How on EARTH did this happen? (Toca Race Driver (PS2))

Member Name: The_bulldog

Product:	Toca Race Driver (PS2)
Date:	03/05/03 (262 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: a storyline!

Disadvantages: It's cheesy though!, manic AI, crazy handling, absolute rubbish wheel support...do I need to go on?

This really is a sad example of a company knowing it can make good games, but not bothering because it knows it is guaranteed success.

Codemasters have built up a reputation of releasing great racing games, the ToCA and Colin McRae rally series' in particular. Somehow, they managed to build a game that appealed to simmers, and people who just wanted an arcade blast at the same time.

However, even after the disappointment of WTC (the last Touring Car game on the Ps1), nothing could've prepared us for this monstrosity.

You start the game, and you come to an intro, (of course I cant say what's in it without giving away the exceptionally weak plot, which is just an excuse for fast cars) and then we head into the menu screen. Which is actually pretty good, it's a 3d scene of Ryan's (your) office, with lots of different options:

Career - start the career part of the game

Options - obviously configure the options, and go to the codes screen where you can implement cheats.

Free Time - options such as free race and time trial, I'll come to this in a minute.

Pro Race Driver Map - you can see all the different places you've the opportunity of racing in your career mode, and also any challenges you've undertaken.

And

Quit Game - does exactly what it says on the tin (my advice: click here now and avoid the pain!!!)

Under 'Free Time', which is another room with a widescreen TV, and two mechanics in it among other things, we have this:

Free Race - Choose a track out of the ones you've unlocked, number of laps, qualification on/off, pit stops number of AI opponents, your car, and the difficulty of the AI.

Time Trial - choose a track, a car, and go for the fastest time.

Network game - the ability to play on a LAN or over the internet.

We'll start at career, with you wanting to become a race driver. If you have t
he ToCA version of the game, you'll start out in a Lexus in the BTCC. Gradually you'll climb the ladder to success, and the pointless plot will be revealed to you through ok-ish cut scenes, that really could do with better lip-synching. But that's just nit-picking.

Now sounds like a good idea to mention the handling. I always play a game using the keyboard first, but this really is horrid. The cars all suddenly weigh a ton, and getting off the start line in any rwd car is gonna take about a week. Codies really have overstated the rwd, making it impossible not to wheelspin out of corners, and so easy to spin yourself (especially with the keyboard) it's ridiculous.

And now to driving with a wheel. What a pile of pants. Unless you knock all the graphics option right down, so you get about 120fps+, your steering will do nothing (even with the deadzone at 0) until you move it 25 degrees where it will suddenly lurch to the right as if you had just put full lock on.

The graphics are actually pretty good; even though I always have mine turned right down so it is actually possible to drive. Cars are really very well done, and the tracks are well modelled and the tarmac is nice and shiny. Another thing, the cockpit view for every car (apart from the mini) is the same, with the only difference being a different manufacturer badge on the dash.

The sounds are okay, and if you listen at a standing start, the first few seconds of each car's engine noise is exactly the same, and the actual wheel spin sound effect has been taken directly from ToCA2.

Now seems a good time to mention the manic AI, which seems to either not notice you, or constantly ram you, it's as if Codies got bored and took the AI straight from Destruction Derby! The amount of times I've lost a race because the AI has shunted me off the track is amazing Also, the AI cars do not obey the same laws of physics that your car does, flying past you
down the straights, accelerating so much quicker out of bends, and going about the same speed as you can around the bends.

How about the revolutionary damage engine? It's pretty 'awesome' until you have a really fast collision with another car, where either one car gets a ton of damage, and the other one leaves unscathed, or some random part of your car will be damaged that had no contact with your fellow crasher. (Such as a head-on collision and my rear spoiler falling off, and nothing else)

Multiplayer would've been this game's saving grace, except the useless netcode this game has - cars constantly appearing on your screen where they're actually about 100m further up the road, and suddenly finding out you've hit someone you haven't even seen. This situation is not helped, by the larger-than normal amount of intentional wreckers plaguing the servers.

Oh and did I mention that for some reason you manage to drive around the tracks about 20 seconds faster than what happens in real life?

What a hateful game....

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