Reclusive Duck

Oooooh Imola!!! :) Monza 58 and Monaco too. Can't fault the tracks they've put in, though Macau would've been nice too, love the list. So lets hope the physics match the tracks, if they do this could be very good indeed.

That was roughly my line of thinking, TDU2 got such a panning (unfairly in some ways, but all the same they did get 2 most fundamental aspects so spectacularly wrong it far outweighed any of the good stuff) that maybe a new developer and a fresh approach might not be a bad thing, though I didn't realise Eden had a high turnover of staff. I only asked because it occured to me that the release of a couple of smaller titles with a different developer over the next couple of years would provide Atari with some useful feedback for a future TDU release...............Or is that too sensible for Atari?

A quick question your Diablo-ness:D Slightly off topic but do you think that fact that Eden are not involved in Test Drive: Ferrari means that the Atari/Eden relationship is finished in regards to any future Test Drive Unlimited sequels? Sorry if it's a dumb question but i've heard rumours of tensions etc but I must admit I haven't really been following it much lately.

Well all I can say is that I hope the physics have been improved since then. The tracks looked good though and I love the look of the old F1 car.

I look at this way.....It CAN'T be worse than TDU2 (washes mouth out with soap). Ok, looks like no Freeride etc but it could be the beginning of a step back in the right direction for future releases. Besides, any game with F1 cars and Monaco has my vote. I might get a bit of flak for saying this......If this game is well recieved then maybe, just maybe, Atari might actually learn something. I know i'm being incredibly optimistic here but I need to cling to some sort of hope!!!!

I realise this thread is a couple of weeks old but i've not been online much in the last few months and just spotted this and had to write something.. My biggest disappointment with TDU2, above and beyond all else, were the physics. Being very much into the Racing side of TDU1 the handling physics were at the heart of TDU for me, the handling had a depth to it that TDU2 just doesn't . I see alot of people complaing that the cars all handle the same in TDU2, not sure I fully agree, though I do admit the difference between cars was greater in TDU1. I think the biggest problem with TDU2 is that the cars lack feel, which is an area where TDU1 was so utterly brilliant. The feeling of being connected to the road, feeling the car react to the surface of the road and feeling the car slide and judging how much to let it slide and then just holding it there, all these are removed from TDU2. In fact the sense of feeling in the original was so good that we forgave the game many of it's faults (except of course for game crashes!) and that's what keeps it interesting. With TDU2 I felt like I was above the road, not on it, and the handling had no finesse and didn't allow you to try different techniques, therefore there's less to learn and ultimately that dramatically shortens it's shelf life. I think the feel of the cars, or lack of should I say, is the single biggest reason why I found TDU2 boring after a while, there's just not the same sense of achievement when you get it right. This is made even worse by the actual roads themselves. Did someone drive round the whole of Oahu and Ibiza in some kind of super-bulldozer and flatten out every single little bump, nuance and rise? The smoothness of the roads just adds to the lack of feel and therefore interest. Just how bad it was was brought home to me when I tried the new Palm Grove (or Sandle to the Metal). In TDU1 Palm Grove was an awesome challenge that could (and did) keep me interested for months. Taking an S7, CCR etc around that track was a real seat of your pants, knife edge ride, the car would bounce from one bump to another, and if you hit one wrong then it was over in an instant. It was fun learning how to use the uneveness to your advantage and what areas of the track to avoid, it took months to master tracks like Palm Grove. Fast forward to TDU2 and the very first time I took an A1 car on the track I was able to take the chicane flat out.....eh? Where's the challenge? There was no skill to the track anymore, no need to think where to place the car to avoid this, or take advantage of that, just a billiard table smooth road that asked only that you got the correct racing line and nothing more. Essentially they'd removed anything interesting. But what really gets my back up is that the whole game felt so rushed and incomplete, even though there were nearly five years between realeases. No trade feature???? I got the feeling from the start that TDU2 was meant to have a trade feature but they didn't have the time to put it in, or there were problems with it so they decided not to put it in. Either way it would explain why you can't easily sell your cars on TDU2. It would also explain why it's so hard to make money in TDU2. Making money in TDU1 was a problem if the trade feature was down, although not as difficult as TDU2. Did they really mean to make it that difficult? Or did they just decide at the last minute to ditch trade? Shame, because the trade feature was an interesting little part of TDU, it was like its own little economy and after a while cars would command certain prices, i.e. S7's were always available cheap, so no point in buying those to make money, ahhh but there's an enzo going for cheap, i'll get that because I know someone will buy it at full price. All the cars were like that and it was like a game within a game. Also, the reliability of the servers was another example of how rushed this was. I haven't been on TDU2 for quite a while but i'm gonna take a wild guess and say there's still big problems. If there's ONE thing that should've been learnt from TDU1 it was make sure the servers work. For a game that prides itself on community this is fundamental, I think it's safe to say that they didn't work. And for anyone thinking "oh well, its a new game they'll get it sorted".......Really? They said that about TDU1, they never did fix them, there were improvements but there were always problems, in fact I think it was the single biggest complaint levelled at TDU1. Game crashes were probably #2 on the list, and TDU2 didn't improve on that either. All this, plus little things I noticed liked spelling mistakes on signs etc made me feel that TDU2 was incredibly rushed and that, to a certain extent,i'd been ripped off Those are just the main reasons I was dissapointed with TDU2, i'm sure i could write pages more if I put my mind to it. But not everything about TDU2 was bad. I liked the casino idea, instead of chilling with friends parked on a beauty spot, you could go in the casino and hang around, play some cards and have a laugh (oh wait, no you couldn't cos the servers didn't work....but it had potential). The customisation of the charachters and houses was good, and added some interest. Also, the paint shop had potential, the graphics etc were an interesting addition, it's just that they didn't work very well. And of course Ibiza was something that added alot of interest. But overall, TDU2 is a game that has lots of potential but ultimately failed. I would just like to say if anyone from Atari ever reads this and you're thinking of making a TDU3 then please take notice of everyone here and make the driving interesting again. If you can do that, and that the servers work, then we'll forgive the game any of it's other faults. After all we did it with the first one.

My memory is there was quite a bit of rule changing back then, in fact, from what I understand it's always been part of F1. I remember talk in the very early 90's that Mclaren ran an F1 car round a test track completely by remote control! In fact, it was those rule changes in 1994 that banned all driver's aids that indirectly caused Senna's death. I think what has changed enormously is that back then drivers were much more open and honest. Today they're very corporate minded and very careful to say nothing that reflects badly on the team, the sponsors or F1 itself. I remember a great story from either the late 70's or early 80's. I believe Niki Lauda and just finished qualifying on a street circuit (Dallas?) and a reporter asked him what he thought of the track, Lauda's reply? "It's ****" lol. There's only 2 modern F1 drivers I can think of who were that open and honest, Montoya and Raikonnen. I'll never forget the time time when Pele was doing a special presentation to Schumacher for his (then) last ever race at Interlagos. Most of the drivers were there except Raikonnen who stayed on the grid. Brundle asked him, on live television mind you, why he wasn't there, "I was having a ****" came the sarcastic reply, I nearly fell off the chair. Classic

BTW, for anyone who may be interested, I just had a look at the TG website and it seems that the magazine has a more in depth profile about Senna and an explanation by Andy Wilman as to the reasons why they made the tribute.

I can't remember seeing such a good episode, just as I was thinking that maybe TG had had it's best days they come out with a cracker! The Toureg thing did remind me a bit too much of the Bowler thingy they did a few years ago but it was still interesting. The Bugatti gets a thumbs up for actually making me interested in a supercar. Tom Cruise didn't jump up & down on the sofa and act a t**t (for once) and i've decided that i'm now getting a divorce and marrying Cameron Diaz instead. But the whole lot was overshadowed by the Senna tribute, whoever was responsible for that segment completely understood what Senna was about. Tim, i'm glad it wasn't just me taking a trip down memory lane with that one, god I miss watching that guy race. I found it quite emotional at the end with the music quietly playing and clips of him on the limit. But what really impressed me most was Clarksons reaction. I've heard him carry on about Giles Villeneuve a few times but he genuinely seemed like he'd had an awakening making that. And at the end there was no jokey bombshell ending, they all seemed a little bit humbled. Awesome episode.

Maybe TDU just has taste:cheeky:

I mess around on Trade quite a bit and that's definitely a new one on me. Saying that, a few weird things have happened on there lately, only a few weeks ago it kept buying Saturn Sky's off me for $9m a go, the one time a glitch has worked in my favour! lol

I don't think Sim handling would really suit TDU2. TDU is a fantasy game where you can own 100's cars and accumalate millions upon millions of $, it's a fantasy world where you can drive a CCR at 250mph+ while weaving through traffic and chat with your friends, hardly realistic. People would get bored very quickly if it was Sim based and on simple cruises ended up crashing every 300yds. What they need to do, in my opinion, is find the right balance between Arcade and Sim, something which I feel TDU did quite well, though that's not to say there isn't room for improvement. However, one complaint I do have is that there wasn't enough difference in handling between different cars, alot of cars did feel very much the same. Varying the handling alot more would add alot more depth to TDU2. So far, from what i've read, they do seem to be going in the right direction for TDU2.

My question How has the multiplayer aspect of TDU been changed? For example.. *Will there still be the option of limiting the number of players? *Will there still be the option of private races? *And most importantly, will the "Kick Player" option still be available?:lol: etc etc etc.

I can see some serious parking was involved to get that mileage Tom:)

Monthly online subscription was my first thought.