Race '07 (gtr 3) [pc]

[VirusType2]

I just got this game yesterday. I really love GTR 2, so I didn't hesitate to pick this game up for $20. It just came out recently here in the US.

It's quite similar to GTR2 of course, but it's got quite a bit of improvements.

I've only played it for about an hour, as I've been really busy at work lately, working 6 and 7 day work weeks for the holidays. So far so good though.

On the box it says over 300 cars, but I don't see nearly that many. In GTR2, you had to unlock tracks, so maybe they have you unlock cars instead this time around, as it seems like all the tracks are already available from the start.

One of the cars I drove had like 12 gauges, and from the cockpit you can see them move accurately. REALLY ****in cool. This game has many more car types than GTR2, and now includes single seater race cars and something like F1 cars, 80's race cars and front wheel drive cars, among others. The touring cars like the honda are a blast, and the F1 and single seater cars are so much fun to drive. They are so incredibly fast and sound so realistic.

You can now create your own car skins, complete with your own team name and have your name on the cars, but you need to actually edit some stuff yourself (like a mod), as I was disappointed to find out there is no editor. The game includes some readme files on how to go about doing this. Shouldn't be a problem for me, since I have experience replacing texture files in other games, but would be nice if they had a car skin editor like Forza Motorsport 2 on the 360

The tracks are said to have twice as many roadside objects, and it shows. It seems they dropped the high resolution road surface and dashboard sun glare from GTR2 though, to my disappointment. However the game runs much better, as in Race 07 I can turn all the graphics option to the max and the game still runs smooth as silk. It really feels smooth to race other cars and you have so much control.

The game has a ton of already configured control options, and the 360 controller is already set up so perfectly.

It's going to be a lot of fun to play through the game, unlocking all of the content and going for my best time trial laps.


Anyone else have this game?

If you like car racing simulations, this is the best one in the world that I know of.

 

[Naudian]

I only played a demo on PC, it was alright but it didn't really make me want to buy it. It's separate from the GTR series though isn't it?

 

[VirusType2]

I only played a demo on PC, it was alright but it didn't really make me want to buy it. It's separate from the GTR series though isn't it?

yea, GTR is a specific race class I guess. Grand Touring Racing, whereas Race 07 has several new race classes in addition.

That's why I put (gtr 3) in parenthesis. By them changing the name to RACE 07, it removes all familiarity with the game, and I was only trying to help people recognize it's roots. It's a Simbin game through and through. At it's heart, it's basically the latest revision of GTR 2, with new content.

If one already has GTR2, then I'm not sure it warrants a purchase, since I haven't played it enough to tell yet, but if anyone is looking for a racing simulation, and hasn't bought GTR2 yet, then I totally recommend it.

 

[Naudian]

So it includes the same cars/classes from GTR2 as well as the new ones?

If that's the case, then I guess it pretty much is gtr3. Does it have a driving school like in GTR2? How about weather effects?

 

[VirusType2]

So it includes the same cars/classes from GTR2 as well as the new ones?

If that's the case, then I guess it pretty much is gtr3. Does it have a driving school like in GTR2? How about weather effects?

I'm not really sure. I haven't played it much because my computer has been tied up and I've been working alot.

I didn't notice any driving school, and I haven't seen any of the cars from GTR2, except the BMW's, but I haven't unlocked any content yet, so I could only guess that there is unlockable content. Unless they count each car that has a different racing number and driver name as a unique car (in which their claim of 300 cars would be incredibly deceiving), the game really only has a couple dozen cars unless they are unlockable by progressing in the Championship, like GTR 2

It's the official World Touring Car Championship game.

One thing I noticed, I guess they dropped the real time day/night cycle from GTR 2. That is probably the biggest reason why the game runs so much better. That was a smart move I think. I'd rather have the ability to process 32 cars racing around a track smoothly, than the unnoticable difference as the sun goes up or down during a 6 lap race.


Regarding weather. Interestingly, GTR2 had rain, and it is awesome to drive in, but I could never find any way to activate wipers, and am convinced you don't even have any, because it isn't even listed in the control setup screen. The rain didn't really block your vision though. But the wet roads and sound effects are ace. I saw a screenshot of the game where there was a windshield wiper in a raised position like it was working, but I don't know if it really made it into the final game. They may have dropped it from the release version of the game for the sake of some bugs or something.

RACE 07 has a picture of driving in the rain with a wiper in a raised position on the back of the box, but I haven't seen any rain yet.

I don't think there is any other type of weather.

Overall the game feels better and is a great game in its own right. The new features seem to make an improvement, but like I said, they did drop some things from GTR2 that I think they should have kept - like High Rez roadsurface and the sunglare, and shadows on the dashboard, and the dashboard itself is no longer high rez either. Still looks detailed and good though, and there seems to be more working gauges.

I think maybe they just went with the game they had, and there were features that they probably didn't have time to finish.

I love the new sound of the brakes as they are applied. And being the most realstic driving simulation I've ever played, the things I gripe about are trivial once you start racing though.

I'll buy next years version too. It should be killer.

 

[Jimmeh]

The GTR games are obviously all about the FIA GT series, whereas RACE and RACE 07 are based around the FIA WTCC, with a few extra bonus classes crammed in RACE 07 like the Mini's, Radicals and F3000.

I bought RACE 07 as I love GTR2, and to be honest I'm not too sure what to think. I think I just prefer the faster and more exciting GT cars over the WTCC ones. Although they do make for some great close races on t'internet mind. Basically all the classes are great for some close racing online.

Some things bug me though, like the AI for instance is pretty bad in comparison to GTR if you ask me (try driving around Porto ), and it's annoying how the cool things from GTR like proper pit crews, race strategy and all the rest of it aren't included at all. I don't even think you can even pit to change your tires or refuel, which doesn't seem to make sense at all. Stuff like that as well the live track technology and the day/night cycles from GTR have completely disappeared. Probably has something to do with the old Simbin team splitting up after GTR2. Which why I'm afraid that they won't be making any more GTR games Seems Simbin are concentrating on the WTCC series now. I'd of loved to have seen a proper next-gen FIA GT game, with all the cars from recent seasons like the Aston Martin DBR9 and the Ferrari 430.

 

[VirusType2]

Simbin team split up? That is interesting, and probably for the worse, unfortunately. I'd hate to have to rely on EA to get my racing fix, not that the games are bad, it's just completely unrealistic. (haven't tried Pro Street yet though)


The GTR Cars in GTR 2 were starting to feel a bit slow to me (getting boring), even the Lamborghini, and the ~275HP WTCC cars in RACE 07, while statistically having much less power than the ~500-800 HP GT cars, seem to drive around the track just about as fast - in the game, it feels about the same.



Before buying the game, I didn't realize WTC were so lowly powered and so heavy. I'd rather just play a rally racing game if I have to stick with 275HP. It's hardly exciting on such an easy smooth surface. And where are the Acuras? unlockable?

But the F3000 cars and single seater race cars are fast as a rabbit on crack, and are the main appeal of this game for me at the moment.


Game is still cool to have, but yet, not what I expected. I expected the game to have only improvements, not drawbacks to go along with them.

 

[VirusType2]

I have to post again, to fix some errors about what I said about this game.

I made some mistakes.

I said that the texture resolution of the road and dashboard is no longer high resolution. This isn't true. There is something in the options called level of detail, and it actually goes past 100%. It goes to 150%, and the higher this number, the more incredible the game looks. At 150% with high texture resolution, the graphics are pretty incredible, and the track-side scenery is really impressive. The track-side scenery was my biggest gripe about GTR2. It is now one of RACE 07's biggest achievements.

I also said that they droped the dashboard reflections, but I now notice them. They don't seem as significant as before, but that may be because they are not as intense as the sunlight dashboard reflections in DiRT.


Jimmeh-
I haven't tried a pit stop yet, but you may need to press a particular button to let your crew know you are pitting. I know in the pre-race configuration menu, you can adjust tire wear and fuel consumption, if the normal setting is not to your liking. Also, in the car configuration, you can adjust how much fuel you want to begin with.

Also, there is an official patch for the game out already, and I noticed mention of AI fixes. I'm not sure if this addresses your issue with the AI however Jimmeh.

Also, in GTR2 there were dozens of mods that included cars and tracks from other Simbin games, and even Codemaster games, so I'm sure you will see cars from GTR2 making their way to RACE 07'. Look for mods for Race 07, and you will certainly (one day?) find them.


So, after all, it looks like the only graphical feature missing is the real time night/day cycle. They should/could have left it in the game and gave an option to turn it on and off, for users of less powerful computers.

Finally, I tested the weather, and driving in the rain is pretty awesome. The wipers work, and the rain effect is very realistic. There are also headlights, but I haven't had to drive at night yet, so I can't add anything else about that.


Great racing game indeed. Next time I better spend some more time playing a game before saying what it can and can't do.

Some screenshots of Race 07
http://www.simracingworld.com/screenshots/238/

Metacritic average score:
9.4 / 10

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/race07theofficialwtccgame

 

[Jimmeh]

It is possible to pitstop, although it's a bit hit and miss. Hardly ever works, and you can't actually choose what you want changed if you do manage a stop. Not to mention there's absolutely no way of knowing where your garage is. In GTR2 you had a pitcrew waiting, in rFactor a big marker, but in RACE it seems that you've just got to remember which identical empty garage out of the 30 or so is yours.

Obviously if you're doing shorter races then none of this matters as you can make it on one tank of fuel and set of tires. The headlights are only there to flash opponents really, as there's no way to race at night. I know I keep going on about the negatives, but in truth it's still a good racing sim. For now at least I prefer GTR2 offline by a mile, but online - all the racing classes in RACE are great fun, you can actually get some proper racing going if you're lucky. I haven't played either one in while though.

Oh, and yeah Simbin split after GTR2. What's left of Simbin is still there, the others created Blimey Games or something. I think Simbin has kept all the licenses though.

Simbin's new game engine:

Blimey have got a Ferrari-licensed game on a new engine coming as well: