Well on my way home from Baltimore today, I stopped by a confirmed Best Buy in Glen Burnie. I played it for about an hour since my local Best buy doesn't have it The controller was shot unfortunately, the right joystick was worn to where it was tilted down a tad bit. The right joystick is in the button configuration as Up = gas, down = brake. So, the car was constantly braking which forced me to use it for gassing and braking. You cannot change the buttons as the options menu is locked. I'm used to driving on a controller configuration similar to NFS: Pro Street, which I don't even use a controller. So my driving sucked. After a couple of races I became more interested the damage.
Physics
The Physics seemed solid on all the cars. It had a different feeling to it than Prologue. For example, the body roll felt much more realistic compared to Prologue where everything felt like flat-out understeer. It was also visible, the car would lean on either side due to the g-force. The grass didn't suck you in like in Prologue. It has a different feel to it, but it is still a slow ride out of the grass. Downshifting while turning is now detrimental, meaning the rear end breaks loose from the higher revs. Power cars with no traction control are prone to spin outs, even on R3s, could just be the suspension though. Having driven on a controller, I cannot give a true comparison to Prologue or the TT demo. All this was experienced under Professional. I tried one game in Beginners and it a huge improvement from Prologue. The car did not handle unrealistically well like in Prologue's standard physics. Instead it seemed to just handle better maintaining the characteristics of the car. Drafting takes effect at a longer distance, not to the extent of Prologue. Professional physics drafting seemed more realistic, about 2-3 car lengths on Indianapolis. In beginner it seemed to drag you in faster than in professional as well. For tires, the N tires seem to be much more improved. They aren't as bad as in Prologue. S tires are in between the feeling of N and R tires.
Damage
The damage was great. Almost accurate as far as speed and collision points. I say this because in the other demos at game shows, people were eating the wall at MPH and barely hurt the car. Not the case here. Damage appears on all 4 sides of the car. The Nascar is the only car that's hood pops open. It is also the only car to shatter the rear quarter plexi-glass. THE CARS WILL NOT FLIP OVER. I tried a hundred times and the cars will only go air borne. Damage does affect car performance, not sure if it is mechanically or aerodynamically.
Other Items
The AI drive a lot smarter, sometimes I felt they even hit me back after I hit them. They try to avoid collisions better than in Prologue. They themselves make contact with other cars and the wall sometimes. Cars will not do stand still burn outs, they do crazy awesome donuts though. The graphics looked a bit better than Prologue, but not by a long shot. You cannot destroy your headlights so you can't see in the dark either. Debris kicked off the ground: Grass, dry grass, gravel, dirt.
The overall review: I'm pretty happy with it, it will definitely be a better experience on the wheel. I think the physics and damage is only 75% of what will actually be in the final product.
I thank my wife who got bored recording me the whole time lol.
R8 @ Rome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRmKHvZGJoA
SLS @ Indy, Real time Damage clip in here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajtw356Ct3I
Many attempts to flip the Enzo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ImRFhyekSw
Attempting to Flip the Lambo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5efj5MFENvY
Trying to destroy GT-R headlights on Toscana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oD6AyNb7o4
Nascar Damage, Found a glitchy car here too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm2gFLrMHyI
1 more Nascar Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17tehIM9_mo
