RACE Pro drops back a week News

When is a new forza due then?

In agreement win Donbhoy - it does seem a bit... bland? I havent seen enough of the cockpit cam/driving to form an opinion on the handling (which is what I'm primarily interested in). It uses real footage at the start of the vids (annoying) and then too many fast cuts (which you tend to do for early builds to hide the poor aspects) to get any great sense of where it sits amongst other racing games.

Interested in the review (please tell us what the handling is like Eurogamer, give it to someone that likes heavyweight racers) but it is definitely a wait and see for me.

Forza3 however, I'd buy that without any review even though the single-player is perhaps one of the most boring components of any game I've played on the system :)

Arse.

Looking forward to this muchly.

RacePro
Publisher: Atari
Number of P/Reviews: 25 Xbox 360 61.7%


all ready reviewed,

Please be good please be good please be good

No that I've played it but just doing a bit of reading on the net makes me think this isn't going to get a good reception. I think people are going to pay too much attention to visuals and presentation. I just hope the gameplay is up to scratch, tough and realistic! If they manage to make this workable on a pad then I will love them even more. Can't wait to race online.

@ Donbhoy:

There is a RACE Pro demo due before launch.

@ AaronTurner

That's a sad truth. Even with the words 'This is a simulation game, graphics whores beware' plastered across the case it wouldnt stop the idiot crowd LOLing because it doesnt grind the gameplay into an incredibly simplicstic paste through the crushing and pointless application of too many lighting effects or pointlessly detailed trackside decoration.

I'll be judging it by how well it plays, whether the physics are right, the handling, engine sounds, opponent AI and framerate are good.

Leave oversimplified gameplay and shitty framerates to the vapid Gran Turismo crowd.

And you keep complaining when people call you a fanboy idiot why?

The thing people forget is that this game will likely have fields of 20+ cars, not 6 or 8. Those 14 extra cars don't come for free. Also it will hopefully come with more complex physics than Forza, and that doesn't come for free either.

I still play a game called Grand Prix Legends, it's over ten years old and it looks pretty crap by todays standards. But there is no other sim like it, thats why it still has a very active community. Thats the things with simulations, it's not really about the graphics. As long as it's good enough the focus should be on the physics, damage, AI and multiplayer.

But too many 'tards just don't get that.

farticusmaximus.

GT has many flaws. However framerate isn't one of them. 4 and 5p have been pretty solid 60fps games. Take of those fanboy blinkers next time you post. Unfortuantly neither Forza or GT get things 100% right.

Yes, while a lot of the criticism directed at GT is understandable, one thing is for sure: it has been at an ultra smooth 60fps oh, for at least since GT3. Only the Burnout series to my mind has as consistent and smooth a 60fps framerate.

Back on topic though, I'm really looking forward to this. Hopefully it harks right back to the heyday of the TOCA games or at least the Race Driver series. Getting a bit sick of the collect 'em and tune 'em structuring of Forza and GT. I'm looking forward to full race series' with all the licensed cars and circuits of each championship (Macau!!). As long as they bring over the same level of quality as the GTR series then it'll be aces, iffy graphics or not (but then GTR2 or RACE didn't look complete shit, so why should this be much worse?).

I bet it slips some more .

'one thing is for sure: it has been at an ultra smooth 60fps oh, for at least since GT3. '

No it hasn't, there's always been a bit of tearing and the occasional hiccup. They do a pretty good job, but let's not get carried away ;)

I'm still playing GTR2 and the graphics have never bothered, they are perfectly 'reasonable', and if the physics shown in the earlier instalments are anything to go by, the graphics will be of little concern after a few minutes.

Can certainly see this getting average reviews, shame as the actual racing (if it follows the previous games closely) is as good as any, and it's great for those who struggle with inconsistent online gaming, as the AI is superb, a different world from the bumper car antics in the Gran Turismo series.

I'll definitely wait to try the demo before I consider buying this game.
I agree that it does look a bit on the bland side but hopefully the demo will help fill in the blanks on whether or not it's worth picking up.

i played one of the gtr's (07 rings a bell) on a mates pc using my force ex wheel and omg was it good. nowt graphically, but then its only your mate watching the scenery when you're racing. jumped in a koeni ccx on pro settings, no tc or abs, span it in the pitlane....

if this is truly a RACING sim, then its a no-brainer. (i fucking hate it when ppl say driving sim, no game except tdu can have that title, and thats stretching things)

Gah another week not impressed ... i need this game.
I'd play forza but it aint worth laying the times down now, with another race-game switch on the horizon ;)

Anyone know if it is gonna have scoreboards that can be compared with friends list times ?

I love how Forza did the whole scoreboard/friends list thing. It makes for some serious competition without even playing the multiplayer.

The one thing i want from this game is, Race 07/ GTR but 'consoled'.
By that i do not mean dumbed down.
I mean seamless, easy online races, leaderboards and Friends List comparing.

That is what this game needs to be.
If it is simply Race 07 / GTR but on a console that aint gonna be good enough.
It has to use Xbox Live to the full.

Then we will have a console race game.

Oh yeah, and while i'm in a typing mood.

I totally agree with the poster who said it will be refreshing to just have a game where you Race.

My favourite class in Forza is the Race Class cars, oh and racing Stock is good too.

Introducing all this big wheels, spoilers, racing chip engine upgrade, sports suspension bolt on nonesense is just a boy racers wet dream.
It is juvenile and just makes the game harder to balance and stop the glitchers making stupidly fast cars with no handling bombing round in unrealistic cars.

Needed to get that off my chest.

Oh yeah, what has painting a car got to do with racing ?

I have faith that Race Pro will cut the nonesense from current race games, but hopefully keep the best bits.

over and out.

@redstanza

I agreed with one of your posts. Then read the follow-up and switched sides ;)

I quite like painting my fave car in Forza. If only to mock friends whom I play against. I think it appeals to the individualist side of people. Dare I say I enjoy modifying the cars too? I dont care for bodywork, but I do like to alter the car to suit my needs for particular tracks. Its more interesting, for me, to do this with upgrades I understand than pissing about with detailed suspension settings.

Having said that, as a result of Forza's approach its quite easy to unbalance the field at times. Those that primarily race a certain track when competing online, e.g. Nurburg, it can be very close and great fun... racing fun. Against the AI, yes, its completely screwed and no fun at all, very unbalanced. Stock racing against people is fun, too few host such matches though.

You are totally right with regard to your comments on the need for RACE Pro to make the most of console connectivity though. If they get this wrong (and I've a feeling they might) it'll sink quite quickly IMO. What Forza is missing is the ability to sort leaderboards by all driving aides off because it is annoying seeing the top 300 on most tracks using the same stupid rocket car with TCS and ABS yawn.

@FooAtari

"GT has many flaws."

I wouldnt necessarily say 'flaws', rather it's mis-advertised. It's a fine arcade game, good looking and fun, but it's not a 'racing sim' by any stretch of the imagination.


"However framerate isn't one of them. 4 and 5p have been pretty solid 60fps games"

GT4 was solid I agree. GT5p has some of the worst tearing I've ever seen this gen, and yes I played it at 720p. Can't imagine how it would be at 1080p.


Anyway, point was I want Race Pro to be a full-on racing sim, concentrating on the important aspects and not sacrificing the realism and gameplay for 'car porn'.

"GT4 was solid I agree. GT5p has some of the worst tearing I've ever seen this gen, and yes I played it at 720p. Can't imagine how it would be at 1080p. "

You need a better TV. Your current one obviously sucks.

GT5p should not have any tearing. Mine doesn't.

"You need a better TV. Your current one obviously sucks."

My TV is just fine thanks. It plays plenty of other games without tearing. GT5p's tearing is a very well documented fact.

I think a few people are getting framerates confused with other graphical annoyances. One guy complained GT had a shitty framerate, which it doesn't in the slightest. Silky smooth 60fps.

Tearing is something else entirely. Besides, I'll mention I never noticed barely any tearing in GT4 considering v-sync issues are being brought into the list of criticisms of the series as well (not played GT5p though so can't speak for that).

@SomaticSense

"One guy complained GT had a shitty framerate, which it doesn't in the slightest. Silky smooth 60fps."

GT has always had a nice smooth framerate in the past, up until GT5p anyways.


"Tearing is something else entirely"

Not really. The only difference between tearing and sub-60fps framerates is whether V-sync is enabled or not. The cause of both is exactly the same: The frame buffer cannot be fully rendered in a single pass of the display's refresh.

@farticus

GT4 was solid I agree. GT5p has some of the worst tearing I've ever seen this gen

Didn't play MotoGP 06? or was it 07. The first MotoGP game then gen anyway, tearing was awful


Anyway, point was I want Race Pro to be a full-on racing sim, concentrating on the important aspects and not sacrificing the realism and gameplay for 'car porn'.

Fully agreed, thats why I sim on the PC.

Well, obviously tearing isn't something else "entirely" down to the natrue of what causes it, but that wasn't the point I was getting at. It was that he was saying that the framerate was shit and using the tearing as evidence of it. Which means that it sounds like he doesn't understand the difference.

Take Resi 5 for instance. The game has appalling screen tearing, yet it seems this is precisely because Capcom would rather it run at a smoother framerate and so thus leaving V-sync off (which would prevent the tearing issue, but lower the fps). Preventing screen tearing can lessen the framerate, so no, they aren't the same. And so this guy complaining that it has a shitty framerate because of the screen tearing is nonsensical.