Project Gotham Racing 4 update

[phantomhitman]

Word hit early today about a ton of new information coming out in next months (May) OXM Magazine in regard to PGR 4.
Xboxic (http://www.xboxic.com/news/2666)

Enhanced Weather Simulation: “One of the slickest new features in PGR is its weather. Bizarre’s using what it likes to call ‘extreme weather’ for more than just making the sky gray. Water beads up on beautifully on all the gorgeous paintjobs, spray jets out from the tires, and in the in-car view, wipers move and windshields ice up.”
Enhanced Raceway Environments: “A TV-style intro sets up each event, with a commentator offering wisdom…Choppers buzz overhead, camera crews and video vans are everywhere, and hordes of fans line the track. They’ll wear gear with your logo, wave your national flag, and react far more obviously to your performance.”
Extended Car Selection: “PGR4 will deliver a much broader set of vehicles, ranging from a vintage’63 Corvette Sting Ray and the ’54 Maserati 250F to the sleek, ultra-modern Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano.”
On the tracks: “You won’t want to miss out on your viewing time with PGR4’s tracks, which tally up to 200-plus in 10 locations.”
On Xbox Live initiatives: “PGR4’s cooking up a mysterious new matchmaking system (like Halo 2’s).”
On in-car view: ” Bizarre has two key improvements in the works.You’ll now see drivers moving more- feeding the wheel as they zip through turns or pumping their fist after a win. Special effects will also crank up the tension in key moments: you’ll get a shake effect at high speeds, and your vision will blur after spending some quality time with a a wall.”
In conclusion: “PGR4 feels hugely promising- like a proper sequel with loads of cool new toys.”

I have a little bit of experience with PGR 3, lets hope they fix the major bugs in PGR 4.

[Wyrm]

Big fan of PGR3. Best 20 bucks I ever blew on a racing game, and it's got a shitload of content to it. I'm still freaking beating races on different difficulties and buying more cars. If this one is good (and I'm betting it will be), I'll probably pick it up at release.

[sprankton]

Just make it look at sexy ad PGR3 did and I am all there! The new features sound awesome, its like a nice mix of Forza and an arcade racer.

[Dag-Sabot]

Is it just me or is that gaudy magazine cover giving others acid "flashbacks" as well? Ooh now and im tasting lemon for some reason. Big fan, looks cool. But id rather Forza.

[Rirath]

PGR3 is pretty, but I just can't get into it that much. It's the controls I think, too sim for me. I'm hoping PGR4 is a little more approachable.

[zipR]

Holy huge graphic on the front page!

[phantomhitman]

From my standpoint the weather is going to be fun to play around with but going to be a pain in the ass if they chose to use it during lan events. Driving the fastest cars in the game is challenging enough without having to deal with snow/sleet/ice. If the weather affects the track and traction it will be a donut making competition.
They need to kill a few glitches within the game. The shift glitch is not needed but has been around for 4-5 games straight now. The wall riding and bouncing need to be ironed out as well. Only 8-10 more months to wait and see.

[phantomhitman]

PGR3 is pretty, but I just can't get into it that much. It's the controls I think, too sim for me. I'm hoping PGR4 is a little more approachable.
PGR is the perfect balance of sim and arcade. It is a hybrid, always has been. Easy enough to pick up and play but a pain in the ass to master. It catches hell from both sides. Not sim enough for sim players, not arcade enough for arcade players. :p

[Serapth]

Bring back the "normal" cars. PGR felt lame in that regard. There is no real progression. In fact, I used my Ultima I started with for 9/10ths of the game. On many challenges, you simply couldnt beat them unless your car had a full 10 in the speed category, so those other cars got ignored completely.

Bring back the damned Mini's, Focuses and Bugs, that was what made PGR1/2 so much fun. PGR3 lost alot of that fun. Alot.

[phantomhitman]

It has minis and quite a few slower cars. I hate them, I hate them all. After practicing with A class all day I cannot jump into an E class car. PGR is an online game, the single player game has always been overly hard/boring/frustrating.

[Adam Blue]

Yeah, I played through 1 and 2, but didn't bother with 3...I mean, how much different can they get?

[Entropy Effect]

Bring back the "normal" cars. PGR felt lame in that regard. There is no real progression. In fact, I used my Ultima I started with for 9/10ths of the game. On many challenges, you simply couldnt beat them unless your car had a full 10 in the speed category, so those other cars got ignored completely.

Bring back the damned Mini's, Focuses and Bugs, that was what made PGR1/2 so much fun. PGR3 lost alot of that fun. Alot.

I agree with that, the entire progression from compact cars to exotic supercars was a lot of fun in the earlier games, I hope they bring it back in PGR4.

[Disgustipated]

PG$3 is amazing, and I'm thinking PGR4 will be even more fun than Forza 2. It's too bad PGR (and MSR before it) have always been such underrated, underappreciated games.

[phantomhitman]

Yeah, I played through 1 and 2, but didn't bother with 3...I mean, how much different can they get?
From 2 to 3, your kidding right? Just the graphical upgrade alone is worth the purchase price. Lot of options have been moved around, left out, added to, and abandoned. The single player of any racing game loses its bite after a while not matter how good it is.

[Serapth]

It has minis and quite a few slower cars. I hate them, I hate them all. After practicing with A class all day I cannot jump into an E class car. PGR is an online game, the single player game has always been overly hard/boring/frustrating.


See, thats the rub. To me, PGR is about single player first and online second. PGR3 was a big step up online, but the single player was much worse.

[phantomhitman]

True, single player was a different beast altogether. Some of those events drove me absolutely crazy trying to beat but now I can do it with my eyes closed.

[Mr.Green]

Major bugs? What major bugs?

Anyway, not the biggest fan of the kudos system but I still enjoyed PGR3 quite a bit. I can wait for this one though, Forza is where it's at for me.

[rjcc]

this year on the 360 could be the best for racing games on a console ever.

forza 2
colin mcrae
sega rally
pgr4
GTR (?)
burnout 5
Isn't there another rally game also coming out?

then there was that one truck racing game from asobo studios, I dunno if that got a publisher though. there's a couple street racing games coming out, isn't it about time for a next gen midnight club?, and I'm still holding out hope that NASCAR '08 won't suck.

[Serapth]

True, single player was a different beast altogether. Some of those events drove me absolutely crazy trying to beat but now I can do it with my eyes closed.


Kudos in PGR2 were infricking-sane. Some of them required you to string a combo for two completely bloody laps, through the streets of new york. Driving through pylons sideways at 120 mph on a 12 foot wide road, then powersliding around a corner, through another set of pylons, yank the handbreak to break traction going into another skid.... without nudging a wall or cone.

That game was stupid difficult on some challenges. Damned satisfying when you pulled it off though!

[phantomhitman]

Major bugs? What major bugs?

Anyway, not the biggest fan of the kudos system but I still enjoyed PGR3 quite a bit. I can wait for this one though, Forza is where it's at for me.

-Shift Glitch that makes your car go faster
-Online Career that doesnt take 45 minutes to find a room
-Online Career that actually works, they broke the system long ago
-Online Tournaments that doesnt randomly boot people
-Penalties for wall riding, bashing, and grass cutting
-Trueskill system that works
-Hitting the guide button during gameplay gives you a 25% of crashing and having to turn your 360 off
-Kudos glitch in single player that gives you way more money that you are suppose to have only to later penalize you for it
-Lots of people have trouble unlocking gold/ platinum trophies due to a glitch that didnt unlock them after winning the last event
-CLK, F50 GT, and Apollo have randomly disappearing trunks/engine covers when you hit the wall hard. Only graphical problems

That is off of the top of my head.

[BrokenSymmetry]

lets hope they fix the major bugs in PGR 4.

I have never heard of (or experienced) any "major bugs" in PGR3. It sure had some deficiencies (long loading times, poor lobbies), but major bugs?

It's too bad PGR (and MSR before it) have always been such underrated, underappreciated games.

As far as I know, PGR1 sold around 2 million worldwide, PGR2 around 1.5 million, and PGR3 about a million so far. I wouldn't call that underappreciated. Also, PGR 1-3 have and 87, 93, and 88 % ranking on gamerankings.com, so they're not really underrated either...

[phantomhitman]

I have never heard of (or experienced) any "major bugs" in PGR3. It sure had some deficiencies (long loading times, poor lobbies), but major bugs?



As far as I know, PGR1 sold around 2 million worldwide, PGR2 around 1.5 million, and PGR3 about a million so far. I wouldn't call that underappreciated. Also, PGR 1-3 have and 87, 93, and 88 % ranking on gamerankings.com, so they're not really underrated either...

I think PGR 3 has sold a ton more copies than a million.

[bumgut]

I would like 60fps. That is all.

[Pluvious]

Kudos in PGR2 were infricking-sane. Some of them required you to string a combo for two completely bloody laps, through the streets of new york. Driving through pylons sideways at 120 mph on a 12 foot wide road, then powersliding around a corner, through another set of pylons, yank the handbreak to break traction going into another skid.... without nudging a wall or cone.

That game was stupid difficult on some challenges. Damned satisfying when you pulled it off though!

THIS is the reason I never liked the PGR series. WAY TO HARD. I must be getting old, but I've lost my patience for these annoying crazy hard tasks. Where are those FUN games that allow you to just race and go fast on nice wide long straights??.. (Ie Burnout 1, even Ridge Racer to some point) I so long for a next gen Road Rash or Crash n' Burn like game. (from 3DO days)

[Jack B]

I love the look of PGR3, sounds, graphics and especially the real time Gotham TV station and the introduction of tournaments.

Unfortunately, I just can't deal with the way the cars handle. Still I put about 20 hours into PGR3. By most people's estimate, 20 hours is a success. Great series for what it does (ie something in between and arcade racer and a sim).

Some of the new features like dynamic weather and the race intro's etc, sound pretty good. I'm sure I'll at least rent it if not buy. I need the Forza, GTR, GT5 type sim experience to keep me playing for extended periods.

[Sl1pstream]

THIS is the reason I never liked the PGR series. WAY TO HARD. I must be getting old, but I've lost my patience for these annoying crazy hard tasks. Where are those FUN games that allow you to just race and go fast on nice wide long straights??.. (Ie Burnout 1, even Ridge Racer to some point) I so long for a next gen Road Rash or Crash n' Burn like game. (from 3DO days)

Outrun: Coast to Coast? Not exactly next gen but it had long straights.

[Pluvious]

Doesn't out Outrun want you to slide sideways every turn?.. Not a fan and I'm barely putting up with it with Ridge Racer to be honest. (only 52% done with that one.. )

[phantomhitman]

yep, outrun was a drift feast as well. I have always hated that.

[Shodan2020]

I totally love PGR3. Such an improvement over the previous entries. I'm really looking forward to PGR4. I loves teh Kudos. :)

[Telefrog]

PGR3 just seemed very bland to me. There was no real sense of progression. About 10 races into the game, you could buy your preferred car and that would take you through the game. At a certain point, one supercar is just as good as another. The environments, while beautiful, came off as very sterile. Online racing always resulted in everyone choosing the same car to race. There was almost no consequence for bouncing off a wall to get around a corner.

[maja]

I also want back the lower end priced cars. But I'm excited about the new features, especially the weather fx's. Going off topic a little here for a sec but my favorite racer of all time is Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition. I loved everything about that game. I only wish that PGR4 let us pimp out our cars the way MC3:DE did. But then again if they did it wouldn't be a PGR game. Oh well, maybe Rockstar will give us MC4 some time soon.....

[EL CABONG]

I Loved 2. 3 was ok but not as good as 2. I have high hopes for PGR4.PGR3's online stuff was nowhere near as mcuh fun as 2's. Lets hope the online modes are better.

[Dirty Harry]

THIS is the reason I never liked the PGR series. WAY TO HARD. I must be getting old, but I've lost my patience for these annoying crazy hard tasks. Where are those FUN games that allow you to just race and go fast on nice wide long straights??.. (Ie Burnout 1, even Ridge Racer to some point) I so long for a next gen Road Rash or Crash n' Burn like game. (from 3DO days)
i would probally kill for a new version of road rash, man that game is so damn good. i remeber playing the first one on my sega.

[Pluvious]

Yeah!! The original Sega one was great too. level 5 was such a bitch to beat. Took me and my friends almost a year every weekends. We would pass the controller each race.. great times.

[LilBunnyFuFu]

I'm at a crossroads with this one. I want progression, because I think it was too easy to get a good car early in PGR3 and go fuck up some races online like a n00b. On the other hand, I don't want progression because all I heard in the PGR2 days online were people complaining about how they didn't have enough time to unlock the fast cars so they could compete online.

Regardless, I can't wait for this to hit. Is it this winter or next? I'm not sure I read that right.

[novicius]

Loved PGR3 -- too much grip? Yes please! Made average joes like me feel like Schumacher. ;)

*Eagerly* looking forward to PGR4. Day 1 purchase, easy.

[phantomhitman]

I Loved 2. 3 was ok but not as good as 2. I have high hopes for PGR4.PGR3's online stuff was nowhere near as mcuh fun as 2's. Lets hope the online modes are better.
What modes did 2 have that 3 did not?