The CA method provides an excellent possibility for a lifelike simulation of transformation processes. Using CA method the processes can be displayed on the screen of the computer as a film. CA method is widely used to simulate the transformations controlled by short-range diffusion such as recrystallisation and grain growth. At the simulation of transformations based on long-range diffusion a well-known problem is that the results of simulation depend strongly on the selected nucleus geometry and the neighbourhood of cells. In this paper the influence of neighbourhood will be analysed in the case of simulated precipitation processes. On the one hand, it is verified that an anisotropic; (dendritic) structure is formed if there is no strict restriction for the computational algorithm. On the other hand, it is demonstrated that an isotropic phase growth can be obtained by using a special simulation technique based on the joint application of finite difference (FD) and of CA methods.