R.I.P

You WILL be missed.

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I've been waiting for this for a very long time and i hope i won't be disappointed. Looking at the previous offerings in the series though, i don't see how i could be.

Demo description:

"A mission to retrieve a manuscript hidden along with the salami at Mama Martino's Salami Factory"

:Updated impressions:

The only gripe i have is with the controls. The clicking scheme seems to need some tightening as it often led me in the wrong direction and was fairly unprecise.

Other then that, i was not disappointed. Well, i do miss Nico

/Rich

Sims - either you love them, or hate them. There doesn’t seem to be an in-between when it comes to the more hardcore ones. Despite the fact that there are plenty of racing games out there, crowning themselves as “simulations”, there’s only a very limited number of really true-to-the-sport racing simulations amongst them. Then what characteristics does a racing game have to have for it to be correctly labeled as a true racing sim? Well, for starters, there has to be options and plenty of them. Being able to fine tune and change every little detail of your ride for performance changes is one and also usually what sets racing sims and arcade-like racing games, apart.

When the original GTR came out last year, it was definitely a racing sim - hardcore style. In most regards to such an extent that only the really hardcore racing-sim fans stayed long enough to be able to enjoy all the hard work that developer SimBin had put into the game. They literally recreated the whole FIA GT racing series in one game, which sim-heads all over the globe sure did appreciate. With the second GTR game coming this September, SimBin wants to make sure more then just the hardcore fan-base stays long enough to enjoy the game fully this time around. How, and have they streamlined the game to the point where the hardcore fans just won’t get the same realistic racing experience as with the original you may ask? Well, this time around the devs decided to go GranTurismo on us, and throw in a “Driving School” mode. Lessons will include such things as acceleration, cornering, braking and overtaking. The goal in the Driving School mode is to follow the example of your driving instructors ghost car, earning medals by either outperforming the instructors set time or slightly worse and eventually unlocking new content within the game by doing so. With this SimBin’s hoping to improve on the appeal of the game with gamers who just couldn’t get use to the original GTR’s steep learning curve, all the while keeping the original GTR’s hardcore simulation aspects. A fine decision if you ask me.

Just as the original GTR did, GTR 2 recreates the official FIA GT series - GTR 2 comes complete with all the teams, drivers and circuits found in the real FIA GT series of the 2003/2004 season. We’re talking a total of 34 different track variations, 144 choosable grand touring cars spread across the GT and NGT Classes as well as cars from the two FIA GT season 24H races.

Options, options, options - GTR 2 might prove to be the simhead’s wet dream.

If you’ve had any kind of contact with the previous installment of GTR, you’ll know that it allowed the player customization of his or her ride, difficulty and misc options, to the extent only to be seen in a very limited number of games on the market today . GTR 2 will definitely not let any one down in that department either, as it is packed with the same amount of detail only to have been fine tuned even further by Swedish developer SimBin. You’ll be able to customize everything from your rides brakes, tyre pressure, steering characteristics, radiator opening, rev limit, ride height, springs, anti-roll-bar toe-in and wing, to the AI aggressiveness, g-force simulation, damage sensitivity and a number of driving aids in the games difficulty and realism settings. There are to many customization options to even get into, but all the hardcore simhead need to know before deciding weather or not to buy this game, is that there sure won’t be a lack of options for the simhead to tinker around with.

The single player menu offers the following options - “Driving School”, “Open Practice”, “Time Trials”, “Race Weekend”, “24 Hour Races” and “Championships”. The multi player menu offers the two standard options - “Local Network” and “Internet”. All pretty much self-explanatory.

Hey good lookin’.

Graphics in GTR 2 leave a very good impression overall, with slight improvements over the original to be found. The car models are of more detail then any PC racing game on the market and offers some spectacular details all over the cars. The liveries and decals are especially well recreated, with all high resolution textures for the most part. Weather effects are very well done and watching replays of past races taking place in the rain, with wet surfaces reflecting the cars beautifully, is a sight to behold. The drivers sitting behind the wheel, are also well recreated - modeled all the way down to their footwork during races. I don’t believe i have ever seen such high resolution asphalt, as in GTR 2. It is something trivial that i’ve wished for in racing games for a long time and GTR 2 really delivers on high resolution courses. Even the track-side grass is beautifully high-res. The only gripe one could have with GTR 2’s track-side graphics, would be the recycled 2D crowd from the original GTR game. It is a trivial thing as it has nothing to do with the game-play mechanics. None the less, it looks awful to say the least.

Expectations.

And plenty of them. Many of the originals fans are, to say the least, curious of how SimBin could possibly improve on the originals game-play and, with all right, I'm sure they’re also quite nervous that the devs will have decreased the realistic simulation aspects of the game in favor of reaching the potential mainstream buyers. The fact that the game now features an even more detailed damage modeling system, with actual physics properties added to the fallen off parts and more highly detailed cars, might not be enough new blood for the people expecting a complete overhaul of the GTR franchise. With that in mind, some gamers have reported a few negative aspects of GTR 2 after having tried the single player demo that was released earlier. The complaints are ranging from steering wheels registering as joysticks, unbalanced AI and to the biggest of them all - that GTR 2 just doesn’t differ enough from the original GTR to warrant a purchase - heck, even a release if you listen to some. Though that may be a bit head strong, i have to agree to a certain point. That on the other hand, does not stop GTR 2 from looking like it will be another very strong title from Swedish developer SimBin. I for one, can’t wait.

Hope you have found this preview to be useful,
/Richard A.