Overview & Features

Overview

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.

Spec II is based on the NTSC version of Gran Turismo 4 Online Public Beta and is distributed as an xDelta patch requiring this version.

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