Ferrari Challenge w/Bruno Senna input

This looks interesting! With input from Bruno Senna, tracks like monaco, silverstone, monza, and spa, 50 cars, virtual championship with prizes, much DL content coming, rain effects, and much more.......

from the site:
“Our game captures the pure adrenalin rush of driving a Ferrari,” Bruno Senna

ARE YOU READY FOR THE DEFINITIVE FERRARI EXPERIENCE?

Ferrari Challenge: Trofeo Pirelli for PlayStation®3 is a groundbreaking racing game pushing driving simulations into the next generation, based on the legendary Italian marques’ official racing series. Veteran UK games publisher System 3, holder of the exclusive Ferrari Challenge license, brings all the authentic cars and tracks to home consoles for the very first time, with unprecedented levels of realism and true Ferrari racing dynamics.

Ferrari Challenge pushes PS3 technology to its limits, driven by the single-minded vision of veteran UK games publisher (and passionate Ferrari ‘Tifoso’) Mark Cale, overseeing the award-winning racing game specialists at Eutechnyx. The game has been honed to perfection under the watchful eyes of Ferrari, with expert handling consultation from Bruno Senna, adding a unique magic touch.



FEATURE LIST:

• Official Ferrari Challenge license. The Ferrari Challenge was founded in 1993: “to allow Ferrari customers to enjoy their cars in a structured, competitive environment, racing against other Ferrari owners.”

• Revolutionary lifelike artificial intelligence - opponents’ reactive decisions generate a naturalistic driving behaviour on an unprecedented level.

• Incredible level of Ferrari detailing – bodywork, tyres, mirrors, doors, windows, spoilers, boot and bonnet, all modelled to perfection.

• 16 fully realised tracks from the official European and North American Ferrari Challenge series including Silverstone, Monza, California Speedway, the Ferrari test track at Fiorano and more.

• All the tracks have been modelled from the ground-up from hundreds of thousands of track-level reference photographs, satellite data and actual performance records.

• Features all the teams and cars of the series, including a mixture of Ferrari Challenge cars, such as the 355, the 360, the FXX, the 430 Challenge and GT cars, like the 575GT.

• Also features production cars such as the 599 and the 575 and a number of historic classics such as the 250 GTO and the 275 LM.

• All car models feature unparalleled visual accuracy, constructed from cadcam designs, photographic scans and factory blueprints supplied exclusively by Ferrari.

• Scaleable handling settings allows players to choose their ideal level of simulation – forgiving for beginners or frighteningly authentic for the expert.

• Numerous game modes including Challenge, Arcade, Quick Race, Time Trial, Online and Ferrari Collector Card Battle.

• Online racing for up to 16 players via PlayStation network or LAN, featuring detailed matchmaking system, world leader boards and rankings and Ferrari collector card battle game.

• Fully customisable liveries – create a team, design their car and apply sponsorship logos and custom designs, graphics and text. Display and share your cars online via your Virtual Garage.

• Never-before-seen damage modelling featuring scratches and dents, with fully detachable parts and bodywork that remain on the track.

• Full engine and cockpit modelling, operable internal displays including all driver gauges and dials, totally accurate dashboard, controls and gearshift.

• Accurately simulated, highly detailed environmental effects including dust, smoke, water sprays and splashes, windscreen water droplets, reflective and shiny surfaces, swaying trees, dynamic lighting and shadows, tyre rubber left on corners and racing line, paint scrapes appearing on barriers and more.

• Detailed telemetry data provided directly from Ferrari and performance simulation modelled in close conjunction with the factory.

• Fully comprehensive range of further cars, tracks, hill climbs, new liveries and additional features to be made available as downloadable content, starting with Monaco at night, available at launch.

• Virtual Ferrari Championship – thousands of rounds of 16-player knockouts through to the final. Major prizes and incentives provided by System 3 and Ferrari.

• Collaboration with Tony Willis, consultant to Ferrari UK and Keith Bluemel, accredited Ferrari historian.

• Developed by PS3 early adopters and world-renowned racing game specialists, Eutechnyx.

• GP2 race driver and keen gamer, Bruno Senna employed as technical and handling consultant on the game, working closely with Ferrari and Eutechnyx to add a unique touch of magic.

• In-game tutorial and in-ear commentary by BBC Top Gear’s Tiff Needell

• The definitive Ferrari experience.

BRUNO SENNA

"If you think I'm good, just wait until you see my nephew Bruno," said the late, great three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna of his ten-year-old nephew, who he regularly enjoyed racing go-karts with on the family farm. The year was 1993.

Fast forward twelve years to 2005 and after just five races in British Formula BMW and Formula Renault, a twenty-two-year-old Bruno Senna was racing in the British Formula Three championship. The following year, Senna competed in the Formula Three support races at the 2006 Australian Grand Prix, winning three of the four races. He also finished the British F3 Championship in 3rd place with 269pts and 4 wins, with Räikkönen Robertson Racing.

For the 2007 GP2 Series Bruno drove for the Red Bull-sponsored Arden International team, finishing in the top 10 in his third full year of single seater racing with one win and three podiums. Bruno then moved to iSport International for the 2008 season where his team-mate will be Karun Chandhok. He aims to be racing Formula One in the 2009 season.

It was while taking part in the third round of the Ferrari Challenge European series at Silverstone on June 9 and 10, 2007 that Bruno met up with System 3 CEO, Mark Cale. It was to be a fateful weekend for the young racedriver and the veteran game designer. Not only did Senna, driving an F430, win both of his races - starting each from pole, but he also discovered that Cale was developing the official Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli videogame.

“Mark [Cale] wanted the game to be as realistic as possible. We both share a deep love of videogames, which we realised after he saw me playing on the Ferrari simulator game at Silverstone,” Bruno recalls. “Mark said to me, look, I’m making this game and I’d like to know if you would like to get involved as a consultant. You have good experience with the cars, so you can help us ensure we get the handling right. So that’s really how it started. I went up to the developers at Eutechnyx for the first time and we fiddled with the game, with the basics, trying to make the physics right, making sure the F430 was doing everything it should do.”

“After that, we set up the other cars. We initially developed eighteen cars for the game, most of which I drove. In every case we got all the relevant information from Ferrari and I called people that I know, so we had the best feedback information possible. Each car has its own unique qualities. The older cars have worse brakes and slightly thinner tires that are a little less responsive, so they drift better. Each car has a particular characteristic that is very much its own. Then, after we nailed the cars, we moved onto the circuits from the Ferrari Challenge series, which have been captured beautifully, right down to the every last detail. The profiles of the corners are superb, as are the slopes and cambers of the circuits. We’ve made sure that they are as close to reality as possible.”

System 3 CEO, Mark Cale is in no doubt that Bruno’s contribution as handling consultant on Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli adds the magic touch: “Ferrari has provided us with all the relevant performance data and the stats and the figures for each car in the game. And Bruno is somebody who can really make sense of it. He is somebody who knows how the cars feel. And what’s really unique about this game is not just that Bruno is only one of the world’s greatest racedrivers, he’s actually a hardcore videogame fanatic. So it was really like having our own test driver in the game.”

Bruno’s list of favourite racing games includes early titles such as the legendary ‘90s PC sim, Geoff Crammond’s F1 Grand Prix 2 as well as arcade classics such as SEGA Rally and, of course, SEGA’s very own Ferrari F355 Challenge. “Basically, growing up, I just played racing games on every format I could get my hands on,” he admits, “and I’m confident that our game is now the true spiritual successor to Ferrari F355 Challenge.”

sounds good, can't wait to see the final product.

Excellent! One thing I'm excited about is the fact that many of the tracks aren't available on other console games. I'm still making do with a PS2, so I wonder how much dumbing down they'll have to do to get it to run on the old system.

Has anybody actually played this on a PS3? I just ordered it yesterday and should have it in a week.

I haven't played it on a PS3, but I'm really disappointed with the PS2-version graphics. I like how the cars handle, but graphically the dumbed-down version looks like it's at least 6 or 7 years old. The colors are so muddy and dark that at times it's difficult to even see the track. And what's even worse is the fact that there's no cockpit view and no view from a camera mounted on top of the roof or the cowl either. There is a nose-mounted camera, but it's so low that it's virtually useless if you're immediately behind another car.

The PS3 version simply cannot be anywhere near as bad as this.

Ferrari Challenge had interesting physics for a PS3, although when they decided to change the physics in GT5 Prologue, FC's were not that interesting anymore.

The game has a great selecion of tracks and cars too.

The problem, and it's a big one, is that they released the game some three months before it was finished and now, after two big patches, the online gaming still doesn't work properly, which is a joke.

Thanks for the input, guys. Many of the reviews I've read have been rather mixed with some claiming the physics are about as good as they've ever seen in a consol based game to others who claim the physics are poor with no real sense for oversteer or understeer or even gravity and friction when taking different lines through corners. Sometimes I wonder how it's possible to generate such opposing impressions but I guess it depends whether your basis for comparison is other sims or the real thing and exactly what your expectations are.

I have a confession to make. I haven't actually owned a dedicated game consol since getting an Atari 2600 for Christmas back, ahh, many years ago. Last week I broke down and ordered the PS3, GT5 Prologue, F1 Racing, Ferrari Challenge, a Logitech G25 and Playseat Evolution, all at the same time. And somehow managed to convince my wife that this would be a combined birthday/Christmas gift--thank goodness she's understanding.

Being a Mac owner, my experience with racing simulations was down to this. Actually, Total Immersion Racing was really quite good. Or let's say, it was back in 2003. My biggest gripe with TIR was once you mastered the game and cars, there was NO on-line option. And the AI never changed or adapted. Other cars would take the same lines through the same corners every time, unless they made a mistake or were avoiding each other. But they were unable to avoid you. It's like you're driving the invisible car down the road.

Either way, this is going to be a new world for me and it will probably take me a little while to come back up to speed. So I'm not too worried that they're still working out the bugs. At least for now.

The PS3 arrived on Monday, along with Ferrari Challenge. I spent some time rearranging my home theater set up and since I had everything pulled out, decided to upgrade my various components to digital audio connections at the same time. Since it was my first experience with a PS3 it also took a little time to go through the setup process, updates and registration. By the time I put the game the machine, it was already late and I was pretty tired. But I was anxious to give it a go.

I guess I’m showing my inexperience and perhaps age, but I looked at the controller with some apprehension. The dualshock 3 has been called the greatest game controller ever built. But I don’t know how anybody can control a racing sim with one. One of my friends has a PS2 and two years ago we were playing GT4. I thought I would be pretty competitive straight away but I couldn’t do anything. My friend finally gave up in a fit of laughter.

And after 5 minutes with Ferrari Challenge using the dualshock 3, and Tiff Nidal yelling in my ear, my experience was pretty similar. I just lacked the dexterity and experience to race with my fingertips.

The G25 is still in transit so I pulled my old Logitech Wingman out and checked to see if it would work. The PS3 recognized it but there was no way to configure it. And I quickly realized that the upshift trigger also controlled the ‘switch to rear view’ at the same time. It was maddening. After a few minutes it was making me so disoriented I could barely steer. So I changed to automatic shifting. Two more laps and the challenge card unlocked and I was ready to race. But I wasn't familiar with Fiorano and could hardly keep the car on the road in some corners, never mind the racing line, and decided to go for another orientation round. I just couldn't seem to go through any corner smoothly. And I laughed when I discovered that the wheel wasn’t calibrated properly. Turning the wheel, the steering was at first linear but then became increasingly progressive during the last inch of travel. Upon this discovery, my ego finally started to recover. But at that point I was dead tired and getting a little slap happy so I gave up. The G25 should arrive today and I’ll have another go.

But my initial impressions:

- The graphics are quite impressive. I have it set to full 1080p. The lines were smooth, the colors bright and sharp. The interior view of the car could have been a little better but I prefer the full front view anyway.

- One of the reviews mentioned you have no choice but to race full 15 minute sessions but I see that’s not true and it can easily be changed.

- I understood there were two updated since the game was released but I have no idea how to actually update the game and saw no way in the preferences to do so. Maybe I can figure it out tonight

More impressions when I'm able...

After a few weeks with the game I wanted to give this a little bump and offer some further impressions.

- The PAL version has had three patches since the game was released. The US (NTSC) version has yet to receive it's first patch. The NTSC update, a combination update including content from the three PAL patches and additional tweaks not yet available on the PAL version was submitted to Sony two weeks ago by Eutechnyx and was rejected by Sony Q/A. Everybody on the Eutechnyx forum is pretty livid.

- Of further concern is all the downloadable content that was promised by producer System 3 is nowhere to be found. Just 3 months ago System 3 was talking about 5 new cars and one new track per month, every month, starting in August. And any hint of DLC has gone missing from their website. The developers at Eutechnyx confirm that the first batch of DLC is completed, they're working on more, but the distribution and marketing is handled by System 3 so they can't release any details. They've only mentioned that they're holding off on DLC until the NTSC version of the game is patched.

- Despite those two very large negatives, I'm having a blast with the game. A great selection of both cars and tracks are available and I'm very impressed with the physics. The way the cars dart and get loose under braking if the suspension is under load or on rebound is quite credible. Last night I took a 1958 250 Testa Rossa out for a few laps of Spa, in the rain, all driving aids turned off. Talk about walking over broken glass. Lots of sideways action. Some of the in-car graphics are a little weak but outside of the cars, the tracks, the scenery and the other cars are very nicely done. They also put a lot of emphasis on the sound of the cars and engines. Listening to the GTO wind out in 3rd or 4th gear or the quick blip down the gears of the FXX going from 6th to 2nd is brilliant.

Once they get the patch up, I would strongly recommend it.

I can't get enough of this game. driving the f430 at mugello and spa is about as good as it gets in ps3 land.

I have a big proper seat (a playseat) and a g25, it rocks.

The physics feels great to me, the car really feel like they have weight and traction and all that. it feels weird when I play gt5 now, I much prefer ferrari challenge.

Originally posted by sejanus
I can't get enough of this game. driving the f430 at mugello and spa is about as good as it gets in ps3 land.

I have a big proper seat (a playseat) and a g25, it rocks.

The physics feels great to me, the car really feel like they have weight and traction and all that. it feels weird when I play gt5 now, I much prefer ferrari challenge.

Great! I'm glad to hear somebody else is playing and enjoying it. I wish I could join on-line but...

Hopefully the North American patch will be up before 2009. Just for the record, patch details as follows:


Features and Improvements:

Added PS3 trophy support
Added custom play lists functionality
Added photo mode to garage which saves to the PS3 hard drive
Added split times in Time Trial
Improved frame rate
Improved performance of the Thrustmaster wheels
Game now pauses automatically when the XMB is on (except during multiplayer)
Added gear indicator to in car view
Added option to invert the G25 sequential shifter
Added difficulty based AI qualifying times
Added G25 wheel configuration to include look left / right on the front facing red buttons
Added basic racing line to show racing line only and not braking zones
Players can now specify custom player names
Online -Private lobbies can now be created with half or all slots being reserved
Online/LAN -Host can now specify the maximum driving assist levels
Online/LAN -Host can now specify the grid order based on ranking (taken from the tutorial
score), or lap record for the specified circuit and can also do the inverse grid based on these
criteria
Online/LAN -During race player names can now be toggled on / off by pressing R3
Online/LAN -Race results alternate between race time and fastest lap during multiplayer
races
Online/LAN -When searching for games, the server select screen now includes the status
'SYNCING' to show that the game will begin imminently
Online/LAN -Server list screen now displays car name, grid order, and transmission options
Online/LAN -When returning back to the join game match making screen, the default car is
now the last one selected
Online - When a game is full, it now appears in the lobby list and will say FULL
Online -Opponent voices can now be muted
Increased transparency of tire smoke
Improved penalty zone on first corner in Monza
Replays are available for races which the player retired from

Fixes:

Fixed potential issue with save games becoming invalid after a set number of events are
completed
Fixed potential issue with not being able to unlock ‘The Collector’ accomplishment
Fixed broken shadows in the pit lane
Fixed black track when racing line disabled
Fixed the "Hard Lines" accomplishment
Fixed hang after watching a replay when the rev bar was on
Fixed driver disappearing with the car when driving through opponents in multiplayer
Fixed engine popping in replays
Fixed force feedback dead zones on steering wheels
Fixed potential crash in leader boards
Online/LAN -Significantly improved connectivity and reduced the likelihood of disconnects
Online/LAN -Fixed issues with collisions
Online/LAN -When a player leaves a net race, it now says they have retired from race as
opposed to finished
Online/LAN -When receiving the ‘Room no longer exists’ message players are now returned
to the join game screen
Online/LAN -Removed 2 second pause as players entered / exited a game while racing

Although there is apparently very little interest in this game here on the forum, I wanted to confirm that the US patch is now out and fixes all of the above mentioned issues. There are some small niggling problems that persist (people with a Driving Force GT wheel still have problems. And sometimes the replays don't play all the way through to the end). But at least North American users can now play on-line, some of the AI issues have been resolved and the dead zone on the G25 has been eliminated.

FWIW, I agree with Sejanus. GT5P has raised the benchmark for photo realistic graphics--watching a replay at a distance, sometimes the line between sim and reality is being blurred. But I still think FC:TP has a superior physics engine. Driving hard in FC seems to require much more concentration.

Does anyone have this for the Wii?

Originally posted by 911
Does anyone have this for the Wii?

I have FC:TP for the PS3. After playing one afternoon at my house, a friend of mine recently rented it for his Wii and said he was kind of disappointed with the Wii version. He didn't really go into details but said it didn't seem like the same game and he gave up after an hour. From what I can see on Youtube videos, it looks similar so it's difficult to judge. Granted, having a proper wheel and seat make a big difference in the over all experience so that may have led to his dissatisfaction. Did you end up buying it 911? What were your impressions?

Having now fully worked my way into this game I can't say enough good things about it. Like Sejanus, after playing Ferrari Challenge, GT5P seems to feel odd and somewhat cold and unsatisfying by comparison. Granted, the graphics in GT5 are light years ahead of FC and there's a certain over-all polish to GT that FC just can't touch. But once you get past that and concentrate on the driving and racing, there seems to be a raw quality to the implementation of it's force feed back that's very, VERY impressive. You can feel the tires lose and gain grip in an extraordinary way. It's a very visceral experience and this game is SO much fun. The price has now dropped quite a bit (<$30) and I really encourage everybody to either buy it or rent it and give it a chance. You won't be sorry.

Since the NTSC patch was released in late November, I've been playing on-line quite a bit and it really seems to be coming alive lately, compared to the dead rooms I found back in the late Fall. Driving a lot of the classic cars such as the 250LM or 365 GTB is brilliant, especially in the wet. And the fact that you can run private lobbies keeps out unwanted visitors. The game claims you can race up to 16 people in a lobby and it does not work properly. Anything more than ~ 8-10 people and the lobbies tend to collapse after 10 minutes. But I've had many close races with 4-6 people or less and it's challenging and highly enjoyable.

Sadly, it looks like FC:TP's poor initial reviews and slow sales have done it in. The publisher and developer are using it's engine for their new title: Super Car Challenge, due out this Spring as a PS3 exclusive. The game will basically be a polished version of Ferrari Challenge that corrects many of it's mistakes. It also means that the promised DLC for Ferrari Challenge will never see the light of day. So anybody buying it now has to accept that.

It looks like DLC for Ferrari Challenge will finally see the light of day. But sadly too late for most people to care...


Details from System 3 here...

I don't see how you can make a realistic racing game, whereby the car can be realistically handled and driven with a game pad.

Ever heard of a steering wheel? i.e. logitech g25?

I know many people do drive with the Sixaxis. And some are quite fast. But it boggles my mind how anybody can drive with a pad. I certainly can't, although, I haven't given that much effort to trying. I use a G25 as well.

Edit: Sejanus send me your PSN ID--hopefully we can meet up for a race one day. Unless, maybe we have already?

I'm sej69 on psn

I wish there were more people playing ferrari challenge - 90% of the time when i go online there is no-one there so I end up playing gran turismo instead

I'll add you as soon as I get a chance. My PSN ID is jjaisli.

I think the whole back and forth with the DLC and the on-line stability issues with >7-8 players really destroyed interest in Ferrari Challenge and the credibility of System 3 in the process. The game was released in Europe in June(?) and in North America in September. But on-line play with the NTSC version was literally impossible until the first patch was released in mid November of 08. If it wasn't for the open and friendly cooperation of the folks at Eutechnyx, I would have given up myself. But they were always eager to communicate with their customers and incorporate suggestions into updates.

I'm not really a big fan of the F430 Challenge (I'll take the 355 Challenge or 360GT any day). But since it's the only car which is unlocked from the beginning, most of the on-line lobbies tend to feature this car ad naseum. And as a natural result, many of the people in those lobbies are complete noobs at the game and tend to use other cars or the gravel traps as their braking points. As a result, I don't even bother going into lobbies with the F430 anymore. And it leaves few choices unless you start your own. :

I didn't like them when I first unlocked them, but I've really grown to love the 250TR, 250LM and 250 GTO. I have a small group of buddies who are also quite taken with the classics and we'll meet up from time to time. But there have been nights when I've opened a lobby with the LM and waited for 15-20 minutes and not a single other player ventured inside.

I won't paint in broad strokes but in so far as the implementation of force feedback is concerned, I think Ferrari Challenge is the best sim running on the PS3. It lacks the bumps and uneven pavement of F1:CE and it may lack the over-all sophistication of GT5P but Eutechnyx did a stellar job in communicating grip. You can really feel the tires biting and then loosing adhesion and then gaining grip as the car transitions toward understeer and then regains traction. Most die hard sim players will lament the lack of tuning and car set-ups, which I fully understand. But when somebody is faster than you, there's no excuses.

If I'm on at all during the week it's usually between 01:00 & 03:00 GMT.

BTW, if there are any North American PS3 users who are still interested in giving this title a chance, it can now be purchased brand new from Amazon.com for $17.99 and it's eligible for free super saver shipping.