for the lazy folks
SECOND UPDATE
So, let's start.
First - I do not have no money yet for nor F40, nor F2007 But, there is surprise among the new pictures.
Way to earn them is sooo damn long, and at this point I'm stucked with just 120,000 Credits in my stash, got only 2 events done in "S" Event Series and have no damn idea how long will it take me to earn 2 millions. Notice there is one tester who already has it (probably is a tester, since there is no God damn way he could opened it in just one or two days, so he must have a full-open game save), which automatically leads us to subject #1:
Online is up as today afternoon
However, it's just a test-online (as you can noticed from attached pictures) and at this point just 12 people make their times on test Time Trial list. I drove a race (Daytona Oval) against one player and I can say it is somehow smoother then JP online. At this point, I have no idea how will online work with more players, I'll try it tomorrow and make a update on it. Notice there is no download of update needed, online component is integrated on the disc already. I find that matchmaking is somewhat faster, but not significantly then JP.
Now to the other things.
Yesterday I wrote I couldn't find Quick Tune Setup (QTS) screen anywhere. Today I found it . It opens after you finish C,B and A Event venues. So, some more info about it - since I find it most intriguing thing of the whole Prologue experience.
QTS is VERY SERIOUS thing, it's not just a "quick setup". It allows you to adjust almost everything we know from "big" games to almost any car in almost any race.
You can adjust Power, Weight, Tyres, Aerodynamics (on tuned cars only and F2007 I guess), Ride Height, Spring Rate, Damper, Toe, Camber Angle, Brake Balance, F/R Torque Distribution (I presume for 4WD cars), TCS, ABS and Transmission (all gears + Final Gear Ratio). Also, you can adjust Max Turning Angle for wheel, which is aimed at drifters at the first place. In short, QTS allows you to think and mess about your car as fully-modified-car from "big" GT games. It also sets the ground for all newcomers, who will thisway get the basics for car-setting once when full-game is out.
Depending of the type of the race, you can adjust your car only to the LIMITED amount of PSI points (I find it as a more sophisticated "HP restriction" system from GT2 game, and I like it a lot), while PSI points are only determined with your messing with Power/Weight/Tyres/Aerodinamycs - not settings-value adjustment. In races where no PSI-adjustments are allowed you can still make adjustments and settings of the parts. Only excerption are Time-Trials in events where no messing with the car is allowed. In short, bringing back the restriction in races - and all races in "S" class venue are restricted by PSI - is something I really welcome in the series.
You can save 3 settings per car and game saves them for good. QTS was allowed in both test Online Race and test Time-Trials, but only drawback I find is lack of screen which would show you the PSI of other cars on the track. However, I guess that both Online Races and Online Time-Trials will be PSI-limited in the final release, so no real problem there. Thisway, the whole world of settings will enter the online and I see it as a great achievement for PD.
I notice a small bug - or it is deliberate, but I didn't really tend to test it. My white SRT-10 become red when extreme QTS was applied. After I bring back values to normal, car was white again. Then I tried the same with F430 and it remained white. So, I have no idea what it was but it happened. Whatever.
There is also a small homage to the "Traditional Values" of the GT series - once you entered QTS, TCS and ABS values become non-existing on basic "Race Setting" list. From there on, you have to manually turn-off both TCS and ABS for every car. I find that as a nice showcase of keeping with the tradition of the series in order to make the driver to pay the attention of every detail of car set-up .
NEW "MY PAGE" LOCATIONS
I've counted 11 locations so far in total, and now all of them have their real-life names shown on screen. You'll probably be amazed to hear that day-park with trees from JP Prologue is called Lennenpark and it's located in Bad Neuenhar in Germany. Also, all locations from both JP and EU(US) Prologue are located only in Japan and Germany - so I guess we can expect a plethora of locations from other countries once when full-game goes out. However, my favorite from new set of locations is not beautiful Zen-Garden in Shorenoin (Tokyo), nor Shirakawa Park (also Tokyo) - but Streets of Bonn (Germany), where car simply stand-out as a true sculpture.
No sign of where 2-cars-per-location (as shown on pre-release screens) will be - I guess we'll have to wait until the full game for that one to be revealed.
As for various other bits, this is a quick rundown of small things I've noticed that may also answer some of the questions raised in this thread:
- G25 is fully supported, while clutch must be activated every time with triangle (as in JP game). Of course, some cars can't use H-Shift, so nothing new there. Notice that you can also configure new Live-Dynamics options to the D-Pad and buttons at the shifter-console,
- My JP game-setting didn't influence PAL game at all,
- sound of game is simply fantastic when sound-setting "Big Theatre" is applied. Notice it will properly work only for those with true surround system, but then GT40's engine sounds like AC/DC in Donnington on Monsters of Rock in 1991 (thanx for the tip Venturetto ,
- I'm not sure about that, but now the rear-view-of-the-car in-cockpit is actually moving in-race. I can't remember was that the case in JP game, but I somehow can't remember I saw it. Of course, I didn't bother to check that, since there is no way that PAL game will leave my console in the time being,
- which also applies to next bit - there is a race with 12 cars on Eiger Nordwand. If I remember well, max number on JP game was 8. Or was it?,
- New location setting of High Speed Ring pictures it as being built above the lake or something. However, the water is not actually moving, but who cares really.
- Now there is basic info listed next to every car shown on garage-column, depending of the view: Order Obtained, Manufacturer, Power and Performance Points value. Nice touch.
- Manual states that "In this point of the game you can only have up to 2,000,000 credits in the bank". Any credits above that value won't be added to the bank. I understand it as - when you finally earn 2 mill, go and buy a damn F2007, and then start again. However, Manual also says that that "could change in the future", so maybe it's a hint of some updates.
- Still no backfire or backlight or sparks or anything like that
Now about the races and such:
- More races now are unbeatable on Professional setting, at least as my driving is concerned. However, as I was able to beat all "beatable" Pro races in JP game (and like to think about myself as a pretty damn good driver though), I guess only aliens as Trek450 or Holl01 will be able to cope with them. But, some of them are really not made to be won at Pro setting, even with serious QTS applied.
- Much more races in events now come with "R" tyres as default. "S" or "N" tyres are very rare in events now,
- No races at C, B or A venue in events have penalties. Penalties comes in S venue, and they're applied in two levels - 2 and 3, last being extremely sensitive about contacts. However, I find that system was polished, since I have no "objections on race control decisions" as I had in JP game. Or I've just learned my lesson well? Who knows. Oh, and I love "Barrier Impact Penalty" - it will make online racing a totally different place for all bashers
- However, Penalty Level 2 is almost a rule at Dealership Venues, but notice that still not all Dealers have their respective events (as it was expected)
- Earning a money is a painstaking process. After I finally have beaten C,B and A venues I had exactly 7,500 credits in the bank, because I spent all my earnings to buy cars needed for car-dedicated races (Time-Trails and Missions). So, as my present goal is to earn 200,000 for Mine's GT-R for one race in S class (and then I'll be at zero credits again), I guess I'll wait to grab the F2007 wheel for some time now.
But.
As you've already seen in the attached pictures, that same guy I was talking about before already drove it at Time-Trial race, so I watched a replay and took this one shoot. His driving was not so great (he used S3 tires, which somewhat intrigued me, but as F1 tires are not full-slick, maybe game does not see them as R-class), but I can say that sound of car is OK. Unfortunately, those of us who were used to gritty and shaky feel of F1 cars from F1: CE game will be maybe disappointed - from what I've witnessed from his replay, even F1 cars in Gran Turismo games will be clinicaly-clean ride.
This one concludes my second update, I'll update again probably tomorrow in evening. Until then, do not forget to tune for a fist race of F1 season in Melbourne today, while my wishes for victory goes to Kovalainen in McLaren.
Cheerz.
