Wow, how did I miss out on this game for so many years?

  • Thread starter Davey
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I haven't posted on these forums in many years. I used to post in the GT2 forums, and run a weekly race there. I played GT2 over the summer, and I was thinking, man I could use a new racing game. GT3 and GT4 just didn't excite me that much, nothing like the experience of GT2.

So I bought Enthusia, for seven bucks shipped on eBay. And wow, this game is GREAT.

The physics are great, the graphics are great (maybe not as good as GT4's, but there are some beautiful tracks), I personally dig the music...and the game has something that GT4 and G3 were missing....ITS FUN. G4 was never really FUN to play. You weren't rewarded for challenging yourself, you weren't penalized for driving recklessly.

Wow, I've only spent a few days with this game...I'm a rank 23 driver, or so...but I can already tell it's going to be one of my favorite racing games of all time, up there with GT2, Live for Speed, and arcade favorites NFS: Most Wanted and TXR0.

Awesome game.
 
Yeah, the game is dirt cheap these days -- goes to show how hard it bombed. Anyone who hasn't tried it yet has no reason not to.

Welcome to the forum, Davey. :)
 
I picked Enthusia off the shelf yesterday. It went on the shelf in the first place because the graphics and track selection were a bit weak. The car selection filter menu was horrible to work with.

I like the physics model better than in GT4, where I could not get the TVR Tamora to oversteer. If Enthusia had clutch pedal support on the G25, then it would tide me over until GT5 is out. I need to unlock the Ring.
 
Only gripes I had with this game was the fact that they decided the handbrake takes a few seconds to apply, and while some people say they really recreated the weight of the cars in the game, to me it just felt sluggish and unresponsive.

Other than that is was much fun.👍
 
Bought this one on a whim (for my cockpit racing rig) and love it - find it more challenging than GT4 and more enjoyable. Not bad for a 6.99 used purchase. This is a hidden gem.


-Chapman
 
alright...got it. First impressions - it's unresponsive compared to GT, but probably more realistic that way. Really impressed with the list of excuses a car can take when it wants to spin. Spin after down shift, spin after heavy braking when turing ect.
 
I always wanted to play the game, never got around to it until a few months ago when I found it on the shelf for four dollars. Unlike many of you, I didn't come away with such positive impressions about the game at first. However, I can understand why people love it so much.

Here's what I don't like. Enthusia isn't very user friendly at all. To a first time player, the career mode is complicated and confusing (In the beginning, I had trouble even selecting my car!) Now this might just be because I'm an idiot, which is a strong possibility. But I was expecting to jump in and have fun, the same way I did with GT4. I soon learned that you just don't "jump in" to Enthusia.

I remember being extremely frustrated at the fact that the game was punishing me just because I couldn't keep my first rear-wheel drive car on the road. The physics are good in some areas and bad in others. For one, nearly every car in GT4 drove the same (there was little distinction between a Lotus Elise and a Dodge Viper). In Enthusia, every car feels different. Each has its own distinct personality and level of difficulty. While that is good, some just have waaaaay too steep a learning curve. The Caterham R500 is a perfect example. Eventually, I just got sick of spinning out at 30 mph. So, I put the game down for a few months.

I've come back to it now, and tried to adjust my driving style to fit the game, instead of playing it the way I would play other driving sims. I am slightly better than I used to be, but I still think the physics are a bit too floaty. It's almost like driving in pudding, in a way (I'm sure it would be better if I had a wheel, the DualShock doesn't feel adequate enough for a game like this). But boy, is it rewarding when you finally get the right line through a corner. The frustration didn't end there though. For some reason, I can't seem to advance in Enthusia Life. I'm still very early in the game (only at about rank 850 or so) and I can't move on. I'm not crashing much, and most of my Enthu points are still intact when I finish a race. I'm also winning the majority of my races. Maybe I'm switching cars too often? Whatever the case is, I'm working on it.

The good? The car list is absolutely brilliant. I've never played another racing game that was tailored to my personal tastes so well: BMW M3 and M1, Aston DB5, Bugatti EB110, Lancia 037, Delta, and Stratos, Mercedes CLK DTM, touring cars, rally cars, prototypes...the list goes on and on! I may not actually be able to drive all of these, but that's not the point :indiff:. And it has the Nurburgring, the greatest circuit ever built. Best four dollars I've ever spent!

Anyway, to put this long and rambling post to an end, even if you don't come away loving Enthusia, you'll still have a decent time with it. The experience as a whole could be symbolized by the game's intro. It may be strange and awkward, but at least it's interesting enough to keep me watching. Plus, it's good for a few laughs every time I boot it up. :D
 
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The physics in EPR are very good. Watch the replays & the behaviour of the cars is more realistic than in GT5P. However, a lot of the other things about the game: the strange gameplay structure (no you're not the only one to find this confusing!), poor AI & collision physics, murky graphics & rudimentry tuning, all conspire against the overall success of the game.

The only thing that works really well in the game IMO,is time trials, where you can concentrate on just driving the car fast & enjoying the demanding & detailed physics. If EPR had a good online component it would be a much more worthwhile game...
 
TeamStig, you are probably not advancing muchj in Enthusia Life because you are picking cars that are "too good" for the competition. Enthusia heavily rewards driving "underdogs" (you don't even have to win races to get loads of points) and heavily punishes you picking cars that are the best you can use.

Try it.

About EPR being confusing ... I think the opposite. To me, it's brilliant, the way they came up with a system that prevents you to race the best cars all the time, that prevents you to drive like a moron and get away with it. Lots of points systems, odds and calcultions, but the basic principles are very easy to understand and, anyway, the game does the calculations for you.
 
It IS confusing - just figuring out how to select the car you want to drive is confusing!

The problem with the Enthusia mode is, if I remember correctly, as you "upgrade" your car the rating for the car does not change, so you end up with a tuned car that is able to beat the competition easily.

The AI is as dumb as a box of hammers, & that awful "BONK" sound when you hit anything! :ouch: I would take good AI & well-balanced opposition over the Enthusia calculations any day!

Racing EPR online or over a LAN would be fun - I just did a few laps around Wintertraum - that would be hilarious against a RL opponent! 👍
 
I'm not sure what you say about "upgraded" cars getting the same odds as non-upgraded cars is true. I never noticed that.

And the AI was waaayyyy better than GT4 (not difficult, I know), they react to your presence and try to avoid you most of the times. While fighting for position they can get rough, but not as rough as you, but in no way they are "drones" sticking to their line no matter what.

If you search old threads (probably 2005, 2006) you'll find some "tests" of AI behaviour and the relevant conclusions.

About opposition, I also think it was very leveled, apart from the "begginer" (can't recall the exact name) classes where you could own them quite easily. And, of course, the odds system prevented you to resort to "power" to proceede. You could win races, that's true, but you would get so few points that either you would stall in your progression, or indeed fall back, after 12 weeks of trying to win races with the "Best" car.

I tell you, EPR was far ahead of its time, back in 2005. Only thing that made it die for me was the lack of online.
 
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I'm not sure what you say about "upgraded" cars getting the same odds as non-upgraded cars is true. I never noticed that.

I seem to remember that is the way it works - I'll check it out this evening. Dig out your PS2/EPR & give it a try with the G25 - tell me what you think of the FFB compared to FC...
 
TeamStig, you are probably not advancing muchj in Enthusia Life because you are picking cars that are "too good" for the competition. Enthusia heavily rewards driving "underdogs" (you don't even have to win races to get loads of points) and heavily punishes you picking cars that are the best you can use.

Try it.

About EPR being confusing ... I think the opposite. To me, it's brilliant, the way they came up with a system that prevents you to race the best cars all the time, that prevents you to drive like a moron and get away with it. Lots of points systems, odds and calcultions, but the basic principles are very easy to understand and, anyway, the game does the calculations for you.

I didn't know picking a better car would impact your ability to rank up so much. Makes sense though now that you mention it.

I agree about the odds system, I think more games should incorporate it. But I think that EPR tries too hard, especially with the mass of calculations that follow each race. Everything's very structured, to the point where it ceases to be fun when all you want to do is just go out and race. A perfect example is how if you change your car, you have to sit out for a week and as a result your rank can drop considerably. In my opinion, this is a horrible gameplay element. It prevents the player from experiencing the great variety of vehicles the game has to offer. I realize that Konami really wants the player to "get to know" their garage, but it hurts Enthusia Life significantly.
 
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I seem to recall that sticking with the same car & "upgrading" it to the max was the easiest way to advance through the rankings. Then, with the KOTY race all bets were off, as the AI cars seemed to drive much faster in the KOTY race, so it was important to arrive at the KOTY race with the right car for the AI opponents.
 
I just got my copy

Did some time attacks with an Evo, R32 GTR and NSX to get a feel for the physics
Pretty good, the physics are nice. Sorta like LFS

played with the dual shock so far. Started Enthusia life with a Mini, it's up to level 7 now. Rather surprised by the large amount of lift off oversteer at stock settings. But dropping the Mini down, and stiffening it to the made made it more neutral

Just won the Renault 5 turbo. My first decent car. An MR car, and it's pretty grippy unlike GT4 MR cars. I was expecting lots of oversteer, but it's actually fairly neutral!

feels a bit funny on the dual shock, due to the large amount of controller input smoothing. If they had more settings for the pad it would have been better. Will try the DFGT wheel next
 
Man I just took an 180sx on Tsubuka with my DFGT wheel and I haven't experienced such pure drifting fun in a game yet. Not even in LFS :)

Physics feel real good!

The R32 GTR I tried afterwards felt so different, it's more of a straight time attack mode car, than for drifting, stock
 
Yeah. I just bought this too. And to be honest, I really like it. I also bought an xbox360 and forza. I prefer the idea behind this. The point of driving cleanly. So far I got to say, that I wish they had continued with the series. It does get addictive on the part where you drive throught the gates. Really good fun.
 
I won the C5 Corvette today, and certainly feels meaty and torquey. It actually sounds like a V8 unlike the cars in GT4!

seems a lot easier to drift this sucker with a DFGT wheel, without as much snap back of some of the other cars I've tried drifting - sweet.
Although I only calibrated my wheel to 720 degrees - 360 each way
 
hi all
physic is great (so much better than GT4... troll inside), it's sad there is way too much oversteer and the controls are averaged and therefore laggy (even with the G25). I like the pad experience even though it's hard as hell
Free Racing is the mode I prefer, trying to win without the black flag (that is, NEVER touching anything)... frustrating, but rewarding
 
Welcome guys!
CoolColJ, so you're saying DFGT works fine with Enthusia? I've read somewhere that there are some problems with compatibility with PS2, did you try it with other games like GT4?
Hope you Nigo will post some times in my Tsukuba thread.
 
DFGT works fine in Enthusia and GT4. Not a single issue :)
You even get to calibrate the DFGT as to how many degrees of rotation you want to use in Enthusia

Not all buttons are supported though.
 
Tried it today. Looks like being a lot more fun when I am better at it.
Anyone work out how to drive the airport square, or even what its purpose is?
 

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