Test Drive Unlimited Playstation 2

Looks like you're having some good fun there, John. I've actually made a map of interesting places on the island, since I don't play anymore i'd be happy to show you a few of the fun, windy roads which I've found while playing. There are a few long, fun roads near the North East tip of the island so look around there, you'll be satisfied.
 
I've played the 1971 Trans-Am in a variety of games. Now, I have recently grown more respectful of the 1971 Trans-Am. Games I've raced this car in include PGR2, Enthusia, and ToCA RD 3. It's a lovely car.

I recently got Test Drive 4 (a PS1 game) once to really take note of what the Test Drive series is all about. The Test Drive games (from the ones I've played) are arcade-style games. However, the cars drive quite realistically. Anyone playing a Need for Speed game expecting the same thrills in Test Drive will be sadly mistaken. I've learned this the hard way playing TD4. So you have to challenge yourself. The driving physics in TDU don't really allow for casual arcade thrills, especially trying to drift. I sometimes aggressively swing out the car, but don't get any Drift points until the game really notices that I'm sliding like crazy. The most fun I've had drifting is with the Exige. It's a real sports car, but I think even most "boy racer" types would love a car like this. I've had some long road trips trying to explore other parts of the island. I've had trips ranging from 7 miles to about almost 25 miles. My "get there fast" car is the Murciélago. And I'd love to trade the Lambo for the McLaren F1 LM. My current house in the game is its own drift/rally stage. I had to drive 20 miles to get to this race destination from this house. I think you can freely speed on these roads without getting heat from the cops (until you get on roads with traffic). I still cannot really decide on a house I want in the game that doesn't put me too far away from all the different services (realtor, car showrooms, aftermarket tuners, etc.). Some houses seem to look the same as some other places when you do a virtual tour. I'm just glad to look for places to house my cars. I think again about having my own racing team. A lot of the influences from this game will help fuel future Gran Turismo threads. So stay tuned!

But... I am enjoying this game. It's a great title even for offline racers like myself. This isn't like Counter-Strike in which online is required. You can still have as much fun offline with this game than any other that offers online as an option. Still sad some of the stuff in the other versions missing in this PS2 version. Stuff like motorcycles and a few other cars. I even thought I've found this "secret island at times. I even do some island-hopping trying to access as many roads as possible. Best thing about this game is that it's almost completely non-linear. Races will have different requirements, but you never feel forced to race certain cars in abysmal conditions. It's great stuff. What sticks out at me most is how iimmersive and believable everything is. Think about going into car showroom and actually touching the cars. Some of the car rooms themselves are greatly detailed. Maybe some of them seem pretty low-res on the PS2. Just don't tell that to the cars in these showrooms. Just absolutely believable and real. You may not live to have a $2M house with over $2M total in cars enjoying the good life in Honolulu. However, you can have this much fun racing and exploring a vast environment without having to do GTA-style missions. Just a wonderful concept executed quite well.
 
Okay. This post is a little house chat. My current house in this rental run is the Lost Keaau House somewhere along the western coast of Oahu Island. It holds eight cars and is quite lovely. The modern-style house I'm talking about is the Wailaie Beach Terrace. It also holds eight cars. The Waialae Beach Terrace is along the southeastern coast of Oahu Island and not too far away from your first house (Wapahu Village). The house I was talking about with the beautiful glass window portions on the roof of the garage is Green Valley, which costs 3,500,000 Credits. This is a house I'd LOVE to have in TDU when I get a lot of money in the game. The amemnities in this house are amazing. The inside is like a fancy office or a fairly decent urban university or college.

As of this post, I have now bought the Waialae Beach Terrace by exchanging houses. My rental session is over. Now it's about getting this game and living la vida buena (the good life)... in the game, at least.
 
I didn't know that, and I haven't tried that. I can still imagine being behind the wheel of some of those cars while at those showrooms and rental places. But I mean in real life. How often do you get to get into a McLaren F1, even if virtually? My family and I are going to make an effort to get this game, even if used.
 
I was able to find Test Drive Unlimited used. Trouble is, I'm having trouble with the disc itself. I've cleaned it a few times with my aging SkipDR, but loading the map for an extended period of time (somewhere north of 10-15 seconds trying to find something) results in the disc skipping and ending up freezing. I'm trying to clean the disc so that my joy of finally getting this game doesn't become tainted.

PERSONAL TRIVIA:
Last two games that I've cleaned multiple times and eventually worked: used copies of "Grand Theft Auto 3" and "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City." The GTA3 disc worked a little better when I first got it, but I wasn't able to go do something in the game. The GTA:VC disc didn't get past the final loading screen when a game starts up. I've beaten both games since the cleaning.
 
JohnBM01
I didn't know that, and I haven't tried that. I can still imagine being behind the wheel of some of those cars while at those showrooms and rental places. But I mean in real life.
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Agreed. The car showrooms are a great addition to the game, and better than that you can test drive, and look inside the cars, check out the interior etc. I guess thats what TDU is meant to do. Its meant to make you enjoy your favourite supercars and take them for a drive on a stunning island.

PS. Hope TDU works for you. 👍
 
I had eight cars, 17K in Credits, the Wai-something Beach Terrace, 16% completion, Expert Status... now it's all gone. Reason? This screwy disc. I have to start all over again as I tried to record another race win by doing the "Hawaii 5-Whoa!" event. The game tried to save, but was skipping and eventually froze. So I'm having to start all over again (or hope a better version of the game is available at another store or from the same store I got this from). Yes, I have to start all over again. However, experience is on my side as I try to regain lost ground and make a better run in this game.

My mom may likely try to get another copy of the game since this one is all screwed up. Well, not ALL screwed up, but skips at inopportune times.
 
Doesn't the store you bought it from have a return/refund/exchange policy? Since the disc is faulty they should take it back and replace it or give you your money back. If they don't have the policy, 👎 to them. The game takes a fair while to complete so if you're disc is faulty it's fairly unlikely you'll get a chance to complete it.
 
I got ADSL2+ now, which means no more lag! I'll probably be playing TDU a bit more than usual, don't be afraid to come near me :P I'll also need to start TDU again, I'm clogged up with filters ATM/
 
I had my used version of "Test Drive Unlimited" traded in for a new one. The guy behind the counter let me be able to turn it in for store credit. They didn't have another used TDU available, so I was able to get one new TDU copy knocked off by about 16 dollars. So I'm now back and ready to be the coolest cat on Oahu Island!

I've been trying to work through the ranks as best as I can. I've run my first Speed championship (didn't know there was one until I ran "Four of a Kind"). I blew it out of the water as I was able to clear it with my tuned Mustang. I ended up getting me an AC 289 for my efforts. I've climbed back up to the Amateur ranks. My of-the-moment fun car is the Shelby GT500. The big upgrade for this car allows me to enjoy going sideways and racking up Master Points. It's a blast. I'm considering going to Club E, the Mustang Car Club, and the Muscle Car Club with this one car. It's all about getting as close to my original status as much as I can. So I'll try to do that over the weekend. And by the way, this new version works just fine. No worries so far.
 
Hope you two don't mind if I interrupt.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the game John... It is a brilliant game.

When my games store sold me my copy, they gave me an additional $5 option to place a clear protector on the bottom of the disk. So far the game hasn't actually been scratched in any way, but I thought it was a good little idea/investment. 👍

I tested this game a few days ago over the PS3's wireless network to see how it varied from our older (wired) connection... and it worked a treat. Problem is, now that it's on the PS3, I don't have my PS2 saved game to use any more. Yeah, I felt a bit like an idiot cruising around with a group of supercars... in a rental :lol:. Still, if both of you guys are able to connect online one night, I'll consider hooking up the PS2 in the study for a few races :).

Yes Turbo_Lag. I remember a bunch of us (4-5 people) use to jump into our GT500's each night and drift about through the hills for hours. It became a tradition... and was great fun. They were great people to drive with.
 
Turbo_Lag? You've already forgotten my username :( It's actually TURBOLAG, since I didn't know simple letters were available lol. I'm now online on TDU alot, and I don't lag. There are one or two problems; I can't access my friends list, or enter any diners. So keep a look out for me around ;)

Just finished having some fun with some friends 👍 (NASU & RUNYA) Was great fun, hope to see them again :)
 
'Turbo_Lag' was used reffering to your GTP username. But anyway... you can't access diners? Disk problems or something?
 
I got a 'diagnosis' on my problem. If any menu has access to 'friend list', it simply dies. I have too many friends on TDU, so I can only cruise now.
 
Latest update... I got my chance to regain the Wailaie Beach Terrace back. So I retain my home on the eastern coast of Oahu Island. I thought it was the only house that looked like that, but there are some other beach terraces that kind of look like the one I now have. I've now seen some importance in getting multiple houses. I'm considering getting seperate houses to be on different ends of Oahu Island so that I don't have to travel too far to get to one place. I seem to enjoy drifting Fords in this game more than anything. I do have a nice Lotus Exige that can go sideways quite well, but Fords seem to be the best drift cars in this game. My latest Ford is the Ford GT. Here is my current garage:

House: Waialae Beach Terrace (Southeastern Oahu Island)
* Lamborghini Murciélago Coupe
* Chrysler 300C SRT-8
* Lotus Sport Exige
* Shelby GT500
* Noble M400
* Caterham CSR 260
* Mercedes-Benz CLK 55 AMG
* Ford GT

I'm going to try to get the Kalaia Terrace to stay in tune with northern Oahu island. Meanwhile, I have a little advice for some of you inexperienced gamers. If going on a long trip across the island, it helps to visit any accessable areas. This way, you'll be able to reference to a certain point when making a long trip. I've had at least 7-10 long trips (long trips meaning anything more than 10 miles) to get to a certain destination. It helps to visit anything that can be accessed. These places include rental spots, houses for sale, car dealers, aftermarket tuners, etc. If your destination does not include any certain access points, it's best to find the closest key location to go for a quicker trip. It doesn't hurt to explore the rest of the island, but just make it easier by finding some of the quickest and most accessable points you've been able to reach.
 
What I did at the start of the game was, cruise around the edge of the whole island. Then next day, cruised all over the middle just incase. Nice to see you've acquired the GT500, it is one awesome car. Right now, my internet has nearly died, i'm for some reason at normal DSL speeds, not DSL2+ so no more TDU for a bit :(
 
Latest stuff to chat about is on a major car purchase of mine. Some professional sports teams ship certain players across the landscape to acquire big-name players. Well, I traded over my Lamborghini Murciélago, Lamborghini Miura, and Shelby Cobra Concept among some other cars. This was all to get... the McLaren F1 GT. It's sad that you can't paint it in any color besides orange, because I'd love to paint it in the same blue color as "Viper Blue" for the Caterham CSR 260. What can I say? This damn car is freaking fast! I netted about 21,000+ Master points in a three-lap race that included hills and top speed areas. It was the most points I accumulated in one race. I'm at Expert level with about 800,000+ (or maybe 900,000+ Master Points). So I'm not too far away from getting that Lamborghini Countach. One of the sad moments for me with this McLaren is that I was about to win after a guy roughed me up a bit. In a drag race to the finish line, I was beat out by a Koenigsegg. I'm not sure which one it was, the CC 8S I think it's called. Overall, I've just been going to the racing clubs and taking care of business.

The following is from Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Drive_Unlimited ):

Things missing from PS2 and PSP versions:
* manual transmission
* avatar customization
* certain vehicles (no Ferraris, Maseratis, and all motorcycles)
* certain mission types (top model, courier, vehicle transportation, and hitchhikers)
* cockpit view (missing from PSP only)
* background characters in buildings
* rear-view and side mirrors not functionable
* some shops, like custom car pain
* USB steering wheel support (missing from PS2 only)
* lower visual and audio quality

However, here's what the PS2 and PSP versions have over the XBOX 360 and PC:
* Master Points
* auto GPS
* certain downloadable cars present from the start in PS2/PSP versions

The XBOX 360 and PC versions are best for the overall experience. The PS2 version still isn't so bad that we get completely short-changed. It's still an enjoyable title for what it is and what is packed into the game. There are some qualities I wished would be in the PS2 version:

* weather effects
* night racing
* motorcycles
* custom paint
* background people (the car showrooms seem empty when no one is there to help take your car order)


Overall, I'm not a picky person. I'm very happy playing and now owning this game.
 
It's great to see all of you guys still enjoying the game so much, I do sometimes wish I hadn't traded in my copy so long ago. I would have loved to be playing it again now.

I'm hoping Atari have plans for a Test Drive Unlimited 2, I really think a great concept and seeing how well TDU originally worked especially for 360 and PC. If they could put such a game on PS3 I think it could rock this world.
 
I just bought the game, after having rented it once. I found it new for $20!

So, I need to ask one thing: Does anyone know of a method to gain money rapidly near the beginning of the game? It would really be nice to have a bit of money at my disposal so I'm not tied to the prize cars. I can, of course, buy cars (I've got $120K), but not houses, so this'll end quickly.

Also, it was said earlier in this thread that someone found a house with its own "rally/drift stage." Where is this house? I've only found the two houses in the middle-Southeast of the map, with their own paved touge courses. While those are really cool houses, I've not found a dirt road yet.

Still a fun game to play, this. And, it seems like it'll take a while to beat, so replayability isn't an issue.

But, is anyone else slightly annoyed that the Alfa Romeo GT V6 is rear-wheel-drive in this game?
 
Speedster502
I'm hoping Atari have plans for a Test Drive Unlimited 2, I really think a great concept and seeing how well TDU originally worked especially for 360 and PC. If they could put such a game on PS3 I think it could rock this world.
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It's been reported from Atari that they would make TDU 2 for the PS3, all I've heard that there will be trucks and an offroad mode. (in addition to all the exotic cars and such)
 
I've answered my own question through playing. I was nearly broke mastering car clubs, so I started doing the random races in my Alfa Romeo. An hour later, I had 4 cars and enough money to (barely) comfortably buy a new, bigger, house. I drove all around the island to visit all the realtors (I'm still not certain why), and discovered that meeting a realtor reveals some new buyable houses. I looked at all the houses in remote areas, trying to find a dirt road, and didn't, but I did find the single most epic touge connected to a reasonable house to buy.

The Mikaala Grand View, purchasable at the Waimanalo Realtor, has a 6-car garage, costs an only slightly steep $319,500, and goes about its business with a very upscale, fancy demeanor. But, who cares about that; the Makapuu Meditation (purchasable at the Waimanalo Realtor) is cheaper, at $305,000, and houses 8 cars. No,the bit we (should) care about is how you approach the house. The Makapuu Meditation has a 1.6 mile deserted road leading up to it, and, while it is slightly curvy, it is relatively straight and flat. The Mikaala Grand View, however, has something much, much better: It has 4.6 miles of completely deserted, fiendishly twisty and steep, tarmac. It is psychotically fun.

To paraphrase: The Waimanalo Realtor has two excellent houses in the Northwest mountains for a reasonable $300,000ish pricetag. The Makapuu Meditation is a great house with a good road, and the Mikaala Grand View is a good house with a great road. I definitely recommend that everyone here looks into these two excellent houses. They're so much better than just buying a second house with another 4-car garage.

EDIT: My bad, I meant to say 'Lost Keaau', not 'Makapuu Meditation.' Sorry. Either way, the data's the same, and both houses rock.
 
If you dig up the thread a bit, near the middle I posted a race which gives you around 40k/min or something like that. Its near the South-West-ish kind of corner.
 
This post has nothing to do with playing Test Drive Unlimited. However, the latest edition of Speed Channel's "SuperCars Exposed" featured some of the supercars from Test Drive Unlimited in Hawaii. I'm assuming Oahu Island. Like... I can relate to doing this! The cars featured on the show were the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, Ferrari F430 (not sure which version, Ferrari's AWOL in PS2 version), and the Ford GT. I don't think most of the drivers have 900,000 Master Points (not even Tanner Foust (host of "SuperCars Exposed")).
 
I am a Master! I'm finally a Master! I ran the Supercar series of races and finally gained the coveted Masters badge. Here are my statistics as I completed the series and headed back home:

Playing Time - 12:17:10
Player Level - Master
Master Points - 1,073,673
Gold Cups - 77
Silver Cups - 4
Bronze Cups - 3
Cars Owned - 12
Houses Owned - 2
Times Arrested - 0 (since restarting the game for the third time, not arrested)

I made a visit to a new place in my journey around the island. There's this Oahu Raceway in the Supercar races. It was a legit race track where us racers can go around without worrying about the po-po's (slang for police). Then again, TDU doesn't glorify street racing.

I took a look at some of the Master races as I was looking around the island. Two races stunned me because of their length. One was South to North, a 46.7 mile race in Diamond Head. There is a race called "NWSE" around Ka'ena Point that's 54 miles long. But that's not the kicker. Around Honolulu Airport is "Coastal Dream." Coastal Dream is a one-lap race that lasts a whopping 103.6 miles! Winner wins 525,000 credits! And if this super-long race isn't bad enough, it's part of a series! This is a real test of endurance where A-Class cars are required. For all I care, they may as well have a super-endurance that has you racing around the perimter of Oahu Island. Coastal Dream is an extremely-long point-to-point race (I haven't raced it yet as of this post). This almost kind of reminds me of when I played "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" and raced the Vice City Enduro, which took you around Vice City in an ultimate endurance. Let's put this to perspective. The Nürburgring Nordschleife is about 12.1 or 13.1 miles long. Racing the length of Coastal Dream is about the eqivalent of racing 9.5 to 9.7 laps around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Faster cars that go around this track (using GT4 as my basis) mean you'll be racing this Coastal Dream from anywhere between 75 minutes (1:15:00) to 90 minutes (1:30:00). So if you have a fear of racing extremely long courses and events and all in a losing effort... you'd better win on your very first try!

I went ahead and used my money to purchase the Kewalo Palace. This is my first home that can house ten cars. Actually, Kewalo Palace is a bargain as far as 10-car houses go. It costs about 990,000 without exchanging any house. This costs less than almost any other 10-car house in the game. Some houses you can buy kind of look the same once you really start sorting out the different kinds of houses. There's never a truly unique house from another. The same house styles are prevalent no matter what house you are buying. I'm not going to really go to the level of "if you've seen one... you've seen them all," but look after a while when you start going to different realtors and different houess. There is no one unique house.

Something I've taken note of with houses is how the car you're currently using is closer to the exit of the garage than the other cars. Take an eight-car garage, for example. The one you're currently using is closer to the exit of the garage area than any of the other cars. The garage to the Kewalo Palace was kind of a garage I had in mind when I did my GT5 thread on immersive elements as far as a primary garage goes.

Latest updates are that I've traveled to the northwestern edge of the island finally. I bought two four-car houses so that I can cut down on driving distance in certain areas. The key areas I wanted to focus on were western Oahu Island and eastern Oahu island. I may think about finding a home in central Oahu island, but there are no events within central Oahu Island. I may even look for a good house in far northern Oahu Island. I learned that Green Valley was in northern Oahu Island. Most of the races and stuff I've seen were mostly in southern and southeastern Oahu Island. So it's probably not too good to go make your primary house in anywhere other than the area where you start off. You have those secondary houses mostly to (at least to me) drive from one region of the island so that you can make it to races close by rather than driving for lots of miles at a time. You also have those other houses to increase the total number of cars you can carry.
 
Last night, had an awesome time with "COOLCATZ". We drove around and went off-roading quite a bit. Although another player who I will not name kind of screwed us up. Was a great time 👍
 
New favourite car: Jaguar E-Type. It has reasonably good grip, and goes through the corners with a joyous, wheelspin-free inertia drift. The interior is gorgeous fromt he rear-view wood-paneled floor to the interesting steering wheel emblem. The acceleration isn't remarkable in the least, but the top speed is pretty high. This, of course, is due to the aerodynamics of the car: There isn't much thrust, but the acceleration doesn't really deteriorate as speed rises. With most cars, the feeling of acceleration is a burst of speed, violents at first, but eventually fragile. This car, though, accelerates like an unstoppable force of nature, despite it's class E ranking meaning it doesn't accelerate very quickly.

It's a *gentle* unstoppable force of nature.
 
I'm considering buying this game, pretty much just to cruise around and have fun in supercars, so how is it in that regard? Some questions I have:

- Is there a decent amount of tight, twisty roads, as well as high-speed stretches? This especially got me excited, but I hope it's not the only road like it:

EA11R
4.6 miles of completely deserted, fiendishly twisty and steep, tarmac.
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- How about closed-circuit race tracks? I thought I heard a while back that there was one.
- Are the cool tunnel echoes retained from the 360 game?
- Is this car list 100% accurate?
- How many cars can the biggest garage hold, and is it possible to own all the cars in the game at once?
- And most importantly, how are the driving physics? Similar to another PS2 racer?
 

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