U-Drive-It, I-Can't-Stand-It

[Romaq]

I really don't like the U-Drive-It of SC4. I don't like it enough to explicitly not participate in anything to do with it. I'd really like a first-person view of the city, and that's something I hope we'll get out of SC5. I was thinking, however, that the U-Drive-It point-of-view might be useful for CJ stuff, but that's another thread.

What are some issues with U-Drive-It in SC4 that could be done much better with SC5, in addition (hopefully) to first-person view drive mode?

--Romaq

[Azeem]

One thing I really didn't like about the U-Drive-It was the use of the W-A-S-D keys to control vehicles as opposed to simply using the arrow keys. Also, the "missions" were little more than repetive "Point A to Point B" affairs; not a whole lot more involved. I would like the idea of having a first-person view drive mode, however.

[Romaq]

Yeah, that was the thing for me. I felt like I was driving a greased brick on sawdust using keyboard letters tied to strings and tin cans relaying steering directions through a 300 baud modem. Arrow keys would have been useful. The number keyboard would have been delightful. Maybe there was an option to choose what keys actually worked so I could have remapped them. And for what? I'd have rather installed a custom cheat to get money and mayor popularity than to dink with U-Drive-It. It just felt too awkward and clumsy to be interesting to me from a fixed camera position from above.

--Romaq

[Ocram]

The arrows worked fine for me. I only needed to use the letter keyboaud for going up or down in the aircraft.

[Anya]

I hope the u drive it feature does not make it into this game. It's one of the reasons I'm a failed SC4 player. It was just too stressful. There are plenty of console driving games out there (I see my son play them on his playstation, but I can't actually name them!), I want a city builder or simulation not a driving game.

[bosiydid]

I never played this mode. Tried it a couple of times, and found it very silly and never went back to it. A nice drive to view your creation from a 1st person perspective would be nice, or even the ability to simply zoom down to the street level. I don't need any U-Drive it like feature again. JMHO!

[David Beebe]

I just brought chaos to the streets by crashing a lot. (are we talking about GTA or U Drive it?)

[bosiydid]

The warping between lanes was OF THA HOOK! Please keep U-Drive it parked in the garage!

[NappySick]

The udrive it helicopters and jet planes where a bit of fun and the sky writing planes , skimming the hirises at 600mph in a mig was great, down mainstreet , through downtown and out through the back of town , at low alttitude the sims used to love the thrill aswell , they told me -), but the rest sucked compared to other driving games, on a short list of wishes u drive it doesnt realy appeal to me .It was a nice lil feature and nothing more, if you still got room and time at the very end of development then maybe it will be a nice little feature again.

[Romaq]

Well, I liked the fact I could *ignore* UDI, and I'm not sure it would make it into SC5 simply because of the pain of rendering first person view from a vehicle in realtime.

However, I do consider UDI as having value for you, as the city builder, having a feel for what it is to travel within your own city. If you have a rough (or impossible) drive to get from one location to another within your city, it is likely the Sims are not happy with the route either. Of course, you can get this info from Data View, but making the drive is ‘up close and personal.’ My stress was over the controls, and the reaction of the game to what I was attempting to do.

A friend of mine who bought SC4 also plays Gran Turismo 4, and one of the wistful wishes we had was to have GT4’s driving engine, Burnout 2’s point system and the ability to use SimCity to create the driving nightmare. But we figured that sort of driving sim is still a few years down the road.

The joy I would have in driving a car through SC4 is to see the view of the countryside I’ve created, perhaps run a few cars off the road, maybe drive through row of ducks crossing the road, give a few bicyclists a push or use joggers for speed bumps. And that doesn’t even consider the fun potential during Holloween!

Just kidding. Mostly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQrC_C6SexI is some pretty wicked fun.

But I don’t expect to see UDI in SC5, simply because of the pain of rendering that sort of video in realtime. But if an 8Gig machine and a fast dual-core processor would make it possible, I would love to take a drive through the city I make simply to get a feel for traveling within it at that level.

--Romaq

[NappySick]

I agree i never used the motor viechle part of udi only the , helicopter and planes , occasionally , rarely . i could live without udi in the new SCS .

[Aushun]

I hope TM spends their time and resources on something other than a U-Drive-It feature. Whilst it was a fun little feature, I always felt it was more of a distraction, and its frivolity became apparent after you rescued your eleventh cat from a tree on your firetruck :)

[arcan]

I tried only once a UDI. And never again. If I want to drive a car, I have need for speed. An airplain, there's Microsoft plane similator and also for helicopter. No need for those in SC except if they have special eastereggs.