Monday, April 21, 2008
After a couple of weeks playing the game, and after reading several reviews online and in magazines, I believe it's time I brought you my very own review of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.I may do something similar for Mario Kart Wii in the near future...or I may not. We'll see how things pan out.
Labels: consoles, games, gran turismo, PS3
Steve 2:14 AM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is out now for PS3.I've been playing it a bit tonight, being off work with a bitch of a virus.
It's mostly pretty familiar stuff, just with prettier graphics... but for one big bonus... online multi-player.
Here's a very poor quality video clip I shot this evening of me playing online.
My apologies for the burp near the start... I was drinking coke. Also apologies for the poor lighting and bad focus... my good camera has a flat battery, and the one I used just doesn't like recording tv footage.
Labels: consoles, games, gran turismo, PS3
Steve 4:13 AM [+] (0) comments
Friday, January 26, 2007
There is a god and his name is Dark_Alex.Some of you will know that some time back I began messing around with running homebrew and emulators on my PSP, using a thing called the eloader by Fanjita and Ditlew.
Well... that was a hack that made use of exploits to get past security features in the PSP firmware. It worked fairly well too.
Now, this chap called Dark_Alex has gone a huge step further. He's entirely hacked the firmware, and created a custom version of the latest firmware, while incorporating the ability of much earlier firmware.
What this means is, as well as being able to run all the latest commercial games, run all the emulators and homebrew I had already been using, I can now use the PS1 emulator that's built into the latest firmware.
More than that... the PS1 emulator in the standard Sony release only allows you to play the PS1 games that they drip feed to users, and which you have to pay for... even though you probably already own the original. So... the new custom firmware totally bypasses all the Sony bullshit, and with a little messing around with conversion utilities, allows you to play whatever PS1 games you like.
So I now have Gran Turismo 2 up and running on my PSP. Yay!!! :D
Truth is, I've been getting more and more pissed off at Sony, as the months have gone by.
I bought the PSP with the intention of playing Gran Turismo on it, but they've delayed it, and delayed it, and delayed it some more.
Then they release the PS1 emulator, but you can only play what they want you to play in it... and worse, you have to have a PS3 to do that.
Dumbasses.
So, no more waiting and no more being screwed. I can do all the things the PSP was actually designed to be able to do, but that Sony are too all controlling to let us do.
Labels: consoles, emulators, games, gran turismo
Steve 10:35 AM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, March 27, 2005
My new lap time at the Nurburgring - 6:28.766 set in a Minolta Toyota 88C-VHaving gone round the circuit at that speed, I can honestly say that for Stefan Bellof to set an all time lap record of 6:11.3, *in the real world*, he must have been absolutely insane!!!
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 7:26 AM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Latest best time at the Nurburgring on GT4 - 7 mins 10 secs, set in a Jaguar XJ220.I'm currently slogging my way through endurance races in the Jag to earn enough cash to buy a proper GT car... expect times to drop considerably when I get one.
What's really surprising me about the game at the moment is, 24 hour endurance races really do last *24* hours. Yikes!
Good job there's an option that allows you to switch into management mode while the race is running, so the car drives itself. All you have to do is start and finish the race in manual control. Still... 24 hours is a bit extreme.
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 2:35 PM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, March 17, 2005
It's been quite a stressy week. Seems everyone wants a piece of me and my time, when all I've wanted is to be left alone. Oh well.So last night I grabbed a few hours to myself, and completed the first race in the 1000 miles series on GT4.... 25 laps of the Nurburgring in a Ginetta on *hard tyres*, setting a best lap time of 8:41.335.
A very respectable time for such an old car on those tyres. Actually.... it's a bloody brilliant time, and I challenge anyone to beat it in the same machine any time soon.
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 11:27 AM [+] (0) comments
Monday, March 14, 2005
What a great weekend.On saturday we went for a bimble round Stony Stratford, for no particular reason, other than it's a nice place to go, and stopped into The Vaults Bar for a drink.
Andrea's not at all familiar with the finer points of Milton keynes, so what better place to start?
Next we ambled on over to Willen Lake, and stopped for munchies in the resteraunt by the lake. Not the cheapest place on earth, but otherwise unpretentious, and a very easy place to just drop into when you don't feel like cooking.
Sunday... more Gran Turismo sillyness. We nipped into town and I picked up a Speedster force feedback wheel.
I dunno. I'm not sure if I should've got the Logitch wheel or if I just suck with wheels, period. Either way... I find the game almost unplayable using the thing... and after losing around a minute and a half on my laptime at the Nurburgring, even after lots of practice and optimising the wheel settings, I've gone back to using the pad.
Playing this morning, I've gone back to complete some of the slower, less exciting races, and in doing so, won a 1964 Ginetta G4. This is a tiny little British sports car that initially only has around 90bhp, but weighs in at around 400kg, so it's very nippy. Just for fun though, I stuck a stage two turbo in the thing.
Hahahaha.
Absolutely mental. I highly recommend it, just for laughs.
Labels: games, gran turismo, Stony Stratford
Steve 1:07 PM [+] (0) comments
Friday, March 11, 2005
My latest time at the Nurburgring - 7:26.695.Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 5:20 PM [+] (0) comments
Ok... just a little more GT3 Nurburgring stuff.
The real world outright lap record for the place is 6:11.3, set in qualifying by the late Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 Group C car. His race lap record was 6:25.91. He crashed out later in that race, and was killed 2 seasons later while attempting to overtake another car *around the outside* through Eau Rouge at Spa.
Mental!
Evo magazine have challenged readers to beat the GT3 time set by their man Richard Meaden, of 5:26.547 in a '92 Nissan R92CP Le mans race car.
My own personal best time so far is a miserable 7:50.718, set in an OPTION Stream Z '04. Basically a Nissan 350Z that been tuned to hell and back.
Expect this to drop over time, as I gain more experience and better cars... and expect updated times to be posted here.
That should give players of the game something to aim for :-)
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 1:17 PM [+] (0) comments
So, Gran Turismo 4 then eh?
Blimey.
My very first impression was one of annoyance. I transferred funds across from my GT3 game save, and bought a nice funky Caterham 7, and then went and did the first lisence tests before going on to race.
However... when it came to entering a race, the game informed me that I couldn't enter, as the Caterham was a specialist car. Hmm. Nice of them to tell me that before I bought it.
Not wanting to lose all that money by just selling the car for a fraction of what I'd paid for it, I promptly deleted the whole game save, and started again.
Arse.
Second attempt.
I picked up a Renault Clio V6 Mk2, and got stuck right in.
Now... I'll spare you all the details of everything that follwed and just tell you what it's like.
ABSOBLOODYLUTELY AMAZING!!!
Yes, the graphics are fantastic, and noticably improved over GT3, yes the car handling is equally fantastic and improved over GT3, yes there are 700 cars, which is vastly more than GT3, and yes, there are 50 tracks, which is again vastly more than GT3.....
But all of this is nothing, as there are only 2 words you need to know relating to this game...
Nurburgring Nordschleife!!!
Huge, ultra realistic, and utterly terrifying in the best possible way.
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 8:23 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Oh! Oh! Oh!Gran Turismo 4 is released here tomorrow.
Expect much game related waffle... or a complete absence of my presence, depending on just how engrossed I get.
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 10:36 AM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Hah!After I dunno how long trying, (I've had the game for several years... so it's quite a while) I beat the Tahiti Road time trial on Gran Turismo 3 by 5/1000ths of a second.
Now I like to think I'm pretty good at the game, so to only beat it by such a tiny margin after such a long time trying just shows how bloody tough the final couple of time trials are.
So all I have to do now is beat the Complex String circuit.
Yeah right!
At the moment I'm 10 secs a lap off the pace of the slowest fixed time, and 20 secs off the time needed to win... so this is gonna take some doing. Saying that... I've shaved 8 secs off the time I set an hour ago and there's several places I know I can go much faster if I can just get the technique right, so we'll see.
I just like the idea of completing GT3 100% before GT4 comes out in a month or so.
Update:
Shaved another 13 secs off my time... still looking for another 6 secs though.
I know I've got at least another 3 secs in me, but I dunno where I'm gonna find the other 3, coz I'm already on the ragged edge. I must be doing something wrong, but I dunno what... or where. I know where it's not though... I'm taking a 2nd gear series of bends in 4th... lol.
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 1:44 AM [+] (0) comments
Monday, November 03, 2003
I'm back to playing Gran Turismo 3 again.I'm so close to completing the game, it's almost painful. 98.4% completed.
Predictably, the final piece I need to complete is the hardest... time trials.
10 circuits in 10 cars, and I have to beat the record times set by the programming team. If they actually set these times by playing the game, as opposed to just setting an arbitrary time, then they're very good... though you'd rather expect that.
It's not impossible though... I've beaten the first two times, and am about to start on the third.
Fingers crossed.
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 11:21 PM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Bogus Gran Turismo 3 Rocket Car Shock Horror!The stories on the various Gran Turismo 3 tips and cheats sites, stating that if you win gold in every race in the beginner, amateur and pro levels, you are given a rocket car are entirely bogus.
I guess some bright spark made the story up, not believing anyone could actually achieve gold in all of the races, and I have to admit, it's bloody difficult, but I did it, and hey presto... no rocket car.
Assholes.
On the upside, the formula one grand prix cars are absolutely mental, and to be honest, anything even slightly faster would be entirely undrivable.
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 2:14 PM [+] (0) comments
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
I've been playing Gran Turismo 3 again.I've known for ages that there are Formula One Grand Prix cars and Indy cars in the later stages of the game, but getting to the actual point there you can even see them, let alone drive them has been a very long process.
Up till yesterday, I'd completed every race in the Beginner, Amateur and Pro levels, except for the very last race series... which was Indy and F1 cars. The trouble was, I didn't have a car to compete in that series, and you have to win one... you can't buy them.
So anyway, being bored, I took my newest and fastest car... a Toyota GT1 car and went for a romp around the Endurance races. Several hours and 3 races later, I now have a funky white and purple Indy car... Woohoo!
Now... if what I've been reading is correct... and it may not be, if you win every single race in every series in simulation mode, there's a very special prize car. So, I'm now in the process of going back through all the individual races I didn't win, and wiping the floor with them in my Indy car, before embarking on the process of entering the F1 and Indy races. What's this special prize car? If my information is correct... it's a rocket car. We'll see.
If it's true, and I manage to win one... I'll take pics and post them here. It's all new ground to me, 'cause though I know several people who play this game, I don't know anyone who's as good at it as me , and thus... don't know anyone who's gotten this far into the game.
(Not saying there isn't anyone as good as me... I just don't know them)
If truth be told, I'm rather eager to finish this game for a couple of reasons. One being that I consider it something of a waste of money to buy a game and never complete it, and I've had this one for a couple of years, already having completed Medal Of Honour and Spyro. The other reason being that Gran Turismo 4 will be out soon, and I wanna finish this before starting that. GT 4 should be rather a special thing, as it features Internet Play and I have a point to prove to a particular person. You know who you are, and I'm gonna kick your butt ;-)
Okay... sad video game rant over... for now.
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 6:17 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Today has been an exercise in spending as much time as possible in as unproductive a manner as possible.So... Gran Turismo 3... all day!!! Hehehe.
Truth is, the game's beating me, and I'm not someone who takes being beaten by a bunch of silicon chips very well, so I keep trying. I'm playing in the professional league, in the Gran Turismo Allstars race series, and there's these three GT1 cars that keep kicking my arse. The obvious solution would be to go and buy a GT1 car.... but you can't, you have to win them, and I haven't won one yet. Damnit.
So here I am, flying around in a one and a half million dollar red Belgian batmobile. Nice car. Too slow.
Bollox.
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 9:29 PM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, October 05, 2002
Been playing Gran Turismo 3 again.I'd been told that the international licences were hard to get. Rubbish. Took me maybe 45 mins.
Anyway, in the absence of any Ferraris, I have just one word for you... well... 2 and some numbers/letters.
Pagani Zonda C12 S
I pootled around various races for a week to save enough money to buy and kit out one of those little babies, and am now stomping about happy as you like.
Now if I can just get Brigitte off Crash Bandicoot for 5 mins... hehehe. Nah. I love watching her play that.
Labels: games, gran turismo
Steve 1:48 AM [+] (0) comments
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