PGR3 Speed Pack & auto-update hit gas

by Ken Weeks { Apr 15th 2006 at 11:15AM }

The previously discussed PGR3 "Speed Pack" update is now available for speedy download on Xbox Live Marketplace at 32.67MB for 400 MS Points. If you don't want to purchase the speed pack for all 400 points, each car is available individually for 60 points with the exception of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage which is available as a free download. The Speed Pack includes the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Audi RS 4, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Dodge Viper SRT-10 Coupe, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, Lamborghini Gallardo SE, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII FQ-400, Nissan NISMO R34GT-R Z-Tune, Pontiac GTO, Radical SR8, RUF RT12, and the Saleen S7 Twin Turbo.

Even better, there's also an sweet auto-update with some major (Nelson) additions:

Tournaments – Be one of 64 players to qualify with the best lap time using a car and route that’s predetermined. If successful, move on into the Elimination rounds to compete with 7 other drivers. The top 4 in each race move on until the final race where only the first place driver earns the victory.

Tournament Channel (Gotham TV)– Watch other players race in tournament Elimination rounds.

“Quit to Lobby” (Abandon option in PlayTime race) Host can now take all participants back to the lobby in a play time session, rather than booting them all back to the Play Time menu.

“Lock to Host Car” and “Lock to Host Car Class” (PlayTime | Xbox Live | Create Race | Race Mode | City | Route) are two new toggles that the lobby creator can turn on or off to limit what type of cars his/her competition can use in a play time race over Xbox Live.

Previously Played Routes List (PlayTime | Route Creator | Previous Live Routes) – Play other gamers routes that they created in the Route Creator over Xbox Live and store up to 10 in your “Previously Played Routes List”. You have the option to save or discard them and use them in your own sessions.

All Cars Position Toggle (More | Options | HUD | Position toggle) – In races modes with multiple cars where target is not displayed, this shows the current place every car in the race is in throughout the event.

Hide HUD Toggle (More | Options | HUD | HUD toggle) – This gives the player the option to turn off ALL in race HUD displays in all camera views.

Voice Communicator Identifier – In a multiplayer race the name of the gamertag will now flash in the upper left hand corner when speaking into a voice communicator, making it possible to identify the speaker.

Online Career rotating car class hoppers – All 8 hoppers in the Online Career (Breakneck Racing, Nurburgring F1 Challenge, Speedway Skirmish, Knockout World Tour, Nordschleife Drivers Club, Urban Rally, Gotham Duelling, and Dusk Til Dawn Racing) now change the required entry car class daily.

Wheel Support – Control set for steering wheels and dynamic updates have been added for the Hori, Mad Catz, and Joytech Nitro wheels (all via the More | Options | Controller | Wheel A configuration).

Online Qualifier Achievement – 50 gamerscore is now awarded for qualifying, then attempting the first elimination round of a tournament.

PLUS:
The HUD no longer remains invisible after looking back, hitting the Guide button, and then re-entering the game and it’s now possible to view if you have already purchased a car while shopping in the showroom via the “Cars Owned” tally under the Car Stats section.

Now how about support for a wheel with true force feedback?

Finally, an important reminder for PGR pros and Gotham TV viewers: The PGR3 Global Tournament punches the pedal on Monday, April 17.

[Thanks to Sinz for pretty much writing this post]

Tags: racing, tournaments, updates

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Evan @ Apr 15th 2006 12:26PM

Wow. They just made that game at least a million times better.

Richard Lawler @ Apr 15th 2006 12:33PM

If you want ot try the new carsfor free you can. They are all in one 32 mb pack, so when you download the free car you get them all.

If you go in playtime online and race with a friend who bought all the cars, all they have to do is select one of the new cars and choose "lock to host car" and you'll be racing with that car.

I showed all my friends all the new cars that way last night. They're pretty nice, the gallardo actually is almost driveable w/ real stopping power now. The scaglietti and the aston drive like much smaller cars and are fun, the nissan has some nice added power, the Evo handles really well w/ the expected understeer but the new porsche is my favorite.

ac2565 @ Apr 15th 2006 1:10PM

what about burnout? new burnout cars were released on marketplace for free and yet you dont inform people
the cars availlable for download are
xbox 360 car
spike tv car
alienware car
monster car
yellow car
and others

Pixelantes Anonymous @ Apr 15th 2006 1:38PM

There're two problems with the auto-update.

1. The rotating car class hoppers has been implemented so that the car classes rotate according to the players' local time. This means that around midnight people in different timezones see different car classes in the online races and they can't race each other. This combined with the rotating schedule itself is causing severe wait times in pre-race lobbies. People are reporting wait times in excess of 45 minutes.

2. Bizarre Creations didn't include a new garage with the auto-update, so while the total number of cars available in the game is 94 (?), there're only 84 garage spots available. This means you can no longer own all the cars in the game.

Obviously the latter problem is not that big of a problem, more of an annoyance really, but the timezone problem might cause some serious problems for people racing online a lot.