Darren New wrote:
> Does anyone else have trouble steering the cars in this game? So far, 
> it's not too difficult, except that I can't steer for a damn, so I can't 
> finish the car chase stuff. It feels like the analog joystick is playing 
> digital, and every tiny touch is an attempted U-turn.
> 
> Do I have something configured wrong? Or is it just me?
> 
> I don't have trouble with the analog aiming on other games.
> 

If you're used to other racing games, GTA4 won't feel the same at all. 
This is by no means a bad thing; it's a completely different game, and 
the driving serves a different purpose.

I'd say spend some time stealing cars and running from the police.  If 
you can outrun the police on 3 stars, then you won't have any problems 
beating the game.

(Or, for added fun, try to run the police barricades before the other 
islands open up - 5 instant stars :) ).

...Chambers

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Chambers wrote:
> I'd say spend some time stealing cars and running from the police.  If 
> you can outrun the police on 3 stars, then you won't have any problems 
> beating the game.

OK, so it is just a matter of practice then.

> (Or, for added fun, try to run the police barricades before the other 
> islands open up - 5 instant stars :) ).

I did that. I didn't realize the bridge was closed until I slammed into the 
barrier at speed.  I've also run into things hard enough to go thru the 
windshield, which was pretty amusing.

But it seems the only way I can catch up to people fleeing is to drive after 
them as far as I can, then start over and try to follow the same path, ad 
nauseum. The fact that the game won't save at arbitrary points is rather 
annoying too.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   I ordered stamps from Zazzle that read "Place Stamp Here".

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Darren New wrote:
> But it seems the only way I can catch up to people fleeing is to drive 
> after them as far as I can, then start over and try to follow the same 
> path, ad nauseum. The fact that the game won't save at arbitrary points 
> is rather annoying too.

Once you get to be friends with Bruce, you can participate in street 
races whenever you want - these are good practice.

Like most racing games, it all comes down to the corners.  If you learn 
to corner well, you can catch anybody - well, anybody in a race.  There 
are actually some scripted chases where it's physically impossible to 
catch the target, as they'll just accelerate at an insane pace to keep 
ahead of you.  For those chases, you just need to keep close to them 
until you reach your destination.  Unfortunately, there's no indication 
of which type of chase you're in other than watching the behavior of the 
car you're chasing.

...Chambers

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Chambers wrote:
> Once you get to be friends with Bruce, you can participate in street 
> races whenever you want - these are good practice.

I can practice just by jacking a car and driving around, really. :-)

> Like most racing games, it all comes down to the corners.

The steering seems so sensitive that it's difficult to even go straight when 
the road curves slightly. It's a little easier at speed, it seems, and it's 
helpful that neither light poles nor pedestrians present a serious difficulty.

> catch the target, as they'll just accelerate at an insane pace to keep 
> ahead of you.  

I hate that kind of stuff. :-) But if the idea is to follow them to where 
they're going, I can see the need.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   I ordered stamps from Zazzle that read "Place Stamp Here".

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I played the game through on xbox and I don't remember having much trouble 
with the driving controls. (My biggest driving problems were with taking 
sharp turns during high speed chases.) What platform are you used to, PC? 
You might just need to be slower with the joystick.

Controls aside, the game is very frustrating. The lack of save points is 
very painful, especially during some of the later missions. In fact, I don't 
think I would play another GTA game unless that specific point were 
addressed.

 - Slime
 [ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]

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> (why did they call the most recent one 4, by the way? It's at least the 
> 6th game
> to bear the name)

It makes sense to split the games into "main" games and "spinoffs." People 
who really like the series will play every game, whereas people who don't 
care as much can still play the main (numbered) ones and not feel like 
they're missing out.

 - Slime
 [ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]

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>  Driv3r has nothing to do with the first game. In the first game the
> controls are good and polished, the car responsive and the level of
> difficulty acceptable. I own the first Driver game and I have played it
> through.
>
>  Driv3r is completely unplayable. I cannot pass even the first level.

Yeh that sucks, I mean aren't they meant to give copies of the game to 
non-developers to test out before releasing it?

I wonder if it was released for consoles first, which is why the controls 
are aimed at tiny analogue sticks?

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> There are actually some scripted chases where it's physically impossible 
> to catch the target, as they'll just accelerate at an insane pace to keep 
> ahead of you.

Yeh stuff like that is annoying, like when you crash for 2 minutes or go the 
wrong way, then within a few seconds you've caught them back up again.  I 
read an interesting article about coding game AI for "fun", it's pretty 
interesting and a lot more complex than most people imagine:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22141

I remember one mission (the last one on SA maybe) where you had to chase a 
car down and kill the driver.  I boxed in his car between two buildings so 
there was no way he could move.  My plan was to get out and shoot him, but 
when I got out the camera swung round, and when I looked back his car had 
magically moved back onto the road and he was driving off - even though this 
was completely impossible IRL.

I can understand the need for traffic and pedestrians to do unrealistic 
stuff to keep the CPU requirements down, but the main characters should be 
forced to behave in a physically correct way.

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"Slime" <fak### [at] emailaddress> wrote:
> > (why did they call the most recent one 4, by the way? It's at least the
> > 6th game
> > to bear the name)
>
> It makes sense to split the games into "main" games and "spinoffs." People
> who really like the series will play every game, whereas people who don't
> care as much can still play the main (numbered) ones and not feel like
> they're missing out.

....except that Vice City and San Andreas are both much, much better than GTA3
(the first 3D version), and are clearly not intended to be mere spinoffs. (So
far, I'm also finding San Andreas at least to be better than GTA4.) If I'd
played only GTA3 and GTA4, then read about what the story and game features are
like in VC and SA, I'd definitely feel that I completely missed out!

Thinking about it, GTA4 is the 4th 3D version. Perhaps the makers are just
excluding the older 2D versions before the franchise got popular...?

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Slime wrote:
> Controls aside, the game is very frustrating. The lack of save points is 
> very painful, especially during some of the later missions. In fact, I don't 
> think I would play another GTA game unless that specific point were 
> addressed.

I don't think there was a single mission I had to attempt more than 10 
times*, and that was only the very last mission where you're flying a 
helicopter.

Unlike the car and boat chases, there are only about 2 helicopter chases 
in the whole game, so you don't get a lot of practice in them.

*And I don't like it when you die repeatedly on a level, and the game 
just says "OK, you can go on anyway," or it makes the level easier, or 
something.  Maybe I'm just oldschool, but I like the satisfaction of 
beating it myself.

...Chambers

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