Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec Without Buying Any Cars

The Setup

In 2001, Playstation Magazine began hyping Polyphony Digital's highly anticipated Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec. At an impressionable 14 years old, having only experienced a few racing games such as Top Gear 3000 on the SNES and Wave Race and Star Wars Episode I: Racer on the N64, I was enthralled by this new, next-generation leap in gaming.

I spent my birthday money (that was a thing back then) on a copy of the game and the Versus Books strategy guide on release day in July 2000. My father was mildly impressed by the graphics, but mocked me for "driving with my thumbs instead of a real steering wheel in a real car" and otherwise took no interest in the game. Note to present and future fathers out there: try to take some interest in what your child is doing. This could have been an amazing bonding experience, but alas.

This game taught me a lot about cars, maintenance, car parts, economics, physics, and it even taught me how to drive. I was never and will never be a race car driver, but the lessons learned in this, The Real Driving Simulator, have always been clearly applicable to common, everyday road driving to me.

I played this game a lot, but to my surprise while looking through my backlog earlier this year, I realized that I had never finished it. Beating Gran Turismo 3, as defined by speedrun.com, involves completing all the Beginner and Amateur league races.

So in 2023, I set out to accomplish just that. With one catch. I was not going to purchase any cars during the playthrough.

Spoiler: it turns out that it's impossible to beat GT3 without buying any cars, but you can beat it purchasing only one car.

The Planning

Since we can't buy any cars, and the game doesn't start you with one, we have to win one. The very first step is to enter the License Center and win your B License with gold trophies on every test. This might be the most challenging part of the game for a newcomer, but it will teach you how to race and is truly the only way to actually begin a no-buy run of the game. This step earns you your very first car, a Mazda MX-5 Miata LS.

Beyond the first license car, we're going to have to win a bunch of cars for all the various restricted races in the game. We'll need something with FF, FR, MR, 4WD, turbo, naturally aspirated, a car from the 80s, and several particular makes or models for certain races. Looking through prize car lists online, I determined that I could probably win one of every car needed to complete the game... little did I know at the time, one crucial piece of my information was incorrect.

1. Use the license-won Miata and complete as many races as it can, focusing on the Beginner NA and FR challenges to win a Honda CR-X and Nissan Silvia 1800 respectively.
2. Use the CR-X on the Beginner FF challenge to win a Toyota Vitz.
3. Use the Silvia until we can't compete further, the ultimate goal here being the Amateur 80s Sports Car Cup to win a Nismo Skyline.
4. Use the Nismo to complete the Amateur 4WD races and win a Lancer Evolution.
5. Use the Evo to complete the Beginner and Amateur Evolution Meeting races to win an Evo Rally Car.
6. Use the new rally car to win a Ford Focus Rally Car (our first American car) and Xsara rally car (a great FF vehicle).
7. Use the Focus to win a few races, including the American-only ones.
8. Use the Xsara to dominate the remaining FF races and win a Spoon Civic Type R.
9. Use the Civic Type R to win the Type R races and an NSX.
   
10. Use the NSX to win the MR races.
    
11. Use the Vitz to complete the Vitz races and win a Toyota Altezza LM Race Car.
12. Use the Altezza to complete the Altezza-only races, Amateur German Touring Car Race (win a VW Beetle), and Amateur American Championship (win an Audi Quattro).
13. Use the Beetle and Quattro to win their respective restricted races.
14. Complete the Passage to Colosseo 2 hr Endurance to win a Mercedes CLK Touring Car.
    
15. Polish off the remaining series races in Beginner and Amateur.
    

The Humble Miata Beginnings

I hopped in the free Miata and completed the Beginner League Sunday Cup and Clubman Cups. These races are pretty easy and serve to warm up the player to the game.

After earning some cash here, I chose to upgrade the Miata with a racing chip and NA Tune-up 1 before taking on the Beginner League FR Challenge, Spider/Roadster Cup, and NA Race of NA Sports. That final NA race had a really challenging MR-S S Edition car so I upgraded to a sport muffler and NA Tune-up 2. Fortunately, the FR Challenge scored us a nice Nissan Silvia 1800, which is our next "main" car.

Earning a Vitz and Spending Some Time With Silvia

At this point I decided to hop in the Honda CR-X we won at the Beginner NA Challenge and take on the Beginner FF Challenge. It's not too difficult and I won a pink Toyota Vitz that comes into play much later...

Afterward, I swapped to the Silvia and started working toward the next major milestone in this run: the Nismo Skyline. I raced through the Beginner 80’s Sports Car Cup, then upgraded to Stage 2 turbo, exhaust, racing chip, and sport tires. In retrospect the sport tires were a waste and I should have just saved up for medium racing tires.

Next, I completed race 1 of the Race of Turbo Sports with the Silvia. I struggled with race 2 of the Race of Turbo Sports so I hopped in the RX-7 we won in the Beginner 80’s Sports Car Cup (it has a higher stock top speed than the Silvia) to complete this one. Back in the Silvia, race 3 of the Race of Turbo Sports is where I got stuck (the 3000GT was just way too fast) so I upgraded to hard racing tires and got all the transmission and suspension upgrades.

At one point I needed a break from the Silvia struggle, so I hoped in the Mira we won earlier, added a Stage 2 turbo and racing chip, and completed the Lightweight Cup Challenge.

Back in the Silvia, I had to obtain my A License in order to complete the Amateur 80’s Sports Car Cup. It was tough but doable with the Silvia running a Stage 3 turbo. Now we have a Nismo R32!

Becoming Drift King

With the Nismo, I went back to Beginner League and completed the 4WD Challenge to win a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. With the Evo, I completed the Beginner and Amateur Evolution Meeting races to win a Lancer Evo Rally Car.

After a quick detour to obtain my Rally License, it was time to take the Evo Rally Car off-road. The rally racing and drifting in this game are remarkably fun. I completed the Smokey Mountain Rally (with a Stage 2 turbo, the only thing you can upgrade) to win a Ford Focus Rally Car, which allowed me to take on the Beginner and Amateur Stars and Stripes races. The Focus Rally Car is actually really awesome and fully good enough to clean up many Turbo, 4WD, or Beginner (and some Amateur) series races if you want to!

At this point I used the Focus Rally Car to decimate the Amateur Japanese Championship, most the Amateur Race of Turbo Sports, recognizing that I might need a higher top speed vehicle for Test Course. Still in the Focus Rally Car, I tackled the Special Stage Route 5 Wet II to win an Impreza Rally Car Prototype, which I immediately used to polish off the Amateur League Boxer Spirit races.

While I was rallying, I snagged the Xsara, a solid FF car from Special Stage Route 5 Wet.

FF and MR

I found the Xsara to be one of the best FF cars in the game, so I used it to complete the Beginner and Amateur FF Challenges as well as the Professional FF Challenge in order to win the Spoon Civic Type R.

The Civic can be used in the Beginner and Amateur Type R Meetings; I had to carefully replay the final race here to ensure that I won the NSX at the end, which I used to knock out the Beginner and Amateur MR Challenges as well as the Amateur Race for NA Sports.

Where's That Confounded Altezza?

During planning I noticed the need for a Toyota Altezza for the Beginner and Amateur Altezza Championships. There's only one way to win a prize car eligible for those races and that's from the Professional Vitz Race. But first we should get used to the Vitz by knocking out the Beginner Vitz Races. Both of these are series races with five tracks each.

I hopped in the pink Vitz we won earlier from the Beginner FF Challenge in our nifty Honda CR-X installed every possible modification: full suspension, brakes, exhaust, port polish, racing chip, the biggest turbo available, racing intercooler, full racing transmission, the best clutch, flywheel, and driveshaft, weight reduction, and, critically important, hard racing tires.

The Beginner series is quite easy but it was also time well spent learning the Vitz. The Professional series is a different beast: five races with ten laps each. The AI is simply faster than us here; I was barely holding on when I gleefully realized that my opponents would pit in for new tires at least once per race. This is quite literally the only way I was able to win the last two races in the series. My strategy was to not pit at all, thanks to my hard racing tires, so I would eventually emerge victorious (albeit barely on the Special Stage Route 11 Reverse course).

I saved before the final race in the series and re-ran it until winning the Altezza LM Race Car (which fortunately happened on my second try).

Now THIS is (Pod) Racing

The Altezza LM Race Car is not only useful for smashing through the Beginner and Amateur Altezza Champtionships; it's overall a remarkable race car. I also used the Altezza to polish off the Amateur FR and Turbo races and the FR races (which are surprisingly challenging; the AI was only 3-4 seconds behind me).

Still in the Altezza, I tackled the Amateur American Championship next, making sure to save and retry the last race as needed; we need to win the Audi Quattro.

Next I decided I may as well keep going and win the Amateur European Championship. The Altezza does the job flawlessly.

The Amateur German Touring Car Race came next. Once again I made sure to save and retry the last race because I needed to win the Battle Cup Car.

Next I took a quick detour by upgrading the new Quattro and taking on the Beginner and Amateur Tourist Trophy races.

We also recently win a Beetle Cup Car, so it was a perfect opportunity to knock out the Beginner Beetle Cup races.

Next I hopped back in the Nismo from earlier, upgraded it some more, and entered the Amateur Race of Red Emblem, a Nissan-specific event that posed little challenge to to trusty Nismo.

At this point only two more cars were needed to complete the game: a Mercedes for the Legend of Silver Arrow races, and a fast race car for the remaining series races in Beginner and Amateur.

Getting a Mercedes

In the planning phase, I determined through a few different prize car lists that it was possible to win a Mercedes CLK Touring Car from the Passage to Colosseo 2 hr Endurance race. Unfortunately, my information was incorrect.

Prior to starting this two hour race, I researched it a little further in order to determine what my opponents might be driving and what kind of tires I might want to choose. To my surprise, I started finding posts about the prize cars for this race, and that the CLK Touring Car wasn't one of them!

It turns out we cannot win a Mercedes anywhere; we have to buy one to complete the Legend of Silver Arrow races! So this suddenly became a one-buy run rather than a no-buy run.

I caved and purchased a CLK55 from the dealership, upgraded its engine and tires, and stormed through both sets of Legend of Silver Arrow races.

The Final Stretch

I mentioned earlier that we might need a fast race car to complete the remaining long series races in Beginner and Amateur. However, it turns out the Altezza LM Race Car fits the bill rather well.

Racing through the Beginner GT World Championship was a breeze in the Altezza (or any other race car, for that matter). Winning this championship yields the first ending video and credits!

Onward to the Amateur series races. The Amateur GT World Championship came next. This one is more difficult due to opponents driving proper race cars, but they tend to pit once per race so using medium tires enabled me to hold out and win several seconds ahead of the pack.

Amateur Gran Turismo All Stars came next. This is also 10-race series and I found it significantly more challenging than the Amateur GT World Championship. At this point the game started to feel like a bit of a grind. Tire wear, fast opponent race cars (looking at you, Viper GTS-R Team Oreca), and unpredictable opponent pitting behavior started to task my patience and focus.

Next I took on the Japanese GT Car Championship. None of my opponents ever pitted during this 10-race series, so installing hard racing tires provided a path to victory.

Finally, it was time for the ultimate showdown: the Amateur Dream Car Championship! Opponents are fast but they tend to pit at the beginning of the final lap, so I found myself struggling to keep up, then suddenly winning 20 seconds ahead of the pack.

Review

This game is a rare 5/5 for me. It represents a dramatic generational leap in graphics, sound, and overall player experience that we just don't see anymore. The racing physics and gameplay loop are fun and addicting. The campaign mode is also a gold standard: it's not linear, the player has plenty of options, and there is encouragement (and requirement) to use different makes, models, and types of cars to proceed through the game. It doesn't solely focus on super cars and hyper cars as soon as possible. The rally mode is perhaps the finest rally racing of any game, ever. GT3 is just great all around.

This "no-buy" challenge turned out to be a failure, but I don't feel too bad about having to buy one car since the game forced my hand. Playing the game this way proved to be a fun puzzle trying to figure out how to obtain all the particular makes and models needed to progress through the various races.