Gravel: New Off-Road Racer Coming to PS4, XB1 & PC Early 2018

Serious question:

Why would I bother with Gravel if Forza Horizon 3 already provides the same type of racing, a wider range of cars and additional options for circuit racing, livery editing, a large and established community and more?


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This article shares some of my sentiments on the topic: https://pretendracecars.net/2017/03/02/milestones-new-ip-is-basically-a-portion-of-forza-horizon-3/
 
diesel97
Gravel has more than just this class
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Fair enough.

I'm not sure where this will fit in though if somebody is already playing Forza Horizon 3 and DiRT 4. More racing games is good as people have options, but that also means it's harder for a game to stand out from the crowd.
 
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PJTierney
Serious question:

Why would I bother with Gravel if Forza Horizon 3 already provides the same type of racing, a wider range of cars and additional options for circuit racing, livery editing, a large and established community and more?
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I think it's a bit different, but as always, if the one does everything you want, then fair enough. Personally I like to see different developer's take on a similar idea, I mean, essentially Milestone have been doing a DiRT remake for four games - they were sufficiently entertaining and purist though for me to continue buying them.

EDIT: I see you have replied along the same lines :lol:
 
Kobhalt
i was thinking about a specified oriented 4x4 and offroading civilian cars games, like climbing on rocks with a RangeRover or trying to came accross a river with an SUV.
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Isn't that essentially what Spintires is? Nobody is making a decent rally raid/Dakar game at the moment, hopefully that is a gap Gravel can fill.
 
GOTMAXPOWER
Isn't that essentially what Spintires is? Nobody is making a decent rally raid/Dakar game at the moment, hopefully that is a gap Gravel can fill.
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Indeed, Spin Tyres or Off-Road Drive those games @Kobhalt specialise in off-road challenges. You also have FUEL but they aren't street, or production vehicles.
 
syntex123
You're not serious are you? The graphics in SLR sucked. The car models were modeled all wrong.. :P sure the environmental graphics look good, but the cars do not. Just look at that Peugeot you first start with. It was enough for me to uninstall the game. :crazy:
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Slowly getting better ;) and MXGP2 is pretty decent but my ears must have been burning as they went with a better Game engine :sly: and we now find they will be using Unreal4 engine in the future which will help with the fine dust/particles, graphics, shadowing and lighting/weather.:cheers:
 
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syntex123
You're not serious are you? The graphics in SLR sucked. The car models were modeled all wrong.. :P sure the environmental graphics look good, but the cars do not. Just look at that Peugeot you first start with. It was enough for me to uninstall the game. :crazy:
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As I pointed out in the SLR thread, some of the supposedly identical cars are wildly different in shape and size. Compare the Fiestas or the Saxos for example.
 
Not buying this game on release day for sure, I'll wait for the reviews. As PJTierney mentioned, I'd like to see first where this fits in since I already have FH3 and Dirt Rally as well, 2 very very different games I know, but they are both amazing games in each of their genre as well. And as I said before, it reminds me in a way about Motorstorm on my PS3 as well, in a good way. I had tons of fun with that game back in the days as well.

Something with offroad in the game better stand out in one way or the other or else I will just ignore it (that goes for Dirt 4 as well since I am not impressed at all with what I've seen so far - Dirt Rally is that good!)
 
PJTierney
Serious question:

Why would I bother with Gravel if Forza Horizon 3 already provides the same type of racing, a wider range of cars and additional options for circuit racing, livery editing, a large and established community and more?


forza-horizon-compariosn.jpg


This article shares some of my sentiments on the topic: https://pretendracecars.net/2017/03/02/milestones-new-ip-is-basically-a-portion-of-forza-horizon-3/
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I would say there's quite a bit of room to improve on FH3's model. The main one being that FH3 has to spread its focus between on-road and off-road racing which leads to a relative small list of tracks. Plus PG was apparently afraid of making tracks that only certain vehicles could use so the off-road tracks are all pretty flat and have a similar feel to them for the most part.

I'm in the "wait to see how it turns out" camp, but I can certainly see the appeal of buying this alongside FH3 if done correctly.

As a side-note, does PRC actually like anything? I don't think I've ever seen an article there with a positive tone.
 
I'm genuinely hyped (LOOK AT MY REAL CAR). I know offroading is complex but it's awesome when done right.
Do you want trials?
· Offroad Drive (I have done a full game LP series)
· Screamer 4x4 (the original offroad trials game!)
· MotorM4X
Do you want racing?
· SODA Offroad Racing (Papyrus was awesome from day 1)
· BAJA Edge of Control (insanely underrated)
· FUEL ("All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces...")
· DiRT (short course racing needs more video games, also cross-country rallying)
· 1NSANE 2
 
Great News.

I think Milestone is one of the most underrated developers around, and they seem to be quite devoted to the promotion of motorsport in general. Ride 2 was a great game but got some crummy spiteful reviews. Sebastian Lobe was another little classic. They reinvigorated the WRC series - no 3 (or was it 4) probably being the best. The latter WRC iterations were a bit hit and miss.
 
zargdin
Great News.

I think Milestone is one of the most underrated developers around, and they seem to be quite devoted to the promotion of motorsport in general. Ride 2 was a great game but got some crummy spiteful reviews. Sebastian Lobe was another little classic. They reinvigorated the WRC series - no 3 (or was it 4) probably being the best. The latter WRC iterations were a bit hit and miss.
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Fully agree and it is a shame that reviewers still give them bad press. WRC5 and 6 were made by a different studio Kylotonn Games which explains the shift.

Team VVV have remained quite faithful to Milestone since before WRC3 arrived.
 
die996
I'm genuinely hyped (LOOK AT MY REAL CAR). I know offroading is complex but it's awesome when done right.
Do you want trials?
· Offroad Drive (I have done a full game LP series)
· Screamer 4x4 (the original offroad trials game!)
· MotorM4X
Do you want racing?
· SODA Offroad Racing (Papyrus was awesome from day 1)
· BAJA Edge of Control (insanely underrated)
· FUEL ("All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces...")
· DiRT (short course racing needs more video games, also cross-country rallying)
· 1NSANE 2
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You mention the Baja game being underrated - totally agree. It got some really miserable mean-minded reviews. It was a difficult game with a driving style quite different to other racing genres. Instead of taking a classic driving line you had to do the opposite and ride the beams and banks at the outside of the track. I think the difficulty level put off some reviewers who were used to Need For Speed games.
 
zargdin
You mention the Baja game being underrated - totally agree. It got some really miserable mean-minded reviews. It was a difficult game with a driving style quite different to other racing genres. Instead of taking a classic driving line you had to do the opposite and ride the beams and banks at the outside of the track. I think the difficulty level put off some reviewers who were used to Need For Speed games.
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Only non-thinking casual would think it is hard. It is countersteering heaven (NICE!) and the damage system makes driving quite entertaining! Parts wear out way too quickly but it adds quite some strategy to the racing since you cannot use the turbo clutch much and you have to keep an eye out checking the temperatures. It is possibly the game where manual transmission gives you the biggest advantage since you can upshift early to avoid overheating, something almost unavoidable when using auto transmission.
When it comes to pure racing is not too hard... or maybe I have logged into it way too many miles. I can complete the career mode on hard with very little upgrades while winning almost every single race I enter. The difficulty mainly comes from the punishing damage system and how bumps can make straights difficult. Sometimes, the hardest part in a course is just going straight for 10-12 seconds in a row.

Only full let's play series of this game including all 50 discoveries and the Open class challenges.

PS: **** Lone Wolf Canyon and the Painted Desert rally stage. If you have played the game you know what I mean.
 
die996
Only non-thinking casual would think it is hard. It is countersteering heaven (NICE!) and the damage system makes driving quite entertaining! Parts wear out way too quickly but it adds quite some strategy to the racing since you cannot use the turbo clutch much and you have to keep an eye out checking the temperatures. It is possibly the game where manual transmission gives you the biggest advantage since you can upshift early to avoid overheating, something almost unavoidable when using auto transmission.
When it comes to pure racing is not too hard... or maybe I have logged into it way too many miles. I can complete the career mode on hard with very little upgrades while winning almost every single race I enter. The difficulty mainly comes from the punishing damage system and how bumps can make straights difficult. Sometimes, the hardest part in a course is just going straight for 10-12 seconds in a row.

Only full let's play series of this game including all 50 discoveries and the Open class challenges.

PS: **** Lone Wolf Canyon and the Painted Desert rally stage. If you have played the game you know what I mean.
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Hey it's great to find another fan of this game.

But I disagree with you a bit when you say it isn't a hard game.

The reason why it is such a good game is because it is so hard and challenging. It forces the player into thinking about different strategies. Instead of slowing down as you approach a corner you really have to belt it to keep up the momentum.

It also taught me about the concept of "small inputs" and that when you are driving over rough terrain, there are times when you have to let the rough terrain "win", and there's nothing more you can do but cool it.

The other thing I liked about this game is that it demonstrated that racing isn't really about speed. It's about thinking.
 
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zargdin
Hey it's great to find another fan of this game. But I disagree with you a bit when you say it isn't a hard game.
The reason why it is such a good game is because it is so hard and challenging. It forces the player into thinking about different strategies. Instead of slowing down as you approach a corner you really have to belt it to keep up the momentum. It also taught me about the concept of "small inputs" and that when you are driving over rough terrain, there are times when you have to let the rough terrain "win", and there's nothing more you can do but cool it. The other thing I liked about this game is that it demonstrated that racing isn't really about speed. It's about thinking.
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The micro-inputs thingy is awesome, it actually annoys me when other similar-ish games like FUEL auto-correct the steering to keep you straight instead of letting you do the work. It never was too hard for me, probably because I've riding dirtbikes since I was like 6 so some of the stuff felt natural from the very beginning. I just wish 2XL Games had tried to make a sequel, specially now since offroad racing is at its golden age right now.
· Some races are getting like 30 trophy trucks and 20 class1 buggies
· CBS Sports is showing both SCORE races and some of the BitD races
· There are races all over southwest USA and northwest Mexico every 2 weeks
· Teams are pushing the limits by experimenting with turbocharged and even 4x4 TTs
· Over a dozen of dirtbike riders trying to make the longest races solo (Ironmans, they call them)
The pro bike part of bajas suck because of the whole safety thing (doing 50mph average in a place full of bumps, rocks and trees with Mexicans making the trails even harder, WHAT COULD GO WRONG!?) but everything else is 100% mint. It is weird how there aren't more games.
 
I can't help but feel like this is some sort of fast paced arcade game, I get the same vibe from Sega Rally. No, not the PC and console games, the older ones you play at the arcade and pay to play. Anyone agree?
 
PJTierney
Serious question:

Why would I bother with Gravel if Forza Horizon 3 already provides the same type of racing, a wider range of cars and additional options for circuit racing, livery editing, a large and established community and more?
Click to expand...

Have you thought maybe they designed it to kinda compare FH3 so that they can kinda experience it on PS?
 

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