Afterthoughts

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I had GT4 for now 1 week and a half, we all had our prejudices on the game, on the new modes PD were to incorporate into the game, some of us didn't like some ideas, others did.

B-Spec: Everybody thought at first that it would be a way of cheating out of endurance races, and sadly it is, for some it's a good tool, some have a life;) some others don't! Atleast the Ai doesn't drive as fast as you and needs to be watched several times a race to make sure of the progress he makes.

Photomode: This has surprised me so much I cannot believe it, everybody thought at first, taking pictures of my car? yeah right! Well it has become one of the most addictive mode in GT, it lets off your imagination, the combination of cars and tracks are just awesome! I think it surprised everybody.

Number of cars: WOAH! I didn't know 700 was THAT much, I mean they are so many cars, some good, some bad...but everybody has his fit!

Tracks : Well some tracks are repetitive and some feel made up at the last moment, *cough* Seoul*cough*, but to each his taste! The scenery are breath taking, I mean did you guys see that rock on El Capitan?! Woah!

Game in general : Well, I feel like they are not enought races...ok no I'm not sick or crazy, but the beginner professional and extreme halls seem empty, I know it's because there are Country races and Manufacturer races in different halls but I don't know, I feel like I got nothing to do and I'm at 45%.

As expected they are many bugs, the slow down and the graphic meltdown at the beginning of each races, the cars that flip during pit stops and etc. To me the GT series is starting from scratch on every new consoles. Let's put it this way:

GT1 is like GT3, except graphicaly
GT2 is like GT4, except graphicaly, (without the different modes on top)

It's a global summary, not exact nor precise.

GT needs a competitor so that Pd will force themselves to bring us an even more excellant product to our consoles, competition makes perfection;)

Don't start the relativity of perfection debate here please...

So here were my 2 cent, GT has really surprised me! It's GREAT! Physics are awesome forgot to add it...sense of speed, shakings, bumps, for it's hardware capabilities, the Ps2 is impressing me on this one, but as some may say, GT is like a woman with make up...
 
Edited it;) I've been in another dimension the last week..sorry....:lol:
 
Shhhh they are moderators on this boards...

let's get back on topic;)
 
My afterthoughts:
Overall, great game
artistic styling (I guess, like cars and track scenery), physics, photomode, and B-spec = huge 👍
Some things that I didn't like however, would have to be repetition of tracks (I got over-pumped up when i heard 50+ tracks), the AI should have been a little better (but not extremely difficult, because not everyone buys the wheel and is good at the game, unfortunately), lack of races (yep, I agree with you)

I'll edit this post, as i cant fully think right now, and randomly stopped thinking
 
I agree on the Beginner and Professional Hall thing, I really liked GT3's race setup. Very lengthy and pretty nice. Combine that with some GT4 Tracks and they'd be top notch :)

I still however have a problem with the cars, so many that have the exact same Speed weight, Etc Etc. I mean a completely differant skyline just for a differant color model?

I could sit here all day and complain but nobody really wants to hear that, it IS a great game, But the Used Car section seems very...how should i put this...? Biased? Yeah its made in Japan and all that stuff, But..seriously that used car list should have been in the Japan Section where you buy cars.

and it may just be me, but I REALLY miss the Laguna Seca course in GT3, the Dusk setting made some top notch reflections and was just breathtaking.

Now onto the soundtrack....its just turned off, I love Van Halen, But im not going to listen to Panama every race on Repeat, We all had our fill of repeated songs from GT1 and GT2 (I forgot if they switched or not, I forgot) I really enjoyed GT3's soundtrack though, but thats all personal thoughts.

to me If they had just Remade GT2 with GT4's physics and some new cars with Photomode and B-spec it would've been so much better.

Overall the game is great, but I really shouldn't have expected so much out of it, Hopefully GT5 lives up to the name
 
PD is now having there "back" rubbed by some competitors, they'll need to pull something BIG for GT5 to get back to where it was, I'm confident;)
 
Two weeks ago right now I would have posted about how much I hate GT4 and how much of a let down it is. What a difference two weeks can make.

Things I thought I was going to hate 2 weeks ago:
The behind-the-car view makes me nauseous
The car dives so much when I brake
Autosave
B-Spec
Nitrous
Wings

How I feel about them now:
Improved bumper view is much prefered to the old behind-the-car view.

More dive makes it easier to tell how hard you are braking. Essential for deveoping DS2 technique.

I like autosave now. With previous GT games by week two I was a millionaire with a bunch of cars that I had driven once or twice. After two weeks with autosave I am broke with a few highly tuned and sorted cars that I really feel I have a spent a lot of time deveoping and learning to drive, rather than resetting just because the car didn't live up to my initial expectation.

B-Spec is great, being able to sit out a few laps on an enduro is a god-send. And really who wants to drive another Vitz Series or New Beetle Cup?

Nitrous I use way more than I expected to... Why? Because thanks to Nitrous my Mazda AZ-1 can run with the NSXs and Loti in MR races and my '69 510 can run with anything in the FR races. Call it cheating or bottle-baby-ism if you like it makes cheap cars you get early on useful way longer in the game.

Wings look ricy but the downforce adjustment makes them the next best thing to a Race Body mod from previous installments.



Yeah GT4 has a few glitches here and there but I am glad to be playing now instead of waiting six more months so PD could figure out why some cars stand on their front wheels in the pits.
 
ChristmasGTO
But the Used Car section seems very...how should i put this...? Biased? Yeah its made in Japan and all that stuff, But..seriously that used car list should have been in the Japan Section where you buy cars.
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Or all 2nd hand cars are japanese because nobody wants to keep those crappy japanese cars and sell them as soon as they can afford a western car. :dopey:
 
In my opinion...

The good
Nice amount of cars! nice graphics! nice tracks! that dfp wheel is just off the chain i love it.

The bad
Same stupid AI, while the engine sounds in most cars do sound like the real thing(rx7,charger and so on) some cars dont sound like that at all specially american muscle cars..some sound like a soccer mom's minivan..the tvr speed 12 dont sound like the real thing also, i guess it wont be perfect.

I dont care about the music, i turn all the music even in the menu off, the same day i got the game so icant comment on the song selection, i rather hear engine noise and the others cars engine noise...

all in all I love the game so much..its very addicting and for people that love cars overall is a dream come true!
 
The graphics have been beautiful through out the entire game so far. The detail is amazing, take the Mazda to Le Mans down the Straight and you'll see the wiper moving in the wind, who else would of thought of minor stuff like that? As far as realism goes, here's the best story I have. I'm driving the R8 at LeMans adn the Jag gets into the back of me under braking at 200mph. All I heard was the hit, both motors over rev, and saw sparks and nothing but dust as the 2 of us spun and slammed to a stop in a sand trap. I don't think I've ever played some thing that actually made me jump up like that did. They even got the LMP's correct, the R8 and Speed 8 are not the ruling beasts on the tighter courses as the shorter more agile cars such as the Sauber are.

B-Spec is great for, as DIV put it, "those who have a life." I can start a 24 hour race one night and run for hours on end, let my co-driver take the seat all day while I'm at work, then I can jump back in the seat for the remaining 4 hours.

Photomode, the pictures that have been posted here speak for the entire idea. I never dreamed that would be fun, but that may be one of the games better aspects, something that other games may or may not latch onto.

But for everything good there are some bad, the jitters, the lack of AI in some places, amount of races in a hall, and of course the Super Test using the Alfa...

It's a bit bothersome having to go from hall to hall to run different events but on the flip side it makes it easier to find events.

Working in Motorsports for the last 21 years, I must say, they did the homework in making a very good game.
 
The fact that the AI is still incompetent was the biggest let down for me. It's fine when you're just starting and can't afford a good car, but once you start getting some fast, modded cars it's no contest in most races unless you level the playing field yourself, which would be fine if the A-spec points actually meant something. Seems like the game is more about the cars than racing.
 
bfifteenv
B-Spec is great, being able to sit out a few laps on an enduro is a god-send. And really who wants to drive another Vitz Series or New Beetle Cup?
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Well, it's good in theory, but why such a crappy AI driver? I have to baby mine so much (in other words, re-adjust the 1-5 speed thingie) that it'd practically be less work to just run the race myself. It'd be nice if the computer took note of how you drive in A-spec, then re-adjust the B-spec driver to match your skill level. I should be able to "get out" of my car during a pit stop, hand it over to my B-spec driver, and have him do a few laps without running straight into the sand.

Aside from that, the infamous screen "jitters", and the sometimes retarded 5-sec. penalty (I've been penalized before for getting hit by another car! Jeebus!), I'm more'n happy with GT4. :)👍 The overwhelming amount of cars and tracks keeps me content, as well as the "extras" (like Driving Missions, which provide a nice break from regular races). Some of the new tracks—especially Nurburgring and that Italian course—have really blown me away.

So, I'm happy, though PD did screw up a few things.
 
You can expect to see me add more to this, but my afterthoughts so far are based on what all we've been through on GTPlanet. To me, playing Arcade Mode got me to know what GT4 is all about. This is a GT game. But that's summing up 1.2% of the entire game. We sat through delays. Many of us even felt like GT4 was going to come by the time most of us 25 or younger would be in retirement homes. The game has been out for two weeks in America, and after that fateful day at an EB store, I got to know what it would be like when I finally own the game and race through GT Mode. When online play was cancelled for this build, I wasn't bothered. When there was no car damage or any popular European exotics, I didn't throw a childish tantrum about it. I was calm. I love the Gran Turismo series, and while that may sound "fanboy-ish" and redundant, I actually do. I was wanting to know more about GT4. I was wanting to find a better message board. GTPlanet fulfilled both needs. I tried my best explaining my side of things when it comes to certain issues in GT games. I sounded off pretty angrily at times, I was soft at times. But I had a point to be made across, especially as it relates to GT4.

Onto the game itself, while everyone was crying or getting angry over no online play, I was able to remember that GT4 is a brand-new GT. The physics have changed, more tracks, more cars, more of what you love about past GT games. The AI rammed into me at times, but do I quickly dismiss it as bad? When I played GT4, nobody rammed me off the track like in the Forza demo I played on the XBOX. Being inside the car is purely exciting. You actually feel like you're in the game and not watching on the sidelines. I didn't care about many things a lot of people felt needed to be in the game (Ferrari, car damage, for example). All I cared was that it corrected what execution problems GT2 had, finish what GT3 started, and still be as fun as GT1. Mission ACCOMPLISHED.

When I get the game, I'll add more thoughts.
 
I don't know where that one "what you'd like to see in GT5" thread went so I'll post it here. Anyway, I now see why these GT5 threads popped up and I can understand to a point why. GT4 in some ways is disappointing. I think part of the blame should go to us on GTP for all the meaningless hype.
 
My GT1/2/3 Veteran Gripes on GT4:

Not enough information about vehicles before you purchase then. GT2 and GT3 gave you far many details about cars other than HP and Weight, which seems to dominate the car descriptions in GT4.

The dreaded "etc" when you try to get car requirements for a particular race. I don't want to guess what "etc" consists of, I want a list of cars that are considered "Spiders" or "Boxers" before I buy a car and find out it's not what I can use to enter the race. I shouldn't need to buy a strategy guide, be a car expert, or guess constantly to overcome this gripe.

Autosave is pointless and adds nothing to the game, other than frustration because of the above two problems. The only argument to this is that it's more "realistic". How is it realistic to buy a car without being given it's complete specifications first (or even been given a test drive)? Would YOU buy a car at a dealership when all they told you was how many HP it had an what it's weight was? The fact that you are only teased with limited options to turn it off is a slap in the face.

I have a HDTV. Don't make me select it the first time I start a race. I forget. Ask me to switch to HDTV mode when I start the game, after you auto-load.

I don't want any TCM or ASM. Don't make me turn it off every time I get in a new car.

Don't even bother with an instruction manual if you're going to include what you did. That document is worthless, has errors (such as showing screen shots in b-spec mode at 5x!), and doesn't even tell you how to turn your nitrous on. Take a cue from GT2 and expand on it instead of minimizing it. Were printing costs THAT much?

Silly interface bugs. I love it how Diahatsiu and Shelby somehow become listed at the bottom of my "Sort by Alphabetically Car Manufacturer" list. Likewise, the fact that my turbo Buick 62 shows up as a NA tune car in this list, or that I can enter my Camaro in the Japanese races, etc... just sloppy work on PD's part not to troubleshoot the basics.

Shouldn't be any need to unlock anything. I wasn't jumping for joy the first time I learned a course was opened up in Arcade mode. If you buy the game for a pure Arcade experience, why put the user through any part of the simulation to make his game more enjoyable?

Lack of online play really, REALLY sucks. Sure this topic has been beaten to death in the past few months, but WOW, this game would be literally 1000% more enjoyable to me if I could race my cars in one-make races (for instance) against other people without using the laggy LAN/xLink thing. Toca Race Driver 2 figured it out, and that was 6 months ago, lag-free with 6 racers, and for $30.
 
decker12
Don't even bother with an instruction manual if you're going to include what you did. That document is worthless, has errors (such as showing screen shots in b-spec mode at 5x!), and doesn't even tell you how to turn your nitrous on. Take a cue from GT2 and expand on it instead of minimizing it. Were printing costs THAT much?
Click to expand...

Er...

It quite clearly states in the manual the button R1 is for boost in A-spec mode...

That's how I knew where it was?!

C.
 
I've been playing GT4 for a week now, just got over 25% completion tonight. I have to say, I love the game except 3 things.

1. ****ed up spring rate and physics (harder spring up front = understeer? wtf?), can't do donuts?
2. Auto Save
3. No Racing Modification (in GT1 and 2 I RM'd every car that can have RM available. Now we just get the ricey wing. I like RM not only because of downforce adjustment, it's the sense that my fully tuned racing machine looks different from just a stock car.)

Now the parts I love
1. Photomode! This is so much fun, I spend hours taking pictures of my drifts and trying to make them look good. This is so addicting.
2. B-Spec. With the Astra earning $800+k in a race, I can buy any cars I want
3. Graphics. The graphics are so good. I loved the HK track, and the SS R5, cuz I can take cool night time pics there.
4. Car selections. 700 cars, no matter how repetitive, that's an impressive # of cars. I wish they have the first gen Eclipse GSX or the first gen Eagle Talon AWD TSi so I can see how my car would handle with 500hp. :D

Overall I think the game is good, but Sony spent their time on the wrong parts of the game. I don't care how accurate Nurburgring or Laguna Seca is, they should've just saved their time and use the Laguna Seca from GT3. I think they should've spent more time on the physics engine. This games is touted as the real driving similator, and yet I feel the physics engine is worse than GT3's. I drove a stock Accord in GT3, it feels excactly the same as my dad's Accord. That's what I'm looking for in a GT. Hopefully they will use the GT3 physics engine or make a new physics engine for GT5.

I give it 8 out 10.
 
awdrifter2
Overall I think the game is good, but Sony spent their time on the wrong parts of the game. I don't care how accurate Nurburgring or Laguna Seca is, they should've just saved their time and use the Laguna Seca from GT3. I think they should've spent more time on the physics engine. This games is touted as the real driving similator, and yet I feel the physics engine is worse than GT3's. I drove a stock Accord in GT3, it feels excactly the same as my dad's Accord. That's what I'm looking for in a GT. Hopefully they will use the GT3 physics engine or make a new physics engine for GT5.
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I for one think that the new physics engine is far and away much better than anything that has gone before it... I don't understand how people can say that it hasn't.

C.
 
I'm still enjoying it. There is just soo much to do. I've been playing non-stop & I'm only at 11.9 percent. This game was really worth the $50. The GT series is the only games I will spend more than $30 for I have yet to regret one. GT4 is an awesome game. The amount of cars, tracks, cups, modes, etc. is incrediable. When I move out in three months I've decided that I'm not gettimg cable or internet because frankly this game has soo much to do that I'll still be playing it. It's saving me money!

This is my favorite GT. I never thought anything would top GT2.
 
A) I like:

1. The physics engine

2. The graphics

3. The License tests

4. The Missions

5. The tracks

6. Driving


B) I don't like:

1. The AI

2. 6 car fields

3. No weather changes, no time cycles and no mid-race saves in endurance races


C) I don't know/don't care:

1. The music

2. B-Spec

3. Photomode


In all, what I like outweights what I don't like, don't know and don't care.

GT4 is by far the best driving simulation game available. I'm still hoping that someday in the future we will get a RACING simulator at this same level.
 
i have played Gt4 since PAL release-day and yes it is really good but not as good as i hoped for

the new physics-engine is very nice until it comes to drifting,,becuse it simply sux when trying to drift whit the DFP....giving full throttle at a corner whit a powerful car it will just shred the tires and dont get the back out or just understeer..not very realistic..even tried whit 200degree mode and it is even worse ,,,then i tried the old GT wheel and that was much better but not even near the feeling in GT3.....so that is a big dissapointment..except the drifting the physics are very nice ..the Ai sux too i dont find the races fun anymore so it is nice that B-spec is in if you loose motivation

but like in the others GT games the biggest enjoyment is taking all the cars out on the track and set lap-times and compare the cars and that will make me play GT4 til Gt5 comes out...the nurburgring is awsome
 
B-spec is the shiznit I love it long time.
 
yeti
I for one think that the new physics engine is far and away much better than anything that has gone before it... I don't understand how people can say that it hasn't.

C.
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Well, cars with 500+hp and racing suspensions don't understeer in real life, it does in GT4. In GT3, full customize suspension make the car handles great, but in GT4 the cars still understeers without ASM.
 
Ejan
i have played Gt4 since PAL release-day and yes it is really good but not as good as i hoped for

the new physics-engine is very nice until it comes to drifting,,becuse it simply sux when trying to drift whit the DFP....giving full throttle at a corner whit a powerful car it will just shred the tires and dont get the back out or just understeer..not very realistic..even tried whit 200degree mode and it is even worse ,,,then i tried the old GT wheel and that was much better but not even near the feeling in GT3.....so that is a big dissapointment..except the drifting the physics are very nice ..the Ai sux too i dont find the races fun anymore so it is nice that B-spec is in if you loose motivation

but like in the others GT games the biggest enjoyment is taking all the cars out on the track and set lap-times and compare the cars and that will make me play GT4 til Gt5 comes out...the nurburgring is awsome
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I agree. GT4 just sucks for drifting. Especially those 180 degree turns, it's nearly impossible to drift through them.
 
I've been taking it slow since buying it on the 9th - i'm only at 6.9% (its got to last me until GT5!) I've not tried all the new circuits, i'm saving 'The Ring' like some kind of precious gem until i get hold of a car that will do it justice - i've only done sections in the licence tests. And my shiney new DFPro wheel still hasn't been used as yet - after all that pontificating, i need to find a good stable table first. Anyway heres my 'good, bad and ugly' of GT4 so far...

The Good

Some great cars this time around (especialy the Jag, Pug and Chaparrel sports protos' in the PAL and NA Ntsc versions)

Return of the used car sections

Race 'missions' - a great distraction

New physics engine - adds a 'weight' to the cars that they never had in previous versions of GT

Some inspired new circuits - The Ring, Le Mans, El Capitan and the return of the Autumn Ring

B-spec - i won't use it much, but i can only spare 2 hours at the most of my precious time for enduro races otherwise. Probably use it on certain circuits that i don't enjoy in championships as well.

The Bad

Licence tests not as varied as Prologues.

Five apponents with crappy AI still sucks.

Photo-mode - still think they could have used this development time for better uses

Even minimal driver aids seem to 'bog' cars down too much.

Used cars lots are still predicatably Japanese orientated.

At less than 7% complete, my meagre garage is stuffed full of useless concept cars that i'll never use and can't even sell to buy 'trinkets' for the few cars i've managed to scrape my pennies together for.

The Ugly

Too many 'Do you really, really, really want to make this modification to your car' style pop-up boxes throughout the game.

I'm getting sick and tired of seing the same 'liveries' on some of the racing cars we've had in a few GT games by now - Jag XJ220, Focus WRC, DTM cars, JGTC cars, 206 WRC, Falcon V8 Supercar, Clio V6 racer etc. Apart from the DTM, JGTC and Falcon all the others seem to run little used and bland liveries when they have so many more popular and succesful racing colours that could have been used!

Still some gaping holes in the car line-ups. With the exception of Ferrari, Porsche etc which we know about the problems with licencing. Why do BMW have a whole line up of crappy 1 series, but omit the original E36 M3 which has to be BMW's most successful racing and rallying car of all time! Ford has 3 or 4 versions of the new GT, but only the Gulf GT40 and no classic racing Mustangs, Sierra Cosworths (Ford Europes most succesful racing car) or Mk1 Escorts. Volvo has the 240 estate and the S60 T5 road cars, but no ETCC 240 racer or 850 T5 BTCC racers - the two cars that dragged Volvos image out of the safe-but-bland gutter it had been languishing in. This list could go on and on.

The 'rice' element that has crept into GT via the NOS and aftermarket wings tuning additions. I'd much rather see a return to racing mods.
 
GT4 just sucks for drifting. Especially those 180 degree turns, it's nearly impossible to drift through them.
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....is that it! is that all you like to do is 'drift' never mind you should have bought another game, mayby Mario Kart or something, putting some oil on the bottom of yours shoes will have the same effect.

The only thing I don't like about GT4 is, you have to sleep once in a while!

Yes it has it's faults then so do I. :)
 
GT4 impresses me about as much as GT3 dissapointed me I guess. Even if they left out the classic Volvo Amazon :crazy:

Aside from this stupid six-cars-in-all-races ideologi & some other cheap solutions like the rear wing add-on the game opens up for a lot of great racing, just limited by players imagination. Off course; if you just make a race out of "finishing the game" you`ll do just that in not too long.
After killing some games in just a few days I`ve learned to slow down and play the game, take my time to go a little slower.
(-like 26% & about 100 cars in 6 days::))
 
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