Best high definition spectator sport? Project Gotham Racing 3
By Richard Lawler 
posted Dec 9th 2005 4:20PM
posted Dec 9th 2005 4:20PM
Last weekend was a great weekend in high definition sports viewing, right? There was the Big XII Championship game, the Pac-10 Championship game, and a prime time Monday Night Football matchup of the defending conference champion Eagles and the up and coming Seattle Seahawks.
Unfortunately it wasn't. In those three games, all of which I tried to watch, the winning teams were up by a combined 98-9 at halftime so I was looking for something else to view pretty quickly. College basketball in December bores me, there was no hockey, NASCAR is done which left me with?
My Xbox 360 and Project Gotham Racing 3. By far the best combo for high definition sports no matter the day, no matter the time. In this version of Bizarre's racer, they unveiled a new feature called "Gotham TV" which automatically selects and broadcasts the highest ranked players racing live online. Ask yourself, if someone walked up to you right now and told you the best street racer in the world was racing his Ferarri F50 through NYC streets and taking on all comers, would you watch? Read on my friend.
Quite simply, ESPN isn't doing much. They've got two high definition channels and STILL don't have anything on for much of the day. Even when they show a game in HD, when it replays later it's in SD. Sure I could just play the game myself, but I was eating dinner and my PGR3 skills don't mesh well w/ alfredo (Come challenge me if you want to see).
I tuned into the Gotham TV channel and instantly was directed to a head to head match between two top drivers on a street course in New York. Even more than when you're playing, watching a race gives a great opportunityt o appreciate how well the city has been modeled; Las Vegas in the daytime or Tokyo at night is my favorite. On the downside, while having only three cities plus the Nürburgring isn't a problem in play because of the varied tracks, it can get repetitive when watching races over the same bridge over and over. Here's a few things they could do to really put this over the top to attract fans of watching other people play.
- A live feed on Xbox.com. Many people who would be interested may never see it, because they don't own the game, remove that hurdle.
- Include the ability to share your saved replays with others. I'd love to show you the clip of me launching a TVR clear over a Mustang off of a jump during a race, landing the jump and taking the lead, but I can't.
- Save replays from Gotham TV, have fans vote on the best and show them on TV once a week. It's not like they don't already buy the ad time and G4, nobody is watching Fastlane.
- Include the ability to talk to other people watching the race/see how many people are watching. This would really help build up the sense of community among people watching.
I can get all the excitement of your average F1 race any time I want, and better yet, challenge the winner afterwards. Overall, a much more compelling experience thanother sporting event broadcast in high definition, even if it is just a game. Maybe someday virtual sporting events will even be on a par with the real thing. I'll see you on Xbox Live, or maybe you'll see me first on Gotham TV.
As much fun as Gotham TV is to watch, it's even more fun when you're on it.
The game loads, you see that message on-screen "This race is being broadcast on Gotham TV" and it's like everyone gets on their best behavior because the MEDIA is HERE! :)
Good times.
That is a great article. I didn't even know PGR3 had that option/mode. Xbox 360 may be looking decent just for xbox live. If only I could have ps3 specs (blue ray specifically) with a xbox 360 controller and xbox live.
maybe as a bonus you could chose to have old nintendo games and a revolution controller as a secondary.
That is exceptionally uber-cool! I am a die hard Nintendo fan, but the xbox live possibilities are really starting to excite me...
Wouldn't it be cool if they arranged actual cyber races, and you could gamble on the outcome? Maybe not for real money, but perhaps for something else worthwhile.
Now they need to make this a channel that people can watch over their satelite dishes in HD of course...
I wasn't going to buy this game, as I didn't play the first two to completion, but this "watch" feature is great. I did the same thing with FIFA on the N64, but this is with real people rather than both teams computer controlled.
Wow! Great suggestions for the game too. I'd like to just see a constant stream for ANYONE to see... This is too cool. But then, I'm the annoying guy in the room that would always demand to see the whole race replayed afterwards...
Thanks Richard; you owe me $45! After reading about the Gotham TV part of your post, I had to grab the game while at Costco today! ;)
A live stream of the best of the best PGR3 racer that I could watch without owning a 360 could make me want to buy the system.
This is a good suggestion, however, to make the TV-part available to the public they would have to:
1. Make a free downloadable graphics engine capable of recieving and decoding a datastrem - this would seriously be the best option for the user. Best possible lossless graphics and low bandwidth usage. The development of the graphics engine program would cost to develop, maybe too much...
or
2. Make a typical videostream available of the top racers right now. This is possible for anyone to do, and it's a great idea, but it would be bandwidth demanding in a large scale - and possibly become too expensive.
So the game-makers have decided that you have to own a copy of the game to see the TV-option. This to avoid some trouble, it's a pity though - I'd watch - and maybe I'd bought the game...
Stromloft I disagree, I definitely understand your point, but what would stop them from rendering the graphics at their own headend and streaming iit as regular video from that.
Well, streaming the video (as opposed to the datastream) would probably mean losing all of the cool features that watching a PGR3 race brings with it: control over the cameras. It's so cool be to be able to first select which car to focus on and then decide whether you want to watch it from a conventional set of stationary cameras along the track or from inside the friggin car (with 180 degree control of the view with the right analog stick). You guys who haven't seen this in action need to find a friend with the system and game. It rocks!
Funny thing is I haven't actually raced online yet. I'm too engrossed in the offline career mode.