PunkRock
Is it just me, or is it starting to sound overly complex for a racing game? I'm betting on an immense failure this time, it's just sounding way too different.
Actually, you pretty much summed up my feelings after reading this press release.
I first played Gran Turismo back in 1999. It was the game that convinced me to get a Playstation. Then, I played GT2. Two was okay, but not great. I waited until GT3 was out to buy the PS2. I played a little, but the expanded licensing mode left me discouraged and I stopped playing until a few weeks ago when I popped GT3 in. My goal was to beat it before GT4 comes out. I think at this point, with the exception perhaps of a few of the time trials, I shall have no problems with that. But I digress.
The whole GT concept appealed to me because it was the best racing game I had ever played. It was realistic, it had great tracks, and the goal was not to knock the heck out of the competition while trying to win but to actually race well and...well, drive. GT2 built on that without of making a lot of unnecessary changes. GT3 took a step backward, giving us fewer cars and tracks but prettier graphics.
But GT4...I don't know. I was excited, I really was. But then I started hearing about things like penalty systems for hitting walls and other cars, the addition of fuel, the addition of nitrous, and mission-based racing. I was already overwhelmed with tuning cars. I am no mechanic. Nor do I want to have to call one just to custom configure parts. And while the B-Spec mode sounds interesting, someone pointed out earlier that it takes away from the actual driving aspect. I imagine that because it will work in tandem with A-Spec mode it will set a lot of people on edge. One of my main feelings here comes back to the fact that they're already messing with, in substantial ways, the way the game works. If I wanted to direct people in how they race, I would continue to coach my boyfriend around the tracks. If I wanted mission-based racing, I would pull out Midtown Madness 3. And if I wanted a points-system, I'd pull out Project Gotham. I don't make it my goal to drive around the track and smack into walls and cars in Gran Turismo, I actually try to stay on the track. But distractions do happen, as I do not live in a vacuum, and on occasion the phone rings, or my boyfriend startles me while I'm playing, or my contact lenses start to go wonky because I played for too long.
The worst thing that I'm seeing is that they seem to be pulling in concepts from other games and seeing if they fly in the GT world. It almost makes me think that perhaps they're testing these concepts in hopes of perhaps launching spinoff games. And frankly, I have no desire to be a guinea pig. I'm not paying $50 to test GT: Drag Racing, GT: Manager, and GT: The Missions. I'd pay $50 for a great game with more tracks and more cars than ever before, with improved graphics and AI and perhaps a few little things like fuel. But, I don't really want to be punished for hitting a wall too hard -- hitting a wall already *has* negative consequences, must they make it worse?
It seems like this game is geared toward many of the hardcore players who hang around forums like this one. But I think that they're also forgetting about all the people who got them this far. None of my friends even play anymore, they stopped at GT2. GT3, they said, changed things too much and made the game less fun. I can't imagine what they'll say about GT4. I can't find anyone willing to play anymore in multi-player, and while I had been looking forward to online mode, if that ended up in the trash bin (where many of the things added to GT4 should probably go) I won't be sorry simply because I wouldn't want to get yelled at if I rode a wall on SSR5 a little or took a shortcut on Trial Mountain. In the course of making GT4, I fear that PD is alienating more and more of the original fans -- the people who bought the game because it was the best racer out there. I didn't buy Gran Turismo because it was an uberealistic simulation of driving. I bought it because it was fun. And I truly believe that the majority of the people who do buy it are not the same people who generally amass on forums like this. If PD forgets about all those people, it will be safe to say that sales will not be nearly what they could have been.
It seems like good graphics and good gameplay are no longer enough. Every game that I've bought over the past few years seems to have extremely high learning curves tailored toward the power gamer with tons of time to spare. I'm tired of complications and differences being added just to make things harder. Fuel, for instance, is just one more thing to juggle along with tire wear, part settings, and the like. Of course, of all the changes, that one seems to be the easiest to adjust to and the easiest to manage, as it is simply integrating yet another thing to keep track of.
While I'm certainly not the best player in the world, I'm good, and I know I'm not going to have too much trouble hitting 100% in GT3. But I'm afraid that GT4 is going to be the one to make the curve skyrocket out of reach for myself, and others. At some point, when you add too much stuff, the balance of game vs. realism gets thrown entirely out of whack. And in the end, while it is touted as a driving simulator, it really is a *game*. Yes, a game. I know that might shock some of you, but there are people who actually play this for fun, who play this because they enjoy racing, and not because it's a driving simulator. And while you might argue that's not the intention of the game, and that it should be as realistic as possible, and that those of us who don't see it that way should stick to arcade mode, there's no reason that we should be relegated to a portion of the game that I would be entirely happy seeing dropped. I still want to buy cars, modify them, and do the actual simulation mode. I don't like arcade because it feels pointless.
I have seen this attitude before (especially in mmorpgs), and the ultimate changes often cause the very people who were asking for the changes to walk away out of frustration. Several of you said that if you crashed on the last lap of an endurance and your car was damaged to the point where you couldn't drive it that would be realistic, and you would be okay with that. I'd be very surprised if you would be okay with that when actually faced with the situation. If you would be okay with that, I really wonder how many of you, if you did smack into a wall on the last lap of an endurance race in GT3, would be willing to quit out of the race because your car wouldn't be able to drive for the sheer realism of it. If so, kudos to you, because I don't have that much time to spare. Even if I did have that much time to spare, I'd really hate feeling like I had just wasted the last 2-3 hours of my life. The fun of the race would be soured by the bitter ending.
I'm sure many of you will be happy with GT4. And I'm glad for you. But I'll be sad if GT3 is where I end my journey with the GT series. I'll have to wait until December 14th to find out for sure, but I'm certainly worried.
Dana
j/j
Scorched forearms anyone? Check out the exhaust system
