I bought the game yesterday. Limited edition, which came for me at the same price as the standard one. So I'll take the extra stuff alright. Did everyone get different photo cards out of it or what? Cause I've got a Quattro S1, R18 and RCZ Gr.B to...well, I dunno. What can I do with these photos anyway? I mean, I already have a Peugeot rally car model on my desk. Admittedly the RCZ is a lot prettier, but who would put them in an actual photo frame? I know I wouldn't.
Anyway. Did a bit of the old-school Arcade Mode at first, but it's a shame most of the default rent-a-cars aren't great. Of course, the game gives out cars like candy, which does make the very idea of buying cars seem a little pointless, but that didn't stop me buying two Mitsubishis to go with the Gr.B the beta gave me and the Gr.4 and 3 I got given for 'signing a contract' with them. Just need to know when the Gr.B road car will be available...how are they doing the mileage exchange anyway? Rotating every day?
Worked a little bit through the three single player modes. A lot of it seems all very casual oriented at the start, but some of the circuit experiences were at least a little tricky. I've only done the ones with cars I like in this game so far, but the rally ones are a little tricky thanks to the awkward physics and even the rather wacky BB Raceway gave me some trouble. Might do more tonight, if I have time to play.
Of course, Sport mode is the biggie here but I haven't done any actual racing, because I've been all too busy testing cars out. Since there wasn't a proper track to test Gr.3s on yesterday (I know what's best on Northern Isle - a 4C Gr.3, because I drove it there so often in the beta), I went and took on all the Gr.4s. Obviously the GT-R is the best because it's clearly the fastest and amongst the best-handling, so much for 'balance' of performance, but from a driving standpoint there were other good'uns too. Obviously the 4WDs are mostly excellent - the Veyron (still can't believe that's a thing), Huracan and, brilliantly, the Evo X, but not the Atenza as it's too understeery. Obviously the FWDs are definitely very understeery, but the TT cup and RCZ in particular seem to get by fine. But there were some pleasant surprises among the RWDs that usually try to kill you. The most pleasant of all were the American duo of the C7 and Viper. I'd tried the latter before on Lago Maggiore and found out how good it was, but the C7 had much the same thing going on. So they're both good. The 458 was another strong one, as was the SLS AMG although I was well used to that from the beta. Even the Porsche Cayman was a decent drive too.
Now to see what else comes up on the dailies. And I need to work out what races I'm doing for those three championships PD is bigging up. I did notice one thing with the Gr.Bs though - much as I love the Evo, I noticed, while doing the Circuit Experiences for Fisherman's Ranch and Colorado Springs, the Focus did seem a lot more user friendly on the latter. Of course, I'll have to wait and see what they're all like on tarmac. The Evo is a little strange on it, but not necessarily unbearable.
Of course, the Scapes are as impressive as I expected. Still want to visit the lot of them. Though I missed a chance to visit some of Lisbon's over the last three days. Curses.
Two more things. Firstly, I've decided my favourite song in the game is this:
Good to see London Elektricity on form. And there's some other good songs amongst this lot too, including all the classics from Daiki Kasho and the rest. Superb stuff.
Lastly, all I ask for from the livery editor: are there any good itashas out there yet? Still waiting on the SVGs to be available so people can do them properly, but I'd like to see what people are doing with the current make do and mend approach. Already seen a couple of good'uns.