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Gta 4 - crashing is better than driving
All other gtas - driving is better than crashing.

 

[hwy_61]

GTA 3,VC and SA alone have better and more in depth car physics than Sleeping dogs, saints row and just cause 2 which is pretty embarrassing imo.

Now GTA IV is just above and beyond them all. The cars are not slippery or hard to control, that is just your inability to control the cars. Just like most other games, you have to get used to them, understand how it works and practice.

Wait till it rains.

Just kidding, I agree with everything you said!

 

[hwy_61]

You're looking at Saints Row? Are you? I found driving in SR3 infinitely more enjoyable than in GTAIV.

Could not disagree more. The driving in Saints Row feels cheap. Like it's not even trying to be a challenge.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Driver SF feels so good. That game has pretty much the perfect balance of sim and arcade for an open world game, with just about my favourite drifting physics of any game (maybe only second to Dirt 2/3). Weaving through traffic feels weighty yet precise, and you can actually feel the way the car's weight transfers, but you can still pull off perfect '70s car chase drifts on cue. It's a forgiving system that still requires skill and practise, with steering and throttle-feathering being key to a perfectly-controlled drift (as opposed to 'hold the drift button and hope for the best lol' in Sleeping Dogs). That game gets extra points for having a really excellent in-cockpit view, with the best driver hand animations I've ever seen. He'll shuffle the wheel properly, and actually palm it around one-handed when you yank the handbrake.

Well said, I agree. DriverSF is the perfect mix so far from what games of this type I played.

 

[matrix-cat]

Nothing will ever get as bad as Just Cause 2's ground vehicles.

JC2's cars actually feel broken, somehow. It's like the steering doesn't return to centre when you let go of the stick, something like that. It doesn't help that the camera is locked to the back of the car, so every tiny steering tweak you make will take the camera with it. In fact, pretty much all that game's vehicles are awful, from the slow, lifeless helicopters to the plains with no yaw control. I utterly adore that game, but if I'm ever anywhere near a vehicle it's only to ride it off a cliff and get back to the real stuff: Rocket Paragrappling.

 

[UrbanRats]

I think the only thing worse in GTA IV were the bikes.
They went too far making them unusable.

They kind of fixed them in the expansions, though.

 

[PFD]

GTA IV was awful. Before that it was good

 

[jimi_dini]

Controls in Sleeping Dogs are tighter and precise, be it car, on foot, running, fighting, parkour, etc. It makes it a joy to play, also the story is good stuff to me. Wei Shen is in over his head (I'm not finished with it).

And the gameplay wasn't the exact opposite of the story. It made sense. Separate meters for Triad XP and police XP. And Wei Shen was interesting and likable. Also the opposite of IV featuring Nico "asshole" Belic.

 

[akira28]

The cars that are supposed to drive like crap...surprisingly enough....


Unfortunately they far outnumber the cars that are ok to drive. But I guess that's part of the point. I get really protective of my sports cars, caring where they're parked and all of that.

 

[PSYGN]

Driver: SF had the best mix in handling. But GTA:IV was fun to master, and I particularly liked how the sports cars handled in it.

 

[Fjordson]

In IV the driving was fantastic. Going to something like Saints Row 3 or Sleeping Dogs after GTA IV is really jarring. All of 'em handle like garbage in comparison.

 

[sunnz]

The cars that are supposed to drive like crap...surprisingly enough....


Unfortunately they far outnumber the cars that are ok to drive. But I guess that's part of the point. I get really protective of my sports cars, caring where they're parked and all of that.

Exactly. In IV all the cars are made to feel unique, the game goes over the top in making you feel the difference between the super cars and the everyday soccer mum car or 4 door sedan ( maybe a bit too OTT)

I mean in SR or SD, even the trucks drive like 4 door sedans, just slower. I dislike that, a lot.

Yes, D:SF also has very good physics too. REALLY wish The crew copies those driving physics ( currently, the crew's car look way too stiff)

 

[Setsuna]

i liked gta4 driving the most so many things you can pull off that you couldnt in other games

i could just cruise around the city benig chased by cops and be practically untouched except for the occasional slip up of overestimating turns and traffic

 

[lil smoke]

The cars that are supposed to drive like crap...surprisingly enough....


Unfortunately they far outnumber the cars that are ok to drive. But I guess that's part of the point. I get really protective of my sports cars, caring where they're parked and all of that.

One of my favorite parts of the game. Has anything been said about garages this time?

 

[sant]

I found it to be just challenging enough to be entertaining.

 

[matrix-cat]

One of my favorite parts of the game. Has anything been said about garages this time?

They showed a huge ten car garage in the new multiplayer trailer, and it brought a tear to my GTA veteran eye. I've had so much frustration in the past with garages eating my cars (especially that hangar in San Andreas that should have held about thirty cars but wouldn't save anything over four). Hopefully that'll make it into the singleplayer, too.

 

[SF-02]

I've never taken to GTA driving in any iteration. I far prefer the handling in just about every Driver game. Driver San Francisco had pretty much perfect handling. The cars in Mafia 2 were great as well. Saints Row games are not great driving wise - a bit like GTA.

 

[Jay Sosa]

I see, today is opposite day. So I'll join the fun: GTA 4 driving mechanics were absolutely brilliant, it's great that every car feels like a tank, really adds to the enjoyment.

Spoiler

And don't give that realism crap. I've been driving for over 15 years now. not a single fucking car I've ever driven has handled as horribly as any car in GTA 4.

 

[Max Armstrong]

What I get from this thread is that either it was amazing or awful, and most people that said it was awful just don't seem to know how to play it properly. Camera too slow? Too slippery? The fuck are you guys doing?

 

[bj00rn_]

The change from the earlier GTAs was the first thing I noticed, and I loved it. The only thing I'd improve is that once you start to skid and fishtail, it can often be hard to correct it via countersteer.

 

[RulkezX]

Care to elaborate? Garbage trucks are slow and take forever to turn, so I'm not sure what you mean by that. I mean, when you're driving a Comet, it feels like a Garbage Truck?

Exactly what I meant.

All but a few cars felt too heavy and handled like like crap. It took away all the fun of getting a wanted rating and blasting round the map avoiding getting caught.

 

[LAA]

Hated it in GTAIV, to the point where I felt the classic GTA I loved was ruined.
No longer about having fun and driving.

I dont know, maybe I just dont get the controls, maybe I'll feel different if I mastered it.

How does one accurately drive around a corner without slamming into the opposite building or spinning out of control?

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

GTA IV perfected it.

Gta 4 it was awful garbage.

 

[Row]

Spoiler

And don't give that realism crap. I've been driving for over 15 years now. not a single fucking car I've ever driven has handled as horribly as any car in GTA 4.

Im sure you drove in game just like you do in real life to be able to claim that, i mean surely you never went above 25mph or so right?

 

[UrbanRats]

What I get from this thread is that either it was amazing or awful, and most people that said it was awful just don't seem to know how to play it properly. Camera too slow? Too slippery? The fuck are you guys doing?

Some games like Saint's Row or even Sleeping Dogs, give you the handbrake button as a magic 90° turn, at whatever speed.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

incredibly fun driving the cars in gta4. the cars and just driving around and looking at the city, exploring, kept me playing gta4 for an insane amount of hours. never just drove around in a gta before, well except for the first two/three, but those weren't exactly a joy to drive around in. but there wasn't really anything else going on either, hehe. every single gta3 era gta was just point to point driving for me, in gta4 I was cruising around for hours ignoring the story and the phone garbage.

but only the cars in gta4 were good. boats, motorbikes, and helos were just as lifeless, weightless and "digital" in their controls as any vehicle in gta3/vc/sa.

Unfortunately they far outnumber the cars that are ok to drive. But I guess that's part of the point. I get really protective of my sports cars, caring where they're parked and all of that.

it's really too bad you can't buy a huge place to park and store or display cars in gta4. that would have been great. a huge private showroom/parking garage where you could store and park like 20 cars or more would have been awesome.

 

[Derrick01]

incredibly fun driving the cars in gta4. the cars and just driving around and looking at the city, exploring, kept me playing gta4 for an insane amount of hours. never just drove around in a gta before, well except for the first two/three, but those weren't exactly a joy to drive around in. but there wasn't really anything else going on either, hehe. every single gta3 era gta was just point to point driving for me, in gta4 I was cruising around for hours ignoring the story and the phone garbage.

but only the cars in gta4 were good. boats, motorbikes, and helos were just as lifeless, weightless and "digital" in their controls as any vehicle in gta3/vc/sa.

I wish the helicopters in 4 handled like the ones in SA. I can't seem to turn or land without playing pinball with every nearby object. It's so bad that my friends mock me when we play.

 

[szaromir]

Driving in the GTA series quite enjoyable, which is further pronounced by the fact that other gameplay mechanics (on-foot walking, hand to hand combat, shooting, flying vehicles, mini-games) are downright terrible.

 

[lil smoke]

I've had so much frustration in the past with garages eating my cars (especially that hangar in San Andreas that should have held about thirty cars but wouldn't save anything over four). Hopefully that'll make it into the singleplayer, too.

ha those were the days! Hijacking and respraying 'stolen' garage cars (and planes)

 

[petethepanda]

4's driving absolutely made the game for me. It doesn't feel "real," but it feels real enough while still staying gamey that it's unlike absolutely anything else out there. Every time you get in a car it feels different. Very worried 5 is throwing all that out the window.

 

[sunnz]

incredibly fun driving the cars in gta4. the cars and just driving around and looking at the city, exploring, kept me playing gta4 for an insane amount of hours. never just drove around in a gta before, well except for the first two/three, but those weren't exactly a joy to drive around in. but there wasn't really anything else going on either, hehe. every single gta3 era gta was just point to point driving for me, in gta4 I was cruising around for hours ignoring the story and the phone garbage.

but only the cars in gta4 were good. boats, motorbikes, and helos were just as lifeless, weightless and "digital" in their controls as any vehicle in gta3/vc/sa.

I probably put over 500 hours into GTA IV and without the driving physics, I doubt it would even be near 100.

Just driving around and racing made the experience so good.
I personally don't have a problem with the motorbikes but the boats are boring.

But I LOOOVED the helicopters, so fun to fly.

 

[terrible]

Gta 4 - crashing is better than driving
All other gtas - driving is better than crashing.

Haha pretty much. The crashes in GTA IV are amazing.

There's way too much understeer and it's really hard to maintain control if you use the e-brake at high speed so you just end up slowing down a ton when cornering but I don't mind.

I probably put over 500 hours into GTA IV and without the driving physics, I doubt it would even be near 100.

Just driving around and racing made the experience so good.
I personally don't have a problem with the motorbikes but the boats are boring.

But I LOOOVED the helicopters, so fun to drive.

The choppers actually bothered me. I guess I'm too used to BF2 and BF3 chopper controls. The helicopters in GTA IV were so limited because of the controls.

 

[Arkham]

Bring back the d-pad option for steering. It was amazing at high speeds.

 

[stargateheaven]

The fuck is going on in this video?
Anyway, the camera was too low, that was my only problem with it.
I hate it when in driving games the camera is always perfectly centered behind the car (i think Gran Turismo does this) because it makes the car looks like a sticker on the screen, like the hands in an FPS.
Turns me off completely.

this was my issue.. i had to constantly slightly tilt the right stick to keep a higher angle..
really, they should of just been an option for camera angle that could be adjusted.

 

[Rekki-Maru]

cruising around felt good, but for chases it could get sloppy if you were in the wrong car. roman's taxi, hit them tight corners like a forklift.

 

[matrix-cat]

But I LOOOVED the helicopters, so fun to drive.

Mah man. I loved the choppers in GTA IV. I've always loved flying in GTA, way back to the Dodo in III, and I spent hours hurling helicopters through the city in IV. They're feel much the same as the ones in the PS2 games, just faster and more manoeuvrable. You could really get those suckers to dive, and I loved swooping around under bridges.

They actually introduced two new choppers in Gay Tony that had completely new physics, while the ones from the main game stayed the same, so it was weird flipping between the two. The newer ones are less inclined to yaw while rolling so you need to use more rudder, but I like flying both of them.

 

[Azriell]

GTA III's driving was the worst. Vice City and San Andreas was arcade perfection. GTA IV's was terrible. Instead of realistic IV felt overly extreme, with cars taking too long to stop and fish-tailing too easily.

It does amaze me how many people have the opposite opinion. When I played those games, I thought everyone would see eye-to-eye, and couldn't imagine why Rockstar would do it. It makes more sense when you know how split the audience is.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

GTA IV sucked balls but then again Sleeping Dogs and Saints Row III sucked even more balls.

And you only understand how much they suck when you play Driver: San Francisco

 

[lostsupper]

GTAIV was a huge step up from previous games. The closer the driving gets to simulation, the happier I'll be.

 

[Seanspeed]

All cars understeered way too much, almost felt like being on ICE, but the physics engine was pretty good for an open world game like GTA. Just needed some tweaks.

This. People who play proper racing games know whats up.

 

[whitehawk]

GTA IV has better driving than most racing games.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

I probably put over 500 hours into GTA IV and without the driving physics, I doubt it would even be near 100.

hehe, same here. exactly the same. the driving and the replay video editing on pc made the game for me. I played through the campaign twice on the regular game, and halfway through both expansions or so, but I doubt that's even 100 hrs yeah.

They actually introduced two new choppers in Gay Tony that had completely new physics, while the ones from the main game stayed the same, so it was weird flipping between the two. The newer ones are less inclined to yaw while rolling so you need to use more rudder, but I like flying both of them.

hm. OK. I don't even remember if I've tried those other copters. guess I have an appointment with LC

 

[LCGeek]

Love it. GTA 4 with or without modding to is extremely nice for an open world game. Thought we had a on topic on this already, but next to mafia's driving can't think of anything I would rather have.

 

[matrix-cat]

GTA III's driving was the worst. Vice City and San Andreas was arcade perfection. GTA IV's was terrible. Instead of realistic IV felt overly extreme, with cars taking too long to stop and fish-tailing too easily.

It does amaze me how many people have the opposite opinion. When I played those games, I thought everyone would see eye-to-eye, and couldn't imagine why Rockstar would do it. It makes more sense when you know how split the audience is.

See, I'd say III and VC's driving physics were almost, if not exactly identical, while San Andreas ruined it with a really terrible balance between arcade and sim. Cars were heavy and slow off the mark, but would spin out like toys if you even clipped a lightpost. The traffic AI seemed like it was specifically designed to block you so you couldn't get moving again when you crashed, and highways were like the Twilight Zone. It felt like the game would shift into some kind of alternate mode where all the traffic around you was tethered to you, so you'd have tractors matching your speed and awful PS2 motion-blurring. After hundreds of hours in III and VC, I was never able to enjoy SA's driving physics.

 

[Alcoholikaust]

still best driving physics in an open world game

I love just cause, mafia, and the saints row games but the driving was vastly superior in all
of the gta games (post gta3).

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Could not disagree more. The driving in Saints Row feels cheap. Like it's not even trying to be a challenge.

There's a challenge, then there's being frustrating and just plain not fun to play due to some insistence on realism (real cars don't handle like that by the way). Also, to someone above... yes, lots of people complaining about IV's driving must be because they were all playing it "wrong", can't be just a poorly designed mechanic. Love that one.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

Driving in 4 was godlike, hopefully 5 is similar

 

[Delicious Waffles]

GTA IV perfected it. The cars feel weighty and handle nicely. I don't get the "slippery" complaints, as other games like Sleeping Dogs and Saint's Row resemble that.

First post nails it.

 

[Cizeta-Moroder]

Always been good.

 

[theDeeDubs]

Probably had the worst driving mechanics I've ever experienced. It had a terrible camera and ridiculous suspension. Felt like driving a hover boat. Even Nico walked around like he was taking corners on a motorcycle.