Gran Turismo 7: The Racing Game

After dedicating a post to Gran Turismo 7 the game, I wanted to spend some time to separately discuss the racing portions of the game. The Gran Turismo games are great driving games that celebrate car culture. I've always enjoyed collecting and tuning all of the various cars, and have come to appreciate the odd idiosyncrasies that have become iconic in the series. With that being said, racing has always been a big part of the game, and I have been critical of the racing action in the series, and for good reason. Despite the series' popularity, to me the racing action had become stale and surpassed by other titles. After reading some reviews and upon starting the game myself, I began to think the series was in the same place it left in Gran Turismo 6. Now that I am over 50 hours into the game, I am happy to report this is not the case. While the racing action isn't perfect, it has improved markedly from previous versions. Let me explain.

The cafe missions are an introduction to the game, meant to be a guide, and largely suffer from the same ailments as previous games. This includes a small field of cars on the track, rolling starts, and not much competition. However, I don't want to spend much time discussing these, because once you get past these missions, the real racing action begins, and it is hard. 

There are multiple racing classes to participate in, and there is an emphasis on performance points or type of car, or in some instances both. Cars are given performance points based on their attributes, and almost anything can contribute to these points. Better tires, better suspension, more power, etc., all will increase a car's performance points. Since most races limit the number of performance points a car can have at entry, long gone are the days where you can equip your car with the biggest turbo and blow away the competition. In fact, you have to sometimes choose how you spend your performance points wisely. Some races it may be advantageous to have more power, while other races may require better braking or cornering. This creates a situation where cars have several setups, depending on the requirements of the race. Luckily the game allows you to save different setup sheets, so switching between custom made presets is a breeze.

Tire and fuel strategy plays a huge role in the races. Fuel consumption and tire wear varies race to race. On the one hand, I like that this occurs because it helps simulate the feel of a real race without having the race last several hours. On the other hand, it is somewhat difficult to predict pit strategy ahead of time because you don't really know when the fuel is going to run out or when your tire grip drops off.  It does tell you ahead of time what the fuel and tire consumption acceleration rates are, but until you've played the game quite a lot it is difficult to interpret this setting. After determining the best setup for your car and race with the performance points allotted, you are then challenged with the task of managing your fuel map and tires to maximize pit strategy. And God forbid it rains, and you are challenged to determine if switching to intermediate or wet tires will be faster. Oh, and by the way, rolling starts where you start at the back or close to the back are the norm for all of the races. The NPC drivers are fast, significantly better than previous instances of Gran Turismo, especially if you have the race difficulty on normal or above. All of this is to say the racing is much improved from previous versions, and quite challenging. I'm a fairly seasoned virtual racing veteran, and I applaud these changes. It would be nice, however, to have some help in the form of a race engineer who provides in-race strategy updates for tires, fuel consumption, pit times, etc. The F1 games do this nicely. Along the same lines, penalties and rules change from race to race. Some races you are penalized for corner cutting, some races have blue flags, but others don't. It seems a bit inconsistent.

I think the racing suffers from Gran Turismo's infamously awkward menu system as well. The tracks are separated by continent, and once you are in the continent's menu, you can access the list of tracks. However, each track offers different races, and so it can be a bit of a challenge to find a specific racing series. It would be nice if you could list all of the available races in a series, such as all the Gr. 3 races available. Better yet, if they would group them into a series, that would be really clutch. It would be great to have a 10 race season where you compete in Gr. 3 races, complete with a practice session and qualifying. Project Cars 2 did this concept well. As it stands now, to find all the Gr. 3 races involves going in and out of continent and track menus and is a bit cumbersome and all over the place. I think having a series would provide a better sense of continuity as well. Now it feels like you are doing random races here and there, which is a bit odd.

I know this post was long winded, but I had been looking forward to this game for years and had high hopes that the racing action had improved. I'm glad to report that it has, and 7 has the best racing action of any of the Gran Turismo games. I'd like to see a few modifications, and I think they would be minor with the foundation that has been built in this game. Hopefully more to come in future updates or in Gran Turismo 8, but I've enjoyed the challenge this game presents quite a lot.

New Sound System - Part 4: Full Surround Sound!

As I have upgrade and expanded my sound system to focus more on movies and less on music, I have wanted to include surround speakers. I upgraded my towers and added a center channel speaker, as well as a dedicated subwoofer, all Klipsch.  When I was upgrading my HDMI cables to 2.1, I went ahead and connected speaker cable to the receiver for rear speakers, so that the basement theater would be ready to add surround sound. I actually already owned two bookshelf speakers that could be used for surround.  I bought them probably 20 years ago. I had them briefly setup in my parents basement while I was in high school and college, but they have been sitting in various closets since moving out of my parents house in 2006. Point being, I already had the expensive part of the expansion in my possession.

The big issue with expanding to surround sound then wasn't cost, it was logistics. Specifically, the layout of the room I am using. My theater system is in the basement with a finished ceiling. On one side of the room is the staircase leading upstairs, with a small hallway on the other side of the staircase between it and the wall. Because of this, there was no easy way to route the wire connecting the speaker that sits by the stairs (right rear). I was able to route the wire to the left rear easy enough by allowing the wire to run along the left wall and behind a couch, keeping it out of view. This is why I ran a 4.1 system for a few months. However, once I had the left rear speaker connected, and experienced partial surround, it really motivated me to connect the right rear speaker as well to have full surround.

Since running it through the ceiling wasn't really an option with the finished ceiling, and not having or wanting to add crown molding to my basement, the only other option was to run it under the carpet, which is what I (with the help of Sarah!) did. I had never run anything under carpet before, and thus the idea never occurred to me until my buddy mentioned that he did this at his house to wire speakers. It turned out to be easy enough once we had the right tool, which ended up being a tape measure. We initially tried a fish tape wire guide, but had issues with the guide coiling under the carpet. We ran the wire essentially to the same part of the room as the left rear, but then made a small incision in the carpet and was able to run it under the carpet to reach the location of the right rear with the help of the tape measure.

Despite already owning the two speakers, the project still cost about $200. Fifty dollars were spent for speaker cable, and another $150 were spent for speaker stands. Granted you can buy cheaper speaker stands, but I had some specific requirements I needed for height to reach above a couch. I am glad to have full surround sound now, and I might even add Atmos at some point. With that being said, I've come to the conclusion that the most important speakers in a surround sound setup are the center channel and sub. All of the action and sound that takes place on screen comes from the center channel, and having a good sub for the explosions and low end sound will transform how your system sounds. I think the other speakers are less important for surround. However, if you want to rock out or have good sounding music then the front left and right speakers need to be adequate as well, wether they are bookshelf or towers. I think the surround speakers are the least important as so little sound comes from them compared to the other speakers. This is probably why sound bars improve TV sound so much without the hassle of extra wires and an amp that comes with running surround rear speakers. Since I already had the receiver and speakers, I wanted to go ahead and include the surround sound feature to make my theater more complete. However, when I upgrade my sound in the living room (which is the main area where TV is watched), I'll likely just upgrade the sound bar that I have to a newer 3.1 channel system. 

Playstation Plus

 

I knew once I had a Playstation 5 I would need to get Playstation Plus. I had never had much need for it in the past. I didn't think I played enough games to make the game sales worth the price of the subscription, and I certainly didn't play online games. However, with the arrival of the PS5, a couple of my friends joined the gaming scene for the first time since the PS3 era. One of the big agenda items for them was to join together to do some online gaming. At some point in the past, a subscription was required to play games online on the Playstation, and thus the subscription was inevitable.

Previously Playstation had two separate subscriptions: Playstation Plus, for online gaming, and Playstation Now, a cloud-based game streaming service. Earlier this year, Sony announced they were combining the services into a newly rebranded Playstation Plus, that will now have tiers based on the features you want to have included. With this announcement, I wanted to wait until the new Playstation Plus launched in June before subscribing. 

The entry tier costs $60 per year, and essentially gets you online play. The middle tier costs $100 per year, and is a hybrid of Playstation Plus and Now. This is the tier I got. In addition to the online play, it gives you access to a fantastic game library, where you can download the games to play on your system. I already downloaded a couple of games and started playing one of them. This is the first time in my life where I've had access to 100s of games to download and play. What's cool about this is that it allows me to play some games I'm interested in but may not have purchased outright in the past. It's a bit overwhelming, honestly. Similar to streaming services where I have access to 100s of shows, having access to all these games leaves me a bit confused on when and how I'm going to play all of them.

The third tier costs $120 per year, and allows for game streaming (vs needing to download them to your system), and access to more games as well as vintage games from PS3 & 2. I decided to split the difference and get the middle tier, as I don't have much use for games from PS3 era and earlier, and I'm OK with downloading games, though I needed to buy a hard drive to have more storage. My justification for the middle tier was that even if I played one game per year, it would make up the cost difference between $60 and $100, as purchasing new games is expensive. I'll likely play more than one game per year. Despite my initial reservation in subscribing, having the service has really transformed my PS5 into an ultimate gaming destination. The amount of games available is staggering. Interestingly, what sparked all of this was Grand Theft Auto V, a game from the PS3 era that is nearly 10 years old. More to come on this in a subsequent post.

Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness

 

It's a bit difficult for me to wrap my mind around this film to explain it properly. Essentially, Wanda is still fixated on her perfect family life from WandaVision, and is attempting to traverse the multiverse in order to join the version of Earth where she has a family. In order to do this, she needs to harness the power of a young girl named America Chavez, who has the ability to travel throughout the multiverse. Dr. Strange becomes aware of the situation (it basically lands in his lap), and protects America and the multiverse from the Scarlet Witch. 

The movie is a visual trip. The effects are really cool. Dr. Strange and Wanda are two of my favorite Marvel characters, so I enjoyed the fact that they were the two main stars in the film. Wanda was the antagonist, and she apparently sacrificed herself at the end of the film to destroy the book of evil witchcraft, so it will be interesting to see if she is in subsequent films. I hope she is. The film has strong elements of a horror film, which is unique to the MCU as they are typically light hearted. Portions of the movie were actually kind of scary.

The most interesting part of the movie to me was the revelation of the Illuminati. I specifically found it interesting that Captain Marvel was Maria Rambeau and Reed Richards was played by John Krasinski. I'm interested to see where they go with this group of characters and the Fantastic 4.

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi

 

Hello there! It's difficult to know where to begin when discussing this show. The start of the Clone Wars up to the events in Episode V is my favorite time period in the Star Wars Skywalker saga. This includes Episode II up to Episode IV, and the additional content such as the Clone Wars animated series, Rebels, etc. The Obi-Wan show falls within this time frame. Additionally, if I had to pick a favorite Jedi, it would probably be Obi-Wan. He plays such an important role in the events of the Skywalker saga, and his casual James Bond-like approach is super cool. I also really enjoy Ewan McGregor's portrayal of the character. Suffice it to say I was really looking forward to the show. However, after watching the series, it sort of represents the good, the bad, and the ugly of Star Wars series. With that being said, let's start with the good.

I really liked that they didn't spend the entire series on Tatooine. I feel like a lot of time is spent on that planet, and while this occurs for good reason, there are so many other cool locations in the galaxy that don't get enough screen time. I particularly liked the visuals from Daiyu, and Alderaan looked fantastic as well. We got to see some great Sith locations as well, such as Fortress Vader on Mustafar and Fortress Inquisitorius. As I was watching the rescue mission that occurred at Fortress Inquisitorius, I was thinking how it all seemed familiar. I finally realized that the exact same underwater entrance to the fortress, as well as having to navigate a flooded hallway, occurred in Jedi Fallen order. I suppose it was a nod to the game, and not a rip off. Visually these locations looked really cool, and while at times the Volume showed some cracks, I think generally the show looked good.

Having Hayden Christensen back as Darth Vader was also a plus. While his first battle with Obi-Wan was lame, he redeemed himself in the second battle, and generally it was just cool to see Vader in this stage of his career with the Empire. The scene where he force holds a ship, preventing it from taking off, was memorable as well. Of course, Ewan's performance as Obi-Wan was great as well. The writing and plot failed him at times, however, and that is where we get to the bad and ugly of this series.

Obi-Wan, now in hiding on Tatooine as Ben, gets a message from his pal Bail Organa that Leia has been kidnapped (by Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, of all people). He is slow, and out of touch with the Force. This makes sense, because he is supposed to be watching over Luke and hiding from the Empire following order 66. The Grand Inquisitor and his side-kicks show up, looking for an unidentified Jedi. I was first introduced to the Inquisitors in Rebels, and they were portrayed as a group of bad ass dark side Force users, hunting force sensitive beings that survived Order 66. I was excited to see them in live action form. However, they were mostly portrayed as clowns in this show. After they find the Jedi, they are literally stumped by an awning that he uses the Force to throw in front of them. They could go around it, over it, etc. but this task seems too difficult for them to figure it out. Later in the series, the Grand Inquisitor actually thinks it would be better for Vader to chase a ship full of random people instead of chasing Obi-Wan's ship. What?!?

The main plot focuses on the Third Sister Reva. She was a youngling when Anakin killed all of her friends at the Jedi Temple. She has since grown up and joined the Empire as an Inquisitor, with the goal of killing Vader. I'm not sure how she knows that Vader was Anakin, but that's the story. She was behind Leia's kidnapping, a plot to get Obi-Wan out of hiding to kill him to get on Vader's good side. I suppose this makes sense, but how did she know Leia had any association with Obi-Wan? And why didn't Bail use his resources to hunt for Leia? Why would he immediately reach out to Obi-Wan? All seems suspicious.

All of this came to a head in episode 3. There is so much wrong with this episode it is difficult to know where to begin. Obi-Wan and Leia escape from a group of stormtroopers, then Obi-Wan struggles to turn off a fence across a bridge when he is on foot and can simply walk around it. Then they are immediately captured by another group of stormtroopers where they immediately surrender, even though they just demonstrated that they can defeat stormtroopers. They meet a woman who is part of the Path, a group of people who protect Force sensitive beings from the Empire. By this time, Vader has located Obi-Wan, and they engage in an epically bad fight. I would have never imagined that a fight between them could be bad, but oh man it was painful to watch. The Path woman leaves Leia to go help Obi-Wan, you know, because leaving a 10 year old alone while she is being hunted to help a grown man who can use the Force makes sense. Leia is running down a tunnel to escape the town, and somehow Reva is already present at the tunnel exit. How she knows where that is located we will never know. I could go on and on with examples like this, but I think you get the point. You don't have to poke very hard at all at this story before you will create holes.

The series ends with an epically bad escape, where Vader's massive Star Destroyer can't seem to shoot down a simple transport ship or escape pod. Reva fails to kill Vader, and instead goes to Tatooine to kill Luke. She fails to do so, which is obvious since he is the main character in the original trilogy. It's unclear why this scene is necessary. Obi-Wan rides off into the sunset, finally being able to reach ghost Qui-Gon, which seemed a bit forced. I will say the show did redeem itself with the second Vader-Obi-Wan fight, which was excellent, both in terms of the fighting and dialogue.

This show was good, not great. Worth watching for Star Wars fans, and Ewan was great as Obi-Wan. I just wish the writing and plot were a bit better.