As someone who owns and plays this game quite frequently, I've found that the handling and game physics – while initially difficult – work great. To get a good drift going, start slightly wide and turn in, tap the handbrake (X) a couple of times and adjust the steering input (and maybe tap the handbrake to bring the car back in towards the apex) as necessary, once you get the hang of actually drifting, the game is relatively easy (by that I mean, a race might only take 7 retries to get first). It's a game that requires skill, precision, a knowledge of the circuits (and what corners you can and can't hit the boost on) and some strategy when choosing upgrade parts.
It's not the most rewarding game to play ever (unlocked cars and upgrades are few and far between), but the feeling when you finally nail a circuit and can blast boost on every bend without ever running out really brings me back to playing Ridge Racer 7 back on the PS3, and that game is still in my top 3 games even today.
I'm not saying there aren't problems though, I've had problem with graphics and frame rates dropping on the Shanghai Airport R circuit in the WPN 01 Section D portion of the Xenon Racing Championship and I'm struggling to even hold onto 5th place because of it (for context, in case this is a factor, I'm on an original, base model PS4 from about mid 2014). Up until this race, the game has performed sublimely with only the occasional frame rate hiccup. The worst part of it is, from the little of it that I can see, that "problem" circuit looks great, it's challenging and full of fun twists and turns…problem is, I can't see a thing due to how poor the graphics drop, it looks like I'm trying to stream the game with a poor Internet connection or like I'm playing it under water. The lowered, stuttery frame rate also becomes quite a distraction after a minute or so. As I say, I'm on an old, base model PS4, that could be the issue and the game could run great on the PS4 Pro, but it's something to bear in mind if someone else gets it.
Comments 1
Re: Xenon Racer - Look Ma, No Handling
As someone who owns and plays this game quite frequently, I've found that the handling and game physics – while initially difficult – work great. To get a good drift going, start slightly wide and turn in, tap the handbrake (X) a couple of times and adjust the steering input (and maybe tap the handbrake to bring the car back in towards the apex) as necessary, once you get the hang of actually drifting, the game is relatively easy (by that I mean, a race might only take 7 retries to get first). It's a game that requires skill, precision, a knowledge of the circuits (and what corners you can and can't hit the boost on) and some strategy when choosing upgrade parts.
It's not the most rewarding game to play ever (unlocked cars and upgrades are few and far between), but the feeling when you finally nail a circuit and can blast boost on every bend without ever running out really brings me back to playing Ridge Racer 7 back on the PS3, and that game is still in my top 3 games even today.
I'm not saying there aren't problems though, I've had problem with graphics and frame rates dropping on the Shanghai Airport R circuit in the WPN 01 Section D portion of the Xenon Racing Championship and I'm struggling to even hold onto 5th place because of it (for context, in case this is a factor, I'm on an original, base model PS4 from about mid 2014). Up until this race, the game has performed sublimely with only the occasional frame rate hiccup. The worst part of it is, from the little of it that I can see, that "problem" circuit looks great, it's challenging and full of fun twists and turns…problem is, I can't see a thing due to how poor the graphics drop, it looks like I'm trying to stream the game with a poor Internet connection or like I'm playing it under water. The lowered, stuttery frame rate also becomes quite a distraction after a minute or so. As I say, I'm on an old, base model PS4, that could be the issue and the game could run great on the PS4 Pro, but it's something to bear in mind if someone else gets it.