Pro Race Driver Preview
We take a look at Codemasters' promising racing game, which combines realistic yet fun physics with impressive visuals and an interesting story mode.
There's a certain feeling you get when you jump behind the wheel of a well-crafted racing game. While your left brain calmly reminds you you're merely sitting at a computer desk, your right brain feverishly attempts to convince you you're actually moving ridiculously fast, carving turns at the very limits of adhesion, and battling nose-to-tail or door-to-door with a gifted and grimly resolute flock of world-class drivers. Precious few games are able to achieve this ideal recipe of vehicular physics, audio feedback, and graphical credibility. But if its late beta build is any indication, Codemasters' Pro Race Driver should come close when it's released this spring.
An evolutionary and revolutionary step forward for Codemasters' closed-wheel sedan Touring Car Championship series--which debuted with 1998's inspired TOCA Touring Car Championship and continued through 1999's Touring Car Challenge--Pro Race Driver is a large and stunningly ambitious project. Even the raw materials are overwhelming. There are 42 individual vehicle models (from the relatively sedate Chevrolet Cavalier Z24 to early '70s muscle cars such as the Dodge Charger and over-the-top powerhouses like the Toyota GT-1), 38 separate circuits (including such disparate venues as Australia's Phillip Island, Germany's Nurburgring, the Bristol Speedway oval, and the hypertechnical Vancouver CART road course), and 13 real-life international championships.
Codemasters' latest racing game to date doesn't follow the typical PC racing formula. In Pro Race Driver, you'll assume the role of aspiring test driver Ryan McKane, the young and only slightly cocky protégé of his father Kyle, who himself was a recognized racing luminary until his suspicious and untimely ontrack death 15 years prior. Through the eyes of Ryan, you'll attempt to emerge from the shadows of both your father's and your brother's successful careers, while at the same time coming to grips with your dad's premature passing and your own personal vendetta.
It won't take long to see that Codemasters has designed the role-playing trappings of Pro Race Driver to be more than just a mere throw-in. When the game opens, you'll witness a dramatic and thoroughly convincing depiction of the day Kyle was killed--a 90-second segment that moves swiftly from the thrill and headiness of victory to a haunting close-up of a young Ryan watching his father's sedan explode and burn in the infield. It's a powerful statement and the first of a number of believable cutscenes you'll see throughout the game.
In action, Pro Race Driver proves to be a likeable and accessible blend of simulation realism and arcade action. The physics model is not as brutally authentic as that of Papyrus's NASCAR Racing series, in which every turn must be carved to perfection and even a momentary lack of attention might result in an early exit from the race. Yet it isn't nearly as simplistic as that of the majority of today's PC racers. It's a comfortable mix that convinces you you're piloting an edgy, race-prepared closed-wheel vehicle but doesn't keep you from enjoying the accompanying visceral thrills.
You'll quickly get a sense that the game's designers are indeed very familiar with the nuances of a real automobile. In Pro Race Driver, you can quite easily lock up your tires under heavy braking and drift off the pavement. Alternately, you can let off the brakes momentarily during a slide and hope the rubber grabs again before all four tires are on the trackside grass. And even if you do find yourself offtrack, the situation isn't completely hopeless. Unlike many of its peers, Pro Race Driver doesn't portray its off-road surfaces as tractionless skating rinks.
The suspension system is very believable, independently compacting or rising slightly in each of your car's four corners as you weave through the circuits, fully elongating at the crest of a hill (where you may just grab a little air), and squishing down hard when you come upon a gully. You can feel and see the effects of weight transfer as you accelerate, brake, or swing hard into a turn. In short, Pro Race Driver effectively deals with many of the handling and traction issues that beleaguered earlier games in the series.
Pro Race Driver Quick Links
Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Downloads | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum
Games you may like…
-
Ultim@te Race Pro
(PC) -
eRacer
(PC) -
GTR FIA Racing
(PC) -
GTI Racing
(PC) -
Living World Racing
(PC)
Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.
See More Similar Games
0 Comments