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Test Drive Unlimited


sayerbloke
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Is it really that bad? I quite enjoyed the demo I played, it wasn't particularly realistic but it was fairly good fun blatting around the island.

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A mate of mine has the game and says I can go have a try tomorrow so I'll let you know what I think. Apparently it's customisable by changing the driver aids and so on.

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Just been playing the full version of TDU around a mate's for the past hour or so.

When I originally heard about the game months ago, I had high hopes. The demos and early reviews from people who'd played it made me think it'd fallen well short of expectations.

I'm happy to report it's better than I was expecting it to be when I woke up this morning. It's by no means perfect, but I do feel a lot of the criticisms are unfounded.

I'm not going to call the physics realistic, but it's a reasonable stab at it, with the exception of collisions and damage.

The graphics aren't photo-realistic, but they did look very good on my mate's HDTV. The sound of the engines is acceptable, too.

I do now see the point made by a few of the reviews when they said "What's the point?". Unless you've set yourself the mission of owning every car and house on the game, it doesn't take all that long to save up enough money to buy the cars you want. So, you then use those cars to make some more money... but then what? Well, I guess you then just set the SatNav up to take you for a drive along the coast. It's a reasonable way to pass the time. There's 1000 miles of road to explore after all. Trouble is, too many of them all look a bit samey which will hurt the game's longevity.

It depends what you're looking for from a game. It may not have the absolute excitement of some of the race games or Outrun, but it has it's own unique charm in allowing you to free roam in which ever car you want and just bounce into challenges when and as you please.

Based on my go today, I'll still be getting the PC version when it comes out smile.gif

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Got my copy on Friday and thought I’d give you a bit of a run down on what I think.

Having played both of the Demo’s over the last couple of months, I was beginning to feel at home with the analogue sticks. ( I’m used to GT4 with a Logitech F.F Wheel )

At first the demo Gallardo and F430 seemed to feel a bit lifeless, steering wise. The straight ahead was ok and cornering was accurate enough but when flicking around cars on the highway ( one lane to another ) both the Lambo & the Fezza felt like they were lurching around too much. ( in the replays, both cars didn’t look to be “Rolling” at all. The full game “feels” much better.

I was playing on TDU on Sat night from 10pm until 2 in the morning and found it to be great fun. You start off at an Airport ( presumably somewhere in the States ) where you choose your character before boarding the aircraft. You then fly to the Island and grab yourself a hire car. Choices were an A4 cab / Elise & a strange Chevy coupetruckthing. I hired the Elise for the minimum 10 day period and set off to find a dealership. I headed straight for the Alfa Dealers as there was only a choice between them and Audi ( I wanted something that handled ). After buying an Alfa GT V6 it was off to the Estate agents to buy a lavish pad with 4 car garage ( the main criteria for your home ) with the remaining $150k of my money.

After a quick shmooze around your pad and a check over your empty garage its time to hit the road and race anyone you can find ( A.I opponents ), and locate “race” locations using your Sat Nav. In no time at all I was winning races and soon amassed over $170k. By now the Maserrati and Ferrari Dealers had been unlocked and so I bought an F430 in Grey Metallic. The sound of the Fezza was awesome and added to the thrill all the more. The “in car” view is by far the best way to drive and in no time I was racing more exotic machinery including a Jag XJ220. The more you race and the more of the island you explore, the more of the challenges / dealers and shops become visible. The beauty of the game is you don’t have to race all the time, you can just go for a drive and admire the scenery ( its great to drive by the posh apartments and look to the left and right whilst driving ) smile.gif

One of the best aspects that I unlocked was the “Delivery Job”. After selecting a particular icon on the map, I was “teleported” to a location where I met a guy who wanted me to deliver his Enzo to a location deep into unexplored territory.

Not only would he pay me $80k for the privilege, but if the car arrived unscathed then I would get a $40k bonus. Needless to say I managed to get to the drop off without a scratch on the car and earned my $120k. That’s after seeing 180mph on the Enzo speedo. This part of the game is great and with something like an Enzo, really makes you drive with that extra care and attention. ( if you have a scrape or an RTA, the booty is reduced and you don’t get the bonus ). After completing this task it doesn’t come up on the map again, although there are many more like it. grin.gif

More Later 169144-ok.gif

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TDU Car Reviews.

Spent another couple of hours on TDU last night and went out test driving various cars. Impressions of each are as follows.

Ford GT : Most amazing engine sound in any game ! As Jezza said, “like God clearing his throat”. Otherwise an uninspiring drive. Mad top end ( 189 in the time I had ) but little cornering finesse. Feels like a typical heavy “Yank tank”. Purchased it anyway, just for the sound. grin.gif

Nissan 350Z – Nismo S tune : Quick with a loose ish back end. Good fun in the bends and again a good engine note with a terrific turbo whine. smile.gif

TVR Segariss : Blackpool’s finest with loads of grunt and prickly rear traction. Crazy paint choice, as ever and sounds good too. 169144-ok.gif

Aston V8 Vantage : Quick off the mark and from the cockpit view, has a solid feel to its handling. Sound was ok. No sign of the trick flap opening and the noise increasing though, which was disappointing. frown.gif

Vanquish S : Great thumping engine and massive top end speed. No chance to test in the corners though as each test is limited to about 2 mins. Good sound.

Nissan Skyline GTR R34 ( gift download from Play.com ) otherwise not available.

Why did they bother…. Sounds like a toy car with horrendous turbo lag and a fizzy engine note. Handling was nothing special either. Somehow feel they haven’t captured the crazy handling, as in Gran Turismo. ROLLEY~14.GIF

Caterham CSR 260 : Wow! Amazing acceleration, with a real buzzy engine note.

Handling is as you would expect ( Lively ! ! ) Traction is easily broken and care is needed with the throttle in the corners, but what a rush! The best aspect is the view over the bonnet. The “in car” view also extends out over the nose with a great view of the road making it the easiest car to position accurately.

Had to buy it and then purchased an upgrade taking it to 269bhp and 0-60 of 3.1 sec. grin.gifbowdown.gif

Ferrari 288 GTO : Sounded great with a realistic pause between gear changes. Handling was surprisingly good for a 22 year old. Pretty quick too and 123576-assfeck.gif Looking

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A mate of mine wants to know how you got the Skyline. He can't find it on Play.

I told him you didn't like it, but he still wants to know smile.gif

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A pre order with play.com got me the Gallardo,Skyline and RS4 169144-ok.gif All 3 cars apear in the appropriate dealer showrooms. smile.gifYou get an XBox live code to enter into your account online.

To follow on from my above reviews :-

Out on the roads you cannot simply thrash around a circuit, gaining familiarisation with every corner. Instead you’re forever holding back at yumps and corners, never really knowing what might be on the other side. In my opinion this is what makes it a refreshing change to other circuit based racing games.

As for the traffic, it’s pretty light and all vehicles signal their intention well before any manoeuvre, so there’s not really any excuse for shunts at junctions. That said there is a certain amount of fun to be had in screaming through traffic and flicking from lane to lane, avoiding the oncoming cars.

Impromptu races are also good fun as you flash oncoming cars and provoke an instant race. The race and time challenges are all set according to your car’s “group” ( A,B,C etc ) this prevents anyone taking on a Corvette Z06 in an A4 cab.

I have thought on a couple of occasions, just how long will the interest last?

Already after 3 days I have opened up the South end of the island where the bulk of the challenges and dealers are. Ok I can’t enter some of them yet, as I don’t have a car from the correct “Group”, but I can’t help thinking, once I’ve visited the Koenigsegg and Pagani Dealers, along with a few others hidden away in the North. What else is there? There are quite a few cars that most people will consider not worth buying because they have already moved into Ferrari and Aston territory. Who needs an A6 4.2 or an Alfa GT once there’s an F430 in your garage? They’re middle ground cars that most drives will leapfrog as they have more cash at a very early stage.

As “sayerbloke” says, a lot of the locations just look too similar. So much so, you can often be fooled into thinking you’ve been on certain stretches of road before. The only saving grace is I have yet to explore the North of the Island and according to the map, should be a lot different, particularly looking at the elevation aspect.

Beware the law…. I had a bad RTA and as I raced away from the scene ( as you do ) I hit another car head on. The ensuing police chase was both relentless and brutal. The patrol cars veer across the road and ram into you making it very difficult to get away, if you do break off and get some distance between yourself and the “Rozzas”, they set up road blocks ( easily driven around ) but it seems difficult to shake em off and eventually you just give in and have to pay very heavy fines ( in my case $69,000 ) !!!

That’s enough reviews for now. I hope I’ve given you an insight into what I believe is a great driving game with bags of potential. OK it’s no GT4 with regard to physics and handling characteristics, but with so much island to explore and such diverse road conditions, it’s a real test of both car and your restraint.

grin.gif

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Got this on friday, spent a weekend playing it.....

Pretty good game, sooo much road to explore. Graphics aren't stunning, and the driving experience isn't great, but i like the roaming play. I like meeting random people and challenging them to a race. Cracking game 169144-ok.gif

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