Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed

Porsche is on parade and in vogue in "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed." This title grants you the opportunity to race Porsche models from the past and present (at their time). You can even buy and modify Porsches to win races and championships. In my view, this was the last great NFS. Get ready for a blog post about a more mature Need for Speed title than any of the previous NFS titles.

This blog post primarily concerns the PC version of "NFS: Porsche Unleashed," but it is also available for the PlayStation 1 and even the Game Boy Advance. It is an edited version of a past post initially posted in my main blog- John's Blog Space.

--- "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed" at a Glance ---

No one auto maker exudes performance, charm, and character quite like Porsche; and "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed," is the ultimate gift for any Porsche-loving fan. I personally argue this is one of the last great classic Need for Speed titles. You only race Porsches. You only tune Porsches. You only collect Porsches. No expense was spared in providing the ultimate experience with Porsche in the realm of the Need for Speed realm. While you may think NFS is usually about Hollywood-style action, this is a more mature Need for Speed.

Cars.

This Need for Speed is a huge diversion from the arcade-style thrills of past NFS games. This is a more mature (as in not being arcadish), quasi-simulation title featuring many Porsches. It does a great job of sorting out Porsches by having you race through three distinct eras of Porsche history- Classic Era, Golden Era, and Modern Era. Each era of Porsche will allow you to race the latest (in their day) Porsche models. The Classic Era features some of the very first Porsche models, starting out with the Porsche 356 models. The Golden Era showcases some of the finest road-going Porsches of their time. The Modern Era features some of the hottest (at their time) current Porsche models ranging from the 911 range up to the Boxster and the super-fast Porsche 911 GT1.

Tracks.

"NFS: Porsche Unleashed" is almost basically European-exclusive even in tracks. The courses are a mix of open circuits (some with multiple routes) and closed circuits. The variety is unique ranging from traditional European country drives to urban locales. All can be raced in the normal direction or in reverse.

Factory Driver.

If you prefer to test your driving skills, try the Factory Driver mode, where you are a Porsche factory driver taking on various tasks and orders. These orders range from testing out cars to delivering cars across a certain location without getting into trouble.


As mentioned before, there is no shortage of things you can do in this game. Read on for more on "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed."

--- Cars of "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed" ---

Unlike other NFS titles, you exclusively race, tune, and even modify Porsches. This game allows you to set up some quick races with any number of available Porsche models. The real merit of this game lies in getting these cars in Evolution mode.

Any Porsche in this game can be glanced upon and opened. You can open the doors, let down any convertible tops, open the trunk/boot, open the front hood/bonnet, and even get inside the car. The game allows you a level of immersion never made possible in almost any game before it.

While you can purchase cars as new, you can find some damaged Porsches for lower prices. You will need to pay a good price to have them fully repaired. You can even sell your own Porsche in the game. All you have to do is set the price for someone to sell it. I recommend selling your Porsche for its current price rather than ask for something too high.

You can gain an edge in races by purchasing parts for your Porsche. Purchasing parts and upgrades for your Porsche allows you to improve its performance and do a better job in races. You can equip parts for your car for competition in races. Parts can even be sold if you're strapped for cash in the game.

With almost any car you own in the game, you can customize its appearance. You can give your car a new set of wheels, a certain livery, change the colors of it, and more. It's YOUR Porsche- do what you want with it with the options available!

--- Tracks of "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed" ---

The game only has four courses when you start out, but more will be available as you progress through the game. These tracks consist of both open-road courses and closed-circuit tracks. The tracks can be raced normally or in the reverse direction, and you can choose toggle traffic on or off for each course. The game almost exclusively takes place in Europe on European tracks, and mostly either in France or Germany, including the city-state of Monaco. Here are four of the many courses offered:

Côte d'Azur.

Not to be confused with the Côte d'Azur of the Gran Turismo games, this is a country drive through a lovely French setting at sunset. It is an open-road course rated at Beginner difficulty. Enjoy this coastal drive that takes you through a village and even features undulating roads with large hill and mountain walls outlining most of the course.

Normandie.

Here is another lovely French setting at sunset at Beginner difficulty. Among its highlights are its lovely Fall/Autumn setting and the forest setting. It features a lovely country drive that includes a little drive through a village and some industrial land.

Pyrénées.

This Advanced level course is a tricky open circuit run in the daytime. This southern France course can be tricky to master. Some of its highlights include forests with some alternative roads (including dirt roads) to drive on. There is also some farm land that accentuates some of this venue. In fact, I am almost certain this is a venue that features some land suitable for making wine. After all, the French are known for making fine wine. It is yet another humble country drive with a beautiful mountain range in the distance.

Monte Carlo 3.

"NFS: Porsche Unleashed" does NOT feature the Monaco Grand Prix course Formula 1 races. However, you can still race in this lovely city at night. It is an Expert-rated course designed to test you in every way possible.


You can race more tracks by progressing through the game. One other track I will make a brief preview of is Zone Industrielle- a difficult urban open course run in an industrial sector of a city on a stormy evening.

--- "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed" - Factory Driver ---

Try out these challenges for Porsche Unleashed. Factory Driver features you driving many different Porsches while taking on certain objectives. You will be asked to do everything from testing out certain Porsches to performing delivery tasks. Completing the tasks successfully will give you more challenging ones.

--- "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed" Final Thoughts ---

While not an overly exciting NFS title, Porsche Unleashed is a title you can't help but appreciate for its focus on a certain marque. Maybe my only complaint is that I wished more Porsche race cars would be featured. I think it's pretty disappointing to just focus so much on road-going Porsches and not feature more racing Porsches. After all, Porsches are racing machines. They have been vastly established in motorsports as much as they have been in road-going cars. It is the ONLY thing I would change about this game if I were in charge of "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed." Otherwise, it may just be the greatest racing game devoted to one specific auto maker ever created. The fact this game was in 2000 doesn't take away from the fact it has gorgeous graphics and visuals that are still lovely to this day. Anyone who even remotely cares about sports cars should give "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed" a try.

Video Preview.

This is the PC version of "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed." I hope you enjoy this video to gain some insight on this title:


^ "Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed (PC) Gameplay"


Thank you for reading my blog post on "NFS: Porsche Unleashed!"

--- Personal Commentary on Featuring Porsche (Bonus!) ---

Here is some bonus reading from me regarding Porsche.

Personal Commentary on Featuring Porsche.

If you ask me personally, this is Electronic Arts' best utilization of their Porsche for as long as EA games have featured Porsche. They haven't done much a damn thing since except produce mostly substandard racing games with Porsche. This is basically EA saying "we don't care if you think we make crappy racing games with the Porsche license. We're Electronic Arts, damn you!" The grubby exclusive contract of Porsche has led certain other developers to not be able to fully utilize featuring Porsche. That was the fate as Turn 10, the creators of the Forza Motorsport series, had to settle for Ruf in Forza Motorsport 4. This is even though Turn 10 had a good deal going for the previous three Forza titles using Porsche. This time, they just decide to not give Forza fans Porsche. Porsche would eventually find their way into Forza Motorsport 4 through downloadable content. But still, EA has done next to nothing being greedy as the exclusive contract holder of Porsche.

On the other hand, why have an exclusive contract to offer to a game developer? By saying you offer an exclusive contract, you are saying that only one company is best equipped and able to feature a certain company (let alone a car company) and its products. You would fear for some no-talent game developer would take a certain car company's products and make toilet bowl-worthy games with that license. All due respect to Electronic Arts, but what good has EA done with the Porsche license? Why not offer usage of Porsche automobiles to other developers, like... I don't know, Polyphony Digital? Maybe SimBin? At least these are worthy and talented developers who can use such car companies to enhance the scope of cars featured in the respective companies' racing franchises. But... I guess EA seemed to be the ones best able to somehow feature and continually feature Porsche products. At least, to Porsche (or whomever is behind EA getting an exclusive contract with Porsche).

If you really want to make good use of featuring Porsche in games, why not make something like a Porsche Cup game or something? How about some racing games highlighting Porsche's racing history as well as their road car history? Even "Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli" did a semi-decent job at highlighting the Ferrari Challenge and several different Ferraris in history. "NFS: Porsche Unleashed" did a great job highlighting on Porsches past and present.

What If: "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed 2?"

As much as I'd be inclined to see it happen, there are two reasons why this would never happen- (1) racing game culture has changed as a whole, and (2) a game like this probably wouldn't be as successful in this climate of racing games. Most games highlighting one specific auto maker just doesn't bear as much weight and as much significance as back then. Today's racing game culture is more along the lines of featuring as many cars from as many different auto makers as possible. Take my Porsche Cup example from the previous section. People can still make great Porsche Cup mods (like for rFactor), but could EA make a competent enough Porsche Cup game? I don't think even Slightly Mad Studios (the people behind the "NFS: Shift" series) could even come up with a decent model. The Need for Speed series is all about intense arcade-style racing, and I don't think you can really do Porsche justice by featuring their cars in a setting like what most NFS games deliver.

A more dedicated developer would probably do a better job showcasing Porsche in such a positive light as what "NFS: Porsche Unleashed" did in 2000. NFS is now just too far off-base from what the classic NFS titles have offered to its fans. More care for NFS is in Hollywood action and illegal street racing (including the recently-released "Need for Speed: The Run") than the simple joy of racing a car in anger to its limits. This is even more reason to care about "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed" if you are a classic racing gamer and a purist of NFS' past.





Do you want to buy this game? Help support my work by getting this game on Amazon. Here are your choices:



"Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed" for PC, PlayStation 1, and Game Boy Advance.



^ Need for Speed Collection for PC (which includes "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed.")


I would appreciate your business if you did some (voluntary) shopping.

--- NFS Collection: A Special Note ---

Before I conclude this post, I must bring something up.

Here is one thing I want to say regarding the NFS Collection. I've reviewed every title in the NFS collection package (NFS2: SE, NFS3: Hot Pursuit, NFS: High Stakes, and NFS: Porsche Unleashed) except "Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2." I had bought this collection years ago. "NFS: Hot Pursuit 2" comes with a code for you to play that game. I had lost my code for that game long ago, so I will be unable to review that game for all of you. It wouldn't make sense to talk about a game I've played illegally. So therefore, I won't discuss "Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2" unless I really get a proper version of the game and have played enough of it to properly review it.





Otherwise, thank you for reading this post!

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Forza Motorsport Thoughts

(UPDATED: July 25, 2013)

Since my JGTS announcement, this first post marks my first post in the new direction of "John's Gran Turismo Space." The best racing game franchise not named Gran Turismo is Forza Motorsport for the XBOX consoles. Long considered the principal rival of the Gran Turismo series among many racing game faithful, Forza Motorsport is a racing game series very much proud of being very fan-driven.

Most of what you are going to see is my own personal introduction to the Forza Motorsport series as I will introduce topics to, of, and related to Forza Motorsport among the many topics here. Get ready for a lot of commentary and thoughts on this series.

LATEST UPDATE(S)/REVISION(S):

JUL 25 2013 - added extra section, added video, edited closing table

About the Label: "Forza Motorsport"

Even though this blog is about Gran Turismo and Tourist Trophy, part of the new direction of JGTS is in providing other racing game content in addition to GT. Posts under this label feature topics regarding the Forza Motorsport series. These are topics of and related Forza Motorsport and the Forza Motorsport series. Posts under this label also consist of Forza Horizon.

--- Forza Motorsport in General ---

The Forza Motorsport series was born in 2004 for the original XBOX. This game series was seen as a title that was a worthy contender to the Gran Turismo series even though GT is not on any XBOX console or Forza on any PlayStation console. Reception for the series has been positive over the years for the Forza Motorsport series and for good reason. Some people look at the Forza Motorsport series as the anti-Gran Turismo. The series features a number of elements that Gran Turismo games lack or have lacked previously- damage, paint/livery, and online play among others. In fact, the disappointment of certain factors regarding Gran Turismo 4- namely online play- have led some to defect to the Forza Motorsport series when the first game was released. As more and people began to appreciate what all the Forza Motorsport series had to offer, it became plain as day that FM is the truth. A commercial for Forza 1 even noted one magazine saying this game is "better than Gran Turismo 4."

The man behind the Forza Motorsport series is creative director Dan Greenawalt. He is to Forza as Kazunori Yamauchi is to Gran Turismo. His Turn 10 Studios is to Forza as Polyphony Digital is to Gran Turismo. Forza was designed more like a racing game series XBOX gamers can be proud of. Most of its inspiration comes from the Gran Turismo series. That's why in the past, I questioned whether Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport are true rivals. FM is only a Gran Turismo rival if you think FM copied lots of things from GT to make itself better. And... you'd be dead wrong- Forza is completely original. Well, maybe except the biting of the New York City tracks.

If there is one thing Forza Motorsport does well, it's establish a proper connect to the cars and the racing you do. Continually racing a certain make of car earns you some discounts with the loyalty and affinity you earn in races. Keeping a connection between cars and racing is very important to me because it makes you feel like you actually care about racing the certain cars in the game and not feel like you're racing certain makes of cars just because you have to. The car choices and tuning options are incredible, allowing you to make your cars YOUR cars. Having this sort of freedom and control can be great to showcase especially when online.

I know my Gran Turismo fans couldn't care less about a series like Forza Motorsport. In this blog post, and with the new direction of this blog, I will surely discuss this series professionally and with class to my readers.

--- Forza Motorsport: My Thoughts ---

These are general thoughts of mine regarding the Forza Motorsport series. You are free to have a look at some of my basic thoughts on FM.

General Thoughts and My Experience.

I have only played Forza Motorsport 1 at a kiosk at a mall. I have played the demo to Forza Motorsport 2, and I played the Forza Motorsport 4 demo. NEVER touched FM3 in any capacity.

Here is my Forza Motorsport story. When I first heard of Forza Motorsport, I wanted to play it because my friends over on GTPlanet.net had a thread on Forza Motorsport. I played the demo to Forza Motorsport 1 at a Wal-Mart store. After getting roughed up by the AI, I was thinking... really? THIS is better than Gran Turismo? I failed to see exactly what made this game even remotely or potentially better than Gran Turismo. FM1 was ugly and had bad AI, yet people complained over Gran Turismo's AI. Even the fact you could play this online didn't mean the computer AI has to be intentionally bad. So I couldn't help but laugh when people thought of Forza as being better than GT.

Even more frustrating was how people could say that Forza Motorsport was better than GT in the car department as well. I do admit the sounds are worlds better in Forza than in Gran Turismo. What angered me was how people hated Gran Turismo didn't have world-class manufacturers like Forza does. I mean, is Alfa Romeo a world-class brand? What about Mercedes-Benz? Mainly, the ones who complained about GT's lineup were those who felt Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini are all very important to feature in a racing game. While the first Forza didn't have Lamborghini (it would debut in FM2), Ferrari and Porsche were still included. Those two marques alone meant FM (to most people) is more worth playing than any Gran Turismo.

Over time, I got to eventually appreciate and respect Forza Motorsport. I began to love the variety of races and cars as well as the entire suite of tuning options. It felt like I could make my cars MY cars. The environment of Forza games is well-tailored to many a gamer with its options ranging from driver aids to difficulty settings. My dislike turned into respect. And to this day, I fully respect the Forza Motorsport series as a gaming fan- let alone a racing game fan. I even sometimes think about aspects of Forza Motorsport that could make Gran Turismo games better.

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW... Part of my ambition to take this new direction of "John's Gran Turismo Space" was to offer topics and discussion of other racing games. Part of that ambition was to discuss Forza, because there are some interesting topics and discussions I feel I could contribute to this game and to this blog.

So NOW go call me a Gran Turismo "fanboy" after having read this! Dare you...

--- Forza Motorsport: Why Bother? ---

I feel my GT readers may be given a disservice by talking about another racing game. However, there is a reason why I am featuring certain other racing games along with my GT discussion. One such reason is because I want to discuss more racing games as well as aspects of racing games. So let me give you reasons to care about Forza.

Why bother about this series? Here is a breakdown:

Why Bother? - Cars.

The most common complaints regarding Gran Turismo was the lack of interesting cars. Forza Motorsport has delivered on a combination of daily drivers and high-end sports cars, and it also includes a handful of racing machines. I've read all in my time on GTPlanet where people complained about GT4 having 50 Nissan Skylines/GT-Rs and 25 Mitsubishi Lancers, most of them complaining of a lack of world-class manufacturers (namely Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini). Some people may even complain of Japanese bias in Gran Turismo. Yet, hardly anyone complains of a mostly American bias in Forza.

Not only does Forza have a vast variety of cars (though not really to the mind-blowing number of cars in Gran Turismo games), the amount of detail both in the cars and in the tuning aspects are reasons to care.

Regardless, one can't complain too much about what cars Forza Motorsport games have to offer. It is as diverse a lineup as you can find. That is especially if you think the Kei cars shouldn't be in any racing game.

Why Bother? - Locations.

The many venues of Forza Motorsport encompass a certifiable world tour. To my knowledge, only Forza Motorsport 1 has featured tracks in South America (the streets of Rio de Janeiro) and Australia (Blue Mountain Raceway- inspired by the Mount Panorama Circuit (Bathurst)). Every other Forza has featured tracks from North America, Europe, and Japan. Forza Motorsport 1 has featured two point-to-point race tracks- Pacific Shipyards and Fujimi Kaido. You can race on the streets of New York City in Forza Motorsports 1 through 3, but the track seems to follow most of the same trail as New York from Gran Turismo 4 and Tourist Trophy. FM1 featured the streets of Tokyo, and it's completely original as it is much different from Tokyo Route 246 in Gran Turismo.

The signature racing course of Forza Motorsport is Maple Valley Raceway. According to FM4, this fictional track is based in New Hampshire. Its beautiful Fall/Autumn scenery and challenging elevation changes will test the metle of many a Forza driver.

Forza has a fair share of great real-world tracks. From the outset, Laguna Seca Raceway has long been featured among the real-world circuits. Other real-world courses include but not limited to: Road Atlanta, Road America, Silverstone, the Nürburgring (including the Nürburgring Nordschleife), Circuit de Catalunya, Mugello, Tsukuba, and Suzuka among others.

There have also been more locations of various testing-type courses, such as

Why Bother? - Tuning and Customization.

Forza Motorsport has always featured robust tuning suites that surpass Gran Turismo's models. Tuning comes in the form of many exterior and interior options. I remember from the very first FM tuning outside options ranging from car color to even the color of the windows and the glass. Some people have made builds of cars in Forza Motorsport 4 that far surpass almost anything you could do in any Gran Turismo. The customization aspect alone is enough reason to even remotely care about Forza, not to mention wishing you could perform the same sort of customization (or to a similar level) in a Gran Turismo.

Why Bother? - Racing.

For many people, the deal-maker is in being able to compete against either in-game AI or against XBOX Live opponents. You could even engage in an in-game career against XBOX Live opponents if you feel like you deserve better than in-game AI.

As for the variety of racing itself, Forza Motorsport seems to take itself more seriously than most of Gran Turismo's races. Having an actual set of races in various categories keeps things interesting. Gran Turismo games have a lot of One-Make races and nationality races. Forza did pretty well establishing sort of a rivalry system. For example, FM2 has a sort of rivalry series where you could race either a Camaro or a Mustang. One other series showcases the Impreza and the Lancer. Maybe if you're a more hardcore racer, you MAY be disappointed with the length of endurance races in Forza Motorsport.

Speaking of in-game AI, you can actually adjust the difficulty of the AI so you stand a better chance if you are not as adept. You may even use your Drivatar to compete in races you rather not compete in properly. The Drivatar is an AI driver that drives each car based on your level of driving skill. So it is almost as if it tries to be you in racing the way you normally would race. See where I'm getting at?


This is just a basic overview of as much as I know about Forza Motorsport through my own experiences.

--- What to Derive From This Post ---

While the Forza Motorsport series may not be overly welcome to feature in "John's Gran Turismo Space"- a blog about the Gran Turismo series and Tourist Trophy, the Forza Motorsport series still has a number of things to set itself apart and make you think how much better the Gran Turismo series can be. You can't always just think you are alone on top of the mountain. Others will try to reach the same summit you've reached and established long ago. I don't talk about series like Forza to say that Gran Turismo is bad or losing its touch. All I am saying is that the competition is there for a reason. After all, Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport are the two best console racing game franchises in history. Gran Turismo set the bar, and the Forza Motorsport series has reached and even surpassed that bar.

I just think Forza has a few fresh ideas and a few other things to make itself better than the Gran Turismo series. At some point, Gran Turismo will need to find new ways to enhance the franchise to keep it fresh while also remaining top dog in the racing game world. All the great gaming franchises know how to improve and show improvement- whether through minimal changes or leaps-and-bounds improvement. Look at the Mario games. Look at the Legend of Zelda. Look at the Street Fighter games. Look at the Sonic the Hedgehog games (in its heyday). If the Gran Turismo series could pick up on a number of things that made Forza become wildly popular and well-respected, GT will last longer and better in the long run. Gran Turismo shouldn't, however, try to copy Forza in certain respects. Sometimes, rivals can help you become better even if you feel you can't improve any further.

--- Forza Motorsport: Preview ---

I found this video on YouTube. You want video proof of what Forza Motorsport has to provide? This video will fill you in. Click on the link below the video to view on YouTube if you can not view embedded media:


^ "Forza Motorsport Series Intro
"

Now you have video proof of how this series has come along.

--- A Special Message (Bonus Section!) ---

I don't want my loyal GT fans to think I am turning this Gran Turismo blog into a Forza Motorsport blog. I simply want this blog to be an avenue for not just the Gran Turismo series and Tourist Trophy, but also because I feel this is my best avenue to discuss various racing games as well as Gran Turismo and Tourist Trophy. I don't want to give up on my blog and all I've worked for just to make a new blog. I could, but I want the most visibility. Look at it this way:

• Pizza Hut offers food like sandwiches and pastas besides just pizza.
• Nike offers more than just sneakers.
• Honda makes MUCH more than just automobiles and motorcycles.

So to me, this is about evolving a product and offering much more while still staying true or mostly true to its roots. This is still a Gran Turismo blog. I just choose to discuss other racing games as well as various other aspects of racing games. You could say this is a racing game variant of my main blog. Only instead of talking about almost any sort of issue that I can make a halfway decent blog post about, I chose to discuss racing games and aspects of racing games in addition to my Gran Turismo and Tourist Trophy content.

I hope you appreciate my efforts to evolve my content and offer a lot more different things that you may already love about me and my blogging.





This concludes the first post in my evolution of "John's Gran Turismo Space" and of my range of topics for JGTS. I hope to offer much more content to evolve this blog as much as possible. Thank you for reading!

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