Quick Look: Tour de France 2014

By supplements, they mean concentrated bull testosterone, right? That's how I refill my meter.

@spakkle: No kidding, I'm pretty surprised I could follow most of what's being explained by the game in the QL, based purely on my anime experience. Anime is educational! (^-^)

Naw dawg I know some French too, cousin.

I watched this entire QL, and Vinny is right. I deserve a salute! I didn't think anyone could make an interesting video game about Cycling for 45 minutes, and I was right.

Oh, the range of emotions Vinny and Alex bring out of me. I laughed, I cried, I felt extreme anger (like at Vinny's way of constantly swerving all over the road and pulling up the menus), I battled extreme boredom staring at the backs of dudes, I wondered if Vinny's color blindness allowed him to distinguish any of the teams or if he was just following random guys. Somehow, I think I am a better informed consumer for having watched this.

That was fun, but I'm exhausted just watching it.

I wonder if they should label where the videos come from, because there's a difference between Jeff and Dan perhaps not knowing what the Tour de France is, and Vinny pretending to be french, it's all about expectations :P.

@aagaard: Aye kinda new, I like it a lot. :)

Loving the video content of late, especially Vinny and Alex.

Now I'm looking back and wondering how many times I was completely oblivious to the "what time do you get off?" or some other variant comment. Was it always as casual as I tended to see it?

Perhaps some explanations for whom it may interest:

The 'Auto' hooking up mode is not just 'keep the pace' but it's using the other person as a shield against the wind, and drafting so you use up less energy. It's probably one of the most important things in cycling. You can do it with anyone, but when you are in a smaller group in the lead (like Alex was) you are expected to take a turn in front to make sure the group stays ahead of the peleton. You can even see the guy in front of Alex doing a gesture for someone else to take the lead.

The Peleton is indeed the largest group of riders.
The weird attacking phase in the middle of the stage happened because they arrived at a gate that gave bonus points to the first riders to pass through it.

Polka dot guy is not the captain, but the person who won the most points for climbing (that's why Vinny still went up the final climb so easily). There is also a green jersey for who got the most points, and of course the yellow jersy for who has the lowest overall time.

Also, at the people who say this is a horrible, boring video game.... ALL sports games are boring, even fake sports like wrestling lead to boring video games. Although this might not be a high quality game on a technical level, it does seem to capture what cycling is about pretty well.

Well anything by GB East so far has been uploaded by Vinny as it says under the video. It seems that Vinny can upload their videos straight from there HQ. Though weirdly while I was watching a video either today yesterday, I noticed that the GB site logo had changed and had something about GB East crudely drawn over it. HOWEVER, it's also possible I dreamed that...

High quality content from Giant Bomb East! Yes, the peleton is the big group of riders. The polka dot jersey is for the king of the mountain, who does best climbing hills.

Great quick look! As an introvert I can sympathize with Vinny's awkward attempts at socialising. I have zero perception of all the social rules that govern small talk so I get nervous and say the first thing that comes to mind; like some horrible bigoted nonsense. Hence I forgive Vinny for his ignorance of anything non italian. I blame Alex for making Vinny nervous :)

It seems like a really weird coincidence that they picked the same stage that the real tour completed on the same day it was uploaded. Alex also seems to have some affinity for danish riders picking 2 out of 3 among 198 riders.

Even if the graphics and level design are janky the gameplay seems to accurately represent the strategy for staged cycling. The sad thing is that strategies seem irrelevant in endurance sports because they come down to who is the smallest guy with the most stamina most of the time. Americans are hypocritical as usual regarding doping in sports because all american sports e.g. baseball or basketball are totally free from any substance abuse.

I loved watching the Tour when I was a kid, nowadays it's just sad cause everybody cheats (as I'm sure was also the case back then)

Love how the draw distance is absolute shite and the people about 10m in front of you just disappear.

This sport is shown in the Eurosport channel for months each summer. I don't really understand the french people's affection to this though. Well, even here in Sweden, we have a few races, but nothing as long as this... they're riding a REALLY long way!

I can only imagine the sweat after a ride as this... "Why did I not picked up a redbull, WHY?"

I also think they sort of ride by some stations with things to eat... like VERY BRIEFLY!

*wheeeeee* *grabs food* "K,thnxforthegrub,Imustbegoiiiingg..." *wheeeeeee* *disappears in the distance*

As someone who used to watch "The Tour" with my dad I can verify that this video is 100% informative and educational.

I'm surprised they covered this game, but am glad they did. As someone who's into cycling, I've been curious how this game is.

That was fascinating in the most inexplicable way. I watched the entire thing and was invested enough to be disappointed when you fell off the lead pack.

I cant imagine trying to play through the entire Tour de France.

So Vinny--- more mentally torturous.....Tour de France game or Bot Colony speech controls?

Why is any joke involving accent stereotypes automatically deemed racist? And French isn't a race, it's a nationality.

A silly imitation of a French accent is totally okay. But if you go off on a screed about French being cowards and smelly....now that would be offensive.

I always feel that when people go THAT'S RACIST at inconsequential things as a joke, it's a slap in the face against people who experience real racism.

Man, Alex and Vinny make a good team!

I think i enjoyed this video a lot more than i should have :I

Somehow even without paying attention Vinny managed to accidently choose one of the best riders he could've for the stage they were playing!

Vinny: "I'm in third place!"

Alex: "That doesn't really matter because we still have 144 kilometers to go"

Vinny: "What is that like half a mile?"

When people said Vinny and Alex would be an awesome pair for QLs I did not believe at first but man.. were they right or where they right?

Vinny found a way to hurt himself.

Loving the content Giant Bomb has put out this week. A good amount of videos, all pretty lengthy to boot. Keep'em coming.

When Vinny was talking about how to whip people with chains. Oh man. Road Rash 2015, it's happening!

Vinny and Alex made this palatable to watch for 50 minutes, but I can't imagine playing this for 2 hours.

I was sort of hoping this would be a Quick Look of the actual Tour... Still, pretty good? Is that the right word?

You can also bookmark this page.

I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE I WANT TO RIDE IT WHERE I LIIIIKKKEEEE

@nentisys said:

Absolutely!

I would have bet money on Drew being a part of this Quick Look. I would have lost.

This seems like a game that I could get into. It looks like there is more strategy to it than meets the eye. But I won't pay $50 for it.

I agree, although I think it's actually not too far from what a majority Europeans know about the Tour.

Why does this even exist? Bike enthusiasts just go biking and fat kids just play COD. Who would buy this crap?

I've noticed this on my DS3, when playing Dark Souls 2 my character would sometimes drink from the Estus Flask at random times when I was moving the sticks or pressing other buttons. It was rather disconcerting, to be honest.

Through no fault of Alex and Vinny, this QL has joined 1998's Godzilla as media I've intentionally tried to watch, fallen asleep during, and then said, "Yeah, I"m good" without even considering going back to watch the rest.

Press X to blood dope

I kind of zoned out for half of this QL.

Jesus. This is like dude butt simulator 2014.

Wh...why did I watch this? This might be the single worst piece of content ever produced on Giant Bomb.

Vinny and Alex's Bike Hour

50 USD? so about 1.50 €...that seems fair

I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like, it's got a basket, a bell that rings and things to make it look good.

I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it.

I feel like you could just make this in GTA Online if you wanted to and you'd at least have something nice to look at.

I can't believe I just watching this whole video. Wow. Why do I want to play it right now?

You guys have such good chemistry but you need to figure out a smoother way to get the Quick Looks started. I started this video with the intention of forgetting all my duties oh yeah. Unfortunately there were no fat bottomed girls riding today. I learned everything I know about road races from Yowamushi Pedal. Thanks for the quick look. It was hilarious.