PGR4

[Daft]

 

I'm a big fan of the PGR series, I even bought MSR on the Dreamcast. The addition of bikes can only be a good thing in my opinion, especially as you don't ever actually need to use one to complete the single player. Gotham TV has been replaced with the upgraded "PGR On Demand":

 

Bizarre Creations' PGR On Demand service - a database with the potential to store every race ever played out in PGR4.

 

That's "every race in the game ever" in the words of Bizarre's Craig Howard, demoing to Eurogamer at E3 last week. "You can be in a world cup tournament - it gives you a nationality, so you can go and prove that you're the best American racer or whatever. And you can watch the whole world cup. If you get knocked out, you can watch the people who beat you, and watch all their races too. It's just all there. We're trying to create a base for all racing enthusiasts."

 

You can watch every race that's ever taken place in the game? "Yep." Right. "It's not our server," says biz director Brian Woodhouse, with a grin.

 

"When you get to the end of a race," Howard explains, "you can choose not to upload it, if you really want to." Right, so it's opt-out. But who would? Especially if the file-sizes are kept to a minimum, which - given the volumes they're talking about - you'd have to say they will be. "You're not uploading an actual AVI," Howard confirms.

 

"Plus you can use keywords like 'crash' or 'slide' or 'Macau', if you want to," he says, "so when people do a search they can find you. You can rate them too - 'that's a wicked crash' etc."

 

The released date has just been confirmed as well. Its out in America on October the 2nd but out here on October 14th...4 days before my birthday!!

 

 

Also Geometry Wars: Waves will appear exclusively in PGR4 and it won't be released on XLA!

 

Weather Conditions

 

There are 10 different types of weather:

 

Clear: A normal, sunny day. Your cornering will be sharp, assuming you have the skills.

 

Overcast: There will be lots of cloud cover, but no change to your vehicle dynamics.

 

Light Rain: A little drizzle, but nothing to change your driving style too much. The track surface will be slightly slippery, and you'll find that too much gas will lead to your backend sliding around more than usual.

 

Heavy Rain: Lots and lots of the wet stuff. Your visibility will be reduced, and you'll be peering between frantic windscreen wipers when using in-car view. Deep puddles form around the track, and should be avoided at all costs.

 

Wet: The aftermath of a heavy rainfall. Clouds are still brooding in the sky. The track is wet, but the puddles are dissipating and everything is slowly drying up.

 

Storm: Danger time. Rain, clouds, thunder, lightning. The sky is black, and your chase camera will be obscured by heavy rainfall. Keeping your car on the track will be difficult… but racking up the sliding Kudos won't be!

 

Light fog: A slight haze rests over the city, giving a slight reduction in visibility. It does not affect vehicle dynamics, but stay on your toes and don't let any corners creep up on you.

 

Heavy fog: A huge cloud descends over the track. Visibility is severely reduced, and finding your way is difficult. On some tracks you can drive uphill and rise above the fog, so use this opportunity to scout out the route below.

 

Icy: A really, really cold day. Puddles are starting to freeze over, so watch out for them. You'd be silly to go out without wearing a bobble hat.

 

Snow: The track is icy and slippery, snow is falling from the sky, and all the puddles have completely frozen over. You'll need to drive slower and avoid the icy patches; even if it means straying from the racing line.

 

Confirmed Cities:

 

Macau, China - New Roads to Victory - Macau

Las Vegas, USA

London, England

St Petersburg, Russia - New Roads to Victory - St. Petersburg

Tokyo, Japan

New York City, USA

Shanghai, China - New Roads to Victory - Shanghai

Quebec, Canada - New Roads to Victory - Quebec

Nurburgring, Germany

Michelin Test Track - New Roads to Victory - Michelin Test Track

 

Confirmed cars and bikes:

 

Audi

'07 R8

 

Ariel

'06 Atom 300 Supercharged

 

Aston Martin

'05 V8 Vantage

 

BMW

'78 M1

'04 M5

'05 K 1200 R

'06 F 800 S

 

Buell

'88 RR 1200 Battlewin

 

Caparo

'07 T1

 

Caterham

'06 Superlight R400

'00 R500

 

Chevrolet

'65 Corvette Stingray

'69 Camaro Z28

 

De Lorean

'81 DMC-12

 

Dodge

'98 Viper GT2 Championship Edition

 

Ducati

'06 Sports Classic Paul Smart Edition 1000 LE

 

Ferrari

'63 250 GTO

'04 F430

'06 599 GTB Foriano

'03 Enzo

 

Fiat

 

Ford

'85 Sierra Cosworth RS500 Cosworth

'?? Mustang

'05 GT

 

Gumpert

'05 Apollo

 

Honda

'60 RC161

'06 CBR 600RR

'92 NR750

 

Jaguar

'55 D-Type

'?? S-Type

 

Kawasaki

'06 Ninja ZX-14R <- ??

'07 Ninja ZX-14

 

Lamborghini

'78 Countache LP400

'04 Gallardo

'05 Murcielago

 

Lotus

'75 Esprit Type 79

'08 Exige GT3RR

 

Maserati

'57 250F

'04 MC12

 

McLaren

'?? F1

 

Mercedes

'06 SLR

'05 SLR McLaren

 

Mini (Austin)

'61 Cooper S

 

MTT

'00 Y2K Turbine Superbike

'06 Turbine Superbike

 

MV Agusta

'06 F4 Brutale 910R

'06 F4 1000 Senna

'06 Agusta F4 Senna

 

Norton

'62 500 Manx

 

Pagani

'05 Zonda F

 

Panoz

'97 GTR-1

 

Peugeot

'07 Flux Concept

 

Plymouth

'?? Barracuda

 

Radical

'06 SR9 LMP2

 

RUF

'05 RGT

 

Shelby

'67 GT500E

 

Spyker

 

Subaru

'98 Impreza 22B STi

 

Tesla

'08 Roadster

 

Toyota

'67 2000GT

'98 GT-one

'93 Supra Turbo

 

Triumph

'05 Speed Triple

'05 Trident

 

TVR

'04 Sagaris

 

Vanwall

'05 GPR V12

 

Source

 

Interviews and general news:

 

PGR Official Site

 

PGR4 @ CVG

 

PGR4 @ eurogamer

 

 

 

 

 

Everybody! Start your engines!!!

[Owen]

Looks Coolio!

[Guest Jordan]

Looks amazing.

My most wanted racer this year.

[Daft]

Major Nelson just confirmed some more vechiles so I updated the list of cars and bikes:

 

Cars

 

* Ariel Atom 300 Supercharged 2004

* Aston Martin V8 Vantage 2005

* Austin Mini Cooper S 1964

* Chevrolet Camaro Z28 1969

* Ferrari F430 2004

* Caparo T1 2007

* Caterham R500 2000

* Lamborghini Gallardo 2004

* Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 2005

* Tesla Roadster 2008

 

Motorcycles

 

* BMW F 800 S 2006

* Honda NR750 1992

* Honda CBR600RR 2005

* Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 2007

* MTT Turbine Superbike 2006

* MV Agusta F4 Senna 2006

* Norton 500 Manx 1962

* Triumph Speed Triple 2005

* Triumph Trident 2005

 

Also some new high res screenshots here! I posted some of them in the first post...

[Colin]

Will be buying...........but I think I may be over doing it racing games wise, with buying Burnout Paradise (if it's this year), Sega Rally and also this.

 

What's attracted me to possibly buying this is the graphics and how accurate the cities are............and I've heard that photo mode gives you the opportunity to move a camera around yourself and look at everything in detail. Hope that is actually true.

 

I'll be dissapointed though if bikes play an equal role to the cars, as really I don't give a damn about them. Also reading the list of cars makes me want more actual road cars like MSR had back in the day.

[mario_jr]

definite buy for me. I just hope they have some Suzuki bikes in it, Hyabusa '99:smile:

[Mikey]

No buy from me. I just got PGR3 a few weeks ago, and although I enjoyed it, it made me realize how much I prefer a simulation.

[That Guy]

Love PGR3 and will definitely be buying this. Not too keen on the new bikes hopefully they don't play too big of a part. Looks really nice though.

[Guest Jordan]

Afaik, you don't have to touch the bikes. If its like PGR3, the AI will only use cars from your class and bikes will probably have their own set.

[Daft]

Will be buying...........but I think I may be over doing it racing games wise, with buying Burnout Paradise (if it's this year), Sega Rally and also this.

 

What's attracted me to possibly buying this is the graphics and how accurate the cities are............and I've heard that photo mode gives you the opportunity to move a camera around yourself and look at everything in detail. Hope that is actually true.

 

I'll be dissapointed though if bikes play an equal role to the cars, as really I don't give a damn about them. Also reading the list of cars makes me want more actual road cars like MSR had back in the day.

 

You can do the same with the photo mode in PGR3. It basically goes into first person mode. I'm not sure if it will be improved upon in PGR4, I'm not sure what they would add.

 

Also as The KoF said you never have to use a bike in PGR4. Its kind of like a full optional integrated extra and I'll sure as hell be using it. Apparently the first person view on the bike is awesome...especially when you crash!

 

I've only heard good things about the bikes so I can't wait.

[Charlie]

It looks quality. PGR2 was the first game I had on the Xbox and I loved it. Never got round to buying the 3rd. Definitely getting this one though.

[Daft]

New PGR4 update!!!

 

This first image is of a Radical SR9 LMP2, lined up on the Nurburgring in the rain.

 

 

Arcade Mode: This is your more traditional PGR game mode, much like you're used to with PGR2 and PGR3. Medal pursuit is the order of the day, as you take on stages over various different disciplines in order to collect all the platinums. PGR Veterans will want to start here to quickly get up to speed and earn some medals.

 

 

Gotham Career: A brand new game mode for PGR4, unlike anything we've done before. This is really the "meat and potatoes" of PGR4, and the area in which we're hoping people will spend the most time. The idea is that you're a real-life PGR racing hero, with a name, nationality, and rank. You start your career at number 72 in the world... or in lay-mans terms: dead last. The objective is to play through the season, tackling championships and invitationals until you finally reach Rank 1. This will take several seasons to achieve, and as you gain skills and popularity you'll find more events open up to you.

 

 

Time Attack: racing against a timer is back, and better than we've ever been able to do before. This time around you'll be able to set up to three ghost slots (or disable ghosts altogether if they're not your thing). You can pull ghosts from your Xbox 360, the Live leaderboards, or from PGR On Demand (the best in the world, or your friends).

 

Multiplayer Custom Match: we spoke briefly about multiplayer, but didn't do any direct demos due to only having one kit on hand. However, we did confirm that Cat and Mouse is returning (updated and now featuring bikes), and also we've introduced a brand new game mode: Bulldog. The idea is that one player starts off as the Bulldog in a free roam city (no barriers), and must "tag" the other players to turn them into Bulldogs too. Eventually there is only player left, who must evade the other 7 players as long as possible. Kudos is earned whenever you're on the run!

 

Multiplayer Ranked Match: online competitive matches have been totally reworked for PGR4 from what they were in number 3. We now have a party-based system (kind of like Halo 2), which keeps you and your friends in the same game as you progress from playlist to playlist.

 

PGR Shop: This time around, Kudos is king. Everything is purchased through your in-game Kudos... there are no credits, and no cash. Your kudos is spent in the PGR Shop, and it's not just new vehicles that feature here. Track packs, new game modes, cheats, gamerpics etc. can all be found here (providing you have the Kudos of course!). The two cooler examples we showed at Leipzig are the "3d glasses cheat", which allows you to render your Photo Mode pics in true red/blue 3d style, and the "Gamer Picture Pack". The latter costs a cool 1,000,000K (by far the most expensive item in the shop), and gives you a single gamer pic for your Xbox 360 profile. If you see anybody online with this pic, you know they've got more Kudos than sense!

 

 

PGR On Demand: The last huge new feature we showed was PGR On Demand... the spiritual successor to Gotham TV. I'll write a full article on PGR On Demand in the next week or two, as there is too much to mention here in a single bullet point!

 

 

 

The new career mode sounds pretty awesome AND Cat'n'Mouse is returning...WITH bikes!!! Bulldog also sounds pretty fun. I'm glad they just have Kudos now instead of credits.

 

I can't fricking wait!!

[Solo]

Oh my, did I just see the Delorean in that vehicle pack?

[Daft]

Oh my, did I just see the Delorean in that vehicle pack?

 

Oh yes, you did!

 

[Solo]

Sweet Jesus.

[That Guy]

God I need this game now. This and Mario Galaxy are my most wanted for the year.

[Hero-of-Time]

Sweet Jesus.

 

I believe the words you are looking for are " Great Scott!"

[rokhed00]

God I need this game now. This and Mario Galaxy are my most wanted for the year.

 

Tell me about it, couldn't give a toss about Halo 3, this is the only 360 game I want this year.

[mario_jr]

Tell me about it, couldn't give a toss about Halo 3, this is the only 360 game I want this year.

 

Don't forget COD4.

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

definite buy for me. I just hope they have some Suzuki bikes in it, Hyabusa '99:smile:

 

The GSX will absolutely pwn all!! mwaha.

[rokhed00]

Don't forget COD4.

 

That's not even a definite for me.

[Daft]

Drool....

 

 

New info released:

 

The brand new Arcade Mode takes place over several different chapters, each of which has several events contained inside it. Each chapter is themed to a particular driving discipline. For example, "Catch Me If You Can" is all about competitive racing against other drivers, whilst "Drifto 101" consists mainly of drifting and Kudos type events.

 

The aim of Arcade Mode is to race each event, and earn medals in each. Steel medals are awarded for novices, right up to Platinums for expert players. Also, the Arcade Mode in PGR4 is split into two, one side for cars and the other for bikes. There are 108 medals available in total.

 

Arcade Mode is really the place to start if you're a PGR veteran looking for some instant gratification. You can tackle events in any order you like (provided you've unlocked them of course), and keep retrying them to beat your best score. All events have Xbox Live leaderboards, so you can check if you're really the best of the best. We've updated the Arcade Mode page on the PGR4 section of bizarrecreations.com with the above details, as well as a full event listing.

 

Below is the list of events:

 

Catch me if you can

 

1. Street Race, Palace Square (St Petersburg), Overcast

2. Street Race, Nevskiy Run (St Petersburg), Clear

3. Street Race, Pushkin's Places (St Petersburg), Fog

4. One-on-one, Embankments and Parks (St Petersburg), Overcast

5. Street Race, Parliament Hill (Quebec), Clear

6. Eliminator, Twisted Old Port (Quebec), Overcast

 

Drifto 101

 

1. Superstar, Rampart Run (Quebec), Rain

2. Time Vs Kudos, Spring Mountain Turns (Las Vegas), Overcast

3. Cone Sprint, MGM Grand-Bellagio Loop (Las Vegas), Rain

4. Superstar, Buccaneer Loop (Las Vegas), Overcast

5. Time Vs Kudos, The Grand Theatre (Shanghai), Clear

6. Cone Attack, South Strip Loop (Las Vegas), Storm

 

Final Countdown

 

1. Speed Challenge, Shanghai Grand Slam (Shanghai), Clear

2. Breakthrough, Landmark Tour (Shanghai), Rain

3. Eliminator, Kazanskiy Cathedral (St Petersburg), Overcast

4. Eliminator, The Hermitage Race (St Petersburg), Fog

5. Speed Challenge, Half F1 Circuit (Nurburgring), Clear

6. Breakthrough, Shinjuku Speedway (Tokyo), Storm

 

Two Wheels Only (bike events only)

 

1. Street Race, Jiu Fu Loop (Shanghai), Clear

2. Eliminator, Long Strip Straights (Las Vegas), Fog

3. Overtake, Neon Tour (Shanghai), Clear

4. Street Race, Half F1 Circuit (Nurburgring), Overcast

5. One-on-one, B-Circuit (Shanghai), Clear

6. Street Race, Estrada de S Francisco (Macau), Clear

 

Horses for Courses (car events only)

 

1. Cone Sprint, Instituto Politecnico (Macau), Overcast

2. Super Cone Sprint, Sprint 1 (St Petersburg), Overcast

3. Cone Attack, Shanghai Old Town (Shanghai), Clear

4. Cone Sprint, Whitehall Straits (London), Clear

5. Cone Attack, Jiu Fu Loop (Shanghai), Clear

6. Super Cone Sprint, Sprint 2 (St Petersburg), Ice

 

Rough Riders

 

1. Overtake, Museum Loop (Shanghai), Rain

2. Eliminator, The Bulldog (London), Storm

3. Overtake, Tochomae Loop (Tokyo), Rain

4. Eliminator, Las Vegas Blvd Tour (Las Vegas), Rain

5. Street Race, Instituto Politecnico (Macau), Fog

6. Street Race, La Grande Allee (Quebec), Rain

 

Flatout

 

1. Speed Challenge, Shanghai Grand Slam (Shanghai), Clear

2. Breakthrough, The Outskirts (New York), Overcast

3. Street Race, The Admiralty (St Petersburg), Clear

4. Hot Lap, Ekimae Loop (Tokyo), Fog

5. Hot Lap, Avenida de Dr Rodrigues (Macau), Clear

6. Eliminator, Avenida da Amizade (Macau), Overcast

 

Steamroller World Tour

 

1. Street Race, Old Port Short (Quebec), Clear

2. One-on-one, Her Majesty's Pleasure (London), Rain

3. Street Race, The Hermitage Race (St Petersburg), Overcast

4. One-on-one, Twisted Straits (New York City), Rain

5. Eliminator, Moika Turns (St Petersburg), Rain

6. One-on-one, Parliament Hill (Quebec), Clear

 

Trackday Specials

 

1. Eliminator, Full F1 Circuit (Nurburgring), Clear

2. Eliminator, The Short Test (Michelin Test Track), Clear

3. Time Vs Kudos, The Medium Test (Michelin Test Track), Clear

4. Street Race, Nordschliefe (Nurburgring), Rain

5. Breakthrough, The Ultimate Test (Michelin Test Track), Clear

6. Street Race, The Behemoth (Nurburgring), Clear

 

Ultimate Challenge

 

1. Breakthrough, Chateau Frontenac (Quebec), Fog

2. Speed Challenge, La Haute-Ville (Quebec), Overcast

3. Overtake, The Bulldog (London), Overcast

4. Time Vs Kudos, Crazy Turns (Tokyo), Rain

5. Cone Sprint, The Triangle Building (Tokyo), Rain

6. Eliminator, Hotel Lisboa (Macau), Overcast

 

 

Arcade mode is a lot bigger than I expected which is great. God I need my 360 back from repairs!!!

[That Guy]

We got a proper in game screenshot yet?

[Daft]

The screenshots are in-game using the photo mode. Sadly I don't think there are any screens of the HUD yet (or whatever it called).

 

You can check out a video here. Its the St Petersburg in the rain vid.

 

There are also some new pics at Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/photogallery/pgr4new/

[That Guy]

Wow didn't know that, these are looking frickin' sweet!