Special Stage Route 11 (GT1 Version)

Gran Turismo 1's ultimate challenge besides Grand Valley was Special Stage Route 11. It was a long race course that dared test you to go fast around the tricky city streets and highways properly while trying to stay away from those walls. GT1's Special Stage Route 11 challenge involved going underneath the Start/Finish highway to take on a tricky bus stop chicane. Because GT1's version of SSR11 is different from GT3's version, this blog post ONLY focuses on the GT1 version of this course.

--- Special Stage Route 11 (GT1 Version) ---

Special Stage Route 11 is below:

^ from: gtplanet.net, by way of holomedia.com

The highways and streets of Special Stage Route 11 are the ultimate challenge outside of Grand Valley. You are in for quite a fight when you race here.

(Thanks to a loyal reader for correcting this error for me)

This is a race track for primetime performers. The action happens during blue hour- the sun has gone down, but the skies aren't totally dark. The city opens itself to a nighttime festival of speed that Special Stage Route 5 has absolutely NOTHING on. The corners are slow. The speeds are fast. This is a no-holds-barred street fight. How do you attack the course? Do you go all out by going with aggressive powerslides? Do you try to race this professionally and properly? Or... do you combine (but not compromise) both styles? SSR11 is meant for the Gran Turismo adept. Go hard or go home.

One-Lap Description.

The journey begins down the long front stretch. No braking is needed for the right-hand kink that follows, but the sharp right-hander surely requires some braking when you get somewhere between the 100-meter and 50-meter mark. Depending on how fast your car is, you may or may not have to brake heading into the chicane. You can just let off the throttle somewhat. The next two corners are 90 corners with the same level of challenge. It's best to aggressively slide through the corners rather than try to attack the very inside. In fact, this course's design basically makes you try to attack the corners using powersliding. Get up to speed after the second 90 corner because up next is a sharp right-hand hairpin. Go for an aggressive slide or try to attack the very inside mid-turn. Up next is a trip under the Start/Finish highway. It begins with a dip in the road that does not require braking. The second little section may require some braking just to keep the car straight and away from the walls. When you're under the highway, the bus stop chicane awaits, and it can mean the difference between a fast lap time and a slow one. If you misjudge the speed and distance for which to enter and exit the section, your lap time will suffer. You may lose several positions if in a race (or have your leading margin shrink if leading the race. So be absolutely careful here. The best advice I can recommend is to avoid being overaggressive- just take the corner professionally without trying to do any drifting. You go uphill from the Start/Finish highway into a left-hand kink followed by a right-hand kink. Two straight sharp corners are next- a sharp right connected to a sharp left. Powerslide through the right-hand corner and then attack the very inside of the following corner. What follows is a smooth left that has a little banking to it. Outside-inside is the way to go. Swing outwards on entry and hug the inside without getting too friendly with the inside wall. Take the right-hand bend at full speed and cross the bridge into another critical part of the track. Think ahead because once you go over the crest of the bridge, you'll have only seconds to think about how to attack the hairpin. Your car will be off-balance heading into the turn because the hairpin is linked to a brief left-hand kink when entering the tunnel. Try to drift here, and you'll probably see your car get spun out. Get up to speed quickly so you can take on the two sharp left-hand corners out of the tunnel. You can take on both of them individually, or you can aggressively slide to treat both sections as one big corner. Get up to speed a little bit so you can take on the final hairpin on the track. Next, go full speed down the industrial section as you blast down backstretch into the final chicane. The chicane is very blind and dark. Therefore, you will need to attack quickly and carefully to avoid losing too much time. Get up to speed again to take on the long uphill right-hand corner that leads to the Start/Finish line. The laps may be the longest here, but this track is not impossible to tame.

Video Lap.

This video demonstrates a lap of Special Stage Route 11 (GT1) after attempting to describe one lap around SSR11:






Thank you for reading! A post on GT3's version of SSR11 may be in the future. I really need to post more often for this blog to keep it fresh. If you want to offer suggestions, you may either email me directly or post suggestions to my Facebook fan page.

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