Ok so I'm level 11, nearing on 400,000 credits and havn't bought anything. Got by with my crappy Civic and some crazy Jag I got off of facebook so far. Could use some help, no idea what to buy or even what to look at, in Forza there was ratings for handling, speed, braking etc. Doesn't seem like you get any indication whatsoever bar horsepower and front/rear/whatever drive. For what its worth, im a car noob, never driven a car in my life. Cheers.

Don't buy American, that's the best advice anyone can give. 
 
Also, the GT-R is a solid all-around car.

A lot of times it's person to person what suits them best in the different a-spec cups, some can't handle what others can. Best I can do is to ask, What races do you need a better vehicle for?
 
I started with an MR-S, worked myself up to my irl fave Mitsubishi GTO Twin Turbo, tuned it up and worked myself up to a fully kitted out Murcielago Super Veloce. I gave up to the insane grind and the sad behaviour of the AI drivers and some of the AI cars being f'd up and ran the lottery to get myself Sauber Mercedes C9 race car and That Effin Chaparal Fan Car. The GTO TT '95 in my hands is enough to beat my opponents unless they are race cars, anything with a sticker means you're in trouble.

" Don't buy American, that's the best advice anyone can give."

" Don't buy American, that's the best advice anyone can give.  Also, the GT-R is a solid all-around car. "

Well instead of an FN Cvic that everybody else started with, I started with a MR2 from the late 90's. My next real car that I bought (not won) was Skyline GTR. The old school ones that only had like 300hp but when maxed out its like 700bp. Picked up a mini cooper as well, but surprizingly, even now I don't have any STI or EVos in my garage.  EDIT: I don't even have the new GTR still and I'm just about to hit lvl 20. 
 
Although I gotta say, for the races that are limited to 70s and 60s, I have a preferance for the American cars since even the Euros and Japanese cars then didn't have as good of suspensions as modern day cars. So i rather take the bigger horsepower with no grip and really watch my driving line and braking zones instead.  But have a any car goes type of deal, yeah America ain't that hot, unless you are running the race car versions of stuff perhaps. 
 

@KaosAngel:

"@KaosAngel: ...most Italian cars wouldn't last an entire race, and most Ferraris wouldn't even even be out on the road.  "

The lack of any bars telling you what rating they have for handling speed etc, is the best thing ever. This makes it so that just like real life, you can come up with your own judgement on what cars to drive. This will also eventually put you on different sides of things, like say STi vs EVO. American Power Vs Handling from the rest of the world. Or even my Tuner car Vs your Stock Supercar.  
 
As advice to the OP, Read some descriptions from the cars themselves. Certain back stories may make you feel an attachment to certain cars, but if you just want to short cut it.  
 

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Just pick the car that has the most HP and the least Weight as possible

I just blew a cool million credits on an Enzo. Don't do that.  

  
As for what I would recommend - the Gallardo is probably one of the fastest and easiest to handle cars to invest in. Also if you don't mind going old school, you can get around 660bhp out of an '89 Fairlady Z which is beastly for any Japanese or FR events. Should do well for you in the mid-difficulty championships as well.

Fuck, I have to stop visiting GT  threads. I left my PS3 back home and I'm regretting it big time being a fan of GT since the PS1.

Anyone know what car you get for golding all of National B? Silvered a couple =/

" I just blew a cool million credits on an Enzo. Don't do that.    . "

Just blew 20,000 on a truck =(

" @Binman88 said:

" I just blew a cool million credits on an Enzo. Don't do that.    . "

Wait why? I'm sitting on 1.5 mil right now and I wanna do the Ferrari event so I thought why not pick something iconic since all Ferrari's made after that point just didn't have the same flair.  "

What's a good car to use for Gran Turismo All Stars (Expert Series) ?

Just blew 20,000 on a truck =(

" @Binman88: Oh I thought it was because the enzo sucked or something. If its a skill thing to handle RWD over AWD then I got that covered. 1 mil is still a lot, so I think I'll hold off on the purchase for now until I'm going for having my dream car garage.  "

I waited til lvl 15 then bought a Corvette ZR1 and tuned it up. It has blown by everything. Well at least everything up unitl the extreme league.   
 
Now I'm stuck at lvl 21. It SUCKS!