GT4 Reviews start rolling in...

[Phil]

I am utterly shocked, no even disgusted by some of the comments posted in here...

Sadly, some people just don't (want? to) to appreciate what the GT series is all about and what makes it so special.

But on the down side the AI is still pants, some people have even said it seems to be a step back from Prologue

DP seem to have limited the LAN and 2 player game in order to make the On-Line addition more of a must buy (either that or they must be a bit stupid). No customised or Garage Battle in 2 player or LAN. Only Split screen replays. So option to save stills from or the replays themselves from 2Player mode.

As far as AI is concerned, and I don't necessarely disagree with having better AI, but I really think it's not a fundimental feature of the game nor should it be. In other words, I am glad the effort and time went into making more cars that handle better and more realistic.

Oh and if the "no customised garage battle in LAN mode is true, then I really am disappointed. This was IMO the worst flaw of GT3, especially since I went through the effort with a friend in setting up multiple screens and PS2s for some hot multiplayer action. A really damn shame indeed.

 

[sir doris]

It appears you can use any of the 700+ cars in 2player mode by adding them to you "favs" folder which can hold 50ish cars, unfortunatly these cars have to be "stock"!

 

[McFly]

Look ... if you don't have fun with GT3 then you're not made for GT games and should noth bother. For me, GT3 is one of my most played games of all times and GT4 will sure not be any different. Yeah, there are a few things I would have loved to see in it, but that's the case for almost all games I've played the last ten years.

Fredi

 

[Kill_Jade]

Here

And here

Not particularly good, but hey...

they seem like excellent reviews to me...unless you mean something else

 

[London Geezer]

Here

And here

Not particularly good, but hey...

they seem like excellent reviews to me...unless you mean something else

Well, they're a bit short and not very in-depth. They're cool, but my definition of "excellent" is the sometimes-6-pages-long IGN reviews... There was an 8-page review not too long ago, either for Halo2 or some other huge game...

 

[AlNom]

Wait for the IGN review then?

So...what's the dilio with 1080i? Same stuff as was discussed here before?

 

[Phil]

I think the "Not particularly good, but hey..." under the links was taken by various members as a reference to how GT4 passed in those reviews without those members actually bothering to read it... and thus we see comments about the series degrading etc, which is clearly not the case.

I think it's a given that the GT series has improved in its own right yet another time... a feat that is exceptional, given the excellence of the previous instances of the series. Something, that already should have been obvious when playing Prologue. 8)

 

[London Geezer]

I think the "Not particularly good, but hey..." under the links was taken by various members as a reference to how GT4 passed in those reviews without those members actually bothering to read it... and thus we see comments about the series degrading etc, which is clearly not the case.

I think it's a given that the GT series has improved in its own right yet another time... a feat that is exceptional, given the excellence of the previous instances of the series. Something, that already should have been obvious when playing Prologue. 8)

Oh is that why the thread got incredibly heated up and i couldn't understand why?

I meant, the reviews aint particularly good!!!

 

[sytaylor]

Look ... if you don't have fun with GT3 then you're not made for GT games and should noth bother. For me, GT3 is one of my most played games of all times and GT4 will sure not be any different. Yeah, there are a few things I would have loved to see in it, but that's the case for almost all games I've played the last ten years.

Fredi

See thats my thing, I liked GT3, and played it probably 70% of the way through but it didn't set my world on fire. I love how that game "feels", it is extremley polished and an excellent product, but for me its sequel is too nichè to warrant a purchase is all.

 

[jvd]

some people did take the time to read the reviews .

btw ign should have thiers up tommoorw

 

[pahcman]

I heard from my GT fan friends this game really shine with the GTF Pro wheel, other than that not really a powerful sequel. I guess GT players will rue SCEI PD missing the online built in. GT4 would really tops if Kaz promised online car lovers community came to fruitation. Now we can only hope.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

GT series is nothing special IMO. I prefer the handling/AI in Sega GT 2002, which I find to be far more realistic. I respect the series for its art direction and almost religious adherence to 60 fps framerate. I can't stand the PS2 controller for racers (no analog triggers) and don't want to buy a racing wheel for one game.

As for innovation: There really isn't any in this sequel. That isn't to say that it's not a stellar game.

Forza is bringing better AI, physics, and realtime damage to the mix and a lot more car customizations, as well as online play. Granted they had to sacrifice 60fps play and the art direction isn't as good, but from a pure features comparison there really isn't any way that GT4 can stack up to Forza. All of this goes out the window if Forza plays like crap, but that remains to be seen.

 

[London Geezer]

GT series is nothing special IMO. I prefer the handling/AI in Sega GT 2002, which I find to be far more realistic. I respect the series for its art direction and almost religious adherence to 60 fps framerate. I can't stand the PS2 controller for racers (no analog triggers) and don't want to buy a racing wheel for one game.

As for innovation: There really isn't any in this sequel. That isn't to say that it's not a stellar game.

Forza is bringing better AI, physics, and realtime damage to the mix and a lot more car customizations, as well as online play. Granted they had to sacrifice 60fps play and the art direction isn't as good, but from a pure features comparison there really isn't any way that GT4 can stack up to Forza. All of this goes out the window if Forza plays like crap, but that remains to be seen.

Heh, call it a little thing...
Burnout3 was named the best racing game in 2004 and one of the best ever mainly bacause of.. yeah u guessed it, its speed, the fact that whatever happens it runs at 60fps.
This will turn into a quarterly "60fps vs 30fps" thread, but in the end it's true, in racing games, 60fps makes a whole lot of difference.
Besides, i don't see Forza having as many cars, tracks or customizable aspects as GT3, and i'm not sure how meticulous the handling will be.

At the end of the day, PGR, Apex, SEGAGT and many others were all supposed to be GT3 killers, now Forza will have to go against GT4 which is even better, it will take a lot to beat it. Online play or not.

 

[eDoshin]

I don't think we can ever really categorize any damage as "realistic" when in real life, a collision going even 60 mph can have crippling consequences. The damage will always be cosmetic unless we want to end the game every time your car slams into anything.

 

[rabidrabbit]

...
Forza is bringing better AI, physics, and realtime damage to the mix and a lot more car customizations, as well as online play. Granted they had to sacrifice 60fps play and the art direction isn't as good, but from a pure features comparison there really isn't any way that GT4 can stack up to Forza. All of this goes out the window if Forza plays like crap, but that remains to be seen.

The better AI and physics are still just PR talk, I'd wait and judge until Forza is released.
It's not the first time a publisher's press release lists "Revolutionarily sophisticated AI like never seen before", "xboxs answer to Gran Turismo", "Advanced physics modelling".... while the final results haven't quite delivered.

IMO Forza really has thus far only one feature that is lacking from GT4, online play. Physics modelling... I don't miss it in racing games, in games that have them I actually turn it off if possible.

60 fps and better art direction (meaning that the cars actually look more like their real life counterparts, not a small feature in a driving game based on real life cars ) and a greater variety of cars and tracks, imo they weight quite a lot in the "features" scale.

Besides, GT4 is playable online, you just need a PC for it, and it's not officially supported. It's using the same kind of system that was used with HAlo and xbox.

 

[phat]

you compare GT series to Sega GT?

The driving part of sega gt was much better than gt .

I've played both alot .

building up your cars and the number of cars in gt is the only real advantage it had over sega gt .

Come on, now! Sega GT has canned animations and heuristics instead of a physics model. That's actually quite true of all Sega's racing games. There's a company that knows arcade hacks, but not real physics.

 

[Sonic]

Phat, don't bring up that lame argument that SEGA doesn't know physics. Go to the arcade and play F355 Challenge. Ferrari racers themselves said it was the most realistic thing next to driving a Ferrari in real life.

l-b, there are plenty of things that you can be banned on. You might not see it, but many others do.

chap, one more flame out of you and you're gone.




Now onto the real beef of the situation. I don't see how anyone can say the Gran Turismo series is being milked. I consider a franchise to be milked if each and every sequel or spin-off is a lame attempt to capture the greatness of the first game. To me I do not see this happeniong wiht Gran Turismo. It happened with Silent Hill series but that is another argument all together. GT4 brings so much new to the series while retaining the classic approach Gran Turismo has always had in regards to gameplay. Some of these features might be gimmicks to bring antoher air of atmosphere to the game but we can say that for many things. These added things are only a bonus in my eye and does not detract from what the game really is. It has many more cars, the physics has been improved, and the graphics are even better and at a solid 60 fps. If you ask me Polyphony Digital did everything right and nothing wrong. If anything the only thing it did wrong was not coming out sooner.

In regards to it being compared to any of the SEGA GT games or Forza Motorsports, well this is what I have to say. SEGA GT series has crap for physics and plays too much like an arcade game. It would have been better if the same attention put into F355 Challenge was put into SEGA GT. It didn't happen. Taking away the designing and making your own car in SEGA GT on Xbox was a huge dissapointment and very sad. SEGA shot themselves in the foot with that one.

Now onto Forza. The demo of it showed a game that is still in development and needed an IV stuck in it because it is on life preserves. I am interested in how the game will turn out but I am not impressed iwth it at all judging from the demo.

 

[Phil]

Not to nitpick, but...

GT series is nothing special IMO. I prefer the handling/AI in Sega GT 2002, which I find to be far more realistic. I respect the series for its art direction and almost religious adherence to 60 fps framerate. I can't stand the PS2 controller for racers (no analog triggers) and don't want to buy a racing wheel for one game.

Realism and using a gamepad doesn't exactly go very well in the same sentence. Unless you play GT with a wheel, you haven't really experienced its core gameplay experience and IMO don't have a solid base to really compare two racing games aiming for realism.

Also, the remark about the PS2 controller not having analog triggers isn't accurate: All buttons on the Dualshock 2 sans the digital control pad and Select/Start button are analog. If "trigger" is the keyword though, then I wouldn't really know how that would make for a better racing experience? And for your information, the Logitec wheel is supported by most other racing games such as Burnout 3, the WRC games and the F1 series. I'm not sure, but I think you could even use it on the PC as well.

Forza is bringing better AI, physics, and realtime damage to the mix and a lot more car customizations, as well as online play. Granted they had to sacrifice 60fps play and the art direction isn't as good, but from a pure features comparison there really isn't any way that GT4 can stack up to Forza.

Granted, I haven't been up to buzz really about Forza lately, but last I heard, interest dimished quickly even by many of its own anticipaters upon hearing the framerate cut. Without the 60 fps, I really don't see how this game can one-up GT, not even on a handling front since you're loosing the visual feedback that goes hand in hand with your input. Apart from AI, I am also yet to see that the physics are better and that the car customizations influence the handling of the cars realisticly. In fact, I think anyone that hasn't played Forza and GT with the appropriate neccessary equipment (i.e. a wheel) can/should really make such statements.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Listen, it's all just opinion anyway. I'm not buying a racing wheel, so I'm most concerned with how something plays with a gamepad. I think that GT3 was diminished without proper analog gas/brake. I care somewhat about 60fps, but I can live without it in Forza if the AI, damage modelling, customizations, and physics take a leap forward. I'm not saying they will, but if they do then Forza > GT4 in my book. In all likelihood, Forza will fail to live up to expectations and PGR 2 will remain my favorite racer.

 

[AlNom]

At the end of the day, PGR, Apex, SEGAGT and many others were all supposed to be GT3 killers, now Forza will have to go against GT4 which is even better, it will take a lot to beat it. Online play or not.

heh?? PGR went for the arcade style. It was never meant to go up against the GT series. It's not even in the same style as Forza. Not even close.