Just came across this vid - first proper look at someone playing with a gamepad if anyone's interested.
The question that I have is - have they taken out track limits too???
I suspect it's automagic slowdown penalties. There was an extended delay before he started accelerating properly after running wide at Copse. It wasn't extreme but looked like it... and I noticed a much more pronounced example at much slower speed in a race during that Russian video(and based on everything else I
highly doubt that guy would have slowed down to be fair to the bots). I hate slowdowns but since they are going for a broader audience it does make more sense to do it that way than to try to expect people who aren't dedicated motorsports fans to deal with a system like the one that confounded people in PC2 even though it -mostly- made sense.
---- Long rambling general thoughts that should really be its own post ----
I have watched several of these videos now and it still seems like what they are going for is something like what I had originally wished that GRID was going to grow into - a fairly lighthearted racer but focused on real racing instead of outlaw street racing or some hokey storyline. The first GRID and again in Autosport focused on pro-style racing with proper classes but stubbornly refused to use really believable physics(despite having much more lively cars with lockups and under/oversteer than most arcade racers) and relied on some arcadey tricks and punty AI drivers to make it more "fun." This game surely has the underlying physics but those classes being all mixed together takes a little bit of the "pro" out of it. Hopefully there's at least some options in custom races to restrict to a specific actual class. And of course the other things we needn't mention.
I do think from the small glimpse I've seen that the customization looks pretty decent for a template-and-options based system. Lots of interesting variety possible and shown on the bot cars. PC gamers will of course miss the ability to make(ok... mostly download) truly custom livery designs though. I hope they include the ability to save a few custom configurations for your car because constantly changing the upgrades back and forth would be a nightmare.
I also like the floaty gates instead of crayon lines for the racing line help, looks a bit less goofy and should help actually teach people how to corner instead of just tracing the pattern they're told to. They do seem extremely relaxed about what constitutes a "perfect corner" though. Personally I wouldn't ever use those things anyway but that's just how I am.
Career mode does looks likely rather boring to me unfortunately having only seen a few bits of it. As they already stated no practice and qualifying with short races means just bashing your way to the front in 3-5 laps is required, and that is about as much fun as mowing the lawn. Finding your favorite mix of upgrades to get a car that drives well and has the right difficulty, or to keep using your favorite car in as many races as you want does have a certain appeal. Having some extra objectives to chase while you race is nice too(as long as "smash x rivals" isn't one of them). But I like signing a contract to drive a season for a particular series against all the correct cars. Cars that are hard to pass. In races that feel like an accomplishment.
The way the AI drives and acts looks extremely similar to PC2 to me... unreal grip when off-line, diving super late into corners, constantly stuffing it at the last instant into the tiniest gap, very little awareness of the player right next to them. I suspect their improved AI largely just means that running short sprints from the back means you'll have to be enough faster than them that you won't have to try to race really close lap after lap with a car that is just as fast as you(you know... fun?) so their shortcomings won't be as constant an annoyance. Having the mixed performance of power vs handling within classes should at least make them race each other better though.
Still haven't seen any glimpse of the car setup options which is a concern.
So it still seems like they've made something that me from 10 years ago might like... and maybe even me from today as a side option like GRID once was... if I didn't have several other options that are actually designed to be closer to what I'm looking for. But I do. And of course this game used to be one of those so it's a tougher sell. Still don't think I'm the gamer they're looking for.
Hopefully it will find it's niche as I'm sure they've got a mostly-well-done game here and a number of people do still seem interested in it. But I still worry that sim-heads will stick to their existing sims, arcade gamers will find the driving too daunting to be fun, and Forza/GT players will remain Forza/GT players.
