TOCA PSP touched up for US

By Tom Bramwell Published 30 January, 2006

New tracks and cars.

The PSP version of TOCA Race Driver 2 is being touched up for its US release as Race Driver 06 - so much so that you might even want to wait and import it if you've put off buying it so far.

Released in Europe last September, TOCA 2 was one of the best of an early crop of pretty high-standard PSP racing games, largely because it did more or less everything that made it into the excellent PS2 version.

Race Driver 06, due out in May in the USA, is ostensibly the same game, but Codemasters says it also features a brand new game mode, as well as 10 brand new international tracks and various new cars as well.

The new mode is called Trans-World Cup, and has been designed for short PSP-style bursts of gaming, with an event structure built around challenges - Time Trials, Skill Tests and other ideas - as you try to make it to the number one rank.

Meanwhile, those ten new tracks include Nashville Super Speedway and Shanghai, and those of the new cars named are the Buick Gran Sport 455, Pontiac Firebird Formula 400, Dodge Charger, Gemballa GTR 750 EVO, Koenig GT and Koenig GTD. The totals are 60-plus tracks and 50-plus cars.

And of course they span all manner of racing disciplines - one of TOCA 2's most delightful features is the range of activities, from GT Sports Car and Rally Cross to V8 Supercars and Super Truck racing. The PS2 Career mode survives in its entirety.

Finally, it's worth pointing out that TOCA Race Driver 3 is due out on PS2, Xbox and PC in Europe on February 24th. From what we've played of it so far, it seems fair to say it's "a bit good". We'll have a review in the run-up to release.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (3) Latest comment 6 years ago

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  • uiruki #1 6 years ago

    That's a change - people adding game modes to a PSP game.

    It's good to see that something new has been added rather than Codies sitting on it for months. Wonder if it'll come back to the uk in a platinum release or something.

  • MrGrumpy.au #2 6 years ago

    I hope they do release this version outside of the United States, any new content has to be good. Or maybe offer it as downloadable content ala Wipeout Pure (one can only dream).

    The game really could also do with a framerate overhaul cause at times it does seem to drop into the single digits when theres a lot going on. In which I think it makes PSP version tougher than the PS2/XBox version as my lap times on the PSP version are around 3 - 5 seconds slower a lap against the console ports. (also it could be that I'm just not used to the analog nub + the buttons for accel/brake)

    Still it's a great game for a portable.

    (Offtopic: The PSPs sleep mode is a godsend)

  • ChrisOTR #3 6 years ago

    If anyone's wondering the Euro version is a very very good and playable game, and the most important thing in any racing game, the "feel" is IMO spot on.

    It's a huge game even without the stuff they're adding, so if you see it at a bargain price I'd recommend.