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RACE 07: Official WTCC Game

Almost Time For an Overhaul

With the release of RACE 07, it's time to admit that the graphics engine is on its last legs. It's not that other simulation titles offer a better visual experience (though the day-to-night cycles and nighttime lighting effects in GTR 2 are compelling and noticeably absent in RACE). At the risk of being put on simulation fans' hit lists, I'll come out and say it: games like Forza 2 and Gran Turismo Prologue deliver some of the simulation experience of RACE 07, but with graphics that are to die for. Perhaps the console-to-PC comparison is unfair, but even stacked against arcade racers on the PC, RACE 07 is visually lackluster.

To be fair, the tracks and vehicles are modeled with accuracy, but the environments are static and stilted, as if the bare minimum was done to flesh out the non-car features. And even when it comes to key aspects of the simulation - such as cockpits and weather effects - the rendering engine produces bland results. The visuals are still very competent, and the game looks very good on capable hardware, but adding resources to improve the art assets and graphics code would bring the racing experience to life.

Environment settings have the most impact on how the engine looks and performs

The list of graphics options is divided into two categories, Vehicle and Environment; note the Performance Monitor, which suggests settings changes based on FPS

An interesting and useful feature of RACE 07 is the Performance Monitor, which was first introduced in the Caterham expansion pack for last year's RACE. This handy in-game utility (which can be turned off) analyzes the framerate while driving, and suggests changes to the visual settings to keep the framerate within a user-specified window (the default is 25 - 35 FPS, which is on the low side). The suggestions are usually effective, but be prepared to contend with a dip in visual acumen to achieve playable frame rates on older hardware. Relatively speaking, though, the game is forgiving in terms of performance, and the most benefit can be gained by throwing more CPU cycles at it (particularly with higher numbers of AI drivers).

As a bare minimum, go with an [custom:cpu]AMD Athlon 64 3000+[/custom:cnetcpu] or  Intel Pentium 4 540 with 1 GB of RAM. Paired with a 256MB  ATI Radeon X1600 Pro/XT or  NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS video card, the game runs well with a combination of Medium/High graphics options at a resolution of 1600x1200. Some visual fidelity is lost at the Medium settings, so finding a balance between Medium and High for your system is a must.

With YouGamers' recommended hardware, the game runs at a smooth, steady framerate, even at 1920x1200 and all visual settings on maximum

Bumped down to the YouGamers' minimum hardware, resolution has to be reduced to 1600x1200 and antialiasing turned off. Note the lack of reflections and scaled-down texture quality

For the best experience at higher widescreen resolutions (with 4x full-screen antialiasing), you'll want to have a dual-core CPU, such as an  AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or  Intel Core 2 Duo E6420. 2GB of RAM is very helpful at high resolutions, and a 512MB video card - an  ATI Radeon X1950 Pro or  NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS, for instance - is a must-have. With this hardware, expect a framerate in approaching 60 FPS at all times. With racing games in particular, I always make an effort to keep the framerate pinned at my display's refresh rate - 60Hz - and the YouGamers' recommended hardware will have no trouble obtaining 60FPS at maximum settings on most popular resolutions.

Another shot with YouGamers' recommended hardware. Environmental shadows and reflections add depth, though NVIDIA's drivers still prevent proper antialiasing with G80 GPUs under Vista

The same scene, with YouGamers' minimum hardware. Shadows are reduced in quality, and static objects no longer cast shadows

Page 1: IntroductionPage 2: What's New?Page 3: GameplayPage 4: Controls, Replays and MultiplayerPage 5: Graphics and HardwarePage 6: Summary and Scores

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