izigame.me

12/23/2023: I believe that this studio is trying to make adjustments that will make this game stable and work well as intended at launch. I believe that this studio will need to make severe adjustments to the UI to make the game feel polished. I believe that this game has a physics system that has set the ground work for a really decent game.
I truly believe that this game can be great if the development team takes actions on the following items:
Race Length/Strategy: Every race feels way too short. I'm not sure exactly how to keep the racing interesting with longer racing - maybe just keep it to spec races or introduce 30-45 minute long races with expedited practice sessions. I think you spend WAY too much time waiting for the race to start. I think you can handle qualification by incorporating fastest track time with ghosts during the practice. It will require Turn10 to remove what ever bug allows players to put down an impossibly fast lap time by sitting on the starting line and skipping a lap but I suspect that should be fairly easy to fix... what do I know.
UI/QOL: It's unintuitive - you spend a lot of time sliding from one screen to another for the sake of sliding to another screen. A lot of the actions that take place in the game can be simplified to get to where you want to go without all kinds of additional steps. Something as simple as changing a vehicle in the middle of practice requires you to click exit, click quit practice, click tune, click select car... how about just tune and select car. Again, it doesn't sound like a lot of work to do the first one, but you need to remember that the screen goes black and goes to a montage of the car your currently driving in the pits. It's another load screen that I don't think really needs to be there.
Penalties: The penalty system is a bit of a mess. I've seen several occasions where a pile of cars get thrown off the track on the first turn and the only vehicles getting penalties are the folks that tried to avoid the collisions by slowing down and getting a little too far off the track. The person who pile drove the cars off the track tends to get very little for the crime and the others that are trying to be competitive in the corner pay the price. Severe penalties for VERY minimal track infractions while a pit maneuver gets you a better position on the track. Not always but often enough.
FPS on PC: FPS cap on PC for multiplayer is not right. Also, the odd FPS drop at random times is extremely frustrating and should be something that is addressed as soon as possible.
Upgrades: The system has to go. It takes absolutely forever to get a vehicle to a position to make it viable to play against other drivers online. You will sit on a track for 45 minutes to an hour to get the vehicle to level 35-40 to have enough points to get to where you want to go. There are clear exceptions to this with regards to the "R" touring and true track vehicles but anything that is commercially available will take an hour of your time to find out if it's even viable for the PI (performance index) you want to try and race with. Also, it might be a good idea to think about a quick upgrade system that takes into account the PI you're trying to target - not apply as many upgrades as possible with the "points" you have from practicing with the vehicle. Forza gives out plenty of money. Let us use it to upgrade the vehicles.
I think the car models need some polish and I truly wish the campaign of the game would be adjusted in a way to make it interesting in almost any way possible. It feels extremely rushed, disinterested, and flat out boring. It doesn't feel as if there is anything interesting going on. I'm just a dude with unlimited access to 500+ vehicles... that's it. I've finished them all and I can't think of a single memorable race/time playing it. The races are far too short and the AI are Neanderthals - even when pumped up to "8", the hardest setting.
Overall, it's been a trip playing through some of the worst racing this series has ever had to offer. The positive news is that it is starting to get better. It has MUCH further to go to get to anywhere near what one would expect for a development cycle that took six years. I truly hope that Turn10 learned a VERY valuable lesson from this experience and work towards fixing the unbelievable amount of bad blood that they've created with their simcade community. Updates need to continue to roll out and they need to roll out much faster than they are right now. The baseline required stability is here now so that is good, but this needs a LOT of polish.
UPDATE - 12/10/2023: Things have started to be adjusted on the back end. The game is STARTING to feel a little bit better with the load screens and the transitions from menu to menu. There is still a lot of work to do on this game but I can sense that the folks back at HQ are starting to get this game under control.
I might add that having open class races that actually feel like races is coming off as extremely refreshing. I still think the spec races are good but to be able to get the cars maxed out (most of the time) on tuning is very nice.
I'm not ready to adjust this to a recommend just yet but this is definitely on it's way. The penalty system is still janky and there is still the initial contact at the first and second corners, but at least the game is starting to play like I suspected it was meant to.
Turn10 - still plenty of work but the adjustments are in the right direction.
(See, I can be nice)
UPDATE - 11/28/2023: TURN10 HAS LISTENED! NICE! This week the folks who paid way too much for this game get to compete in CLASS E for the open class and CLASSIC GRAND TOUR. That's right. For an entire week, you get to travel at >100 MPH races if you decide to participate.
I would be happy to work for you folks as a community manager to be an intermediary between players and your staff. Clearly Turn10 cannot read the room when it comes to what we want.
At least I'll be on vacation so I get to miss the week of garbage. Still don't buy this hot pile of shit.
UPDATE - 11/25/2023: Most folks have figured out the broken penalty system and have taken advantage of giving slight bumps when heavy turning in corners. If you don't get pulverized in the first corner and you're up front... you'll probably do just fine. Go ahead, put down that hot lap in qualifying... I feel it just puts a bullseye on your back and will likely lead to coming in middle pack. I love the 30 minutes in between the beginning of practice and the start of the race. It's a great time to reflect on the last 30 minutes of my life and my accomplishments for pole position - all to get rail roaded up my ass by someone in 8th who doesn't give a damn because there is a wall of cars to bounce off of in front of them.
Seriously, I love updating this review because it helps me let off some steam about a racing series I grew up on but this is a complete shit show. I get to wait weeks at a time in the hopes of racing an S or R class in the open series.
Remember kids, there will only be two to three competitive cars that you'll have to spend half a day ranking up to see if they're competitive.
I'm not sure who the hell made these decisions but they need to be fired, immediately. Also, give us a god damn way to get into races quickly. If I'm going to get stretch marks on my ass cheeks in the first corner, at least make it so I don't have to wait 30 minutes to do so.
Fix the penalty system so folks spinning people out get crucified with time penalties. You seem to destroy anyone that dares have a mm of their third or four tire off the track but god forbid you spin someone... either no penalty or .050 for a minor collision.
Fucking shitshow. DID ANYONE ACTUALLY PLAY TEST THIS FUCKING ********** BEFORE YOU SENT IT OUT?
UPDATE - 11/22/2023: ... LOADING, PLEASE WAIT