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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Gaming => Topic started by: PMC on November 26, 2004, 11:42:37 AM

Title: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: PMC on November 26, 2004, 11:42:37 AM
Wow.... Check these screenshots from GT4 (warning, takes a while to load due to large images)

http://delobbo.com/gran_turismo_4_1.html
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on November 26, 2004, 11:52:48 AM
Yup, the only reason I got a PS2 back in 2001 was because of GT3. OF course the Grand theft Auto series was a bonus, a huge bonus, but basically my PS2 has paid for itself just with GT3 enjoyment.

And now we will have GT4. Awesome stuff. I'm a fan of the muscle cars: I can see a few competitions happening around here involving a GTO or two.

By the way is GT4 an online game? Because if it is I may get a network card if anyone here reckons they can take me on.
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: scumble on November 26, 2004, 12:12:28 PM
It's remarkable what Polyphony can squeeze out of the PS2. Whenever the thing actually comes out, I could be persuaded to get a PS2.
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on November 26, 2004, 12:21:39 PM
I note that SCEI have still had no luck trying to license Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche (although RUF cars are allowed). Here's a link to the cars that are supposed to be in the game:

http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=35057

In terms of GT3, my favourite 3 street-legal vehicles were the Mustang SVT, Zonda S and the LM Road Car.

But in GT4 I can see that being changed to the Boss Mustang, Zonda S, and Saleen S7. Well, if the Boss isn't there I can be persuaded to choose the Dodge Charger instead.

GT4: it is a definite purchase for PS2 owners, and with the consoles at £100 here in the UK, it may even be a tempting package deal for someone who doesn't have a PS2. You can get the quiet slim version now.
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: Vincent on November 26, 2004, 02:45:59 PM
I like those pictures, just a pity the tracks and cars get in the way of a good backdrop :-P
Quote
X-ray wrote:
By the way is GT4 an online game? Because if it is I may get a network card if anyone here reckons they can take me on.

Last I heard was they were having a few problems with the online part, but they would still release it before christmas without it, then work on getting the online part done and release it a few months later.  Sounds a bit daft to me though.
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on November 26, 2004, 03:26:40 PM
@ Vince

Would they be releasing a new version or some kind of add-on (if such a thing can be made for PS2) ?
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: PMC on November 26, 2004, 03:36:00 PM
@X-ray

Yesssss!  My car's still there after making an appearence in GT3 (how weird it is to be driving my own car on a PS2).  Once your car appears in a Gran Turismo game then it's instant cred :lol:

Quote

156 2.5 V6 24V ('99)

I'm also well pleased to see another iconic car there
Quote

Golf I GTi ('76)

But no mention of either the Golf II GTi 16v or the Corrado VR6, my other two favorite VWs.

The Volvo estate would be fun punting around a racetrack.
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: rayt on November 26, 2004, 04:01:50 PM
Yeah the graphics are really stunning for the ps2. I've seen in a mag how they "digitalized" the nürburgring (hardest racing course in the world) and the results looked hardly different from the photos.
But until its realese, its enough time to check out metal gear solid 3 :-D
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: Vincent on November 26, 2004, 05:02:35 PM
Quote

X-ray wrote:
Would they be releasing a new version or some kind of add-on (if such a thing can be made for PS2) ?

No idea, it was never really mentioned in detail.  I'm assuming it'd be an add-on, I think I read somewhere the network play would be released as a seperate disc if they could get it working that way.

You'd pay full price for the game, then maybe £10-15 for the network disc.  It means you're paying a 3rd extra, but it's better that way than selling a full price GT4 then selling another GT4 at full price with net play on it.  It would also confuse the shoppers which was which.

All that is under the assumption that they're sensible :-)
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on November 26, 2004, 05:06:39 PM
I wish at least Porsche and Ferrari would play ball with the licensing. A Carrera GT and an Enzo would liven up quite a few races.

Also when the PS3 arrives, I hope they will have the resources to merge the excellent graphics of GT4 with decent physics, like Burnout 3. I can't see them achieving it on the PS2.
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: PMC on November 26, 2004, 05:13:31 PM
Quote

X-ray wrote:
I wish at least Porsche and Ferrari would play ball with the licensing. A Carrera GT and an Enzo would liven up quite a few races.



Half of the Gran Turismo appeal is finding a familiar car in the game.  Ferrari's and Porsches are all well and good, but many other driving sims offer the chance to drive them.  
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on November 26, 2004, 05:45:13 PM
For me it is the opposite: I want to mess around with stuff I can't have, even if it is just a game.
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: Ilwrath on November 26, 2004, 06:45:27 PM
While we're all waiting for GT4, might I suggest kicking off a round of NetKar on the ole' PC?  Can't beat the price (free) and while there aren't MANY cars, they are from quite a wide range of genre's.  (1 supercar, 2 streetcars, 2 open wheelers, 1 classic, 2 touring, etc)  Superb physics... And network play works today.  (I have a server I can set up again, it's currently down, but I'd be more than willing to race some people on here!)

The base program and bunches of newer (better) tracks can be downloaded from the Official NetKar site. (http://www.nkzone.com/)
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on April 19, 2005, 08:36:06 PM
Got GT4 today.
Graphics are amazing, nice selection of cars and tracks, same damn licence tests though and the computer cars are still proctologists.

But...well worth it. You gotta try it to believe the driving physics (no damage physics unfortunately). And if you have a GT3 save file you can transfer 100,000 credits from it so that you don't have to start out with a frikkin Lupo or a Mazda.
The Mustang GT is only 25k and you can use the remaining 75k to spruce it up a bit. I chose a more expensive but classic option: a 1971 Plymouth 'Cuda in Bahama Yellow. It looks and sounds fantastic.
Just letting the B-spec driver earn me some money so I can afford that tasty Saleen S7...


Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: x56h34 on April 19, 2005, 08:57:06 PM
@X-ray:

It's amazing what A4KT can do with CSPPC attached and only 96MB ram. ;-)
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on April 19, 2005, 09:13:47 PM
 :-?
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: x56h34 on April 19, 2005, 09:23:25 PM
It's a joke.

As if, you know...it was running on your Amiga. :-)
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: guest1955 on April 19, 2005, 10:15:08 PM
Don't give up your day job ;-)
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: adolescent on April 19, 2005, 11:05:56 PM
@X-ray

I'm about 90% done.  I've just got the driving missions and a few of the special condition races to finish (I think).  I'm sitting at around 12 million in the bank with hundreds of cars (including all of the "secret" black cars) in the garage.  Funny thing is my favorite car from GT2 still hasn't returned, Mitsu FTO LM Race Car.  But, the Renown Mazda 787B is still there and still rips up the track just as well...

Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: SyrTran on April 19, 2005, 11:10:24 PM
It's slightly disappointing if you're a fan of classic American muscle, though.  I've had it for over a month, and it seems like the Japanese designers don't know/care about musclecar specs.

First, I won the '67 Cougar XR-7.  It had about 320hp.  It also had a 390ci engine.  Someone should've explained to the designers that the '7' stood for 7 _liters_.  That's 427 cubic inches, guys.  And about 380hp.  At least a simple (stage 1) tune-up gave it another 100hp. :-D

Then, I won the 70 Plymouth Superbird, an honest-to-deity Legend.  They got the engine size and hp right, but the rear wing is _not_ adjustable, and it has a top speed of 120 MPH.  Real Superbirds were barely-street-legal versions of the NASCAR cars.  Their 400+HP 440ci engines would pull -stock- Superbirds to well past 150MPH.  And the rear wing was (and still is) adjustable.  Not to mention sub-13-second quarter mile (400m) times, but that just may be my inability to launch from a dead stop. ;-)
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: adolescent on April 20, 2005, 05:30:40 AM
Quote

SyrTran wrote:
It's slightly disappointing if you're a fan of classic American muscle, though.  I've had it for over a month, and it seems like the Japanese designers don't know/care about musclecar specs.


The designers really pride themselves on getting specs, details, and physics correct.  AFAIK, if there are specs that are wrong, then they're given the wrong specs by the manufacturer.  (more later)

Quote

First, I won the '67 Cougar XR-7.  It had about 320hp.  It also had a 390ci engine.  Someone should've explained to the designers that the '7' stood for 7 _liters_.  That's 427 cubic inches, guys.  And about 380hp.  At least a simple (stage 1) tune-up gave it another 100hp. :-D


Incorrect.  The 67 Cougar XR7 was available in many engine sizes, not just a 7 liter.  I'm sure the designers didn't want to include 5-6 engine options on a single car so they picked one of the more popular combos.

Quote

Then, I won the 70 Plymouth Superbird, an honest-to-deity Legend.  They got the engine size and hp right, but the rear wing is _not_ adjustable, and it has a top speed of 120 MPH.  


Haven't driven this one enough to see, but you should be able to tune it to well over 120MPH.  Also, are you sure the downforce isn't adjustable?  I load mine up and try it out tomorrow.
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on April 20, 2005, 08:20:14 AM
@ Adolescent

Yup, that 787B was one of my favorites from GT3 and I look forward to getting that. 12mil and more than 90%...respect man. I think on GT3 I finished about 98% of it but there were 3 races that I couldn't win, the Lotus, the Yaris and the F1 races.

@ SyrTran

I'm glad they've included muscle cars but I agree that maybe they could have taken out 12 Nissan Skylines and put in several more muscle cars instead. I don't know if the Dodge Challenger and Boss Mustang are secret cars, but I haven't seen them yet.
Oh, and a Lupo has no business being in the game.

@ PMC
Your Alfa is here, in fact it is used in one of the International A licences





 
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: adolescent on April 20, 2005, 09:56:46 PM
@X-ray

I've been playing 1-2 hours a day during lunch break and after work, plus some long weekends so I've put in plenty of time.

B-spec is your friend.  Remember that.  

I've had much more credits but I've bought about 20 million worth of cars.  You can build up quite a tidy sum easily in this version.  (I won't give you any spoilers unless you need some...)

The hardest thing is the driving missions.  Some are literally timed (magic lap races, slipstreams, etc.) so you finish within .1 second if you drive perfectly.  
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: billt on April 20, 2005, 10:25:14 PM
Somehow I managed to miss the release of GT4. Wow. I had looked for it at Christmas time, I had looked for it Easter weekend, but nothing anywhere. Went to Best Buy today and saw piles of them and got me one. :) Can't wait to get home from work tonight...
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: Martin_Lee on April 20, 2005, 11:07:13 PM
those graphics are amazing!

I havent played gt since v2 but this looks great!!!
shame about the lack of muscle cars! theyre the best bit!!!
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: SyrTran on April 21, 2005, 03:37:25 AM
I just checked again, and the Superbird has the 426 instead of the 440 (both engines were available in the real car).  I don't know what the top speed on the 426 version was.  It may be accurate at 120. :-(

What _still_ amazes me about driving the big-block Cougar is that the darn thing has great handling!  FE engines aren't light by any measure, and the Cougar is one of those light-rear-end pony cars.  I was expecting the dictionary definition of "understeer", but the nose goes around corners very nicely.  It's a lot of fun to drive.

That said, I'd have to say that the street car I like driving best is the Ford GT.  Except, the first time (and second time, and so on) I drove it, I couldn't understand why the handling was so slippery.  It's supposed to be a SUPERcar!  Why wouldn't it stay on the road?!?

Um, after a couple more times "introducing myself" to the guardrails, I realized I was entering corners almost twice as fast as with the Mustang GT or Nismo 400 (yet -another- Skyline ;-)).  If the real car is this smooth, I'm definitely going to have to figure out which family member to sell to get one. :-D
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on April 21, 2005, 07:56:17 AM
@ SyrTran

Speaking of that Ford GT, I remember cursing and ranting because of the Special Licence in GT3 where you had to take the GT40 race Car around the Seattle Circuit. I battled with that, big time. I wasn't too happy to see the Ford GT making an appearance in GT4 in the special licenses section, again on the Seattle Circuit! It must be easier to drive because I managed it alot better than the GT3 test.

@ Adolescent

B-spec is the business. Especially for me because I need credits to tune this 'Cuda. On some tracks when I drive it, it's like a block of butter on a non-stick frying-pan, but the B-spec driver seems to have more restraint. He can't win them all though, which is nice. Sometimes you have to step in or you won't win at all. Nice feature.

Edit: I may have been a bit rash choosing the 'Cuda: the Buick '62 seems to be giving me a run for my money. Shame it is ugly as hell, it looks like it belongs in Grand Theft Auto  :lol:
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: adolescent on April 22, 2005, 12:33:07 AM
@X-ray

96%...  Hahahah, almost done.


I did most of the endurance races (especially the 24 hours) using B-spec.  I'd spec a car so it was about in the 50-75 A-spec points, then go into B-spec and set it to 4, overtake, then put the playback speed up to 3.  The only problem is after a pit-stop the playback speed gets reset so you have to check on it.  But, if you're studying or just watching TV it's easy to switch back and forth...  :-D  
   
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on April 22, 2005, 10:23:10 PM
@ Adolescent

Thanks for the tip, that just saved me several hours of hanging around. If it wasn't for B-spec I think a lot of those endurance races would be kicked to the curb.
I'm only on 4%.
Hmmmm, long way to go.

Edit: what they could have done is made 5 out of 25 laps compulsory A-spec...(player's choice, straight after pit)
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: The_Power_of_the_Ginger on April 23, 2005, 09:32:07 PM
For GT4, they should have included the car salesman from Gremlin's Supercars, where you had to sweet-talk your way to a lower price.

Or maybe next time they can put in some AI. That would be nice.

Or some damage!

Sorry, F1 Challenge aficionado (sic) here. Except I still also play F1GP. Because I can create the 2005 cars and drivers in 20 minutes...

And so ends my disjointed post. :-D
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on April 24, 2005, 11:06:47 PM
Just found out something cool...my generic USB2 seven-in-one card reader for the PC is recognised by GT4. This was an el-cheapo reader/writer just for keeping backups of encrypted text files. I tried it on my PS2 just now and the quality of the saved picture is so good that I am tempted to build a montage of some of the classics. (Pictures saved to the PS2 memory cards are always compressed, whereas the USB ones do not have to be).
Nice feature, didn't think it would work with this reader and wasn't going to pay for a MicroVault just to save pictures from GT4.
In case anyone is interested this is the reader (http://www.buythegoods.co.uk/Operation/ItemLookup/ItemId/B0001DGODI/Bytestor-7-in-1-Memory-Card-Reader.html) (mine has a USB2 logo on it, top right corner, otherwise it is identical).

Edit: the card I used was a 256mb Sony Memory Stick
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: Holley on April 27, 2005, 09:21:32 PM
Well, I've just been playing the demo of Forza Racing ... gotta say, it's GT4 minus the drudgery, and plus the extras that the XBox has power to add.  The AI is very impressive, folling other cars they make mistakes (locking up the brakes, turning in too early etc), sometimes correcting themselves, sometimes not.

The Viper is actually realistic for a change, use more than 1/2 brake in a corner and the back brakes lock ...
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: adolescent on April 28, 2005, 07:20:30 AM
I'm waiting for Forza also, but I doubt it will top GT4 in all areas (although I'm hoping).  

GT4 AI makes mistakes also, just watch in B-spec mode and you'll see your computer driver (and the others) make some  miscalculations.  

Yesterday I was racing a Family Cup (A-spec) on the Seatle Circuit (it's a good way to build A-spec points).  I was using my Camaro LM car with the difficulty set a +6 which was giving me about 100-120 A-spec points for the 2 lap race.  Coming to the chicane before the finish line I took a rather "cheap" inside line (I basicly straightlined it to try and pass).  The compters GT40 bumped me on the outside, then corrected, almost hit the outside wall, then corrected, and proceeded to lock up his brakes and hit the wall on the other side of the chicane.  It was so funny seeing this car go out of control right in front of me.  After that it was an easy pass and I won the race.  :-D  

@X-ray

98.5%.  Only a few driving missions left.  So far it's been a great experience.  I noticed today that the "secret" black cars were back in the used car lots, so I guess I've been playing for the equivilent 4 years now.   :lol:
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: X-ray on April 28, 2005, 08:16:16 AM
@ Holley and Adolescent

I don't have an X-Box but what I saw on the previews online of Forza looked good. The graphics aren't as good as GT4, but the damage and the AI could easily make up for it. The only variable then is whether the cars handle as nicely as GT4.
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: Holley on April 28, 2005, 10:27:21 PM
From having a try of both, in Forza they handle more realistically, especially when you get to the point that all the wheels are locked and you're sliding into the gravel at 120, lol ...

The car graphics arn't as good, however the tracks are better (but then for car detail Rallysport Challenge is the champion anyway).
Title: Re: Gran Turismo 4
Post by: Bezzen on April 28, 2005, 10:37:18 PM
I'm waiting for Forza too. Tried the demo and I liked it. It did feel a little more real than the GT games (I haven't played GT4 enough to make too many comments about that one though.).

When it comes to realism in driving games, you just can't beat GTR (GTR — FIA GT Racing Game (http://www.10tacle.com/gtr-game/en/index.php?Homepage)). Unless you actually have a proper racing license there's no way you can play the "simulation" setting successfully. Even semi-pro is extremly difficult at first, but after a while you start to get rid of years of videogame arcade behavior and can actually start to get some decent laptimes.  :-D