GTA 4 has changed gamers' expectations

[wraggster]

Speaking to VideoGamer.com at a recent press event in London, Wheelman creative director Simon Woodroffe revealed that Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV has changed what gamers expect from an open world action title.

"Our game was already quite different, but GTA 4 moved the bar in terms of what people expected from an open-world driving game," said Woodroffe. "Before GTA 4, open-world driving games generally had more accessible, more arcade-like, handling. Even the previous GTAs were like that. But GTA IV moved the bar towards realism - even super-realism, you know?

Woodroffe noted that this change from easy Arcade-style vehicle handling to something more realistic dramatically affected the feedback he was getting on his game.

"At first I found it fairly frustrating, in comparison with Wheelman, but it was different enough to make us say, 'Look, people obviously want a more realistic experience. They don't want to be given things for free'. They want to feel like the ultimate driving hero, but they don't want to feel like they're being given it for nothing - otherwise there's no sense of accomplishment," Woodroffe explained. "We started to get feedback from our focus testers, within weeks of GTA 4 coming out, that the basic driving was dropping in popularity. It had gone from being the most highly rated element, to one of the lowest on the list. And I'm looking at this and thinking, "There's only one reason for this. GTA 4 has changed gamers' expectations"."

He continued: "... our job is to be up-to-date with current expectations and to manage them well. I'm very big on choice, and I'm very big on design and control systems. All the physics stuff stays very close to me and the design team, so it was work for a few hours or so, and polishing things up for a week or two, to change the way Wheelman felt to be a little more realistic and a little more grounded, based upon the feedback we were getting, based upon the impact of GTA 4."

Woodroffe now feels that Wheelman has been adapted based on feedback from testers and is "right on the money in terms of what people expect from an open-world racer".

http://www.videogamer.com/news/01-12-2008-10070.html

[Mc_Logical]

But all GTA`s became trickier to drive, go back to gta 3, easy as hell and changed as we went through vice city to SA, I like the way the driving is in gta iv, it made it more challenging to perfect, physics get harder but u get use to it, like ps1 to ps2, remember playing ps2 for the first time and it seemed harder? then u progress (thats true gaming in my opinion) and realism is good! and plus rockstar will improve it into the next gta, after all this was a new concept to develop meaning driving etc

[pdogg]

Overhyped $#@!ty game, technically and graphically disappointing. Yah, it moved the bar ... in which direction ???

[Mc_Logical]

Overhyped $#@!ty game, technically and graphically disappointing. Yah, it moved the bar ... in which direction ???

More like too much expectation, the graphics and physics were what made gta iv, and don't u mean u are $#@!ty at it lol logical is reactions and mentality/strategy (meaning any game platform) but ima thrill seeker hehe, anyway go back and play any previous gta game = $#@!ty or any ps2 game for that matter, games in this next generation are just better graphics and physics, notice that with any game? yep, the title sais changed expectations so...? yea go back and play anything in last generation, god help me what is the next generation? nothing sean its a progression moving bit by bit

[Joe88]

I love gta4 gfx engine
and physics as well

I just boot up the game to go mess around, crash cars, run over people (even though I didnt even complete the game yet) and cause havoc

[pibs]

More like too much expectation, the graphics and physics were what made gta iv, and don't u mean u are $#@!ty at it lol logical is reactions and mentality/strategy (meaning any game platform) but ima thrill seeker hehe, anyway go back and play any previous gta game = $#@!ty or any ps2 game for that matter, games in this next generation are just better graphics and physics, notice that with any game? yep, the title sais changed expectations so...? yea go back and play anything in last generation, god help me what is the next generation? nothing sean its a progression moving bit by bit

It was mostly the story line, kinda stale imo. Everything else was great but it just seemed like gta iv lost some of its fun factor for realistic gameplay. I wished they would of just gone with making GTA:London which would of made more sense than going back to Liberty City. LCS and VCS where great....what the hell happened with 4? They were going in the right direction!

Sure beautiful graphics are the future but don't compromise them for gameplay.

[Mc_Logical]

It was mostly the story line, kinda stale imo. Everything else was great but it just seemed like gta iv lost some of its fun factor for realistic gameplay. I wished they would of just gone with making GTA:London which would of made more sense than going back to Liberty City. LCS and VCS where great....what the hell happened with 4? They were going in the right direction!

Sure beautiful graphics are the future but don't compromise them for gameplay.

Is it just me that thinks gta iv is wicked? lol compared to previous gta`s, and the gameplay is better/smooth, it also has a better feel of reality around, yeah! san andreas had more, but gta iv has that better feel factor, stuff all the criticism, it`s because theyre $#@! at it lol online play also makes up for it more, especially if u kick ass in deathmatch etc, Target aim set to basic so just a dot, flicker reduction off if standard tv`s (I have SD widescreen) also tap shoot aiming for heads = more accurate than holding shoot, test it on a wall any gun, hold shoot = spread holes, tapping = same place everytime, so u can kill ppl within 1,2,3 shots online