Not in this demo, but this demo is very much not aimed at that. The previous demo was however (the GT:HD Concept demo) which you should still be able to download, I think. That one also has the points based drifting mode. Both the time trial and drifting mode in that game have nicely built out online rankings for each of the 20 cars, and the best laps can (or could for a while anyway) be viewed online on your PC or downloaded as a replay on your PS3.
Yep, I know - I thought it was that much of fun that it would have been nice to have a similar feature in GT5p as well - especially with the professional driving mode. Guess I'll have to wait a bit longer though.
I didn't notice it, but then there aren't that many occasions for steering like that normally.
A wheel is definitely a recommendation if you think you like driving games, but I personally found the controller quite useable this time.
Of course there is - I tried to rescue the car spinning out on a few occasion and having a more sensitive and responsive steering wheel would help a lot. If I press the stick to the outer most side in an instance, I want the steering wheel (the game) to respond accoardingly. That would make it a whole lot more difficult and such advanced driving is probably not well suited to a controller anyway. I do have the Logitech driving wheel and would use it, but since I have a beamer installed and no where to mount the wheel to, I'll have to pass this up for the moment. I have no doubt though that the game experience would be as accurate as it gets with it.
BMWs get quieter and quieter, but I agree in general that the engine sounds could be more involving. Do note however, that if you want to know what the car sounds like, you should drive with the behind the car view, because the sound you hear in the car is modelled realistically also, taking into account all noise reduction designed to make driving cars more comfortable in real life.
I know cars are getting quieter, but the engine sound *inside the car* isn't representative enough. Espeically in the BMW which I do know makes more noise than that when lifting the throttle. And I am playing it through a hifi as well, not through tiny tv speakers... Try reving any BMW *designed for comfort* to the max and then lift the throttle and tell me you hear just about nothing.
I'm not questioning the sounds from the back of the car (which btw are off too) though. I'm saying the sounds are still too far off in the car view - and I'm comparing that with my experience of driving those cars.
But when you're driving among the other cars, combined with the HDR lighting everything still looks pretty ... pretty!
Agreed. It looks very pretty indeed and I'm just nitpicking (which I think I'm allowed to given this is only a demo and I want them to iron these things out). Given how great the game already looks, it also ups the expectations in other areas as well. If the game looks this great, I want the sound of the engine to sound authentic as well etc etc.
There is a tunnel in Suzuka?
Seriously though, this is something that has been in the Gran Turismo series like forever. Have
you been locked up in a bunker?
There isn't a tunnel in Suzuka, but there is a bridge under which you drive through. Surely that *should* make a difference.
Fuel consumption is likely only to be active in races where fuel consumption is in fact on. This was available in GT4 already (along with tire wear) as an option that wasn't on by default in Arcade mode, and came into play only in later stages of the Simulation Mode. I expect that when we get the fuel consumption races with proper pit-stops and everything as we already had in GT4 (it was encouraging to see that I could actually drive through the pits now on my own
), we'll also have an active fuel indicator.
I think you misunderstood me. I wasn't talking about the fuel gauge - I was talking about the fuel
consumption gauge - something that is found in practically every BMW since the over 15 years.
Here's a picture to illustrate my point:
It's just a minor thing, but my point is, if you're already going through the trouble of carefully modeling the dials and the entire interior of the car, also make some of the more important dials functional.
Given how authentic the game is looking and feeling, it'd be a shame to have the experience set back a bit by the little details such as functional gauges that are not working and very noticable in certain cars - i.e. the turbo pressure gauges or in the case of the BMW, the fuel consumption gauge which shows quite a bit of movement. Fuel gauges and temperature gauges are less important IMO as they hardly move much anyway.
Also, adding these touches shouldn't be a performance issue as the data is already being shown by the gaming HUD.
Yeah, I know, it's only a demo and all I'm doing is voicing my opinion on what striked me most in the demo. It's excellent and I have no doubt the full version will have most of these things ironed out (I hope) - but I'm not playing that version (yet), so all I have to comment on is what Polyphony has given us.