Total Immersion Racing

Contents

• Quirks and Features
• The Cars
  • Car List
  • Team Ranking
  • Career Bonus Cars
• The Events
  • Track List
  • Single Race
  • Career Mode
  • Time Trial Mode
  • Challenge Mode
• Gameplay
  • Getting Started
  • Career Example
• Miscellaneous Notes

1. After showing 2 intro videos, the game will check the inserted memory card(s) for a file named "TIR Game Options" and automatically loads the first one it finds. If the file isn't found, the game will ask you to choose a language (English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish).
2. You're then presented with the Main Menu:

   Start Game

   Resume Career

   View Replay

   Options

   Lap Records

   When starting a new gamesave, it's usually a good idea to set your preferences early on, and you can do so now by choosing the Options item which takes you to the Options Menu:

   Visual	Sound	Control	Driver Assists
   Speed Units Track Map Mirror Screen	Sound Effects Speech Menu Music In-Game Music	Controller Vibration Default Buttons Configure Controls	Auto-Braking Anti-Lock Brakes Traction Control Gear Suggest Corner Warning

   You can check Control > Configure Controls to see which functions are assigned to which controller buttons.
3. After pressing [Triangle] on the Options Menu, you'll be asked "Settings have changed. Do you wish to save?". Answer Yes and then select the memory card to save to. You're then returned to the Main Menu.
4. Choosing Start Game takes you to the Game Mode Menu:

   Single Race

   Career

   Time Trial

   Challenge

   If you don't have any specific goal in mind, you can start in pretty much any of the 4 Modes. Initially, there will only be 2 cars and 5 tracks available in Single Race and Time Trial, with no way to unlock any others in either Mode. If your main goal is to unlock all 17 cars and 12 tracks, you'll probably want to spend most of your time in Challenge Mode. Alternatively, if you just want to have some fun without having to unlock anything, you could choose to start with the Career Example below.

1. Getting Started. From the Main Menu, choose Start Game > Career > Amateur. Note that the Main Menu also includes Resume Career which can be chosen later (when you have one or more Career gamesaves). On the "Enter Your Name" screen, you can either enter a name or accept the default. You're then presented with the Contract Offers screen.
   

   Contract Offers is basically Career Mode's implementation of car selection. Note that, once you've entered the Contract Offers screen, there is no way to cancel or continue until you've chosen a team. • When a new Career is started from the Game Mode Menu, the 2 initial offers will be limited to Noble and Audi. Thereafter, your choices will include 3-9 teams, ordered according to their ranking. • Finishing a season in the top 3 will earn you offers from all of the teams of the class you've just finished (e.g., after finishing a GT season in the top 3, the choices will include offers from all 4 GT teams). An overall 3rd place will also earn you at least 1 offer from a team of the next-higher class (with the exception of PRO, since there is no higher class). In general, the more points you earn, the better the offers will be. • In some cases, a team may want you to test-drive their car before the offer becomes official. In general, if the team's target time isn't easily achieved within the allotted 5 laps, the team probably isn't worth driving for. There will always be other teams that don't require a test drive.

2. Once you've chosen a car, your Team Manager will have some comments before you're presented with the Career screen which includes the Career Menu:

   Next Race

   Championship Tables

   Career Records

   Save Career

   Exit

   The track shown on the Career screen is the track you'll race on when you choose Next Race. Note that, after the final race of a season, the Career Menu will have Continue in place of Next Race:

   Continue

   Championship Tables

   Career Records

   Save Career

   Exit

   One other item worth mentioning is Save Career, which can be useful if you want to Resume your Career later, or if you want to play it safe.
   

   Playing it safe is basically a matter of choosing Save Career before continuing with anything you're not sure about. The idea is to have a gamesave you can revert to, if things don't go quite right. Playing it safe is especially useful if the end result is important (e.g., if you're trying to unlock a car or track). You can Save a Career mid-season and/or at the end of a season, depending on how safe you want to play it. • Mid-Season. If you choose Save Career before choosing Next Race, you'll have the option of redoing the Race Weekend if you want to. Note that, if you chose Next Race while intending to choose Save Career, you can still play it safe by choosing Exit and answering Yes when asked if you want to save before exiting. • End Of Season. Saving your Career after the final race is especially important since choosing Continue will take you to the Contract Offers screen where there is no way to do anything else until you've chosen one. Having an End Of Season gamesave means you have the option of restarting the season using a different car if you want to. End Of Season gamesaves can also be kept for future gameplay.

3. After choosing Next Race and pressing [X] on the Track Preview screen (if one is shown), you'll be asked to choose either an Automatic or Manual gearbox before you're presented with the Race Weekend Menu:

   View Replay

   Car Set-Up

   Practice

   Qualify

   Race

   Exit

   Although the Qualify item is selected by default, it's usually a good idea to start a Race Weekend by choosing Practice. Qualify allows you to do a 1-lap qualifier and get an idea of how your car compares to others. Note that, although you can only Qualify once per Race Weekend, there is no such limit on Practice sessions.
4. Am-GT. Once you're comfortable with the car and track, you can choose Race and, once you've done the first race, you can do the next 3 in pretty much the same way.
   • Note that, since the 6 GT-class cars always start at the back of the grid, Qualifying isn't as important here as in other classes.
   • After the final race (Hockenheim), be sure to play it safe. If you've unlocked any cars or tracks, or you've broken any lap records, you'll be asked if you want to Save the Settings; keep in mind that you'll still need to choose Save Career afterwards (since Career data isn't included in the main gamesave).
   • If the Amateur GT season isn't won this time around (i.e., if the Sintura isn't unlocked), you can choose another GT team and retry another season before moving on to GTS.
5. Am-GTS. With an overall win in the GT season, you'll have at least 1 Contract Offer from a GTS team to choose from. Choose whichever car you're comfortable with.
   • The new tracks this season are Sebring (Race 2) and Rockingham (Race 5). Be sure to get enough practice on those tracks to be able to win those races this season, since they'll be harder to win in the next season. If you're not sure about those 2 races, you can opt to play it safe.
   • If the Amateur GTS season isn't won (i.e., if the the Lister LMP isn't unlocked), you can choose another GTS team and retry another season before moving on to PRO.
6. Am-PRO. An overall win in the GTS season earns you at least 1 Contract Offer from a PRO team. If you're offered a seat in an Audi R8, I'd recommend choosing that team since it's relatively easy to drive and you'll have 1 less top car to compete against. Otherwise, choose whichever car you're comfortable with.
   • The new tracks this season are the short tracks (Race 3) and Minato City (Race 9). As before, be sure to get enough practice on those tracks to be able to win those races this season, and remember that you can opt to play it safe if you're not sure.
   • Take note of which track is used for Race 3. And remember to choose Save Career after the 9th race; this is especially important since this PRO "End Of Season" gamesave is what you'll need to reload to unlock the rest of the short tracks (the ones that weren't unlocked after Race 3).
   • Note that if you don't win the championship the first time around, you can retry the season using a different car before moving on to the next step.
   • Once you've finished the Amateur PRO season, do the following to unlock the rest of the short tracks:
   1. Reload the Saved PRO Career via Main Menu > Resume Career.
   2. Choose Continue to go to the Contract Offers screen and then select whichever PRO team you're comfortable with.
   3. Choose Next Race on the Career screen.
   4. Start the Silverstone Race and then Retire From Race to DNF.
   5. Do the same for Sebring (i.e., Race, Retire).
   6. If the 3rd race is on a track you've already unlocked, choose Exit on the Career screen, then go back to Step 1.
   7. If the 3rd race is on a track that's not yet unlocked, you can opt to play it safe by saving the Career to a temporary gamesave that you can delete or overwrite later, then do the Race and win it to unlock the track. If you don't win it, you only need to reload the temporary file instead of having to start back at Step 1.
   8. After you've won the race and been shown the New Track Unlocked screen, answer Yes when asked if you want to Save the Settings.
   9. Exit the Career and repeat Steps 1-7 until there are no more locked tracks. Note that if you're not sure which short tracks are already unlocked, you can find out by checking Single Race or Time Trial Mode (alternatively, you could check Main Menu > Lap Records to see which tracks are already unlocked).
   After the above, you should have all 12 tracks unlocked. At this stage, you should also have 3 of the 4 bonus cars unlocked, with only the Rockingham Champ Car still missing. Note that if you didn't win the Amateur PRO season (i.e., if you didn't unlock the Pilbeam LMP), you can retry another PRO season using an Audi R8 or Bentley before moving on to the next Step.
7. Restarting. Unlocking the Champ Car requires switching to a higher Skill Level; note, however, that the stats (Career Records) from Amateur won't be carried over when you switch. If you want to keep your Amateur-level gamesaves and you have a spare memory card, you can opt to use a separate card for the higher-level gamesaves; in this case, remember to copy the TIR Game Options file to the new card. Also, since the Resume Career screen (when choosing a gamesave) doesn't show info for the Skill level, it may also be a good idea to use a different player name for the new Career (to distinguish between the two).
8. Once you've decided whether or not to overwrite or save your Amateur files, you can start your new Career by choosing Main Menu > Start Game > Career > Professional.
   • The strategy for Professional will basically be the same as for Amateur level, the main difference being that more time and effort will be required. Team choice and Practice/Qualifying sessions may also be a bit more important at this level.
   • Note that, since there are no more tracks to unlock (assuming you've already unlocked them all in your Amateur Career), you don't necessarily need to win any specific races.
   • Also, since the only remaining car that can be unlocked here will be for winning the PRO season, you don't necessarily need to win the GT or GTS seasons (although you do need an overall 3rd or better to get any offers from teams of the next-higher class).
   • For the Professional Skill level (or any Skill level except Amateur), you'll have access to the Car Set-Up Menu:

   Race Engineer

   Load Set-Up

   Save Set-Up

   Alter Settings

   Defaults

   Race Engineer takes you to another menu where you can specify which groups of settings (Brakes, Gears, Suspension, Wings) you'll allow the game to adjust during Practice sessions. The Alter Settings item allows you to adjust settings manually.
9. Pro-GT. This first Professional-level season probably won't be much more difficult than the Amateur-level one. Choose whichever car you're comfortable with. Remember that you only need to finish this season in 3rd place overall, and remember that you can opt to play it safe if you want to.
   • If you don't finish the season in the top 3 overall (i.e., if you don't end up getting an offer from a GTS team), you can retry the season using a different car.
10. Pro-GTS. This second (or possibly third) Professional season will probably require much more time and effort than the GT season, but remember that you only need to finish in the top 3 overall to get an offer from a PRO team.
    • If you don't finish the season in the top 3 overall (i.e., if you don't end up getting an offer from a PRO team), you can retry the season using a different car.
11. Pro-PRO. Since this is where you'll unlock the Rockingham Champ Car, this is the only season where an overall season win is important. However, unless you got an offer from Audi after the previous Step, the PRO season will probably need to be done twice (or more).
    • For the first PRO season, if you're not using an Audi R8, strive to earn 20 points within the first few races. Once you've earned 20 points, you can Save your Career and then skip the rest of the season's races by starting and then retiring from them. Finishing the season with at least 20 points should get you an offer from Audi for the next season.
    • Once you get an offer from Audi, use the R8 to win the PRO season and unlock the Champ Car.

• Championship Points. For Career and Challenge Mode races, points are awarded according to where you finish a race in your class, with an extra point awarded for Fastest Lap.

  1st = 10

  2nd = 6

  3rd = 4

  4th = 3

  5th = 2

  6th = 1

  FL = P+1

• GameSaves. Unlike most other games where player data is stored in a single gamesave, TIR uses 4 different types of files to store its player data. Career data is stored in files labeled "TIR Career n" (203K each), car setups are stored in files labeled "TIR Car Setup n" (48K each), replays are stored in files labeled "TIR Replay n" (306K each), while everything else is stored in a file labeled "TIR Game Options" (70K). Most of those gamesaves can be loaded from, or saved to, a memory card in slot 1 or slot 2; the exception is the TIR Game Options file which uses AutoLoad and can't be loaded manually.
  The TIR Game Options file is TIR's main gamesave. The labelling of this file can be a bit confusing since it not only contains options data but also the data for unlocked cars/tracks and track records. When the game asks "Settings have changed. Do you wish to save?", it's the TIR Game Options file that the data is saved to. If you want to force a Save dialog, you can change something in Options and then answer Yes when prompted. Note that, since there is no way to manually load a Game Options file, you'll need to reboot the game and rely on AutoLoad if you want to load a different one.
  TIR Career n files (up to 5 per memory card) can be Saved via the Career Menu's Save Career and loaded back via the Main Menu's Resume Career. The data in a Career gamesave includes championship standings, driver stats, and which race is next. Note that Career gamesaves won't include Practice times or Qualifying results, even if Saved from a Race Weekend (via Exit). Also, it's important to remember that the data for unlocked cars and tracks is stored in the Game Options (not Career) gamesave, even if those cars or tracks were unlocked in Career Mode. The ability to Save a Career and Resume it later means you also have the ability to play it safe if you want to.
• GameSaves For Future Gameplay. If you enjoy Career Mode enough to want to play it in the future, the 3 longterm saves that are probably the most useful to keep are the ones that are Saved after the final race of a season. When you use Resume Career to reload the "End Of Season" gamesave, the Contract Offers (after choosing Continue) will typically include the teams shown below (assuming the GT/GTS seasons were finished in the top 3 overall and the PRO season was finished with at least 20 points).

  1. GT	. Panoz, Sintura | BMW, Quaife, Noble, Audi
  2. GTS	. Panoz, BMW | McLaren, Lister, Vemac, Panoz, Sintura | BMW
  3. PRO	. Audi, Bentley, Dome, Panoz, BMW | McLaren | BMW

  Having the above 3 Career gamesaves on a memory card gives you access to 14 of the 17 cars without having to unlock any of them. If you want to try a McLaren, for example, you just need to reload the GTS gamesave or, if you want to use a McLaren in a season with 1 extra lap per race, you could reload the PRO gamesave and choose it there instead.
  • Note that the Resume Career screen doesn't show which Skill Level the Career was played at, so it might be a good idea to include that info in the Player name when you start a new Career. For example, you could use the default "Player" for Amateur-level Careers and "Player2" for Professional, or you could incorporate "Am" or "Pro" in the name.
• Logitech Driving Force Steering Wheel. When the game starts up, or when the DF wheel is unplugged and then plugged back in, the steering will usually be off-center (i.e., you'll need to steer left or right to keep the car going straight). For this reason, before doing any races, it's best to do Practice until the steering eventually straightens out.
• Memory Card Wear. After every race, if you've unlocked a car or track, or you've set a new track record, you'll be asked if you want to save the settings. If you want to minimize wear on the memory card, you can answer No for track records and only answer Yes when a car or track is unlocked.