|
One of the finest racing simulators currently available. GTR 2 does a lot of things right: it nails the racing and gameplay, offers excellent graphics and once you get past the learning the curve, it is very fun. It might be a little too hardcore for some, but that’s a very small negative compared to everything it does right.
GTR 2 includes a number of gameplay modes. You’ll find a fully fleshed driving school (more on this below), an open practice, and time trial mode. The other two modes are very good at letting you test out what you’ve learned. Once you have the skill set, you can move on to the game’s championships, race weekend and 24-hour race. The game’s championship mode includes the unlocked ones from the driving school as well as the complete 2004 (and 2003) FIA FT seasons. The race weekend is a multi-round event with several practice and qualifying rounds before the actual race. The 24-hour race is a really long race, as you would expect, although you can cut down the number of hours and experience a shorter but full day thanks to the day-to-night transition.
Although GTR is a simulation through-and-through, the developers did try to make the game more accessible to us common folk. The game’s driving school serves as an excellent tutorial for everything from the simple gameplay mechanics (accelerating, braking, etc) to more advanced tricks (overtaking, cornering, and the like) that may just lead you to the top of the pack. Beating the different challenges in the driving school unlocks additional championships. The game includes novice, semi-pro and simulation difficulty modes. As expected, you’re given a lot of help in the novice mode and much less in the simulation mode. As you could guess from the title, GTR 2 is a sequel that still focuses on GT racing. The game includes a wide variety of vehicles from manufacturers like TVR, Porsche, and Ferrari and lets you drive these racers on a number of real-world tracks.
The actual racing in the game is almost flawless. The best way to experience the gameplay is through the game’s cockpit view, which really makes you feel like you’re taking on those straights, corners, and bumps. It’s a particularly alluring brand of racing that very few games even attempt though playing on the harder difficulty settings is definitely the way the game is made to be played. Part of the reason for this is that the game has a very good car damage system. You’ll notice and feel that the cars become less responsive over the course of the day—although it’s so gradual that it really just fits into the experience. The driving game is made better by the fact that you can tune everything from pressure to springs and even fuel strategy. Hardcore simulation fans will have a blast although there is plenty of online help for us novices.
Provided that you’re playing on a high-end machine, GTR 2 looks amazing. The game’s tracks are particularly impressive and true-to-life. Racing aficionados will find a lot to like in the game’s attention to detail—the developers really made sure to put every small nook and cranny of the tracks. This kind of detail is also seen on the excellently modeled vehicles. The tradeoff is that the game takes a high-end computer to run. We tested it on a 2.0GHz/512MB RAM computer (slightly above the 1.8GHz processor requirement and just meeting the minimum RAM), and you’d be hard pressed to tell that you’re playing the same game. Even with a high-end 3.0Ghz/2GB RAM machine, you’ll be seeing some framerate drops.
The audio presentation is equally impressive. The sound effects are perhaps the highlight of the audio package. The game’s different cars all have different and auehtnetic sounding car engines, which for a simulation, is a vital part of the package. The other sound effects are just as amazing. Taking corners are breathtaking speeds, going down a straight road or taking a particularly nasty bump all sound great. The background music is less impressive although the Europop in the game isn’t bad.
GTR 2 is undoubtedly one of the finest racing simulators currently available. Thanks to the driving school, the game has made huge strides in accessibility, and the underlying gameplay is as stellar as ever. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Oct 23, 2006
|
