Test Drive Ferrari Racing Legends (Merged topic)

[GRD 4 3L]

Looks like its going to take a lot of work to unlock the 312 F1.  Only 5 cars are available in the beginning and the cars have to be unlocked by going through the campaign . . .

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[GRD 4 3L]

I now have had this title for just over 24 hours and had about 5~6 hours of play time on it.  Those who are into racing may be interested in TDFRL so I'm going to give a quick summary of my experiences with it.

I am going to focus very tightly on my goal of driving my favourite racing car of all time, '67 Ferrari 312 (code for 3L + 12 cylinder).

TDFRL drives just like SHIFT & SHIFT 2.  The cars slide, bounce, and do odd things that you did not want the car to do; very difficult to keep on the road.  Once you have gotten used to Slightly Mad Studio's way of configuring their cars & control mapping, the cars start to feel very good.  I don't think it is the poor physics per se, but rather the strange and rather strange way of mapping the steering inputs + what they call "Steering Sensitivity" and "Speed Sensitivity".  T10 has gotten this just about perfect; the car control seem almost 2nd nature and the cars turn as we expect them to no matter what speed the car is at.  In TDFRL/SHIFT+, just keeping the car going in a straight line is a task.

The things you can do in the beginning is not much.  You only have 5 cars and a handful of tracks unlocked to begin with.  Why would SMS intentionally do this I have no idea.  To unlock the cars, you have to complete the "Ferrari Driver" story which is called "Campaign".  You are hired as a Ferrari test driver and move up in ranks as you demonstrate your racing arts.  Not the most novel concept but quite engaging nevertheless.  Problem.  It is many many races away to my beloved 312.

You see, I just want to "try out" my 312 but in order to do so, I have to trudge through races after races of cars that I am not really interested in to get there.  Even then, it is not even revealed when it would be.  Some of the races so far, mind you, have been good but most of them seem more like chores rather than "OMG, I'm racing a Ferrari!"

In fact, the first hour was spent doing nothing but trying out different combinations of steering and speed sensitivity settings that would make the drive "less painful".  I think I am close, but far from Forza perfect.  In no racing game, should I have to do this.  Forza, as a matter of a fact, does this perfect right out of the box.  I played SHIFT2 using wheel and it IS better with a wheel but still requires sensitivity tinkering.

Now the good stuff.  The 3D models are great; not FM4 fabulous but great.  The cockpit views are particularly novel for those old open top racing cars.  The tracks themselves are quite uninspiring but I expect them to be.  A little too dark where there are shadows.  Difficult to see the apex at 100mph . . .

Sounds = phenomenal.  I can hear the engine, the transmission, tires, etc.  The engine, especially is glorious.  It is loud, powerful, and unapologetic.  Surprisingly, as the machines become more modern, the engine sound became smoother.

That's what I have so far.  TDFRL is a very niche product; it is NOT for everyone and I do not recommend it unless you are willing to put up with the pain of getting used to its controls and visuals.  Once you do, the drive is very rewarding.

Well, I've got to get back to grinding to unlock my 312 F1.  I think I am another 10 or so races away. 

If you have any specific questions, ask away!

[GRD 4 3L]

Just got the 312 F1.  It has surprising amount of details on it.  For example, ignition wires for each of the 12 cylinders are modeled.

The engine does not sound raw as I remember from GPL but quite gentlemanly.  The handling is also rather smooth.  I can drive this car all day long.

Unfortunately, the tracks are also locked.  Nordschleiffe is yet unavailable to me . . . frustrating . . .

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[GRD 4 3L]

You can slide/drift so much in TDFRL that it would make Tanner Foust cry.  Too bad you don't have the precise controls to really make legendary 4 wheel drifts.

I'm probably in the last 1/3 of the "Golden Age" = 1948?~1974, at about 1967.  The difficulty has certainly stepped up in the HARD/PRO setting.  I am no longer able to beat the fastest lap times given out as bonus tasks.  To be able to beat these times, it requires some serious 4 wheel drifts in the 312.

There's a lot of inconsistencies in the tasks.  eg. the target qualifying time was 1:59 with best lap time of 1:57.  I barely made the qualifying, yet I'm starting in 6th.  I can make my way up to 1st place by about 3rd corner and leave them in dust for the 3 lap race . . .?!?  It must be pre-scripted.  As I said, it is kind of engaging but at the same time these pre-scripted tasks that does not jibe with the actual racing performance brings the player quickly out of immersion.

I'm still playing around with the sensitivities because I'm just not happy with current set-up.  It also does not help that you cannot tune the cars in any way!

[GRD 4 3L]

As it is, I can only give it a 6/10.  With decent controls, it could be 7/10.

I think I gave 9 for Forza.

[aquiel2k]

Hmm, after reading your review and some google search, I think this will be a budget game for me later this year. The main thing why I'm interested in this game are the old tracks included, like Hockenheim, Silverstone and Spa.
With Forza Horizon coming I think there won't be any track DLC for Forza 4 soon or at all.
The car DLCs every month are nice but 625 cars are really some and a new track would be very nice, too.

[GRD 4 3L]

Hmm, after reading your review and some google search, I think this will be a budget game for me later this year. The main thing why I'm interested in this game are the old tracks included, like Hockenheim, Silverstone and Spa.
With Forza Horizon coming I think there won't be any track DLC for Forza 4 soon or at all.
The car DLCs every month are nice but 625 cars are really some and a new track would be very nice, too.

It would be an excellent budget game.

Old Hockenheim is phenomenal; it is mini LeMans.

Old Silverstone is not very interesting; it is a string of straights linked by 90 degree turns . . .

Old Spa is not THE old Spa.  It is the bus chicane old Spa.  What I really wanted was the '60s Spa with Masta Chicane.  It is not.

Old Monza is another great oldy with 2 awesome corners; Curva Grande and Ascari (I think).

Rouen is . . . absolutely terrifying; fast, dangerous corners that rewards drivers with balls of granite (I was going to say titanium but it is light and marble sounds too statuesque).

And lastly but not the least, you have not driven virtual Nordschlieffe until you have driven Nordschleiffe in SHIFT or in TDFRL; it is that good.  Compared to the RL videos on YouTube, this is the closest representation you'll get on 360.

[GRD 4 3L]

Found out what was causing the wonky handling/control.  Dang steering dead zone.  Once the dead zone has been set to "0", it becomes very smooth.  Speed sensitivity set to 100.  This seems to solve the poor control problem.  The effect of change?

Silverstone (2009) Lap Times

Before the fix:  2:04
After the fix:     1:57

[GRD 4 3L]

There's a lot of cars in here that you will NOT find in any other console simulations just because they are obscure cars.

My favourite so far, of course, is '67 312 F1.  Some of the really early models such as 125S or 166 Inter are quite novel to drive/race.  They have pretty nasty/mean engine sounds.  I have only progressed up to 1967 so no experiences in more modern machines.  I am looking forward to '74 312B3 and later F1s.  In no game will you find such group of cars.

There are many cars that deplicate FM4 efforts:  250 TR, California, GTO, 330 P4, Dino, etc.

A fictitious track called Misty Loch is a real nasty.  It is a combination of Spa, Bathurst, Monaco, and Laguna Seca if you can believe it.  A 10 lapper in '67 312 F1 almost gave me carpal tunnel syndrom and not too far from getting one if I'm forced to continue to race there.  In my first near-successful race there I have finished 9 laps (with the car limping with damage) and on my way to victory with 2nd place car about 5 seconds behind.  I'm about 85% of the way and I end up crashing into a stone wall spinning the car out with the car coming to a stop at 90 degrees to the traffic .  Needless to say, by the time I reversed and got back to moving I was in 6th place . . .  And my wrist was killing me.  The race had to be redone - TO PROCEED TO THE NEXT RACE!

Yes, I am convinced there is damage in this game.  Some are visual.  If you have a particularly high speed collision, the damage can be seen and parts do come loose.  Small or minor collisions, however, do not show up but you can feel it.  If the car is continuously abused, the handling suffers progressively to the point where it becomes very difficult to control.  Not sure if the same happens in Easy/Normal mode; I'm only playing in Pro and let me tell you, it gets pretty tough!

[GRD 4 3L]

Whenever I check for any online play, there are "0" people online . . .

[GRD 4 3L]

To unlock full Nordschleife track, I'm forced to play 10 laps at Hockenheim and 10 laps at Imola.

In Hard game difficulty and Pro handling mode, I could not clear it.  The car loses so much rear grip (front is alright) that the car seems to have a dolly for rear wheels, LOL.

So I changed the handling mode to Normal.  Surprisingly/not-surprisingly, the degradation of rear traction is almost all gone and you can throw the car around every corner . . .  So both gruelling races are over but that's as far as I've got.

I'm still tinkering around with the sensitivity settings because I'm still not 100% comfortable with the controls; I'm beginning to wonder if it is possible in this game.

[GRD 4 3L]

To unlock full Nordschleife track, I'm forced to play 10 laps at Hockenheim and 10 laps at Imola.

I said this incorrectly.  It should read as following:

"To unlock full nordschleife track, I'm forced to get past 10 laps at Hockenheim and 10 laps at Imola in F333 SP which is part of the PROTOTYPE mission."

This Mission is #2.  Nordschleife unlock is in later Mission (about 6 or 7 I think).

The career tree structure is built by Era-Mission-Tasks.  There are 3 Eras:  Gold, Silver, and Modern.  In each Era, there are Missions.  In each Mission, there are many Tasks which consist of time attack, beating 1 opponent and beating many opponents.

Each Era is independent of each other, i.e. you can start any of them at any time.  Each Mission-Tasks, however, is completely linear, i.e. you cannot progress to the next task until the conditions for the current task has been fulfilled.

Therefore, to get 312 F1, I had to play all Gold era missions preceeding the 312 F1 unlock task.  To unlock Nordschleife track, I have to play all Modern era missions preceeding the track unlock task.  It would be alright as long as the drive is good.  So far the drive has covered entire spectrum between holy &hit moments and pulling my hair out.

ANYWAYS, I was tinkering around with the sensitivity settings again (because I was just not happy with it) but I think I have found a combination that IS driveable and actually ENJOYABLE!  Tried driving few cars with the new setting and it is almost game transforming!  To the point where I am going back to the cleared tasks and running them again.  Only took a week of tinkering and a whole lot of "WTFs" to get to this point . . .

Remember the early post about the run at Silverstone at 2:04 which was improved to 1:57?  Well, now it is down to 1:52 with the new settings!

[RichSPK]

Thanks so much for the ongoing reports!  If I pick up this game, I'm going to ask you about your controller settings.  By the way, what are you using for a controller?

[GRD 4 3L]

Thanks so much for the ongoing reports!  If I pick up this game, I'm going to ask you about your controller settings.  By the way, what are you using for a controller?

I'm writing because it is a way for me to vent my frustrations but if you find it useful that's great!

I'm using regular 360 controller.  I have used wheel on SHIFT2 before which has same characteristics and it is little better in terms of feel and much better in terms of precision but the smoothness of GT5 or FM4 cannot be found.

Current settings that I am using are:

Steering Deadzone = 0 (this is absolutely critical to smooth controls)
Steering Sensitivity = 100
Speed Sensitivity = 70

I am still not 100% happy with it . . .

[GRD 4 3L]

It seems that all cars with no downforce drives relatively well.  The cars with downforce drives are very sensitive to steering inputs.  This is expected, of course, but the steering feels very exaggerated.