Ok, I recieved my copy today. I put it in my PS2 hoping it would work, and of course, it didn't. So I started to tinker with it. Taking it apart for the second time and turning that damn gear to adjust the lens.
Two hours later and it'll load the Demo and PSone games. Nothing else. Which is really wierd in my opinion. It won't load any other PS2 game I have or any DVD movies. Sony has successfully built the dumbest, most anger inspiring machine in the world. Piece of crap! Once it's replaced, my current machine will die a horrible death by tack hammer.
Anyway, I finally get to play the game.
You've got two choices for cars. The Prius and the Toyota Triathalon car.
The Prius is painfully slow at everything. It's acceleration is nothing worth writing home about. I'm sure that was obvious though. But it seems a bit slow at steering as well. It just isn't very fun to drive. The only options you've got are to switch tires (Street, Sport and Arcade, can't use racing tires) you can turn off the traction control and of course switch from manual to automatic. Thats it.
The Triathalon car. Wierd! First, it has to occupants, which is kind of wierd. It's entirely electric, so it makes a bit of a funny buzzing noise. Dont' worry, it isn't very annoying. But the display is wierd, it's got a little meter on the screen to show how much throttle or brake you are giving. The wierd bit come sin that there are 4 meters. I'm guessing that means that each wheel has it's own motor. It's not the fastest thing, I think the fastest I got it up to was about 160 before slamming on the brakes. It's fairly quick, not mind blowing, but far more fun than the Prius. It's handing is pretty good, but not the best. The neatest part is watching it lower/raise itself. When you are on the road it sits nice and low. But if you go offroad, it springs up to give it some more clearance.
There were two tracks. Fuji Speedway and the Grand Canyon course.
Fuji speedway is pretty cool, but leaves an open spot for easy cheating. At oen point there is a runoff area just before a sharp right hander at the end of a long, speedy turn. You can be honest and take the turn, or fly into the runoff area and turn just before you hit the dirt.
Grand Canyon, pretty cool. It's tight and of course has lots of turns. This is where I first noticed the Triathalon car adjusted it's ride height. It starts out has tarmac then gives way to dirt. When you get into the dirt road, the track gets a bit wider, so it's more forgiving since you'll be sliding all about. The spectators are pretty cool. There are a few that will stand in the middle fo the road and run as you get near them. Other than that, there are only a few groups of spectators that actually move. They all seem to be 3D though.
The graphics are pretty damn good. It's not mind blowing though. The backgrounds are what really look good. On the Grand Canyon Track, the cliffs and trees all look extremely good. The track surfaces are pretty good as well. Overall, I guess what I'm saying is that it looks better than GT3 did, but not by much IMO.
The handling of the cars is what gets me. It may just be the cars, but it just seems a bit off. I dont' have a wheel (I should get one though) but there doesn't seem to be much feedback to the controller. I dont' feel as if I'm actually driving anything. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I don't particularly like it. Hopefully it's just the cars.
The demo has a 2 minute time limit, which is just farking dumb. My first outing on Fuji with the speedway, I wasn't able to complete one fricken lap. :roll:
It's a 2 lap time trial though. You figure that oen out. if someone manages to squeeze two laps in, you spend too much time playing videogames!
You cannot run the Prius at the Grand Canyon, but you can run the Triathalon car at both tracks.
What really annoys me though, is that the things I wanted changed or fixed, haven't been. I can still slam into a wall sideways without losing too much speed. Unless you do it in the Triathalon car, it comes to a stop if you hit something at the wrong angle. Also, running onto the grass does not slow you down!!!! ARG :x :x
I tested it myself, you can keep going without problems off the track.
Unfortunately, there are no other cars to race against, so I can't comment on the AI.
Overall, it's nice to get a glimpse of GT4. But I do hope that some changes are made. It's entertaining, but I won't be playing often!
For those of you who weren't able to get a copy if this demo, don't worry, you really aren't missing that much.