Battlefield 4 to offer vehicle test range, server options

Novice Battlefield players often shy away from vehicles because they're tough to handle, but developer EA DICE is giving players a tutorial option with Battlefield 4's test range, said creative director Lars Gustavsson in an interview with IGN.

"We've definitely heard that people are afraid of getting in there [and using vehicles like helicopters] and that's not our intent," said Gustavsson.

"We've added a test range, which allows you to try out all the hardware ahead of time so that if you want to learn to fly a helicopter you can get in there and you can find the settings that work best for you," he continued. Users can try flying around and doing stunts in the test range, getting some experience under their belts before they go out onto the battlefield to fly their teammates to the fight.

DICE is also tweaking the Battlefield 4 server system, which, in Battlefield 3, was often prone to abuse from server administrators. The new setup will offer "pre-defined scales," with gradual levels of rule sets separating official servers (normal settings), ranked servers (some tweaked settings) and unranked servers (completely customized settings).

"We give you as an admin the freedom, but also to take responsibility for the end user who wants to have a good experience," said Gustavsson.