GTR2 Review

Education, education, education

All those advertising stickers are costing me at least 0.002 seconds a lap.

The other major advance is the innocuously titled Driving School. A collection of 140 bite-size challenges, this mode has something to offer drivers of all skill and experience levels. Greenhorns will appreciate the sets of short acceleration, braking, and cornering exercises with their invaluable colour-coded racing lines (brake when the line turns red, accelerate when it turns blue) and ghostly instructor cars. Because tests aren't arranged in fixed sequences there's no danger whatsoever of frustration. If you're struggling to negotiate a particular hairpin or chicane within the prescribed time, just skip it and move onto another.

The lion's share of the school curriculum is made-up of circuit coaching exercises that even the best drivers are going to find useful. Each track in the sim has been chopped into four or more sections, and daubed with that helpful racing line. As each section only includes a handful of corners and can be reloaded almost instantly with a single key press they are a perfect way to learn a new track or polish performance on a familiar one.

Don't skip school. It's important.

Just in case the driving school's compact challenges weren't enticing enough on their own (which they are) SimBin has linked them to custom championship unlocks. Every three or four exercises you complete, a new speciality race sequence becomes available. Model-specific cups, nocturnal race sequences... these supporting acts offer interesting, shorter alternatives to the full-blown 'official' GT championships that are the spine of the sim. Both the 2003 and 2004 FIA seasons are now included. The extra year means we get to race at a couple of well thought-out Asian venues (Dubai and Zhuhai, China) in addition to the dozen or so European ones. It also means there's the opportunity to get behind the wheels of some choice new machines.

Maserati chose the '04 GT season to end a 35-year racing absence. Their Enzo-esque MC12 is the prettiest and paciest of the debutantes. Less mighty but just as exciting are NGT newcomers the Nissan 350Z and TVR T400R (as in real GT racing, fields consist of two classes of cars - GT and NGT - each scored separately). Old friends returning to the fray include ravishing supercars like the Saleen S7 and Lister Storm, and a Monte Carlo casino car-park's worth of Ferraris and Porsches. If you can't find something you like amongst the 25 models on offer here then you are either clinically dead or Jonathan Porritt.

Cars with scars

Whoops. Must remember to avoid him at the post-race party.

When bodyshells are this shapely, the sight of a rapidly approaching tyre-wall or brake-light is all the more alarming. Damage modelling has improved dramatically since the last SimBin offering, but don't expect things to fall apart quite as intricately as they do in the likes of Grand Prix Legends or FlatOut. In the course of a long race you usually spot/cause the odd bent wing, detached panel, exposed engine, and wayward wheel but that's pretty much it. Transmissions, engines, and windscreens all seem remarkably resistant to abuse.

Talking of windscreens, one thing you see in GTR2 that you never saw in GTL or GTR is a view of the road ahead distorted by raindrops, although the graphic is actually pretty weak (the drops don't run and your wipers don't wipe). Other weather-related visual enhancements like the blinding glare of a sinking sun or the reflection of cars in drenched tracks are much more attractive. If SimBin could just enliven their faithful-but-slightly-sterile scenery a tad more, and work on their shadows a smidgen, then GTR2 would be vying with the likes of Forza Motorsport 2 in the visual stakes.

Dark tarmac textures can make spotting dry lines tricky.

Suggesting AI improvements is a trickier task. Maybe on default aggression settings CPU-controlled cars should be a bit bolder when lapping backmarkers. Perhaps they should also be a fraction quicker on the anchors when tailgating careless cornerers like Yours Truly. Overall though, the performance of digital drivers balances naturalism with challenge superbly. Players are usually going to be at the centre of any big pile-ups, but occasionally AI competitors will take to turf and gravel of their own accord. Always nice to see.

The Highway Netcode

For those racers that like their opponents organic there is of course multiplayer. SimBin don't appear to have done a huge amount in this area (rFactor-sized fields, faster loading, and a few more start options wouldn't have gone amiss) but, as in the numerous single-player modes, the improved grip does make a lot of difference. Now you can nudge and jostle a bit without fear of leaving a sea of frantically waving yellow flags in your wake.