Anyone take the plunge on Test Drive:Unlimited?

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:15 pm

I'm holding out to see if Frys will have it for $30. Did anyone pick this up? Any impressions on the retail version?

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:59 pm

I bought it but i'm waiting for the reviews before I open up the game. The second demo was a mixed bag and I want confirmation from a couple of reviews those issues have been addressed.

With that said the game is slick especially online. I must've spent 20 hours tearing up the streets of Oahu.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:25 pm

Couldn't help it. Some of the videos on Gamespot had me absolutely drooling. Full cockpit view, and point-to-point racing? Always online? Almost-an-MMO?

Sign me up.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:03 pm

I traded in some old games and picked it up along with Saint's Row, and I am enjoying the driving a lot more than in the demo. I don't remember seeing any 'drive aid' options in the demo, and it's nice to be able to turn them off.

The map is insane. There's some pop-in as you move around in the map, but it's the closest thing I've ever seen to being in an airplane; the detail is crazy. The island is definitely huge, and it seems uncannily realistic in the details, like foliage and building variety and placement, but having never been there I have no idea if it's really accurate at all.

I like how the 'look behind' in the cockpit view looks through the back seat, but I wish the rear view and side view mirrors were better placed for where I like to set my seat position. Otherwise the cockpit view is very cool. I do wish it were a little more to the right than it is, but it doesn't seem to bother me as much as it did in the demos.

The online bit is a little confusing to me at this point, but I did some online races with randoms. There was some laggy weirdness, but it was isolated so I'm betting it was due to individuals. In fact, the offline is a little confusing as well, as there is an overwhelming number of challenges on my map all near where my living space/garage is now, even though I'm only at the rookie level.

There's no doubt that right now it seems fresh and different in the way the game is laid out, and with enough of a new take on the genre that I will enjoy digging into it quite a bit. Time will tell if the driving and mix of cars and race types (point to point, drag racing, etc.) will prove out to be satisfyingly deep with friends online, but I'll enjoy finding out.

reeche · Post by **reeche** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 10:25 pm

Picked it up myself even though I won't be able to play until the weekend.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:05 pm

So far I'm very impressed. The island is HUGE, and the number of things to do on it is crazy. You have your standard races and time modes, plus speed traps and pick up races with guys you pass on the street. All the while you have to make sure to don't get the cops on your tail.

There are also missions for delivering vehicles, dropping people off, delivering packages and hitch hikers. I like the drive in diners also, where you can compete in user made challenges against all comers over a few days. Best time get the cash, it's a pretty slick idea. Plus yoiu can buy and sell cars with other players which is kind of cool. Got a Corvette for a bargain that way!

Still early into it, but I like it a lot.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 5:34 pm

My EB didn't get it last night (yet again), but I got my copy today. I'll be checking it out for sure.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 6:57 pm

The more I grasp what to do in this game, the more I like it. I still don't understand how to get $$ in online games, and I don't see the difference between ranked and unranked games. The one big problem I am having is that I can't find friends in the game while in free race mode. I was able to get friends into unranked sessions that I created, but can't seem to see them in free race mode. Last night I could see NYIsles on the map, and we were right on top of each other on the map, but we couldn't see each other on the road. Weird.

As soon as I get the $350K that is necessary to do so, I will create a Club for us, something like the DSP Motorcar Enthusiast Club or something; hey, if someone gets that $$ first, go ahead and get it started. Maybe a Club is a way to find each other online.

So far, I am still basically tooling around the local environment of the big city (is that Honolulu?) in my one car I own. There is so much huge island out there to explore!!

Very enjoyable, though the driving model seems pretty forgiving in this E-class car even with 'Driver Aid' off completely. Still, it's fun racing. The whole 'this is really Oahu (sp?)' thing is still just blowing me away.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:27 pm

The manual mentions something about "locking in" players, but doesn't go into any detail as to how to do it. Heck, I still can't figure out how to take a picture (which you can upload to the web supposedly). I think there will be a lot of cruising the web to try to find out a lot of details.

My daughter was playing it a bit today, she was happy to just drive the car around near the airport, so she could watch the planes land.

The car delivery missions are the way to go for big cash. I got $90,000 a pop for delivering a car and a bike. No time limit, but the deal is you get docked cash for each ding in the car, and the routes are usually on the long side, mine were like 12 miles each. Cool for a nice cruise, as long as you don't get too impatient!

I was digging just setting the GPS to some point on the far side of the island, and heading off. It's neat to see that your destination is 26 miles away, and you can actually drive the entire way.

By the way, what is it you have to do to unlock the motorcycle dealers? Do you just have to visit every car dealer?

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 12:28 am

I'm gonna try to pick this up as soon as I can. My six year old is jonesing for the LEGO SWII game next week, so we'll see...but my birthday is Oct. 1st, so maybe there'll be some cash in my future...I LOVE the demo.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:03 am

I stopped by EB on the way home yesterday and "checked out" this game to give it a try.

Seems fun and very well done actually, but I am just not sure that I am enough of a driving enthusiast to really get as much out of this games as intended. The driving missions are kind of cool, but with Saints Row in my collection I am getting plenty of mission type gameplay. The racing is neat but the game suffers from what all driving games online do and that is a huge imbalance of cars. I know you can restrict class in races, but sometimes even within classes there is always one car that is clearly better and always seems to win. Maybe this game addresses that somehow...not sure yet.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:28 am

I found a place to create a club for only $250,000, so i'm going to create one. I'll keep it simple and call it the DSP Auto Club.

Finally found all of the dealers too, so I bought my first bike.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:53 am

The Target I stopped by last night didn't have it, but I plan on picking it up sometime this weekend.

Since I don't have a driving game yet for the 360, I'm excited to give this one a try. It seems like this is a very cool extension of the original Test Drive games.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:58 am

Once I turned the driving aids off, the handling on this game was really enjoyable. At first it seemed to have the arbitrary "go in a little too hot and we'll powerslide you no matter what", but when I dumped the Driving Aids that went away, thankfully. I don't know what the reviews are complaining about with "floaty" handling. It's a lot closer to TOCA than it is to PGR, that's for sure, but "floaty"?

I started out with an Audi Quattro, and then went to a 350Z. I was zipping that thing in and out of traffic, and on a delivery mission I had an Enzo absolutely tearing up the road. The cockpit camera easily rivals PGR's, especially when you get some glare on the road. It's a little tough following the GPS map and keeping your situational awareness, though. I restarted the delivery mission a few times because I'd look down at GPS, and look back up at the rear end of a dump truck inexplicably stopped in the middle of the freeway.

I am currently on the "island tour"...visiting all the car dealerships so I can buy my Ducati 999R. I know this one will get quite a bit of playtime...I rather enjoy the handling (with aids off, at least), and seeing other people's names on the screen is actually very strange. I didn't have anybody challenge me (which is good since I'm in a crappy ride), but I would see them blow by on a cross street or something regularly.

Very, very nice first impressions.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 11:13 am

Gurantsu wrote:I found a place to create a club for only $250,000, so i'm going to create one. I'll keep it simple and call it the DSP Auto Club.

Finally found all of the dealers too, so I bought my first bike.

I wouldn't do it right away. From reading at the forums at the game's official website, it seems no one can join a club if you create it. Something is broken with the whole invite system. I guess it's worth a shot if you have plenty of $$ in the game, but it may not end up working.

BTW I didn't know there are different fees for starting clubs. Is each club location really unique, or are they more like the drive ins, where they all take you to the same list of things to do?

Oh, and one more thing, the dive ins with the challenges seems like a really, really cool idea. I can't seem to do well in the few I find that are restricted to F or E cars, but it sure is neat messing with the editor.

I have a Time Trial challenge that I will put up today for the weekend; I wish I could password it somehow so only friends could try it, but oh well. It's restricted to class F and it's got DSP at the head of the name, so look for that and give it a shot!

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:47 pm

Too late! I created the club. I sent a few invites out, we'll see what happens. I know you're friends list comes up when you enter the place, maybe you can join that way instead of an invite?

The clubs do look different, the one I picked certainly has an old school feel to it, not like the posh clubs elsewhere. It's more Watkins Glen than Monaco!

I'm not sure how the whole club thing works as far as who is online with you or what modes are available to clubs.

btmmayor · Post by **btmmayor** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 4:19 pm

After reading some impressions and reviews of this game (in particular Eurogamer who I think does a fantastic job with their reviews) I am definitely going to pick it up this weekend. I really like what I hear about this game so far. I'll be sure to keep my eyes open for the DSP clubs once I'm on.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 5:03 pm

Spooky wrote: Seems fun and very well done actually, but I am just not sure that I am enough of a driving enthusiast to really get as much out of this games as intended. The driving missions are kind of cool, but with Saints Row in my collection I am getting plenty of mission type gameplay.

I wouldn't think Saint's Row would satisfy the same kind of driving itch that this one does, and one doesn't really have to do even a single delivery or 'get this woman from A to B in X-amount of time' challenges if one doesn't want to, one can just do time trials and races, either point to point or laps around a circuit, to his heart's content.

Now, if one is not much of a driving enthusiast, then I would say maybe this game is not a good choice, because this game is all about a variety of real-world makes and models on real-world roads with just enough traffic around to make you feel like you're driving like a cop in an 80s TV show.

However, the unique feature (at least to me) that this game has, namely real-world roads in a seamless, never-loading continuity, along with just enough elements of the world being alive, like the planes taking off and landing, and the moving ships you can see from the map view, may well intrigue even those not enthusiastic about video game driving to enjoy the game.

Having got these games on the same day, I will say I keep getting confused; like, I keep wanting to jump out of my car and check out a view, or dump the thing I'm driving and jack a utility truck or something, because they both do share that playground sense of being dropped into the middle of a world unto its own, getting through the world from A to B to start that challenge, and then that challenge is right there in the same world, that type of thing.

Either way, I hope we can get some good nights of racing going in this game, and it seems right now like there are nearly endless choices of race courses to race on.

It does appear that a lot of the online stuff isn't really working yet. The drive-ins seem to come and go, and I'll keep getting told the 'servers are not available,' and then they are again, and then I lose it again. And the Clubs are cearly broken. I hope they get that stuff straightened out soon.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 5:22 am

I haven't played a game for 4 hours straight in a LONG time...well, I did tonight. The game is some serious fun. There is SOOO much to do and see, it's incredible. Between this and Saints Row, I don't know if I'll ever be able to explore the entire maps. These are the types of games that I imagined when I thought of next gen. Huge maps that never really need to load...unbelievable.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:56 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:I haven't played a game for 4 hours straight in a LONG time...well, I did tonight. The game is some serious fun. There is SOOO much to do and see, it's incredible. Between this and Saints Row, I don't know if I'll ever be able to explore the entire maps. These are the types of games that I imagined when I thought of next gen. Huge maps that never really need to load...unbelievable.

That's exactly the way I felt, db. I popped the game in not expecting much since the demo was pretty bland to me, but 4 hours later I had to leave and didn't want to turn it off. Two straight days I've played this game from 4-6 hours and it appears I have only scratched the surface of what you can do.

I'm digging all the driving missions as well as the races and time trials. Quite frankly, this is already one of my favorite 360 games to date. I can see me playing this one for a long time.

Wilk5280 · Post by **Wilk5280** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 10:39 am

You son-of-a bishes!

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 1:20 pm

Something clicked for me last night, and now I am in love with this game. It had a lot to do with visiting the American Muscle showroom and buying a 70s Camaro and a 70s Firebird. I decided to take the Firebird and tool around the island to visit all the dealerships so that I could open up the motorcycle showrooms.

I had some real trouble driving this car, as it would spin wheels when it would shift to 2nd gear if I gave it too much throttle, which was always since so far in most of the cars I've been flat out or nothing. Something about that difficulty made me start to drive a little more realistically through the traffic. Instead of just jetting at full speed, I took it a little easier, passing a little more carefully, even trying to match speed with the traffic at times, before opening it up on a straight and blowing past them. I also experimented with the different cameras, and I really started to like the closest outside-the-car view, which has a longer focal length and changes its height and angle as well as the focal length as you change speed. Normally I can't drive in the chase cameras, but this one works brilliantly for me and, while it shows off the great car models and interiors seen through the window, it eliminates a problem I have seeing cars alongside me in the cockpit or hood view. I still love the cockpit view, with its subtle but helpful head tracking, but I wish you could look to the side like you can in ToCA, where the view snaps over very quickly.

At one point, a random dude in some C-class car came zipping by, and for a time we were jockeying around the traffic together. I think he was checking out the nice gold paint job I had given the car, or maybe had yet to see a Trans Am or hear one, but neither of us was interested in a real challenge or race, since the cars we were in were so different. Maybe he was headed to the same showroom I was, but that was a pretty neat few moments of interaction with a random.

As I visited the showrooms, I started to realize just how nice and lovingly done the car models are. You can move the camera around, open and close the doors and windows, zoom in, and check them out from all angles. But even better, you can go into the interior, where it puts you in the cockpit view. From here, not only can you look around the inside of the car and honk the horn, but you can also start the engine and rev that thing to hear it, in the showroom. And these engines sound incredibly good. It must have been that Firebird that made me really take notice, but these engine sounds are the best I've ever heard in a game, especially with that subwoofer in the loop. They really are a pleasure to hear, especially those classic cars.

Well, I proceded to continue my journey around the island, trying to get to all the dealerships. I tried a few hitch-hiking tasks and delivery tasks along the way, with varying degrees of success, as well as a couple of car delivery tasks which are very cool because they force you to drive carefully. The fact that these 1000 miles of road can all be driven continuously with no loads whatsoever is simply amazing. Along the way I noticed a few of the more insane challenges, like a 28mi or so race up and over the ridge of mountains, and a 124mi race around the entire circumference of the island. And I think that they were both online races. Crazy.

This game really seems to me to be what Test Drive was always supposed to be. It's Test Drive truly blossoming into the next-gen, with this massive playground of roadways linked together seamlessly, its carefully done car models and engine sounds, and its wonderful variety of challenges and tasks, not to mention the excellent visuals, full of small details, atmospheric effects and a very realistic windshield glass. Plus you can dude up your character with a wide variety of nice threads!

I stayed up way too late last night, as I needed to try just one more drive, and I still haven't visited all the showrooms. I'm paying for it today, but it's worth it. As with db, it's been a long time since I've been so sucked into a game. And it's only $40! I'm sure the plan is to milk the for-pay downloads of new cars, but in a way maybe that's good, since that will let us pick and choose which car sets we want to get. I sure hope they add more of the classic cars!

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 1:33 pm

Grabbed a copy last night and so far I've really only bought a house and car and done a little bit of cruising. It is fun just tooling around, bombing through traffic like a madman while touring the island.

This is the first Test Drive game I bought since one of the early PC games, and I agree with you, Zep, this is a true next-gen culmination of those early games.

One thing concerned me though--the servers were down. Has anyone else experienced that? I'm guessing it is just regular maintenance or patching some of the issues you guys brought up earlier in the thread.

And hey, don't forget that Atari put this game at the $40 price point. Nice work, fellas!

reeche · Post by **reeche** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 1:45 pm

What would be neat is if every year a new city was the focus along with general other improvement to the game. Like next year it would be a japanese city after that a european city, etc. Basically a world tour.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 1:50 pm

Zeppo wrote:I also experimented with the different cameras, and I really started to like the closest outside-the-car view, which has a longer focal length and changes its height and angle as well as the focal length as you change speed. Normally I can't drive in the chase cameras, but this one works brilliantly for me and, while it shows off the great car models and interiors seen through the window, it eliminates a problem I have seeing cars alongside me in the cockpit or hood view.

Just an FYI...you can go in the game settings and adjust your seat position for the cockpit view. There are a ton of different combinations...you can only adjust front to back and up and down but it really gives you a lot of different perspectives. Once I found a seat position I liked, it was awesome from there. It's not much different from the stock position, but it definitely allows you to see more of the windows/mirrors.