Driving School help (PC)

[MiamiJack]

I just cant get a medal on alley oop when it lands the car flips over almost every time which gives me 100% damage. Can someone give me any tips for stopping that?

 

Any help is appriciated.

[saintdave]

The driving school missions are a pain, I dont have SA for PC, but there are loads who do in the SA PC Chat.

[ajkhan316`]

check out the schools guide for tips.

 

- FiJiAn 4 LiFe

[simps]

To give you a little confidence that it's possible. There's a movie for schools here. It also has directions.

[teh roxxors]

PC gamers need advice specific to their platform. Here's something I came up with for Driving School:

 

Driving School

 

Driving School tests rely heavily on dumb luck, which means you’ll have to repeat some tests many times over if you want the gold medal. Prepare yourself for frustration. Frame Limiter is generally unnecessary. Difficulty ratings reflect getting a gold medal, not simply passing the test.

 

The 360

 

• Time Limit: 0:10

• Vehicle: Infernus

• Difficulty: 1/10

• Gold Medal: Complete a 360 and stop in your original position in under ten seconds.

 

Either first or third-person camera view is fine for this test. Accelerate and brake simultaneously, while cranking the analogue (joystick or game pad) controls left or right to complete a full circle.

 

The 180

 

• Time Limit: 0:10

• Vehicle: Blista Compact

• Difficulty: 4/10

• Gold Medal: Complete the 180 in time, parking perfectly at the end of the track—without damage.

 

Use the third-person camera view. Use the handbrake to power slide through the turn, then floor it through the straightaway. The hardest part of this test is parking, but the third-person camera angle helps a bit.

 

Whip and Terminate

 

• Time Limit: 0:05s

• Vehicle: Banshee

• Difficulty: 4/10

• Gold Medal: Finish under five seconds with perfect parking—and no damage.

 

Use the third-person camera view. Power slide through the turns. Again, the hardest part of the mission is parking.

 

Pop and Control

 

• Time Limit: 0:05

• Vehicle: Police

• Difficulty: 5/10

• Gold Medal: Complete the course in time with no damage and perfect parking.

 

Use the third-person camera view. Control your speed. Lay off the gas after your tires pop but do not brake through the turns. Steer gently and watch the speed. Use as little braking as necessary to stop properly at the end.

 

Burn and Lap

 

• Time Limit: none

• Vehicle: Banshee

• Difficulty: 6/10

• Gold Medal: Beat the course in the low 35’s without damage.

 

Use the first-person camera view. Aim somewhat toward the outside corners as you head down each straightaway, rather than dead-center or tight to the inside. Aiming slightly toward the outside corners minimizes the impact of power slides on your speed and makes recovery after each slide very easy work.

 

Cone Coil

 

• Time Limit: 0:10

• Vehicle: Banshee

• Difficulty: 6/10

• Gold Medal: Complete the course in the allotted time without any damage and perfect parking.

 

Use the third-person camera view. Turn Frame Limiter off. You can’t whip past all three rows of cones at full speed without hitting something, and power sliding around them bleeds off too much speed. Release the acceleration just enough to control your turns around the three rows. Power slide into a sharp turn around the single cone at the middle of the course. On your return, zip past the first row, but release the acceleration around the second and third rows. Watch your speed going into the parking zone, or you’ll not straighten out very well.

 

The ‘90’

 

• Time Limit: 0:05

• Vehicle: Banshee

• Difficulty: 10/10

• Gold Medal: Power slide into a perfect parking position between two parked cars without damaging yourself.

 

Use the third-person camera view. Turn Frame Limiter off. This test relies largely on dumb luck, so be prepared to repeat it many, many times. While simple in concept, it’s almost impossible in execution. Keep your speed moderate. Align your rear view mirror with the hood of the rear car, between its front tire well and its windshield. Turn left and handbrake simultaneously to power slide just before hitting the back car. Success is an equal balance of velocity and power slide timing.

 

Wheelie Weave

 

• Time Limit: none

• Vehicle: Banshee

• Difficulty: 10/10

• Gold Medal: Cross the lot on two wheels, coming to a perfect stop in the red zone, with no damage.

 

Use the third-person camera view. Steer into the ramp, then quickly away from it, to lift the car up onto two wheels without rolling over. Don’t hit the wall beside the ramp, and don’t lift up so far that you grind away the side of your car. Develop a feel for how long you need to hold the acceleration down; the Banshee will come to a stop quickly once you release it. You don’t need a whole lot of steering if you come off the ramp properly. But, most often, you will drop & stop well before the red zone. Damage is very, very hard to avoid—and any damage will keep you from the gold.

 

This test relies too heavily on dumb luck, so be prepared to repeat it many, many times. You don’t have to come to a stop on all four tires, so concentrate on your direction coming off the ramp and timing the release of your acceleration control.

 

Cheat by changing the Banshee’s mass from 3000 to 4000 in handling.cfg—this helps the car go a little farther with less input from you, which is the biggest obstacle you face. Back the file up before editing, and be sure to restore it before going on to the next challenge.

 

Spin and Go

 

• Time Limit: 0:05

• Vehicle: Taxi

• Difficulty: 4/10

• Gold Medal: Complete the course in the time allotted without any damage—stopping perfectly at the end, of course.

 

Use the third-person camera view. This is a reverse power slide through a tight turn at full speed. Before backing up, use the mouse to turn the camera around, so you have a good view of the course.

 

P.I.T. Maneuver

 

• Time Limit: none, unless a car leaves the testing zone

• Vehicle: Police

• Difficulty: 8/10

• Gold Medal: Spin the other car around before it escapes the test zone, keeping both cars touching—all without any damage.

 

Use the third-person camera view. This test gives you a lot to think about in a very short time. Pull up along side the target vehicle, close, but not quite touching. With roughly the front half of your cruiser beside the back half of the target vehicle, turn hard into the target to put him into a spin. As your opponent rolls around the front of your cruiser to the other side, turn into him—otherwise the vehicles will separate. Brake hard at the end of the maneuver to maintain contact. Doing all of this without damaging your cruiser takes equal parts finesse and luck.

 

Alley OOP

 

• Time Limit: 0:05

• Vehicle: Banshee

• Difficulty: 8/10

• Gold Medal: Barrel roll off a ramp, over two cars, landing squarely on your tires and stopping perfectly at the end—without damaging your car.

 

Use the third-person camera view. Your approach is paramount. Accelerate hard throughout. Use the outside lines of the hood or trunk to align yourself with the edge of the ramp. You need to hit the ramp with a slight angle toward its middle.

 

The instant you leave the ramp, release the acceleration and steer hard into the roll. That is, if you're rolling counter clockwise, turn left; turn right if you're rolling clockwise. This spins the car around faster, increasing the chance of landing on the tires.

 

You won’t have much opportunity to straighten out at the end. If your approach wasn’t perfect, it will show in your landing. But it’s not an impossible test, once you figure out how to hit the ramp and turn while airborne.

 

Cheat by changing the Banshee’s mass from 3000 to 2000 in handling.cfg—this gives the car more time in the air to complete its roll before landing. Be sure you have a backup before editing, and restore the default handling.cfg before going on to the next challenge.

 

City Slicking

 

• Time Limit: none

• Vehicle: Super GT

• Difficulty: 7/10

• Gold Medal: Finish the course within 1:40 without the slightest bit of damage.

 

The first-person camera view will not help you on this one, and leaving Frame Limiter on only makes the test harder. Do this one during daylight and good weather. Do not use the handbrake to slow down; use decelerate or just release the acceleration.

 

The Super GT is a fast car with poor traction, so it rips through the straights but can easily spin out of control in turns. All the while, you still have traffic to deal with, which adds completely random failure to the mix.

 

If you come to a stop at any time, the test ends.

 

In front of the San Fierro Fire Department, pick up and follow the trolley tracks. They will make a right turn off the main drag, and you can shave some time off by cutting that corner —but watch your speed! The trolley tracks then drop down a hill, before turning left. Watch your speed! The tracks turn right after a helipad and go downhill again. You will find yourself on a wide highway headed north toward the first checkpoint. Cut as straight a path as you can across sidewalks and the median to keep your speed up. Slow down as you near the checkpoint and a sharp left turn.

 

You can be more aggressive through turns that take you uphill, but don’t get carried away. Take the curvy road uphill, avoiding pedestrians who may jump in front of you. Pass through one intersection, turn right at the next. Take the first left at the top of the hill. This puts you back on a long straightaway heading back toward the Driving School.

 

Slow down at the end for a zig-zag turn into the checkpoint in the Driving School parking lot.

 

Cheat by matching the Super GT’s traction features (fTractionMultiplier, fTractionLoss, and fTractionBias) to those of a Sanchez dirt bike in handling.cfg. Increase acceleration and top speed if you continue having problems. Be sure you have a backup before editing, and restore the default handling.cfg before going on to the next challenge.

[nodbruce]

City Slicking - alternative route:

 

I got gold in City Slicking by ignoring the route TO the marker (at the other end of town) and taking a longer but (mostly) easier & traffic-free route. There are a few variations that work, but the QUICKEST I found was as follows.

From the start, drive to the right as usual but continue straight across the road, between the trees you can see there. Jump onto the railway, landing between the tracks (if your front-end digs into a rail, you'll take damage). Aim to pass under the freeway just to the right of the support, right over the body armour that's hidden at the foot of the bank, just missing the building on the right. It seems to be really difficult to damage your car here - I've even turned on my roof and recovered with 0% - but it can be done. Veer left and either follow the road you see past the end of the fence or drive over the road onto the broad pavement beyond and turn left following it. If you take the road, keep right, on the pavement until the bridge. You need to come onto the road as you pass under the bridge, then back off-road for as far as possible. Veer left in front of the building that gets in your way & follow the road round to the marker, using tramlines as much as possible, then turn uphill and return to the start the right way.

With a bit of practice, I got to the marker the right way round, with momentum, at 45secs and cruised home to an easy sub-98sec gold. Oh, and at the end, I just ease off power slightly and tap "right" to hurl the car over the pavement to the finish - which way round you hit it isn't important!

 

This game has the best 3D models of the Forth road and rail bridges (Scotland) I've ever seen.