Anyone take the plunge on Test Drive:Unlimited?

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:37 pm

I still tool around in TDU, so if you get a gang together, lemme know! Still loving it...

nyisles16 · Post by **nyisles16** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:46 am

Zeppo wrote:
JackB1 wrote:Are you guys still playing this online? There were tons of posts here for a while and then nothing! ???

I am looking to get going on this game.....I know I am late to this party, but are you guys still racing this online or just doing offline/single player stuff?
I haven't raced in a while, but would love to get some more multiplayer in sometime soon. We'd have to see if we can make room in the club for you, and you'd have realize that we all have pretty extensive garages of cars. I'm trying to make it so I have tuned and untuned cars in each class, but I'm not really that close. More and more, though, I'm sure that some cars untuned are better balanced for certain other cars fully tuned, if that makes any sense.

The big bummer is that you can't earn towrads opening up new cars in the multiplayer, the way you could in PGR. You can only earn money in offline racing or the diner challenges to buy new cars; all single player.

The vehicle transports are the easiest money, and I echo that you must make them perfect because the bonuses are 50%; that is, for a $90K mission if you get it perfect, you get $135K. Now that I can stream my iTunes into the 360, that kind of careful driving is a lot more fun!

The hitch-hikers and models only earn you coupons for new clothes, but there are achievements to be earned by completing those as well, and achievements are how you rise in level. Once you get to Champion level, money ceases to be a real issue, since there are a couple of $75K per-pop races/time challenges that can be completed pretty fast.

I tried to rise incrementally in car class, going from F to E to D, then to C, but like I said I still have no A cars. I think D is my favorite class, but I enjoy driving nearly every car I have tremendously, especially the classics. I wish I could tell which club/MP races had traffic and which didn't, because traffic is a ton of fun.

I can't wait to see what you've got your avatar looking like, Jack, once we meet in the Club! You should see Fshguy!

EDIT: Couple more things; use the filters on the map to highlight specific challenges, or locations, etc. It helps clear the clutter.

And no question, visiting all the dealerships is a very key thing to do early on. It takes a long time and there are a lot of distractions, but I found that it helped give me focus early in the game. Once I got a car I really enjoyed (that Firebird in the American Muscle shop), I just made that my goal, and once I was done, I was well on my way.

a Club??? I must have been gone from the game for awhile

Fshguy · Post by **Fshguy** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:43 pm

I wish they would go ahead and "fix" the trade portion of this game. I'd be willing to give away a few cars to the newbies since I have access to races that are easy to generate money from.

I hope Atari finds a good way to extend this game as well. I'm still seeing commercials for this game, so I guess that's a good thing.

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:21 pm

Fshguy wrote:I wish they would go ahead and "fix" the trade portion of this game.

Your wish has been granted:

Test Drive Unlimited Title Update 2 on Xbox Live

Test Drive Unlimited for Xbox 360™ gets a serious tune up as thousands sign on daily for a blast of racing reinvented

Following the runaway success of Test Drive Unlimited on Xbox Live, Eden Games and Atari have delivered a host of enhancements with ‘Title Update 2’, available now on Xbox Live as a free automatic download to anyone with an Xbox Live connection.

Amongst the improvements in ‘Title Update 2’ are the reinstatement of E-trade, changes which make finding and racing with friends easier, further fine-tuning of the bike handling, a number of modifications to the clubs to improve usability, fixes to prevent ranking anomalies, the removal of a number of exploits (online and offline), crash fixes, upgrade of the server connection, improvements to grid vehicle positioning and more.

Microsoft provides product updates to anyone with a Live connection, even without a paid membership. If you have an Xbox Live connection, you will be prompted to download the update.

In addition to the update, as a result of the new motorbike dynamic and because of errors with some of the worldwide rankings, on Monday 20 November Eden Games will reset the following in-game worldwide server rankings for technical reasons (rankings saved locally will not be affected):
- Solo Time Challenge rankings
- Solo Speed Challenge rankings
- Solo Race Challenge rankings

The following rankings will remain unchanged:
- Ladder rankings in multiplayer Speed & Race Challenges
- Instant Challenge rankings
- Club rankings

An in-game message will be sent on Friday 17th November via the news system warning players three days in advance of the reset. Eden Games and Atari apologize in advance for any inconvenience caused.

The fixes and enhancements in ‘Title Update 2’ are as follows:

Enhancements:
• Motorbike handling tuned
• Easier to find your friends in Freeride: select the “friends” filter and click on a player to be automatically dropped in his playing session if session is not full
• Improvements to the management of game sessions in Freeride
• Speed filter added to prevent players from achieving impossible speeds in Speed Trap and Speed challenges
• Replay sequences improved

General:
• Menus: MY COUNTRY filter now fully loads when checking ranking leaderboards in the house
• Various crashes resolved
• Various exploits removed
• Progression no longer lost due to corrupted save games
• Player now always spawns at the correct house after reboot
• Gameplay fix: player can no longer irretrievably lose the current vehicle
• Microfreezes fixed
• Now possible to revert to normal paint after deluxe paint job

Multiplayer:
• E-trade now fully functional
• Clubs: no longer any issues when multiple inter- or intra-club challenges are hosted at the same time in the same club
• Players can now see each other after an Instant Challenge in Free Ride (previously if two users completed an Instant Challenge and returned to Free Ride with no other users in the session, the two users could not see each other in the session)
• Vehicle restriction must now be obeyed when accepting game invite
• Car now always correctly positioned on the starting grid, regardless of how many players enter and exit lobby
• Vehicles of players with low ping rates no longer show erratic behavior and disrupt gameplay
• Intermediate speed shown for speed challenges now always correct
• Host no longer always placed at the rear on starting line
• News messages of club invitations are no longer delayed or lost
• Drive in: limitation of 255 challenges posted removed
• Drive in: going down the first page in the list of challenge no longer makes the details of further custom challenges wrong
• Drive-in: challenges are now listed after completion of a challenge
• Incorrect record speed no longer cited in Speed Trap challenges
• Instant Challenges: Cars now always start at same point
• Gameplay: Player now able to accept Invitation to a Club after being ejected from another
• Multiplayer Races: vehicles now do not lack collision at beginning of race
• Monthly Multiplayer rankings are now based on a monthly frequency
• Users can now switch to Ready when accepting an Invitation from an Extra Challenge
• Time rankings fixed
• Speed rankings fixed
• Various exploits removed
• Police AI issues when disconnected from Xbox Live fixed

In addition to finally being able to trade cars it will be nice to be able to easily join friends in the free roam mode now.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:30 pm

Awesome! Let's get some roving gangs going... terrorize the populace.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 9:44 am

Bring out the Camaro's boys!

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 1:53 am

There's also some new downloadable content; some free, some not. I'm a sucker for the oh-so-gaudy Lamborghini Countach, so I'm using some marketplace points to get the PURE POWER 2 set.

Hopefully I have enough in-game cash to enjoy the car I just purchased with real-life money...

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:35 pm

So can I get in on this DSP TDU gang? I've been putting in more time into this game than I want to admit.

I only wish it worked with my Logitech G25 wheel

Anyway, someone drop me an invite to the club or whatever

Randy Magruder
DSP Reviewer alumni association

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:12 pm

Oh yeah - Gamertag = ringbearer. E-mail addr is randy.magruder@gmail.com

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:34 pm

Hello? Anyone home?

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:38 pm

Hey Randy...haven't heard from you in a while. I think Zeppo created the DSP Auto Club-I may be wrong, but you may want to talk to him. We've had a slot or two open recently, so I think you may be able to get in. I'll load up the game and see if I can't send you an invite, but I've got to add you to my friends list first...look for a request soon...

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:09 pm

Thanks, man. I'll look tonight!

Randy

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:32 pm

If you guys are going to roll tonight, I am in. I haven't played in a while.

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 8:05 pm

bkrich83 wrote:If you guys are going to roll tonight, I am in. I haven't played in a while.

bk, are you in the club? If not, lemme know or let Zepp know and we'll make sure you are.

In fact, that sounds like a great idea. Who's up for rolling down the highway in Honolulu tonight?

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 8:49 pm

I want in the club too, if there's a space. Zeppo, I sent you a request a couple weeks back. Did you see it?

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:09 pm

I think the club is full right now, but I'm sure there are a few who wouldn't mind leaving or being removed (such as those who don't play the game anymore?). I'll try to check sometime tonight, after I finish eating.

For the record, I didn't start the club, but I think I am the VP so I can invite and boot members.

BTW I wonder if KilledThadeus has a NAT problem and that's why he can't be in a room with Scoop? We've had issues with other guys, and that's turned out to be the problem.

I'll probably watch some football tonight, but the game might be pretty much over by halftime, so I might hop on for some driving.

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:44 pm

I was on earlier and didn't see any messages/invites, etc.

So I'll be on when my wife hits the sack (11?).

Randy

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:42 am

we need more people drivin....sigh

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 1:57 am

tealboy03 wrote:
bkrich83 wrote:If you guys are going to roll tonight, I am in. I haven't played in a while.
bk, are you in the club? If not, lemme know or let Zepp know and we'll make sure you are.

In fact, that sounds like a great idea. Who's up for rolling down the highway in Honolulu tonight?

The DSP club? I am in that one.

I got sidetracked tonight, and could run. Let me know when you guys want to do it again, I am down for some running.

nyisles16 · Post by **nyisles16** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 2:39 am

well whenever ya guys get some extra room, I still have the game.. actually put it in the 360 today to "regain" my rather porus driving skills..

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 2:51 am

I just got my Microsoft force feedback wheel today so I will be back playing it again tomorrow. This is my all time favorite driving game on the 360.

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:21 am

Teal and I did a bit of racin' last night. Pretty neat - Ford GT's ripping around that airfield circuit in the southwest of Oahu (the little airport).

I generally turn on TDU every night between 10 and 11 (wife going to bed...me staying up late to drive...). So anyone who gets online and sees I'm in TDU, ping me.

Randy (GT=Ringbearer)

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:57 pm

Ugh! What's with the TDU servers constantly being 'unavailable'???

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:24 pm

RandyM wrote:Ugh! What's with the TDU servers constantly being 'unavailable'???

They're probably messing with them right now. In the beginning, they were almost never available, because they got alot more traffic than they anticipated. They fixed that, and things ran quite smoothly for awhile.

It just seems they're retooling the servers, updating them, or something.

We'll try for a DSP Auto Club night early next week, and see if we can't get everyone in the club in there for some serious racin'...

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:24 pm

Btw, did you do that 60 minute run around the island with the "Millionaire Tour" thing?

I tried it for a second time last night . Used the Koenigsegg, but still missed it by 2 minutes!

Too many police busts, slamming into trees, etc.

Hints? I really want to ditch the Koenigseg for one of the McLaren F1's. Anyone want to trade me?

Randy

Digital Sportspage

Anyone take the plunge on Test Drive:Unlimited?

Yeah yeah I'm back :)