TOCA Race Driver 2: The Ultimate Racing Simulator Impressions

Codemasters stopped by today with its follow-up to Pro Race Driver. The game has undergone a bit of a name change and now goes by the name "TOCA Race Driver 2: The Ultimate Racing Simulator." The game aims to offer a new experience to fans of the original title by putting a new spin on the unique RPG-esque formula. We had a chance to get a look at an early version of the game, which showed off quite a bit of the new content Codemasters is putting into the ambitious sequel.

You'll find two main modes in TOCA Race Driver 2: simulator and career. The simulator mode features four game types: free race, time trial, multiplayer, and Xbox Live. Free race is a race on any open track, and it lets you customize a host of features in your race from car performance to the number of laps. Time trial challenges you to get the best time on a course. Multiplayer lets you take on a friend in a split-screen race. You'll also be able to have system-link matches for a number of players. While the exact details are still being determined, Codemasters is aiming to support 12 to 16 players via system link and plans to support the same number over Xbox Live as well. Xbox Live support will also feature a nice twist to encourage you to go through the entire game. While you'll be able to join a game featuring any of the race types, you'll only be able to host a race if you've unlocked that race type in career mode. Thankfully the conditions for unlocking a race type aren't too difficult; you have to participate in the race, but you don't have to take first place in the race. Through Xbox Live you'll also be able to check an online leaderboard to see how your performance stacks up against everyone else. You'll be able to check a leaderboard that reflects players' overall performance in the game or specific boards for the various competitions you'll compete in.

Though the multiplayer options, especially the Xbox Live support, are certainly appealing, the meat of the game is in its career mode. The original formula seen in Pro Race Driver has been tweaked somewhat. Codemasters has abandoned the third-person element and implemented a first-person perspective in the cinematics to move the story along. You'll now be cast as the central character in the game and will work your way to the top of the racing heap. While becoming the best racer to set foot in a car is the ultimate goal in the game, how you reach it is largely up to you, thanks to the game's branching story system.

As for the actual racing, TOCA Race Driver 2 will feature a meaty amount of content to unlock. You'll find 35 different champions with unique racing styles and cars and more than 50 tracks set in scenic locales in Europe, Australia, and the US. You'll eventually gain access to more than 30 cars, including old and new gems. You'll find Aston Martins, Jaguars, Mustangs, and Ford hot rods all thrown into the mix. The races will include standard races, rally races, rallicross, ice racing, oval racing, and even some more-whimsical competitions such as super truck races. The game has an all-new physics engine and AI to ensure a deep racing experience that will offer a dynamic challenge even for veterans of the racing genre. The game's difficulty will change based on your performance and will adjust to players of all skill levels. The team is also aiming to tweak the AI racers to react according to individual situations rather than their racing lines. You'll face off against one to 20 opponents in some pretty spectacular races.

The graphics engine has been overhauled, so the presentation has a more-refined look. The high attention to detail is back, ensuring you'll find all sorts of deformation and damage modeling. You can't go too crazy exploring just how badly you can bang up your wheels, since an impact at a high enough speed will total your car and end your race, but you can wreak an impressive amount of damage. The cars have a sharp, clean look and sport little touches, such as real-time environment mapping. The environments make good use of lighting and other special effects to bring the world to virtual life. Despite the early state of the game, the frame rate was already moving along at a speedy clip, which bodes well for a solid 60-frames-per-second racing experience when it ships. The audio is coming together well and makes use of a plethora of authentic car sounds that the team collected from the real vehicles.

From what we've seen so far, TOCA Race Driver 2 is shaping up to be a worthy follow-up to Pro Race Driver. The gameplay has been bulked up appropriately with a number of different race types and cars. While the content for both the PC and Xbox versions will essentially be identical, the PC version is set to include a hardcore sim control scheme to offer a greater challenge. TOCA Race Driver 2 is currently slated to ship this spring for the Xbox and PC. Look for more on the game in the coming months.