PGR4 demo on Live

By Robert Purchese Published 10 October, 2007

Has exclusive snow course.

Bizarre Creations has rolled a demo for Project Gotham Racing 4 onto to the Live Marketplace starting grid.

It's meaty at 1.27GB, and has an exclusive Nurburgring Snow Challenge event that is not in the retail version.

On top of this are three exotic cars to race that you will likely never afford and if you can then we want one too, as well as a trio of all new and all important motorbikes. And in addition to the snowy roads of Nurburgring, you will be able to burn rubber around the polluted and crowded streets of Macau - a fresh location for the series.

Project Gotham Racing 4 is out in Europe on Friday, and is quite probably the strongest game in the series so far. Tom thinks so anyway.

Head over to our Project Gotham Racing 4 review to find out why.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (43) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Putty-Man #1 5 years ago

    Does there come a point where theres just TOO many good games released in a short space of time?

    (Oh my, I am hard to please!)

  • crazyhorse174 #2 5 years ago

    lol @ Putty Man

    I agree - I'm skint!

  • Furbs #3 5 years ago

    The thing I love about internet sites is they can react instantly to any breaking news.

  • rob76 #4 5 years ago

    Loved the demo...can't wait for the game. A lot of people are slaggin off bikes but i thought they blended in really well.

  • monkie_king #5 5 years ago

    snowy nordschliefe is in the full game though, right? just not this particular exclusive event?

  • Universal_Hamster #6 5 years ago

    Is this the same demo that was released yesterday?

  • jamespo #7 5 years ago

    no an all-new one

  • Altrezia #8 5 years ago

    Disapointing.

    Not good. Real shame as I was looking forward to this one. Looks pretty enough, but the handling of the cars really stinks.

  • Redeye #9 5 years ago

    Gorgeous, fun, and bikes = teh mental, especially in the pissing rain. :)

    8.1? Whatever drugs IGN are on, they can keep 'em.

  • FooAtari #10 5 years ago

    An 8.1? Yup such a shit score... (/remberes thats on a scale of 1 - 10 5 is average)

    While it seems to a good game, I agree its not the best game in the series. PGR 2 still holds taht title.

  • CocoPops #11 5 years ago

    Who needs the demo when we've had the game for the last week!!!

    Although why was a game developed in the UK was released in Asia before it was here!
    Edited by CocoPops at 10/10/07 @ 13:22

  • menage #12 5 years ago

    I couldn't play PGR 3 on my normal SD because of all the jaggies. But this game looks incredible. I'm not a car freak but even I was impressed by the vehicles.
    Edited by menage at 10/10/07 @ 13:33

  • Vroom #13 5 years ago

    Finger on the pulse eh ;)

  • homerramone #14 5 years ago

    IGN were very hard on it saying it's the worst in the series and giving it 8.1
    Maybe there dyslexic (Which selfish git gave the condition such a name !) and read the 3 as 4 and vice versa. 3 was at best average. The number of tracks and the fact there are some less exoctic cars in 4 (yay ! The REAL mini is back) make it better than 3 before you even play it.

  • pyrat6 #15 5 years ago

    "Maybe there dyslexic"

    Brilliant.

  • Miths #16 5 years ago

    Played it last night and loved it - as expected of course. Good thing Friday is close now :).

    The only thing I wasn't happy about was feeling almost forced to switch to bonnet view because the in-car camera position seemed either excessively low (the Ferrari 599) or pushed you up under the roof (the Lotus and the Lambo).
    Judging from reports on the official Bizarre forums, this is apparantly an issue with quite a few other cars in the full game. A rather serious problem in my opinion.

  • Darren #17 5 years ago

    ManicMinerUK - 'Oh, well, if IGN said... cos their reviews are such havens of well informed videogame discussion

    "This game be all off the hook, Teh graffffx are mental-sweet and it is very visceral. It has pretty advertisements, and I've heard of the developer before, so I'm giving it 90%"'

    That's exactly how IGN used to be... they seemed to give every game 90% at one time and considered 70% to be an "average" score! LOL They're much better these days but they'd be one of the last sites I'd trust solely for reviews.

    Their PGR 4 review totally picks apart the Career mode, griping that you can't retry events once you've done them (but acknowledging that you can restart them as many times as you like from within the event). Now the Career mode is calendar-based, presumably to give the game a more realistic racing structure so it wouldn't make sense that you could just go back to 9th September from 11th November anyway (although there is a Delorean in the game I believe!). The point is that this is a career mode and Bizarre Creations have crafted it as such to make it more exciting... presumably. If you could just retry events at leisure then the thrill, challenge and realism disappear, and besides isn't that what the seperate Arcade mode is for?

    IGN also implied that once the event is done, that's it, you cannot try it again but yet other reviews I've read - the better ones I might add - have said that the Career mode is season-based so the events repeat the following year! With that and the fact that they're were griping about jaggies (which they failed to mention in the Halo 3 review, despite them being far more obvious) means that I trust them about as far as I can throw them. Which isn't much. Edge said that this game would be misunderstood by some in their review and nowhere is this more evident than in IGN US's review. ;)

  • Miths #18 5 years ago

    @monkie_king - Nordschleife, unfortunately, isn't in the demo, it's just a reverse version of the half Nürburgring F1 track (basically a snow covered reverse PGR3 test track).

  • brooza #19 5 years ago

    "Who needs the demo when we've had the game for the last week"

    The people that want to play this track

  • PrinzPils #20 5 years ago

    I liked the Demo very much, but I could really do without the Motobikes.
    At least you can easily push them out of the way to get in first place quickly.
    Just like in real life.

  • miiiguel #21 5 years ago

    Best driving game... ever.

  • Perjoss #22 5 years ago

    "I liked the Demo very much, but I could really do without the Motobikes.
    At least you can easily push them out of the way to get in first place quickly.
    Just like in real life. "

    I wouldn't try that in real life, i heard they don't have xbox or pgr4 in prison, might get a little boring.

  • Darren #23 5 years ago

    I must admit I did find it disturbingly fun knocking the riders off their bikes in the demo; I guess it's just an easy way of cheating your way to first place as you certainly cannot do that with the other cars! LOL

  • SomaticSense #24 5 years ago

    " trust them about as far as I can throw them. Which isn't much. Edge said that this game would be misunderstood by some in their review and nowhere is this more evident than in IGN US's review. ;)

    Edge absolutely love the game. I've only recently started reading it, and so far I've agreed with every review of a game I've played, so I'd trust them over shitty 'Lets give Madden 2486 a 9.7 just because it's American Football' IGN.

    As far as I remember, IGN gave Space Giraffe a crappy score. So for that reason alone I will never listen to anything any of their reviewers ever say again.

    Besides, one thing and one thing alone immediately makes their PGR4 review null and void: "The bikes are easier to handle".

  • lambtron #25 5 years ago

    "This game be all off the hook, Teh graffffx are mental-sweet and it is very visceral. It has pretty advertisements, and I've heard of the developer before, so I'm giving it 90%"

    Hahaha.

  • T4RG4 #26 5 years ago

    I will download the demo tonight (last night if I had powers) - one of the things that has always put me off was the lean towards Arcade... it just doesn't do it for me sorry :) However, I can see how Forza2 and PGR4 can easily sit on the same release shelf, being quite different.

    As for Space Giraffe and IGN disliking it - that's a +point to IGN as far as I'm concerned!

  • crazyhorse174 #27 5 years ago

    @pyrat6

    Now I don't want to be pedantic...but someone called "Pyrat" bringing attention to someone else's spelling mistake...?

    That could be seen as being a little hypocritical...

  • ScottyXTUK #28 5 years ago

    Don't care what reviews it gets or if others don't like it. Fact is I played the demo last night and today and I'm sold. It is fantastic, the weather is superb, it looks gorgeous, better than ANY racing game so far bar none.

    I loved PGR3 and will love PGR4 even more. The inclusion of Macau and motorbikes is a masterstroke and of course The Green Hell is one of the best circuits there is.

    Only gripe is there are SO many good games coming out now and owning a 360, PS3 and top of the range PC it's costing me a small fortune.



  • DB2k #29 5 years ago

    so they are going to fleece us for marketplace points to add this level into the actual game then?

  • Daymare #30 5 years ago

    "It is fantastic, the weather is superb, it looks gorgeous, better than ANY racing game so far bar none."

    +1

  • InfiniteFury #31 5 years ago

    Mmmmmmm, back to the PGR2 glory days if the demo's anything to go by.

    Must...finish.....packing....flat.......by...tomorrow....night....

  • captainrentboy #32 5 years ago

    Don't forget it was a fooking chick reviewing it for IGN US, and chick's know shit all bout games, yeeeahh?

  • Vin #33 5 years ago

    That's it folks. Go home.

    You fuckers aren't gonna get a more playable, solid and utterly compelling racer this gen.

  • Scimarad #34 5 years ago

    Wasn't a big fan of the demo but unfortunately I already pre-ordered the game:-(

    I just hope the handling of the cars was down to the ones included and that the bikes are non-compulsory - I think the Lambo was the only I found even borderline enjoyable as the others were twitchy as hell. Still lots of people obviously love it so that just goes to show..er..something.

  • bad09 #35 5 years ago

    Played the demo and it is a worse game than 3!! IMO don't bother, if you haven't played PGR before pick up pg3. What a shame!

  • Miths #36 5 years ago

    "Don't forget it was a fooking chick reviewing it for IGN US, and chick's know shit all bout games, yeeeahh?"

    Actually, if I'm not much mistaken that Hilary Goldstein(?) character is a guy. Some of those unisex names can be confusing :).

    And yes - horrible review. It really seemed like it was coming from a guy who doesn't like racing games at all. What the hell is doing reviewing one then?

    Still, 8.1 was a quite impressive score compared to the C (50 in MetaCritic translation) it got from one site. That reviewer really didn't sound like he could be bothered to actually play the game either (like his comment on the tracks and his apparant inability to drive around corners).

  • old_man #37 5 years ago

    Loved this Demo, everything comes together gameplay is fun, graphics are great, sound is fantastic and I'm loving the new Prodigy track. I can't afford it, but will deffo buy tomorrow.

  • Darren #38 5 years ago

    Love the demo, want, nay, DEMAND the full game. Damn you Postal Service for leaving my game stuck in the post when I should have had it yesterday!!! :x

  • Twincoil #39 5 years ago

    "I just hope the handling of the cars was down to the ones included and that the bikes are non-compulsory"

    +1

    Why can't they just remake PGR2 :(

  • BBIAJ #40 5 years ago

    Why can't they just remake PGR2 :(

    Because that would be somewhat pointless, seeing as it's already backwards compatible?

  • ElasticTangent #41 5 years ago

    I'm going to reserve judgement until I play the full game. I do like the weather effects though.

  • smurphs #42 5 years ago

    Simply superb. I fired up PGR3 for the first time in ages on the back of this demo and the difference was massive. The sense of speed is much improved, the graphics are unassuming at first until your brain kicks in with the fact that, hey, so is reality. Handling is simple but subtle enough for some proper depth. The motorbikes are fun to drive, and require a completely different mindset than the cars, almost giving 2 games for the price of 1 in effect.

    The psychological impact of driving against bikes also adds to the fun. I found myself driving much more cautiously behind the bikes, making for more tactical racing. Just a shame there isn't some uber-penalty for knocking bikes over to curb potential sadistic tendancies.

    I was saving all my quids for The Orange Box, but now I have a serious dilemma on my hands. My head says OB for the sake of value for money, and my heart says PGR4 for sheer unadulterated fun. My credit card company say both, rubbing their hands with evil glee.

  • BobsUncle #43 5 years ago

    8.1 = 81% = 11% above the mark you need for a 1st class degree. So not really a shit score.

    Anyway, Forza has killed all my love for driving games.


    edit:
    smurphs, you RIDE bikes. :-)
    Edited by BobsUncle at 11/10/07 @ 16:40