Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto: Online
Pretty much a year ago and a bit I was loading up Grand Theft Auto V onto my PS3 because that’s what you do when the latest and greatest game series is released… on the PS3 and Xbox 360 only. So basically I was downgrading controllability from my previous super-fun experience on PC with GTAIV and going to the archaic PS3 with it’s 10 year old hardware and… well it has a Blu-Ray player so that’s pretty good.
I have been absent recently from the blog and for that I apologise up front. Honestly I love writing when something happens and recently not a lot has been going on… except that isn’t true because plenty has happened and I have just not been actively thinking on it. I purchased my first baby present for the new addition (due December) to my buddy’s new family. The gift in this case is in delivery mode from Apple and is a Withings Baby Monitor.
It plays lullabies and is a night light, room temperature and humidity sensor and a camera streaming to your iPhone or Android device.
Waking up early is something I envision doing when I am well into my fifties and intent on going for a walk to stave off the belly fat. Currently I may have the same issue however I am not waking up early because of laziness. That stops when a private event comes around with the boys and girls from Zen Garage, I kind of skip laziness and go straight to stress… about whether my car is going to be enough to hang with these dudes and their highly modified and very defectable rides.
Strong mocha in belly and I am on the M4 motorway hurtling towards the darkness beyond my windshield, music playing at a medium level with the windows up to stave off the chilly early morning air, it’s 4:55am and I can’t remember the last time I was awake around this time… on a Saturday. Listening intently to my GPS guide and before long I have turned up to a nondescript street in what I think is Leichhardt though I wouldn’t know because this place is alien to me and I don’t know what the fastest way to the cop shop is. I turn into a dark driveway and notice the headlights shining on a far wall at the end of the drive “Zen Garage” it says and instantly I feel relieved, I found the place!
People and their shiny, low and fast tonne and a bit chunks of metal, carbon fibre and polycarbonate turn up. I really felt for the residents of Leichhardt that morning.
After what seemed like 30 minutes the rest of the crew arrived and I got to walk around the garage plus say “hai” to Sergio and his team. I noted a sign that urged respect for neighbours by not playing loud music or revving the engine or doing burnouts… seriously. Around 6am we all headed to the cars and started on the convoy through Leichhardt to Glebe and to the Harbour Bridge revving hard in confined spaces and generally keeping only the most basic semblance of control in high octane guzzling fun-time machines.
As for what happened next you don’t need me your humble narrator, rather pictures that illustrate the moments much better than witty banter:
Waiting at the servo almost immediately after leaving HQ. Time to admire the cars coming for this epic journey
Sergio’s Skyline, dropped lower than a worms winkie
This Odyssey belongs to the Klumps
E30 bimmers are a personal favourite, lovely wheels too
Getting going. 6am and degenerates like us make quick moves
Spit bridge for a quick gather up of the rest of the crew, nice cars abound
Fiat with great stance and a tin opener taken to it. It’s Turbo charged.. you know.
Ok Ok the Focus isn’t exactly low but it is fast and looks like a rally car.. right!?
In good company
That E30 again. My grandpa had a similar vintage 735i in the same colour
This Maloo was loud as in apocalyptically loud.
Great scene
Cool S2000, seems to be the business
Running to Kuringai
A common sight, you overtake and then a Skyline comes raging past
Great car
Not sure if that is legal… aww heck who cares when it looks that good. Full roll cage and everything.
Feels like a touge run in Japan, really just a 2-way in Northern Sydney
Much fuel was burned for the cause that day
Lake side and loving it.
At the end of the run, cars ticking cool. The Focus did admirably
Seems right at home with this lot… I think
A beautiful view to end a great run
Serenity… I will be back for sure
Thanks to the guys at All Stars and Zen Garage for a great morning, I crashed hard after this and slept for ages after getting home safe. See you next time.
Hi everyone, it’s been a while since I have posted something so I thought it’d be best if I stopped this laziness and since I haven’t bleated on about GTA in quite some time, why not say something about it. (Throughout this article I am going to assume you play GTA V. If you don’t, read on for silly musings, if you do then you are with fine company.)
I am still waiting with anticipation for Rockstar to release GTA V on the PC and after so long I have padded myself out quite nicely in Los Santos and I am kind of dreading doing it all again from the beginning on PC (Rockstar, please allow cross platform save or at least a transfer function). I have been there, done that and got most of the best stuff, the experience really is all about the mighty dollar. You buy a new bunch of duds and next month a new pack comes out with a raft of new goodies for you to buy, Rockstar is pandering to the consumer in all of us. Most of the time I buy stuff my character doesn’t even need like recently a set of top hats which look pretty silly on a female character cost me $5,000 a pop plus a new super car setting me back $500,000 which after modifications to make it better and faster (same thing right?) probably put the bill at $800,000, all said and done I spent $1.5 million on the lot.
Oh Shaun, you are a wasteful chap playing a female character with a wardrobe to rival Paris Hilton’s and a garage that could make Jay Leno weak at the knees, in Los Santos aren’t you… yes and no. Where there is no waste is in that garage because I love cars of most shapes and sizes, that much everyone except you knows already. What appeals to me is more vehicular temple with shiny floors and lighting like an art gallery all for slick and sexy sports and super cars than edwardian mansion overlooking the dales with a modest shed to house the carts. And so the diatribe about cars begins as I have spent a fair bit of my life here in this virtual toy box and when you do this many burnouts along with much opposite lock on stretches of beautiful sun drenched tarmac you begin to form an opinion.
Jay who?
If you just started playing you might be poor, very poor as your bank account is in $100s and you do not have anywhere to remain safe from the hoards of crazy and maligned players who look for people like you to kill. That isn’t fair nor fun but you persist because you’ve had a look at your online web browser on your in-game phone and seen websites like southernsanandreassuperautos.com or legendarymotorsport.net and they have many shiny cars that you want so let me help you there:
Let’s start with things you probably want now because they’re new from “The Business Update” as in only this week could you actually begin to purchase them, all of us who have been playing since GTA V came out had to wait with you too:
Grotti Turismo R
Looks fast, goes quite fast and scrapes alot
You fancy yourself a little well off after playing that one larger paying mission over-and-over again and now you have in excess of 1.5 million in your GTA$ account, you need the most expensive of the newly released cars to give you the thrills. Yes it is exciting and stylish and you will get looks from everyone when you drive it with some caveats. Firstly everyone has been saving up for it so at the moment it is like any new fangled thing, it’s getting around. Secondly it’s actually not that fast, I drove this thing on the highway and at full chat to find I was passing cars like they were stuck in reasonable traffic and not like they were parked, this is depressing.
For the less fortunate this is the view they will need to remain comfortable with, until the next bumpy corner that is.
She’s looks good but with a nose like that it only means trouble as soon as the road isn’t glass smooth
Handling wise it turns in quite nicely however it has a tendency to break traction at the rear under slightly bumpy conditions and in terms of predictability it’s as good as the weather service which means in the game of keeping it mint while you doddle about, many points are lost (style and man ones included). If you, like me mince about a lot parking it on the high street waiting for the gasps and nice comments from toffs about your car, then you can appreciate the sleekness of this car as it looks good. Bring the very low bodywork near a kerb however and you find that the Turismo R is not like other cars which hop up the kerb, this one grinds it’s skirts so you park up too close and you end up with a great big gash in the lower part of your fender making you look incompetent. The other part of the problem is the nose is so long and low that exiting your apartment or LSCustoms comes with scratch marks on the nose, now everyone is laughing at your and their misfortunes.
I feel Rockstar is kind of making a joke of all those of us with enough cash, properly introducing us to the world of exclusive hypercars, all their foibles and the knobs who buy them, touché.
Dinka Jester
No spoiler, looks sleek and mean in a funny way, like leering at an enemy, for which you have many.
Everyone thought this would be the coming of the Supra to our pixel rich world, they were wrong because instead we got the next NSX, and we are better for it. A properly modern design that for us in real life, isn’t even obtainable yet unless you are Tony Stark. Initial impressions are that this car is small and tight in a good way where they seem to use only what is needed to make the car and make it look fast. Short front and back overhangs and mid engine supercar looks seem to suggest the Jester punches above it’s weight.
For the car mod fans (really, who isn’t in this game) there are a raft of aggressive parts to make your Jester your own although I did notice that going ‘up’ in the cost brackets when choosing parts for this car doesn’t necessarily end with a good looking car as they have given you the chance to make it look pretty much like a hill climbing racer and therefore beneficial to you like a large wart is right on the nose.
The Jester mucking about at night with super dark tint, surely this car isn’t legal like that.
Nice behind
Driving around and you notice immediately that the engine note is far too coarse for a car like this, though with time you appreciate it as the car is quite aggressive in acceleration. Handling is sharp with a tendency towards understeer however some handbrake and opposite lock (oh look at me) and you can slide about like a hero. I haven’t had the chance to take the car to an event like “Drift King” to really shake down the handling characteristics when oversteering but the AWD platform seems to be quite docile, easy even to drive unlike the odd 9F and it’s AWD chassis that has a tendency to want to put you in a wall wherever possible (maybe I am not very good with that car).
Bonus points need to be awarded for not being the first choice of the cashed up nutters yet shining through as the surprise package and so desirable it too like the Turismo R, looks good in the more fashionable districts. Put tasteful mods on this one with some nice wheels and maybe skip the roll cage (I put the race components on) to be uber understated cool.
Grotti Carbonizzare
Well-proportioned but something is amiss with that front.
This is a car that has been around since the beginning and yet it is worth a mention as my late bloomer choice. I didn’t want to like this car, it looked like a Japanese sports car front and a pretty italian coachbuild in the back with a lovely roofline. Though I spent many hours staring at the back of most cars when I drive them I knew the front of the Carbonizzare wasn’t quite right and in that way it put me off.
Rewind to 2 months ago and I, like many of the other players had 500+ million dollars and nothing to do except kill things so I bought one and fully specified it until it was scary. By now I had gone through each car available and where some things were right, many experiments in car modification went wrong, for this car though it went right.
The Carbonizzare is a front engined rear drive Italian sports car sporting a high-revving V8 and I put everything that was available on it except custom tyres as the high-revving nature seemed to suggest it could drift, which it does very well. The Carbonizzare’s engine is the real party piece as it bounces off the rev limiter while you slide sideways, it’s a joy on the twisty stuff.
Drop top mode, basking in the afternoon light.
Styling is still a little suspect with the oddity that is the front but folding origami hard top roof up or down the car is quite good looking, pretty even when you consider the curves that make the rear. Not that it really matters because you will be having too much fun executing smooth effortless drifts from street to street after which you can park it and admire… from the rear.
With a bum like that…
More mentions:
Entity XF – Buy it, probably the best handling supercar and the second most expensive after the Adder (yuck and can’t handle ice cream in a bowl). Everyone who knows… buys the Entity for precision and performance.
On it’s way to another race. All this car seems to do is race.
Coquette – The Corvette look alike and a little bit prettier than the real thing, it has GT racing modifications that don’t go off the handle and can really stick it to all the Sports class cars. It was my first choice for a sports car and I would do it again. Has a detachable roof so you can cruise around like a poseur or stick the carbon roof back on and race like a mad man. It has some sudden traction breakaway issues as the chassis is stiff but for the money it’s a great car that looks the business.
Looking fine in gold. All my cars have a backstory like why she owns one and what it was for. This is an ex-racer, I say no more.
Stinger GT – If you collect then maybe you want something you can admire like poetry in motion yet standing still. Ok that’s nonsense because you want something expensive you can show off to your friends so why not drop $875K on a Ferrari 250 GTO doppelgänger? Handling characteristics are sharp… for a car from the 60s. You will also find it oversteers whenever the accelerator is depressed but it doesn’t matter when money looks this good. Opt out of getting whitewalls to spoil the look and make it properly classic, this one below uses lowrider wire spoke wheels to make it look right (original wheels are the size of bottletops).
Pretty much all this car is great for is looking fantastic. God agreed and shone a ray of light to seal his approval.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen my sister, she, as you may already know has been living in Germany for the past few years and has been making some fantastic progress over in the land of steins and wurst (the most wurst). She’s picked up the language and from what I hear she is fluent and without accent so she’s like a news anchor, the two have purchased a new place of their own and just generally getting on well. Recently she has been over here with her husband, my new brother-in-law Michael and we’ve been having a great time catching up, talking about random crap and generally mucking about being silly most of the time.
We have had some of the best food since each day was planned way in advance based not on what we were going to do or see but what we were going to eat. Alot of the itinerary/menu was mum’s cooking as well as some new super hot skills acquired by another writer on this blog, Justin! He’s made us amazing pork belly and ensured everyone was having a good time. I have to say that overall it’s been a roaring success. Many late nights watching movies and playing games and having people over and celebrating Mum’s birthday has turned the Kok household into a whirlwind of activity and that is alright.
Steph and Michael will be making their way back to Germany on Saturday and I can’t help but feel that it’s time to plan the next European holiday and soonish because all I seem to be doing at the moment is play GTA, joke about with siblings and work.
Christmas is coming soon which means it’s going to be very hot around here. I have no leave or not much so I’m going to have to be in the office a lot, which isn’t half bad as long as the A/C is on.
Have some pictures to show that there is some sort of life behind the words:
Stephanie getting into a pork rib at Ribs and Rumps. They have the best ribs.
That’s me mah! Happy Birthday Mum! Terrible pic because of the lighting. Mum doesn’t eat beef and was dressed far too well for ribs so it’s seafood.
Full rack of Pork for Justin and a Rib-Eye steak for me, I was sitting there with this lovely cut of the steak and thinking about how ignorance really is bliss
Gow Gee – We don’t muck about when we eat Gow Gee and this has to be the best comfort food/happy place/mum’s cooking/dad’s cooking ever. Also if you must know Justin is fussy about Gow Gee and nowhere and I repeat nowhere has made Gow Gee that is acceptable to his taste. I am less fussy but I do agree that other gow gees have too much fat or tastes funky or are badly made etc.
Some shots from my daily holiday to Los Santos
New car… in game. A highly modified Jeep Wrangler look-alike, love it.
Great shot near the top of Mount Chilliad
The new car matches the shades, it look slike a Ferrari 250 GTO. costs a pretty penny as does the girl with her wardrobe.
Had to have one, this DB5 look alike goes for $350K
GTA Online is a big deal around here, I was one of the initial players who did their darndest from the start to get online and begin my own custom virtual criminal career with my very own customised-ish character (more on that later). I’ve been through the issues with online and now that most of that is done with I can honestly say that I will never look back. It was amazing, playing through the storyline with my now bestest pixelated buddies Michael, Trevor and Franklin however it’s is really something so much more endearing and personal when you create your own online avatar and what is ultimately the downfall of the city of Los Santos, Shaun- I mean Lilith has arrived to the city of bright lights and cellulite and all criminal enterprises should be worried. I decided to play a female character as it’s nice to look at a non-masculine character on screen when you’re running around killing or just chilling on the beach. It’s so much cooler to see a kinda-fetching female (more on this too) wearing body armour and armed with an AK-74 assault rifle “whacking” guys in the kapow or “bang-bang” you’re dead… way.
I thought maybe I’d share elements from what I spent most of my time doing since starting out as a nobody and getting to “sorta-somebody” now. In the beginning:
Character Creation (“the more on this” thing)
This is a sort of weird affair of creating the appearance which is based on appearances of ultimately your grandparents. You start by a screen that looks like this:
Not my character but notice how small the grandparents are? How do I know if I like how my grandparents look? – Gamezone
I thought the process was a bit difficult to be absolutely sure you liked the look of your grandparents whose face is really small you can’t see where good genes come from. Followers of this blog might have seen my old posts about Saint’s Row 4 where I had the Boss look just like Lara Croft which (there seems to be a theme here) is a nice touch. Maybe Rockstar just wanted to mix things up a bit, I had the option to use Niko and Misty as parents too however anyone who knows Niko Bellic knows that he isn’t pretty so Lilith would have to look like Misty or nothing… so I went down the completely custom try-find-the-best-grandparents-and-parents-for-the-best-look option. I don’t do things by halves when it comes to custom characters because I’m going to have to look at this mug and body for hours on end so it damn well better look acceptable.
This is Lilith doing a selfie with a recently stolen Baller (Range Rover). I think she looks fine, nice grey leather jacket
Things I do
My mission from the beginning was to buy the most expensive apartment from the get go by being fastidious in money saving and robbing loads of stores as well as stealing and selling many cars. Doing missions was actually a side note to me as it took time to load up a mission and then drive to the location and then fight it out with some NPCs alone or with other players (more on this too). Initially the take was merely OK and I found that in the time it took for me to get a mission done I could be out earning a fair bit of cash by knocking over approx 5 small convenience stores in a row with a take of around $9K all said and done. The trick is to use a helicopter (from the heliport east of Vespucci or the airport or the Sandy Shores airfield or wherever you usually see a helicopter) to get away from the cops without having to drive on a 4-star wanted level. So you start the day by stealing a Lampadati Felon GT or a Gallivanter Baller netting you $9.5k or $9k respectively and as you can’t sell another for 24 in-game hours you just fly about robbing stores for their cash.
Ill gotten gains are then spent surprisingly easily especially because I wanted to allow for outfit changes due to the feminine nature of the character. Outfits can get expensive with a female tux jacket setting me back approx $10K, so she works hard for the threads. Other than that I’ve really been on and off with friends completing missions and races, most memorable of which was stealing a C-130 type aircraft from a hangar by gunning down loads of private security mercenaries.
Pain, so much pain… and ranting!
If I were still in kindergarten and GTA O was my education system then the comment “Does not play with others” would come up in my report card. Why that is isn’t because I’m anti-social it’s mainly because everyone else is. I recall getting out of a successful mission and immediately banking my cash out of fear of being killed with 10k in my pocket only to get killed running to my car… which is tracked for me and is pointless for anyone else to drive except myself. The d-bag who killed me decided to kill me just so he can steal my car which was a very sexy orange/yellow C63 coupe looking thing with a load of custom parts. How could he/she think that the car was a random spawn, I am not sure. I died and because of this person’s ineptitude and lost $2k to “health bills” and my car went a grand total of 50 metres before it shut itself down as it was locked… to me! (why the inbred thought it was worth someone else losing $2K just so they could drive 50m is beyond me and I hope alfaalfa-whatever your silly name is dies a lonely and painful death IRL). In another situation a friend and I just completed a mission to be foisted upon the mean streets with a crazed player running my friend over and then proceeding to try that on me from which my trigger finger responded with much squeezing and spraying into his car causing a swift retreat. Why do people assume it’s a good idea to kill other enterprising criminals, you don’t even gain much from that and all you look like is a great big twat. There is much money to be made if you work TOGETHER, but that is too difficult for these ignorant, sociopathic, small-minded loonies whom for the most part (or all of it) must be terrible at life and are failing at it miserably on a drool covered, snot-slicked, smelly, wooden, dunce stool in the basement of their probably meth-addicted mom’s hovel in semi-darkness, and I say probably because they haven’t surfaced to find out yet. Play nice, kill people in death-matches where it’s appropriate and make friends amongst the criminally minded to take down the man together.
It’s fun
I apologise for the diatribe above because it’s easy to avoid the trolls by just starting a crew or friend only server and wreak havoc like you’re the only criminal in Los Santos who’s friends pop into town every now and then to make some criminations cooperatively. The game really does come together when you have people with you in the situation too, however it’s when the objective ends is when I wonder who is going to shoot me in the back which isn’t so much a worry when you have people you can trust, stand up guys. Also forging ahead in your own story with your own way of doing things is refreshing and even if the story from the single-player side isn’t there to gel it altogether what is more tantalising is that this is your story, yes you, this is your chunk of San Andreas to carve and hewn into your own masterpiece and how you get there is your own choice.
Pursuit of Happiness/Money
It dawned on me early that there would be no point buying anything other than the best apartment. Yes most of the homes have the same interior and yes the cool 10-car garage is the same if you have a $200k or a $400k place. From that point I didn’t care for the fripperies of collecting anything except cash to make 400K for my new digs. If you bought any other place you’d only retain 50% (or something like that) of your previous place’s value as a residual on the trade to the new one. You can’t own more than one property either so it makes sense to invest initially in the one you really want and then buy that and not lose 50% of your cash just because you started at the bottom or middle of the ladder. By the time I wanted to buy and had the cash I realised that the most expensive apartment actually did not have the view nor the highest level in the building so I ended up saving $9K and purchasing the second most expensive apartment in the game therefore solidifying my wanker status.
My garage last week, oh how I love this room
Would you like to lounge?
Hi Everyone, the past few weeks have been full of stuff happening. I have been madly playing Grand Theft Auto Online and I just bought Appt 40 in the Eclipse Towers because it’s 9K cheaper than the most expensive apartment and it’s the one with the view of the city rather than the mountains (because I prefer that). If you want to go on a crime spree with a willing partner in crime, my PSN is “Koksters”. Cards against Humanity arrived and we’ve had a bit of a geez at that. The other big item is the Fifteen52 Tarmac wheel which also just arrived at the Kok household, which if you don’t know what that looks like:
Yup, it’s a wheel.
I was in the market for a new set of wheels for my car for a while now and I was kinda bored with the usual offerings, great solid offerings from Work, SSR, Rays Engineering and all other stuff cheap/expensive or in between. So when Ken Block decided to use what is arguably the most polarising set of wheels on his mad as a pair of cut snakes Ford Fiesta it set my heart racing and my thoughts combobulating with all sorts of combinations of colour and fitment.
I can spiel forth the virtues of having a cool wheels with little to no regard for trend except to set one, this will mean little to most as it has love it or hate it looks from the golden era of rally. At one stage I was thinking of putting a set on the Toyota 86 (should I have taken delivery) which shows how much commitment I have for the wheel (because that would have been a massive mistake). I haven’t seen this wheel on the street in Australia as yet so here’s to being one of the first.
Without much more diatribe here are the results of our long wait and subsequent taking of delivery and then installation:
Note burnout marks
I painted the centre caps to give it a bit more definition and some props to Fifteen52
This is my best side – MINI
Flat, very flat wheel for more pop when you look at it. The fitment request was “Flush”. With some lows it could be hella flush but I daily drive so that might not be advised.
Brothers
The MINI was the more exciting change as the WRC MINI is a Countryman and this is a little bit of an ode to that with some rally style wheels. The stance is OK at this time. More to come for this ride.
Thanks to Tuner Warehouse for getting the wheels into the country: http://www.tunerwarehouse.com.au/
I haven’t posted as usual, Friday around midday. The reason for that is GTA V the game I have been waxing lyrical for the last 2 months. The game that makes me write about other games to write about GTA. This is borderline obsession but how can you not be worked up about “the next GTA” on the demonising or praising sides of the fence? I, thankfully love the game, I always have enjoyed and immersed myself into the offerings from Rockstar with the GTA titles. GTA V has not disappointed me one bit due to the vast, vibrant setting and interesting characters to boot, you feel a part of the world they have sculpted so carefully with the technology pushed right to the limit, I cannot praise the level of detail and thought put into everything you can see and interact with.
What I am not going to do now is review the game because I am no super-gamer and I don’t finish games hyperfast and then go online to write up the awesome guides and tips. What I do is take the experience in reasonable sized pieces with gaming sessions around 4 hours long, even then I don’t get through that fast so for me it’s all about taking it in (as I write I am at around 47%). And because I am taking it in I hope I can give you some info on the different way things work for someone as “relaxed” as I am with the pace (No pictures this week, I don’t know how to snap photos on PS3):
Driving/Cars/Motorcycles
I love cars, everyone who knows me knows I don’t like cars, I love cars, just not in some sicko sexual way, I like to drive and think and talk about cars, my name is Shaun and am a petrolhead (Hi Shaun). GTA V is car lovers heaven, high end sports cars, off-road pickups, modern and classic US muscle cars, sleek convertibles and all others because most of it is cool… are represented here. For the first time the vehicular line up is extensive with multiple models from manufacturers (moreso than GTA IV) but also the detail and the diversity on the streets of Los Santos is astounding. I am nearly halfway through the game and I am seeing some cars for the first time in the game. The first foray you would have gotten/get is in the Obey 9F (an Audi R8 amalgam) did what GTA IV did when I first tried it out… it sucked. Why, well it was far too twitchy and turned unnaturally quickly, in the amount of control it had as a handler it was out of control and I disliked it. Since then I have had the chance to drive nearly everything else and I love it. The feeling is definitely like a Need For Speed or Burnout with easy handling and fun easy dodging, however making you work a little to get the drift happening right. So far the highlights of my offline garage is the Vapid Sandking XL (Ford Raptor on roids), Inverto Coquette (Red, carbon bits, looks like 2014 Corvette), Bravado Buffalo (2013 Dodge Charger, Franklin’s default car) and an Imponte Phoenix (70s Pontiac Firebird, Custom for Trevor).
I am rambling but you should know:
– Cars are modifiable, if you modify your default car (for Michael, Trevor or Franklin) the car will always be modified. Find a Los Santos garage and drive/ride in.
– Things you can modify on your car: Suspension (Lows), Armour, Braking, Performance (Turbo, Engine, Exhaust, ECU), Body (Bumpers/Splitters/Diffusers, Spoilers, Wheels, Tyre Smoke, Tint, Colour, Roof, Roll Cage)
– Playing the game I notice adding a turbo seems to negate the need for engine or transmission modifications as the turbo maxxes the acceleration stats (is there any benefit to adding other stuff?)
– Rockstar seems to be on the pulse of car culture, their choice of wheels, cars and modifications shows it. They included wheels that look like Volks and SSRs… WOOHOO!
– Bikes are modifiable too, I love my Bagger (Harley Road King) in matte black.
– You can lose your car if you park it at your character’s home garage. So far Trevor’s parking lot at the strip club (kinda spoiler) doesn’t have this problem. I have lost approx 3 cars and 1 bike this way over all three characters. Luckily I wasn’t too fussed about the cars but that could get annoying if you bought something for a fair bit of change and then lost it. The most secure way to retain cars is by putting them in the large storage facility type garage.
On Foot
Walking around is not such a bad way to get around these days, with the sprawl of the city or the waves on the beach I can’t take in everything fast enough. Shooting and evading baddies and cops has improved somewhat. Aiming with the auto aim function is well executed and when you get shots on target in quick succession you feel like a badass. I haven’t started a triathlon yet but I am assuming I will have fun with the biking, running and swimming events.
Flying
This is the one part that falls down slightly. I remember getting in a chopper in GTA IV and loving the idea of getting around quickly and deadly like in the annihilator. I was the king of the sky until I hit something like a power pole or skyscraper. In GTA V the same excitement was had when I approached the helicopter, then on take off everything was fine until the turbulence from all the strongest winds around the world decided to hit me at once and from every direction. I get that flying isn’t an easy thing to do but the hipster living in Silver Lake, LA can’t drive for peanuts but I bet he’s having fun driving in Los Santos. I am not sure why R* decided to make driving better but flying worse. The same goes for planes where flying is a constant correction and adjustment exercise with what feels like constant turbulence. Are they trying to stop us from flying too much?
Money
We all like money, tricking co-workers into thinking they won the lottery is a low thing to do, it also reveals everyone needs money. The game really makes a big deal of making money and lots of it, items are sufficiently priced to drive the need for lots of cash. Making money in the first half of the game is sparse except for the first heist. I was stupid with this heist so I didn’t make much (no spoilers just make sure when the crap gunman drops the loot, ride over it to pick it up as Franklin). There is a great glitch where you can find an underwater case of money and immediately switch to another character and then switch back to collect again and again until you have enough to buy that house/business/car. Apparently you make a load of cash around 50% (nearly there!) so fear not, you can get everything you want eventually.
Stock Trading
i thought this deserved a section on it’s own because it’s very much like gambling except you can influence the outcome. I don’t profess to be some super trader dude so I rely on the tips everyone else has. You can influence the ups and downs of stock by just being destructive or through the assassination missions where if you get the intel before you start the mission you can get all 3 guys bought into a particular stock with a guaranteed profit after the assassination mission is over. Generally you are killing company execs, developers or jurors so you can see where this is going. I highly recommend you leave these to after you do the big union depository job as you can bet big and make a load more than I did by playing them and putting in all I had at the time (~$800K per character)
The Law
One leap I am happy with is the Police. They are more accurate with the gun and fast with the driving. This is usually a bad thing for the aspiring criminal however what they have also done is make line of sight realistic.
What I mean by this is best explained by comparison with GTA IV:
– Running up wanted stars is easy in GTA IV and GTA V – I was t-boned by a cop car in V as I pulled out and then immediately got 2 stars. IV would have let that go. Walking near to people setup in locations i.e. a picnic or around a camp tends to make them want to call the cops for no reason. Makes me stay away.
– Hiding in a carpark in IV would spell trouble if you were still in the “dragnet”, no matter how well you were out of the public’s view, the cops would turn up and surround you, choppers were near impossible. In V as long as you were one turn ahead and then out of sight down an alley cops would convert to “point of view cones” on the map and as long as you kept out of their “view” you were safe and then you would lose your wanted level after long enough.
– Swapping cars in IV did nothing to stop the chase, in V it dropped the amount of stars as long as you were out of sight.
– Police AI in IV was quite simple, in V they have your number and will work hard to get you and your friends
San Andreas: The town the country and the vibe
I truly enjoy the sprawl and lights, I have always wanted to visit LA and this is the closest thing to that so far. You watch the movies, the tv shows about LA and there is a made up vision of the city and what is there. R* captured the gritty monumentalism of New York for Liberty City and almost in a complete opposite they got sunshine and urban sprawl as well as outback country of Blaine County just right this time around. Downtown and then the dusty plains and undulations feel like completely separate parts of America. Once again I don’t know what real life LA is like but my word, LS feels authentic, glitzy glamour and dilapidated projects have never looked or felt so right together. Buildings are not simply copy pasted round the place, every building feels individually constructed to be unique, if you want some tips on architectural design then walk around Franklin’s Vinewood home on the hills. Roads are textured and varied, it all looks sunburnt and a cool feature is they even got the ripple strips along the side of the highways to make that noise you get from driving over them. Draw distance has also changed somewhat with nearly all of the surrounding city completely visible and defined even at distance, this turns up the realism from GTA IV’s draw distance although I will say in my first foray there was one or two instances of a whole building popping in from what would have been less than 50 metres away from the character.
Online
Can’t wait to try this out, the game has had some issues with the online system dropping out for hours at a time (BAWSAQ, Social Club) probably as R* is ramping up the GTAO servers and such, if the response to the start of GTAV is anything to go by they will most likely be beefing up their servers to contain the overwhelming demand for game servers when everyone, no doubt would have finished the story and be vying for the 500 missions with their own custom character.
Last Saturday was spectacular, it almost felt like spring was here. Birds singing in trees, no clouds in the sky, sun shining down on our sunburnt nation and the smell of… octane, Why? It’s because Toyota Australia invited 250 of their most dedicated fans to bring their car back to the mothership (in Australia anyway). The car in question is the Toyota 86 and what was great was that if you owned a BRZ or an original AE86, you were invited too. Also in attendance was Beau Yates, Neil Bates and Tetsuya Tada, chief engineer on the 86 project. How did I, Shaun Kok get into such an event on account of I don’t have an 86 you might ask? Well my buddy Lee happens to have purchased an 86 and recently at that.
For the attendees free food, drink and entertainment were abound and plenty of Toyota 86s to take your fancy and make you thoroughly bored with the idea I am sure, although I love cars so this was somewhat a boon for me. I went not hungry, thirsty or lacking in sights and sounds for the whole day so without further ado, I know you, came to see pictures because words are poignant but secretly we are all kids impatient for the “Where’s Wally” picturebook.
Click for hi-res.
It’s all about 86, Toyota 86 that is.
My friend Lee who recently took delivery of a grey 86 GTS, he’s the reason why I, your intrepid blogger got to go in the first place.
Lined up for entry to Toyota-land. It seemed like some amusement park entry, this was Toyota, one of the biggest car companies in the world.
First thing I saw when I got in was this seemingly rally spec Cusco race car, looked pretty serious, not sure about the wheels.
Ok the RX100 camera wasn’t exactly pro however this thing looked very streetable, once again, not sure about the wheels, but to each his own.
Even though the wheels were iffy the engine bay certainly was not, swathes of carbon fibre with some lovely aluminium braces
Work wheels look the business and Pikachu probably couldn’t find a more solid wheel to attempt to hide behind.
An 86 shortage you say, I have to wait 6-7 months before mine arrives eh? Actually there was around 10 of these car parks just loaded with 86s, BRZs and AE86s
I believe NSW 86/BRZ club was there in force, this is one of their rather serious looking rides.
Looks the business, check out the interior below
Alcantara for incontinence on the dash – check. Carbon fibre in place of speedo and other related and just as important dials – check. Seats, solid like rock – check. It’s a race car.
Many people, all here for the love of the number 86
Tetsuya Tada signing autographs for virtually the whole time we were there. This man is a signing and engineering machine! He was so gracious, shaking hands with everyone who lined up for ages. A rockstar in the owners eyes, I bet he’s just a regular guy who loves to engineer great cars. Wonder what he’ll do next? I can’t imagine anything could be as exciting as “Project FT-86”
A recipe for success or RSI, either way with a queue like this.
Mysterious (to me anyway) racecar with the Rocket Bunny/GReddy wide body kit. Got to see and touch the kit up close. Avid readers may have heard that I wanted to do this to an 86 but I cancelled on the car *sigh*.
Plenty wide, looks good even in raw form.
The roll cage is a custom job, looks the part and I am sure, doesn’t come with warranty. Son, do you know how fast you were going, where your bootlid is, what happened to all the windows in your car?
Nice embellishment on the custom frame
Interior like this, because race car that’s why.
Turbo 86, at Toyota’s HQ!
Initial D reference, always a favourite.
Tough AE86
Wide AE86
One for the Dr. Who fans
Free food. As my brother and fellow blogger said “I’m a slut for free food”, thinking on that, who isn’t?
There were many sausages there of varying colour and shape. This one was mine. Ed – That sounds wrong.
This BRZ was cooler than the rest, it had many STI badges on it.
Kelly has a cool car, love the Volks.
Queensland represent! Agent 86 likes some vinyling, I concur, on the vinyl front.
This young man just had his dash panel signed by Tada-San. Proud moment no doubt. Seemed to be a trend that day.
(L to R) Beau Yates, Neil Bates and a guy I am sure I should know but I don’t.
So close to the front of the queue! You can smell the permanent marker fumes.
Lee is shaking the hand of the man who engineered his car, rare moment. Can you say that you shook the hand of your car’s chief engineer. For the most of us, no.
Justin just got his free #Festivalof86 shirt signed, that ones i going up in the man-cave.
Neil Bates had a cool Initial D 86 GT on show, his own personal ride. Race drivers don’t need satnav but they do need Motec’s dash logger.
The best of the breeds. 86 looks angrier and fangier somehow. Both are screaming at each other for stealing the show.
Here’s an interesting AE86, all tough, old-school-ey just like the usual fare right?
Actually it has a Nissan engine, sneaky fella got Yokohama’s finest into a Toyota festival.
Rollcage, difficult ingress and some cargo equipment. Good for racing, bad for bad backs.
Extended fuel tank for racing. Good for mileage, not good for luggage space.
Queuing for the big driveway photo.
Everyone out of your car!
Setup to shoot
The man himself, Tada-San with his many creations.
The “Oh what a feeling” shot, they messed it up a couple of times. Tada-San decided enough jumping on account of his shoulder. He is an engineer after all.
Lee getting his photo taken with Tada-San again because i ruined the last shot
It was a great weekend… this weekend. The sun was out, the weather was cool and bearable so I was outside almost all day which is kind of uncharacteristic for me with my brother and fellow Kokstar, Justin (who for him it is completely uncharacteristic to be outside). I was invited to be a Flag Marshal at Eastern Creek (sod calling it Sydney Motorsport Park) for this round of the BMW Drivers Club NSW Super Sprint and I accepted.
Other than It was kinda fun to hangout and play with walkie-talkies and coloured flags, tell Keith that a faster car was passing him and generally watch loud cars go racing by, it was something different to do to the average weekend. I started early, as in 2 days before by planning with Justin, what to bring: sausages, mini-BBQ, snacks, drinks, bread loaf, laptop, cookies, chairs, DSLR camera, tripod, cutlery, cups etc. Everything was in place and ready for the day. When the day started it did it at 8am witha safety briefing followed by getting driven out to the turn I would be at for the whole day, Turn 14 (South Circuit).
Enough words, how about some pictures:
The South Circuit’s pit garage and tower – The magic starts here.
E46 M3’s all neat in a line – These cars are waiting for scrutineering
E92 M3 belonging to Keith Austin, my colleague
More suspects arriving for check-in – First Class thank you
The Pit Garage – This MINI is completely race-spec and reasonably fast too, loved the whine of the supercharger
Brings new meaning to MINI-cab
CAMS Logbook – Essential for the drivers today
M3s of each generation so far were represented, yes even an E30 Evo!
They look quite shiny at the start of the day… that will change
That’s a fire extinguisher – Words of wisdom here, check the certified date to make sure it isn’t some job from the last century, I think it needs to be within 6 months!
No loose bits in the engine bay, this example is quite good, albeit stock which is safe.
The Paddock – No cows here only thoroughbreds of the BMW, MINI, Mazda, Radical and MNR kind
E30’s – It seemed that the older the car got the more heavily modified it became, these two were loud and very quick in the turns, real track weapons
Gun to a Knife fight anyone? The Radical SR was sounding like a formula race car, quick shifts and massive speed everywhere on the tight south circuit.
This thing makes me thing of a Doonkavoort but it was called an MNR and it sounded turbocharged, it probably ran a close third versus the Porsche who was only a little slower than the Radical
The foreground’s M3 E46 (barely!) is a serious turbo race car. It was setting blistering times and looked good at speed.
Turn 14 – My home for the next 8 hours, nice day though
Turn 14 – The right side going to turn 15, peaceful, but only for now
Justin, settling in by smashing the chair around (ok not really) cyclone fence is all that keeps debris travelling at lord knows how fast from smacking us in the face, helps that this is a gentle outside corner I guess
Keith’s wife Belinda going fast around the circuit
Radical SR – Fast as it is furious, anything that followed this class of car seemed slow.
MNR? If you know what this was then tell me
E90 3 Series, nothing like the one your doctor drives, this thing is loud and quick on the track
Probably made mostly of fiberglass and kevlar or carbon fibre, drive quick and had that awesome turbo whoosh!
Lowered and hunkered down, semi-slick, loud with straight pipe GT3
MINI R53 S – This thing had fire shooting out the rear and the driver was female, great sticker on the back that said “You have just been passed by a girl”. The sticker was seen many times by loads of drivers that day, this MINI was FAST
EVO 9 (I think) – Pure race car, arrived on a trailer and tore it up. Showed that AWD could kick hard and dominate
Very loud race E30
This E46 was pretty darn quick and that is not considering the beige interior
I need to get to the Airport… quick!
Turbo MX-5 and driven by a young girl. Love that!
135i – Doing the track thing
Manual E92 – A bit slow that day, I think he had gearbox issues from what I was told.
Can’t you see I am waiting for passengers here? Pass me!
Evo in front but not for long, the Radical munched anything ahead of it.
Afternoon Delight – Fast cars heading for turn 15
Are you trying to impress me? The camera came out at Turn 12 and all of a sudden throttle got used more than normal.
Past v Present (Plus a turbo)
Warranties and perceived value wins over throttle – I know I hammered the bejesus out of the M3 at M Driver Training, my own would be a different story, I can relate.
Peak Performance had 2 of their race cars out there
Fast Porsches get me all artsy when they go around corners
Feel the heat from the GT3
Good day in all.
If you want to know more about the BMW Drivers Club: http://www.bmwclubnsw.asn.au/
KOKSTARS 