YouGamers.com

Reviews

GTR2 - FIA GT Racing Game

From weekend warrior to professional racer

The meat of GTR 2 is in the Championship mode, and like every other aspect of the game it aims to be as authentic as possible. The 2003 and 2004 seasons of the FIA GT series are recreated in the Official Championship mode. You're taken on a European tour FIA-style, visiting the circuits raced in each season in the order they were raced during the actual seasons. Even the infamous 24-hour races are included, though thankfully you can scale the time by a factor of your choosing to complete a full-day race in just a few hours. As in the real FIA GT series, cars are separated into classes, and championships are contested between different models cars in the same class. Classes and models available mirror the selection from the 2003 and 2004 FIA GT seasons.

Aside from learning and racing tracks, there's ample opportunity to tune your vehicle. And tune you may, to your heart's content. The in-game vehicles almost match their real-world counterparts in terms of setup options. All these features may be a bit daunting to the novice and even intermediate racer, which make the lack of appropriate documentation a glaring omission. The lack of documentation is exacerbated for those who wish to use the MoTec analysis software to better tune their car to the current conditions. Much of this information is available on the Internet, but SimBin should consider integrating context-sensitive help into the tuning system. As it stands, GTR 2 skews to the complex end of the playability spectrum when car tuning is involved.

We're not looking for an auto garage simulation, though, so how does the actual racing stack up? SimBin haven't broken with the formula that worked in the original GTR. The on-track racing is exhilarating if a bit frustrating at first. It takes a few hours to get up to speed with the oh-so-real driving model, and the AI opponents can be relentless when you're just beginning. With patience comes great reward, and you're soon speeding around tracks and brake-checking the car behind you to rush into the next curve. AI drivers are prone to bumping and may pick the most illogical times to pass (for instance, in the middle of a hairpin bend) but overall, the computer opponents behave in a believable manner.

Look at all those settings!

Lose yourself in stats heaven!

The damage modelling is realistic: on a number of occasions I lost a fairing or a bumper, but would stay on the track for the remainder of the race. Do enough damage to a car though and you'll be handicapped by improper aerodynamics or excess drag. More serious collisions can alter the handling, so keep those hard bumps to a minimum. It's worth rolling a car at least once though - in open practice, of course - just to witness the carnage.

GTR 2 was as highly anticipated for its online play, touted by SimBin as much improved over the original GTR. So into the world of Internet racing I went, with an open mind but with the cynicism of a reviewer. To my delight, the experience was generally enjoyable but racing could be interrupted by spikes of lag, and I found the only remedy was to host a dedicated server. Multiplayer races are separated by ability level, and basic cheat-detection measures are in place, and a handicapping system evens out the racing for cars of differing weights and classes.

Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5

Related Stuff

Tags