From race-room.com and I am more excited about buying a game than I have been in more than a year.

Excellent! Must have just come online today, I've been checking daily. LOL
Now if they could just get GTR2 on there, the one I've been waiting for.

# Retail Release Date: Sep 2006
# Digital Re-release: February 2011
"This title will be available in the shop shortly."

http://www.raceroom.net/games/gtr2-fia-gt-racing-game/


You're really going to like GTL, the cars have a great feel to them. I like running it with the day/night progression at max speed to see the race both times of the day.

Did you see this? Seems they've got it working with Vista/7 out of the box now.

I used to have GTL and was never more disappointed than when I couldn't get it to work in Vista 64-bit.

Raw, dude, GTR2 has ALWAYS worked out of the box with Windows 7, 64Bit. I know because I've been playing it on a i7, Win7 64 Bit machine for a year.

Don't forget: GT Legends is a semi-arcade game rather than a sim. The driving model is sim-like but don't forget that you have to Unlock all but two of the 70 cars by winning races like a console game. The damage model has also been scaled way back from GTR/GTR2. It's bumper cars, man. Bumper cars and video game unlocking. Most people have forgotten those two little details.

Isn't rFactor the same if you don't use ISIBABYFACTORY - you need credits or experience point etc etc. And with iRacing you have to earn your way through and physically shell out extra to use other cars! Does this make them console-like arcade racers?

IMO GTL is a damn fine SIM - second only to GTR2 (I don't have iRacing). And after 2 years of racing GTL online I've not once thought to myself that the damage model, or lack of, has detracted from my enjoyment of it. However, racing HistorX now it is nice to see the cars bend more - but that's the 12 yr old in my trying to escape

Btw: there's an easy way to unlock all the cars in GTL, as in rFactor. Just google it.

Jon

Yep. You'll need to create a file with notepad. Nothing in it, just open notepad and hit Save As. You give it a certain name, and change the file extension to some odd type. Drop that in GTL and presto - fully unlocked cars. That makes use of what many think was a developer cheat used in game design and testing.

I think most people here give a 'sim' rating to a game for several reasons, including physics model, damage model (graphical and physical), garage/setup options, ability to employ pit strategy, tire/tire wear model, and in-game view options. Console-style Game Menu GUI and locked content are more annoyance than deciding factor in calling a game a 'sim'. If that were the case, Richard Burns Rally (originally made for console with console-only GUIs and locked content, even in the PC version) would not be held in the high regard that it is by the sim racing community.

Chunx, I didn't know that about GTL. Thank you. Not that I'll ever try it, but it's good to know. I can't stand the console menus in NFS Shift. Even F1 2010 menus feel consoley.

Yeah, this would be the first time I've ever heard GTL be called an arcade racer.

If unlocking cars and race series means arcade, then iRacing is practically pinball. LOL
IMO the best racers would have both a career progression option as well as straight up championships and custom championships.

Any way to get GT Legends CD release version to run without Starforce on Win 7 64-bit?

Good question, 'cause I'm not buying it again...

Check your PM guys.

Hows the graphics ? I know th physics are good, but I also like some candy.

Is it rough or have they improved the graphics for this re-release?

The review of the re-release here at Sim HQ didn't mention updated graphics.

Mark, would you be so nice to PM me too?

I don't think they changed anything graphically but GTL still looks pretty good

I'm looking at some youtube Vids, and it seems contrary to GTR Evo, this one at least has the cockpit "shading in" when you drive trough shade? I can't stand static lighting cockpits at all.

Also, seems impossible to find a full car and track list anywhere.

With the "unlocking cheat" can you still do full championships, single race weekends, qualifying and such?

And the game has no starforce, online activation crap or such?

Last question - is this a standard cockpit?
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/9254/gtlegends01.jpg

The quality of cockpit GFX I'm finding only seems to vary wildly.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm still looking for a decent GT type racer that does not look as dated as GTR2 and does not play as arcade as Shift...

There's a good review of the 'original' GTL in the SimHQ archives here:
http://www.simhq.com/_motorsports2/motorsports_064b.html

It lists all the cars, tracks and several other features.

Yes, GTL cockpits are fully lit, and while the quality varies from car to car, every one of them look great. Even after the unlocking cheat you can go back and replay all the races/championships if you want to. The DVD version had Starforce. I'm sure this has been removed from the download version but i can't comment on any other forms of copy protection they might have.

There are also a whole heap of top quality community made addon cars/track but i can't vouch for compatibility with the digital edition.

GTL is a great sim and some of the cars are a real challenge in expert mode. If you are used to modern cars then this era of racing takes some adjustment but it's a heck of a lot of fun. A lot of simmers will already have this in their collection but even if you are only slightly curious you could do a whole lot worse.

Thanks for the link, reading up now...

Oh boy. SimHQ gurus didn't think much of this racer. I read Jens' review at the link provided by Darren. Here's an excerpt:

"GTL feels like a brave marriage between sim and arcade-racer, and it is up to the user if the marriage is a success; if the sim-part is too much for the casual racer, or the arcade-style is too much for the hardcore simmer. In the light of the way GTL is put together, it looks as if SimBin may be going more mainstream and aiming at the console market. "

Another excerpt: "Technical damage as you might encounter in random breakdowns for the human driver or the AI, or when hitting things and consequently knocking your car off tracking or off balance, seems to have been relegated to a position of lesser importance. During the quite exhaustive testing I didn't really come across any cars that had broken down or were damaged and off-pace. I haven't noticed any DNF's for the AI cars."

One more from our own Jens "McGonigle": "To this reviewer the unlocking process means that the novelty of entering countless races and cups quickly wears off and becomes extremely repetitive. It also means that the overall impression of GTL is that of a mainstream and fairly uninventive game, despite all the technical wizardry of good looks, many cars and good graphical scalability. In spite of the good physics, the overall impression is that of an arcade racer." Ouch!

In all fairness, Jens does say some good things about GTL, but that last comment was devastating.

Career modes are usually fun for me, and it is in GTL too.
However, I think it took me only a couple of minutes to google and unlock it.
If career modes for unlocking cars and tracks is arcade, then iRacing is Space Invaders and Skee-ball rolled into one.

+1
You can look at this from any angle you like but GTL is most definitely a true 'sim' and a worthy companion to the GTR series. If you want the career mode then fine, if not then it's a 2 min job to unlock it. It really shouldn't become an influencing factor on whether to make the purchase.

He-he, perhaps I was a bit forceful in my statements in that review.

I've tried the unlock file numerous times but can't get it to unlock. It does go in the main GTL directory, correct?

That's correct. I think you then have to create a new player / profile - then all the cars etc will be unlocked.

Notes I got somewhere or another that I used.

So this can be merged with GTR and then modded with Power&Glory mod?

[EDIT]I never bought it because of the StarForce infection.

I doubt the digital download version will work for that as P&G needs to see the GTL disc in the CD drive to verify you own it.

I know the Power & Glory team are looking into various possibilities on the subject of needing a GTL disc or not.

Working well now with the Starfoce NO CD fix in Win 7 x64.

Where can I get that? I already have 2 copies of the disc version, i don't think i will buy another version.

I downladed the demo, and got hit with a starforce issue. Can't play it.

Any ideas how to get around that ?

SimHQ's policy on No-CD cracks is that we permit discussion of them, but do not allow links to them.

Downloaded the full game. Really worth it. Good sim.

PM me or e-mail me at ArgonV at AOL dot com.

Crap service. Been downloading the 2.5GB installer from the official site for three and a half hours now - way below what my bandwidth is - and now my PC slowed down during writing of a CD-RW and the install crapped out. So again here we go downloading 2.5GB for four hours estimated time.

If they want to pretend to be all cool digital distribution, they really need to upgrade their servers.

Oh well. What a mixed bag.

Clearly this is a serious racing title, with the best presentation I've seen so far as actual racing goes. The ability to sit in the box and watch the other drivers lap their practice runs is amazing. Everything a serious racer needs is there, including of course full race weekends and the full FIA championship series.

BUT: Playing this next to my other current racing titles, it will never be anything other than hopeless ugly. Stepping from a NFS Shift Porsche 911 RSR cockpit after a few laps at Donington into the GTL version of the same track and car type will be like accidently swapping the i7 for a Pentium II. I'm not sure I can stand such a large difference in visual quality between my games. Now if I could have Shift grade visuals with this type of racing environment... I'd be playing days and nights.

Saw this today at VirtualR: http://www.virtualr.net/gt-legends-revival-for-existing-owners/

Direct Raceroom Link: http://www.raceroom.net/specials/gt-legends-revival/

"GT Legends Revival for Existing Owners

Recently, Simbin launched a digital-download version of their famed GT Legends title that properly supports modern operating systems such as Windows Vista & Windows 7.

Until now, buyers of the DVD version that was released back in 2005 were left out of these improvements. This changes now as Simbin has started the GT Legends Revival campaign, giving all GT Legends disc version owners access to a complimentary digital-download version with the mentioned improvements.

To claim the new version, owners just have to contact Simbin’s helpdesk and send in a photo of their GT Legends box & disc as proof of ownership. Detailed instructions on how to claim the update can be found on the RaceRoom website."

That's a very good customer service they are providing there.

Thanks for the heads-up mate!

Ummm, what if your box went in the garbage long ago? I don't keep game boxes?

My point exactly - I read all this thread hoping to find out!

I have only the disc and number (and my online log-in details).

Guess I'll just continue using the GTL mod for GTR2.

FH

I'm sure you can just photograph your DVD or whatever you have! Try it!?

Well, since I own a copy of GTL from when it originally came out I thought I'd have a go at getting the replacement version.

Got the cheat to circumvent the silly unlocking dance and found that if installed to program files x86 the forcefeedback sucks, much better if installed to any other directory. Run as admin of course.

These days I can run it with all bells and whistles at max graphical detail and of course dx9 is not dx11 but the graphics I feel are more honest than anything I've seen in newer titles like NFS, especially considering that the tracks in NFS Shift and Shift 2 have been tarted up with fantasy trackside objects because the real tracks weren't pretty enough.

When I look closely at the graphics in for example NFS Shift 2, I see some areas where the graphics to my eyes are horrible because all the attention has been dedicated on making the car look very shiny, and a few loud glimmerati effects in the close vicinity of the car.

Physics are imo way better than even the latest NFS shift effort.

I probably still prefer Power & Glory for GTR2 over this. The P&G mod group have spent an amount of time, research and energy on getting their creation as accurate as possible, to a degree that a commercial venture can rarely afford to do.

I just did it last night. I don't have the box anymore, of course, but I had the manual and the jewel case with the CDs and the SF and MP codes on it. I took a pic of those with my RR name and the date on it, created a trouble ticket, and sent the pic as an attachment.
It must have been no more than 2 hrs till I got an email with an activation code and another with a link to let me DL the 2.5GB installer, no money paid. I have yet to install it (tonight if I can) but I must say I enjoyed playing GTL SP more than any of the other simbin titles I've owned. Individual races and all are fine no matter which one, but I found the "cup" races in GTL more engaging (although the "race a crappy car against a field of better cars" didn't appeal to me because there's inevitably a track where your car is too slow for the straights and the corners don't let you make it up).




The Jedi Master

Glad I did read this topic now. I had submitted a ticket yesterday and didn't hear back from them.
But I missed the part about the codes that had to be in the picture. I thought it would be to easy to get many copies with just a picture fom the DVD box.

Has anyone downloaded the digital version of GTL lately from SimBin?

I bought the digital download last night. Since I also saw that the file size is stated at 2.5GB I decided to download the game on our iMac at the lab (we are an mac-only lab) and take the file home to install on my PC. However, the file that downloads is 955.7MB and named 'gt_legends_installer.zip'

Is this the correct download? seems odd...oh well, I will take this file home and unzip it on my PC and see what happens (i hope we get multiple downloads with our activation code?)