1/19/2011 GT5: HURR DURR Edition

[Mae Dean]

The car handled....shitty... I would say, so I tuned it to the max to see if you can drift it. Well, results:
http://lucksi.com/Bilder/Tsukuba.jpg

Interestingly enough, I had MY Volvo 240 (non-hatchback, of course) in that exact same position once!

And god damn - those high-quality shots are astounding, and the interiors are simply STUNNING. If only the DeLorean was a premium car, I'd be sold right here and now.

[Arres]

I'm not a fan of racing games unless you can throw turtle shells or bombs at other racers.

This.

[Deacon]

http://lucksi.com/Bilder/Ahrweiler.jpg

Unpainted metal surfaces (e.g. the aluminum rims) remain a sore thumb in an otherwise beautiful rendering engine, but they really should've skipped the whole water/puddles thing. It looks really terrible in the foreground.

Anyway, Volvo action (photo mode is great, there are so many options to play with): Normal speed
http://lucksi.com/Bilder/Trial3.jpg

HA! A lowered Volvo wagon! Good lord...

[NickGXZ]

I'm not a fan of racing games unless you can throw turtle shells or bombs at other racers.

Meh, I don't happen to mind racing games.

Only games that gave me fits while I played them that happened to be racing games: NASCAR 99 & 2000 (I was 15 and lacked proper judgement.) and Cruising USA. I FARKING HATED CRUISING USA. AGHKLSDFJALSDFKJA. (I don't care if it was the arcade version or not, I SERIOUSLY DISLIKED BOTH)

GT series is one of the few racing games I seriously got in to. GT 3 being the one I really buried myself in (and still do from time to time).

Has anyone here played Dirt 2? I happened to like the game...and got a little buried in it.

...erm well, actually, once you get pass the "Dude" vibe from the game, it's alright...

[Mae Dean]

@Greg: They make non hatchback versions of Volvos?

You'd better believe it!


Mine was a 1984 Volvo 240 DL, and I can't seem to find a picture of it in that color. Pretty much, it was the color of mud. Or a turd. Or any other non-pleasing brown.

[Winterbay]

The hatchback versions generally have a 5 at the end of their name so the car in the game would be a 245 rather than a 240.

Also, I agree with the "racing games should have things you can throw at others" crowd

[teddy]

for me GT5 is about time trials and multiplayer. I only race so i can afford and obtain other more interesting cars. The wall physics really aren't that bad (especially if you avoid the walls....duh) but i will agree that the single player has lost a sense of achievement. GT3 was the last GT game i owned, and I never could get the SuperAHolyFucktonWhyIsItSoHard license, but that didn't stop me from trying. I do appreciate a challenge, and the AI drivers lack that for me, so i hop online and do the random car chooser thingy with friends and we just have fun.

Thats really the bottom line for me, you can still have fun, and that's what gaming is about.

[Deacon]

Actually, it wasn`t lowered in that shot. It was just cornering.

Ah, I guess that makes sense. Although that may be the first time I've heard "Volvo 240" and "cornering" in the same thought...

And painted alloys? You are one of THOSE people, eh?

No, I'm saying that in most areas those are nearly photo-realistic renderings, but some things let it down like any smooth metal parts like wheels and tailpipes, etc, where it ends up looking like the blooming Windows 98 3D screensaver at a decent res.

[NickGXZ]

Of course, its hatchback. But I suppose one can get the idea.

Has anyone here played Dirt 2? I happened to like the game...and got a little buried in it.

Good grief man, that game was really bad. Only 10% of the racetracks that Dirt1 had (nevermind the old Colin titles) and a too big focus on the Raid cars. I.e. those without handling.

*shrug*

I got a kick out of the long-distance rally races. I'm but a simple man.

[Mae Dean]

I dunno why, but my mental impression of the volvo was more of an uglier brown. In fact, I'm SURE of it.

Though, I shudder to think that paint job might have been AFTERMARKET.

[NickGXZ]

Subsequently, its things like this that make me glad my first car was just an El Camino.

....which had a sparkly blue (I kid you not, the damn thing sparkled. I'm not sure how my Grandpa did that paint job...but I'll be damned if it didn't sparkle in the sun) after-market paint job that my Grandpa put on it (He planned on using it in a car show...it'd be a god damn novel with all the details, so I'll spare ya all that)


Glad I had a sparkly blue El Camino and not a shit brown Volvo, I guess.

PS: Now that I recall, my Junior year I was getting sick of my chrome bumper. I took a paint can and um...I had smurf blue bumpers. Sparkly blue 1979 El Camino with....smurf blue bumpers.

[JayEnfield]

Whoa whoa whoa... I happen to own a 240DL wagon, and lemme tell ya... That thing corners like a dream. The key to this is the huge hood and tiny engine. This means that the wheels can turn so far that on loose surfaces the car will actually slide on its nearly-sideways tires. Now... At higher speeds making sharper corners, the thick tires do make for a fair bit of lean, but the turning radius at low speeds is literally as tight as a Smart car.

I love love love my 240DL. It's older than I am, and has better cargo capacity than a quarter-ton truck.
I've loaded it like this:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f93/J ... 010231.jpg
And like this:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f93/J ... 010061.jpg
Yes, the suspension is that low because it's hauling 1200 lbs of booze
It did so again some weeks later with 1300 lbs of budweiser
I load it down with so many cargoes that I don't dare replace the rear suspension, for fear of just wearing it out again immediately.

I've moved with it thrice, I've lived in it for 3 months during a roadtrip. It is a great conversation starter, because every 40 year old out there has owned one at some point and remembers it fondly. It's been to 32 US states and 6 Canadian provinces. It's been driven for 24 hours straight on 6 separate occasions. From here: http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f93/J ... re3110.jpg
To here:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f93/J ... 080005.jpg

A hilarious detail is that every single possible thing that can go wrong with it costs $300 to fix. If there's 4 things wrong, I can accurately guess that the repairs will be $1200.

In conclusion,
Respect the DL240

[YenRug]

Of course, its hatchback. But I suppose one can get the idea.

Tut! Americans! That's not a hatchback, it's an estate model!

[jwhouk]

Am I too old to think that Liz's next words should have been, "We have to think about the baby now, Greg!"

Which would have stopped him dead in his tracks?

[chapel]

I was a GT nutswinger for YEARS. More than you could imagine. I could over look the AWFUL AI that would drive through your line and the granite cars that you could slam into at high speed to make the corner (AI assisted cornering as we called it) because it was the only REAL driving game in town for consoles.
So, I buy GT4 and it's ok... same shitty AI and granite cars from 1, 2 and 3... whatever. It's pretty, there's a ton of cars, etc...
Then a few months later this game Forza comes out... I figure "Ugh, what kind of crap is an AMERICAN developer gonna do with a racing series" so I buy it just to rip it apart with my GT fan-boy-ism...
The first thing I notice are the graphics aren't actually that bad, the tracks are fun and mostly real tracks... the sound is AMAZING. They replicated the sound of an uncorked VR6 Corrado EXACTLY. While the game doesn't have as many cars, the cars they chose are more 'different' than the 80 versions of the Nissan Skyline that GT has. The thing that REALLY sold it for me was the driving physics. After years of performance driving, I grew tired of the physics in GT... the tires seem to be modeled as blocks with simple math determining whether you're sliding or gripping through a corner. Forza, on the other hand, models the tires as TIRES. It truly feels like driving (as least as far as it can be with a controller). Coupled with accurate tire squealing noises to let you know if you're understeering (groaning tire noise) or oversteering (squealing tire noise) you can really set the car up.
The tuning model was great and it allowed you to do engine swaps, which to me was the best. My Corrado VR6 with AWD and a supercharger was a dominating force online for YEARS.

So, I wait for GT5... and while waiting, Forza 2 comes out... so I buy that. Nearly all the problems I had with Forza 1 (small car selection, soft graphics, presentation) were corrected. In this game, I became known for creating some of the best tuned cars for driving on ForzaCentral
http://www.forzacentral.com/forum/tunin ... #post39839

I dominate for a few years using a Mk2 GTI (a car I actually owned at the time). I have one Mk2 GTI for every class and it dominates in EVERY class (including the Unlimited class where the winged beastie is seen walking on McLarens and the like)

So, I'm still waiting for GT5 at this point... and then... Forza THREE comes out

now at this point I figure "oh crap, are they just going to be Madden'ing it up and releasing simple updates every few years and charging full price"
nope.

Forza 3 is, in my opinion, the most complete driving experience for consoles EVER. With the 'marketplace' you can sell your cars, your tunes, your paint jobs, your photos and videos for in game credits!
The DLC comes out regularly and has great car selections and track selections.
The presentation of the game grew leaps and bounds from the other two. The online play is great. The in-car views (on EVERY car) are awesome. The physics is still there and better. The damage is still there (which in competitive online racing is required to keep people in check) I just can't get over how great this game is... however, I had a kid and now I never play it...

That brings me to GT5... finally coming out.
After all this time, I had EXCEPTIONALLY high hopes. I figure with 6 years of development, it should destroy Forza. It was the game that was going to get a PS3 into my house...
So I played it for a few hours at a friends house... and boy was I disappointed.
WTF is a PREMIUM car?
Why can't I see the interior of every car?
Why can't I put rims on every car anymore?
why does this car look like a model from GT2 (oh, it is...)
oh, I can still do AI Assisted cornering...
oh, the AI still runs through my lines and knocks me off course
Wow, this damage modeling sucks
Are they still using the same physics model from GT4? Oh, I guess it's a LITTLE better...
Why are there 50 Skylines in the game, yet only a combined 48 Audis and BMWs...
Why can't I just buy whatever car I want WHENEVER I WANT TO!?
OMG, I want to slit my wrists if I have to do this fucking license test again...
Wow, the models on the premium cars are really good, too bad it's only about 10% of the cars...
Where the hell is the BMW E30 M3!?
GOD DAMN THIS STUPID AI!
*throws controller*

and SCENE

yeah, suffice to say, I was so frustrated with the gaming experience that I am now a Forza fanboy... I can't explain how FURIOUS I was about GT5... how let down I was after years of what I thought was a good game and what I thought was one of the best companies out there for driving simulators... only to find out that the AMERICANS of all people can make a better game without any of the bullshit delays and drama

On that note, Forza 4 comes out in October with Kinect support. The one Kinect feature I'm looking forward too is being able to have it track your head movement and relay that to where you're looking in the game... This will make drifting MUCH easier... Not to mention checking your mirrors.

With Forza 3 being a bargain game at like $10-20 (used or new) I would highly suggest getting in on that shit NOW.
I've heard the DLC you get in Forza 3 will transfer to Forza 4 (kinda like how your Rock Band songs do)...

By the time it comes out, my kid will be 2.5 years old, so maybe I can get back into the game.
Tuning was my favorite part of the game, and with the marketplace, I make some good money for selling the tunes.