DAY 142 / GAME 142
Project Gotham Racing 4
One of the early titles for the Dreamcast was a racer by the name of Metropolis Street Racer. It's original design changed quite a bit before it's final launch and eventually became a really solid arcade style racer featuring real cars with a goal to shoot for points as a high score can win a race if you drive with style instead of just speed. Down the road it gained a few sequels for the Xbox and Xbox 360 titled Project Gotham Racer with the same basic theme. Although I had tried out the earlier titles, I didn't pick any of them up until Project Gotham Racer 4 was released.
I remember seeing screenshots from PGR4 before it's release and being fairly astounded. There were are few that looked practically photo-realistic. Part of the reason for that was due to the camera mode built into the game engine. Fairly new for a console, Project Gotham Racing 4 allowed for you to enter a photo mode when paused. You could adjust various exposure setting and colour adjustments, then snap the photo and it would do a separate render pass and post the render online. It wasn't a huge jump up from the already fantastic graphics, but it made for much more realistic captures. This was definitely a highlight of the game for me. With the exception of Wipeout HD for the PS3 I've yet to see a game match this kind of screen-cap utility.
PGR4 could be best described as a 'stylish racer' offering points for drifting corners, doing donuts and when on a bike, doing stunts all while competing in a closed circuit road race. The tracks are all set in a variety of real locations including Vegas, Quebec City, Tokyo, Nurburgring, London, New York and a few others all faithfully recreated. On top of this, PGR4 offers the most advanced weather system to date on any racing game I've ever seen. Weather can change within a single race, or have a set mode which can feature one of 10 different weather types. From rain to sun to snow and ice, changing up the track completely. The system even tied to local weather, so if setup properly, would mimic real local weather.
Project Gotham Racing 4 is also unique because it's one of the only racers that features both car and motorcycles, including races between the both of them as well as races that focus on one or the other. This is nice because there aren't many good motorcycle racers out there that aren't extremely difficult (MotoGP). Bizarre Creations really managed to give the motorcycles controls which feel unique from the cars, but also still very much arcade style controls which are not to hard to wrap your head around. In total, there are about 130 different vehicles. And like Forza and Gran Turismo, they are nice enough to range from old hatchbacks to ultra modern supercars.
PGR4 has always features a really interesting soundtrack system. Though, the first one had the best setup, PGR features a wide range of music types, each slotted into a different radio station that you can 'tune in' while driving. Everything from classical to electronic to rock. I think one version even featured an 'mp3 player' that would play music off the console.
I loved PGR4, it is a fantastic racer with some great online capabilities I never did end up using unfortunately. It looked great, was fun with solid loose controls and a TON of cars and bikes to choose from. It still holds up as an great racer from the last generation and if anyone is looking for a neat new racer to try and hasn't tried this, it's easy to get a hold of and worth every penny.
Project Gotham Racing 4
I remember seeing screenshots from PGR4 before it's release and being fairly astounded. There were are few that looked practically photo-realistic. Part of the reason for that was due to the camera mode built into the game engine. Fairly new for a console, Project Gotham Racing 4 allowed for you to enter a photo mode when paused. You could adjust various exposure setting and colour adjustments, then snap the photo and it would do a separate render pass and post the render online. It wasn't a huge jump up from the already fantastic graphics, but it made for much more realistic captures. This was definitely a highlight of the game for me. With the exception of Wipeout HD for the PS3 I've yet to see a game match this kind of screen-cap utility. PGR4 could be best described as a 'stylish racer' offering points for drifting corners, doing donuts and when on a bike, doing stunts all while competing in a closed circuit road race. The tracks are all set in a variety of real locations including Vegas, Quebec City, Tokyo, Nurburgring, London, New York and a few others all faithfully recreated. On top of this, PGR4 offers the most advanced weather system to date on any racing game I've ever seen. Weather can change within a single race, or have a set mode which can feature one of 10 different weather types. From rain to sun to snow and ice, changing up the track completely. The system even tied to local weather, so if setup properly, would mimic real local weather. Project Gotham Racing 4 is also unique because it's one of the only racers that features both car and motorcycles, including races between the both of them as well as races that focus on one or the other. This is nice because there aren't many good motorcycle racers out there that aren't extremely difficult (MotoGP). Bizarre Creations really managed to give the motorcycles controls which feel unique from the cars, but also still very much arcade style controls which are not to hard to wrap your head around. In total, there are about 130 different vehicles. And like Forza and Gran Turismo, they are nice enough to range from old hatchbacks to ultra modern supercars. PGR4 has always features a really interesting soundtrack system. Though, the first one had the best setup, PGR features a wide range of music types, each slotted into a different radio station that you can 'tune in' while driving. Everything from classical to electronic to rock. I think one version even featured an 'mp3 player' that would play music off the console.
I loved PGR4, it is a fantastic racer with some great online capabilities I never did end up using unfortunately. It looked great, was fun with solid loose controls and a TON of cars and bikes to choose from. It still holds up as an great racer from the last generation and if anyone is looking for a neat new racer to try and hasn't tried this, it's easy to get a hold of and worth every penny.
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