Preference - Vehicle Physics - Pedal to the Metal - Easily Stay in Full Control, Or Not?

I'm firmly in the camp of appreciators of being handed power beyond my control, if I unwisely decide to unleash it carelessly. I have a hard time understanding the preference for super shallow vehicular physics as seen in games like Saints Row. Hell - The Third had only two levels of throttle. Little and full throttle. Drove me up the walls.

I'm having trouble with the car races in gta5, but then again, I never play racing games so I'm not very good at them. Some more control would be nice, but it's not excactly a sticking point.

It's all about using the whole range of the analog triggers. As loing as flooring the pedal is a choice and not the default, you'll learn to perfectly keep your vehicles under your control. It just takes a little more effort, but effectively, it allows for much more fine control than simpler driving models do.

The high risk of losing control makes it all the more rewarding not to.

Depends on the game. If I'm playing a racing sim, I want the cars to be realistic. But in an open world game, I like arcade-y controls that cater to my crazy driving antics instead of realistic physics and stuff.

GTA V's handling is mostly fine. GTA IV's handling isn't realistic at all. All of the cars feel like they've got an extra ton of shit in the back and they fishtail like crazy; this isn't really all that fun. GTA V keeps some sense of weight, fortunately, so jumping and crashing into things still looks and feels cool, though I do wish that I could have kept a little more control of my car.

If you're not out of control, you're not in control.

I like to hold down the accelerator and feel like if I make a wrong move, something's going to get fucked up.

First race I did in GTA V, I was in first, hauling ass, and hit Franklin's ability for a turn. Turned way too early, slammed into this wall thing by the rails, shot out the front window and went face-first into a light pole, insta-killing me.

Edit: Not to say I don't like arcade-y stuff, I do enjoy Saints Rows' driving.

I remember loving the drunken careening of Burnout 3, so let's go with that.

I loved GTA IV's driving mechanics, mainly because sometimes you were forced to get the tail out to get round a corner at speed.

Saints row style is ok too, but I don't think it fits with GTA, I remember the old cheats for VC/SA, let you jump with an analog click, and U-turn on a dime, fun but once I tasted IV it's hard to like anything else

Realistic controls in an open world game would really suck for me. The best one I really had fun with were the ones from Sleeping Dogs they were just perfect for me. The ones in GTAV are ok and for me much much better than they were in 4.

I find that in any open world game where the cars are magnetized to the ground a la Saints Row or Sleeping Dogs the driving becomes pointless and might as well not be in there at all as it simply becomes padding and a mean to get from point A to point B without any challenge and possibility of failure. The inevitable chase scenes are also boring in those games because of that.

Loose control and kind of skittery and hoppy at full control. I think Forza Horizon handled it really well. With a really fast car at full speed it felt like the car was hopping around and barely under the control of the player. But there was enough control that if you were good enough you could control it. Here's a video of what that looks like. Skip to around 2 minutes.

I loved the driving in GTA IV and haven't play V jet but if they indeed made it more easy then that's a shame , it took a little bit of skill to drive the cars of IV and you don't always have the control of the car when considering inertia and weight even if it's a videogame (it's a videogame about driving stolen cars come on!), it was just more fun to drive arround. I guess I never had any trouble during missions that made me think there was something wrong with the handling, it just felt really organic but I'm sure they needed to appease for those who just couldn't get into the driving or didn't learn the ins and outs of the car handling in the game.

The controls are fine, but I do find the damage model a little annoying. It seems cars are more fragile in V than IV. The slightest bump can render a car pretty much useless.

That seems like something somebody would say who has never driven stupidly, because cars feel exactly how they feel in GTA IV, when you do things with them they aren't meant to do. Like taking a turn at too high speeds, or trying to hit the breaks when flying around a corner at high speeds.

I've driven plenty stupidly in my mispent youth, and GTA IV is certainly more realistic than most *Real-Driving Simulators*, if you catch my drift.

People just don't expect to get called out on their bullshit by a game. GTA IV's driving model expects players to take driving seriously. Too many seemed to have lacked the necessary capacity of taking games that seriously. For shame, I say!

@jasonr86:

Forza Horizon looks so flippin' awesome. Been pushing that purchase back for so long, I guess I'll just have to hope Microsoft will have doubled down on it for Xbox One by the time I get one.

I get it!

But I agree with you on the driving in IV. I really enjoyed that - you had to slow down for turns, or else you'd spin out or slam into a wall or something.

Horizon is really amazing. It's just a ton of fun. The main Forza games are great for the sensation of driving precisely. Horizon is great for the sensation of just having fun (with maybe a little less precision). That video I linked to is basically how the 'boss fights' go in the game. You get in a really fast car, drive at insane speeds on a freeway, and try not to roll the car. It's awesome.

I like games with more realistic driving physics, there is a skill and focus that is required that most people are simply not willing to put up with and is much more satisfying when mastered. Games like Saints Row and Sleeping Dogs where it feels like the car is glued to the street mess me up because im not used to being able to take a 90 degree turn at 150 with the brakes on, it just feels wrong and unnatural to me.

And i enjoyed the driving in GTA4 alot. It did feel like driving a boat at times, but so long as you know how to drive it was fun going as fast as you could barely maintaining control.

Having full control at full throttle takes away any skill required in a driving game and also takes away the the speed/handling balance. I love racing games so I get more enjoyment out of more depth in the driving in most any game but If you are a person who finds the driving in a game like GTA tedious than having full control at full speed might be considered more fun for you.

As for the driving in GTA IV vs GTA V. I just finished playing through GTA IV right before I started 5 and throughout 4 you get used to the unique style of driving that game has, and when I started 5 I was immediately surprised how well it controlled and how much better it felt than 4. After watching the live stream I thought it was going to be difficult given how much Vinny was all over the place in any vehicle he drove.

If I want realistic car physics, I'll play a racing game. A lot of open world games is just drive to point A, get mission, drive to point B, start mission. I just want to get there as fast as possible with as little trouble.

If I want realistic car physics, I'll play a racing game. A lot of open world games is just drive to point A, get mission, drive to point B, start mission. I just want to get there as fast as possible with as little trouble.