Got my copy at GameStop last night. To rehash how bad GameStops are around here; when I went in and asked for it the guy said, "For the Playstation 3 or another system?" I just said, "Uh, yeah, the PS3
"
Anyway, I got home, installed it and updated with only one error, but it took a while on my 1mb line. Then as it started up I was in awe. I then watched Beyond the apex. After that I assigned onboard telemetry buttons to my DFP.
OK, now all of that out of the way and my home screen is telling me I need to buy a car (perhaps it should have just said, "Get a Cappuccino so you can do all of C class").
Anyway, I decide that for me to truly test this game compared to reality I must get the only car in the game that I have actually driven. I own a MkV Golf/Rabbit and test drive GTIs whenever I have my car in at the dealer. So, MkV GTI it is. I even got it in the same color as my car, midnight blue.
For reference:
Same color, just in a GTI model.
I take it to arcade and run a Time Trial on Daytona Super Speedway just to get a feel for the DFP and the new physics. I am now ranked 7th on the MkV GTI Daytona Super Speedway Professional physics leaderboards (or was last night). So, feel free to watch my replay.
The first thing I noticed was the engine sound. It wasn't perfect, but it was very close. Then during a replay I switched it to the cockpit view and began to really look around now that I wasn't driving. Dials all in the right place? Check. A pillars at the right angles? Check. Six speaker system visible where appropriate? Check. Vents? Check. Door latch? Check. Door locks? Check. Stereo buttons? Check? Even the vertical facing vent on top of the dash? Check. Rear window defroster wires? The exact same pattern. Check.
Then it is time to take it into a race with turns. So I do an arcade race in High Speed Ring. Things were very close, but not quite. I bring up the onboard telemetry and find ABS defaulted at 1. Turn it off. Next turn I lock the brakes, over correct and start to slide. My wife hears me yell, "That's it!" and asks why I am excited that I just lost myself the race. I explain that after getting the ABS off the car feels nearly exact to mine, even in the slide.
After losing the race because my experimentation incident put me in an unrecoverable position I then go to the Events. I do everything in C Class that doesn't require a Cappuccino. During this I found that, yes, this is just like my car in handling. On Eiger I spun my tires slightly in a turn and it even made the slight chuffing noise with a hint of squeak. And when you get airborne on Eiger and then slam down the only sound missing was my tool box bouncing around in the cargo space (new speed hump installed by work overnight and didn't have anything marking it, so I hit it fast. I know the sound of landing hard on my suspension). So after completing all the C-Class events I could I concluded that this game was well worth the $40.
I then went and bought a Cappuccino and then saved out as it was approaching midnight. I was already seeing my driving getting less precise due to sleepiness, and I have to work today.
I plan to at least complete C through A classes before going online.
But after driving the virtual version of a slightly more powerful model of my car I can say this is the most realistic driving simulation I have played.
Yep!
rologue. Installing now...
