I GOT GP4 and these are my first impressions

first and foremost, to get gp4 running with all the graphicical nicetys you'll need a very good video card

i had to switch off all the reflections, shadows, bump mapping, enviroment mapping to get it running smoothly.

but when you get into the game its very good, but not the leap forward i was expecting, but thats just my opinion.

you start in the pit garage, and when you select leave the pits, nothing happend which i thought was strange.

until a mechanic walks from the garage in to the pit lane and looks to see if theres any cars coming down pitlane, then a 2nd mechanic walks into front of you with the car jack and proceeds to lower the car down on the ground (all very well animated too) then you proceed down the pitlane.......

what struck me first was how narrow some of the circuits are, particularly suzuka, but i was gobsmacked when i took a quick lap of monaco, fantastic!!!!! they could'nt have made it any different from gp3 if they tried

one thing that did disapoint me was there seems to be no rumble effect yet again when traversing the saw tooth kerbs yet stray off the edge of the circuit and the wheel bangs about so why not over the kerbing?

the animated pitcrew is awesome, the way they buzz around the car is brilliant to watch,

another dissapointment is the pitradio, it would seem that its the same as in gp3 2000 again.

the car handling is somewhat different too, you can tell the physics have been changed, the car spins a lot more easier and the torque seems sharper,

the sound is better, but IMHO not as good as f12002,

the circuits are definately a massive improvement, and i have been on gp4 for about an hour now and have only scratched the surface of this new sim

i may change my mind about a few other things in time, but this was just my inital impression of it


gotta go, gp4 beckons






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

"yet stray off the edge of the circuit and the wheel bangs about so why not over the kerbing"

some kerbs shouldnt have a rumble, some are just painted concreate, some should tho

"the car spins a lot more easier"

thats me @#$%&




Racing Is Life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting
Jesus may be able to heal the sick and bring the dead back to life, but he can't do shît for low fps

hmm are we sure that the warez version includes EVERY single aspect of the final game? I have read reviews which say when yoiu ride over kerbs you do feel the rumble. But it is true that the sky messages are fu*ked when long driver names are displayed, as they don't fit in. How slack is that? A job for the guys at SDI methinks...

some of the kerbs like at imola are rounded concrete and you don't get a rumble from them anyway, but the sort at monza and the bus stop chicane have saw tooth kerbing , but no rumble


any way i have changed my mind about the engine noise its just like real life, i did'nt pick it up til switched camera views

i raced canada as trulli and chose the t-cam view, all i can say i wow!! it was just like when you see the onboard qualifying shots on itv-f1

this is virtually real life!!! incredible, it has to be seen to beleived. allied with the gps circuits its like watching tv.

i then switched to normal cockpit view but with the helmet cam enabled

WOW talk about total immersion, you almost forget your playing a game, and feel like your actually driving a f1 car, hooking your wheels on the apex of corner waiting to put the power down

this game gets better everytime i play it






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

"incredible, it has to be seen to beleived."

Well press print screen and show us!!! :D

"WOW talk about total immersion, you almost forget your playing a game"

ARGH, SHOW ME MORE!!!




Racing Is Life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting
Jesus may be able to heal the sick and bring the dead back to life, but he can't do shît for low fps

My first impressions are that I am *very* jealous...!

guess what?

i got a penalised for a jump start






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

What kind of penalty?

that crappy black flag in the corner of the screen where the fia use telemetry to cut your engines revs for10 secs






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

lol.

That's rather good, but crap at the same time!

Is it easy to jump the start? I mean, can you just start driving?

yeah, you have to rev your engine then select first whilst anticipating the final red light going out, not easy at all

especially when your having to use auto gears coz geoff chosen to use the same stupid config system for wheels






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

The good thing about F1-2002 was the launch control. Just line up on the grid, press the launch control button, accelerate, hold it there, and then just let go.

Anyway! Tell us MORE about GP4! What does the wet weather look like? How are the AI? Where are all the screenshots? :P

i can't show any screenshots coz the media upload page i used to use has shutdown


but the rain effects are really good especially the raindrops on the camera, it all helps make the game seem real.

f12002 is shite compared to gp4, and i have both.

quite how the f12002 brigade can slag off of the crammond series is beyond me






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

Excellent, excellent. That's what I like to hear about GP4!

Just need to get it, now.

Also, what system are you running it on?

Oh yeah, and just how *is* that traction control? Is it GP3-style (throttle help, in other words) or is it actually "traction control"?

windows xp

1.4 gb athlon

512 pc 133mb

32mb geforce 2 gts


and i had to make compromises to get the game looking decent and running at good FPS






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

time for me to buy a geforce 4 TI 4600 i've been promising myself






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

dunno i switched everything off bar auto gears






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

Sounds great!, cant wait for its release down here

i have athlon 1.2
geforce 4 ti4400

should look sweet

hopefully by the time i get it there will be 2002 carsets etc to download


i hate non tobacco advertising

That's great that you've got it, cheers for the insight But one thing... where did you get it from? Tick as appropriate:

1) BOUGHT IT [ ]

2) DOWNLOADED IT* [ ]

3) STOLE IT [ ]

4) FOUND IT [ ]

5) A CHIMNEY [ ]

* From where?




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