Weeks ago, I was lucky enough to try out a preliminary build of Project Gotham Racing 4 to test out a few of the new vehicles. The addition of motorcycles was a major highlight in PGR4 and you can do wheelies to earn kudos. I was told it is possible to maintain a wheelie throughout a race, but I couldn’t even get close to holding a wheelie for a minute. Instead I drove around St. Petersburg during a blizzard and made doughnuts with the bike. Motorcycles are slower than cars, but I imagine since they are smaller you may be able to squeeze through narrow gaps between cars during races. All of the tracks I drove on were void of other cars, so I couldn’t test out my theory.
After messing around with the motorcycles I had a chance to pick any car on the list and I saw Bizarre Creations added in the classic car from Back to the Future, minus the flux capacitor. The Delorean is a G class car and drives incredibly slow compared to the A class Gumpert. Driving the Delorean reminded me of picking Dan in Marvel versus Capcom 2. It’s a self handicap during races, but someone out there is going to master driving it and their race is sure to be on the enhanced version of Gotham TV.
PGR 4 has a YouTube-like video sharing built into it. After a race you can save a video and upload it for the world to see. One of the features points videos made by friends on your Gamertag list, which means you’re no longer restricted to watching the best players. Most people are probably going to show off their skills, but I bet some people are going to record videos of how far they can fling the motorcycle rider off the bike after a crash. It’s almost like a condensed version of the PS3 downloadable game Pain packed in as a bonus. The other social element in Project Gotham Racing 4 is team racing where you pull kudos (points for style and speed) together to win a race. Details are still being fleshed out about how Bizarre Creations plans to pull this off, but having a team of three race should open doors for new strategies instead of power sliding through races. I can imagine clans setting up roadblocks with their cars and purposely crashing into the other team. Realistic? Absolutely not, but the possibilities sound like fun.
