Project Gotham Racing: When Speed Isn't Enough

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Project Gotham Racing: When Speed Isn't Enough
To commemorate the release of Forza Horizon 4, we’re revisiting another popular racer from Xbox's past.

This article was published by Adam Ismail (@glassjaw) on October 2nd, 2018 in the Features category.

 

[TenEightyOne]

That's one of the best GTP articles yet.

 

[Bill Camara]

Since this was published by Microsoft, is there any chance that PGR 3 and/or 4 will ever be made backward compatible for Xbox One? I still have those two titles and would love to play them on my XB1X.

 

[TurismoBad]

OXM Italy had a demo of PGR4 and a contest. 599 GTB on reverse snowy Nurburgring GP - top 3 gets the game.

I said to myself - I have to get this. Drove it for days and when I couldn't find anything more I sent them my time.

I was third by a small fraction from the 2nd guy. (0.01 or 0.02 or something like that) Game came few days later in the mail and I absolutely loved it 👍

 

[Moglet]

I loved MSR on the Dreamcast, I remember being impressed by the time synching up with real life and the fact you could see the brake calipers moving when you braked. I missed the rest of the titles until PGR4 which I played a hell of a lot of, including online. To the dismay of my girlfriend at the time who eventually broke up with me because of how much time I spent on it.

Worth it.

 

[GroupB]

Since this was published by Microsoft, is there any chance that PGR 3 and/or 4 will ever be made backward compatible for Xbox One? I still have those two titles and would love to play them on my XB1X.

No. MS has done everything within their power to erase the PGR series from the history books, lest it cast the Forza series in a bad light by comparison.

 

[GT Kelv]

I still have all 4 games from this series. I wish they’d back compat the first title with updated graphics. The 3rd installment was my favorite out of all 4 though.

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

Great, I wasn't the only one that thinks the AI in PGR2 is bad. I was playing that game a month ago to finally beat it. The final league was especially frustrating due to how cars sometimes plowed me into walls. I overall enjoyed PGR2 otherwise, it's aged quite well just as the later titles did. And it's one of the only racing games to have a Terminator Mustang Cobra in it!

 

[Bohemis09]

Oh so much memories hitting my brain!! What a great game and what a great franchise was! Maybe the best arcade racing ever built!

 

[Yarf]

That crazy super long Macau track was (and still is) a thrill to drive in the fourth game

 

[torque99]

I was playing MSR non stop on my beloved Dreamcast (It still works perfect and was one of the first to go online back then with a cable-before wi-fi was stable!) along with Vanishing Point, Sega Rally2 Championship and 355 Challenge long before the Xbox360/One (showing my age again). I knew Bizzare Creations were good then and I was first in line to pick up the PGR games when they came out. PGR4 was my favourite, with better visuals of Las Vegas, the Bikes and Snowy weather.

This article made me go up in the attic again to dust off the Dreamcast! (I took these Photos last year) and luckily I still have a TV with a Scart lead to try it!! (Graphics were great at the time, I thought they would never beat the Dreamcast back then but we have now been spoilt by 4k!) 👍

​

I loved MSR on the Dreamcast, I remember being impressed by the time synching up with real life and the fact you could see the brake calipers moving when you braked. I missed the rest of the titles until PGR4 which I played a hell of a lot of, including online. To the dismay of my girlfriend at the time who eventually broke up with me because of how much time I spent on it.

Worth it.

I wonder how many 'Breakups' or Divorces have happened because of Gaming too much

 

[GMooreFan1]

I am pretty confident the Nürburgring Nordschleife's first appearance in a racing game was Grand Prix Legends for the PC by Papyrus/Sierra Online.

 

[daan]

I am pretty confident the Nürburgring Nordschleife's first appearance in a racing game was Grand Prix Legends for the PC by Papyrus/Sierra Online.

Yes, but GPL was a simulation, not a racing game and I'm guessing @glassjaw is making that difference.

 

[Liquid]

Did one of the PGRs have the Sierra Cosworth in it? I've never been an Xbox owner but I seem to remember totally abusing the Cossie on a racing game when I went to my friend's house.

 

[JR98]

Did one of the PGRs have the Sierra Cosworth in it? I've never been an Xbox owner but I seem to remember totally abusing the Cossie on a racing game when I went to my friend's house.

PGR4 has the Sierra RS500 in it. I remember using that car loads early in the career.

 

[mekonrider]

I still think PGR4 is a better game than Ride as far as bike racing is concerned.

 

[Crazy Taylor]

PGR4 would be ace if it on BC on XB1. Guessing licenses is stopping that, like NFS Hot Pursuit 2010.

 

[glassjaw]

I am pretty confident the Nürburgring Nordschleife's first appearance in a racing game was Grand Prix Legends for the PC by Papyrus/Sierra Online.

You’re probably right. I tried to do the research and make sure that was the case, but GPL never came up nor have I played the game so...console racer, then?

EDIT: Also, nice name 👍

 

[INEEDNAWZZZ]

Amazing article for an amazing series. Still hate that Bizarre was shut down. I remember rumours that Turn 10 was to take over control of the series but honestly, as good as the Forza games are, I don't think they would've done it justice. Forza 2 and PGR4 came out the same year; Forza 2 looks quite rough around the edges, but PGR4 still holds up remarkably well. PGR3 does to an extent, and that was a 360 launch game.

 

[SestoScudo]

Amazing article for an amazing series. Still hate that Bizarre was shut down. I remember rumours that Turn 10 was to take over control of the series but honestly, as good as the Forza games are, I don't think they would've done it justice. Forza 2 and PGR4 came out the same year; Forza 2 looks quite rough around the edges, but PGR4 still holds up remarkably well. PGR3 does to an extent, and that was a 360 launch game.

Pgr reboot was in the talks but it got killed off to make way for more Forza.

Such a shame with Bizzare joining Activision.

Joining EA or Activision is a death sentence. So many great game developers were destroyed thanks to EA and Activision.

 

[RaceFuchs]

Nice article. Im one of these old (?) men who actually played MSR at launch on Dreamcast. I think its still possible we will see a PGR reboot in the future. Horizon 4 brought it back to memory with its LaRacer event, so... who knows? With its focus on style / kudos an citys, it might even find a place alongside FM and Horizon.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Ah yes, many hours wasted playing Cat & Mouse in PGR. Good times.

 

[SiriusR]

An oddly-named racer

An oddly-named racer indeed. When I first heard the name, I thought it was a racing game with Batman characters.

 

[INEEDNAWZZZ]

An oddly-named racer indeed. When I first heard the name, I thought it was a racing game with Batman characters.

Fun fact: a lot of the staff at Bizarre were big comic book fans. Metropolis Street Racer was picked as a reference to Superman.

 

[OJT6627]

Only played PGR3, but it was a very fun racer.

Then, DriveClub on PS4 came out and it very much feels like next-gen PGR

Ironically, both titles were shut down to make way for other exclusives (PGR/Forza and DC/GT). Such a waste

 

[SPhilli911]

I got into the PGR series late into the Xbox's life, but I do remember playing splitscreen with a friend doing countless laps on the Nurburgring (pretending it was a sim racer) in the days before Forza came around.

Funny, I had/ still have PGR: Ferrari Edition on my Zune HD. Wow.

 

[glassjaw]

Fun fact: a lot of the staff at Bizarre were big comic book fans. Metropolis Street Racer was picked as a reference to Superman.

Yes! In that way Metropolis/Gotham is a cute nod to both DC heroes. Sega had the rights to MSR, so they went with Batman when they could no longer use that name! Strangely never realized that until putting this together.

 

[Nuschel01]

Whenever I had a chance to play xbox somewhere and was able to choose between FM and PGR I always went with PGR, I liked it a lot more than FM and always hoped for a PGR:5

 

[glassjaw]

Forza 2 and PGR4 came out the same year; Forza 2 looks quite rough around the edges, but PGR4 still holds up remarkably well. PGR3 does to an extent, and that was a 360 launch game.

I completely agree. I firmly believed, especially after FM3 launched, that Turn 10 should have taken an extra year with the sequel’s development. It felt like the first, only less polished and it didn’t make use of the 360’s hardware in a meaningful way. But PGR4, with its weather effects, combination of cars and bikes and crazy amount of game modes (British Bulldogs anyone?) felt novel at the time.

But even that’s debatable, cause each entry was great in its own way. I think PGR2 was my personal favorite, but there’s an argument to be made for each. That’s the mark of a truly great franchise.

 

[notsofast]

Great article-I so want to go out and buy a secondhand 360 and track down copies of 3&4. I missed the first two but the last two gave me countless hours of joy. Its nothing less then a tragedy that the series isnt still alive. For me it really stands alone as an outstanding arcade racer. Dont get me started on the cars you would find in this series and no where else. The garages in number three. The weather in number four. I miss it so.