Hiya !

Here's a guide for Gran Turismo 4 any% A-Spec. A few races are a little hard, but the meat of this game is pretty straight-forward and easy when you have the right car. The hardest part is staying focused for 9-10 hours straight. I would definitely recommend this game if you like chill, day-long runs.

First of all here's some useful things to know :

• This game (AFAIK) doesn't have ties, if you finish a championship with the same amount of points as a rival AI, it will give the win to the AI.
• Unlike many games of the era(I'm looking at you, NFS Most Wanted) there is no rubberband, so mistakes are fine in most races.
• Many tracks(such as Tokyo, SS5, Seoul, etc) are heavily reliant on wall-riding.
• When you exit a race, the game will freeze AI positions at the time of your exit and use them to create the race results(important to know for championships)
• Most importantly: this guide assumes you can complete mission 25 to 29 within a reasonable time frame(ie, within 1h30 or so). Multiple re-tries are fine, all alternate routes are much slower. It is recommended to practice mission 25 to 29 if you are using this route. The best known alternate route as of January 2021 is DragoonClawNZ's route which requires extensive grinding in the 2 laps Capri Rally event, check his run for more info.

Before you start a run : create a save file, disable autosave, choose the options you want for your run. A save file is around 1,4Mo so make sure you have enough space. Even with auto-save disabled the game will save at various occasions(like switching cars), so I would advise against third-party cards as they can have significantly lower writing speeds(up to several seconds per save).

Timer starts while clicking on « Gran Turismo Mode »

Complete licenses National-B, National-A, International-B, International-A. Bronze times are easier than most Gran Turismos here. The main difficulty is to jump in and out of 60+ cars without doing mistakes. It's okay if your driving is slow, the goal here is to be reset free. Make sure to exit at every lesson X-8 and manually select X-9, because Coffee Breaks are optional.

Once you're done with I-A, go to Driving Missions, and complete missions 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29. You need those to win the Toyota 7 which you will use for most of the run. This is the hardest part of the run, and also the only time you will have breaks bigger than 15 seconds, so plan accordingly. Those missions are 5 handicap races, with 5 different sports cars, which are all very different from each other. Resets are very time consuming here, ranging from 1 to almost 4 minutes each. Make sure you can do this part in a decent time phase before attempting a run. If you can't, you may need a different route.

If you have completed the 5 missions unscathed, then great! You have a run on your hands. The following 5 hours will be a lot more relaxed.

Go to the garage, select the Toyota 7. Go to the Toyota dealership, buy NOS and Sports/Soft Tyres.

Go to « Professional Events », then « World Classics ». Skip Nurburgring, win the other 4 races.

Go to Toyota dealership, buy Turbo 4 modification.

Go to « Professional Events », then « World Compacts ». If you are reset-free until that point, you may skip Hong Kong and Motegi, but that's a riskier strat. Wreck the Tigra at Gran Valley and Tsukuba, so that it finishes 6th in both races. Your rivals all need to have 29 points or less for you to win the championship. If you don't want to take the risk, or if you have had a reset before, don't skip Motegi, but that's several minutes slower.

Go to « Tuning Grand Prix ». If you're reset free until that point, skip El Capitan and Tsukuba. Win the other 3 races. The AI should automatically have less than 30 points. If you are not reset-free until that point, you'll have to do El Capitan or Tsukuba.

Go to « Turbo ». Win all 5 races.

Go to Clubman Cup. Win all 5 races.

Go to « Beginner Events », then  « Sunday Cup ». Win all 5 races.

Go to « MR Challenge ». Win all 5 races.

That's all for the Toyota 7 for now. Sell the Mazda Falken for 42,499. Go to the Dodge Dealership. Buy the Dodge Viper SRT. Tune it. I advise you to take Stage 3 NA tuning, NOS, Racing chip, Racing exhaust, Sports/Soft tyres, Weight reduction stages 1 and 2, Racing brakes and semi-racing suspension. You may modify this list depending on your needs. Just don't underestimate the need for tuning because you're going to stay in this car for roughly 2 hours. This is one of the biggest menuing part of the run, keep in mind that menuing mistakes can happen quickly, and can be very time consuming if you don't fix them straight away

Go to Beginner Events, then Spider & Roadster. Win all 5 races.

Go to FR Challenge. Win all 5 races.

Go to Professional Events, then NA Sports/ Win all 5 races.

Go to Supercars Events. Win all 5 races. Races are 6 to 8 laps here, this is the second longest series in the game.

That's all for the Viper. Buy a Subary Imprezza Sedan WRX Sti. Pick-up a racing exhaust, a racing chip, NOS, Turbo Stage 3, a large racing intercooler, tyres sports/soft, and weight reduction stage 1. You may be tempted to remove a few items, but don't skip tuning entirely, or you will lose at Boxer Races.

Go to Professional Events, then Boxer Races. Win all 3 races.

Go to Beginner Events, then 4x4 Challenge. Win all 5 races.

Sell the Cizeta V16T for 135,290, and the RUF CTR for 50,283. Get in the Honda S800. Buy NOS, Turbo 2 and Sports/Soft tyres. Go to Beginner Events, then Lightweight K-Car. Win all 3 races.

Buy a Trial Celica(in the Tuning Cars section). Pick up Stage 2 NA tuning, and NOS. Go to FF Challenge. Win all 5 races.

Buy a Ford SVT F-150. Pick up a racing exhaust, Racing NA Stage 2 modification, a Racing chip, NOS, and weight reduction stage 1. Go to Beginner Events, then Pick-Up Races. Win all 3 races.

Get in Toyota 7 again. Buy Hard Race Tyres, and Qualifying Tyres.

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Only the World Championship remains. This is a part that might make or break your run. If you want to do only 5 races out of 10(faster but riskier), save and reset your PS2(to make the AI seed go back to default). Go to the World Championship and exit it 3 times, until you get the 2 Pescas, one Audi, one Toyota and one Nissan. If you're going on 6 races or more, don't worry about that part, just go to the World Champ straight away, no matter the AI.

If you're on the 5 races route, you will have to skip Hong Kong, New York, Paris, Suzuka, Grand Valley. If you're on 6 races, don't skip Suzuka, if you're on 7, don't skip Grand Valley. 6 races is a safe spot if you know what you are doing but are willing to sacrifice a few minutes for a safety net. 7 races is slow as hell but almost fail-proof – if you win 7 races there are only 2 permutations where the AI can either beat you or tie you on points. I will focus on the 5 races route for now because it's the fastest and what I'm familiar with.

The key is to win all 5 races and make sure no AI gets more than 49 points. Your biggest threats are, in order, the Toyota, the Nissan, and then the white Pesca. I won't get in to too much detail because a lot of it is down to improv and calculating points on the spot.

Before starting switch to Hard front/Medium rear. Set your gearbox to 16(in quick settings) if you haven't yet. Win Tokyo and Motegi, go as fast as possible. Skip Hong Kong entirely. At Seoul, wreck the Toyota(also the Nissan/white Pesca if you feel like it), then win. Ditto for El Capitan. Ideally the Toyota should have less than 20 points by now. For New York, switch to Qualifying tyres and maximum nitro boost.. Wreck the Toyota, and others if you need to, then quit. This shouldn't take more than one to two laps. If no one is of particular threat, you may skip Paris and Suzuka entirely. Wreck the cars you need to wreck at Grand Valley, then leave – ideally this should take less than a lap. The goal is to have the Toyota/Nissan on 46 points or less(47 if you want to play it risky) after Grand Valley, and the Pescas/Audi on 43. The Toyota and Nissan need to pit at Le Mans so unless something goes really wrong they will finish 5th and 6th. You need to have everything wrapped up before Le Mans, gaps are really big there so there's no point interfering with the AI.

Switch to Medium/Medium before Le Mans. Set the gearbox to 18 or 19 if you feel like it. Go flat-out and win. Timer stops when you cross the line.

If you've made it that far then congratulations ! :o) I hope you've enjoyed the game. Make sure to upload your run and get your time on the board.

If you have questions about this route feel free to DM me.