Spec II is a mod which expands upon the core Gran Turismo 4 experience, bringing a variety of fixes and improvements to the game. As the name may suggest, Spec II primarily aims to improve on the game in ways that I feel Polyphony Digital themselves would, while also adding a few modernised features and challenge run-friendly options.
FEATURES:
• Gameplay:
– Toggleable prize car randomizer with seed based on username
– Added Event Synthesizer with adjustable difficulty
– Added new Driving Missions 35-40
– Added 15+ new events to various event halls
– Tightened restrictions on some events to encourage using different cars and strategies
– Road cars start with Road tires instead of Sport Medium
– Added Circuit Valencia from Tourist Trophy to Arcade Mode and Event Synthesizer
– Cars can now be repainted at GT Auto
– Manufacturer and associated tuner wheels can now be bought for most cars at GT Auto
– Changes to various weeks’ used car dealership stock
– Added dealership discounts for certain weeks
– Shortened “1,000 miles!” significantly and renamed to Grand Tour
– Reduced number of races and/or laps in certain extra-repetitive events (e.g. 2CV Championship and Special Condition Hall)
– Changed the tracks of some existing events to provide a fresh experience
– Made all cars and tracks available in arcade mode by default, including Citta di Aria in race modes
– Changed Extreme Events’ unlock criteria from GT World Championship completion to International B completion
– Lowered Endurance Events’ unlock criteria from 25% completion to 20%.
– Rebalanced some driving missions and licences to compensate for GT4 Online physics changes
– Changed prize cars for most events (hand-picked, present when randomizer is disabled)
– Added ability to bind shift up/down to R3 up/down
– Rigidity Refresher Plan is now scaled as 25% of the car’s value up to a maximum of 35,000 Cr
– Added Full Restoration, restoring condition and mileage to brand new, scaled as 50% of the car’s value up to a maximum of 250,000 Cr
– Rally cars now have Dirt and Snow tires unlocked by default
• General Improvements/Additions:
– Enhanced engine sounds for 400+ cars with 130+ new recordings
– Enhanced race transmission and tire skid sound effects
– Added new colour options to various cars
– Restored original Esso variants of Exxon cars
– Added the Mini Cooper 1.3i ’98
– Added the Mazda MX-5 ’05 from the MX-5 demo build
– Added Korea-exclusive Hyundais: Click Type-R ’04, Tiburon Turbulence ’99, and Tuscani CCS ’03
– Added Korea-exclusive Lexus IS200 GT-1 Race Car ’04
– Restored regional equivalents of cars such as Vauxhalls and Toyota Altezzas
– Added no-stripe FPV GT ’04
– Made no-stripe Ford GT ’05 available for purchase in the Ford dealership
– Corrected physics data for many cars such as the Lister Storm, Gillet Vertigo, VW Golf GTi ’05 and various kei cars
– Added engine names to most cars’ spec sheets
– Removed extra bumper cam leaning and blurry crash effects
– HDTV (aka 480p) options are now saved rather than needing to be set every time
• Added Options:
– Global car assist overrides (no more setting ASM and TCS per-car)
– Enable/disable Gran Turismo 3-style chase camera
– Enable/disable roof, bonnet, and interior camera
– Enable/disable analog or digital gauge HUD on all camera views
– Expanded Race Options menu to allow toggling of individual HUD elements
– Restored multi language selection from retail PAL Gran Turismo 4
– Highlight owned cars in dealerships
• UI Improvements:
– Overhauled car dealership layout with larger period-accurate brochure images for all dealers
– Added Quick Menu to SELECT for easy access to common functions
– Improved 16:9 scaling in various menus
– Increased username length limit to 30 and enhanced username keyboard to allow for numbers, spaces, special characters
– Added R3 camera zoom to dealerships and garage
– Added dealership descriptions to most cars
– Fixed inconsistent spacing/characters in car and track names
– Current UCD cycle week is now shown on the status menu next to the current day
– Added count and percentage of distinct owned cars to the status menu
– L1/R1 can be used to jump 10 items forward/back in car select and GT Auto wheel menus
– Added Length, Displacement, and Engine Type display/sorting to garage
– Added Typical Opponents button to race select screen
– Added GT Mode shortcut to jump to GT Auto when L2 is pressed
– Added GT Mode shortcut to jump to Tuner Village when R2 is pressed (if a tuner exists for the current car)
– Added quick access to garage when viewing event restrictions
– Secret and Monitor settings in Options have been enabled without requiring button combo
– Manufacturers are now sorted alphabetically in the garage menu
– Added extra game status-based details to Home menu
