Test Drive Unlimited 2

[CeeKay]

the massive racer returns and it's looking good.  I don't remember if the last one made it to the PC but I can't wait to see it in motion on a high end machine.

[Goldchamp]

Yes it made it to the pc. Day one purchase for me.

[CeeKay]

here's some new screenshots.

[CeeKay]

here's another trailer.

[Rumpy]

Awesome trailer. So many details. Looks like I'll need a new PC just to run it.

[CeeKay]

Awesome trailer. So many details. Looks like I'll need a new PC just to run it.

 

it'll be interesting to see the requirements, especially with shots like these.

[heloder]

I just hope they fixed the terrible road geometry from the first one.

[CeeKay]

new trailer.

[EngineNo9]

new trailer.

Ugh, get rid of the dancing and shopping and all that stupid crap and just give me awesome fucking racing.  I don't want a "lifestyle sim", thankyouverymuch.

[Rumpy]

Yeah, I didn't care very much for the apparel shopping. Just wish there'd be more customization in how your character looks though in terms of presets. Love that there will be night/day cycles and weather this time around.

[Aganazer]

This game has gone into beta.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a driving wheel? My old Logitech smoked. The choices are slim. This is the best one I can find. Am I missing something here or has the driving-wheel peripheral market completely dried up?

[Zekester]

The first time I switched in to interior view on the 70's Trans Am I was hooked. I had a '79 Formula Firebird, and they pretty much nailed it in the game.

This is good news, especially considering I just bought a 360 too.

[Aganazer]

The first time I switched in to interior view on the 70's Trans Am I was hooked. I had a '79 Formula Firebird, and they pretty much nailed it in the game.

This is good news, especially considering I just bought a 360 too.

I loved the brushed metal dashboard on the 70's Trans Ams. I *almost* got a 74 TA when I was 16, but my mom didn't like that it had a freshly built V8 400  . I ended up with a 79 Camaro instead, so it was pretty close but not near as crazy fast. So yeah, I definitely know what you mean. There are only two cars that I get really excited about in racing games. 1970's TA's or Z28's and the newer Impreza WRX, which is what I have now.

I'm not seeing anything quite so cool in the list, but only a fraction of them have been revealed.

TOTAL VEHICLES: 208

Aston Martin
'06 V8 Vantage
'10 V12 Vantage Carbon Black Special Edition [PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE - AMAZON.COM]
'08 DBS
'10 DBS Carbon Black Special Edition [PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE - BEST BUY]
'10 One-77 [CLUB EXCLUSIVE]

Audi
'10 Q7 V12 TDI Quattro
'08 Q7 Coastline [PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE - WALMART]
'08 R8 4.2 FSI quattro
'09 S3
'08 TT S
'10 TT-RS Roadster

Bugatti
'XX Bugatti Veyron 16.4 [NEW]

Chevrolet
'XX Camaro
'XX Corvette

Dodge
'06 Charger SRT-8
'XX Charger Police Car
'08 Viper SRT-10

Ferrari
'XX 360 Challenge Stradale
'10 F599 GTB China Edition [PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE - WEBHALLEN.COM]
'XX Enzo

Ford
'05 GT
XX Mustang
'XX Mustang Fastback

Gumpert
'08 Apollo Sport [CLUB EXCLUSIVE]

Jaguar
N/A

Koenigsegg
'08 CCXR Edition

Lamborghini
N/A

Lancia
'93 Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione II

Lotus
'XX Esprit S3

Maserati
N/A

McLaren
'11 MP4-12C [CLUB EXCLUSIVE]

Mercedes
'54 300 SL
'09 ML63 AMG
'09 SLR McLaren Roadster
'10 SLR Stirling Moss

Nissan
'XX 350Z Coupe
'09 370Z Coupe Yellow Edition [PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE - ATARI.COM]
'XX Skyline R34


Pagani
'99 Zonda
'01 Zonda C12S
'08 Zonda Cinque
'05 Zonda F
'XX Zonda F Roadster

Saleen
'10 S5S Raptor
'05 S7 Twin Turbo

Shelby
'65 Daytona Cobra Coupe

Spyker
'09 C8 Aileron Coupe
'08 C12 Zagato
'10 D8 (Peking to Paris SUV)

[tok]

This game has gone into beta.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a driving wheel? My old Logitech smoked. The choices are slim. This is the best one I can find. Am I missing something here or has the driving-wheel peripheral market completely dried up?

You're missing something... The Logitech G27. You might find cheaper elsewhere, but since you were looking at Newegg, here it is.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104330&cm_re=logitech_g27-_-26-104-330-_-Product

[Aganazer]

This game has gone into beta.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a driving wheel? My old Logitech smoked. The choices are slim. This is the best one I can find. Am I missing something here or has the driving-wheel peripheral market completely dried up?

You're missing something... The Logitech G27. You might find cheaper elsewhere, but since you were looking at Newegg, here it is.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104330&cm_re=logitech_g27-_-26-104-330-_-Product

I almost got that one. I decided against it since its $300, I suck as manual shifting in driving games, and my last wheel was a Logitech with a similar design and it smoked on me.

Thanks for the suggestion though!

The Thrustmaster shows up tomorrow. I can finally get back into Dirt 2 and try it out on another game I'm not allowed to mention.  Driving games just aren't the same using a gamepad controller.

[Zekester]

The first time I switched in to interior view on the 70's Trans Am I was hooked. I had a '79 Formula Firebird, and they pretty much nailed it in the game.

This is good news, especially considering I just bought a 360 too.

I loved the brushed metal dashboard on the 70's Trans Ams. I *almost* got a 74 TA when I was 16, but my mom didn't like that it had a freshly built V8 400  . I ended up with a 79 Camaro instead, so it was pretty close but not near as crazy fast. So yeah, I definitely know what you mean. There are only two cars that I get really excited about in racing games. 1970's TA's or Z28's and the newer Impreza WRX, which is what I have now.

I'm not seeing anything quite so cool in the list, but only a fraction of them have been revealed.

TOTAL VEHICLES: 208

Aston Martin
'06 V8 Vantage
'10 V12 Vantage Carbon Black Special Edition [PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE - AMAZON.COM]
'08 DBS
'10 DBS Carbon Black Special Edition [PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE - BEST BUY]
'10 One-77 [CLUB EXCLUSIVE]

Audi
'10 Q7 V12 TDI Quattro
'08 Q7 Coastline [PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE - WALMART]
'08 R8 4.2 FSI quattro
'09 S3
'08 TT S
'10 TT-RS Roadster

Bugatti
'XX Bugatti Veyron 16.4 [NEW]

Chevrolet
'XX Camaro
'XX Corvette

Dodge
'06 Charger SRT-8
'XX Charger Police Car
'08 Viper SRT-10

Ferrari
'XX 360 Challenge Stradale
'10 F599 GTB China Edition [PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE - WEBHALLEN.COM]
'XX Enzo

Ford
'05 GT
XX Mustang
'XX Mustang Fastback

Gumpert
'08 Apollo Sport [CLUB EXCLUSIVE]

Jaguar
N/A

Koenigsegg
'08 CCXR Edition

Lamborghini
N/A

Lancia
'93 Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione II

Lotus
'XX Esprit S3

Maserati
N/A

McLaren
'11 MP4-12C [CLUB EXCLUSIVE]

Mercedes
'54 300 SL
'09 ML63 AMG
'09 SLR McLaren Roadster
'10 SLR Stirling Moss

Nissan
'XX 350Z Coupe
'09 370Z Coupe Yellow Edition [PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE - ATARI.COM]
'XX Skyline R34


Pagani
'99 Zonda
'01 Zonda C12S
'08 Zonda Cinque
'05 Zonda F
'XX Zonda F Roadster

Saleen
'10 S5S Raptor
'05 S7 Twin Turbo

Shelby
'65 Daytona Cobra Coupe

Spyker
'09 C8 Aileron Coupe
'08 C12 Zagato
'10 D8 (Peking to Paris SUV)

There's only two vintage muscle cars on that list 

I might have to skip a full price purchase if that's all that's in there.

[EngineNo9]

There's only two vintage muscle cars on that list 

I might have to skip a full price purchase if that's all that's in there.

That is also not 208 cars as listed above, so I'd expect quite a few more muscle cars.

[CeeKay]

Dang, I don't need another game right now but I feel Oahu and Ibiza calling....

[jztemple2]

This is a list from the Console forum thread about TDU2, posted today. The poster didn't list the source, but let's assume it's accurate. I don't know which I'm more excited about, the five Veyrons or the CITROËN 2 CV!!

AC 427 (Shelby Cobra)
Alfa Roméo/Fiat Brera Italia Independent
Alfa Roméo/Fiat MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde
Alfa Roméo/Fiat 8c Spider
Alfa Roméo/Fiat Delta integrale evoluzione
Ariel Atom 300 Supercharged
Ascari A10
Ascari KZ1 R Limited Edition
Aston Martin DBS Carbon Black Edition
Aston Martin V12 Vantage Carbon Black Edition
Aston Martin DB9 Coupe
Aston Martin DBS Coupe
Aston Martin DB9 Volante
Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Aston Martin V12 Vantage
Aston Martin One-77
Audi RS 5 Coupé
Audi Q7 V12 TDI quattro – TDU2 Inuit Edition
Audi Q7 V12 TDI quattro
Audi R8 Coupé 5.2 FSI quattro
Audi RS 6 Avant
Audi S3
Audi S5 Coupé
Audi TTS Coupé
Audi TT RS Roadster
Audi R8 Spyder 5.2 FSI quattro
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Sang Bleu
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Centenaire
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport
Bugatti Veyron 16.4
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport
Caterham CSR 260
Catheram Superlight R500
Chevrolet Camaro Synergy Special Edition
CITROËN 2 CV
Dodge Charger SRT8
Dodge Viper SRT10
Ginetta F400
Ferrari 612 Sessanta
Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano China Edition
Ferrari 308 GTS Quattrovalvole
Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
Ferrari California
Ferrari Dino 246 GTS
Ferrari Enzo
Ferrari 430 Scuderia
Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
Ferrari Scuderia Spider 16M
Ferrari 599 GTO
Ferrari FXX “Evoluzione”
Ferrari 458 Italia
Ford Shelby GT500
Ford Mustang Fastback
Ford GT
Ford Mustang GT
General Motors Chevrolet Camaro 2SS ou Camaro SS
General Motors Hummer H3
General Motors Chevrolet Camaro LT
General Motors Corvette C1
GUMPERT apollo sport
Jaguar XKR Speed Pack and Black Pack
Jaguar D-type
Jaguar E-TYPE
Jaguar XKR
Koenigsegg CCXR Edition
Land Rover – Range Rover Sport
Lotus 2-Eleven
Lotus Esprit S3
Lotus Evora
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster 722s
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss
McLaren MP4-12C
Mercedes 300 SL GullWing
Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG Black Series
Mercedes-Benz ML 63 AMG
Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
Nissan 370Z Optional Parts
Nissan 370Z
Nissan GT-R
Pagani Zonda Tricolore
Pagani Zonda Cinque
Pagani Zonda F
Pagani Zonda Roadster F
Pagani Zonda C12S Roadster
RUF RGT
RUF Rturbo
RUF Rt 12
RUF RK Spyder
SHELBY COBRA “DAYTONA” COUPE®
Spyker C12 Zagato
Spyker D8 Peking-to-Paris
Spyker C8 Aileron
Spyker C8 Aileron Spyder
Subaru Impreza WRX STI Sedan
TVR Sagaris
VolksWagen Beetle
VolksWagen Golf(6) GTI
VolksWagen Touareg V10 TDI
WIESMANN ROADSTER MF3

[CeeKay]

a couple of reviews 

[EngineNo9]

I did get my PC copy from Amazon yesterday, but I only put in a short time with it so I could get back to Two Worlds 2. 

From what I saw, the handling is somewhat improved from the first TDU (it must be, because I couldn't even stand to spend time driving in that one), but they have gone the odd route of having three different handling settings.  You have the default Normal, which has all driving assists turned on and is fairly arcadey, then there is Sport mode which is a bit more squirrelly and then Hardcore mode has the assists turned off altogether.  None of them felt super great to me, and frankly I find it kind of weird to have to choose how the game should handle.  Not to mention that the game defaults to the Normal mode, but all driving tests only work in the Sport mode regardless of what you use in the rest of the game so you might as well get used to that one.

The terrible euro-trash techno culture is in full effect, and it made me want to shoot every single person in the opening scene.  I knew I didn't like that stuff going in, and as expected it really detracts from the game for me.

Other people's cars seemed to fade in and out frequently when they were near me, though I did try a few competitive multiplayer races and that seemed to work

The damage on the cars is entirely superficial, and pretty mild at that.  Head-on collisions all day, baby!

I haven't seen much of Ibiza yet, but from what I have it could just as easily be any town anywhere.  Mostly boring straights with 90 degree cross roads doesn't make for much excitement in my book.  I'm sure there are other, more interesting roads yet to be discovered, but the early stuff wasn't very inspiring.

Overall, I can't say I'm going to drop my current game to get back to this one any time soon, and that's not a good sign to me since I generally love driving games.  I don't think it is a bad game, just not very compelling for me.

[jztemple2]

I posted this over in the TDU2 Console Forum thread. Contains info on TDU2 Launch Day Pending Items, things that aren't available, DLC that's not posted yet, etc.

PC

    * DLC Purchasing – This should be working now.
    * Pre-Order Code Redemption - This should be working now. Please go to http://www.testdriveunlimited2.com/redeem to get your unlocks.
    * Getting your pre-order and DLC cars in-game - It appears that after your cars are unlocked at /redeem, they do not show up in the game yet. Will follow up when I have more information.
    * Pre-Order Casino Code Redemption - This should be working now. Please go to http://www.testdriveunlimited2.com/redeem to get your Casino unlock.
    * Casino Access - Appears to not be available yet. Please advise if you are a PC player. Note that the Casino must be accessed by first driving to the location and discovering it on the map.
    * Version Discrepencies - This is working as designed for the moment. Depending on where and how you get the game, you will be provided with a different version number. While the version numbers differ, the game is identical. Future patches should bring all games to a unified version number.
    * The build title contains "QA" and "Review" - Known issue. Future versions should no longer contain the inaccurate label of "QA," but as expected the disc name will remain the same for the near future as they have already been printed.
    * Manual Unavailable - Some users have reported that the PC install did not come with a PC manual. We're working on a solution for customers affected by this issue.
    * Amazon not listed at /redeem - This has been escalated and is pending confirmation from QA/Web Dev.

[Fuzzballx]

I did get my PC copy from Amazon yesterday, but I only put in a short time with it so I could get back to Two Worlds 2. 

From what I saw, the handling is somewhat improved from the first TDU (it must be, because I couldn't even stand to spend time driving in that one), but they have gone the odd route of having three different handling settings.  You have the default Normal, which has all driving assists turned on and is fairly arcadey, then there is Sport mode which is a bit more squirrelly and then Hardcore mode has the assists turned off altogether.  None of them felt super great to me, and frankly I find it kind of weird to have to choose how the game should handle.  Not to mention that the game defaults to the Normal mode, but all driving tests only work in the Sport mode regardless of what you use in the rest of the game so you might as well get used to that one.

The terrible euro-trash techno culture is in full effect, and it made me want to shoot every single person in the opening scene.  I knew I didn't like that stuff going in, and as expected it really detracts from the game for me.

Other people's cars seemed to fade in and out frequently when they were near me, though I did try a few competitive multiplayer races and that seemed to work

The damage on the cars is entirely superficial, and pretty mild at that.  Head-on collisions all day, baby!

I haven't seen much of Ibiza yet, but from what I have it could just as easily be any town anywhere.  Mostly boring straights with 90 degree cross roads doesn't make for much excitement in my book.  I'm sure there are other, more interesting roads yet to be discovered, but the early stuff wasn't very inspiring.

Overall, I can't say I'm going to drop my current game to get back to this one any time soon, and that's not a good sign to me since I generally love driving games.  I don't think it is a bad game, just not very compelling for me.

ouch, i woudola bought it on 360 but i think you just unsold me on it.  I'll stick with my RPGs for now.

[EngineNo9]

ouch, i woudola bought it on 360 but i think you just unsold me on it.  I'll stick with my RPGs for now.

Well, take everything I say with a grain of salt, as I am really into TW2 right now so I don't have a lot of motivation to go spend more time on TDU2 for now.  I do intend to go back to it in a week or two if/when I finish TW2.

[EngineNo9]

This lengthy quicklook video over at GiantBomb gives you a pretty good idea of the early game, since they begin playing from the very start.

[Rumpy]

So far, from what I've seen by looking at videos by browsing Youtube, looks very disappointing compared to the original, plus there's lots of complaints about the lack of support for wheels. Almost sounds to me like they've applied gamepad settings to everything even if you're using a wheel.  Such a shame

[Reemul]

So far i like it, sure i can't use my wheel with it, but with all the walking round and other non driving stuff you can do a 360 pad makes sense.

From the off i was hooked, 3 car choices, 2 of them being a Lotus Esprit and a Lancia Delta Integrale two of my fav cars. Driving seems fine on sport, the lotus is really squirrely if you give it too much throttle but the game is what i expected. Too many complaints about the driving model yet it's TDU i fail to understand what people expect. It is what it was always going to be, not a simulator. TDU wasn't renowned for it's driving model and i wasn't expecting TDU2 to either.

I am just enjoying it for what it is and not what people seem to want it to be yet isn't.

My son loves watching me drive round the island and crashing as much as possible.

[raydude]

I am just enjoying it for what it is and not what people seem to want it to be yet isn't.

You mean a car racing game that doesn't let you use a car racing wheel?

[Reemul]

Well there are loads of car racing games that don't fully support a wheel, it's been a complaint for ever. Personally a wheel for a simulation makes sense, a wheel for an arcade game, not so much really. However i shouldn't have said you couldn't use a wheel, just there is no native wheel support for stuff like the G25 etc just generic controller setup options which means you just need to fiddle with the settings a bit to make it work rather than specific support out of the box.

Of course walking around using a wheel is normal, personally i like playing all my fps and sims3 with a wheel, makes for much quicker cornering round the supermarket or being chased by zombies  and TDU has plenty of non racing stuff as well, hence i can see why the decision was made to support the gamepad and not overly worry about the wheel support. YMMV and it seems for many it does, i mean i saw some guy whinging about it and then admitting playing 200 hours in the beta, sometimes life sucks for these guys  

[Rumpy]

Right, but my point is that it's actually a step back from the original. The original didn't have a groundbreaking driving model, sure, but at least it felt like you were driving and cruising around, with all cars having different weight ratios, and for the most part, they did act like cars. From all the reading and the videos I've seen, this doesn't seem to be the case for the sequel. It's been mentioned that cars act stiff, I see this as the way the game translates the controls, which all seem to act like digital controls rather than analog, all or nothing rather than the smoothness of analog. Though maybe that's down to something they need to fix. It does sound like it was designed primarily for consoles though as compared to the original. The first one was more sim than arcade, with a hardcore mode you could unlock.

[Zekester]

Stiff, as in understeer?

[Rumpy]

I wouldn't say understeer, no. More like it being boxy, pivoting  on an axis instead of actually steering, with the car feeling like it's actually rolling. People have describe it as feeling like the cars are on rails. I'm sure it's better without driving assists though. I mean, I felt the driving was much more fun without assists in the first one. You just had to learn the pecularities of the cars. I felt the driving assists actually made me drive worse. And of course, the videos I've watched could have probably been people playing without a wheel, which would make quite a difference.

[CeeKay]

the PC DLC is out for free, along with a new update.

New content

    20 new events
    2 new events types
    Extreme convoy: one mistake and the mission is over
    Timed convoy: it is a convoy mission...but with a timer!
    Each completed event gives access to a new wreck
    20 new wrecks give 2 new cars (10 wrecks = 1 car):
    Lancia Stratos version Rallye
    Dodge charger 1969
    3 new discovery levels
    1 new set of clothes (explorer) Male/Female
    2 new MP Races (Specifically for the Lancia Stratos version Rallye)
    3D on PC & PS3
    TV Media: Help Channel (to explain new features and content)

The update includes the following Gameplay improvements:

    Players can sell their cars in the used car dealer (including cars won in duels)
    Effect of collisions with rocks and trees is now less severe
    Instant challenges have been tweaked to exclude very short or very long races
    Cruising as a passenger now unlocks roads
    Lower car-road impact sounds
    New restrictions on MP races (to stop the prevalence of top end cars in all races)
    Session lost messages are now more descriptive
    Koenigsegg CCXR performance tweaked to be competitive with Bugatti Veyrons
    Y axis inversion option added
    Additional race restrictions added to avoid Bugattis having complete dominance
    Lobby: Club cars are now allowed in multiplayer and solo modes
    We scrutinize savegames for specific hacks and take measures when they are detected
    Nat info text displayed on the Start screen if a potential network configuration problem is detected
    Lobby: « With/Without collisions » info added
    Lobby: « Inner club » & « club vs club » info icons added
    Players can now cancel on the search games loading screen
    [PC] Chat window moved and positioned according to the game mode
    [PS3] Mike & Voice IP options added
    [X360] It is now impossible to join a ranked match once it has started
    [X360] Rich presence is now more descriptive, based upon what players are doing in the game

The update includes fixes for the following documented bugs:

    Cars can be launched into the air by glitches in the road
    Cars can end up in the sky if the player goes to the map while their car is falling
    Possible to get through walls/scenery by going in and out of map mode
    Unable to enter sessions with a co-driver
    Cars sometimes turn invisible
    Unable to start a multiplayer race with the Caterham Superlight R500
    Unable to play club races with club cars
    The Final Cup can be repeated to earn the grand prize an unlimited number of times
    Missing car door interior when switching to some low-res models
    Stickers not appearing when in a friend's garage
    Invisible avatars immediately after a club upgrade
    Hawaii - collision problem on the "Hydro House"
    Collisions problems in many sectors
    Infinite loading in sticker shop when no more storage space is available
    Crash when loading a photo in MyTDUHouse
    Crash at the end of chase mode online
    Crash at end of a duel
    Crashes in chase mode & freeride
    Crash when exiting a championship challenge
    Other random crashes
    Sticker shop: Matt paint available twice, replacing metallic as an option
    Mylife Info : Incorrect number for clothes (collector box) & road unlocked (cruising box)
    Pause menu: MyLife and Player info incorrect for levels higher than 60
    Gameplay icons not removed when you press start on the results screen
    Wrecks: Instant Challenge invites still active when opening wrecks popup
    Map : Players sometimes displayed at the top-west corner of the map, in the sea
    News: Not possible to delete news items
    Club member list not updated when the president fires someone (members not notified)
    Disappearing GPS road sections on Hawaii
    Logitech on-wheel LED not accurately representing RPM and engine danger zone
    Unable to sell pre order and DLC cars in game
    [PS3] Logitech wheel issues
    [PS3] Possible to get stuck in an invalid session
    [PS3] The Ranked Matches search results not correct
    [X360] Problems caused by changing devices
    [X360] Players can get kicked out of sessions for no reason
    [X360] Crash when selecting a challenge icon very quickly on the map
    Casino: Rankings not appearing correctly
    Casino: Roulette exploit
    Casino: Crash on slot machines when another player wins a jackpot and leaves the room
    Casino: Crash at level 10 cut-scene
    Casino: Crash when you use back on track at the entrance to the Casino in Hawaii
    Casino: Changing profile when you win a car makes it impossible to win or purchase cars

they don't say how to get it, I'm figuring the game has a built in autoupdate?  I got it but haven't installed it yet.

[EngineNo9]

Yeah, the game auto-updates when you run the launcher.  That is a pretty good set of updates and free stuffs, though it may be too late since my interest has been directed elsewhere.