Come on DrivinGAF, any impressions? What, am I the only lunatic actually playing this gem?
More reports:
I have successfully finished the complete Golden Era on Hard difficulty and moved onto Silver Era. At the very beginning there is one of the greatest challenges I've faced so far in the game: Qualification run on Enna Pergusa with 512BB (sounding and driving GODLY) and 1:57 laptime to beat for Bonus challenge. 2 days into it, and still no luck, probably 50 restarts so far.
With collecting enough medals/badges for running all Primary/Bonus challenges on Hard I am currently owner of the "Semi-Pro" title (35% of game completion). Also, it seems that mechanical damage started to show a bit more - when crashing, there are actual consequences on handling starting to manifest. Also, now crashing will break the windhsields more often and made damage on the vehicle more visible. And boy, didn't complexity and difficulty of the AI just become fierce?
AI has stepped up from lagging -20 seconds after 5 laps to just -0.500 seconds for first 3 cars after 5 laps. I had two races yesterday (decided to leave Enna Pergusa Bonus run for a bit and continue doing next races), one on 80's Silverstone GP and other on Imola GP as part of 512BB Championship. What a blast.
Silverstone race had me starting on 4th place, with Primary task of catching the Rico Malone driver, who took the first place on start and me having a good start and climbing to 3rd. And than full-skill 5 lap race in his bumper, you just can't even think about slightest bumping him (you will almost certainly spin) while he has better corner-exit because of TC and Silverstone 80's being sweeper after sweeper certainly doesn't help. I finally managed to took the inside line in the very end of the 5th lap and overtake him before the final straight. After 5 restarts.
Imola was the same, with difference of starting on 8th and having to catch the win for the Bonus challenge. Imagine soft suspensions on 512BB, crazy overdrive of gearbox and fact of combined tire-wear/fuel depletion/overall weight loss that comes in affect during 5 lap race (not realistic because it is clearly speeded-up, but damn satisfying as a factor during play). Catching the leader in the very beginning of the lap 5 (AI have problems with the first sweeper in Imola, they often catch grass so you can find +0.700 there if you manage to maintain enough grip on tyres) and struggling to keep him, and 3 more cars behind until end of the lap.
And those AI cars bump you, tailgate you, they are closing inside line, they drive defensive lines, they make mistakes, crash into each other, dive into openings and they are so good.
Blast of all blasts, fans on my Fanatec CSRE were spinning like crazy.
I decided to leave the Enna Pergusa challenge for a day and take a following tier - Ferrari 312T5.. Dear tiny Jesus in your golden-fleece diapers, with your tiny, little, fat, balled-up fists pawing at the air... What a machine. What a feel. What a sound. What a blast.
Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends delivers so much I still can't believe it. I literally expected nothing for this game and I got more than any racer besides Big Two on this generation of consoles. Such a hidden gem. I really look forward to opinions of others, especially those who have wheels and who are patient enough to let the game unfold after initial opening of the Golden Era.
