- 1,766
Ok, I'm at college now and have to wait for at least an hour so I'll type up my first experience with the game. Yesterday I played it for about 3 hours and kinda got an impression of the game.
I started off with the B license test. My goal was to get at least silver in every test, and after a little longer than an hour I managed to do so, including 3 golds, 2 on the first 2 accellerate / brake tests and one on the Laguna Seca track behind the pace car (I aimed for silver but actually went from bronze to gold, very nice surprise). Not using my two prize cars I continued the game looking for a nice 2nd hand car.
I bought the Nissan S13 Silvia, I forgot whether it was K's or Q's, but it started with 202hp, so it is the fast version. I tried driving the sunday cup without installing any other components (which I could afford with my residue of funds, but decided not to). Thinking I'd have bought a relatively slow car I blew the competition away which consisted of slow mini vans and light weight cars like the 206 convertible etc. This didn't get me many a-spec points, and I didn't finish this cup yet because it isn't any fun like that. So I went to the Nissan Silvia cup at the Nissan dealer. To my surprise I wasn't offered many a-spec points for this race either, while the competition was pretty much the same as my own car. As a matter of fact, on the long straights they all out-accellerated me and had higher top speeds, so I lost these races a couple of times. I made enough cash for some upgraded brakes, 1st stage of weight reduction and a racing fly wheel. Because of this I managed to win a Sileighty which I didn't try yet. Then I tried the Clubman cup, but it is impossible to win that with my car right now.
That's how far I got with the game, because then I had to go to sleep so I would be able to function normally today.
Having played GT2 for ages and ages, I was suprised by the new physics, I really needed some time to get used to it, and the new 'old' tracks do feel different enough that I didn't know where to brake at times. Especially with my crappy old S13, cornering anywhere near the perfect line at a decent speed is hard, very hard. I don't mind that though, but I do have some things I was slightly disappointed in with the game.
* Car descriptions, I didn't think it was such a great deal, but now I experience not having them, I do miss them. The descriptions for the car dealers also scroll way too fast for me to read (English is not my first language).
* Music, GT was never known for its incredible soundtrack, but this time it is really god awful, the songs I heard so far anyway. The cars do sound a whole lot better than GT2 (yes, I didnt buy GT3 when I got my PS2 2 years ago because I expected GT4 to come out soon).
*Tracks, there are a lot of tracks in GT4, but way too many resemble test tracks, the ones I played do anyway. You have a test course, a speedway which is an egg shaped test course, and some others practically are the same, but have a chicane inserted into the track and then they label it a new track... wtf. Of course half of the tracks are still locked, but I don't particulary enjoy driving the same oval over and over again.... definitely not after some time when I figured out how the game exactly handles.
*The lay-out of the main hall, sorry, but randomly scattered icons isn't a very organized way to display. Not really a problem, but still...
*Shortcuts in the menu... I read on this site you could use the R and L buttons to quickly navigate, for some reason that doesn't work in the Euro version... if I'm missing anything please let me know.
*Preview Lap... I thought you could for some reason use it to qualify for a race, that's what someone on this site anyway.... well all it does is showing a demonstration race. If I missed where to do a qualification race, I'd like to know where I can, because almost getting lapped on a 2 lap race while I didn't start yet isn't really a great way to start a race. Especially not if you try to win with a relatively slow car.
These are the few things that kinda disappointed me so far, of course these are almost irrelevant when comparing it to all the good things I saw in the game (which are way to many to mention), but it does show how GT4 can be improved. I liked the lay-out of GT2 better... but that might be because I am used to that.
Anyway, this is my first impression of the game, I can't wait to go home and play some more, but unfortunately I'll be here for another couple of hours.
I started off with the B license test. My goal was to get at least silver in every test, and after a little longer than an hour I managed to do so, including 3 golds, 2 on the first 2 accellerate / brake tests and one on the Laguna Seca track behind the pace car (I aimed for silver but actually went from bronze to gold, very nice surprise). Not using my two prize cars I continued the game looking for a nice 2nd hand car.
I bought the Nissan S13 Silvia, I forgot whether it was K's or Q's, but it started with 202hp, so it is the fast version. I tried driving the sunday cup without installing any other components (which I could afford with my residue of funds, but decided not to). Thinking I'd have bought a relatively slow car I blew the competition away which consisted of slow mini vans and light weight cars like the 206 convertible etc. This didn't get me many a-spec points, and I didn't finish this cup yet because it isn't any fun like that. So I went to the Nissan Silvia cup at the Nissan dealer. To my surprise I wasn't offered many a-spec points for this race either, while the competition was pretty much the same as my own car. As a matter of fact, on the long straights they all out-accellerated me and had higher top speeds, so I lost these races a couple of times. I made enough cash for some upgraded brakes, 1st stage of weight reduction and a racing fly wheel. Because of this I managed to win a Sileighty which I didn't try yet. Then I tried the Clubman cup, but it is impossible to win that with my car right now.
That's how far I got with the game, because then I had to go to sleep so I would be able to function normally today.
Having played GT2 for ages and ages, I was suprised by the new physics, I really needed some time to get used to it, and the new 'old' tracks do feel different enough that I didn't know where to brake at times. Especially with my crappy old S13, cornering anywhere near the perfect line at a decent speed is hard, very hard. I don't mind that though, but I do have some things I was slightly disappointed in with the game.
* Car descriptions, I didn't think it was such a great deal, but now I experience not having them, I do miss them. The descriptions for the car dealers also scroll way too fast for me to read (English is not my first language).
* Music, GT was never known for its incredible soundtrack, but this time it is really god awful, the songs I heard so far anyway. The cars do sound a whole lot better than GT2 (yes, I didnt buy GT3 when I got my PS2 2 years ago because I expected GT4 to come out soon).
*Tracks, there are a lot of tracks in GT4, but way too many resemble test tracks, the ones I played do anyway. You have a test course, a speedway which is an egg shaped test course, and some others practically are the same, but have a chicane inserted into the track and then they label it a new track... wtf. Of course half of the tracks are still locked, but I don't particulary enjoy driving the same oval over and over again.... definitely not after some time when I figured out how the game exactly handles.
*The lay-out of the main hall, sorry, but randomly scattered icons isn't a very organized way to display. Not really a problem, but still...
*Shortcuts in the menu... I read on this site you could use the R and L buttons to quickly navigate, for some reason that doesn't work in the Euro version... if I'm missing anything please let me know.
*Preview Lap... I thought you could for some reason use it to qualify for a race, that's what someone on this site anyway.... well all it does is showing a demonstration race. If I missed where to do a qualification race, I'd like to know where I can, because almost getting lapped on a 2 lap race while I didn't start yet isn't really a great way to start a race. Especially not if you try to win with a relatively slow car.
These are the few things that kinda disappointed me so far, of course these are almost irrelevant when comparing it to all the good things I saw in the game (which are way to many to mention), but it does show how GT4 can be improved. I liked the lay-out of GT2 better... but that might be because I am used to that.
Anyway, this is my first impression of the game, I can't wait to go home and play some more, but unfortunately I'll be here for another couple of hours.
Even the coffee breaks weren't that tough. Cause they said the European version would be a bit harder, but I don't have problems with getting them. 
GT3 was harder, I think. Anyone? And no, I'm not using gameshark. I hate cheating. 
