Ned Flanders
Banned
So PGR3 has been taking up much of my time of late..I must say I'm impressed. Probably played more of it than any racer since GT3. Given that it's a launch title, meaning it was probably rushed a bit and some corners were likely cut, I'm salivating at the proposition of what PGR4 could potentially offer given the extra time/experience with the hardware. With that in mind, my wish list for PGR4 would be as follows:
1. Don't mess with the controls/physics!! I swear to the god of vulcanized rubber that they absolutely nailed the handling, stick and trigger sensitivity, and the differentiating "feel" between the cars in PGR3. The actual driving and handling of the cars is probably the most gratifying sensation I've ever had with a racing game. Cornering, drifting, drafting. LEAVE IT BE. It's perfect. I swear.
2. 60 fps...please?!? I know the motion blur does a good job of disguising the "chug and crawl" that you get with a non-locked 30fps in PGR3, but to an absolute graphics whore like myself, I can't help but wonder to what heights my ejaculates would soar if a game at the detail level of PGR3 were moving at a locked 60fps with no drops. PGR3 is certainly as close a game as I've seen in terms of making it difficult to distinguish the frame rate (I'm always irritated by people who say "30fps..60fps..I don't see the difference"..FUCK YOU THERES A DIFFERENCE), but my scrutiny level has adjusted and I want more..MORE!!
3. Some kind of "free ride" mode a la GTA that would allow for realtime travel inside the respective cities. I know it's probably a nightmare from a technical standpoint, but PGR3 already featured streaming track sections (and thus all the loadtimes..more on that in a moment). Mingling a few sideline peds with some dummy cars (maybe license a few cheesy budget sedans/suv's) and the occassional E Class car, along with the appropriate section of track would make for a pretty servicable cityscape. Ever since playing Metropolis Street Racer for the first time, I remember the feeling of disappointment when I realized there was no option for a mode such as this. To me it diminshed the premise of racing in a realistically created city. Perhaps some easter eggs could be placed around various locations to provide a reward for exploration, but even if it was just a pointless standalone mode, I'd still enjoy it thoroughly.
4. Load time reduction. I realize this is a highly technical issue given the bulk of data being streamed in and out of RAM throughout the races, but I feel like at least some of the more benign loading issues could be addressed. The menus in the game are slick, but there are a lot of unnecessary loads that could be handled by doing menu overlays (particularly when having to access the garage frequently) instead of whole new screens for each portion. If nothing could be done about the race-time loads (Throw in some HD space for caching track data?? Or would that violate the "essentials"?), at least go through and completely streamline the menu experience for maximum speed, minimum loads.
5. Dubai!! Of all the neo-metropoli waiting to be slapped into a sex racer like PGR, Dubai is clearly the frontrunner for a slot in the circuit. Between all the crazy new architecture they have constructed, the scenic desert on the outskirts, the huge coastline "palms" covered with resorts and beachfront, there's assloads of gorgeous scenery waiting to be captured and digitally delivered to the Flanders residence for exploration via McClaren F1. I've made the choice for you, Bizarre. Book your flight to the United Arab Emirates and get your cameras ready..
6. Exportable photos. Just include some kind of interface for offloading all those beloved photo mode pics to a PC or USB device. Doesn't have to be fancy pants, just something that can get our "work" out to the masses without having to take snapshots of my glare-laden television.
7. Kill Kudo combos with wall contact. I know they're trying to be forgiving etc, but the concept of Kudo's is essentially style points, and I know personally that anytime I see a driver hit a wall in...anything...I never consider it the least bit stylish. I've benefitted extremely from the forgiving system, but it's still a dumbing down of the concept. Only the most extremely incedental contact should be ignored..everything else should bring an end to the combo. Period.
8. Expanded replay mode with customization. I would love to be able to tailor my replay saves to the individual race. Have a wide angle chase shot on the big straightaway, a front-to-back close-up on a well drifted corner, a shuffle of cars during a battle for position etc. I believe it was Driver back on the PS that had a setup like this, and it worked wonderfully. Really allowed you to show off your run from the best possible angles at all times. Would be a fun inclusion.
9. Live tournaments? Some kind of event-based Live racing with qualifying races etc and a potential prize (Live points at worst) for top 3 finishes? I mean the Live setup is great as is, but something more community-focused like a lot of MMO games have would do as much to keep people playing as "online career mode".
10. Wet-track racing, a la GT3. With all the assloads of effects these new GPU's are laden with, you'd think we could make this a standard feature, but it would appear that the challenge of implementing the effect scales along with the detail level of the game itself. I'm sure with some time and effort it could be done with jaw-dropping results, but it has to be made priority among the devs first. We should start an online campaign for it's inclusion RIGHT NOW.
Anyway these are just off the top of my head..I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. I realize that some of my suggestions are going to be highly dependent on skirting technical issues that may or may not be completely avoidable, but I think that given the newness of the hardware, a lot of untapped potential remains to be put to use over the next couple of years. I think that by fall 2007, 60fps at a fairly improved detail level is conceivable, as are wet-track options (Just trim the car count like GT3 did! Hell in PGR3, half the time you're only racing against another guy or two in career mode anyway!) trimmed load times (should be easy), and a possible city-roaming free ride mode. All the other ideas are just a matter of development and implementation.
1. Don't mess with the controls/physics!! I swear to the god of vulcanized rubber that they absolutely nailed the handling, stick and trigger sensitivity, and the differentiating "feel" between the cars in PGR3. The actual driving and handling of the cars is probably the most gratifying sensation I've ever had with a racing game. Cornering, drifting, drafting. LEAVE IT BE. It's perfect. I swear.
2. 60 fps...please?!? I know the motion blur does a good job of disguising the "chug and crawl" that you get with a non-locked 30fps in PGR3, but to an absolute graphics whore like myself, I can't help but wonder to what heights my ejaculates would soar if a game at the detail level of PGR3 were moving at a locked 60fps with no drops. PGR3 is certainly as close a game as I've seen in terms of making it difficult to distinguish the frame rate (I'm always irritated by people who say "30fps..60fps..I don't see the difference"..FUCK YOU THERES A DIFFERENCE), but my scrutiny level has adjusted and I want more..MORE!!
3. Some kind of "free ride" mode a la GTA that would allow for realtime travel inside the respective cities. I know it's probably a nightmare from a technical standpoint, but PGR3 already featured streaming track sections (and thus all the loadtimes..more on that in a moment). Mingling a few sideline peds with some dummy cars (maybe license a few cheesy budget sedans/suv's) and the occassional E Class car, along with the appropriate section of track would make for a pretty servicable cityscape. Ever since playing Metropolis Street Racer for the first time, I remember the feeling of disappointment when I realized there was no option for a mode such as this. To me it diminshed the premise of racing in a realistically created city. Perhaps some easter eggs could be placed around various locations to provide a reward for exploration, but even if it was just a pointless standalone mode, I'd still enjoy it thoroughly.
4. Load time reduction. I realize this is a highly technical issue given the bulk of data being streamed in and out of RAM throughout the races, but I feel like at least some of the more benign loading issues could be addressed. The menus in the game are slick, but there are a lot of unnecessary loads that could be handled by doing menu overlays (particularly when having to access the garage frequently) instead of whole new screens for each portion. If nothing could be done about the race-time loads (Throw in some HD space for caching track data?? Or would that violate the "essentials"?), at least go through and completely streamline the menu experience for maximum speed, minimum loads.
5. Dubai!! Of all the neo-metropoli waiting to be slapped into a sex racer like PGR, Dubai is clearly the frontrunner for a slot in the circuit. Between all the crazy new architecture they have constructed, the scenic desert on the outskirts, the huge coastline "palms" covered with resorts and beachfront, there's assloads of gorgeous scenery waiting to be captured and digitally delivered to the Flanders residence for exploration via McClaren F1. I've made the choice for you, Bizarre. Book your flight to the United Arab Emirates and get your cameras ready..
6. Exportable photos. Just include some kind of interface for offloading all those beloved photo mode pics to a PC or USB device. Doesn't have to be fancy pants, just something that can get our "work" out to the masses without having to take snapshots of my glare-laden television.
7. Kill Kudo combos with wall contact. I know they're trying to be forgiving etc, but the concept of Kudo's is essentially style points, and I know personally that anytime I see a driver hit a wall in...anything...I never consider it the least bit stylish. I've benefitted extremely from the forgiving system, but it's still a dumbing down of the concept. Only the most extremely incedental contact should be ignored..everything else should bring an end to the combo. Period.
8. Expanded replay mode with customization. I would love to be able to tailor my replay saves to the individual race. Have a wide angle chase shot on the big straightaway, a front-to-back close-up on a well drifted corner, a shuffle of cars during a battle for position etc. I believe it was Driver back on the PS that had a setup like this, and it worked wonderfully. Really allowed you to show off your run from the best possible angles at all times. Would be a fun inclusion.
9. Live tournaments? Some kind of event-based Live racing with qualifying races etc and a potential prize (Live points at worst) for top 3 finishes? I mean the Live setup is great as is, but something more community-focused like a lot of MMO games have would do as much to keep people playing as "online career mode".
10. Wet-track racing, a la GT3. With all the assloads of effects these new GPU's are laden with, you'd think we could make this a standard feature, but it would appear that the challenge of implementing the effect scales along with the detail level of the game itself. I'm sure with some time and effort it could be done with jaw-dropping results, but it has to be made priority among the devs first. We should start an online campaign for it's inclusion RIGHT NOW.
Anyway these are just off the top of my head..I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. I realize that some of my suggestions are going to be highly dependent on skirting technical issues that may or may not be completely avoidable, but I think that given the newness of the hardware, a lot of untapped potential remains to be put to use over the next couple of years. I think that by fall 2007, 60fps at a fairly improved detail level is conceivable, as are wet-track options (Just trim the car count like GT3 did! Hell in PGR3, half the time you're only racing against another guy or two in career mode anyway!) trimmed load times (should be easy), and a possible city-roaming free ride mode. All the other ideas are just a matter of development and implementation.
Hopefully the system works, I wonder if there will be any sort of referee to judge dodgy collisions etc?...No me either.
