NH-Beat the Heat-Richmond

This is without a doubt the most frustrating thing I've encountered in the game. I can't for the life of me finish higher than 7th. I've seen tips to just keep the peddle down and dive under the cars in the turns but as soon as I do that they all pass me in the straightaway again. If I try to run them into walls then I can do one or two this way but then the pack gets ahead of me. So after at least 50+ tries of this annoying POS (thanks for not letting me modify the car setup in this mode) challenge I've just gone ahead and taken a hex editor to the scenario0.dat file and given myself a gold for the trouble this thing has given me. They should have at least given you the option to take a pass on some of these things. Seriously, I'd like to try and finish this one for real, am I doomed to suck at the short courses? Is there something that I'm missing? The speedways and normal tracks were breezes compared to this one. Thanks, needed to get that off my chest, Craig

On Wed, 06 Sep 2000 20:13:14 -0600, Craig <[email hidden]> wrote: >This is without a doubt the most frustrating thing I've encountered in >the game. Well, you obviously haven't gotten a bit farther along then. Have you encountered the 'refuel at Phoenix' scenario? >I can't for the life of me finish higher than 7th. I've >seen tips to just keep the peddle down and dive under the cars in the >turns but as soon as I do that they all pass me in the straightaway >again. If I try to run them into walls then I can do one or two this >way but then the pack gets ahead of me. Well, at the end of the back straight, you can cut that corner really sharp, using the side of another car as a sort of speed attenuator/directional assist, though you might try not to T-bone them too severely as that kills your speed. Do not let off the PEDAL entering the front straight. You should be able to at least pace the other cars down the straight and outbrake them a tad going into turn one (use more car sides if you need to). Entering turn two, make sure you stay well to the inside and then swing wide. If you enter too far outside, you lose speed because you risk the rear end breaking loose if you apply throttle too early. IF you get real low, you can nail it earlier and use a squeeze play to cut off 1 or 2 more cars as you swing out to the wall. Just be agressive as hell. >So after at least 50+ tries of this annoying POS (thanks for not >letting me modify the car setup in this mode) challenge I've just gone >ahead and taken a hex editor to the scenario0.dat file and given >myself a gold for the trouble this thing has given me. They should >have at least given you the option to take a pass on some of these >things. I think not. It would be like a crossword puzzle. Once you look in the back of the book for one answer, you can't be bothered to try very hard at any of the others. Don't be a wimp! I beat the whole thing and I am a really crappy sim driver. You can do it. >Seriously, I'd like to try and finish this one for real, am I doomed >to suck at the short courses? Is there something that I'm missing? >The speedways and normal tracks were breezes compared to this one. The stuff above are the tips I recall from working at that particular challenge. It worked for me and may not for you, but hold those things in your mind and give it another shot. Good luck. ~daxe

I agree totalle daxe. I did the very same thing you did and finished 2nd. The trick is to make sure you end up as far up front as possible in the very first turn. I was able to take out Jarrett or Rusty, can't remember which, and got to 3rd or 4th before the first lap. After that it is a blocking game. But don't use the mirrors too much, remember you have some sharp turns ahead <G>. That's what I did, and it seemed to work. I am terrible at short tracks, but I tried driving like my 7 year old does and it worked pretty good. Good luck. -DElvr "daxe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> On Wed, 06 Sep 2000 20:13:14 -0600, Craig <[email hidden]> > wrote: > > >This is without a doubt the most frustrating thing I've encountered in > >the game. > > Well, you obviously haven't gotten a bit farther along then. Have you > encountered the 'refuel at Phoenix' scenario? > > >I can't for the life of me finish higher than 7th. I've > >seen tips to just keep the peddle down and dive under the cars in the > >turns but as soon as I do that they all pass me in the straightaway > >again. If I try to run them into walls then I can do one or two this > >way but then the pack gets ahead of me. > > Well, at the end of the back straight, you can cut that corner really > sharp, using the side of another car as a sort of speed > attenuator/directional assist, though you might try not to T-bone them > too severely as that kills your speed. Do not let off the PEDAL > entering the front straight. You should be able to at least pace the > other cars down the straight and outbrake them a tad going into turn > one (use more car sides if you need to). Entering turn two, make sure > you stay well to the inside and then swing wide. If you enter too far > outside, you lose speed because you risk the rear end breaking loose > if you apply throttle too early. IF you get real low, you can nail it > earlier and use a squeeze play to cut off 1 or 2 more cars as you > swing out to the wall. Just be agressive as hell. > > >So after at least 50+ tries of this annoying POS (thanks for not > >letting me modify the car setup in this mode) challenge I've just gone > >ahead and taken a hex editor to the scenario0.dat file and given > >myself a gold for the trouble this thing has given me. They should > >have at least given you the option to take a pass on some of these > >things. > > I think not. It would be like a crossword puzzle. Once you look in > the back of the book for one answer, you can't be bothered to try very > hard at any of the others. Don't be a wimp! I beat the whole thing > and I am a really crappy sim driver. You can do it. > > >Seriously, I'd like to try and finish this one for real, am I doomed > >to suck at the short courses? Is there something that I'm missing? > >The speedways and normal tracks were breezes compared to this one. > > The stuff above are the tips I recall from working at that particular > challenge. It worked for me and may not for you, but hold those > things in your mind and give it another shot. > > Good luck. > > ~daxe

daxe wrote:

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> > On Wed, 06 Sep 2000 20:13:14 -0600, Craig <[email hidden]> > wrote: > > >This is without a doubt the most frustrating thing I've encountered in > >the game. > > Well, you obviously haven't gotten a bit farther along then. Have you > encountered the 'refuel at Phoenix' scenario?

Actually I found the Phoenix (pit) scenario quite easy. Stay out until 3 or so to go, do Splash and Go for fuel, no tires, no damage fix. Won by 4+ secs. Of course this requires good blocking techniques during those laps leading up to 3 to go. As for the Richmond scenario, it is quite hard indeed. I managed a bronze after a few tries... but I'm never satisfied with a bronze. After about 10 tries I finally finished 2nd (silver). It takes an "Earnhardt" mentality to pull it off though. Dive hard into the corners using the AI to prevent your car from washing out to the wall. This requires good timing of course. If you happen to miss the AI car into the turn you'll lose a lot of time. Personally, I'm hoping the patch will allow us to run the Beat the Heat scenarios in Expert and Hardcore mode. I don't like the way you have to drive in order to beat the AI in Normal mode. Running too many "arcade" races this way could cause a lot of problems online... :-) Dave Ericson "MomoBoy" JDB Racing

On Thu, 07 Sep 2000 02:28:27 GMT, daxe <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>On Wed, 06 Sep 2000 20:13:14 -0600, Craig <[email hidden]> >wrote: >>So after at least 50+ tries of this annoying POS (thanks for not >>letting me modify the car setup in this mode) challenge I've just gone >>ahead and taken a hex editor to the scenario0.dat file and given >>myself a gold for the trouble this thing has given me. They should >>have at least given you the option to take a pass on some of these >>things. > >I think not. It would be like a crossword puzzle. Once you look in >the back of the book for one answer, you can't be bothered to try very >hard at any of the others. Don't be a wimp! I beat the whole thing >and I am a really crappy sim driver. You can do it. > >Good luck. > >~daxe

I can understand that, but after a game stops being fun and moves into the realm of the totally frustrating, that's it, it's either move on through cheats or snap the cd in two. I'll try your tips and I might do better but there should be no need to ram cars to win these things, it's just teaching bad habits for real races. Thanks, Craig

I too am having a difficult time at the Richmond beat the heat. The best I could manage was a 6th so far with numerous attempts at success. Last night I became so frustrated, I searched for a cheat to bypass this level. Argh, burns me up thinking about it. I just want to move on the the next level at this point. I tried several time over the past few days, and decided I should run some races at Richmond to improve my short track ability, the attempts after this practice only made my attempts worse at the beat the heat. What gives here? hehe I actually was then only able to get about 10th or 11th. Oh well, try, try, try..... It just gets so darn frustrating..... I have tried what everyone has suggested, but as the origional post stated, I do fine in the corners, I just can't block them on the straights.... I even brake late to hold position in the corners. Still, I only get more frustrated with Richmond as time passes. On a positive note, I ran a championship (short season) and got first place through the season, beating Jeff Gordon in the points, by (get this) 1 point... Lucky I was able to put Earnhardt into the wall on the last lap of that race, or I would have been relegated to second in the points race.

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>>>So after at least 50+ tries of this annoying POS (thanks for not >>>letting me modify the car setup in this mode) challenge I've just gone >>>ahead and taken a hex editor to the scenario0.dat file and given >>>myself a gold for the trouble this thing has given me. They should >>>have at least given you the option to take a pass on some of these >>>things. >> >>I think not. It would be like a crossword puzzle. Once you look in >>the back of the book for one answer, you can't be bothered to try very >>hard at any of the others. Don't be a wimp! I beat the whole thing >>and I am a really crappy sim driver. You can do it. >> >>Good luck. >> >>~daxe > >I can understand that, but after a game stops being fun and moves into >the realm of the totally frustrating, that's it, it's either move on >through cheats or snap the cd in two. I'll try your tips and I might >do better but there should be no need to ram cars to win these things, >it's just teaching bad habits for real races. > >Thanks, >Craig

On Thu, 07 Sep 2000 10:36:38 -0400, "David R. Ericson" <[email hidden]> wrote: > >As for the Richmond scenario, it is quite hard indeed. I managed a bronze >after a few tries... but I'm never satisfied with a bronze. After about 10 >tries I finally finished 2nd (silver). It takes an "Earnhardt" mentality to >pull it off though. Hmmm...as I sit here wearing a #3 cap, looking at the the die casts and plastic models of the black #3 Monte Carlo all over my office, I wonder if this might be why this didn't give me any problems. ~daxe

On Thu, 07 Sep 2000 17:35:38 GMT, Red 86 Vet <[email hidden]> wrote: >I too am having a difficult time at the Richmond beat the heat. The >best I could manage was a 6th so far with numerous attempts at >success. Last night I became so frustrated, I searched for a cheat to >bypass this level. You don't have to cheat to bypass it. 6th is good enough to move to the next level, isn't it? (I don't remember) ~daxe

Well if 6th is good enough, It did not give me the bronze..... Maybe 7th was the best I got... either way, I am still unable to pass this heat....

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>>I too am having a difficult time at the Richmond beat the heat. The >>best I could manage was a 6th so far with numerous attempts at >>success. Last night I became so frustrated, I searched for a cheat to >>bypass this level. > >You don't have to cheat to bypass it. 6th is good enough to move to >the next level, isn't it? (I don't remember) > >~daxe

> I can understand that, but after a game stops being fun and moves into > the realm of the totally frustrating, that's it, it's either move on > through cheats or snap the cd in two. I'll try your tips and I might > do better but there should be no need to ram cars to win these things, > it's just teaching bad habits for real races. > This game was primarily designed for "the masses", remember? That pretty much means bad habits, in my book. You're trying to drive these scenarios like you would drive a sim. Remember this--IT'S NOT A SIM. At least none of these "Heat" scenarios are, as far as I can tell. The crossword analogy is a good one IMO. Look at these more as "puzzles" to be solved rather than any sort of sim-like training scenario. That said, I was disgusted by these myself. After getting a silver for the one at Richmond in question, I've done no more--and will do no more. I just hope the patch makes this thing worth driving from the viewpoint of a hardcore single player, because if I want to hotlap I'll use GPL. Jerry Morelock

Yea it's the Phoenix one that you have to get sixth. If your having a hard time with this one just wait till the afore mentioned Phoenix. I have been working that one for days. On Thu, 07 Sep 2000 23:02:26 GMT, Uncle Fester <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>daxe wrote: >> >> On Thu, 07 Sep 2000 17:35:38 GMT, Red 86 Vet >> <[email hidden]> wrote: >> >> >I too am having a difficult time at the Richmond beat the heat. The >> >best I could manage was a 6th so far with numerous attempts at >> >success. Last night I became so frustrated, I searched for a cheat to >> >bypass this level. >> >> You don't have to cheat to bypass it. 6th is good enough to move to >> the next level, isn't it? (I don't remember) >> >> ~daxe > > >Nope, wrong one. Gotta place 3rd or better in this one.

Someotherdude wrote > Yep, "Dodge and Weave" and "Young Guns" will > have people quitting before they finish. I must have > restarted 50 times with each of those. I thought those were fairly easy, the one that took me the longest (to get the gold) was the drafting at Talladega with Bobby Labonte. I must have run 50 laps of 47.0x0 before FINALLY breaking 47.

The drafting one was tough for me too but my goal was gold in each scenario. That said, the Dodge and Weave was the toughest for me... I finally figured out that by pulling off a "pass in the grass" and getting the lap cars between me and Jeff Burton and Terry Labonte was the key. "Tracey A Miller" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:39b850fd$0$56648$[email hidden]...

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> > Someotherdude wrote > > Yep, "Dodge and Weave" and "Young Guns" will > > have people quitting before they finish. I must have > > restarted 50 times with each of those. > > I thought those were fairly easy, the one that took me the longest (to > get the gold) was the drafting at Talladega with Bobby Labonte. I must > have run 50 laps of 47.0x0 before FINALLY breaking 47. > > >

"Tom Quick" wrote > The drafting one was tough for me too but my goal was gold in eachscenario. > > That said, the Dodge and Weave was the toughest for me... I finallyfigured > out that by pulling off a "pass in the grass" and getting the lap cars > between me and Jeff Burton and Terry Labonte was the key. That one only took maybe three tries for me, silver, silver, gold. Labonte won't pass high, so if he can't get under you he backs off. Burton you can just run up into the wall in the tri-oval.