Test Drive Unlimited Preview

[fitbabits]

EuroGamer (http://www.eurogamer.net) has posted a hands-on preview (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61498) of the Xbox 360 title Test Drive Unlimited for your reading pleasure.

These cars go FAST. With big letters. Max out the speed-o (if you can) and hit something and you can almost feel the whiplash. Playing it on a widescreen HDTV with surround speakers and the windows wound down, the sense of speed, the rush of air and the snapping back of the neck when I ran into a brick wall was palpable. Speed freaks and Gran Turismo nuts take note.
It really is all about the driving. Belting around Honolulu - with live radio streaming over Xbox Live, too (we had Virgin Radio on as we played), it has the mark of a big thing. If it all comes together by the middle of next year when Eden aims to complete it, no amount of top-heavy dwarves and stretchy ladies will be able to restrain us from giving it a go.
Proposed release date is spring 2006.

Shiiiiiiiiny! I like the idea of being able to listen to the radio via Live while driving.

[UnderHero5]

I dunno. I can't bring myself to get excited AT ALL for a Test Drive game.
They seriously are some of most horrible racing games out there (other than maybe Test Drive LeMans).

The streaming radio thing is a good idea, as long as you get to choose any shoutcast station you want, and not just a few that they picked out. I already do the streaming radio thing using my PC, but it's neat that they incorporated it within a game.

I won't be owning a 360 for a long time anyway. I'm waiting for the first or second big price drop before purchasing. I'm sick of being burned on new consoles and having nothing to play on them for the first 1.5 years of owning it. It may have taken my 20+ years to learn, but it's not happening this time.

[Demo_Boy]

I think this game is cool on many levels and I hope they make every road feel like its genuine, as opposed to a big hieghtfield and sat. map of hawaii.

gl.

[Vandenh]

Live radio? Wow... I didn't know that this was part of the Live specs? That means their must be some kind of gateway API to the internet and/or other servers. Interesting.... they could do more with this in the future.

[crackeriah]

I'm originally from Hawaii, so I'm going to have to pick this game up. Even if the gameplay sucks, it's still really cool to see familiar real-world places virtualized. What will be even more fun is playing it on Live with my friends who are still back in Hawaii.

I've read that they have over 1,000 miles of road mapped for this game. Give that the island of Oahu is only 50-by-40 miles, that sounds like pretty much the whole frickin' island.

[KarmaGhost]

I second UnderHero5's sentiments; in a perfect world, you should take every game as it comes and base it on its own merits. However, with a franchise like Test Drive, that becomes really difficult.

[pdeupree]

I wonder if Sirius or XM will jump on this band wagon with some game and do something similar to what they do with DirectTV or Dish. It would be interesting to be able to tune the radio in the car to any satellite radio station you want, and it would seem to be a selling point for the companies since it would be as close to the real experience as they could provide to whet peoples appetite.

It'd be great for the game, also, since they wouldn't have to license any music for the title. ;)

[reptilezero]

test drive 2 was really good :)

[mister_slim]

I like the idea of cruising around an accurate depiction of Oahu. If there's a nice, casual free roam mode I don't really care how good the gameplay is. My favorite part of GTA was driving around, exploring, while listening to the radio. Didn't even like the driving that much. So this could be quite fun for me.