Test Drive Unlimited 2 Announced [Archive]

Jazar

03-03-2010, 06:13 AM

I know a few people here enjoyed the first game (I did). It's been rumored but here's the official PR:

New York, NY (February 3rd, 2010) – Atari, SA, one of the world’s most recognized videogame publishers, and much-acclaimed developer Eden Games, are proud to announce the newest installment in the legendary racing franchise with Test Drive® Unlimited 2 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 expands on the traditional racing experience providing gamers with M.O.O.R.®: Massively Open Online Racing®; immersing drivers in a persistent online environment and revolutionizing multiplayer racing communities as players compete, team up, and share their achievements and creations online. Unlike any other driving game, TDU2 blends the open world experience with realistic vehicles and performance dynamics and for the first time, TDU2 features vehicle damage, weather effects, day and night cycles, and a brand new island to explore.

The first Test Drive® Unlimited innovated the racing genre with an immersive online and offline experience - over 1 million players created online accounts. Test Drive Unlimited 2 blends the single player and multiplayer experiences seamlessly, creating a dynamic world of unique content and challenges. Test Drive Unlimited 2 is “always live,” with automatic updates and seamless online/offline integration. A revamped single player narrative mode can be played offline or as part of the multiplayer experience.

“After the highly successful Test Drive Unlimited which redefined the genre with massively open online racing, Test Drive Unlimited 2 will be an innovative evolution in racing games, expanding its unparalleled multiplayer experience and immersing players in a world full of new online content and lifestyle customization.” said Jeff Lapin, CEO of Atari, SA. “The game fits squarely into our strategy of moving online and generating new revenue streams while maintaining our current retail business.”

Test Drive Unlimited 2 puts the world’s most desirable vehicles in the players hands. These ultra-limited edition masterpieces are flawlessly replicated with Eden’s finely tuned driving technology. Players define their online persona through the customization of their vehicles, and the acquisition of property, clothing and all the accoutrements of a luxurious car-based lifestyle. The challenge comes to life with the most expansive and comprehensive multiplayer offering on the console and the ultimate refinement of the core Test Drive driving experience. All-new race types, vehicle classes, environmental challenges, locations and much more push this epic franchise to new levels of performance and luxury

Pics:
http://images.gamersyde.com/image_test_drive_unlimited_2-12325-1898_0001.jpg

http://images.gamersyde.com/image_test_drive_unlimited_2-12325-1898_0002.jpg

Rob_Merritt

03-03-2010, 06:17 AM

"a brand new island to explore"

Which one I wonder or did they just make one up?

MrCoffee

03-03-2010, 06:20 AM

It looks a lot like GTAIV, is it the same engine?

Rob_Merritt

03-03-2010, 06:27 AM

Doubt it since GTA is 2K and this is Atari. Has a GTA engine even been used in a 3rd party game?

Heliocentric

03-03-2010, 06:27 AM

I thought #1 was quite ace. Except the sinister avatars and a limited choice of bike suits. But hurrah. It was the one game which had a don't scratch the car mission which you only failed if you were messing about. And you wanted to mess about, despite/because of the traffic laws.

Just a lovely game which is still playable today.

Jazar

03-03-2010, 06:29 AM

"a brand new island to explore"

Which one I wonder or did they just make one up?

GAF already found a screenshot (http://i47.tinypic.com/2qktq8w.png) and discovered that it's Ibiza. Oh collective intelligence.

Shot of island:

http://www.map-of-spain.co.uk/maps-of-spain/ballearic-islands/ibiza600.jpg

Rob_Merritt

03-03-2010, 06:31 AM

looks cool.

Fugitive

03-03-2010, 06:37 AM

Woohoo! I liked the first one enough that I managed to get gold in every single mission (though Tantalus can still go to hell) and get nearly every achievement, including the explore-every-road one.

BigWeather

03-03-2010, 06:56 AM

Jazar

03-03-2010, 07:08 AM

I really enjoyed the first one. Day/night, weather, and damage are very welcome. I hope they made it a little easier to hook up with friends and drive -- for some reason I could very rarely hook up with my friend even when we were at the same intersection. Maybe it was me missing something, however.

On release the online system was very wonky particularly with getting friends together in an instance. With polish the online can really be amazing. The way it seamlessly brings in players from around the world beats the pants out of the Burnout Paradise online model.

Fugitive

03-03-2010, 07:13 AM

Yeah, due to the way the server subdivided players into separate 'groups' in an area, you and a friend couldn't find each other simply by being near each other. You had to select the friend and fast travel to them from the map, and even then it didn't seem to work half the time.

One other area they'll hopefully improve is the car club functionality. There was barely anything to it unless you had a large number of members on simultaneously, which almost never happened. I'd like to be able to do things like post challenges for other club members to attempt.

Marcin

03-03-2010, 09:22 AM

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! I played the first one TONS. Something about the open world concept and the huge island available meaning I didn't *have* to do any races and could just bum around in traffic ... and the driving model was just on the right side of arcade (with all assists off), if a bit light on gravity (and some roads were very angular, leading to too easy lift-offs).

Hah, that first shot, isn't that in that part of Liberty City off the bay? I definitely see the GTA likeness.

I sense a potential day 1 buy without reservations.

sam and the firefly

03-03-2010, 09:49 AM

I want a PSP version!

Seriously, the first Test Drive Unlimited was incredible on PSP.

Union Carbide

03-03-2010, 11:05 AM

I'm totally in on day 1 unless I hear terrible things in previews.

Rock8man

03-03-2010, 11:13 AM

Woohoo! I liked the first one enough that I managed to get gold in every single mission (though Tantalus can still go to hell) and get nearly every achievement, including the explore-every-road one.

Wow, you got that achievement? I tried pretty hard, but was never actually able to find every road. I always thought that one day I might go back and look over that map with a fine tooth comb, but now that a sequel has been announced, I'll gladly explore Ibeza instead! Woohoo!

Marcin

03-03-2010, 11:28 AM

It was the one game which had a don't scratch the car mission which you only failed if you were messing about. And you wanted to mess about, despite/because of the traffic laws.

Yeah, it had a great balance of risk vs. payoff. I believe the reward cash went up by 75% if you delivered it unscratched, but driving perfectly for even 10 miles was *tough*.

Those missions also let you drive souped up cars before you had the money for them, which was nice too.

Jazar

03-03-2010, 12:26 PM

Hehe yeah. "Here's a nice brand new Ferrari Enzo. Now don't go over 45MPH!"

Pogo

03-03-2010, 09:54 PM

I still have to pick up the first game, but I suppose I'll just wait for this fall.

John Doyle

03-03-2010, 10:15 PM

The first one was an excellent set of ideas fairly well implemented. If they bring the same level of innovation to this version, it will be worth every penny.

Rock8man

03-03-2010, 11:27 PM

I still have to pick up the first game, but I suppose I'll just wait for this fall.

It's still worth playing. I put it back in about 3 or 4 months ago, and Oahu is still a beautiful island that's fun to explore. And you can probably find it dirt cheap if you ever see it around in a bargain bin somewhere.

Union Carbide

03-04-2010, 01:25 AM

I love taking the biggest Ducati (I forget what it was, like a 999 or a 1200) and doing the circumnavigate the island race on it. I also enjoy slamming into telephone poles at an appreciable fraction of lightspeed.

My favorite car of all of the cars in the game is the Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Daytona). There's only 6 of the damn things in the real world, so TDU and Forza 3 are the only places I'll ever be able to drive one.

That reminds me, I need to go back and earn the 10m credits to buy it in Forza

Union Carbide

03-04-2010, 01:31 AM

It was the one game which had a don't scratch the car mission which you only failed if you were messing about.
There was one car delivery mission that couldn't be completed without damage if you followed the GPS because it went over a road section that made you scrape the bottom no matter how slow you went. You had to take a ridiculously long detour to be able to do it perfectly.

Edit: I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm just sayin'

Juste

03-18-2010, 09:28 AM

I have started up playing the first game, it has been on my shelf since i worked for Atari five years ago. My old save game was b0rked so i started fresh. I have to say, for such an old 360 game it holds up really well and i'm having a blast so far.

Joe M.

03-18-2010, 09:50 AM

Ahh, I can't wait. I've been playing Test Drive since my uncle gave me his Amiga 2k back in the day with TD, TD2 and various car packs, and the series keeps getting better. :)

I still load up TDU occasionally, put on my custom soundtrack and do a few of the longer missions. The long hitchhiker mission on the east coast is particularly fun for me.

Jazar

04-29-2010, 06:47 AM

Not just Ibiza but Hawaii is also returning!

Trailer:

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/18327/test-drive-unlimited-2/videos/testdriveunlim_trl_trailer1_42810.html;jsessionid= a8ea73184ec6b?show=hi

preview:

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/108/1086774p1.html

yipee!

Farscry

04-29-2010, 08:54 AM

Oh wow; I was interested before, now I'm getting excited about it. I enjoyed TDU a lot, but it sounds like they've been building up the multiplayer portions of TDU2 much more!

ElGuapo

04-29-2010, 09:11 AM

Nice. Been playing the first one lately, I love the idea of saving up money and actually visiting showrooms, opening doors, checking out the interior, taking it for a test drive, then picking out colors and interiors. Felt like you were really shopping for these exotic cars and the feeling you got when you drove it off the lot was fantastic.

BobJustBob

04-29-2010, 09:14 AM

It sounds like an expansion for Playstation Home.

Marcin

04-29-2010, 02:24 PM

Lots of online features that I'll never use (seriously, walking around and admiring the cars with other people online? What marketing/social networking genius thought that one up?), but if the driving is as good or better than in TDU 1, I'm still in.

Plus, they're bringing Oahu over from the first game as well? That's just a fantastic bonus.

Lunch of Kong

04-29-2010, 02:42 PM

I'm looking forward to this more than I was to Forza 3.

Rock8man

04-29-2010, 02:46 PM

I'm still a little hesitant. TDU was awesome, but the physics were a bit wonky, especially when it came to leaving the ground. The game was still very enjoyable, but I've played a lot of really great racing games since then. The latest being Dirt 2 and NFS: Shift. A virtual Ibiza and Oahu sounds great, but I hope they also improved the physics engine a bit.

djotefsoup

04-29-2010, 03:46 PM

Yeah it looks like the suspension moves as the cars travel over bumps in the road, but they corner and the car just stays .. totally flat from what I can see in the last trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWndAX3iP3U). I'm assuming if they had something more natural looking right now they would have shown it off. TDU took a while to get a "hardcore" physics mode, so maybe they'll do the same thing here.

Wholly Schmidt

04-29-2010, 07:23 PM

Trailer:

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/18327/test-drive-unlimited-2/videos/testdriveunlim_trl_trailer1_42810.html;jsessionid= a8ea73184ec6b?show=hi

Paging Mr. Guapo: Hot Tubs confirmed.

Jazar

04-30-2010, 05:28 AM

Lots of online features that I'll never use (seriously, walking around and admiring the cars with other people online? What marketing/social networking genius thought that one up?), but if the driving is as good or better than in TDU 1, I'm still in.

I like the "paradise" motif that the TDU games go for. It was cool checking out and buying the mansions and condos that the first game had to offer but I always wanted to walk around in them. Now in TDU2 I can!

Paul_cze

04-30-2010, 11:04 AM

That trailer was amazing. Great choice of music, can't wait for this game. Hope PC version won't be screwed up.

Joe M.

04-30-2010, 11:22 AM

What driving aid settings were you guys using, if any? I always set it to Sport because I have fun driving around, doing missions, collecting money, cars and property, etc, without the stress of dealing with precise physics. But from what I gather reading Tom's remarks the physics are pretty good when you turn off assists.

And yeah, the music in that trailer is great. Can't wait!

Marcin

04-30-2010, 01:30 PM

I turned off all assists; the game is arcadey enough that turning them off gives something that's a nice balance between arcade and realistic.

Jazar

05-07-2010, 05:25 AM

This video gives a lot of interesting info:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8F87Pj-7nI

Also there's a new trailer here:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-the-test-drive/65329

Paul_cze

05-07-2010, 07:25 AM

This comment under that video made me laugh

"Hmmm, I dont have a good feeling with the cosmetic surgery part, dancing by the pool with lame dance style music, etc.

I just want a good racing/driving game, not a game where you have to act like a gay human being. "

gotta agree, (no offense to gay people), I want racing game, not sims game. Hopefully all that stuff will be voluntary and nonintrusive.

The rain looks much better in this trailer than the first one, I assume it is newer build.

Jazar

05-07-2010, 07:46 AM

If you watch the youtube video the dev goes into a lot of detail about driving/racing/clubs and much less about the Home/Dancing part. I'm not worried.

Paul_cze

06-14-2010, 12:39 AM

That was amazing. (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-test-drive/101219)

Due to my huge backlog I only wanted to buy two more games this year (New Vegas and Mafia 2) but I am adding this as well.

Union Carbide

06-14-2010, 11:15 PM

Goddamn it, Atari! In two different trailers, you have the moon rising where the sun just set!

http://i46.tinypic.com/5zny37.jpg

ORBITS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!

GOODNIGHT.

Joe M.

06-15-2010, 01:03 AM

Is there anything the Four Seasons can't do? Though what they did to it kind of breaks my brain.

BigWeather

06-15-2010, 06:10 AM

Goddamn it, Atari! In two different trailers, you have the moon rising where the sun just set!

http://i46.tinypic.com/5zny37.jpg

ORBITS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!

GOODNIGHT.

Between that and Red Dead Redemption's moon phases going from full to quarter in one day I'm beginning to think a lot of these guys don't get out much.

Rock8man

07-07-2010, 07:09 PM

Another nice new trailer (http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/07/test-drive-unlimited-2-trailer-lives-the-fast-life/). The music is spot on typical of the kind of music I hear in my head any time someone says the word "Ibiza", probably thanks to Radio 1 and the kind of music they play when they come to you "live from Ibiza".

Joe M.

07-07-2010, 08:01 PM

I loved some of those cinematic shots, and the people in this game look a lot better than the first one. That's definitely a plus! (even though I'm mostly driving around) Thanks for the link.

Rock8man

08-12-2010, 05:00 AM

The game has been delayed to early 2011 (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-12-test-drive-unlimited-2-delayed). Phew. That "what are you looking forward to" thread made me realize there were way too many games I was looking forward to the rest of this year, so I'm happy for a delay to 2011.

Marcin

08-12-2010, 09:18 AM

Good to know. I can buy Mafia 2 safely now and know that I'll actually *play* it. This is still a day 1 pickup. I hope nothing serious is causing the delay.

Mr. Mistake

08-16-2010, 12:19 PM

I like how it says "customize everything", and indeed, you can customize everything. Except the cars. How long do you guys think it'll take us to get bored of customizing the houses? Changing wallpaper, bedsheets, and tablecloth? At least SOME car customization would be nice, like at least change the rims (as in the first one, but with WAY more options).

But yeah, I don't exactly know why I've ranted all this, I'm not crazy about customizing cars as much as I am about staring at (and drooling) and just driving them. Car customization from my point of view is an obscure social experiment with horrifying results occurring more often than we'd like them to. See "Rate My Ride" in Midnight Club: LA. A beautiful Chevy Camaro brutalized by being fitted 25 inch bling rims, and massive fiery skulls on a cyan paintjob. And the worst crime of all: No racing stripes. GOD.

Oh, and, speaking of god: god, if you're reading this, please have them inculde the 458 Italia. Seeing how the game has been pushed back to early 2011 due to the fact that you work in mysterious ways, it will make an excellent belated christmas present.

Rumpy

08-16-2010, 12:33 PM

I loved the first game, despite having bad framerates. My PC barely made it with the requirements, so it would take me an upgrade for the sequel. Love what they're doing though. In my mind, they're one of the few studios that understands free roaming. In a lot of games, "free roaming" is only to a point where it's heavily restricted like the NFS games. The first game reminded me more of the free roaming aspect of TD3.

Mr. Mistake

08-16-2010, 12:43 PM

Agreed. Free roaming was awesome. It was even better in slower cars. And just cruising online with friends was also a lot of fun. I remember crusing with seven other people in red 288 GTOs. In another world, we would have been the fastest and most stylish (but also the most useless) fire department.

Mr. Mistake

08-19-2010, 01:02 PM

Hey, what did you guys not like about the first game you wish they will change, and what did you like you wish they'll keep?

I guess I'll start, so here's what I liked:

Huge map with a lot of variety (forest, desert, city, coast)
Great car handling (maybe not realistic, but fun), realistic motorcycle handling (in my opinion)
No damage
Little customization
You could swing the camera all around your car

What I didn't like:

Some cars had dirty windshields. WHY?
The cops would just piss you off, and were hard to lose. Impossible to lose on 3 badges
The soundtrack was atrocious (radio)
Sometimes you couldn't see if there was traffic ahead (save for oncoming)
I get the impression the traffic was badly scripted
Too little customization (at least more rims would have been great)
The exterior cameras could be a little better

Rumpy

08-22-2010, 06:36 PM

I'm guessing dirty windshields to give them a bit of character, but if that were the case, it would have been better make them dirty dynamically, and going to a car wash to get your car washed. Maybe we'll see something like that in the sequel, considering that now there's rain, and with offroading, a possibility of mud splatter.

The traffic was pretty bad, as it only responded if you were directly in front of them. But there was a way of removing the traffic via a file edit. Only problem is, being an online game, it caused sync issues.

For me, I think the greatest thing was the immersion. They really did well in creating a driving game that felt like a living breathing world, due in part to the seamless integration with other online players just driving around. Just driving around and exploring was fun. It didn't just feel like a world without personality like you find in most driving games (NFS, I'm looking at you!), due in part to the fact that it was set in a real place rather than a fictional one.

I agree the soundtrack was a miss. One of the worst and most annoying things about the game, and I don't remember if you could import your own tracks. Ideally, you want different stations for different music styles, just like real radio stations, and let people choose what they to listen to rather than the crappy soundtrack.

I actually found the cops to be quite fun, and much better than in recent NFS games. They were a lot more ruthless, but that's what I felt added to the excitement. Btw, there was a trick where you could just stay on the grass and you wouldn't be caught. Cops never touched grass, only road. As soon as you'd come off the grass, they'd resume chase. If there's one thing I'd love for them to do with the cops this time around is let friends join in on the chase as another car they could chase. Though that could cause too many sync issues, as they never had cops enabled in the online mode, only missions and offline.

Luke M

02-02-2011, 12:46 PM

Game Informer recently posted their review for TDU2 (http://www.gameinformer.com/games/test_drive_unlimited_2/b/xbox360/archive/2011/02/01/drive-into-a-virtual-paradise.aspx). The review speaks highly of several aspects of the game that appeal to me, like the multi-prong progression system, the beauty of the game world, and the perceptible differences between all the cars.

Then there's the AI, which, according to GI, isn't challenging enough and lacks personality. This might be a deal breaker for me. I'm reminded of the lame racing AI in GTA 4, but at least I could go do something else when I got fed up with the AI in that game. When your entire game is built around racing and your AI can't keep up? Well, that's a significant problem. I know TDU2 is focused on the multiplayer experience, but I want the AI to provide me with a challenge when I don't feel like dealing with other people or after the player base has dried up.

Telefrog

02-02-2011, 12:48 PM

Unforunately, that sounds exactly like the AI from the previous game.

Rock8man

02-02-2011, 01:17 PM

Pogo

02-02-2011, 02:45 PM

I wonder if that means that I can talk about how the best part of the beta was playing poker in the casino.

Soma

02-02-2011, 03:15 PM

I thought the whole selling point of TDU1 is to do driving game differently than the standard racing formula. Racing AI drivers is just one of the many things you do. Instead, collecting cars/house, time attack (including the goods delivery/hitchhiking/model chauffeur dressed up as something else, in the end they are all time attack) and just driving around in a semi-realistic world were the main selling points to me.

I can't remember how many model chauffeur missions I did in order to get more clothing coupon and dress up my avatar better. I'm guessing A LOT because I got a pretty full closet in the game...

Burnout Paradise tried to do open world driving and racing, but its world is so obviously artificial I just can't be bother with it. At least in TDU the world is somewhat based on a real world (kind of like the attraction of playing GTA4: for the out-of-towners like me it offers a chance to drive around New York.)

I still fire up TDU1 occasionally, if not for the eye-gouging graphics I can play this all year long. So bring on TDU2. Surely they can't mess up the winning TDU1 formula.

Mr. Mistake

02-02-2011, 04:07 PM

I still fire up TDU1 occasionally, if not for the eye-gouging graphics I can play this all year long. So bring on TDU2. Surely they can't mess up the winning TDU1 formula.

Good call on TDU1, but "eye-gouging" means bad, right? I thought they were great, the car/bike models were high-poly if that's the right term, the scenery wasn't too dull either.

I'm waiting for TDU2 with open arms, but it doesn't seem to be as dazzling as I had hoped. From what gameplay videos I've seen, even though it was a BETA, it doesn't seem like a HUGE improvement over the first one.

I'd say they kind of messed up the formula by removing bikes. Bikes were an amazing addition to TDU1. I loved the way they handled too - not too arcadey. Maybe DLC? But the prospect of DLC leaves developers with excuses for not polishing the hell out of the retail version of the game. If they should remove anything, it's silly things like dirty windshields on some cars. I also hope the cops are more fun.

The FPS thing looks dumb, I hope you can at least switch to 3rd person, although that means work for the animators.

Marcin

02-02-2011, 04:30 PM

Yeah, I don't even remember the AI from TDU1. I just remember trying to get from one part of Oahu to another part. Sometimes it was against a time limit, other times there were other racers, sometimes it was a time limit and I couldn't damage the car. The important thing is that I was trying to get around the streets and highways of the island while trying to go fast, and that part worked great. I didn't really care about the AI all that much in the first one. So if TDU2 is like that, then great. That doesn't sound bad to me.

This. I'm just looking forward to pootling around on two islands this time, with maybe somewhat upgraded graphics. That'll be enough to get a hundred hours out of it, maybe more - everything else is gravy.

I do hope the driving physics are also at least slightly improved.

Pogo

02-02-2011, 04:40 PM

Well, I suppose I'll let loose a little from beta.

The driving model was strange. The game over-responded to gamepad inputs and sent your car careening off the street. I was reminded of GT1/GT2 where just going in a straight line was hard enough at high speed.

Burnouts were impossible, because it didn't seem like the game actually translated engine power to the wheels using actual physics, so your neutral RPMs were essentially irrelevant as it would just reset to your road speed instead of burning out.

Somehow, it was enjoyable enough to drive around the island. Everything looked good and the game has a good sense of speed. The roads are actually somewhat smooth, so there's less "hopping" when going up and down hills at speed, something that people seemed to complain about with the first game.

I hope they worked on the player models, since everyone's avatar pretty much looked exactly the same.

The "hot pursuit" mode was quite fun. When someone got involved in enough traffic violations to warrant a police chase, nearby players would have the option of jumping into the chase as a police vehicle and attempting to catch and stop the fleeing player.

You don't HAVE to drive anywhere, as you can access races or your house directly from the map, but apparently there are (as of beta unimplemented) exploration points to be had from exploring the island.

Car decals and customization takes some work to get lined up if you're a symmetry freak like me, but it's actually quite powerful. The system paints the decal onto the car so that the end result is what you see depending on your camera angle. It's hard to explain, but essentially it allows you to use the camera angle to achieve curves to your decals.

I don't have much comment about any AI as it seems the beta was to test and fix the multiplayer component, but I want to say that this game is definitely multiplayer-focused, though I don't doubt that it's a seamless transition between the two components, so that if you don't want to play with others then you don't have to.

Mrenda

02-07-2011, 07:01 AM

Seems this has hit the pirate sites.

Any chance the proper download sites will release the game early? Has that happened with other games before?

Although I suppose a wait until Friday isn't too bad.

Fugitive

02-07-2011, 07:04 AM

Any chance the proper download sites will release the game early? Has that happened with other games before?
I doubt it, retailers would be pissed off if the digital outlets don't hold to the release date.

And I hadn't even realized that this was so close to release now. Sorry GT5, but I don't think I'll be seeing much of you for a while...

Mrenda

02-07-2011, 07:08 AM

And I hadn't even realized that this was so close to release now. Sorry GT5, but I don't think I'll be seeing much of you for a while...

Yeah, I was going off Steam since they put back the release date and just happened to google it today. Turns out the official release date is tomorrow for the US and Friday for Europe. (Which is a bit of a balls.) I wouldn't have realised if I had just stuck with Steam.

Edit: And the guys who pirated it seem to have access to the online portion, so I'm expecting bans to be forthcoming. And that could drag in anyone who legitimately got it early from shop fuck-ups.

Reemul

02-07-2011, 09:49 AM

I have preordered this from Steam. Release is Friday for me in the UK, No preload though and it's 15 gig. No biggie as i'm on fast cable but hopefully the servers won't be overloaded.

Juste

02-07-2011, 10:12 AM

Wow is this releasing already? I'm really looking forward to this, thoroughly enjoyed the first one.

Marcin

02-07-2011, 04:12 PM

Hm, I wonder if there'll be a demo? I was going to go for console for this one, but if my rig can run it (and it can run Just Cause 2 just fine) and it can use my wired 360 controller ... well I guess there's no reason.

Well, achievements. I'll cope somehow. ;)

Fugitive

02-08-2011, 01:16 PM

It's out on Steam now (in NA, at least). I think I'm going to grab it on 360 though; it seemed like the better platform for the original.

jfletch

02-08-2011, 03:02 PM

Unfortunately most impressions of the game have not been kind, with many saying the car handling is awful and not even up to TDU1's underwhelming standards. So disappointing.

Telefrog

02-08-2011, 03:09 PM

I'll definitely pick this up on Steam during a deep discount sale in a year or whatever, but it seems like this game is being sent out to die by the publisher.

flyinj

02-08-2011, 03:12 PM

Why is the 360 SKU considered superior in the previous incarnation?

Wendelius

02-08-2011, 03:16 PM

EG's review is up and mentions the handling issues: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-02-08-test-drive-unlimited-2-review

It doesn't say which platform is best, but I'm sure there will be a face-off for that.

Part of the first 15 minutes video linked there are cringe worthy. But it does make me yearn for the open road TDU2 offers and the ability to go and explore.

Wendelius

Pogo

02-08-2011, 03:21 PM

So they didn't fix the handling issues from beta? That's... god damned disappointing.

And if you pay attention to the video review you can see what I meant by the RPMs being very "hard coded."

Fugitive

02-08-2011, 04:29 PM

Why is the 360 SKU considered superior in the previous incarnation?
The PC version of the first one was delayed and fairly buggy at launch (crashes, poor performance, corrupted saves), though I'm not sure how much patches helped. Maybe they've improved with TDU2 if they're releasing it simultaneously because they treated it as a primary platform, but I guess we'll have to wait for reviews and impressions to see.

Marcin

02-08-2011, 06:18 PM

So no first hand accounts of either PC or 360 versions yet?

divorced

02-08-2011, 07:26 PM

I picked this up for the 360 as I really enjoyed the first one. I've played for about an hour or so and can't really say how many more hours there will be. First off, in the cutscenes, WORST VOICE ACTING EVER!!! Cringe-worthy I'm talking about. Next, it has the ridiculous licenses that you have to get. Maybe they were going after a Gran Torismo kind of thing. If so, they failed. The tests do not help you learn the ins and outs of the different classes of cars, just teaches you how to stop on small red circles. I'm only a couple of races in my first championship and the driving is, well I'm not sure but it sure isn't up to the levels of Forza or even NFS.

I'll post more tomorrow after playing more, but so far I'm not impressed.

Sander 001

02-08-2011, 07:32 PM

Telefrog

02-08-2011, 08:50 PM

Played for a couple of hours at a friends house on the 360. Mediocre in every way possible.

I agree with divorced. The clumsy VO and weird sim-style people are terrible. When you go into a clothing store or other location that allows players to walk around, other players clump up in front of the shop clerk and slide around like disjointed ghosts. The effect is really bad. I only saw a couple levels of player customization and it looked really weak. Not many choices. Nothing looked cool. Maybe things get better as you open up more stuff, but I doubt it.

Vehicle handling is not great. It has the sloppy understeer of the first TDU coupled with bad netcode. Your proximity to other players on the road in free roam can really screw things up. Warping, rubber-banding, and outright pauses are not uncommon as you drive around.

As I came out of the beginning house trailer for the first time, I immediately slammed into a multi-car pile up in the driveway. People were just backing up and jittering around as the car models got stuck on each other with every new player that entered the world. Not a promising start.

Applying car decals is an exercise in frustration. Because the decals float in space and are applied to your car relative to it's position, I can see a lot of possibilites, but the difficulty in using this system become readily apparent. There are no grids or snap to guides, so everything is done with eye judgment. The left stick is used to move decals and shift the size, but it's so sensitive that it's impossible to make things match up. There isn't a copy layer feature from what I could see, so good look duplicating a particular sticker once you've warped it where and how you'd like it. I'm sure some powerusers will eventually start churning out good stuff, but this is a far cry from the useability of Forza 3's system.

Upgrading cars is done with generic levels of Acceleration, Braking, and Speed. Gearheads will not be pleased. Don't expect any tinkering, which is just as well anyway as I suspect the physics engine can't actually handle it.

One good thing: The off road stuff is good. In fact, I'd say it's a better off-road game than Fuel was!

All in all - Wait for the bargain.

Edit: Oh, and the singleplayer races are not good. The rubberband AI is in full effect.

BroadwayJoe

02-08-2011, 08:56 PM

Well that fucking sucks.

Marcin

02-08-2011, 09:24 PM

Balls.

I guess that frees a slot for the 2 games I was going to get this year, at least. :/

Juste

02-09-2011, 12:36 AM

Dammit. Oh well, looks like it will be on sale shortly.

Rachel Brown

02-09-2011, 01:44 AM

I guess I'll start, so here's what I liked:

Little customization

What I didn't like:

Too little customization (at least more rims would have been great)

Really?

Title: Test Drive Unlimited 2
Genre: Racing (http://store.steampowered.com/genre/Racing/?snr=1_5_9__408)
Developer: Eden Studios (http://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Eden%20Studios&snr=1_5_9__408)
Publisher: Atari (http://store.steampowered.com/publisher/Atari/?snr=1_5_9__408)
Release Date: Feb 2011
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
3rd-party DRM: SecuROM™ 4 machine activation limit

...and, just canceled my order. And four? Why? Why not the "accepted" five?

Jazar

02-09-2011, 05:10 AM

What a damn shame. With such a novel mutliplayer feature the original had It's boggling how they made the sequel worse in almost every way.

LionelThompson

02-09-2011, 05:15 AM

I would put the original TDU among my top 10 games of the XBox 360. I loved the exploration, the modeling of the island to match the real thing, variety of races, it was all in all a fantastic experience. It was also the game that I was in the middle of playing when I made the switch from standard tv to high-def, and I have never looked back.

I played for about two hours of TDU2 last night:

+ the leveling system looks good, rewarding exploration and collection as well as racing. There is a social piece to the leveling too which is going to be rough as apparently I am the only one among the 100 people in my friends list who currently has it.

+ I am liking the music so far

+ the cars look great for the most part

+ getting through the first set of championship races and both the on-road and off-road license tests, I don't mind the handling as much as I guess others are. Getting used to sharp turns in the rain was a challenge, but certainly not insurmountable.

+ I did not notice rubber banding. In all fairness, the opponents are starting out weak so they were easy to overtake in the first series, but when I took the lead, there was no magical catching up by them and my lead increased with each checkpoint (minus my overshooting a turn or two)

+ the housing/appearance customization is not something I am into, but it is presented well in the one barber shop and clothing shop I have visited. Likewise the car shop I visited was also well done, and the ability to compare cars a nice feature.

- the people are wonky looking. Honestly, not a big deal since that's not why I'm playing, but it screams of Everquest 2/Sims

- while the cars look strong for the most part, in the first set of races, the computer opponents' cars looked fairly naff. I am not sure what they were driving (I know it was listed in the results, but I did not pay attention), but they pretty much all looked like K-cars.

- speaking of looks, it is a small thing, but it will make me nutty I know, but pre-race, I will see exhaust coming out of my car and it looks terrible.

- car collisions aren't quite right to me. It seems that when I hit a car, both of us going in the same direction, exchanging paint, the cars blur a little and then come apart. You still get the satisfying head-on collisions, but those are rare in racing.

- - - oh, this one is huge. I was trying to enter some public races last night, I saw that there were 7-10 events going on at each location, but whenever I tried to join, I was told the servers were down. VERY frustrating and a lousy way to start the launch of this game. If I end up not forming a club among friends, this is going to be about the only way to capitalize on social points.

I had no idea when I bought this yesterday it was only $50 so that too may cloud my judgment, but I have no regrets so far as, minus a few stumbles, it is so far providing everything I enjoyed about the first one and then some. It will seem though that I will have to form my own club, which is a shame. I did not do a whole lot with the Qt3 club with the original, but I was looking forward to rectifying that with this release.

Tom Chick

02-09-2011, 05:45 AM

There is now a Quarter to Three club, called Quarter to Three. The clubhouse is kind of out in the boonies, but if you highlight the club advancement track under the social menu, your GPS will guide you out there.

Join up! Let's do, uh, clubhouse stuff!

-Tom

Juste

02-09-2011, 05:54 AM

Telefrog

02-09-2011, 05:55 AM

I will say this. Despite my gripes, TDU2 (so far) is the best game I've seen for just aimlessly cruising around. If you're into goalless arcadey gameplay, then this may be heaven for you.

Mrenda

02-09-2011, 06:44 AM

I bought this from Impulse yesterday evening, but I still haven't received my key. Which is a balls. I'm looking forward to some aimless cruising around.

Has anyone else not got their key from Impulse?

02-09-2011, 08:04 AM

I think it's not meant to be out over here till Friday.

Marcin

02-09-2011, 08:07 AM

Telefrog

02-09-2011, 08:45 AM

Yeah. I didn't mean to make my post sound so negative. The game does do some good things. Driving around aimlessly is fun in a zen sort of way. The soundtrack is decent. You don't have much choice of what's available on the car radios, but the selection does accurately reflect the young idle rich lifestyle they're trying to depict. The off-road stuff really is good. Surprisingly so. The traffic on the roads is just perfect. Not too swervy or thick to impede races, but just enough to add scenery and a bit of flavor.

It is very grindy in terms of the RPG-lite progression, but it's cool that just about everything you do will slowly add XP. You don't just get money from races. You can get money from just drifting and swerving in and out of traffic! Every 3 times you zip past a car on the road or screech into/out of a turn a pop-up happens letting you choose to "cash in" $100 to add to your funds or keep going to add multipliers and money. It's a nice risk/reward minigame.

Overall, Forza/GT/Shift fans need not apply. Car porn junkies will be disappointed as well as gearheads. The car models are okay, but nothing like what they'd be used to. The driving physics are wonky and rough. There aren't enough cars, especially if you're looking for Asian* wheels.

Car customization nuts should just pick up Forza 3. It does the decal thing much better and the store options make trading designs and tuning easier.

Arcade racing fans should probably pick up any number of other racers. Again, the driving physics just aren't quite up to snuff. It's also not flashy enough.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that TDU2 does a lot of stuff, but none of it as well as a lot of other driving games. It's the only one trying to do all of it though, so if that matters to you then it's not bad. Mediocre is really the best word for it.

*Edit: There are literally 3 Nissans and 1 Subaru in the game. That's it for Asia.

BroadwayJoe

02-09-2011, 08:47 AM

How are the environments? Are they interesting to look at, explore, and enjoy while your drive?

Telefrog

02-09-2011, 08:55 AM

How are the environments? Are they interesting to look at, explore, and enjoy while your drive?

They're okay. Again, you're not going to get the best environments or interesting vistas here. Ibiza is certainly a welcome addition, but it feels pretty generic. Oahu looks good, although having lived in Oahu for four years I'd never know it was Oahu in the game since most of the defining landmarks are replaced with substitutes. (I suppose copyrights couldn't be secured.) It's all just okay.

Jazar

02-09-2011, 09:27 AM

Giant Bomb QL:

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-test-drive-unlimited-2/17-3776/

Joe M.

02-09-2011, 10:43 AM

I will say this. Despite my gripes, TDU2 (so far) is the best game I've seen for just aimlessly cruising around. If you're into goalless arcadey gameplay, then this may be heaven for you.

Agreed. If folks enjoyed using the various events as an excuse to race across the countryside in the original then TDU2 delivers again.

Telefrog

02-09-2011, 10:46 AM

Spoilers warning!

Someone posted a Google Map with all the Ibiza locations noted.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=212344039743811741854.00049bb0c5e0ad9d7e4b3&ll=38.944457,1.367111&spn=0.203737,0.371475&z=12

Telefrog

02-09-2011, 10:56 AM

Oh, and one more thing. God help you if you pull into a car wash. Three bikini girls saunter out and proceed to give you a softcore car wash lapdance straight from an 80's sex comedy. It would be bad enough on it's own, but coupled with the weird mannequin sims appearance of the girls, the scene becomes completely awful. It's one of the most embarrassing things I've seen in a game. It literally made me cringe.

Anyway, I'll play this some more tonight and report back.

Pogo

02-09-2011, 11:06 AM

Oh, and one more thing. God help you if you pull into a car wash. Three bikini girls saunter out and proceed to give you a softcore car wash lapdance straight from an 80's sex comedy. It would be bad enough on it's own, but coupled with the weird mannequin sims appearance of the girls, the scene becomes completely awful. It's one of the most embarrassing things I've seen in a game. It literally made me cringe.

Dear lord... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTslXP8a02M)

Telefrog

02-09-2011, 11:15 AM

Yeah, that's it. Ugh.

After tooling around off-road, my Lancia built up a pretty good layer of dirt and mud and I figured I'd have to go back to the home garage to reset the car to pristine. On the way back, I bumped into the car wash which had a suspiciously "sexy" map icon. When I tried it out...

Yuck.

flyinj

02-09-2011, 11:35 AM

I've put about 6 hours into it. I actually really, really like it. The driving physics aren't great, but they seem just as bad as TDU1, just in slightly different ways. You no longer get that weird "jumping" when going up and down some curved grades, which is a welcome addition. Other aspects of the physics seems worse however... in hardcore mode, the e-brake is ridiculously powerful. I only really use it if I want to pull a quick 180 on a road.

My other big complaint is how easy all the races are so far. I consistently blow away the other drivers in the first D-class road races and B-class off road events. Maybe they'll get harder later. As a counterpoint, racing against other people you see driving around is very fun.

The biggest catch is the open world exploration aspect. It is incredibly fun to drive around Ibiza, discovering vistas and various reward unlockables. The graphics engine is a lot better than TDU1, at times it can be close to stunning depending on where you are. The off-road races are a great addition and work very well.

The fact that they incorporated this douchebag simulator into the game is kind of hilarious. I'm just embracing it, and making myself as douchey as possible. Plastic surgery, horrendous sweaters, ridiculous hats... and I haven't even touched on the clubbing/dating sim or the redecoration aspects. Once I got over the absolute revulsion of the voice acting and overall concept, I just find the whole thing amusing now. It's also funny how absolutely insipid, empty and pointless that entire lifestyle is, even when simulating the "best" aspects of it.

Anyhow, I think it's great. I loved TDU1, and I'm actually enjoying this one even more. I haven't even checked out the upgraded engine in Hawaii yet...

Pogo

02-09-2011, 11:45 AM

Don't forget that there is a casino, guys... and the interface for playing is pretty slick. Like if you don't remember what cards you have at the poker table, you have to actually look at them, which tells everyone else at the table that you're looking at your cards. It also makes the game feel more lively and people emote their avatars with chip shuffling, ordering drinks, laughing, raging, whatever.

LionelThompson

02-09-2011, 11:46 AM

Mrenda

02-09-2011, 11:49 AM

Pogo

02-09-2011, 11:56 AM

Heh, once I discovered the casino in beta, I considered TDU2 to be a poker game with a car-buying minigame built around it.

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/6747/tdu2poker.jpg

Rock8man

02-09-2011, 12:05 PM

This thread is like a rollercoaster ride. First I was excited, then disappointed, then excited again.

flyinj: I'd love to hear if Hawaii looks better in the upgraded engine, or if it doesn't look as good as Ibiza. I can't imagine they'd have spent too much time and effort upgrading old assets from the first game. But if changes in the lighting engine or general changes in how they draw grass and vegetation is what makes it look better, then the Hawaii area could look a lot better than it did in the first one.

Of course, there's no hurry. Get to Hawaii on your own timetable. I don't mean to pressure you. I won't have time for TDU2 for a few months anyway. My gaming time is restricted to about 30 minutes a day these days. At this rate, I won't be done with Mass Effect 2 for a long time.

Telefrog

02-09-2011, 12:31 PM

I didn't fool around with the casino. What does the DLC for it do? If I don't get the DLC, I can't access the casino?

BroadwayJoe

02-09-2011, 12:33 PM

Is anyone playing the PC version? How are the social aspects handled? Steam integration?

Jazar

02-09-2011, 12:53 PM

I didn't fool around with the casino. What does the DLC for it do? If I don't get the DLC, I can't access the casino?

I'd like to know this as well.

flyinj

02-09-2011, 12:55 PM

For people concerned about avatar customization, there is a plastic surgeon you can find on the island (and a sidequest pops up for it as well). It has a fairly comprehensive facial modification engine... skin tone, 5-6 sliders for the skull, 5-6 sliders for the face, etc.

The best thing is, once you use it, you have to drive around with your head bandaged up for a day or two. It was pretty funny when I challenged a guy to a street race, and it's showing the quick start race cinematic. The camera pans between both cars, showing us looking at eachother, and my face is completely bandaged up.

As for the social aspects, it's all in game, run on their servers. It's like an MMO... you see other drivers driving around the island with you, and you see other people walking around inside dealerships and social hubs throughout the island. (I'm playing the Steam SKU on PC, but it works the same across all platforms. No cross-platform social interaction though, PC, 360 and PS3 have their own servers).

BroadwayJoe

02-09-2011, 01:06 PM

So on PC you create a new account in-game? I guess that means no friends integration or anything, kind of like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit on the PC.

flyinj

02-09-2011, 01:12 PM

So on PC you create a new account in-game? I guess that means no friends integration or anything, kind of like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit on the PC.

Yes, no way to easily integrate friends from Steam. You have to know their TDU online nick.

BigWeather

02-09-2011, 02:09 PM

Dear lord... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTslXP8a02M)

Well, it is a $1,500 car wash so I guess there had to be a little somethin' somethin' extra. But...

Do. Not. Want.

The game, however, I'm enjoying.

Tom Chick

02-09-2011, 05:09 PM

The fact that they incorporated this douchebag simulator into the game is kind of hilarious. I'm just embracing it, and making myself as douchey as possible. Plastic surgery, horrendous sweaters, ridiculous hats... and I haven't even touched on the clubbing/dating sim or the redecoration aspects.

Douchebag simulator is a great way to put it!

Once I got over the absolute revulsion of the voice acting and overall concept, I just find the whole thing amusing now. It's also funny how absolutely insipid, empty and pointless that entire lifestyle is, even when simulating the "best" aspects of it.

There's something very Fellini about Test Drive Unlimited 2.

-Tom

Tom Chick

02-09-2011, 05:17 PM

Oh, and the Quarter to Three club is for the 360 version. You people who think it's okay to play driving games on the PC -- ???? -- will have to start your own club.

-Tom

LionelThompson

02-09-2011, 05:30 PM

Am I correct that the only way to enter a club is to be invited if you are not the founder? If so, can you invite TommyTutone? I opened up a slot or two on my friends list as well if that is a requirement. This is, of course, for the superior 360 version.

Soma

02-09-2011, 06:14 PM

Please, TDU1 is probably the first racing game that made me play on keyboard instead of the gamepad. So many hotkeys the gamepad just doesn't have enough buttons. Besides the wonky handling in TDU1 means it is as awkward to play with WASD as it is with the analog stick.

At this point given the flaky multiplayer I'm guessing I will wait until they patch it out of beta before I buy it. It is sad that nowadays developers still have the 'ship now, patch later' mentality.

Tom Chick

02-09-2011, 06:33 PM

Clubs are actually shut down (http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2011/02/09/test-drive-unlimited-2-finely-coiffed-while-awaiting-fixes/) now -- I tried to get into the clubhouse and it was padlocked! -- but as soon as they fix whatever problem they're having, I'll be sending invites around. Club membership is one element of advancing up the social track, so post your gamertag here and I'll make sure you get an invite.

-Tom

Tom Chick

02-09-2011, 06:35 PM

Please, TDU1 is probably the first racing game that made me play on keyboard instead of the gamepad. So many hotkeys the gamepad just doesn't have enough buttons. Besides the wonky handling in TDU1 means it is as awkward to play with WASD as it is with the analog stick.

I gave up using my steering wheel in TDU2 because you have to move your avatar around, position photo shoots, rotate the camera to look for wrecks, etc. It's a perfect example of a game designed around rendering your expensive steering wheel absolutely worthless.

-Tom

Telefrog

02-09-2011, 07:06 PM

Doug Erickson

02-09-2011, 07:19 PM

I can't get past how BAD BAD BAD GLITCHY BAD the driving physics are. I love this game as a concept (as I did TDU1), but doing any sort of race or challenge is an exercise in arbitrariness I find intolerable. And it's not that I'm shitty at driving games -- I've played pretty much EVERY rally game ever made, along with PGR3 and 4 recently -- but it's just that I cannot predict how the car will handle on ANY surface, or relliably behave when it comes to basics like acceleration (why does light gas make me spin out on asphalt) or braking (where did that sudden window of inertia come from?). That, and the 10 fps whenever I have a couple player-controlled cars on the screen. (I'm on FiOS, and outside of texture caching the networking components should NOT be coupled to the render updates, right?)

Joe M.

02-09-2011, 07:20 PM

It's not that I don't like the soundtrack (some of it is good) but I would really love to be able to add my own music to the game without futzing around with a media player in the background. I hope it's a feature they add for free because I'd be somewhat upset if it gets thrown in as DLC. I mean, I can take as many awful cut scenes and pedestrian voice actors as you can throw at me, just patch in a custom radio station please.

Rock8man

02-09-2011, 08:06 PM

Joe M, if you're playing on the 360, you can just bring up the Xbox guide and play your own soundtrack, streaming from your computer, just like with any game on the 360. It's what I did for TDU1 and what I do for any game where I don't like the soundtrack. The funny thing is, it's actually easier to set this up on the 360 than it is on the PC, where a lot of games can't handle Alt-Tabbing out, so it becomes a pain to mess around with getting your own music and having the right volume levels appropriate to the game. On the 360, the whole interface is right there, within the game, any game, so it works beautifully.

Xaroc

02-09-2011, 08:23 PM

I will join the club once they iron out the issues. Throw me an invite when it works.

divorced

02-09-2011, 10:40 PM

Yankeefan4444

flyinj

02-10-2011, 12:31 AM

Oh, and the Quarter to Three club is for the 360 version. You people who think it's okay to play driving games on the PC -- ???? -- will have to start your own club.

-Tom

A few months ago I hooked my PC up to my 40" TV and receiver. Using a 360 pad as well.

The game has much higher res textures, less frame rate drops and zero load times.

Playing racing games on the PC is the only way to go.

Juste

02-10-2011, 03:50 AM

I'll be getting this in a couple of days. Sign me up for the club!

Jazar

02-10-2011, 05:37 AM

I'll be getting this in a couple of days. Sign me up for the club!

Same here.

Telefrog

02-10-2011, 06:02 AM

Further thoughts from last night:

The cinematics. Hoo boy! They get worse as you go. I'm increasingly thinking that Eden knows exactly how douchey the whole vibe is and that they're trolling the players that do actually aspire to live like this. Sort of a driving game version of Starship Troopers.

I too have decided to go with it. My character now looks like a stock B-movie NVA soldier crossed with that jerkoff card player that always wears sunglasses.

The SP events really are easy. I guess it's an easy source for points and money to grind, but there's virtually no challenge here beyond what the goofy physics engine throws at you. MP seems to be the way to go. Driving around and getting challenged or challenging others is quick, easy, and fun. At least that's still a go from the first game.

The casino is off-limits unless you have the DLC. I drove there and all I got was a prompt to go buy it which is disappointing. I guess Atari is charging those of us that didn't preorder TDU2 a $10 tax on our lack of faith. (Too bad I didn't even know this game was coming until Monday.) I find this to be a kick in the pants, but whatever.

Free roam is still aimlessly fun, but buggy. NPC cars will sometimes disappear right in front of you. Proximity to other live players will cause things to go awry. If you get into one of the busy metro areas with a lot of events and stores around, you can expect to see some really annoying warping and frame rate hits.

BroadwayJoe

02-10-2011, 06:07 AM

Thanks for the impressions, Telefrog. There are no difficulty settings for the AI drivers in singleplayer?

Telefrog

02-10-2011, 06:12 AM

Thanks for the impressions, Telefrog. There are no difficulty settings for the AI drivers in singleplayer?

Nope. The difficulty settings are limited to your global driving aid setup. You can choose between Full Assist, Sport, and a supposedly hardcore mode. You can change this on the fly. I haven't really seen a difference with any of them except that Full Assist mode keeps you from chaining long drifts - which hampers the FRIM (Free Roam Instant Money - no, I'm not making that up) device, so you're better off leaving it on Sport or higher.

I suppose the AI driving gets better (hopefully) as you go up through the SP races, but so far it's been cake.

Oh, and this is the worst Achievement I've seen for a game:

Social Butterfly - 10pts
Join and invite friends 100 times (any game mode)

Ugh. It's like a horrible Farmville award.

Jazar

02-10-2011, 06:38 AM

The casino is off-limits unless you have the DLC. I drove there and all I got was a prompt to go buy it which is disappointing. I guess Atari is charging those of us that didn't preorder TDU2 a $10 tax on our lack of faith. (Too bad I didn't even know this game was coming until Monday.) I find this to be a kick in the pants, but whatever.

Free roam is still aimlessly fun, but buggy. NPC cars will sometimes disappear right in front of you. Proximity to other live players will cause things to go awry. If you get into one of the busy metro areas with a lot of events and stores around, you can expect to see some really annoying warping and frame rate hits.

That's a shame. Thanks for posting.

Xaroc

02-10-2011, 06:59 AM

I preordered it from Amazon, how do I get the DLC?

Fugitive

02-10-2011, 07:04 AM

Amazon should send you an email with the DLC code, though it can take a few days.

Xaroc

02-10-2011, 07:11 AM

Amazon should send you an email with the DLC code, though it can take a few days.

Googled and found out that only preordering from GameStop gets you the casino code. So I get $10 off but no casino. I got some extra version of the Aston Martin Vanquish that I don't really care about. If you are going to do pre-order DLC then make sure it is the same everywhere damnit.

Telefrog

02-10-2011, 07:20 AM

The whole Gamestop casino thing has really left a sour taste in my mouth to be honest. I'm really not willing to drop another $10 on a game I find to be lame in a lot of areas.

Jazar

02-10-2011, 07:24 AM

I agree. It that seems like it would've taken a lot of work to that casino in the game. To wall it off with a pre-order bonus (without any confirmation of the quality of the game) or to charge a $10 fee is just shady.

Telefrog

02-10-2011, 07:38 AM

I totally get that the game's MSRP is $50 instead of $60 on 360 ($40 instead of $50 on PC) but the $10 non-preorder tax is bullshit. Either charge me up front or don't.

I'd be fine with this if it was the now normal one use DLC code for new retail copies thing.

Telefrog

02-10-2011, 02:20 PM

The lulz continue. People on the 360 are reporting that the game hangs on the initial screen. The problem? The TDU2 servers are down, so the game will never completely load! The only way to play the game is to sign out of Live or disconnect the box. Of course, then your save won't work when the servers do come up!

http://forums.testdriveunlimited2.com/showthread.php?t=24341

Smart guys. Real smart.

Edit: Also, if you are offline weather no longer works. It is always sunny and clear during the day and clear at night.

Mrenda

02-10-2011, 02:58 PM

I've just played for an hour or so. Got as far as doing my first license. First impressions are that this is a piece of complete schlock. The characters and dialogue are hilarious. I can completely understand the desire to douche it up, but I have a feeling any hipster like attempts to embrace the ironics are going to be out done by some of the real players, going on the official forums at least.

The driving is extremely arcadey, and the gameplay to me is going to be all about learning in a mini-game like way what the game expects, rather than relying on any logical expectations of driving physics. The first sign of this was the first license attempt with the in-the-rain hairpin challenge, pure arcade in what you had to do in learning the timing of it, I just fudged it by actually braking before hand and driving around the turn rather than going with the dodgy requirements. Second sign of the dodgy driving physics was doing the license lap. The car would spin out of nowhere. Using fairly normal driving tactics of straight line braking, slower speed up to the apex of the corner, then accelerating out of the corner had me spin off. There was no indication that I was going to spin, no tire squeal until the game engine seemed to click over into "spin mode" and show the spin animation. Then corrective measures of steering into the spin, managing to bring it under control and powering out of the spin didn't seem to make any difference, just exaggerating what was happening.

So, yes, this is pure arcade fair. Still, as an experience of semi-legal road racing filled with assholes, it just might work. Although I imagine if I do persist with it, the casino will be a must have, as I can picture myself spending all my time gambling whatever I earn.

flyinj

02-10-2011, 03:58 PM

I found out something extremely useful regarding the PC SKU:

If you find that your sound is crappy and muted, it's because Windows7 creates it's own volume slider for TDU2 when you boot the game. To get around this, alt-tab out of the game, and click on the speaker icon in the bottom right tray. You'll see a specific "Test Drive" volume slider. Move this back up to max and your sounds will be restored to normal levels.

It makes a world of difference.

I seem to recall this happening in another game in the past year. Why on earth would Windows arbitrarily override your volume settings?

Joe M.

02-10-2011, 04:47 PM

You know, if this game had Shift's handling I probably wouldn't play another driving game until TDU3. The douchebag simulator aside, I'm having a tremendously enjoyable time driving around Ibiz with my modest collection of cars. If only the driving model were a little less fussy.

Joe M, if you're playing on the 360, you can just bring up the Xbox guide and play your own soundtrack, streaming from your computer, just like with any game on the 360.

That sounds wonderfully useful but I'm playing on PC, unfortunately. I'm going to see about "fixing" the problem by extracting music from GTA IV, tossing in some of my own music and adding it all to a Winamp playlist.

flyinj: I believe it happened with Singularity.

LionelThompson

02-10-2011, 05:53 PM

The servers down explains why the poker rooms are heart breakingly empty at the moment too.

Rachel Brown

02-11-2011, 03:47 AM

Mr. Mistake

02-11-2011, 05:43 AM

Mr. Mistake

02-11-2011, 05:50 AM

I seem to recall this happening in another game in the past year. Why on earth would Windows arbitrarily override your volume settings?

Sorry for double posting. I remember playing Borderlands while on Skype, and when a call came in, the Borderlands slider was moved down to 50% or so, and it turns out there's a setting somewhere which regulates that. It's useful if you're listening to music (or on Skype) while gaming, and you don't have to lower the game's volume through the game's settings.

Telefrog

02-11-2011, 06:10 AM

A comment on the vinyl editor:
Anyone notice it's excruciatingly hard to apply something as simple as RACING STRIPES? You just pick the rectangle, stretch it, and apply symmetry. Unfortunately, when you stretch it, it can only be up to 400% of its original size, which means you have to put one behind the other multiple times on your car... and they're extremely hard to line up. Or am I doing it wrong? This was so easy to do in Midnight Club.

Nope. I complained about the decal editor earlier. To create a stripe you have lengthen the rectangle 400% then duplicate it across the car. Unfortunately, there are no guides or even number indicators for the decal's position on the car, so everything has to be eyeballed using the touchy left stick. Oh, and because the size of the decal on the car is relative to the camera's proximity to the vehicle, the front and rear areas will be differently sized when you try to line it up. Good luck.

There is a symmetry button to duplicate whatever you do on one side of the car onto the other side. That's great, but text gets mirrored as well, so unless you want your text backwards on the other side of the car, you'll have to disengage the symmetry and eyeball that as well.

There's no way to promote one decal over another so you'd better have your shapes planned out. You also can't delete one shape off the car after you've laid down a few more shapes without using the undo feature. Hopefully, you don't get too far before you realize you didn't want a particular decal there.

They came so close to getting the editor right, but they blew it. Really, that could be said of so much in this game.

Mr. Mistake

02-11-2011, 09:44 AM

There's no way to promote one decal over another so you'd better have your shapes planned out. You also can't delete one shape off the car after you've laid down a few more shapes without using the undo feature. Hopefully, you don't get too far before you realize you didn't want a particular decal there.

They came so close to getting the editor right, but they blew it. Really, that could be said of so much in this game.

Excellent points, Telefrog, I forgot to mention a lot of what you said. Looks like they got off on the right foot, but really rushed it and messed it up so bad it hurts. There was a LOT of potential in the vinyl editor, and the screw ups don't look like they will be fixed with a patch or two.

They could have concentrated on that instead of the stupid fucking dialog. Who the hell cares if NPCs have personalities in a game where all the emphasis is supposedly placed on the online aspect.

The first TDU didn't have wise ass NPCs. The first Test Drive Unlimited wasn't LIMITED (ha, see what I did there?) to stupid tournaments. It just set you on the road and watched you hurry off at 200kph.

fuzzyslug

02-11-2011, 01:47 PM

Ok, the game keeps showing me cars sitting on a hillside instead of letting me log in. Is this what it does when the online is broken?

Telefrog

02-11-2011, 02:08 PM

Ok, the game keeps showing me cars sitting on a hillside instead of letting me log in. Is this what it does when the online is broken?

Yes. The servers are boned. Intermittent connectivity.

http://twitter.com/tdu2

Oh, another gripe. The casino ONLY works when the server is up, so even if you disconnect from the internet to play the game, there will be no casino action for you!

Mr. Mistake

02-11-2011, 02:15 PM

Okay, this game is giving me anger issues.

Cerebral Ballsy

02-11-2011, 02:36 PM

Mr. Mistake

02-11-2011, 02:40 PM

I get crappy performance. Is it possible a patch might fix that?

BroadwayJoe

02-11-2011, 02:46 PM

I get crappy performance. Is it possible a patch might fix that?

That, or playing a better driving game.

Pogo

02-11-2011, 03:18 PM

The Subaru WRX is a fine car for exploration. Gets excellent speed offroad, it's nice and controllable, and has great acceleration. These features also make it good for most of the random missions that pop up.

It's awesome that they have a WRX in the game, but the offroad speed limit is just very strange. Again it shows a sloppy physics engine that seems to be built around hard coded RPMs. You can be going 120 mph but if you get onto dirt, your speed will go down to a very specific number. It's silly.

Mr. Mistake

02-11-2011, 03:20 PM

That, or playing a better driving game.

Like what? Gran Turismo? Forza? NFS Shift? *Another generic racing title with "realistic" handling*?

Or maybe DIRT or GRID where you're more confined to a circuit than my first train set?

I don't mean to sound like a douche, but TDU is the only thing out there with... so many things I like.

Telefrog

02-11-2011, 03:24 PM

Has shutting down the forums ever been a good sign?

http://forums.testdriveunlimited2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=95

Hello Everyone,
The forums are currently disabled while we work on troubleshooting the core issues surrounding the issues impacting the online service. Here's status update on where we are at with everything:

Xbox
-Many players are stuck at the loading screen. This is a critical issue on our end and we have several engineers dedicated to getting it resolved. We've pulled in additional programmers from other teams to expedite the fix to the best of our ability.

PS3
-US players are currently unable to access the online services due to a connection issue between the TDU2 client and the TDU2 servers. The first solution candidate is scheduled to be tested within the next couple of hours. If it does not solve the problem, we are currently in talks with Sony to get a patch pushed this weekend to fix the problems.

PC
-The PC client is online and functional. However, we are experiencing intermittent outages related to online play, however all resources are currently devoted to nailing down the issues with PS3 and Xbox.

Mr. Mistake

02-11-2011, 03:50 PM

Has shutting down the forums ever been a good sign?

Why, when has it happened before? And what did it mean?

Joe M.

02-11-2011, 03:51 PM

You would think folks would learn from Blizzard's forum/login problems.

BroadwayJoe

02-11-2011, 03:54 PM

Mr. Mistake

02-11-2011, 03:57 PM

Shutting down the forums at a time like this is one of the worst things you can do to a community. It eliminates communication between customers/fans and the community managers, and just makes people more frustrated and angry.

Seriously, it is a very very bad move.

Many things about this game are a very bad move. And I have a feeling you agree with me, BroadwayJoe.

I'm thankful I don't own it... yet.

Telefrog

02-11-2011, 04:02 PM

Why, when has it happened before? And what did it mean?

It's happened to a number of games in the past. Usually MMOs that launch in a terrible state.

It can mean all sorts of things.

1. The volume of complaints was too high for them to handle and they just can't keep up. Resources are spread too thin.

2. They're trying to suppress a bad official forum image. A potential buyer seeing a "forum closed because we're so busy fixing things" message is preferable to him/her seeing a thousand threads full of cussing and complaining.

3. They're trying to let people have a "cooling off" period before they open back up. Understandably, tempers are flaring over the repeated issues and corrupted savegames.

At any rate, my point was that I don't think I've ever seen a game shut down official forums due to complaints and then go on to have a vibrant community. This is especially damaging for this game since a large part of it depends on the social aspect.

Edit: BroadwayJoe has another very good point.

Mr. Mistake

02-11-2011, 05:03 PM

By the way, how many players can you see at a time? And is there a way to find friends if you know they're online?

fuzzyslug

02-11-2011, 05:04 PM

Wow. This game is completely broken. I can't play it and, unfortunately, I can't take it back to the store.

Mr. Mistake

02-11-2011, 05:36 PM

Wow. This game is completely broken. I can't play it and, unfortunately, I can't take it back to the store.
...and you can't complain on the Atari forums because they're closed.

What a clusterfuck.

Marcin

02-11-2011, 08:34 PM

Rachel Brown

02-11-2011, 10:09 PM

-The PC client is online and functional. However, we are experiencing intermittent outages related to online play, however all resources are currently devoted to nailing down the issues with PS3 and Xbox.

PC gaming at it's best.

Anders Hallin

02-11-2011, 10:15 PM

Really liked the quick look. I'll definitely look into it when I get back to my 360 (after the summer).

Mr. Mistake

02-12-2011, 06:36 AM

Sounds like there should've been a toggle for offline/online play. I'm pretty sure there was in the first one.

Argh, why couldn't they have just remade the first game with more cars, a spit-polish of graphics and another island to play on? I would've been perfectly happy to pay full price just for that!

Excellent point.

Anyone notice the game has wacky design flaws? Like some wheels being too small, or suspensions too retracted, or weird shadows, or wheels sinking into the ground?

How the hell do they let that happen?

jfletch

02-12-2011, 10:23 AM

Plus they delayed the game four months, and had a lengthy beta process. This should have been so much better.

fuzzyslug

02-12-2011, 11:09 AM

Sounds like there should've been a toggle for offline/online play. I'm pretty sure there was in the first one.

I don't want a toggle. Just make it handle this automagically.

Sander 001

02-12-2011, 03:12 PM

I don't know what the hell all you are complaining about but this game is a hilariously good time going by the Giantbomb quicklook (http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-test-drive-unlimited-2/17-3776/).

Mr. Mistake

02-12-2011, 04:29 PM

I don't want a toggle. Just make it handle this automagically.

This is probably what they were debating over when they decided to shut down the forums.

Mr. Mistake

02-12-2011, 06:26 PM

Pogo

02-12-2011, 06:46 PM

Alex2000

02-12-2011, 07:15 PM

I'm enjoying the heck out of this game. Love the open world aspects, and the exotic location. Playing on the PC, connected to my big screen, graphics maxed out - looks amazing!

This game is grabbing me in ways Dirt 2 did not.

LionelThompson

02-12-2011, 07:18 PM

Good news, I won the million dollar Audio Spider in the casino.

Bad news, lost 30k in chips when the server crashed while I was at the roulette table.

djotefsoup

02-12-2011, 08:12 PM

This may seem like a minor issue to most, but it bugs the hell out of me. I don't know much about 3D animation, but this is the first time a spinning wheel just looks wrong to me, which probably means that this is not how it's done with most games.

It's a very common trick. Forza 3 does it:

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/2277/f3t4.jpg

GTR2 does it:

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/4804/gtr2wheel0.jpg

Shift does it:

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/7725/shiftwheel2.jpg

F1 2010 does it but I can't be arsed loading another extractor.

It's one of those effects where it's only shit if you notice it. There is really nothing you gain from making the whole 3d model rotate other than making it cook up some really shitty looking strobe effects, and you can account for the rotation speed in physics separately. But still, if you make it so it's really obvious, that's kind of lazy.

Fugitive

02-12-2011, 08:18 PM

Speaking of spinning wheels... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXTvX2UKb2w)

Xaroc

02-12-2011, 10:51 PM

This game for whatever faults there are is still great especially when driving my Subaru 170mph from one end of Hawaii to the other just because.

Reemul

02-13-2011, 01:58 AM

Yeah the open road nature really does off set some of the issues.

Really enjoying it.

Mr. Mistake

02-13-2011, 05:48 AM

I've never really seen that. Are you saying there's an animated sprite that is providing the illusion of wheel spin? It fits with the whole "this game doesn't actually use physics" theme going on here.

Yep. I know, right? I must refer to you to djotefsoup's post.

It's one of those effects where it's only shit if you notice it. There is really nothing you gain from making the whole 3d model rotate other than making it cook up some really shitty looking strobe effects, and you can account for the rotation speed in physics separately. But still, if you make it so it's really obvious, that's kind of lazy.

Thank you for taking the time to clear that up, appreciated.

I must say, this is fucking unacceptable. They've gone and done it. They screwed up a winning formula. Like Harry Klynn says about Greece "They have a problem for every solution".

I'm almost devastated here. I'm probably not gonna buy it. What a fucking shame.

EDIT: Is it possible they may release a patch to make this look better?

fuzzyslug

02-13-2011, 08:09 AM

This game for whatever faults there are is still great especially when driving my Subaru 170mph from one end of Hawaii to the other just because.

That why I bought it. Now I just want to be able to play at all. My last two attempts: nada. I'll be trying again in a few. Fingers crossed!

Xaroc

02-13-2011, 08:51 AM

That why I bought it. Now I just want to be able to play at all. My last two attempts: nada. I'll be trying again in a few. Fingers crossed!

Played it last night in the middle of primetime. I am sure they will work out the server issues. It is like an MMO launch it seems.

Fugitive

02-13-2011, 09:32 AM

Well I had a preorder in, and I'm still kind of interested even with the flaws so far, but they just delayed the expected shipping date to Feb 28th. No local copies at the big box stores either, according to the online stock checks. I don't know if it's just really high demand, or if they had too few copies, or if the distributor's halted shipment or what, but I guess I won't be playing it anytime soon.

fuzzyslug

02-13-2011, 10:03 AM

Played it for a bit today, long enough to do the B4 challenge. Then I bumped my cable trying to get my headset and lost my connection to live. Now, infinite loading screens for everyone!

I'd like to know what's a good next step after completing the 4 level challenges. I have no more room in the garage but I assume the C3 stuff is next and I'll need a better car. I only have about 110,000 in the bank. I'd also like to know when I can play again.

Marcin

02-13-2011, 10:05 AM

Played it last night in the middle of primetime. I am sure they will work out the server issues. It is like an MMO launch it seems.

360 or PC? Didn't they mention the PC servers are fine?

Those of you on PC, how is performance? I'm still torn - I like the achievements on the 360 but they're not a must, and the PC is cheaper and potentially more reliable with the online aspect ...

Alex2000

02-13-2011, 10:47 AM

360 or PC? Didn't they mention the PC servers are fine?

Those of you on PC, how is performance? I'm still torn - I like the achievements on the 360 but they're not a must, and the PC is cheaper and potentially more reliable with the online aspect ...

Im on pc. I have it connected to my flat screen with an x-box 360 controller.
Have the graphics totally maxed out. Looks AMAZING! Blown away.

Runs butter smooth. no glitches so far.

i7-860 , ati 5970.

if you can get the PC version. your eyes will thank you.

Xaroc

02-13-2011, 11:23 AM

Played it for a bit today, long enough to do the B4 challenge. Then I bumped my cable trying to get my headset and lost my connection to live. Now, infinite loading screens for everyone!

I have been playing for like the last 3 hours so pretty much anytime you want. I have two other people on my friends list playing as well.

I'd like to know what's a good next step after completing the 4 level challenges. I have no more room in the garage but I assume the C3 stuff is next and I'll need a better car. I only have about 110,000 in the bank. I'd also like to know when I can play again.

Did you do both C4 and B4 challenges? Need to grab your first A license as well. You can trade cars (although not ones you have won) for other cars or do some other challenges to build up money. The A7 cars are not expensive as I recall. I think the GTI ran me like 25k.

fuzzyslug

02-13-2011, 01:13 PM

Did you do both C4 and B4 challenges? Need to grab your first A license as well. You can trade cars (although not ones you have won) for other cars or do some other challenges to build up money. The A7 cars are not expensive as I recall. I think the GTI ran me like 25k.

Yeah. I did them both, filling my garage with 2 cars. Not quite enough to grab a new car and another garage.

djotefsoup

02-13-2011, 02:02 PM

Thank you for taking the time to clear that up, appreciated.

I should have made it clearer, but up to a certain speed they will rotate the model (but still - typically only the rims). It's only when they're rotating at a speed that won't be conveyed properly at the target framerate that it's worthwhile switching over to just making the textures rotate/switching to a blur texture.

I'm almost devastated here. I'm probably not gonna buy it. What a fucking shame.

EDIT: Is it possible they may release a patch to make this look better?

I'm more curious to find out what they were doing after they delayed the release date. Should make for an interesting postmortem.

Mr. Mistake

02-13-2011, 02:59 PM

I should have made it clearer, but up to a certain speed they will rotate the model (but still - typically only the rims). It's only when they're rotating at a speed that won't be conveyed properly at the target framerate that it's worthwhile switching over to just making the textures rotate/switching to a blur texture.

No way you could have made it clearer, you even posted screenshots which is commendable. The thing that keeps me up at night is that IT'S 2011! You just don't make this kind of mistake. I'm a car enthusiast, and I've noticed that a few cars have slight design flaws. That is - they may *seem* slight, but if you're a 3D animator, and you care about what you're doing, you just don't screw up in such a noticeable way. I mean, what, were they hoping no one would notice?

I'm more curious to find out what they were doing after they delayed the release date. Should make for an interesting postmortem.

They were probably thinking of ways to piss me off. I feel weird that no one else is so bummed over these things. I'm not even a hypochondriac! I have 50 euro set aside for this game. I'm pretty fucking broke without that 50, but think of it this way: If they paid rudimentary attention to detail, I would buy it right away, instead of considering maybe I should spend my money elsewhere, and just find another way to procure the game.

Joe M.

02-13-2011, 03:17 PM

I spend exactly no time inspecting the rims at high speeds. I find the thought of it a little odd, honestly. Then again, I spend the bulk of my time in the cockpit view.

Mr. Mistake

02-13-2011, 03:23 PM

I spend exactly no time inspecting the rims at high speeds. I find the thought of it a little odd, honestly. Then again, I spend the bulk of my time in the cockpit view.

I don't know anyone who inspects rims at high speeds. Besides, it's more than noticeable without looking hard. like I first said, all you have to do is swing the exterior camera around the car and BAM! Skeleton city. (I quote Family Guy sometimes because I'm cool that way.)

Don't you also find it a little odd that gaming has come so far and these guys fail to literally reinvent the wheel?

Spam

02-13-2011, 03:49 PM

Wheel textures at speed, you say? I guess the comically bad story mode has been covered so.. also, I actually had to check if the main voice actress was in fact the same talent who does the "In Wine Country" style shows on at 2AM.

I miss the motion blur and HDR. TDU had excessive HDR but not XTREEM HDR like every other game its gen. Tasteful HDR would be nice and the net effect is Oahu looks a bit lifeless with none. The control scheme is improved over the first game. It's possible to set up the controls exactly the same (as the first game) for wheels and I find the new defaults an improvement when playing with gamepad. Driving model not improved, let's just leave it at that.

I also miss the single player events all over the map. Story mode is thin and weak, multiplayer isn't really challenging in the same way as mass races and time trials that keep you occupied.

Mr. Mistake

02-13-2011, 03:55 PM

Wheel textures at speed, you say? I guess the comically bad story mode has been covered so.. also, I actually had to check if the main voice actress was in fact the same talent who does the "In Wine Country" style shows on at 2AM.

I miss the motion blur and HDR. TDU had excessive HDR but not XTREEM HDR like every other game its gen. Tasteful HDR would be nice and the net effect is Oahu looks a bit lifeless with none. The control scheme is improved over the first game. It's possible to set up the controls exactly the same (as the first game) for wheels and I find the new defaults an improvement when playing with gamepad. Driving model not improved, let's just leave it at that.

I remember in TDU you could choose between anti-aliasing and HDR... Frankly, I don't get how the two are related. Anyhow, the point is that barely anything has been improved over the first game. Which begs the question of what the hell they were really doing all of the time it was in "development". Also, whether or not the 50 euro I will hopefully but doubtfully resist spending on this half-assed excuse for a sequel to an excellent game will mean paying for the developing team's beer, strippers and World Of Warcraft timecards.

Pardon the long sentences.

Spam

02-13-2011, 03:56 PM

Sure, but you could force AA outside the game. Did you play TDU1?

Mr. Mistake

02-13-2011, 03:57 PM

Almost to death. Both on Xbox360 and PC.

Pogo

02-13-2011, 04:06 PM

This game for whatever faults there are is still great especially when driving my Subaru 170mph from one end of Hawaii to the other just because.

That's certainly a feeling this game conveys well. The graphics are genuinely nice and smooth.

I made a post a long time ago asking for game recommendations that deliver a nice sense of "stoner cruising." TDU was the top suggestion, and TDU2 delivers it just as well.

But I have to see that they eventually fix the same issues from beta that they're having at launch before I ever pick it up.

Marcin

02-13-2011, 04:40 PM

I also miss the single player events all over the map. Story mode is thin and weak, multiplayer isn't really challenging in the same way as mass races and time trials that keep you occupied.

Wait what? There are no single player events all over the map? BUH?

Are there at least car and passenger deliveries?

Mr. Mistake

02-13-2011, 04:46 PM

There are... there are even a few new modes like tailing another car. The race events are a little different, though.

Telefrog

02-13-2011, 04:53 PM

I love that I was only able to log in for about 30 minutes for this whole weekend.

Spam

02-13-2011, 05:01 PM

There are 4-5 random missions available at any time, car delivery (one per model then done afaict), dropoff (hitchhiker/model), jolt/adrenaline (time trials). Plus the new tailing missions which are a bit lame. There's a hilarious vid on youtube of one where the guy's having trouble because his Atom can only do 0 or 100 mph.

Plain and simple though, the first game had a huge variety of races and event types available to suit your mood. I had favorites I'd jump into the game and run once in a while, that kind of thing. There's nothing comparable to that. The championships are fixed races but structured in such a way that you might need to do a few events to be able to do the one you like over again.

Mr. Mistake

02-13-2011, 05:19 PM

So... legendary races like Tantalus and The Millionaire's Challenge are no more. Now all you have are stupid championships which are like serious commitments. With boring poorly acted cut-scenes and that boring bitch Tess's voice. HOW COULD THEY MESS UP SO BAD?

Look, guys, I'm sorry for bringing so much negativity to this thread, but seriously, playing this game is compromising in almost every way. I've gone as far as thinking I should probably shut the fuck up and fire up TDU1 again.

Fugitive

02-13-2011, 05:26 PM

Fuck Tantalus. *twitch*

I did like to occasionally fire up TDU1 and do the Millionaire's Challenge just as a nice, relaxing tour of the island, though.

Mr. Mistake

02-13-2011, 06:01 PM

I couldn't disagree with "Fuck Tantalus" even if I wanted to. It was frustrating as hell. Not half as frustrating as the fucking time trials in TDU2.

But you did say something along the lines of firing up TDU1 to play The Millionaire's Challenge. Ain't it funny, that two years (?) later, with TDU2 out, you STILL HAVE TO FIRE UP TDU1 TO DO THE MILLIONAIRE'S CHALLENGE?

What did you run it with? I tried with a car sometimes, but I'd always give up and just use my trusty green ZX10R.

Fugitive

02-13-2011, 06:17 PM

Yeah, I preferred to use a bike for the Millionaire's Challenge (can't remember which model now). It made navigating the traffic far less of a cop-attracting pain.

Mr. Mistake

02-13-2011, 06:27 PM

Amen!

Now for the sake of not getting banned from this thread for going too far off topic, I have the following to say:

Did you guys know that the Ferrari 458 Italia was silently removed from the Xbox360 version? Instead they included another boring Spyker which in turn isn't available on PC to keep the car count equal.

Jazar

02-15-2011, 09:28 AM

I finally got my 360 copy so I'd like to join the QT3 club.

The handling seems worse then the original. :/

Telefrog

02-15-2011, 09:45 AM

I don't think the clubs are back online yet.

BroadwayJoe

02-15-2011, 09:46 AM

Well, that is one way to strangle a game's multiplayer in the crib. By the time they get clubs up, there might not be anyone around to use them!

Mr. Mistake

02-15-2011, 09:56 AM

I think I'm going to buy the game despite all its unacceptable atrocious flaws.

flyinj

02-15-2011, 10:12 AM

I think I'm going to buy the game despite all its unacceptable atrocious flaws.

Your name is very fitting.

Anyways, I'm still enjoying the game. The time trials are nothing. The worst events ever are elimination. They go on FOREVER, and there is zero challenge to them other than pure endurance. I hate those events more than any other.

Mr. Mistake

02-15-2011, 10:21 AM

Your name is very fitting.

Anyways, I'm still enjoying the game. The time trials are nothing. The worst events ever are elimination. They go on FOREVER, and there is zero challenge to them other than pure endurance. I hate those events more than any other.

And since it is indeed fitting, I'll take that as a compliment, flyinj, though I don't understand how you mean it. It seems as though you mean I'd be making a mistake, but that's contradictory to the fact that you're enjoying the game. I remember you from the Space Rangers 2 thread, though I wasn't a member in QT3 back then, just enjoyed reading the threads.

Xaroc

02-15-2011, 10:24 AM

Your name is very fitting.

Anyways, I'm still enjoying the game. The time trials are nothing. The worst events ever are elimination. They go on FOREVER, and there is zero challenge to them other than pure endurance. I hate those events more than any other.

I agree. I always cringe when I see an eliminator.

Also semi *spoiler alert*

but the Ibiza championship features a 74 mile time trial as the last event where you essentially circumnavigate the island.

However it gives you a million dollars. I am looking forward to it.

flyinj

02-15-2011, 10:34 AM

And since it is indeed fitting, I'll take that as a compliment, flyinj, though I don't understand how you mean it. It seems as though you mean I'd be making a mistake, but that's contradictory to the fact that you're enjoying the game. I remember you from the Space Rangers 2 thread, though I wasn't a member in QT3 back then, just enjoyed reading the threads.

Yeah, I meant from your statement "I think I'm going to buy the game despite all its unacceptable atrocious flaws", and your name being Mr. Mistake. Just thought it was funny.

Personally, I don't think you'd be making a mistake at all. I think the game is great.

Mr. Mistake

02-15-2011, 10:38 AM

Xaroc

02-15-2011, 11:28 AM

Oh, right, hahahahah, spot on! I wasn't offended or anything, just didn't get it.

By the way, how many people can you see online at a time? Is there a way to know when your friends come online? Do you still have to lock on?

I have seen random other people, up to 8 in the counter but as yet have not been able to get any of my friends to show up in my game.

Mr. Mistake

02-15-2011, 01:23 PM

I hope there's some kind of friends list.

Alright, let's just hope they fix the spinning wheel textures.

Telefrog

02-15-2011, 01:26 PM

Alright, let's just hope they fix the spinning wheel textures.

I doubt the wheel issue rates very high on their list of critical bugs. In fact, I doubt they would even agree that it needs to be fixed at all. Working as intended!

Pogo

02-15-2011, 01:32 PM

Mr. Mistake

02-15-2011, 03:00 PM

Every bug being talked about, including Tom's new update regarding not finding multiplayer games even though there has to be some starting up, and the spinning wheels several feet from the car, were in the beta.

Interesting...

EDIT: Wait, do you literally mean several feet? Because I'm not even talking about the wheels themselves... or rather I am, in a manner of speaking.

Pogo

02-15-2011, 03:34 PM

The rims. I think someone posted a video of the bug.

Mr. Mistake

02-15-2011, 03:56 PM

I have to get this off my chest:

When I was watching the TDU2 trailers, I noticed the cars' wheels looked really bad when they were spinning. It looked like for the duration of the spin, a noticeably low resolution texture of the wheel (rim) was used. While playing the game, I noticed that this is in fact so.

This becomes apparent when you rotate the camera to the side of the car when you're driving. If you pause the game to take a picture at of your car while it's in motion (and the wheels are spinning) and you rotate the camera so it gives you something close to a side view of the wheel, you'll notice that a flat object is placed over the rim model, which spins instead of it.

This may seem like a minor issue to most, but it bugs the hell out of me. I don't know much about 3D animation, but this is the first time a spinning wheel just looks wrong to me, which probably means that this is not how it's done with most games.

It's a very common trick. Forza 3 does it:

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/2277/f3t4.jpg

GTR2 does it:

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/4804/gtr2wheel0.jpg

Shift does it:

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/7725/shiftwheel2.jpg

F1 2010 does it but I can't be arsed loading another extractor.

It's one of those effects where it's only shit if you notice it. There is really nothing you gain from making the whole 3d model rotate other than making it cook up some really shitty looking strobe effects, and you can account for the rotation speed in physics separately. But still, if you make it so it's really obvious, that's kind of lazy.

This is what I meant.

Marcin

02-15-2011, 04:08 PM

Yeah, that one is "working as intended". The other bug with the rims' center of rotation being ... somewhere else, is the one Pogo is talking about.

The effect is that of wheel rims spinning around the car itself, at strobe-like speeds.

flyinj

02-15-2011, 04:19 PM

Has anyone been able to access the Casino in the PC SKU?

I bought it four days ago through the TDU2 website, but every time I try to walk in I get a very strange error message like "there are currently no options for this" or something.

Is the game not recognizing that I purchased the DLC, or has it never been enabled, or have I just been unlucky?

Mr. Mistake

02-15-2011, 04:27 PM

Is the game not recognizing that I purchased the DLC, or has it never been enabled, or have I just been unlucky?

It's a combination of all three, actually. It's the game's way of preparing you for the horrors of an addiction to gambling and/or bad luck.

Telefrog

02-15-2011, 09:27 PM

Rachel Brown

02-15-2011, 11:07 PM

Anyone who has purchased this game so far, is in effect a beta tester - who paid for the privilege to do so.

flyinj

02-15-2011, 11:22 PM

Ok, so, I guess the casino has been off line until tonight.

Finally got in, and wow... this is quite an amazing feature. You can actually walk around the Roulette room and stand over people's shoulders to watch them put chips on the table and see the wheel spin and ball land in 3D.

Played quite a bit of roulette, and a some of the slot machines. Haven't tried poker yet. It's actually one of the best casino games I've ever played, as a matter of fact.

It's weird that this much effort went into the casino aspect of a driving game. I can see why they are charging extra for it now.

Also, it's quite hilarious seeing how absolutely ridiculous all the other players have made themselves look. I'm going to try to make my avatar's face as ugly as possible next time I hit the plastic surgeon.

Mr. Mistake

02-16-2011, 03:10 AM

Christ. Does anything work in this game?

I just passed my first off-road set of races. (Yeah, I've been screwing around and cruising instead of gaining levels.) I got all the way to the end and BAM! The game exits out. I try to get back in the game and now my save is corrupted.

Fuck you TDU2!

Ah, at least someone is working his way towards my level of frustration with the game. I remember the corrupt save issue took so long to fix in TDU1 that someone released a 3rd party program which backed up the saves since it was impossible to do so manually. I'd look for that if I were you, on the off chance that TDU2 has the same file structure or whatever.

EDIT: Isn't it weird that TDU2 has the same corrupt savegame problem like TDU1? What the hell have they been doing these three and a half years?

Anyone who has purchased this game so far, is in effect a beta tester - who paid for the privilege to do so.

I can't believe it took you people so long to figure this out. God, you're slow... It even says so on the box!

The 1.0 version will be called "Drive Unlimited".

Jazar

02-16-2011, 05:40 AM

Also, it's quite hilarious seeing how absolutely ridiculous all the other players have made themselves look. I'm going to try to make my avatar's face as ugly as possible next time I hit the plastic surgeon.

I crack up every time they show my avatar. He's the black guy now with long smooth black hair and very douchy sunglasses. He's a black Rico Suave.

Telefrog

02-16-2011, 05:50 AM

Anyone who has purchased this game so far, is in effect a beta tester - who paid for the privilege to do so.

Yeah. I'm putting the game aside. I may go back to it someday, or I may just resell it.

Mr. Mistake

02-16-2011, 06:06 AM

I don't get it. It's been approximately 2000 years since Jesus, and some developing companies still don't know how circumvent corrupt savegame issues.

It's simple. The game should save on two files, each time alternating between the first and the second. In that case, one will act as a backup if the other is corrupted. The only time games nowadays should display a "corrupt savegame" message, is if it's absolutely certain that there has been a successful attempt at cheating. It's not rocket fucking science.

Am I wrong? Hahah, what a ridiculous question. Of course not.

Hey - at least we get to decorate and furnish houses, right?

Fuck the morons who made this game. I'm still gonna buy it. I guess my name is more fitting than anyone could have predicted. (Thanks, flyinj.)

Telefrog, we'll keep you posted, I guess.

Telefrog

02-16-2011, 01:52 PM

I'll leave this here for you guys still playing:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&source=embed&msa=0&msid=218081809985938592241.00049bff1df6e411c0a84&ll=21.483741,-157.986145&spn=0.718163,1.234589&z=10

Full map of Oahu locations for TDU2.

Mr. Mistake

02-16-2011, 02:55 PM

Thanks, Telefrog!

I bought the game today, against my better judgement.

Question:
I remember a section of the vinyls being called "Vector Graphics". Is it possible we can import our own?

Paul_cze

02-16-2011, 03:45 PM

I finally played today my GAME version with Casino and Veyron.

Ahhh, the upgrade was worth it. Previously 20fps with everything on max, now constant 60. Controls seem great with x360pad. And MP worked too. All around happy.

flyinj

02-16-2011, 03:50 PM

Marcin

02-16-2011, 03:53 PM

You upgraded from what to what?

Yes, please do share. I'm on the fence on 360 vs. PC version with my 4850. Just Cause 2 runs great as do a great many other things but I am now very dubious about the TDU guys ... :/

Paul_cze

02-16-2011, 04:27 PM

From:
Core 2 Duo 2ghz@3ghz
Geforce GTX280 1gb
4giga ram DDR2

To:
Sandy Bridge 2500K@4ghz
MSI Geforce GTX560Ti TwinFrozr2
4giga ram DDR3

I had similar fps in Blur (20-30) before, now constant 60.
Upgrade to SB very recommended. I bought MSI motherboard with P67 errored chipset because it has 4 SATA3 slots which do not suffer from the error.

Mr. Mistake

02-16-2011, 08:33 PM

Rachel Brown

02-17-2011, 04:21 AM

You seem to have gotten lucky. Many people on the TDU2 board seem to be experiencing performance issues (i.e. shitty fps).

I don't know if this has been posted before, but this is the OP of the thread that shows the status of repairing this FUBAR game (this one is for the PC):

http://forums.testdriveunlimited2.com/showpost.php?p=327454&postcount=1

Told ya. So they basically shipped the preview/QA versions, regardless of the "inaccurate label" cop-out.

The build title contains "QA" and "Review" - Known issue. Future versions should no longer contain the inaccurate label of "QA," but as expected the disc name will remain the same for the near future as they have already been printed.

Mr. Mistake

02-17-2011, 05:00 AM

Wait wait wait, what does this mean? QA? Review? Does this mean that... No, I don't get it. What does it mean? You were right? It's a packaged beta?

BigWeather

02-17-2011, 06:07 AM

So they still have the problem where hooking up with friends on your friends list and just wanting to cruise around with them is pretty much impossible? Ugh, what did they do for the last few years?

Telefrog

02-17-2011, 08:54 AM

I think the IGN review of this game sums up my feelings as well.

"It's a shame" should be the motto for Test Drive Unlimited 2. On paper, this is the kind of experience I'd love to play. The amount of road to explore and the amount of competitions to enter make me froth at the mouth. But the awful characters, bland driving and the general lack of polish keep Test Drive from being the definitive "racer-lifestyle emulator" it set out to be.

Farscry

02-17-2011, 09:39 AM

Mr. Mistake

02-17-2011, 07:25 PM

What's the general summary of how this game is on PC versus 360, in particular is there much of a PC audience for it so that there will be other drivers online in the long-term? I assume the graphics can be run at nicer settings on the PC than the 360, but any differences otherwise?

Think of it as an MMO racing game. I think it's more conveniently played on the PC since you can Skype/Ventrilo and you can also type in chat. Sure, you can also do that on the XBox, but that's up to you.

Generally, it's advised that you have both a keyboard and a gamepad - especially a gamepad - when playing this game. If you're reluctant to buy a gamepad, you should know it's a good investment.

Also, it's more of a pain in the ass to backup your save game files often on the Xbox, as the game only has autosave, and it's unclear whether or not they are working on something that will prevent save files for getting corrupted. And apparently there have already been such cases.

Tom Chick

02-17-2011, 07:38 PM

I've actually grown to love the idiocy of the lifestyle stuff. Or, as I believe flyinj called it earlier in the thread, the douchebag simulator. That stuff is so clunky, irrelevant, and utterly ridiculous that it has a charm all its own.

As for "bland driving", I don't know what to do with that comment from the IGN bit you quoted, Telefrog. That means nothing. The driving is actually the opposite of bland, and not always in a good way. It's got tons of personality, and quirks, and little idioms. If I can't have realistic phsyics, I'm happy to try to master this weird approximation of physics. This game's driving is many things, but "bland" isn't one of them.

The real shame is how broken the networking stuff is. Without working multiplayer, which includes features like the clubhouse to tie into the co-op races and social advancement, Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a travesty. And it's an insult given the issues Eden had with the first Test Drive Unlimited.

There's a great product in here, with a lot of personality and a unique angle on driving games. I hope Eden and Atari can manage to actually finish it now that we've given them our money.

-Tom

Lh'owon

02-17-2011, 09:32 PM

I've actually grown to love the idiocy of the lifestyle stuff. Or, as I believe flyinj called it earlier in the thread, the douchebag simulator. That stuff is so clunky, irrelevant, and utterly ridiculous that it has a charm all its own.

Hah I hear that, when I first saw this game I expected to hate its guts given the Douchebag Paradise setting, and the game actually surpassed my expectations in that regard, but I couldn't help but find it fun instead. It's just so silly I can't get indignant.

As for "bland driving", I don't know what to do with that comment from the IGN bit you quoted, Telefrog. That means nothing. The driving is actually the opposite of bland, and not always in a good way. It's got tons of personality, and quirks, and little idioms. If I can't have realistic phsyics, I'm happy to try to master this weird approximation of physics. This game's driving is many things, but "bland" isn't one of them.

This too, that comment really bemused me. I was genuinely thrilled with how each car has a distinctive feel that pays back putting in the effort to learn it, and which resulted in me hating some cars (do they have corners where the Mustang is built?) and loving others. You're right though that there are unfortunate quirks here and there, for example crashing head-on and some skidding that seem pre-canned and divorced from player control.

The real shame is how broken the networking stuff is. Without working multiplayer, which includes features like the clubhouse to tie into the co-op races and social advancement, Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a travesty. And it's an insult given the issues Eden had with the first Test Drive Unlimited.

There's a great product in here, with a lot of personality and a unique angle on driving games. I hope Eden and Atari can manage to actually finish it now that we've given them our money.

I've been kept busy with the singleplayer-but-still-online aspect for now, but I've found it amazing that those multiplayer club places still don't work. I assume they will be fixed but it's quite incredible for a game to be that broken this long after release. What little contact I've had with other players (I've thoroughly enjoyed running into them - sometimes literally - on the roads and having impromptu races) has been engaging, there's a great game to be realised.