- 387
- Snaykinn
- Snaykinn
Hey folks,
Well, Day 1 of E3 has come and gone and I just wanted to drop a thread discussing my thoughts on playing the demo today.
Well, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be playing again tomorrow. I didn't get too much face time with the game (compared to the all the time that I spent at the show), but that will come soon enough. For example, I don't remember exactly how many cars that I was able to choose from or I don't remember exactly what tracks were playable - which shouldn't be a problem since there is a ton of coverage on the game. But I wanted to give you sort of a grassroots opinion of my experience.
First off, I did feel a little guilty considering that there were others waiting to play and I spent a good 15 minutes with it. I started with a short guided demo of the photo-op side of the game. Kinda cool, but not really my cup of tea. Kudos for putting it in the game, but I really don't see me putting too much face time into that aspect (compared to actually racing). The picture quality was nothing short of amazing - hi-res digital postcard sized printouts look as if they're professionally printed. I got a couple of samples in-hand. It's a time-passer for me, but I could easily see that it could easily engross others with the breadth options and output available.
After my samples and demo I scooted over to an adjacent demo kiosk with someone running on what I thought was the Piazza course. After he finished I hopped on. I should mention that I was on stand up Dual Shock kiosk. I know there was a row of sit down Driving Force Pro stations, but I didn't see if they had any stand up DFP kiosks. I don't recall if I picked the course first or picked the car first. All I know is that I had to make up my mind: run the N'Ring or flash my "skillz" with one of the GT4 Prologue courses. I chose the former - I mean, who would pass up to see Yamauchi-san and team's version of that killer German track.
I believe that I spent a good five minutes trying to pick a car. They had three options above for cars and in the main bulk of the screen had logos represent each of the car makes available. First I tried the upper catagory for new and concept cars. I back out and decided to look at my favorite makes: Saleen, Ford, Shelby, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Subaru. My final selection was the Shelby Cobra.
So there it was, the Shelby Cobra and the 'Ring. Best of all - the Cobra was top-down baby. Driver visible and animated and all. My first observation was that of the track. I've seen pictures and video of the Ring and I have to say that the GT version of the Ring looks really thin. It seemed as if the track barely had room for two cars to run side by side. I really can't cast judgement there because I have never been to the Ring and I have yet to see any direct comparison of the game's version and the real thing.
Next up - driving feel. Felt good, what more do I need to say? OK, OK. Here you go...I experience the 2 jumps somewhere along my run - first time in recollection where I completely lost contact with the ground on a tarmac course. Other than that, I also felt that the driving was a bit "touchy." I assuming this was a Dual Shock quirk and not the game. I say that because the steering was a whole lot more sensitive that what I've played at home for GT3 and GT4P. The response and feel where great - very easy to pick up and drive. I didn't really need to adjust much (in terms of driving style) outside of being a lot more ginger with the thumbsticks (yes, right analog stick gas and brake are back).
Lastly - drifting. I know drifting is a love-hate thing for many GT drivers out there. While I do drift (simply because it's breathed new life into my GT3 playtime), it's not something that I've devoted a lot of time in perfecting. With that said, I'm far from bad - but I've seen a whole lot of people here that can drift better than I. I was amused at impressing some onlookers with a chain drift in that Cobra. Now that I'm mentioning it, I do remember a lack of wheelsmoke (whether it was completely missing or just underused is unkown at this point).
Tomorrow (actually later today as I type this), I'm going to try again - along with going to try to play the PSP, and Forza Motorsport and bunch of other crap that I missed today. Which brings me to another point....
I had mentioned a long time ago that I was going and I'd be willing to check out some games that some of you want a closer look at. So I will do my best to get to some of those games. I've already played Enthusia Racing, SRS (sat in an actual R34 while I was waiting to play that), Taiko Drum Master, Donkey Conga, Ratchet and Clank 3, Rumble Roses, Front Mission 4, sat in on the HL2 showing. All in all, that actually doesn't sound like much. But I've got a few friends in the industry that are spread around and E3 is a great time to meet up with those friends and catch up on old times.
So there you have - my apologies for the long read (if you've made it this far).
Well, Day 1 of E3 has come and gone and I just wanted to drop a thread discussing my thoughts on playing the demo today.
Well, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be playing again tomorrow. I didn't get too much face time with the game (compared to the all the time that I spent at the show), but that will come soon enough. For example, I don't remember exactly how many cars that I was able to choose from or I don't remember exactly what tracks were playable - which shouldn't be a problem since there is a ton of coverage on the game. But I wanted to give you sort of a grassroots opinion of my experience.
First off, I did feel a little guilty considering that there were others waiting to play and I spent a good 15 minutes with it. I started with a short guided demo of the photo-op side of the game. Kinda cool, but not really my cup of tea. Kudos for putting it in the game, but I really don't see me putting too much face time into that aspect (compared to actually racing). The picture quality was nothing short of amazing - hi-res digital postcard sized printouts look as if they're professionally printed. I got a couple of samples in-hand. It's a time-passer for me, but I could easily see that it could easily engross others with the breadth options and output available.
After my samples and demo I scooted over to an adjacent demo kiosk with someone running on what I thought was the Piazza course. After he finished I hopped on. I should mention that I was on stand up Dual Shock kiosk. I know there was a row of sit down Driving Force Pro stations, but I didn't see if they had any stand up DFP kiosks. I don't recall if I picked the course first or picked the car first. All I know is that I had to make up my mind: run the N'Ring or flash my "skillz" with one of the GT4 Prologue courses. I chose the former - I mean, who would pass up to see Yamauchi-san and team's version of that killer German track.
I believe that I spent a good five minutes trying to pick a car. They had three options above for cars and in the main bulk of the screen had logos represent each of the car makes available. First I tried the upper catagory for new and concept cars. I back out and decided to look at my favorite makes: Saleen, Ford, Shelby, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Subaru. My final selection was the Shelby Cobra.
So there it was, the Shelby Cobra and the 'Ring. Best of all - the Cobra was top-down baby. Driver visible and animated and all. My first observation was that of the track. I've seen pictures and video of the Ring and I have to say that the GT version of the Ring looks really thin. It seemed as if the track barely had room for two cars to run side by side. I really can't cast judgement there because I have never been to the Ring and I have yet to see any direct comparison of the game's version and the real thing.
Next up - driving feel. Felt good, what more do I need to say? OK, OK. Here you go...I experience the 2 jumps somewhere along my run - first time in recollection where I completely lost contact with the ground on a tarmac course. Other than that, I also felt that the driving was a bit "touchy." I assuming this was a Dual Shock quirk and not the game. I say that because the steering was a whole lot more sensitive that what I've played at home for GT3 and GT4P. The response and feel where great - very easy to pick up and drive. I didn't really need to adjust much (in terms of driving style) outside of being a lot more ginger with the thumbsticks (yes, right analog stick gas and brake are back).
Lastly - drifting. I know drifting is a love-hate thing for many GT drivers out there. While I do drift (simply because it's breathed new life into my GT3 playtime), it's not something that I've devoted a lot of time in perfecting. With that said, I'm far from bad - but I've seen a whole lot of people here that can drift better than I. I was amused at impressing some onlookers with a chain drift in that Cobra. Now that I'm mentioning it, I do remember a lack of wheelsmoke (whether it was completely missing or just underused is unkown at this point).
Tomorrow (actually later today as I type this), I'm going to try again - along with going to try to play the PSP, and Forza Motorsport and bunch of other crap that I missed today. Which brings me to another point....
I had mentioned a long time ago that I was going and I'd be willing to check out some games that some of you want a closer look at. So I will do my best to get to some of those games. I've already played Enthusia Racing, SRS (sat in an actual R34 while I was waiting to play that), Taiko Drum Master, Donkey Conga, Ratchet and Clank 3, Rumble Roses, Front Mission 4, sat in on the HL2 showing. All in all, that actually doesn't sound like much. But I've got a few friends in the industry that are spread around and E3 is a great time to meet up with those friends and catch up on old times.
So there you have - my apologies for the long read (if you've made it this far).
Next year I will be, probably. 
