’ll get an Acura RS-X (the next generation Integra) which you can sell for, wait for it, 75000. You can do this again and again and again and never run out of RS-Xs.

Get a Viper GTS. Lavish some love on it in the form of parts - NA3 is expensive and mostly unnecessary, but anything and everything else will do. I have one sitting around with 1110hp right now. Now you can take on all of the NA Cups, FR Cups, Stars & Stripes and American Championships. Given a good gearbox alteration you can slaughter the "Like The Wind" professional tournament (set it for 420km/h - the opposition max out at 380km/h). For this whole set of races you should get a Pagani Zonda C12-S (use for MR Cups, European Championships and Italian AvantGarde (be careful on this one, the opponents are all Zonda Racers), an Audi TT with any luck (for the TT Championships), probably an FTO (should easily get the FF challenges with a little tuning) and a Mazda 787B (for anything requiring a very fast car).

Now, cars are no trouble, money isn’t a problem, so you’re sorted. You’ll need a few cars - an Altezza, an Elise, a Beetle and maybe a Clio V6 - but all of these can be won if you do the right races. You'll need a Mercedes for the Silver Arrow, as none can be won anywhere else. An F1 car is a must, but keep clear of the Test Track in one, and don’t try Deep Forest unless you have a nappy on. I left the F1 Championship until last - even after all the Endurance races - it looked a little tricky. In reality it wasn’t so bad, but the 78 (yes 78) lap final race takes a lot out of you.

One hint and one hint only. In championships, save before the last race. If you don’t get the car you’re after, reload and do the race again until you do. Mostly I get the right car after the second go - it worked for the Speed12, the Altezza LM and anything but a Yaris for the professional Yaris race. Disregard anything you hear about "Press the X button when the logo flashes under the car you want/the car before the one you want blah blah blah...". It doesn’t work - you may as well close your eyes and cross your fingers (which I do)...

Done and dusted. I hit 100% in 247 game days, with all licence test golds in 295 game days. Beat that.

Edited: On my second game I bought a Mazda MX-5 again for 16900cr. I did one or two races - enough to net me some T4 tyres for it - then entered the Roadster endurance at Apricot Hill. For this I won a Polyphony 002 F1 car. Game over... The only races you can't win in a P002 are the ones it can't enter.

This time round I hit 100% with all licence test golds in 229 game days, which is the absolute minimum possible...

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