FatAssBR
As I´ve said somewhere, the game is realistic, but not as much as GT4. It´s somewhere between Toca 2 and GT4 IMO.
oh please, not as realstic as GT4? give me a break, GT4 is somewhat realistic if you use the proper tyres, but enthusia is on a league of it's own, GT4 is the better of the two, but realisim is not the reason. the reason is the fact that enthusia only has 2 real circuits, no LAN, and their fantasy tracks are boring (most of them).
This game has much better tyre simulation than GT4, and it shows in braking, you have to brake a lot earlier in tsukuba and nurburgring in some of the corners (using the same cars, "N" ty res on GT4) and in enthusia you can actually slide the car at low speed corners, just like in real life (you can't do this in GT4) and the drive train simulation is MUCH better done than in GT4, FF cars don't understeer as much as they do as in GT4, in GT4 FF cars will understeer waay too much with out warning, in enthusia the understeer feels much more natural, and you'll start to lose grip on the front tyres first instead of just having the car go froward and then lose grip like in most FF cars in GT4. it's better done when it comes to the simulation, period.
if you aren't trying this with the DFP on both games your opinion is not to be taken seriously in the first place (not to say you can't have fun playing with the DS2, but this IS a sim after all, and it's MEANT to be played with the wheel, not dumbed down DS2 controls.)
so this is what enthusia does better than GT4:
- Better tyre simulation. this is the first thing you notice, not saying GT4 with "N" tyres is bad, but this is closer to what a real car feels like on the road, braking points are different because of this, you have to brake earlier in this game compared to GT4, if you don't the car will either understeer or oversteer and you'll go off the track, in GT4 it's possible to introduce understeer with late braking, but it's easier to "save" the car in GT4 than it is in other sims or real life, but at least it's real enough in GT4 to be enjoyable.
- More realistic "shift timing". In GT4 it takes longer than it should to change gears in some cars, they do this so that buying a better clutch actually has some value in the game... but what they really should do is either add a clutch button. and to add value to the clutch upgrades they could make it breakable so that you don't change gears faster than you should.
Also, to compensate for some short commings in the simulation of GT4 and keep the cars performing close to the real ones they changed the gear ratios some what on some of the cars, in enthusia they are how they should be.
- Acurate physics of the cars at any speeds, like i said, in GT4 it's impossible to slide some cars on some corners when they SHOULD slide, thankfully it's only on slow corners, high speed corner physics are just about right.
- Far more acurate drive train layout simulation, specially FF, in GT4 some FF cars don't handle anywhere close to their real life counterparts, too much understeer and sometimes the tyres sqeal when they shouldn't on some FF cars. MR is ok in GT4, and FR is done the best.
-Better sounds (but some cars still lack "roar", they should sound.. i don't know. STRONGER)
- PROPER steering simulation, sure. the force feedback could use some work. but the steering feels dead on acurate, they took evrything into acount, first off when you move the wheel and the car is STOPED the wheel will stay put in enthusia, in GT4 it won't, in a real car.. it's stays put, and when you accelerate it starts going back to the center... in GT4 it does, but WAAAY too slow, you have to do this yourself, in enthusia the wheel goes back to the center much more realisticly.
the problem in enthusia is that some cars should have heavier steering than others, but for the most part they all feel the same, in GT4 it's not the case, and in GT4 "race" cars have about 300 degrees instead of 900, which is the way it should be, but in enthusia i'm not so sure they did this right, production cars feel perfect, but some race cars seem to have too much steering, i can't confirm this yet though, i have to make some more tests.
Also, the force feedback in GT4 is kind of "exagerated" they transmit the bumps, which is fine, but they also try to transmit some of the bumps you should be feeling on a MOTION SIMULATOR, not the wheel, this is a substitue for a motion simulator, which is ok considering there isn't a way to play the game with one in the first place, but it's not realistic. But again, this is ok since it adds feel that you are missing, but i won't say it's bad that enthusia doesn't have it, because it shouldn't, but maybe they are missing some feedback that some cars transmit trough the wheel.
-Better "wet" simulation, Tsukuba wet is fun, it's it's hard to get a feel of the cars, in enthusia they feel just like it feels when you drive your car out in the rain. Not saying it's bad in GT4, but after playing Enthusia you'll realize it's lacking in GT4.
- Acurate transmition simulation. This one is actually very important... and automatic car is just that.. an automatic, and a manual car is just that.. a manual tranmision, in GT4 ALL CARS are MT, if you choose "automatic" it's just a shift assist, not an automatic transmision!, it just means the computer changes the gears for you, but it's still a manual tranmision...
in Enthusia the Manual transmision has two options, Manual or "shift assisst" which is the proper term for it, it's still a manual transmision, but the game will shift it for you, same gear ratios, same shift timing.
Automatics... Enthusia actually HAS automatics, in GT4 even cars that are automatic transmision only in real life have Manual transimsions in the game, this one actually blows...
in Enthusia an automatic shifts like an automatic, same gear ratios, and they even went as far as to include the actual shift times when choosing automatic (meaning, if you are going kinda slow it won't rev up untill the redline like in GT4, and will shift a lot earlier.), and "auto" cars have "semi automatic" option, it still shifts like an automatic.. but you do the shifting, just like in "triptonic" transisions in real life. this makes the car feel a lot more realistic when it comes to transimsion.
So.. with all those advantages you'd think GT4 would be smoked though right? not the case, GT4 offers a decent enough simulation to be fun, but has tons more tracks, a better version of nurburgring, (not to say the enthusia version sucks, it's very good too, but it's missing some bumps, but their version of tsukuba is better, watched video comparasions and it has some mini banks that are a bit steeper than the ones in the GT4 version, and looking at videos of real track, it has them like in enthusia, but other than that it's exactly the same.) Suzuka, Motegi, and tons more, and they are all very well done in GT4, this adds trmendous replay value to me, in enthusia most of the fantasy tracks are boring (to be fair, i find about 70% of the fantasy tracks in GT4 boring.. but in enthusia pretty much all of them.. and that leaves me with just two circuits i like...) tons more cars, LAN mode, and more options than Enthusia. so the overall package is better in GT4...
but.. enthusia does have something GT4 should have, and i'm amazed at how well done it was in enthusia.. the mountain pass, man, that thing is FUN, pretty well done. and it's a drifters paradise (but since the game is so realistic, only people with actual skills will enjoy this.. i'm not a good drifter, but never the less i enjoy the course a LOT). i really hope the next GT has mountain passess, really fun.. wish i could play it via LAN.. O_o
I really think that if GT4 had this level of simulation it would be perfect, at least as far as the driving experience goes, in enthusia it seems like a waste... such great simulation, but so few tracks to enjoy them on, and no multiplayer of any kind.. that KILLS replay value.
I really hope that the next GT utilizes a whole new engine, and they can at least match enthusia simulation.
