Ferrari Challenge

By Patrick Garratt Published 19 December, 2007

Well red.

I hate "driving" games. My life is short. If I wanted to move round in circles with little chance of variation for countless hours I would have bought a motorcycle and grown a giant arm. It's not the concept, but the trend towards gimmickry and "realism" over enjoyment that makes me so miserable. Games like Forza and Gran Turismo leave me cold. I can't play them. I know they're "seminal", and I understand why they're popular, but I find them slow and cynical. For me, the fun in any car game is in racing very quickly, and immediately. Think SEGA Rally. Blue skies. Think those early McRaes, the original TOCAs. Think Burnout. Think the first Gran Turismo on PlayStation, all those years before "PSone", the breakthrough console game that felt so thrilling and fresh. All of them showed depth but were never a chore. Ferrari Challenge - originally planned for November release and now pushed back to March next year - appears to fall in the right category. Despite being hung up on realism, preview code suggests passion and fun have been kept at the forefront. That's right, sports fans: it's actually enjoyable.

Hold the front page

As Mr PR Man says, System 3's game appearance focuses on "SEGA vibrancy rather than a dour, photographic look". A good start, and not a lie. Visuals are punchy and bright. Up-close car models are built of 300,000 polygons, for those that care, so it looks good when you're smacking into things. Damage is "cosmetic" and doesn't impact handling (apparently Ferrari won't let you show one of its cars flipping or burning - that's just touchy, if you ask me), reducing frustration despite a carefully realised handling model. From the moment you pick the pad up, everything feels fast. System 3's goal used Yu Suzuki's hilariously tough F355 Challenge as a starting point for look and feel. Ferrari Challenge could almost be described as "arcadey."

It isn't, apparently. It "straddles" simulation and arcade, says Mr PR Man. Car handling and physics is a result of lengthy consultation with Ferrari itself, with all car information taken from official spec documents. With assists on - transmission, an on-track racing line, tachometer display, stability control, traction control and anti-lock brakes all have myriad settings - Ferrari Challenge is instantly accessible and genuinely exciting. Switch them all off and turn on the rain and it's practically impossible to drive in a straight line. As it should be. Mr PR Man reckons game consultant Bruno Senna, Ayrton's nephew and F1 hopeful, wins every time with all the assists off. Good going, Bruno; we couldn't even get the car to face the right way.

Five point five meellion dollars

'Ferrari Challenge' Screenshot 2

The license cost "f*** loads", and looks as though it's been used to good effect. The build I saw had 22 cars in it. System 3's planning to add every Ferrari ever made with downloadable content, but whether or not that'll happen in reality is as yet undecided. System 3 boss Mark Cale personally owns four Ferraris, and has been through 57 of them. Mr PR Man describes Cale's contacts at Ferrari as "disgusting". Cale likes Ferraris. Cars to be included at release include the FXX, the F360 Modena, the F250 LM and the F250 GTO, the last sold example of which auctioned for USD 15.5 million in Las Vegas over 10 years ago. The allure of the brand and Cale's obvious determination to produce a title worthy of the name holds up. Ferrarri Challenge isn't crap. You can see that immediately.

Nowhere is the fact that the effort to prioritise the "Ferrari experience" more obvious than in the AI. You can clearly see opponent cars racing in a pack when you have the assist line turned off: there's no procession. PR Man reckons System 3 had plenty of early access to PS3 hardware and subsequently "there's a lot of parallel processing going on" as regards to the other cars on the track. Allegedly, the drivers that naturally lead in the game are the drivers that lead in the real series, and the fusion of tough AI and a chunky, pseudo-realistic racing model leads to the right sort of challenge. It's not frustrating and you want to succeed. First impressions suggest Ferrari Challenge is a million miles away from the motorbike/heavy arm scenario.

Ferrari top trumps

'Ferrari Challenge' Screenshot 3

Other stuff. There's 16-player online racing, 16 tracks, a weird online top trumps game you play with cards gathered from unlocking cars and even Sixaxis features. It wasn't working when we saw it, but Mr PR Man reckons you can wobble the controller in the in-car view and the driver takes his hand off the wheel and waves. It supports rumble with DualShock 3 and all the major PS3-compatible wheels. Downloadable tracks are planned, with potentials including Monaco and the Nürburgring. It says "A Mark Cale Production" when you start it up. Like, cool.

One to watch, I reckon. It's out on PS3 in March. No Xbox 360 version? No. Why? A licensing issue. "Mark doesn't like to talk about." You'll be able to get it on PS2 and DS as well. I had a go on the DS game and it's like a mental, Ferrari-based version of Mario Kart. Blue sky thinking in racing games. Better than heavy arms any day.

Picture of Patrick.

About Patrick Garratt

Read more articles from Patrick by visiting the Patrick Garratt archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • Beano #1 4 years ago

    Where did that come from?

  • Darren #2 4 years ago

    I really enjoyed Ferrari F-355 Challenge on the Dreamcast so if this plays as well then I'm interested. Looks very nice from the screenshots. Odd that there's no Xbox 360 version though... :?

  • neuroniky #3 4 years ago

    F355 was one of the best driving game ever released... too bad this one abandoned the realistic approach of its predecessor...

  • DB2k #4 4 years ago

    i would imagine Sony said.. You make only PS3 no 360 yes or w KILL YOU

  • ChrisOTR #5 4 years ago

    neuroniky + 1

  • seasidebaz #6 4 years ago

    360lol its cos its not gots enuf POWAZZZZZZZZ

    /end troll

    looks good, and finally we might get a decent racing game to play while gt5 attempts to get out of the driveway...

  • Der_tolle_Emil #7 4 years ago

    The software house <a href="http://www.b limeygames.com/site/main.php" target=_blank>Blimey! Games</a> (responsible for GTR, GT Legends and GTR2) is working on a racing game called Ferrari Project. I assume they have the Ferrari License at the moment for the 360?

  • seasidebaz #8 4 years ago

    maybe microsoft used up all their licensing points with forza / pgr / tdu / ferrari project?

    or maybe its cos the higher powers at ferrari said, "hmmmm, this playstation thing, i think we have one of those in the pit lane doing our telemetry? it must be a powerful fiend, and doesnt sound anything like a z-box? a-box?" "hehe you said box" then lol and rofl until lunch time.

  • gingerlink #9 4 years ago

    im sure there's a DS and wii version of this, I'd never heard about a PS3 version before to be honest...

  • UncleLou #10 4 years ago

    I never "got" F-355. It felt so incredibly slow, even driving at top speed down a straight looked like you were walking.

  • SharkVLion #11 4 years ago

    Why has someone who doesnt like driving sims reviewed this; How fuckin stupid is that of EG; speaks volumes to me of how EG's management and review kiddiwinks operate.

    How about perhaps getting someone who is 'into' driving sims review it and perhaps then they can fairly compare it with other sims and not fuckin Fridge Racer.

    Morons

  • Eighthours #12 4 years ago

    Morons

    It's not a review. Moron.

  • FooAtari #13 4 years ago

    A whole game based around Ferrari's...

    /hates Ferrari

    Although F355 was pretty damn good it doesn't seem this will be anything like it.

    Also annoys me when anyone talks about sims and games on the PC never get a mention. That's where the real sims are.

  • Beano #14 4 years ago

    @SharkVLion: Is this you?

    http://po liticalhumor.about.com/library/...

  • seasidebaz #15 4 years ago

    @footari:

    i agree. msword is a great typewriter simulator.

  • BadBoyBonner #16 4 years ago

    For me all F-355 showed on the Dreamcast at the time was what lying gits Sony were as graphically here was a game pumping out Millions of polygons at a fair old lick - at a higher resolution than anything the PS2 was doing.

    The handling and sense of speed was abysmal - it was like driving on ice.

    We have come a long way - Forza 2 is better but feels like your driving in the wet.

    Why do these games feel like this when they are striving to be more sim based than arcade (I know 355 was an arcade game but you get the gist)?

    The sense of Speed - most people simply look on screen to judge how fast they can take the corner - thinking hmmm looks like I am doing about 60 mph I should easily be able to get round that corrr-scccrrrrrccchhhhhhhhh sh*t - hmmm must remember - when it looks like I am doing 60 mph on screen - the game says I am actually doing 130 mph.

    End result - feels like your driving at a snails pace.

    The more fish-eye the faster it feels - the fish-eye "lens" you could use on Metropolis Street Racer - made the game feel like you were driving at about 300 mph.

    While I do not recommend that - surely THE EASIEST THING TO DO WHILE DEVELOPING A DRIVING GAME - would be to remove the speed from the HUD and let tester's guess the speed the car is traveling - most people drive everyday and while they maybe 10 mph off on average - it would show up if EVERYONE thought the car was traveling at half the speed the computer is informing.

    I am not saying that the speed is not already 100% accurate which would be easy to do (time against distance covered) but the SENSATION of speed can be tweaked with the lens deployed.

    While the view maybe exaggerated to create that feeling - at least giving people the option would be nice.

    /jumps off soapbox "Oww-my ankle"
    Edited by 1 at 19/12/07 @ 10:08

  • FlamingCarrot #17 4 years ago

    Ferrari whore their name to anything now from soap to aftershave to condoms.
    A brand that was once exclusive is stretched pretty thin.

    Wonder if the Last Ninja will pop up at the trackside?

  • monkie_king #18 4 years ago

    F355 had a tight field-of-view, which means you can see where you're going, but not much around you, and kills the sense of speed. I wonder if that's 'cos they basically ported the central screen of the 3-screen panoramic arcade version?

    Recent Burnouts for me go way too far the other way -- fisheye lens to exaggerate the sense of speed, but it means that the oncoming track, cars and obstacles that you need to look at are crunched up into 10 square pixels at the center of the screen. Playing the Paradise demo, it looks like they're dropped the extra-super-wide lens when boosting at least.
    Edited by 1 at 19/12/07 @ 10:45

  • BadBoyBonner #19 4 years ago

    I think it was just the central screen for the 355 port. FOV was tiny.

    Agree with the Burnout assertion - but like how they got round it by making the cars drive with lights on - unless they are all Volvo's in disguise!

    Just out of interest - has anyone here played Forza 2 on a 3 screen setup?

  • miiiguel #20 4 years ago

    typical chav game.

  • symbiote #21 4 years ago

    miiiguel - typical chav

  • T4RG4 #22 4 years ago

    "a weird online top trumps game you play with cards gathered from unlocking cars"

    Waste of dev time.

    "...Sixaxis features. It wasn't working when we saw it, but Mr PR Man reckons you can wobble the controller in the in-car view and the driver takes his hand off the wheel and waves."

    What complete rubbish :)

    I wish they wouldn't allow PR people to showcase games. What about the designer or (dare I say) one of the producers? Gah.

  • Beano #23 4 years ago

    "...unless they are all Volvo's in disguise!"

    ....or the game takes place in a country where it's required to allways have headlights turned on (like Denmark) ;)

  • miiiguel #24 4 years ago

    "miiiguel - typical chav"

    Yeah! Got meself a PS3..., now I just need a "Ferrari game".

  • monkie_king #25 4 years ago

    sadly the scenery doesn't have its headlights on. It's one of the problems with the Paradise demo for me -- Paradise City is a very drab grey environment, and when you're boosting along at 180mph it's pot luck half the time whether you manage to avoid concrete barriers, walls etc. At least they've made most of the street furniture non-hazardous.

    And to be fair I've only played it on SD so far, a 40" HD panel may allieviate the problem somewhat.

  • Beano #26 4 years ago

    @monkie_king: I had the opinion until I realized how important the e-brake was ;)

  • Weezer #27 4 years ago

    Not on Xbox 360 = couldn't care less

    (Actually, I couldn't care less anyway - woudn't want to line Cale's pockets even further)

  • SBfistfun #28 4 years ago

    yippeee a racing game!

  • miiiguel #29 4 years ago

    anyway, this should be on 360, as we all know PS3 is known for their awesome RPG's and smart games. No place for shooters, driving and sports games... so I heard..., somewhere.

  • BadBoyBonner #30 4 years ago

    Monkey_King

    SD makes many games more difficult - and I imagine most developers do not optimise's the game for that resolution.

  • Nima #31 4 years ago

    Has the Wii version been canned? You don't appear to mention it at the end.

  • NinjaWilliams #32 4 years ago

    Well u never know, try the demo when its available, it won't hurt will it? Well if its rubbish yeah but hey, each to their owns bone! :)

  • themorganator #33 4 years ago

    I wish this was on 360.