This is the right place to come where you can discuss anything that has been seen currently about any released or not yet released driving and racing games, letting Reflections know exactly what to take from those games and expand further on them, perfecting the concept of driving for the next Driver game as much as possible. Start now on discussing a specific game. For instance, I'll say that we need a Driver game that has at least 1,000 miles, which may or may not be more than Test Drive Unlimited, but still is a good way for us to have a lot of places to drive at. Now, you can decide to expand further on TDU or move onto a different racing or driving game of some sort. Lets have Reflections hear exactly what needs to be included that was seen in any previous racing/driving games that are before the next Driver game.

I will make a list of all the different kinds of driving/racing games that I will be coming out in the future. You should make sure to take a note of each of them and examine them for what they will have to offer as it could really help benefit Reflections on creating the right driving experience for the next Driver game. Here they are:

1) Gran Turismo

2) Project Gotham Racing 4

3) Burnout Paradise

4) Need For Speed: ProStreet

5) Midnight Club: Los Angeles

6) The Wheelman

7) Sega Rally Revo

8) Need For Speed: Carbon'

9) Need For Speed: Most Wanted

10) Mario Kart Wii (will be able to allow a race track and some new kart racing gameplay, except not a fictional style of it)

11) Test Drive Unlimited

12) DIRT

13) Motorstorm

14) Project Gotham Racing 3

15) Project Gotham Racing 4

16) Forza Motorsport 2

These are all of the driving/racing titles that I currently know of. You should mention any others that I might have missed, if any. Other than that, you should be able to look at these driving/racing games and be able to talk about as much of them as possible, giving positive and negative comments about what they are able to do and say what definitely needs to make its way into the next Driver game.

Edit: I've removed GTAIV from the list as it shouldn't be looked upon at all. Also, I've add some more titles, which are previous 7th generation driving/racing games.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Assaultmachine1,

Here they are:

1) Gran Turismo: Bring the realistic graphics back Reflections. And I think Reflections driving can beat GT in terms of fun but realistic gameplay.

2) Project Gotham Racing 4: Bring modern motorcycles and sportcars. The vehicles don't have to be licensed if there's serious crash damage, which is more valuable than licensed rides IMO. Offer some track racing too. Take the FPS view of PGR, and bring it into Driver for the in-garage, home base and stores, so there's some sense of being there, rather than dull menus.

3) Burnout Paradise: The crashes are something Driver needs to do even better than Burnout, which is currently the king of crash. Driver used to be...

4) Need For Speed: ProStreet: Take some of the deep customization that this game will offer, and offer something equally competitive for Driver 5.

5) Midnight Club: Los Angeles: Take the intense speed and put some of it in Driver. Driver 2 and Driv3r are like playing a slow-motion game. Too dull. MC racing is rarely ever dull, and requires split second reactions. Oh yeah, bring in the great options to control Traffic, weather, customization of vehicles, controller customization, time of day (speed of day/night cycle), pedestrians on/off, cops on/off, etc.

6) The Wheelman: Haven't played it.

7) GTA IV: Ignore GTA Reflections. Carve your own path this time. Be the king of your own game. DPL was too cartoony (but still fun IMO). Okay, bring back a day/night cycle, only much slower than GTA's cartoony day/night cycle of 24 measly minutes (GTASA).

8) Sega Rally Revo: Haven't played it, but the mud deformation effects are something that would be awesome for Driver offroad, kind of like the Dukes of Hazzard.

9) TEST DRIVE UNLIMITED: Bring an 1800 mile map or something almost as large, and throw in an Interior Dash view. I've owned TDU for almost a year, and still find new roads to travel on each time I play. Going offroad is unbeatable in TDU, as it offers hundreds of miles to explore without a road in sight. Great for sportbikes. The winding roads, mountains, hills, tunnels, cliffs, bumps, freeways and amazing scenery all make TDU a hit. And offer online multiplayer for 8 or more cars.

Oh. I forgot that we don't want GTA IV as the focus of Reflections' Driver franchise, so I'll take that off the list. Also, I'd like to remind you that this is about any previous or upcoming driving/racing game, meaning that you can even discuss games like NFS: Most Wanted, NFS: Carbon, Burnout: Revenge (came out on the 360), among many others and not just any upcoming titles because there may also be certain features from the early 7th generation driving and racing games that can help the Driver experience delve deeper.

As far as you're comments have went about the list that I've presented, I truly agreed with you, InsaneDriver06, on all of it. We need all of these amazing features of the different driving and racing games implemented and improved very well upon for the next Driver game, in order to have the best driving experience ever.

Well I know for sure that R* North chickened out this time. GTA IV, looks JUST LIKE the 2006 part of D:PL. They copied Reflections this time in terms of setting and gameplay (don't say that I'm full of $#!+, they are copying Reflections). So I don't care if Reflections does the same with the next Driver game, borrowing new gameplay ideas from GTA or settings.

Wow. A setting that is set in the modern day. I don't think that Rockstar North is much of a fool for a team as I'm pretty sure that they're getting ready to push the GTA experience further; perhaps even more than DPL could ever make possible. Calling them copycats isn't necessarily what I would say. GTA III took place in the modern day setting, which it did before DPL, so I think that Rockstar North just wanted to move on further and beyond GTA III rather than look at DPL, which is not a very good example to look at anyways.

Reflections having to make the Driver franchise continue what begun with a bad game, D3 (the gun gameplay and other such features) will only make them suffer and us suffer more for trying to make a game that is just right. It's never been that way as Reflections never can offer enough for the on-foot and hardly make such efforts to push the driving further (DPL hardly pushed the driving further, only with exception of greater speeds in a driving/racing game). Reflections can kiss my *** if they continue to be making their games a rip-off and not worthy enough titles as was seen for the Driver franchise in the 6th generation (Dreamcast, Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube as the major consoles).

I've already made InsaneDriver06 aware of what on-foot was doing to the overall aspect of the Driver franchise. And I really care about the Driver franchise. I assure you, Driverman2006 that if Reflections was simply to make the on-foot only limited to a first-person view within interiors of certain buildings, the driving experience (a strength of Reflections) would be able to fit a lot of the 7th generations' driving/racing games' features along with Reflections' own to create the best possible driving experience ever imagined for a Driver game since the first one, which is enough to keep the replay value high and make the game not get boring fast, even after weeks or months of playing it.

GTA 3 was set in 2001 in Liberty City (New York). That's a different era. I'd classify that as the late 90s/early 2000s. D:PL and GTA IV are set in the mid/late 2000s (2006 and 2007) in New York. So Reflections NEVER had the same setting from a GTA game, but R* is/will.


Anyway, back on topic. Make it so that the driving part of the game is just as addicting as it is in D:PL (full of missions, side missions, money, realistic physics, smart chase AI, no front-end menu, awesome and real music, customization, and more). Then, that would be great!

No, it isn't a different era. The modern era began since the late 1800s or early 1900s and the era that we still live in, is the modern era. From 2001 to 2099, this is the 21st century, so setting a game in 2006, which is only 5 years later, is not a big different at all.

This topic is to talk about the 7th generation driving/racing games' features that Reflections should consider using for the next Driver game, so don't try to be about spamming in this topic. Right now, you're talking about DPL, which isn't a 7th generation game. Therefore, it has no relevance of having to do with this topic. Therefore, please turn your attention to any driving/racing games that you want Reflections to take a really good look at, being of the 7th generation, meaning that these games are on platforms that include the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, or even the PSP. Also, making the next game like DPL, which D76 already tried doing and failed miserably at, wouldn't be the best option that I see possible for a Driver game.

Sorry man, I didn't mean to spam your thread. I was just saying why GTA IV is lacking originality and it ironically looks more like Driver, because you were talking about the focuses of both GTA and Driver, so I thought I would cheer Driver on by giving you a positive response with proof.


So, what do you think of my last idea Assaultmachine1 (the one about how addicting D:PL's driving is)?

It's alright if you were mistaken to have yourself post about a game that is not in the 6th generation, but try your best to look at any previous or upcoming driving/racing games for the 7th generation. The list of the games is located in this topic, of the very first post.

As for DPL sounding addicting, I wouldn't very much say that I felt for such a way when I played through the game, but I didn't finish it completely, so that may be the reason. As for the gameplay of DPL's making it into the next Driver game, I don't find it as the best alternative. Of course, it had a lot of features, but side missions are what we don't need as my multiple career concept can allow for all kinds of different driving experiences including certain ones like racing. There could be certain side missions, but I would only consider those to be such missions that are the least important and make no sense to exist in a real world city game, much like the vehicular combat concept I thought should be a feature for the next Driver game. It would be that you can customize your vehicle with equipped weapons and destroy your opponents' vehicles, which isn't a realistic thing, but it could, to some extent, make the driving experience more fun, as vehicular combat tends to use vehicles, which require driving, and along with that, keeps you inside the vehicle, not of any need to leave as you have the weapons equipped on it for you to use against your opponents. Do you now see? Glued to the seat of a vehicle (land vehicle) isn't exactly the worst experience ever, especially if your vehicle can have weapons attached to it, much like the vehicular combat genre? Everything else about what you said of DPL is what I can agree upon.

As for the 7th generations' games, I really hope that Reflections can make the handling, damage, and other driving aspects both as realistic and unique as possible for the vehicles while making the experience differ largely from the GTA franchise.

One thing to notice about TDU, MCLA, NFSPS, etc, is these games are games without "stealing other cars" like in GTA, but they're still fun to play, since you have access to plenty of vehicles inside your garage, which you can access at any time.

To me, that's better than stealing a piece of junk and leaving your good car behind, like in DPL, GTA.
Still, I'm looking forward to seeing if GTA4 will really revolutionize the open city on foot genre.

Burnout's crashes are a bit too lightweight, as the cars seem to float in the air without much weight. I'd like to see heavier car crashes in Driver 5, but I think that comes with the territory, as Reflections knows their stuff when it comes to vehicle physics.

I don't mind a bit of exaggeration though, more of a movie crash rather than a realistic crash would be the right move for Driver 5's success.

I'd really enjoy the option to enter my home and explore the interior and garage, checking out the TV playing replays of chases (The Darkness has TV's that actually play full episodes of cartoons, I think Popeye was rumored as one). I'd also look at the rides in the garage, gazing at all the cool vehicles and designs.

You have made a good point in the first paragraph of your latest post, InsaneDriver06. Driving games haven't always needed to offer on-foot because there are certain ones that deliver enough to make the driving as the only needed portion of the whole game.

I just noticed that Burnout: Paradise will be stepping into having an open-ended experience, likely the one that I would hope to classify Driver in, which is Open-world Driving. Wow. Now that Burnout is going to have more freedom for players than any racing game before it, I would love Driver to take it on for having the best city and realism for a driving game. Also, I hope Driver to deliver many aspects from these different racing and driving games, which is exactly what this whole topic is about. TDU really pushed this genre far for its huge amount of players available for multiplayer and the amounts of miles that it stretches for. These are probably the games that Driver can relate to the most, but if Driver can allow for even more features, it is likely that it'll be able to relate to them all and even beat them all at their own game, if Reflections puts a lot of time & effort into all of this.

Having a T.V. for you to watch your replays sounds like a cool idea, but that is, only for replays, and nothing that doesn't relate to driving. And yes, I've known that The Darkness is able to allow you to take a break from the whole experience by watching T.V. in certain homes found throughout the game's levels. Also, for a better look at those who helped create The Darkness, would you like to get to know this game developer? The game developer who was responsible for The Darkness, is Starbreeze, having worked earlier on The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, one of the biggest FPS games that both the PC and Xbox had to offer, and was one of the most successful concepts for a hollwood licensed game, so while this was based on a license of a movie, it was a really good game (scored about as much as 90.7% (PC version) and 88.3% (Xbox version) on Game Rankings of all the articles that have reviewed the game, which is very impressive by most standards. It even was the best looking game that I would say for the 6th generation. It tends to blow all of the 6th generations' titles graphics away, even Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Resident Evil remake, Resident Evil 0, Metroid Prime, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, and Doom 3's whose graphics were one of the most impressive. Now, there is a game coming out, an enhanced version of this Chronicles of Riddick game called "The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena. There hasn't been much information about it lately, but it will have next-gen graphics, the storyline of Butcher Bay, a new storyline of Assault on Dark Athena, and even multiplayer (the original didn't have it) while also coming out for the PS3 & Xbox 360, sometime either this year or next year. And I can assure you that it'll be one of the best games to find for the 7th generation from what I've seen from Starbreeze's original Riddick game.

Going back to the topic, I believe that whence the next Driver game comes out, it can possibly be a lot better than most of these titles by focusing little for the on-foot feature and doing its best to offer new and very improved features of many of the 7th generations' driving/racing games that come before it. If Gears of War can take the many important features (i.e. over the shoulder view, etc.) and make them perform even greater, I think that Reflections can do that with the driving, which is, of course, a strength of theirs, so they'll most likely know what to do with it to get to where all these other racing and driving games have come to.

Yes, the TV for replays of the driving only would be a cool interior FP view feature. I heard good things about the Riddick game. I'd play it if they offered a 3rd person view too, since it's an on foot game.

Dirt is a cool game, with some nice crashes. The interior views are great too. The dust kicked up by the vehicles is a nice feature Driver could use for offroad.

Forza 2 is pretty much GT5 on the 360. These games offer "simulation gameplay" that appeals to a wide audience, but there hasn't been much in the way of true innovation for the driving genre since the first game of each series. Just more cars, tracks, options and better graphics mostly, though I haven't played the latest versions yet... GT5 made the right decision to include motorcycles and an interior view. I would buy it if I owned a PS3.

Motorstorm's an action packed game all the way through thanks to all the terrain variety of bumps, hills, canyons, ramps and more. I'd like the offroad land in Driver to be similar.

I'd highly recommend that you get The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena, the game, once it comes out, whenever that may be. You shall be very impressed with such a game. And just because it's only in first-person view, this doesn't mean that it's bad. Infact, it makes you feel, throughout most of the game (excluding the cutscenes), as if you're the character himself. If you try looking down at the ground, you'll be able to see your feet and your shadow, so it's very realistic. And the Artificial intelligence is perhaps one of the best that I've ever seen in any FPS game. It may not be as intelligent as that in F.E.A.R., but it still is a challenge enough that it doesn't make the game feel like the enemies are worthless. In the PC version, you're able to pilot a Riot Guard, as an exclusive vehicle, which is this huge body armored robot that you get inside and can fire machine guns from its arms. This is what you face throughout both the Xbox and PC versions, but only the PC is able to allow for you to experience it further. And in both the Xbox and PC version, you're able to pilot an even bigger robot, something more like a mech, that has missiles and machine guns that do massive damage. This is one of the most incredible experiences ever in a single FPS game.

As for FZ2, yes, it is inferior to GT5 because the GT series started the driving simulator first and FZ only brought it further, but the GT games were still the best of this sub-genre, which is a part of the racing genre. GT5 looks like it will truly be a worthy PS3 exclusive and one reason to buy the PS3 while the other reasons go for MGS4, Killzone 2, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and the list goes on. Although I do know that the PS3 is the smallest of the 7th generation, it's a great console too.

Speaking of Motorstorm, it was confirmed that there will be a sequel for it, so it sounds very exciting.

I'll rent the new Riddick possibly, then buy if it's fun, but I'm not a huge FPS fan unless it includes a 3rd person view like Gears of War. I really want to see my character interact in the game.

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GT's innovations since it began... Hmmm. More cars, better graphics, same courses, a few new courses, same controls with the lack of full steering wheel locked turning for things possible in Driver. Other than "simulated" driving, I've sold off every GT I've owned once I beat it. I just don't like the controls much. I drove a Honda, and the same one in the game didn't ride the same as the real one. I don't know, I'm not convinced GT's a "REAL simulation" driving game. And where's the true innovation after all these years? They've been resting on the same formula each time, just add a few hundred cars and new courses. The controls and most of the features seem the same. The game controls always felt stiff. A real car can weave rapidly, seems to have more agility than even the modified ones in the game. Just my opinion after playing through GT1, 2, 3. Skipped 4, waiting to see if 5 is worth it, but I'd buy it for the sportbikes.

I'll have to see what GT5 offers besides new cars, options, interior dash and motorcycles (though bikes are a BIG improvement to the series).

I disagree. Each GT game had something new to offer. GT brought realistic tracks along with the right kinds of cars to race in such tracks. GT2 brought rallies for the first time. GT3 had much improved graphics and other things. GT4 had a photo mode and I think that it even was the first GT game to include online play. Next, with GT5, it will bring motorbikes for the first time in a GT game and offer a realistic damage system for the vehicles, something I believe that PGR4 nor FZ2, could ever be good at doing. Therefore, each title had something new to offer. And if someone is to just play through a game and not finish or even experience enough of it, how can you expect to enjoy it at all? Sure, it could be said that you played GT and had a rough time, but a faqs could've made it less frustrating and eventually, like those major GT fans, you could've mastered the game.

When I first played MGS3, I thought that it wasn't going to be such a complicated game, but I was wrong. Currently, I'm working on the hardest difficulty called "European Extreme mode," which makes it so hard with the low health, the bosses are much stronger (this and the low health is the same as in the earlier difficulty that I've just finished, being Extreme mode), and if you get spotted by an enemy, you automatically get a "Game Over." Two reasons to play a game is to master it and another is to get a challenge. If it's not a challenge, why should you be very worthy of playing such a game?

As for Riddick the game, I highly doubt that it will offer an optional 3rd person because its focus is the largest concentrated on the FP view and for shooting, of course.

Take Tourist Trophy for example. If you're traveling 2 mph or less and turn the bike, the bike will actually fall over, when any decent rider would put his foot down. From my experience, Polyphony Digital doesn't believe in offering full-lock turning, where you can turn the front wheels fully left or right, and turn 180 or 360. Next time you're on a track in TT or GT, try turning the vehicle around quickly like Driver allows and then ask, "How can this be a true simulation if a real car can do it but the game doesn't allow it?"

I'm still not sure why some motor vehicle training facilities actually test their drivers by using Gran Turismo.

It's a well made game, but at slow speeds, they forgot the tiny details that take the game to the next level. And they keep repeating the same formula. Photo mode has little to do with driving innovation, nor does better graphics. But I'm just being picky about GT, it's still a good series, just not my favorite.

Yes. It can be said that the GT franchise isn't much of a realistic driving simulator, but it still had each game offer something new. Hopefully, GT5 will bring back those dissapointed with the franchise and be able to offer the right amount of simulation. I think that with the PS3's power, it'll be possible.

Edit:
Since GTHD Concept and GT5: Prologue are the only parts of GT5 and there being no details looking directly at GT5 (the actual game), I'll show what these two demos both have to offer.

GT: HD Concept offers

- one track: Eiger Nordwand, which is a mountain in the Swiss Alps.

- Time Trial mode

- Drift Trial mode

- 10 cars including, the Suzuki Cappuccino '95, Ferrari 599 GTB '06, Toyota Celica Rally Car '95, Nissan SKYLINE GT-R Vspec II '94, Lotus Elise 111R '04, Mitsubishi Lancer Eve' IX GSR '05, Infiniti G35 Coupe '06, Mitsubishi Lancer Eve' IV GSR '96, Honda INTEGRA TYPE R '04, and the Mazda Eunos Roadster '89.

As for the features in GT5: Prologue, here's a link to a Game Spot article that gives off all of the details of the game, so far:
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/driving/granturismo5prologu...179268&mode=previews

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/driving/granturismo5prologu...mode=previews&page=2

These are two pages of the article that focus on GT5 Prologue. Once you've read it, I hope that you'll bring up what you've been able to read (for I am to lazy to go ahead and read the article). Until then, I guess, there won't be much else to say, except discuss GT:HD.

If they allow a foot down at slow speeds on the bikes in GT5, they'll have a great game, as the rest of TT was solid, just needs some basic motorycle tricks like endos, better wheelies and circle burnouts, compared to what was in TT.

Still, GT5's inclusion of in-dash was a great decision, along with sportbikes!

I've edited the post that I've done before that of your lasted post, so you may want to read it. I'm hoping that you will. And second, can you explain to me what "TT" stands for because I'm clueless, or is it that you made a mistake in your post?

From the parts I read, Prologue will only be available overseas, not in the US. It's only an abbreviated version of GT5. I'd read more of it, but since I don't own a PS3... Not enough time at the moment.

TT = Tourist Trophy motorcycle racing sim which I still own, but the loading takes forever on the PS2. I think I still own GT2 as well.