Enthusia Professional Racing

Contents

• Quirks and Features
• The Cars
  • Car Lists
    • Starter Cars
    • Unlockable Road Cars
    • Unlockable Competition Cars
  • Silhouetted Prize Cars
• The Events
  • Track List
  • Event Lists
    • RN/R4 Events
    • R3/R2/R1 Events
    • RS Events
    • Series Events
• Gameplay
  • Getting Started
  • Car Collecting
  • Useful Cars
  • Gameflow Examples
• Miscellaneous Notes
• Special Thanks

1. On first-time startup (or when starting the game with a memory card that doesn't already have an EPR gamesave on it), the program starts by asking you to select a language.
2. You're then presented with a screen that can be used as a guide for adjusting your TV's brightness and contrast.
3. You're then presented with a screen that allows you to select the settings for the Driving Assist feature. If you're not already very familiar with the game, I'd recommend choosing the "TCS ESC" setting.
4. The program will then play an intro video which you can either watch or skip. For the latter, you can press [X] to exit the video.
5. You're then presented with the screen asking you to press the [START] button which then takes you to the game's Main Menu. When starting a new gamesave, it's usually a good idea to set your preferences fairly early on, and you can do so now by using wraparound to go to the Option item at the bottom of the menu. Once you've set your preferences, you can choose Save from the Option menu.
6. Press [Square] to return to the Main Menu, then use wraparound to choose Enthusia Life. The program then explains various aspects of the game and walks you through the process of choosing a Starter Car. The only one that I wouldn't really recommend is the eK Wagon, but any of the others should do just fine.
7. Initially, the Enthusia Life menu will only have the Join Race and Garage items enabled. Selecting Join Race for the first time starts a tutorial that explains the various parts of a Choose Event screen. Pressing [X] on an event on the Choose Event screen starts another tutorial that explains the various parts of a Race Info screen which includes the 5 rival cars and the points awarded for a 4th or better race finish. Pressing [X] on a rival car shows that car's spec sheet, while pressing [X] on your car followed by [X] on Join takes you to the Confirm Race Start screen. At any time before you get to the Confirm Race Start screen, you can press [Square] to go back to the previous screen. If you're already on the Confirm Race Start screen and you decide not to start the race, you can press the game controller's [START] button and then choose the Return To Title item to quit the race without advancing the Week counter or affecting Ranking stats.
8. At this stage, you're pretty much free to choose what you want to do next. You're currently only eligible for the 4 events in the RN race grade but, after 5 races (or earlier if you win any), you'll be eligible for 6 additional events. If you want to learn/practice a track or test your car's setup before doing an actual event, you can do so via Garage > Test Run. As mentioned in the in-game tutorial, a Test Run won't advance the Week counter (which might be important if you want the current events and grid lineups to stay the same). If you want to revisit a tutorial, you can press [Triangle] on any screen where the Help feature is supported.

• Car Upgrades. After a race, the awarded Skill Points are added to both the Car and Driver stats shown near the bottom of the Skill Point screen. While the Driver stat shows the total of all Skill points earned so far, the Car stat only applies to the car you're currently in. Upgrades are acquired when your current car has earned a certain amount of Skill points. The exact amount needed to fully upgrade a car to Lv10 can vary greatly and can generally range from around 600 to around 1300 Skill points. There are 3 types of upgrades (Weight, Power, Tyres) with 3 stages per type. The table below shows the 10 upgrade levels and which stages of each type is included. The comma-separated digits are in the format Weight, Power, Tyres.

  Lv1: 0, 0, 0	Lv2: 1, 0, 0	Lv3: 1, 0, 1	Lv4: 1, 1, 1	Lv5: 2, 1, 1
  Lv6: 2, 1, 2	Lv7: 2, 2, 2	Lv8: 3, 2, 2	Lv9: 3, 2, 3	Lv10: 3, 3, 3

  One thing to keep in mind after acquiring an upgrade, is that the upgrade may alter a car's handling in a way that may make it feel like a different car. The change in handling is especially important to remember if you're using the same car on the same track, since it's very easy to think that corners can be taken in the same way as before, which often won't be the case.
• Drivetrains. In various sections of this webpage, drivetrains are abbreviated as follows:

  4W	4-Wheel drive		MR	Mid-engined Rear-wheel drive
  FF	Front-engined Front-wheel drive		RR	Rear-engined Rear-wheel drive
  FR	Front-engined Rear-wheel drive

  Note that there are 3 other abbreviations that are used primarily in event names:

  • 4WD = 4W

  • FWD = FF

  • RWD = FR | MR | RR

• Driving Assist Feature. When EPR starts up, one of the startup screens allows you to select the setting for the Driving Assist Feature. Note that the Driving Assist Feature can also be accessed via the Driving 1 item of any Option Menu that also includes the Save option. The Driving Assist choices are:

  Recommended	Allows the game to decide which setting to use.
  TCS ESC	TCS and Electronic Stability Controller.
  TCS	Traction Control System.
  Off	Turns off both driver aids.

  The default setting is Recommended, which assumes that you trust the developers enough to allow them to choose the right setting for you. However, given that the developers thought it was a good idea to include a "no prize" prize in the raffle implementation, I'd say the Recommended setting should probably be avoided. The safest path, especially if you're new to EPR, is to go with the TCS ESC setting. The Driving Assist Feature also provides an easy way to compensate for understeer or oversteer (as an alternative to adjusting a car's setup). If your car tends to understeer too much, you can try the Off setting. If your car tends to oversteer too much, or feels too unstable, the TCS ESC setting is probably the best choice. Note that, if a car already tends to oversteer, the Off setting will make it feel like you're driving on ice.
• Good Old Touring Car Race. Unlike other cars that can show up as unlockables in multiple events, the BMW 3.0 CSL can only be unlocked in this R1 event held on the Nurburgring Nordschleife track. Of the 10 or so cars that are eligible for this event, the cars below are the only ones that I've ever managed to finish 4th or better with, the best of which is probably the BMW M3 Sport.

  • BMW 2002 Turbo (D, FR, 6.353)	• Ford Mustang GT 1966 (D, FR, 4.982)
  • BMW M3 Sport Evolution (C, FR, 5.106)	• Mazda Savanna RX-7 GT-X (C, FR, 6.389)
  • Fiat Abarth 1000 TCR (C, RR, 5.398)	• Nissan Fairlady 240ZG (E, FR, 6.871)

  If you're using an eligible car other than an M3 Sport and the Good Old Touring Car Race isn't showing up in the R1 race grade, try doing Nurburgring NS in another event first. Also, if you're using anything other than an M3 Sport, I'd recommend upgrading the chosen car to Lv10 beforehand and avoid doing the race if it's not the last/rightmost (easiest) event in R1. It's also a good idea to start with plenty of EnthuPoints since the AI cars are extremely ruthless here and it's almost impossible to get through this race without penalties. The race feels very much like an RS event in that the Odds don't really reflect the actual difficulty. The impression is that the AI cars are much more competitive than they should be, almost as if they're actually heavily-modified modern cars disguised as stock classic cars.
• Load / Save. EPR uses AutoLoad when the game starts up, but there is also a manual Load if you want to switch to a different gamesave later, or if you want to re-Load the previously-Saved gamestate. There is no AutoSave but, although the absense of AutoSave means you'll need to remember to manually Save the game before shutting down the PS2, it also means you have some control over when Saves occur. The table below shows the places where the manual Load and Save features can be found. Note that "[START]" refers to the game controller button, not the menu item.

  • Title (Main Menu) > Options > Load	• Enthusia Life Menu > [START] > Save
  • Title (Main Menu) > Options > Save	• Confirm Race Start > [START] > Save

  Playing it safe is basically a matter of using the manual Load and Save features in a way that allows you to revert to the previous gamestate, if you need/want to:
  1. Do a manual Save to save the current gamestate,
  2. Do some testing or perform some other activity that you're not sure about,
  3. If the test didn't yield the desired result, do a manual Load to revert to the previously-Saved gamestate (i.e., to undo what was done).
  Note that, although the above can be useful in some cases, it's worth keeping in mind that it does cost more time and puts more wear on the Memory Card (probably not as much as AutoSave would've, but still).
• Points. There are 2 kinds of points awarded after a race in Enthusia Life mode: Skill Points and Ranking Points. Although EnthuPoints has "Points" in its name, the EnthuPoints bar is actually used more like a fuel gauge, but for car condition instead of fuel. If you run out of EnthuPoints during a race, you won't earn any Skill Points, but you can still earn Ranking Points if you finish in the Top 4. If you finish a race outside of the Top 4, you won't earn any Ranking Points, but you can still earn Skill Points if you finish without too many penalties. The amount of Ranking points earned in a race can vary greatly since it depends on the Odds and other variables. Skill points, on the other hand, are a bit more consistent; a perfect 2-lap Rev City race (clean win + fastest lap) will earn you the same amount of Skill points in the RN race grade as it will in R4, regardless of what the Odds are. A higher number of Skill Points can be earned by doing races where you can keep the penalties to a minimum and where you can easily win the 25-point Fastest Lap bonus. And, if you're using a car that's fully upgraded, the Max Tuning Lv Bonus will earn you an extra 25 Skill points. If you don't care about Skill Points but do care about Ranking, a higher number of Ranking Points can be earned by doing higher race grade events where the Odds are high but still easy enough to place 4th or better in.
• Race Grades. In Enthusia Life mode, the current amount of Ranking Points determines your current Rank which, in turn, determines which Race Grades you're currently eligible for. In that sense, Race Grades are basically like the Levels or Licenses used in other racing games. However, while most Level-based or License-based games only require you to reach a certain Level or obtain a certain License once, EPR's Race Grade system requires you to maintain your Rank to maintain your Race Grade eligibility. The table below shows the 6 Race Grades and what's required for eligibility. Note that the amounts in the Ranking Points column are approximate but should be fairly close to the actual amounts. If you want to get an idea of how many points you'll need to either reach a certain level or to remain eligible for a certain race grade, you can use the info in the Ranking Points column in combination with the in-game chart that can be found in Records > Driver > Ranking. Keep in mind that the first/top line of that chart will drop off when the results of the next race is added to the bottom, so you'll need to factor that into your calculation. As an example: If the top line shows 1000 and you currently have 9000 Ranking Points, you're essentially starting the next race with 8000 (since 1000 will drop off).

  Grade	Requirement	Rank	Ranking Points
  RN	none	1000-801	0-368
  R4	2 RN wins | 5 finishes	1000-801	0-368
  R3	Top 800 Rank	800-501	370-1148
  R2	Top 500 Rank	500-301	1152-2291
  R1	Top 300 Rank	300-51	2301-4298
  RS	Top 50 Rank	50-7	4310-8642
  RS	Top 6 Rank (for RS 12/04)	6-1	8784-10874+

  The table below shows how the awarded Ranking Points are calculated. Note that, while Skill Points are awarded for simply finishing a race, Ranking Points are only awarded if a race is finished in 4th place or better.

  RankBase x Odds x RaceResult = RankingPoints  RN: 10  R4: 20  R3: 50  R2: 100  R1: 200  RS: 500  x   Odds   x   1.00 (1st)  0.60 (2nd)  0.40 (3rd)  0.20 (4th)  =   RankingPoints

• Reaching The Top. Even if it's not your main goal, there may be cases where it might be important to move up in the rankings. The Series Events, for example, require a Top 300 rank for eligibility, while the RS Events require a rank in the Top 50. If you're already very familiar with EPR, you can use pretty much any Starter Car, except the eK Wagon, to reach the #1 Rank within 20 races of starting a new gamesave. If you're continuing an existing gamesave, you'll probably have plenty of other E-class cars that are equally capable of getting you to the top in much less than 20 races. The basic strategy for reaching a higher rank is to put a high priority on doing the events with higher Odds using a 'lesser' car. Since Ranking points are more important than Skill points, the focus should be on winning races, rather than just finishing cleanly. Knowledge of the event and rival cars is important because it allows you to make a better assessment of which place you'll finish. In some cases, it may be more advantageous to do a race that has lower Odds but is winnable, rather than doing a race that has high Odds but isn't.
• Skill Points. Finishing a race without too many penalties will earn you Skill points that are good for car upgrades and for increasing your Skill Level. When you start a race, you start with a certain amount of base Skill points depending on the Driving Assist setting and whether you're using an Automatic or Manual Transmission (AT or MT) :

  40: TCS+ESC+AT

  45: TCS+AT

  50: DA=Off+AT

  60: DA=Off+MT

  Bonuses for things like fastest lap and distance driven will add to that base amount, while penalties for collisions or going off track will be subtracted from the resulting amount. The final results are then shown on the Skill Point screen after the race. Note that the screen's Distance Driven stat doesn't actually show the distance driven but rather the points awarded for that distance. If you want to find out approximately how many Distance points a race will earn you, you can multiply the number of laps by the number shown in the DD column of the Track List. In the early stages of gameplay (or even in the later stages, for that matter), the quickest and easiest way to acquire car upgrades is to keep doing Rev City races in the RN race grade. A perfect race (clean win + fastest lap) in an RN Rev City race will earn you at least 113 Skill points in less than 4 minutes.
  Skill Level is determined by the total amount of accumulated Skill Points which, as far as I know, is only shown in the Driver stat on the Skill Point screen after a race; note, however, that it'll often be overwritten with the "Lv Up!" text (especially in the early stages of gameplay). Unlike the Skill Points stat, the Skill Level stat is readily available as one of the 4 stats shown near the bottom of the Enthusia Life main screen. EPR uses your current Skill Level to calculate the Recovery Rates after a Rest, Race, or Car Change, as shown below. Note that the current maximum EnthuPoints (i.e., the maximum amount that can currently be recovered) is the same as the Recovery Rate after a Rest.

  Rest/MaxEnthu:  ((SkillLevel-1) x 15) + 300

  Race:  ((SkillLevel-1) x 3) + 60

  CarChange:  ((SkillLevel-1) x 9) + 180

  The amount of Skill Points required to reach the next Skill Level will increase with each new Level reached. For example, you only need to earn about 100 Skill points to go from Skill Level 1 to Skill Level 2, but you need about 1000 points to go from Skill Level 74 to 75, and you need about 2000 points to go from Skill Level 94 to 95. The maximum Skill Level is 99, with Skill Points maxxing out at 65300. Note that, once you've reached that maximum, the Skill Point screen will still show that points are awarded, but the Driver stat will reset to the 65300 maximum before each subsequent race, which means that any newly-earned Skill points will only be good for upgrading cars that aren't already at Lv10.
  EnthuPoints aren't awarded directly but are calculated from your current Skill Level, as mentioned above. The EnthuPoints bar is basically like a fuel gauge, except that it shows the amount of allowed penalties rather than the amount of remaining fuel. The more EnthuPoints you start a race with, the more penalties you can afford to take before they run out. If you're in a race and you run out of EnthuPoints, you can still finish the race and earn Ranking points for 4th place or better, but your car will be disqualified from Joining any of the next Week's events, in which case, you'll be forced to take a Rest. It may seem a bit odd but, if you look at how EnthuPoints are gained and what they're good for, it basically seems to come down to "drive carefully now, so you can drive recklessly later".
• Week Counter. EPR's Week counter is basically like the Day counter used in the Gran Turismo series. The first 3 items in the Enthusia Life menu (Join Race, Change Car, and Rest) will advance the Week counter, while anything you do in Garage won't. The current Week determines which RS event can be available and also affects the availability and grid lineups of other events in other race grades (similar to the way the Day counter in Gran Turismo affects the Used Car lineups). Keeping an eye on the Week counter is especially important if your goal is to unlock all cars and you're at that stage where you're ready to go for the race cars.
• Wraparound Navigation. If you're at one end of a long menu or list, you can save yourself some scrolling by using wraparound navigation. For EPR's Main Menu, D-pad [Up] takes you from the Enthusia Life item at the top to the Option item at the bottom. If the Option item is currently selected, D-pad [Down] takes you back to the Enthusia Life item at top. One reason why you might need to access Option from the Main Menu is to do a manual Load which can only be done from there. For Garage > Test Run, D-pad [Left] takes you from the first to the last item in the list of tracks; this may be useful if you want to check the most recently unlocked tracks. When you choose Join Race, you're always taken to the leftmost event of the highest race grade that you're currently eligible for. If you want to go straight to the RN events and there are multiple race grades available, you can use [L2] to go to the leftmost RN event or [Left] to go to the rightmost RN event. Given that the number of available race grades is determined by a fluctuating Ranking system, using wraparound will probably be more consistent for jumping to RN events than using the [Right] or [R2] buttons.